by Ben Winston
Jenny didn’t reply, but got a soft smile on her face.
Cindy, with the Laskars in tow, arrived just as Beth was sliding out of the chamber.
“Whew! That does feel much better!” then she saw the looks on the faces around her. “What?”
Ian stepped forward, and took her by the hands and pulled her to her feet. “Oly display Beth’s original scan, please.”
Beth looked closely at the scan that appeared on the monitor. She turned white as she realized what she was looking at. She was opening her mouth to say something but Ian stopped her. “Now, Oly, please display her last scan.”
Once again Beth turned to the monitor but this time she seemed to study it intently. “It’s gone,” she said softly. She turned around and hugged Ian desperately. “The breast cancer is gone!”
“WHAT?!” Cindy cried.
Since Ian and Beth, now with Jenny, were busy hugging and kissing, Oly took it upon himself to explain what the scanners had found and what was done about it. When Cindy had finally calmed down, she rounded on Beth.
“I’m so mad at you! You’re a doctor! You preached and preached to me about doing breast exams all the time. Didn’t you ever do them on yourself?”
Beth sighed deeply. “I love you, Cindy,” she said. “And I’m sorry.” Beth held her arms open and Cindy was in them so fast no one even saw her move.
“Don’t you dare die on me! Ever!” Cindy sobbed into her lover’s shoulder.
Beth held her for a few minutes, but then let her go and patted the table. “Jump up here and lay down. I want a scan of your body to make sure you're okay too.” She turned and saw the Laskar family. “One of you, hop up on the other one. I guarantee you’ll feel a lot better once you wake up.”
“Uh, wake up?” Janet asked.
Jenny took her hand and pulled her over to the machine. “The autodoc will give you a check-up, then cleans your system of all the toxins we picked up from Earth. You have to be asleep for about five minutes, unless there’s something else wrong. Beth was out for almost twenty minutes because of the breast cancer.”
Oly explained once again about the treatment the autodoc would give them. Though Bill was hesitant, Janet hopped up on the table.
When Cindy and Janet were finished, Julie took Cindy’s spot, but Bill hung back, “Uh, Beth, can you do mine in private please?”
Beth didn’t even hesitate. “You heard him, everyone out. Would you mind if Janet stayed with you, Bill?”
Bill nodded, “She can stay.”
Ian, Jenny and Cindy trooped out the door, “We’ll wait out here,” Ian said before the medbay door closed.
Bill walked over and hopped up on the table. “I’m sorry to be such a wimp, but I had an accident a few years ago, and I’d prefer no one else saw it.”
“You have every right to your privacy, Bill. Don’t feel bad about invoking it,” Beth told him. “Now, just lay back and let’s see if we can help you.”
Bill went into the machine and was shortly asleep. Janet watched him go under before turning back to Beth. “He’s very self-conscious about his problem. A server or something fell on him shortly after Jenny was born and crushed his testicles. It kinda mangled his penis too, so it’s not the most attractive penis in the world. He and Julie had planned to have more kids but that accident dashed that hope.”
“Do they know you’re in love with them?” Beth said as she entered data into the machine.
Janet smiled at her. “I think Julie might be getting that idea, but Bill is completely clueless.”
“I could make a good argument for females being clueless too, case in point stands right outside that door. Jenny was just as clueless as Ian was.” Beth looked intently at the two scans now displayed on her monitors. Julie’s was okay, but the damage to Bill was pretty obvious. She told the machine to proceed with the detox and re-sequencing on both patients, but pulled up the treatment options the computer was suggesting for Bill. “That’s interesting,”
“What?” Janet asked.
“The computer is offering a suggested treatment to correct and re-grow Bill’s testicles. It also says there is a surgical technique to remove the scar tissue and reform the penis,” Beth replied.
“But you’re not a surgeon, are you?” Janet asked.
“Actually, I am. I chose private practice so I could raise my kids. However, the method involved here would be done by the computer since the laser scalpel would have to make precision cuts. The interesting part of this is that there is enough viable tissue in Bill’s testicles that there is an eighty-two percent chance he could still father children,” Beth said.
