Chapter 19

Kine looked at the guitar in the store window. It was black, shiny ... and expensive. Sighing, he looked down at his sister, who was clinging to his right arm.

"You're serious."

She smiled up at him, her blond hair tied in a ponytail today with a pink ribbon.

"Yup! You get a guitar, I get a keyboard, maybe we talk some others into learning the drums or something. We can spend our time writing and playing songs!" She was practically bouncing, and seeing his expression just laughed and looked back into the storefront. "Come on! I know you used to play! It'll be fun! We need something to do while we sit and wait! Besides..." Amanda squeezed his arm tighter. " ... we can do something together this way."

Ah, thought Kine, so that was the reason. He considered. He HAD enjoyed playing guitar when he was a kid. Mostly hard fast stuff, the kind Amanda hated with a passion. Hmm ... this had possibilities.

"Tell you what," he said, stroking his chin with the hand attached to the arm without the brat attached to it. "We're gonna be on Rhea for a few more days getting supplies. You can go around asking people if they play anything or are interested in learning, and if you can get enough people willing to buy the instruments then I'll get the guitar."

Amanda jumped up and kissed his cheek, then gave him a mischievous grin.

"Well, no matter what, I have enough to get a keyboard!" With speed and determination she marched into the music store, pulling her protesting brother with her.

Lessa sat on the cargo bay floor nude, her arms resting on her crossed legs. Wendi sat in front of her, copying her position. Before the other day she had never seen a pregnant woman exposed like this before, and it was still all the younger girl could do to not stare. She kept her eyes on Lessa's calm face, and listened.

"The secret, really, is to be willing to die, but to want to survive." Wendi nodded. "You have to have the trust to run across that open field at your enemy. To know with all your heart that death is a certainty at some point, and if it comes now so be it. BUT!" Lessa struck her fist on the hard smooth floor. "Your death will not come cheap! You are not throwing your life away! You are doing it because it will achieve some goal, because drawing their fire will allow your companions to flank them, because one of you must get close enough to throw a grenade at them, whatever! Everything you do must be for a reason, a reason that will advance your goals. I sometimes fight based on instinct, true..." and Lessa smiled, " ... but I think I've trained my instinct to be pretty smart!"

Wendi smiled back. This was what she wanted. To get into the mind of this warrior she admired.

"Who trained you?"

Lessa's smile faltered. She looked down into her lap, and Wendi panicked.

"I ... I'm sorry, Mistress! Forgive me!" Lessa shook her head, and with a sigh she moved her arms behind her and leaned back. Her breasts thrust themselves forward, eyes on the arched ceiling high above them. She was silent for a few moments.

"Who trained me ... the universe did. I'm the way I am because that's what it takes to survive in the world. The weak die. Especially those who get between me and survival."

There was silence for a few moments, and Wendi wasn't sure if there would be more.

"Fuck on a fuck stick! Who turned the gravity up in here?!?"

Lessa was on her feet in an instant, with Wendi just a moment behind her (although that delay seemed forever in her mind. Would she EVER be good enough?).Both turned to face the source of the voice while getting into combat stances. A fully clothed Ger looked at them, eyes wide. His hand was on the gravity control panel next to the door, and as the girls relaxed they started feeling lighter.

"Um ... hello, ladies. Am I interrupting anything ... sexy here?" Lessa gave him a dark look, which he ignored. "Well, regardless of what you're playing at, I'm afraid we have to use the cargo bay for actual cargo. So, unless that's the way you want to greet the dock workers once that big door over there opens, you may want to dress and leave." He turned and walked over to a loader, giving it a once over before it came time to use it. Wendi and Lessa shared a glance, then laughed. Lessa walked over to where she had shed her clothes and started dressing, while Wendi just looked down at her body.

"Should I be offended that he didn't keep staring?"

Lessa chuckled, slipping her panties up her legs.

