-chapter 59-
The next "morning" arrived, I woke up next to my baby girl, we made love in the shower, and then we got dressed and headed up to the dining room for breakfast, we picked up the clone and her baby along the way. A tired Zari was making pancakes and attempting to show Saphy how to do the same. Kitty was sitting at the table, staring at the clone and her baby in a distrusting manner. Phoebe and I sat beside her.
"Morning." I said as I gave her a hug.
"Morning Cj." She lovingly replied.
"Good morning." Said the clone, I had forgotten the number she used as a name by now.
Kitty didn't bother to respond.
"You know how to cook?" I asked.
"No." The clone replied.
"Damn, guess Phoebe, Zari, and I are still the only ones." I replied.
"It looks like Saphy is in there trying to learn." Phoebe said.
"Hopefully she's better than Kitty." I replied.
"Hopefully." Kitty agreed.
"Hopefully she won't microwave somebody's neblong." I said.
"That was years and years and years ago." Kitty said.
"Oh you remember." I replied.
"Yeah I remember, that was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen, just guts and fluff, everywhere!." Kitty said.
"Well girls let's just take it easy today, I'm tired as fuck." I said.
"Ok." Kitty replied.
"Yeah, yesterday was a lot for you wasn't it?" Phoebe asked.
"Pancakes are ready!" Saphy announced as she brought out a plate stacked with pancakes.
"Great!" I replied as everyone started grabbing pancakes.
Zari came in a few minutes later and then breakfast properly began.
After everyone went their separate ways except for Phoebe and I so we could speak to Zari about where we were going to go next. With nothing better to do as Phoebe's time machine was still under construction, it was a good time to try to find somewhere safe to take the clone and the baby.
"She's a clone, if we leave her in Zelusian space Phanon can hunt her down anytime they want, but if she gets caught in U.S.C space they'll put her back into the mental ward. " I said.
"Yeah but there's no guarantee Phanon will find her is there?" I asked.
"Phanon doesn't tend to actively search for escaped clones so by now they probably don't care." Zari said. "Especially since she's one of their more popular commercial models she won't be easy to find."
"Huh?" I asked.
"She's a living sex doll, every brothel and every billionaire with bad social skills and a taste for human blondes has one just like her." Zari said.
"How do you know that?" I asked.
"I just looked up the serial number tattooed on her arm." Zari replied.
"Can't they track her with said serial number?" I asked.
"Not if that tattoo is removed." Zari said.
"Ok so we get her tattoo removed we leave her and baby at a station and we're good to go." I said.
"But we can't just leave her on the streets either." Phoebe said. "We need to give her enough so she can make a life for herself."
"What you need to do is take her to a bar and try to set her up with somebody. " I said.
"You gotta be joking." Zari said.
"No I'm not." I replied. "Especially if Phoebe and Kitty work together. Pheebles you're good at reading people, Kitty is good at hooking up with people. You saw how she was at that bar with Henry and his guys."
"She's a slut?" Zari asked.
"No, she never cheated on any of her ex-boyfriends, but she's had a lot of them. Not that it matters she's a virgin every time she changes form." I said.
Practically anyway.
"Didn't need to know that." Zari replied.
"That may be true Cj, but Kitty won't help, she hates her." Phoebe said.
"She will if it gets her off of this ship faster." I said. "Look at the alternative, She probably doesn't have a whole lot of skills aside from what was relevant for what Phanon needed her to do, and if I recall correctly Pheebles you probably erased most of that even."
"Most of it." Phoebe replied.
"So the best we can do is find somebody that's willing to support her and baby so she can gain said skills." I continued.
"Somebody that's supposed to be you." Phoebe pointed out.
"Yeah if I wasn't unconscious when said child was conceived." I replied.
"So you're not responsible for Charley either?" Phoebe asked.
"Pheebles for the last time I fucking love you so I let it go." I replied.
"Would you still do it today or would you just run off with Kitty?" Phoebe asked.
"Why the hell would I run off with Kitty? " I replied.
"Hey can we get back on topic here." Zari asked.
"Yeah sure." I said.