Janet smiled. “That’s great! That means Julie can get pregnant again. She really wanted another child before it got too late. I wish I could still get pregnant, I’d love to give him a child too.”
Beth grinned at her, “Don’t count yourself out of it quite yet. Your fields are still plenty fertile, and according to the computer, they will be for some time yet to come.”
Janet looked at her like she was crazy. “Beth, come on now, I’m starting menopause, and I’m closing in on fifty years old.”
“Nonsense, you’re only forty-six, and healthy as you can be, now. Talosian women are still having children well into their second hundred years. Uh, did we forget to mention that you’re going to live a lot longer now?” Beth grinned.
“Just how old can we get?” Janet asked somewhat stunned.
“Standard lifespan for a Talosian is two-hundred fifty to three hundred years,” Beth told her.
“...and you can fix Bill?” Janet asked.
“There is an eighty-two percent chance I can fix him up, yes. If nothing else, he’ll have a penis back that he won’t be ashamed about.” Beth said.
“Can you do it now?” Janet asked.
Beth shook her head. “No, sorry, I need to do more studying, and the treatment for his testicles will take a few days in here to complete. The surgery alone will take him out for a couple of days.”
“I think I’ll sit them down and do some talking,” Janet said. “I think it’s time I gave Bill a clue.”
“If you want me there to explain things, just let me know when,” Beth told her.
Chapter Ten
“Ian? You can come back in now. We’re finished,” Beth said when she stuck her head out of the door. “I’d like you to pull out the portable AD unit over here, and help me move Talena over to it.”
Cindy looked into the chamber that held Talena, “Is that her? She’s absolutely beautiful!”
“Down girl, she’s going to be having enough trouble as it is,” Beth said. “Ian wants to adopt her.”
“I only said she's beautiful, I didn't say I wanted to do anything with her,” Cindy asked.
“Move Brat, I need to lift her out of there,” Ian said as the table holding Talena slid out.
Julie caught her breath and Janet just stared. Julie said, “She is beautiful. If she had wings, she’d look just like a fairy.”
Ian set her in the portable autodoc unit, and covered her with a blanket before letting the lid close over her.
“Spoil sport,” Cindy said and stuck her tongue out at Ian.
“Did we create a monster when we detoxed her?” Jenny asked Beth.
“I guess we’ll find out when we get into bed tonight. I’m starting to hope Ian can make good on his boast about wearing her out,” Beth said.
“Hah! Never happen,” Cindy said grinning.
“We’ll see,” Ian said as he guided the autodoc out of the medbay. The Laskars were chuckling at the playing.
The trip down was interesting. Once the autodoc was loaded and secured, Ian drove the hummer back into the hold then took Cindy by the hand and started to lead her into one of the bedrooms. Just before he closed the door, he looked back at Jenny and winked, “You have the con.”
Jenny chuckled as she replied to the order, “I have the con.” She asked Oly to take them home.
“We are arr
iving, sir,” Oly reported.
“Thank you, Oly. What time is it? I left my watch at home,” Ian asked.
“Four-thirty-two a.m.”
“Thank you, do you want to put the hummer back in the garage, or should I?” Ian asked.
“You are tired, Sir, perhaps I should do that. You will have to help guide the portable autodoc unit into the house.”
“True. Do we have an extra holodrone on board? I’d like one to stay near the PAD (Portable Autodoc Unit) unit just in case someone comes over,” Ian said.
“I can replicate one, sir.”
“That'll work. So, let’s get this show on the road, or should I say, off the road. Wake up ladies, we’re home.”
The expected groans from the girls surprisingly didn’t happen, they stretched, yawned and rolled out of bed. Ian had already pulled his cover-all on, and was pulling on his boots when Cindy just threw her clothes over her shoulder and walked out of the room.
“That girl has no modesty at all,” Beth chuckled.
Over a yawn Jenny asked, “At four thirty in the morning, who’s going to see us?” She stood and followed Cindy with her clothes in her hand.
