Chapter 7

The meeting Monday morning was very positive. I was there as was Emily but this was Lisa and Jack's show. They gathered everyone together and Lisa made the announcement. It was popular after Lisa made it clear that we weren't leaving but that getting pregnant and being a mother were her current priorities. She said, "Al has volunteered for the job of getting me pregnant promising to work hard until he is successful!" Everyone laughed heartily. She continued, "I will not totally leave but you have a new chief executive as of today. Jack, you're up here for a reason. Stand up and greet everyone in your new capacity, Mister President." She led the applause which was long and heartfelt. Emily, Linda, Angela, Red, and I stood and clapped hard. Soon everyone was standing and clapping.

Jack raised his hands for silence. "Lisa is going to be chairman of the board for our company. She won't leave for three weeks when she and Al are going back to the island where they had their honeymoon. I figure she will return after the two weeks because she's pregnant! Al is a hard working man!" Everyone laughed some more.

"I thank Al and Lisa for your confidence in me. I just want to do more of the same that you started here. We know how and will continue to grow and to be profitable. We're also going to continue to make CME a company that everyone here is proud of when they tell people where they work.

"Thanks again, I will be around talking to everyone over the next few days.

"Bend steel!" He pumped his arm into the air.

We kept our schedule renting a jet to fly down and packing only minimally for the trip. We spent it naked except for the Saturday in the middle when the cleaning and reprovisioning crew came in. On the fourth day of the first week, Stargazer said that Lisa was pregnant. We celebrated by making love. Stargazer was happy for us. He also claimed he could feel the life growing in Lisa's womb. We were thrilled but continued to enjoy our vacation. Lisa suggested that we conceive all our future children on this island. I agreed. She was wearing my favorite outfit, skin. How was I going to argue with her?

The only issue was Stargazer. When we talked to him, he sounded happy but disjointed, mixed up, confused, or something similar to that. This was more noticeable as the second week began. His voice in our minds had an echo effect and he would be absent for periods of time. I don't know how to explain the feeling in our minds. We could always feel Stargazer after we had met except for the time Lisa was being healed. She wasn't conscious so hadn't experienced most of that. I had and it felt that way but differently this time.

Sex for Lisa and me had been, was, and is a joyous thing. While on the island, we made slow, languorous love and we banged each other's brains out without missing any points in between.

It was Friday evening when Stargazer "returned" from being out of our minds most of the afternoon. I asked how he felt.

He said, "Al, Lisa, I have had a strange thing happen to me that rarely happens to my kind." He paused. "I have twinned. At least, that's the closest description that I have in your thought patterns and language. The love you have for each other and for me has loaded my mind in a way rarely known to our kind. There is another 'me' with us. I use these terms to describe something that even my kind doesn't fully understand. Please meet Lightgazer. She will be with your daughter as her partner but also connected with us.

In my head, I heard a feminine version of Stargazer's voice saying, "Al, Lisa, I am Lightgazer. Your daughter says her name is Laura. Her voice is so small right now that I don't think you can hear her but she is wonderful. She's so smart!"

I think if either of us were the type, we would have fainted. I decided that saying this was a shock would be an understatement of massive proportions! Lisa and I had discussed names and laughingly discussed naming her with an "L" first name if she were a she! A boy would be a "junior" to agree with Lisa's desire. The shocks weren't over because Lightgazer said that she and Laura liked Lightcheer and Frankie!

I wasn't sure exactly how I felt about these revelations. I decided that I would let others who had supposedly more knowledge about when life started to solve this problem for themselves and anyone else who would listen to them. I would listen to my heart and those here, Stargazer and Lisa who I knew loved me. I would not try to solve that question for others. I wasn't sure I had solved it for myself but would ride with the experience.

I recovered my senses and said, "Let's slow down a minute. First, there are two of you! Would you tell us more of that experience?"

Lisa jumped in. "I want to know about my baby. How do they know I'm having a girl and what her name is?" We were lying in bed in each other's arms and I think both of us were shivering.

I said, "I was going to build to that question. What about it though?"

Stargazer said, "Your species seems to have decidedly different views on when the spark of personhood comes into existence. We can sense a person immediately after conception though there is not even any sign of life that your species might recognize. Lightgazer heard her come into existence and responded to her. Laura's voice is weak but will grow stronger with time. She is going to be a delightful female. She feels your love strongly."

I could feel Lisa's tears on my chest and knew my eyes felt watery, too. Finally, I said, "Stargazer, tell us more about our daughter."

"She will be tall and beautiful like her mother and grandmother. She will have the fast reflexes and intelligence she will get from you both. She is looking forward to gaining more strength and talking with you. Lightgazer can hear her well and I can hear her faintly. She wants to learn to sing alto with you in church, Lisa.