"Anyway we need to take her to a bar and make sure she leaves with somebody else." I concluded.
"Why are we doing so many things in bars lately?" Phoebe asked.
"I have no idea." I replied.
"Maybe we should go dancing instead, there will be so much more people." Phoebe said.
"Yeah that's a great Idea." Zari said.
"We could have a girl's night out!" Phoebe announced.
"Well somebody will have to watch the baby." I said.
"Why can't you? Zari has been working really hard Cj can't you just take her place one night?" Phoebe asked as they both glared at me.
"Because." I said.
"Look Cj I'll get everybody dressed up I'll come back to you afterwards and we'll have so much fun together it will be silly." Phoebe said.
"So you just want to leave me on the ship alone with the baby?" I asked.
"Yep. He'll be asleep most of the time you won't really have to do much." She replied.
"And this will help make it up to you?" I asked.
"A little bit yeah." Phoebe replied. "But also it will be fun for you when I get back."
"Ok fine, I trust you not to come back with another baby." I said.
"Ok then it's settled, Zari let's go to the next major station." Phoebe said.
"In Zelusian space." I added.
"Right." Zari agreed as she stood up and headed for the stairs up to the bridge. "This is going to be fun. We'll do some shopping, some partying."
"Now we just have to break it to the digibabes and the clone." I said.
"I'll talk to Saphy you talk to Kitty and we'll meet in the clone's room." Phoebe said as she got up from the table.
"Right ok then." I replied. "Why did I agree to this?"
"Because you love me." Phoebe said before she stopped to kiss me on the cheek on her way out.
A few minutes later I found Kitty napping in her room, which was ours at one point.
"Babe, you awake? We need to talk." I said.
"About what?" She asked as she turned to face me.
"Well, you're going to a club with Pheebles and the rest of the girls." I explained.
"Why?" She asked.
"Because the best way to get rid of the clone lady is to try to hook her up with somebody else. I figured if you and Phoebe worked together it shouldn't be too difficult." I said.
"Why would I want to help stupid face?" She asked.
"Because we need to do the best we can for the baby that doesn't involve me having any responsibility." I said. "Besides you want her off the ship don't you?"
"Yeah ok, but what do you want me to do?" She asked.
"What you do best getting the attention of other guys." I said.
"But Cj I'm yours." She replied.
"Well just keep them entertained, don't go home with them." I said.
"And what are you going to do?" She asked.
"I got stuck with watching the baby." I said. "And try to keep Pheebles in line."
"You know she'd never hurt you. I wouldn't either." She said.
"Yeah well, you two still need to learn to get a long, so this will be good for you. Now I got to go talk to the clone about this with Pheebles, so you should probably stay here." I said.
"Wait she's going too?" She asked.
"Well yeah, the entire point is to set her up with someone." I replied. "She kind of has to be there. You sat at the same breakfast table with her, you should be fine, you don't even have to talk to her, just bring a bunch of guys her way."
"Ok if that's what you want." She said.
"Thankyou." I replied.
We hugged for a few seconds and then I headed for the clone's room.
Phoebe was already there, talking to the clone as she held her baby on the bed.
"And Cj can look after him while we're gone." Phoebe said right as I walked in, which couldn't have been a coincidence.
"I can't just stay here?" The clone asked.
"Well Cj and I are trying to get back to our kids as well, so, we have a long way to go and a lot of things we need to fight, and bringing a baby into that situation just isn't a very good idea, so we're going to do our best to set you up with a life, but in the next few weeks you need to find somebody else that will let you move in with them, and we're going to start doing that by going to a club and finding somebody for you. So once we get to this next station it's going to be our home for the next few weeks, we'll go shopping we'll get some nice outfits for everyone, we'll make you stand out so guys will come to you." Phoebe explained.
"And Cj will take care of our baby while I'm gone?" The clone asked.
"Mhm, he'll get to spend some time with his real father." Phoebe said.
"Ok." The clone replied.
"Zari will make an announcement once we're docked and ready to go." Phoebe said.
"Is Kitty going?" Phoebe asked.
"She'll go." I said.