Beth smiled, and picked up her boots. She had been pulling her cover-all on as well, but didn’t zip them. She kissed Ian and followed the other girls. Ian just shook his head and trailed along behind Beth.
Jenny had entered the other stateroom and roused her parents and Janet, and was strutting languidly toward the cargo area where Talena rested in the autodoc.
Ian removed the straps that held the unit in place and pushed it down the ramp and into the garage. When he turned, he saw the Laskars walking slowly down the ramp.
“You guys gonna be okay to get home?” Ian asked.
“Yeah, it’s only four blocks.” Bill said tiredly. “Thanks for the great evening, and the foresight to have us take today off as well. We’ll call you later, k?” Bill said over a huge yawn.
Ian nodded, and kissed the women on the cheek, as they walked to their car. He looked up at the shuttle, “Okay Oly, we’re clear of the shuttle.”
The ramp closed and the shuttle disappeared from sight. Ian hit the garage door opener button to close the door as he pushed the autodoc into the house. Beth had him put it in Cindy’s old room, then spent a few minutes fussing over it.
Ian turned to walk to their bedroom unzipping his suit as he went. He pulled off his boots, and dropped them outside his bedroom door, then shucked off the suit and dropped it on top of the boots. He staggered into the bedroom and crawled between Jenny and an already snoring Cindy. He was asleep too by the time Beth came in to be wrapped in Jenny’s loving arms.
Talena was lying on a soft, warm bed. But didn’t she just go to sleep in a cryo-unit? The Commander’s plan! It must have worked, which meant she was still alive. The tears started even before she opened her eyes. Her mother and Starlen were gone, killed by the damn war. Talena wanted to die too, so she could join them.
The sight that greeted her eyes when she did open them almost made her doubt her earlier thought that she hadn’t died. Because right in front of her was... It couldn’t be her, she died in engineering, but yet, the woman smiling sadly at her looked so much like... “Momma?”
“I’m sorry honey, no, I’m Doctor Williams. How are you feeling?” Beth replied.
“You look like my mother, sound like her too. How can you be a Doctor? You are an Engineer.” Talena asked.
Movement drew her eyes to a very familiar face. “Olympus! Why is Momma saying she’s a Doctor?”
“Talena do you remember the plan the Commander told you about before you went into cryo-sleep?” Oly asked.
“Yes, I remember asking him if I could follow Momma and Starlen. He asked me to go to sleep instead, and help the new Commander after I woke up. But Olympus, I wasn’t supposed to wake up!”
“I know you did not want to, Talena, but the new Commander and his family are hoping you might want to join them,” Oly said.
“I’m too young to bond with anyone, you know that Olympus. Besides, I don’t know them,” the silver-haired girl said.
Ian knelt down by Olympus and spoke in to her in English. “Talena, we know you wouldn’t want to bond with us, the offer is to join our family, so you have someone in our time. My name is Ian Williams, I am the new Commander of Olympus.”
Talena frowned at him, and turned back to Olympus, “I am very confused. My mother thinks she’s a Doctor, and Commander Zeus is claiming to be the new Commander? Could you explain this to me, preferably very slowly, so I don’t miss it? I’m feeling rather stupid right now.”
Ian turned his head and coughed to keep from laughing in the girl’s face. Olympus rose and the girl followed him with her eyes. “This is Doctor Elizabeth Hayes-Williams of the planet Earth. Her bond-mate, Commander Ian Williams,” He indicated Ian who nodded to her, Olympus moved over to a very pretty young women that made Talena’s heart thump. “This young woman is their bond-mate Cadet Cindy Swift-Williams, and finally the ship’s first officer, and bond-mate to the first three, Colonel Jennifer Laskar-Williams.” Olympus raised his hand to forestall Talena’s denial that these where not those people. “I know that they look very much like those you knew as the Commander, his bond-mate and first officer, and your mother, but they are not. You were in cryo-sleep a lot longer than we had thought you would be.”
Talena tried to rectify the differences in her own mind, but they kept coming back to what she knew to be the truth. She sighed. “How long was I in there, Olympus?”
