“And now I am back to being excited.”
Ra laughed.“Contact me again if you need what Harwin calls apep talk.”
“Where is your beautiful queen?”
“Having a nap.The baby exhausts her.” Ra sighed.“I am glad that her time is nearly here.”
“Do you have childcare arranged?”
Ra paused.“Please excuse me.I have to go.”
Orex laughed at the black screen and went to get the sizes for a child just over a decade old.He wished to sweep away any objections to his claiming Zelda as his.He pushed his departure plans back six hours and had the computer calculate a new flight path.Worlds moved.
* * * *
Zelda cleaned a bunkfor herself and got fresh bedding.Raiders really were disgusting.
She programmed the bots to scrub everything, double checked her trajectory, and settled into a pilot’s seat for a nap.Her sisters were both asleep, and that is where she talked to them.
Standing on the empty plane, she saw them and walked over.The hugs were immediate, and Zoey and Zaniah were excited.
Zelda said, “I am on the way.I should be on Aten in a few days.Zoey, you should be arriving today, and Zaniah, you are in orbit.I will get you and bring you down if they let me.”
Zoey grinned.“Big sis, you look well.We haven’t spoken in so long.I am so happy we all made it.”
Zani cocked her head.“There is something different about you.”
“Ah, do you remember that I got pregnant?”
Zoey gasped.“No.I am going to start a fund for her right now.”
Zani grinned.“Give her mine.You can get me a new one once your skin looks like skin again.”
Zoey growled.“Great.”
Zelda blinked.“What happened?”
Zani snorted.“She lit herself on fire to become a beacon.I think we are all lacking in self-preservation.”
Zelda smiled and stood with her sisters while they exchanged tales of survival for hours.When they slept, they could touch minds again, just like when they were little.Connecting from across great distances.
Zelda sat up and rubbed her eyes.She was still on course for an arrival in five days.Her sisters had been briefed as to the status of their niece, and Zelda had learned about Zoey’s melted self.The fact that she was alive at all was incredible.Zani was the only one in good shape, and she had been unconscious for travel.
She stretched and winced.One of the raiders had caught her with claws.He had picked her up with them and was surprised when she kicked back and pulled the blasters from his friends’ belts.
Zelda walked to the small med unit and checked it.She sighed.No Terran setting.She was going to have to first-aid it the old-fashioned way.She checked if there were antibiotics that she could use, but most of the ones available would turn her guts into a fluid mass.She was just hoping she got to see her daughter again.Now it had gone from a mission to survival, and her family was bad at working with their own survival.
Two days later, she was fevered, and it was hard to focus.To her surprise, she got a call from Aten.She opened the com and tried to smile politely.“Hello?Oh, shiny.”
The golden face of Harwin, Queen of Aten, filled the screen.“Zelda?You look like hell.”
Zelda chuckled and said, “I got scratched by something that didn’t wash its hands.I will make it to Aten.”
“But not much more.Fuck.Right.I am telling Orex.”
“What?What are you talking about?”The fever made it hard to concentrate.
“Orex has been tracking you.He wants you for his consort.”