"Tell her to digivolve it'll be easier to find clothes for her when she's a lilithmon." Phoebe said. "And have her bring your digivice too."
"Right." I said.
"And if you do a good job looking after you son there will be a big reward for you." Phoebe said with a wink.
"I'll do my best." I replied, for some reason I hesitated to deny he was my son in front of his actual mother.
Back to Kitty's room I went, arriving there at about the same time she started to drift off to sleep.
"Hey Kitty kat, Pheebles wants you to digivolve for tonight." I said.
"Why? You know I don't like going out in my digivolved form." She said, sounding a bit annoyed that I woke her up.
"She said your other form is easier to find clothes for, I know you think it's a bit intimidating, but don't worry, Phoebe and the others will find you some new clothes you'll look great."
"If you say so." Kitty replied. "But not right now I'm trying to sleep."
"Oh allright I guess that works." I said. "Also you need to take the digivice with you."
"Either join me or get out Cj I'm trying to take a nap, No more talking please." She grumpily replied.
"Ok,ok." I replied, she did not like her naps being interrupted if nothing important was going on and she took a lot of naps.
"Love you, goodnight." She said as she laid her head down and shut her eyes.
"Goodnight babe, love you." I replied.
I quietly shut the door and saw Phoebe coming down the hall so I just waited for her to come over.
"Did you tell her?" She asked.
"Yeah, don't go in there she's trying to sleep." I replied.
"Ok." Phoebe replied.
"So we're really going to stay in the same place for a few weeks." I asked.
"However long it takes for somebody to agree to let her and the baby move in." Phoebe said.
"I don't know how long that's going to last Pheebles, bounty hunters could show up at any moment." I said.
"Yeah, but if they're on the station we can deal with them more appropriately." Phoebe said. "It will be fine Cj."
"You said that last time and we're still stuck with a baby." I replied.
"Yeah, but everything is still fine and it's not like we don't have time to deal with this." Phoebe said.
The ship started to shake as the jump drive activated.
"Well, it's going to be a few minutes before we dock." I said. "So if you wanna. "
"No you wait for tonight, it will be so much better I'll have a new dress, I'll get my nails done, you won't regret it." Phoebe interrupted.
"How about we snuggle then for a bit?" I asked.
"And we can watch tv like last night." Phoebe said.
"Yeah except it won't be so fuzzy because we're closer to a station now." I replied.
"That's even better." She replied.
I took her hand and we happily walked to our room.
-a few minutes later-
"So who do you think loves you more me or Kitty?" She asked.
"That's a tough question." I replied. "I know I love you more than her, but both of you mean a lot to me now, so."
"But I also know that one day I'll have to say goodbye to her and it terrifies me." I added about a minute later.
"I don't think that really needs to happen, but if that day comes I'll still be here for you." Phoebe replied.
"I hope so." I said.
"I know we've been apart a long time, but I never stopped loving you Cj." Phoebe said.
"And I never stopped loving you." I replied. "Allright then how about some tv?"
"Ok." Phoebe said.
We watched tv until the ship's computer made an announcement that we had successfully docked.
We were watching that weird hospital drama again, in this episode there was some kind of hard to follow story involving mixed up babies, and at the very end, the doctor's ugly ass car suffers a parking brake failure and ends up rolling backwards down a very steep hill miraculously passing through multiple intersections unscathed despite heavy traffic, and finally coasts to a stop just on the edge of a dock, only for the dock to collapse and dump the poor thing into the ocean seconds later. Despite the language barrier it was pretty funny. Apparently it was some kind of running joke as the car met with unfortunate circumstances in almost every episode, only to inexplicably reappear in the next perfectly unscathed.
After that we found one of the few things we could understand was this interesting news report that came up.
"This is Pelios 4 local news with an intergalactic news update. Several intergalactic multi-trillion credit companies including Phanon Co, Universal Steel, and Intergalactic Oil are reporting total losses of entire expeditionary fleets exploring the northern edge of the known universe. No known pirate operations have been spotted, nor is there evidence of foreign military action. To date no explosions or debris have been found of any of the hundreds of ships that have been reported missing. Some say they may have finally breached the edge of existence, while others believe something more malicious is afoot. Their cries have not gone unheard and the Zelusian military has made plans to send out a very well protected science team to investigate the phenomenon. "
"How does that many ships just go missing?" I asked.
