Two Rimmers

Prelude part 3: Poor little blighter

Ace walked blindly into the wreckage; the emergency lighting had failed so he was almost in pitch darkness. Small fires burned near the edge of the craft. Ace picked up a twig from the ground below and placed it into a small holder on the wall; the entire room now illuminated.

He recognised the room as a medical bay. He noticed a body on one of the table and two others were on the floor, one of the helmets was off one of the simulants. The body seemed to be of a human female but he couldn't assume. Questions went through his mind what to ask the body on the bed if it was a simulant. But then, the questions faded as he heard a wail. He looked down at the floor at the two simulant bodies. He walked over to the body on the bed and then realised who the woman was. He sighed as he remembered their recent encounter. He hadn't known her that well, just that she lived on Io and had recently become pregnant. Evidence of a birth was present on the dress. He wondered where the baby was, it must have been recent, so where was it? Had the simulants taken it. The noise was louder now, and Ace realised it wasn't a cry but a shriek. He glanced below at a helmet on the floor which was now rocking.

" Huh?" he picked it up as it moved more desperately.

"Ace?" Spanners asked and walked over towards him. "What is it?"

Ace reached into the helmet and picked up a small, new-born baby girl. She wasn't wrapped in anything and seemed cold and unhappy. She squirmed and cried loudly.

"Aww, poor little blighter must be hungry." Ace smiled and place his little finger inside her mouth. She suckled happily on it, not realising that fingers couldn't lactate.

"Where's the mother?" Spanners asked, looking around,

"There." Ace said, pointing above him.

"Oh." Spanners sighed and lowered his hat.

" It must have been recent, she still has milk for her." Ace said observing her pale body as he held the baby over his shoulder. As he turned to Spanners, the child cried for its mother. Seeing her briefly, she cried louder. Ace shushed and rocked her; watching Spanners close the mother's eyes.

"What are we going to do now?" Spanners asked and looked at the small child in Ace's arms. It was helpless and homeless and almost made him cry.

"Looks like we will have to look after this little star ourselves." Ace admired the baby. She held onto his finger and cooed.

"What?!" Spanners exclaimed, leaving the ship with Ace and the baby.

"It can't be too hard looking after a baby. I've seen several women do it before."

"Women whose babies aren't yours?" Spanners raised his eyebrow,

"Yes." Ace said defiantly, "I haven't had a child with anyone. I'm always careful."

"Well, Ace, I'm not disagreeing with you, but us? Look after a baby! We can't! We haven't consulted the family and it will be hard. You're a pilot! How will you have time?!"

"It will be easy Spanners. Trust me. I've piloted several ships through meteor storms of such high severity that there isn't even a valid name for the amount of danger. How hard can a baby be?"

Ace replied and held the baby under the arms in the air. As soon as she was up in the air, the baby's eyes opened slightly and cooed. She seemed to like him a lot.

"Look, Spanners, I know who the father of the baby is, and I know that he would want his baby to go to a good home." Ace sighed, seeming to mellow,

"Aren't you going to tell him?" Spanners asked and watched as the baby surprisingly liked the air.

"He's dead. Killed in the war. He was the only person she had. If she wasn't dead now, she would have killed herself."

"Oh..." Spanners replied and looked on at Ace playing with the baby; wondering how someone who had lost their mother could be so happy with a stranger.

As they got from the ship's cover, Spanner's remembered something.

"Ace, you have a speech to make! How you going to do that with a baby? It isn't even yours! What will people think if..."

Ace grabbed some swaddling cloth from the medical cabinet and left with the baby. "I will think of something, look after Wildfire. Smoke me a kipper Spanners, I'll be back for breakfast!"