{Earth}

At the double sinks of Pablo’s apartment bathroom, the happy couple brushed their teeth. The two made eyes at each other as they washed the taste of the other one out of their mouths. It seemed the polite thing to do before facing the high-strung crowd of soldiers, strategists, and barely twenty-year-olds running the Two Worlds.

Lynn asked as she finished dressing, “Are you ready for this?”

Pablo spit in the sink and answered honestly, “Never. I’ll worry about you constantly.”

“Don’t.” She kissed his shoulder. “We’re getting it right this time. Conscience said so.”

“Has the arsenal responded yet?”

She emerged from the walk-in closet in an all-black carbon fiber jumpsuit. Catsuit was more like it. Partially unzipped, the woven material gripped to her curves like his hands wanted to right now. “Not yet. But they will. And they’ll say ‘yes.’” She even fired a finger gun at him with a wink. After bundling her locs into a tucked bun, she blew him a kiss. “See you at the meeting, my sexy fantasy doctor.” All that beautiful cleavage left with her.

Damn, Pablo loved her. And that outfit distracted him from the worry so badly, he forgot to say goodbye. What was maturity?

No time to chase her. His super secret patient probably arrived downstairs already, waiting on him. He grabbed one of many lab coats to cover his gray scrubs and headed for the sublevels of Med Lab 1. He locked all the doors behind him with a blood seal to protect the patient’s privacy. As he walked to the exam room, he tried to keep the excitement out of his step. It wasn’t everyday he got to run a pregnancy test.

Sagan already sat on the exam table when he opened the door. She set the trademark axes aside. “Thanks for meeting me, Doc.”

“Anytime—”

“I’m just so nervous, you know?” Her voice grew more shrill the longer she talked. Hand gestures more frantic. “Everything’s going down and there I am passing out like my blood sugar is low. Hearing voices in the Seam. I’ve been having so much unprotected sex with Korac. And we tried this one position that I’m pretty sure did the job—”

Pablo pressed a hand firmly over her mouth. “Please stop.” He removed his hand at her nod. “Deep breath.”

She did.

“It’s very unlikely you’re pregnant.” He wheeled over on the stool and took her temperature. “Nacres function differently for women. They constantly monitor your hormones in a way that replaces your menstrual cycle. When your mental state and your hormones align, the nanocomputer allows fertility. Basically, you have to consciously and subconsciously invite it.”

Sagan’s nose crunched when she frowned as she processed it. “Tameka wanted—I mean, I love Pax, but—”

“Fury kindly shared her experience with me for medical knowledge. She conceived pre-nacre. Apparently during that eighteen hours on the train. She also over-shares.” Pablo gave Sagan a smile. “After the nacre, she chose to keep him.” He wheeled away and returned with the blood sample gun. “Just a pinch, and I can run some tests.”

Sagan held out her arm and looked anywhere but at the gun. “Of course, she did. She loved Xelan—loves, I mean. Besides, getting an abortion amid Volcano Day… Impossible.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“No, that’s not what I mean.” He rolled over and placed the sample in vials containing test liquids. “Women can choose to terminate the pregnancy. Like Celindria did in Nox’s Verse.”

“How?”

“Opposite of the circumstances of conception and incubation. Consciously and subconsciously end it. Hormones out of balance, malnourishment, and… almost willing it to stop existing. The computer recognizes the signs and recycles the energy.”

While silence stretched between them, the tests ran in the centrifuge with a gentle hum.

Out of nowhere, Sagan confessed, “I’m thinking of getting a tattoo like yours. For me and Korac.”

Pablo laughed. “Copycat.” He glanced down at her chest. “Where’s your chain?”

“Oh, Matt’s holding onto it for me. I keep forgetting it. Probably the light-headedness.” She played with her overgrown bangs while they waited. Her violet eyes crossed cutely as she focused on them.

Still, her carelessness concerned Pablo. “Rayne wouldn’t like that.”

After an emphatic chuff, Sagan agreed, “No, she certainly wouldn’t. I promise I’ll get it back. I haven’t visited her in a few days. How is she?”

“We’re testing her blood samples against the virus and the disabler. Our hope is that the latter can stop the Weapon. Or—at the very least—lessen the side effects.”

That got Sagan grinning. “Fingers crossed.”

Pablo returned the smile and explained, “The vaccine is another matter. We’re almost there. Silence and Twenty-One are invaluable.” He chuckled as he reflected, “Lynn thinks we’re adopting them—Oh, we’re finished. Hmm…” He frowned as he scrutinized the results. “You’re severely malnourished. Are you skipping meals or forgetting to hydrate?”

“Doc.”

He turned around and faced her. “Sorry, what?”

“Am I pregnant?” Sagan looked beyond exasperated.

Shaking his head, Pablo answered, “No. I’m not sure if you’ll find that good news or bad.”

With a relieved sigh, she nodded. “Neutral, I promise. This isn’t the best time for it when I’m ferrying people around.” The neglectful Seamswalker hopped off the table and clapped once. “Well, I appreciate your help—”

“Sagan. You’re starving. You’re not leaving here without a banana bag. Maybe three.” Pablo suspected as much and brought some of the vitamin-packed bags for that exact reason. He nodded to the plate on her chest. “And I’m testing that thing. I need to know if it’s draining you. Plus, you never know. That kind of technology might prove medically useful.”

“Okay. No arguments from me. Set me up.” The Progeny woman hopped back onto the table and held out her arm, looking away. To distract herself, she asked, “What about Sol’s radiation? Did we ever solve that?”

Pablo concentrated on the line insertion without further agitating her obvious phobia. He found it endearing that Sagan feared needles, given who she was dating. “We’re making improvements, and so far the planet isn’t in major decline. Between Xelan’s journals and my work with Andrew, we’re figuring out how to convert light from Li through Elden’s Sphere to imitate ideal growth conditions on Cinder. But don’t tell anyone. That’s a long-shot, and I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up.”

She beamed again. “Wow. Imagine that? I’ve always admired the way Elden and Xelan described Cinder. Or I guess Xelan’s mom. Savis passed it down to him. And then he passed it down to us. Do you think this is what he wanted? Us to save it?”

With the first bag hanging for the IV drip, Pablo set to cleaning the room. “I want to believe we’re on the right track. I think…” He cleared the emotion choking his voice. “I think Rayne is where we failed the most.”

Sagan snapped to him. Her eyes glistened already. “What do you mean?”

The words he left unspoken for years rushed out of him all at once. “I don’t think he’d want her in that box. Alone. In pain every hour. I haven’t gone to see her in two years.”

“Oh, Pablo…”

Once the train got rolling, Pablo couldn’t make it stop. “I can’t look at her like that. She went through so much for us. From the very start, she led us through this bullshit—Sorry. I don’t talk much about it. We have so much else to keep us busy.”

The Seamswalker took the doctor’s hand and squeezed it. Now her voice was thick with emotion. “She chose that for us. Believe me. She wouldn’t want us wasting a second grieving her decision. Not when that energy could be spent solving problems, right?”

“Right.”

She gave his hand an encouraging shake. “So, we press on. One day, she’ll get out. And because of your research, you could make it happen. Don’t let it discourage you. Let it do the opposite. We fight for her. And we fight for Xelan.”

“And we’ll never stop—No. Sit your ass back down. I’m loading another bag.” He hopped and started the next one.

“Yes, Doctor Spazoid.”

“I love you, too, Seamswalker.”