"No idea. " Phoebe replied.
"Pirates wouldn't go after expeditionary groups, they're not really known for having valuable cargo." I said.
"Maybe it's another army like the Zelusians." Phoebe said.
"I don't know Pheebles, I just don't know." I replied.
Zari decided to take a nap so she programmed it to inform us instead ( a basic feature that could be turned on or off at will). She was trying to get back on our sense of time if that makes sense, since we didn't need to operate in shifts anymore so she was pretty tired every time we saw her. She was out like a light when we found her, so Phoebe decided to let her rest for a while, postponing their shopping trip for a few hours. Eventually Zari woke up, however and after everyone else got ready and left, I was left alone, on the ship, with a baby. A very calm baby, thankfully. A baby that still didn't have a name for some reason. A baby that I refused to acknowledge as my son, but was still a baby and still needed to be cared for. So basically I just hung out in the clone's room and watched tv while he sat in his crib. On one channel there seemed to be a marathon of that hospital drama playing, I didn't remember most of the episodes aside from the running gag involving that one doctor's car.
In one episode the apparently slightly inebriated pilot of the medevac helicopter, accidently knocked an air-conditioning unit off of the roof of the hospital, guess what it lands on, the rest of the episode involves the hospital trying to function on a hot summer day without air-conditioning.
Another episode, the doctor struggles to find a parking spot in the beginning, finally finds an empty one fairly close to the entrance. The episode proceeds as normal with a story that seemed to be about a dying old man, all I could tell was that it was about this old guy that passes away near the end, but then at the very end when it seemed that for once this guy's car might survive. The doctor walks out of the hospital and finds that his car has been completely melted due to the sun reflecting off of a nearby skyscraper.
In another episode right at the end he accidently shifts into reverse and backs the car out of a multi-level parking garage, the episode ends on a freeze-frame of the car flying backwards through the air to its inevitable demise.
In another episode one of the patients is a little crazy and tries to escape, he breaks into the doctor's car, hotwires it and takes it on a high speed chase through the city. Despite it being parked between two much more attractive convertibles, both with the top down and keys in the ignition. He decides to take the doctor's car for reasons unknown. The chase went on until the police eventually boxed him in. This guy must have been a violent convict of some sort because the police didn't hesitate to shoot the ever-loving crap out of him and the car, which then caught fire and exploded.
After those episodes another show came on that didn't seem very interesting at the moment so I went channel surfing for a bit until I found another news channel that was filming the Zelusian militaries attempt to examine the strange phenomenon at the edge of the known universe.
Using a series of fuel hauling ships they took two fully loaded battlecruisers as well as two other fuel haulers for a hasty retreat, and jumped them to the edge of the known universe. Both refueling ships were equipped with cameras so you could see the large triangular battlecruisers cruise through space.
The screen was split down the middle so you could see from both cameras at the same time. Ahead of the ships was an increasingly large black void through which no stars could be seen, not like a black hole, which has a noticeable ripple effect, just a cloud of solid black. The next thirty minutes or so was extremely boring as they consisted of the ships just silently moving towards the void which got larger and larger until it eventually surrounded everything. There was no way to know if the ships were even moving anymore. The camera panned around, observing every inch of the battlecruiser alongside it. Until it snapped to the very leading edge of the ship where there was a little weather antenna radar stick thing. The edge of which slowly started to vanish, then the bow, then almost the entire front quarter of the ship, there was an electrical explosion, but even the fire from it started to vanish. Both battle cruisers started to disintegrate while all the ships scrambled to activate their jump drives, but before they could activate them bits of the battlecruisers' reactor cores started to disappear triggering a huge explosion which not only detonated the battlecruisers but also took out the cameras. The broadcast then went back to the newsroom, where the worried-looking anchors struggled to explain what just happened, before cutting back to another camera at the previous refuel point where both of the badly damaged refuel ships managed to jump to, wildly spinning around on fire from the force of the explosions.