Oly looked at Ian who shrugged and looked up at the women that claimed to be a doctor, who nodded. “Over four-thousand cycles. You're not actually fourteen anymore. You're physical age is closer to twenty-four.”
The number stunned Talena. No one could survive that long in cryo-sleep, the chambers were only good for a couple hundred cycles. Yet here was an authority she knew and trusted, one she knew could not lie, telling her it had happened. What was the whole age thing about? No one aged in the cryo-pods, everyone knew that.
Talena slowly nodded. “Okay, I can accept that, but what I’m having the most trouble with is that three of these people are identical to people I knew before the attack. How can I be older? I was in Cryo, you don't age in cryo.”
Oly nodded. “The cryo pods were designed for a comparatively shorter usage time than what you were in one for. You do still age while in cryo, just not very quickly. Under normal circumstances, a person in cryo would only have been in there for less than a century. The age difference in such a short time is negligible. For you, it is far more pronounced because of the extended time you spent in there.
“As for the rest, well, for all intents Commander Williams is an exact duplicate of Commander Zeus, almost a clone, although he is several decades younger than the Commander was. The same holds true for the Colonel, however, she isn’t as much of a match for Colonel Hera as Commander Williams is for Commander Zeus. As for Doctor Williams looking like your mother... I am afraid I have no explanation for that except it was a completely random occurrence.”
Talena began to notice things around her, and suddenly her eyes went wide. “We’re not aboard ship anymore are we?”
“No, sweetheart, we’re in our home on the planet. Don’t worry; you’re safe here. I won’t let anyone hurt you,” Ian said.
Talena studied Ian for a minute. “I believe you, Sir. I think things are starting to make more sense to me now, I apologize for my earlier silliness.”
“Little Kitten, you have nothing to apologize for,” Ian said and gently caressed her head.
Talena felt her heart thump when he spoke to her like that. The look in his eyes was all love and admiration; love and admiration for her. She’d only seen that in the eyes of her mother and Starlen. Even Commander Zeus had only pity in his eyes. This man was not Commander Zeus.
She swallowed hard. “Sir, may I please have something to eat and drink? I’m really hungry.”
He mov
ed his hand and brushed the hair out of her face. “You sure can, sweetheart. But you don’t need to call me ‘Sir’ when I’m off duty. Please call me Ian. We really would like you to join our family.”
Beth handed Ian a plate of poached eggs and toast, which he passed on to the girl. Beth smiled at her. “Try to eat slowly, your stomach needs to get used to real food again.” She handed over a glass of weak orange juice.
Talena looked down at the food and had no idea how to eat it. She didn’t want to make a fool out of herself in front of the Commander either. She smiled when the nice Doctor handed him a plate just like hers.
“We don’t expect you to know how to eat the food here, but that’s okay, because this stuff isn’t really all that good to eat,” Ian said, chuckling.
Talena was relieved that he wasn’t making fun of her. He was so... but he wasn’t female, and that confused her more than a little.
“Now, there are a couple different ways to eat this, I like to mash it all up like this,” He took the tool that came with the plate and began smashing the white things into little pieces. “Then I take the toast, and eat it like this.” He took one of the brown squares in his other hand and used it to scoop the smashed up stuff into the tool then lifted it to his mouth, and ate it, followed by a bite out of the... toast, he’d called it.
“Damn Beth, can’t she have any salt? This stuff tastes horrible,” he said as he made a face.
Talena laughed at the face he made.
“Sure, you’re laughing now, just wait ‘till you take a bite!” He shuddered.
She quickly copied his movements with the tool he called a fork, then she grabbed the toast and used it to push some of the mush onto the fork, then lifted it to her mouth and... ‘He really wasn’t kidding, this stuff does taste horrible’ she thought to herself.
“Take a bite of the toast, honey, it’ll help kill the taste,” Ian suggested.
After she swallowed, he offered her the glass of orange liquid.
The juice did seem to help get the taste out of her mouth, “That food is really bad,” she said.