"If you care about that, I don't want to see you again." Wendi looked over at her in horror. "Your body is a weapon first. Any other use should be far from your mind, until our task is done. Even then," Lessa added, "any who don't appreciate you for what you are shouldn't concern you. Never change to please them."

Wendi nodded, and went and started dressing. It had only been Ger, after all. It's not like it had been Kine dismissing her like that...

Babies were expensive.

Oh, not to have. Not only could you get free ones just from being stupid while having sex, but now apparently you could just find them lying in the street. But, actually KEEPING them ... Jenny was now having second thoughts that they could actually do this.

Hanna was holding the now diapered and sleeping infant in her arms as they walked through the third baby store they'd come across. Cribs, toys, clothing, food ... it was all going to add up very quickly, and the more money they spent on this the less they'd be able to save up for when they eventually left the ship. Jenny lifted up the tag on a high chair that turned into a stroller.

"Maybe she can earn her keep if we charge girls for the right to babysit her." Hanna laughed, stroking their daughter's light covering of black hair. She walked over to a plastic playpen, giving it a good shake with her free hand.

"Think you can make something better than this stuff, Love? Maybe we should go to the hardware store for the big stuff and just buy the bare necessities in a place like this."

Jenny ran a hand over the playpen, then dropped to the floor and took a good look under it. It didn't look too hard, really. Hanna could make all the fabric coverings and such ... she looked up at her wife.

"OK, we can try it. Why don't we get just what we need for right now, then go home and make a list of what we really need for our cabin."

Hanna nodded.

"We should also try and find a good book on babies, then take her in for the twins to look over. If she needs any medical care we want them to be able to stock up before we leave this moon. Besides," Hanna added, smiling down at their child again, "it'll be good practice for them for when Lessa gives birth."

Jenny stood up, and leaned in to give Hanna a quick kiss. Her eyes then widened.

"We haven't named her yet!"

"I have," Hanna said, eyes on her wife, "if it's OK with you."

"Yes?"

"I wanna name her Irene, after the girl who died rescuing me."

Jenny looked into Hanna's beautiful eyes, and nodded. She looked down at the baby in her arms then, and let her fingers softly stroke the sleeping girl's cheek.

"Hi, Irene ... we're your mommies..."

Randy watched Mari pack her things.

Andy fidgeted next to him, legs kicking as the two sat on the edge of Randy's bed. He frowned at his younger brother, wishing he'd stop. Andy could be such a kid. Couldn't blame him, though. Randy was upset too.

"Do you HAVE to go?"

Mari didn't look at him. He sighed. OK, they had been ignoring her. Doing their own thing, hanging out with some of the older boys. Still, they liked her. HE liked her. Little three year old Pug had already abandoned them, taken by four girls who wanted to be his mommy. They saw him all the time, of course, played with him, but he lived elsewhere. And, now...

"Look, Mari, you can stay here. We like living with you."

"Yeah," his brother nodded. "Stay."

"Nope!" Duffle bag full, she turned to them, smiling. "Wendi said I could live with her and Sirenia! That way the two of us can train together, and other stuff! You two wanted your own room anyway!"

If they had wanted to be by themselves, he thought, they could have done so any time. There were still lots of empty cabins. Trust a girl not to understand.

"Fine," he grumbled. legs kicking in unison with Andy's. "Go."

Dropping the bag, Mari came over and hugged him. A quick hug, releasing the slightly younger boy before he could even react, doing the same with Andy.

Then ... she was gone.

The two sat, alone in the large cabin. Andy put his hands on his knees, stopping his legs.

"Maybe we can go live with Sean. I heard someone say he likes boys."

Sean was drunk.

He honestly hadn't been sure he could do it. The way things had been of late, everything he had set his mind to had been a total failure. Thus, the very idea that he could sit here at this pool table in the rec room and actually succeed at getting himself totally shitfaced should be considered as a very positive achievement. He wasn't a total loser.