Over the next few hours, the ships were stabilized, fires were extinguished, rescue teams were sent in and survivors were recovered, people rejoiced at the miracle that their cargo of fuel rods didn't detonate.
Out of a total of 2500 souls across all four ships sent to investigate, 50 to each refueler and 1200 to each battlecruiser only 89 survived, the battlecruisers were a total loss, and the refuel ships were too badly damaged to return to service. Due to the coordinates where the prior exploration teams had lost contact, they were able to confirm that this mass was moving. This, combined with this disaster escalated the situation from a phenomenon, to an active threat. There was definitely something out there, but whatever it was, was a mystery. This event was not taken lightly, every news channel in Zelusian space focused on it for weeks, eventually the U.S.C caught wind and it made its rounds there as well. Which meant that nearly every civilization with access to space fairing technology in the "known universe" knew of its existence.
The baby woke up about an hour later, I tended to his needs and watched tv with him once I finally had him quieted down, eventually he fell asleep again so I returned him to his crib. He was still very young so he wasn't much trouble. Unlike Charley, there was no need to worry about him wandering to somewhere he shouldn't, or randomly teleporting out of his crib. I just had to keep the tv at a low enough volume so that he could sleep.
Evenually, Phoebe returned earlier than expected with everyone but Zari. They all had these long dresses on, looking like they were ready to go to prom.
"Why is she still here and where did Zari go?" I asked.
"Did you see the news?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah a couple of ships exploded. So? You all look amazing by the way." I said.
"Yeah a couple of ships Cj, with a lot of Zari's old friends on them. She's really worried, she has a lot of calls she has to make, and she even said she might have to leave for a while." Phoebe said.
"Is my baby ok?" The clone asked as she gestured towards her baby.
"Yeah he woke up a couple hours ago, but then he fell asleep again, he's been pretty quiet, I'm impressed." I said.
"Oh don't worry baby mommy came back for you." She said as she scooped him up.
"Don't do that, he's asleep." I said.
The baby woke up and started to cry.
"Remember what I told you about how to hold him and don't pick him up if he's asleep." Phoebe said.
"Sorry." She apologized.
"Stupid." Kitty said.
"Oh be nice, you've had more than your fair share of moments too." Phoebe said a she entered the room to help the clone calm the baby down.
"You like my dress Cj?" Kitty asked. "Or did she give me an ugly one again?"
"Nah you look great don't worry about it." I said. She looked really different wearing a long black dress that really complemented her features, it was hard to look away.
"So all your normal clothes and the nazar nail are safe in the digivice right?" I asked.
"Mhm." She replied.
"You almost look human." I said.
"Yeah, but I can still use my powers like this." She said.
"Except for the nazar nail." I said.
"Yeah except for that." She replied.
"These clothes also aren't as durable." Saphy said. "They also won't repair themselves if we're healed, or anything really."
"Do you get hurt if your clothes get damaged?" I asked.
"No, but, it's like your hair, if you cut it off you wouldn't feel it, but it is a part of you." Saphy explained.
"You'd just be bald." Kitty said.
"Yep." I replied.
"Cj you and I need to go to the bar to make sure Zari doesn't do something stupid." Phoebe said as she approached us. The clone was quietly and lovingly holding her baby.
"Allright then let's go." I replied.
"Kitty, Saphy, don't change your clothes back yet, we'll be back in a few hours." Phoebe said as I took her hand and we walked away.
"Awwwe, I hate wearing shoes." Saphy complained.
"You'll get used to it." Kitty replied. "Besides you need to think about that when you digivolve you might have shoes all the time, or you might not have legs. Maybe you'll just become a giant ugly blob monster."
"Now you're making me scared to digivolve." Saphy replied.
"Oh relax, you can always just go back to this form." Kitty said. "And it worked out well for me, so I doubt Ophanimon slacked off when it came to your next form.
I went with my wife over to this bar where a very well dressed, but somewhat depressed Zari was getting well and truly hammered.
To put things simply, we were a little too late and pretty much had to carry her back to our ship, we put her in her bed and planned to just let her sleep it off.
