The Line of the Sol Empress

Chapter 12.2

 [Moon]

Moon woke early. Celeste yawned, snuggling behind him with an arm around his torso, molding herself to his body as he lay on his side. He allowed his mind to drift back over the improbable events that led him to this point. The woman sleeping beside him had changed everything in his life.

A simple thought came to him. In these last few months with Celeste and the little ones, I have never felt so content.

Still, a more primal desire for her simmered in his loins, but he kept it locked away. For now. How could he ask that of an exhausted new mother with triplets?

Moon did what he could. Nanny-bot and he took over the late night feeding and one mid-day, using the milk substitute to give Celeste some more rest time. The babies were not fooled, but eventually they came to accept the change.

A stirring in the crib caught his ear. He carefully lifted Celeste's arm and crawled out of bed. With a grin, he slunk low across the bedroom floor, approaching the padded plastic crate that contained his quarry. He popped his head over the edge with his mouth open and eyes sparkling. Three big smiles erupted on three small faces and six legs kicked in a flurry of motion.

He turned toward Celeste, who laid on her side with half-opened eyes. "There is no chance for us now."

"What?" She propped herself up on an elbow.

"Watch this."

Moon ducked down out of the baby's view. After a moment, he jumped up to repeat the previous performance. Again, big smiles emerged and legs kicked.

Celeste put a hand to her chin, underneath a gleaming smile. "Oh, that is delightful!"

"Yeah. What was left of our hearts, they now have."

Celeste came to the makeshift baby bed and leaned over. She caught the attention of the little ones. They all rounded their lips and renewed the leg kicking. "I know what they want." She looked up at Moon. "Take one and I will nurse the other two."

"Who is the least hungry?" Moon addressed his children. None of them turned their attention away from their mother. He sighed. "Sorry, Gabriel. Your turn to wait."

Moon picked up the little boy, who pouted and let out a whimper over Moon's shoulder as they left the others behind.

They made their way to the bridge. The dim lights brightened automatically as Moon plopped down in the captain's chair. He sat Gabriel in his lap and swiveled around to face the display panels, hoping the colored display might distract the baby boy from his hunger. It worked.

"Let's see where we are." Looking up, Moon called out, "Sai, star map and telemetry."

A holographic chart appeared in front of the panels. Bright yellow dots denoted stellar objects, each with a small text box denoting name and designation. Occupied settlements or outposts were labeled in blue.

Moon pointed at the chart. "See the green triangle, Gabriel? That is us. And these are some of the outer colonies." Moon spread his hands, expanding the scale of the star map. An orange dot blinked at the far end of the chart. "And that is where we are going. To a place called Sanctuary. We will be safe there."

The baby boy stared at the colors and patterns as if he understood.

Moon brought his hands together, collapsing the scale to show only the Phoenix Star and one nearby stellar object. He was about to close the chart when something caught his eye. A cloudy shimmering object followed behind his ship, barely showing on the telemetry display.

"That's strange." He called out, "Sai, what do you make of this unknown following us about a light-hour behind?"

Sai responded over the speakers. "A spatial reflection of our quantum drive, I believe, sir. What some call a space ghost, caused by interactions between the telemetry sensors and--"