Ginger Gears

Epilogue: Sporophyte

Rose cursed under her breath as she bent over the small green astro-mech droid she was working on. Her pregnant belly made it hard to move. She rubbed her lower back and shifted a little on the chair then she connected the updated memory data banks with the control module.

"Rose? They are here – are you coming?" yelled Armitage from the vestibule.

What? Already? She quickly checked her chronometer – crap, she had totally lost herself in work... again.

"Yeah, just a sec," she yelled back. She quickly closed the panel and powered the droid up. It honked proudly when it had rebooted.

She smiled. "Sure, buddy. No more GPX-tracks disappearing from your memory."

"There you are, Ro!"

Rose looked up and saw Paige standing in the doorway to the work-shop. "Hey, sis!" She beamed – it had been too long since she had last seen her.

Armitage appeared next to Paige. He was holding Allana in his arms. The toddler with reddish hair and dark brown eyes looked sleepy. It was almost her bedtime. Armitage smiled when he saw the astro-mech droid rolling back and forth on the workbench. "Oh, you have fixed C7-R9? How did you circumvent the faulty nodes in the motherboard?"

Rose got up and put her hands on her hips and grinned at him. "I just reprogrammed the access ways to the memory banks."

Paige rolled her eyes. "Ugh, you two are horrible." She glared at Armitage. "Aren't you supposed to tell Ro that she has to take it easy?"

He looked confused. "Yes, yes, I did. That's why I took care of the food while she relaxed here. Why?"

Paige threw her hands in the air. "I give up."

Now also Kaydel Ko Connix appeared, a little boy with light skin and black hair was hiding behind her.

"Hey, Bodhi!" said Rose and waved at him.

He giggled and ran away. Kaydel sighed. "How on earth does he have so much energy? I swear he runs on overcharged dilithium batteries."

Rose groaned as she stretched. "Please tell me that the food is ready – I'm starving."

Armitage smiled and fastened his grip around Allana. "Of course it's ready. Some of us are punctual."

"Blah blah blah," replied Rose and walked over to him to give him a kiss on his sassy mouth. Then she kissed Allana.

"Come here," said Paige and hugged her.

Rose then turned to Kaydel and hugged her too. "It's good to have you guys over again."

Paige cleared her throat and set her sights on Armitage. "The new engines are great – thanks again."

The tips of his ears turned pink. "Oh... eh, Rose actually built them... I just... thank you."

Kaydel went off to look for Bodhi while the others walked into the kitchen. The table had been enlarged, there were now six chairs around it.

Two large pots were standing on the table, and a wicker.

"Ah, I see you have learned to cater Tico family tastes," joked Paige as she lifted the lid of one pot. The smell of noodles with a spicy sauce filled the room.

He hesitated for a moment. "I- I wanted to try something new."

Rose's mouth started to water and she lifted the wicker's top – there were at least thirty dumplings inside.

"Have I mentioned that I love you?" she said.

"Nope, never heard of it," he deadpanned.

She laughed. "I love you."

He gave her a quick peck. "Try to leave some dumplings for our guests."

"Never!"