"Maybe tomorrow things will go more smoothly." Phoebe said as we headed back to our room.
"Was that one of your things they flew into?" I asked.
"No Cj, why in the name of Arceus would I ever make something like that? I don't know what that thing is, but it can't be good." Phoebe replied.
"It's Deusmon." Saphy said, standing in the doorway of Kitty's room as we passed her by.
"It is?" I asked.
"It has to be, Kitty and I watched the video a hundred times while you were gone, it looked like the ships were digitized then absorbed, something only deusmon could do.
"Well if it is then what are we going to do about it? That thing ate a battlecruiser." I said.
"You can't, not when he's that powerful, this universe is doomed." Saphy said.
"It is not doomed Saphy, all we have to do is go back in time and back into the digital world, and stop him. I just hope they get done with my time machine before that." Phoebe said.
"So all this means is we don't have as much time as we thought." I said.
"We should still have enough though, he's pretty far away." Phoebe said.
"The more he eats the faster he gets and he won't stop until he has devoured all." Saphy said.
"Are you just making that up?" I asked.
"No it's for real." Saphy said.
"Well we can't really do jack until Phoebe's time machine is ready, so yeah." I replied.
"We'll check on it after this." Phoebe said.
"Fuck if the universe gets stuck on this doomsday thing it's going to be impossible to find somebody for her." I pointed out.
"It's not a doomsday thing, not yet." Phoebe said.
"You might have to use your ship just to convince them this is normal." I said.
"Possibly." Phoebe replied.
"Saphy, Kitty, why don't you come back to our room with us." Phoebe said.
"Are you sure Pheebles?" I asked.
"Things are going crazy, let's just have a little bit of fun." Phoebe said.
"I'm not really in the mood anymore Pheebles, seeing Zari like that kind of killed it for me." I replied.
"Oh ok, some other night then." Phoebe said without putting up any fight whatsoever.
"Yeah some other night." I said.
So we just watched tv for a bit and snuggled like the night before.
"Hey Pheebles do you think Saphy is right and that thing is deusmon?" I asked my beloved who was now changing into a new nightgown she must have convinced Zari to buy for her somehow. Seeing her in it really took me back.
"She seems very convinced that it is. If it was Kitty saying it I'd have my doubts, but when Saphy says something she usually knows what she's talking about. Besides I don't know what else it could be, it's too weird shaped to be a black hole. And the way those ships started disappearing piece by piece doesn't fit a black hole either. So it can't be one." She replied.
"True. They didn't get all spaghettified they just vanished bit by bit." I replied.
"You like my new night gown?" She asked.
"I love it baby, it's been so long since you've worn one." I said. "How many clothes did you get Zari to buy for you?"
"Oh, just this and the dress, and some shoes." She said.
"Oh ok." I replied as she crawled in bed next to me.
"Did you even make it to the club?" I asked.
"Um, no actually. We just got our nails done and were on our way, but they started broadcasting the disaster on the ceiling and then Zari started freaking out." Phoebe replied.
"Well maybe tomorrow you will." I said.
"Maybe." She replied.
"They're still talking about it on tv." I said.
"Mhm." She replied.
"On every single channel." I continued.
"A lot of people died." She said.
"Let's just turn it off and try to get some sleep." I said.
"Ok." Phoebe replied.
"Did you see Saphy's toes she got them painted." Phoebe asked after the light went out.
"Yeah, it's kinda hot. I never thought blue on blue would work so well, but I guess her skin is just green enough to pull it off." I said.
"Her skin is really more of an aqua." Phoebe said.
"Yeah." I replied.
"Aranea's was more of a silver blue, I had to show her what nail polish was at first, but she started out just painting her nails jet black, but then one day I come back to our room on the ship and she's sitting on the couch in nothing but a towel and she had them painted in like this light purple color, and damn it was hot."
"Well maybe I should try it then." She said.
"Oh Pheebles, you could pull off any color, so you might as well just stick with our favorites like you have been." I said.
"Oh ok, if you say so. Goodnight Cj I love you." She replied.
"Love you too baby girl." I said before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.
We both fell asleep sometime later.