“Things look quiet, particularly in Bizarro World. They’re all good there.”
“Good. I’m sure all the other worlds where we are matter, too, but we haven’t met anyone from them, so it’s harder to care.”
“Yeah.” As we got into the elevator, considered telling Chuckie about the black mass I’d seen, but since I had no idea what it was or what, if anything, to do about it, decided there was no reason to worry someone else about it. Instead, described the future world, since I knew he’d like hearing about that one.
“Who are you married to in that world?” he asked as we got out. “And how many kids?”
“You scored the big win in Futuristic World and we have just a tonnage of kids, which kind of surprised me, since you’d think that in a world that sleek and high-tech there would be some moratorium on how many kids every family could have.”
“Maybe there’s enough abundance that it’s possible,” he suggested. “Or we’ve colonized the solar system. Or we got special dispensation.”
“Any of those could happen, or something else entirely. It’s hard for me to gather a lot of nuance.”
He laughed. “I’m sure. I can understand why Jamie in the other world wanted to just watch the mirrors all day. It must be fascinating.”
“In a way. I’m usually too busy to take a lot of time with it and I’m looking for dangerous stuff happening to or around me and Jamie, so for me it’s kind of like work versus fun.”
We reached the cargo hold and went in. It had the gifts from the Cradi and the Eknara’s shuttle and yet still looked fairly empty.
“I think we can move the Orange Scourge,” Chuckie said. We went to the lead container. Being made of lead, it was hard to open. Luckily I was enhanced, because it took both of us.
There was a lot of Orange Scourge in here. “Have we not been giving this to the rabbits and least weasels?”
“I have no idea. Mother?”
“Yes, Charles?”
“What’s the situation with the Orange Scourge here?”
“SuperBun requested that we not give it to the animals until we were on the way to Ixtha.”
Chuckie and I looked at each other. “Now, why would he have asked that?” I asked.
“You said SuperBun, not SuperStar,” Chuckie said. “Does that mean this request happened before that merging?”
“Yes, Charles. SuperBun requested that after we first left Cradus.”
“Why didn’t you mention it?”
“Because it did not appear to be a dangerous request. Was my interpretation wrong?”
“No, not at all that we can tell. Can we get this into wherever you store foodstuffs, though? Chuckie and I want to use the lead container to hold the Anti-Mother.”
“That is a good plan,” Mother said. “I will ask the young adults to help you move the produce.”
“Where are all the kids, anyway?” Mother of the Year here had forgotten to check on her younger children, or keep track of her older one.
“In the Observation Lounge, enjoying the sights and spending time with the majority of the Ignotforstans while they still can. Since we are not traveling at warp speed, there are things to see, and since we’re in their part of the galaxy now, the Ignotforstans are educating the children about the various celestial bodies we are passing.”
“Super. Should we really pull the older kids away from that, then?”
“They can use the responsibility.” The com turned off.
“Wow, you named her right,” Chuckie said.
“Go team.”
We unloaded the Orange Scourge from the container. We just finished getting the last of it out when those young adults appeared. Lizzie, Wasim, Clinton Kramer, Louise, Sidney, Claire, and Anthony Valentino. Realized something.
“Um, Mother?”
“Yes, Kitty?”
“When we first took off, you said that we have a dozen young adults on board.”
“Yes.”
“Um, I count seven, not twelve. So, who were the other five you were referring to?”
“I included Chase Maurer, Raymond Lewis, Kimberly Price, Cassidy Maurer, and Rachel Lewis in my first count. Having observed them and their interactions with the others, I have reprogrammed myself to consider them neither young adults nor children.”
“Well, Chase is thirteen and Raymond and Kimmie are both almost twelve, but they’re still children to us. And they’re kind of far away from Anthony, who is our youngest young adult.”
Clinton laughed. “Mav’s going to be upset if he ever finds out that he didn’t make the presumed young adult cut. Especially when Rachel did.”
Lizzie grimaced. “No one tell Maverick about this. That’s an order.”
“Oh, yes, boss,” Sidney said with a grin.
Claire sniffed. “Lizzie’s not wrong and you know it. Mav’s feelings will be hurt.”
“I wasn’t saying we weren’t going to follow orders,” Sidney said, grin still going strong. “Now, Anthony, he might not listen to Lizzie. But I’m always faithful.”
Anthony gave his brother a dirty look. “As if I don’t listen?”
“Everyone’s awesome,” Lizzie said, shooting Wasim a “why me?” look. Wasim winked at her, but as soon as she turned away he looked sad. The kids kept on ribbing each other about listening to Lizzie or not, though Louise, as the eldest, remained above it. Mostly.
“My God,” Chuckie murmured to me as he watched them, Wasim in particular. “It’s like reliving high school.”
Nudged against him. “Yeah. There are times I think I can never apologize to you enough.”
He nudged me back. “It’s okay. You’re still my best friend, and that still means the world to me. And it honestly helps to know that, in other worlds, we’re together. In this one, things are different. And that’s okay, because I wouldn’t trade the short time I had with Naomi for anything. Nor would I trade what Nathalie and I have, either.”
“That’s good, ’cause I hadn’t really noticed before, but guess who you’re married to in, literally, every world where you’re not married to me?”
He stared at me. “Really?”
“Scout’s honor. So, you’re with the ‘other woman’ you’re supposed to be with. Don’t screw it up.”
He laughed. “Not me. Not her, either.” He looked at Wasim again. “I hope it works out the way it’s supposed to.”
“Not one way or the other?”
“Nope. I can extrapolate how different our world would be if you’d married me instead of Jeff. And our world is a lot better because you joined Centaurion Division. So, how it should be is fine with me.”
We loaded the young adults up with Orange Scourge. “Keep it somewhere safe and clean,” I told Lizzie, “but figure we’re going to be breaking it out for the bunnies and least weasels sooner as opposed to later.”
“Got it, Mom,” Lizzie said, in her Patented Teenager Exasperated With Adults Voice. This time it didn’t really bother me, because she’d called me Mom in front of the others and no one had reacted in any weird or even slightly surprised way. “We’re not babies.” She rolled her eyes at me with a laugh, then sashayed off, the others following behind.
“You’ve done well,” Chuckie said when they were out of the hold. “And, for a kid you didn’t actually birth, my God is she like you.”