Tales From The Space Force Pt. 02

Overwhelmed by what he saw, he stopped and watched as Lucas ran a rake lightly around it. The view was completely harmonious, every detail arranged so that no one thing drew attention any more than anything else.

To his right and left, golden sand had been carefully raked so that the prong marks formed curving patterns, enhancing volcanic rocks distributed at pleasing intervals. The rocks were of different sizes and shapes, each with intriguing contours, ridges, and cracks, and they in turn were enhanced by two tastefully positioned cedar shrubs, one the right and one on the left with a wooden bench between them to sit on and enjoy the garden. He smiled as he heard the sound of the small waterfall spilling into a small pond. The sound was very comforting.

Then he smiled as he saw the one grouping, he had seen something like this before. A lone rock sitting by itself apart from where two larger stones were connected by a piece of rope, tying the larger stone to a smaller one.

Haruki remembered reading of the meaning of it, the one lone rock sitting by itself apart from the others represented humanity, placed by itself for all who are lonely to see and know they are not the only ones who must be lonely and even the most humble of objects has feeling too.

The two other stones, connected by the piece of rope, tying the larger stone to a smaller one, represented man and woman. The rope was the thread of life between them and it provided comfort though there is a distance between them. Now they are happy and have each other and they shall so as long as this place exists.

Haruki smiled; his student had become a master. He called to him and Lucas looked up and smiled to see his teacher and friend. He bowed slightly, "Nakamura san, it is so good to see you again. Welcome back."

He walked along the pebbled path and sat the rake against the wall. He took Haruki's hand and held it warmly. "We've missed you."

Haruki smiled, "As I've missed both. Your gardens are a masterpiece, I'm very impressed."

Lucas smiled as he glanced over them, "Well, I don't know about masterpiece, but I try to improve it each day."

Haruki shook his head and smiled, "Trust me, it's perfect. I've seen what you've recreated here. Since it's your interpretation of it, it should be slightly different, not a carbon copy."

Evelyn carried out a tray with the teapot, cups, cream and sugar on it, plus some small pastries to snack on. "Come on you two, tea is ready."

They joined her, Lucas giving her a kiss before he sat down and she poured the tea. Once everyone had it the way they wanted, they sat back and relaxed.

Haruki sighed after talking a sip. "That's very good Evelyn, thank you." He looked around, "It's so peaceful here."

Evelyn smiled, "Yes, it is, like I said, we love it here. We can sit out here for hours just talking."

Lucas nodded his agreement. "So, how was Japan? Did you enjoy yourself?"

Haruki nodded, "Yes it was nice to go home. But as I told Evelyn, it was so crowded and noisy now. It's much more peaceful here with no one rushing around. But I do have some good news for you both."

He took another sip of tea, then smiled, "They've finally perfected a new type of In vitro fertilization. With the Vagan's help, they discovered a way for a fertilized egg to grow in a substitute artificial womb they've developed. This way female cyborgs and others can have young." Granted, it's still has to be done in a birthing chamber at a hospital, the unit is to big to actually fit in a body."

He smiled, "But no one seems to mind that too much if they can finally have a child."

Evelyn and Lucas smiled saying, "That's wonderful, I had heard they were working on that. I know some people don't like using a surrogate, even if it's a relative."

Haruki nodded, "Yes, and this way they don't need a surrogate to carry the child, everything will be done in the artificial womb. Plus, they can also choose the child's sex if they want to."

Evelyn sighed to herself, that was the one thing she wished they could do, have children. Lucas and her had talked about possibly adopting.

Haruki looked at her slightly confused as he heard her sigh, "Does this not make you happy dear? Don't you know what it means?"

Evelyn nodded, "Yes, I understand. Cyborgs and others could have children." She shrugged, "If, they have viable ova that is."

Haruki looked at her confused again, then his eyes widened, "You mean you don't know??"

Evelyn and Lucas looked at him confused themselves, and she asked, "Don't know what?"

Haruki took her hand and kissed it, "My dear, you didn't know they've been harvesting ova from all the females and sperm from the males that had a full-body cyberization since we started? The ova and sperm were collected and are kept in cryo-stasis."

Evelyn looked at him stunned, "You mean they have some of mine? In cryo-stasis??"

Haruki kissed her hand once more, then smiled and said simply, "Yes, of course."

Lucas and Evelyn looked at each other, then they both broke into smiles of joy. She looked at Haruki, "Then that means we can have children together."

Haruki smiled and nodded, "Yes, as soon as they get the procedure certified and approved. It should take maybe six months or so. But once it is, you can request it."

Lucas and Evelyn hugged each other, then Haruki. They talked about it some more and he gave them all the information he had on it.

Eighteen months later.

Lucas and Evelyn were sitting in the family waiting room of a hospital in Japan This was one of them that had agreed to use the new method for now, other places in other countries would eventually also have them. But, for now, only a few hospital's in Japan, were it was developed, were able to do it.

Once the procedure had been approved, they had requested to have a child this way. It took a few months to get the approval and have one of the birth chambers available. There were not many yet, only six in this hospital, but once one was open, they had been contacted and they made the trip to Japan. One of Evelyn's eggs had been removed from stasis, and they collected Lucas's sperm and put them together. Once the egg was fertilized, it was transferred to the artificial womb in the birth chamber. Then they waited as their child grew and developed.

They had decided not to pick the sex and let it happen naturally. Then once they were told it was a girl, they started talking about names and Lucas had started to redo the bedroom for her. Evelyn had smiled as she watched the room take shape, Lucas had made it into a perfect little girls' room.

Then after seven months of waiting, they were told what day their daughter would be "born." The children developed slightly faster in the artificial womb, then in an actual mother, it only took between seven and eight months.

Lucas and Evelyn had been waiting for a couple hours since they arrived after the time elapsed, it had taken about eight, instead of nine months like a regular pregnancy. Then a nurse came out and called their name. They quickly stood and came over with an anxious look on their faces.

The nurse smiled, "Congratulations Mr. and Ms. Torson, you have a healthy and beautiful baby girl. Please come with me to meet her."

They hugged one another then followed the nurse. She led them to the delivery/ nursery room where they saw a row of incubators and guided them over to one that had a tag on it that said "Torson."

The held each other as they looked at their newborn child. Lucas grinned as tears rolled unashamedly down his face, "Thank the gods she looks like you my love. She's as beautiful as you are." She looked more Japanese just like Evelyn did.

Evelyn smiled back, once more wishing she could shed tears as well. "Yes, my love, she is beautiful."

The nurse smiled; she loved her job. It was so nice to help bring joy to happy couples. So, she asked smiling, "Have you picked a name for your daughter yet?"

Evelyn and Lucas had two names picked out depending on how she looked. Since she looked like her mother, Lucas said smiling, "Yes we have. Our daughter's name is... Kimiko."

The nurse grinned, "Oh, that is a beautiful name, it fits her." She pulled out a marker and wrote on the name tag, "Kimiko."

She smiled at them once more, "Now, why don't you go have a cup a tea, then come back in about an hour. We just need to give her a final checkup, then you can take her home."

They nodded and both of them touched the surface of the incubator. Lucas smiled saying, "We'll be back in a bit little one. There are many people who wish to meet you."

They went down to the cafeteria and got something to drink. While they were waiting, they called the hotel they were staying at to contact their parents who had flown out to be with them. They let them know how everything was and said they'd be back in a couple hours.

Then Lucas looked at the time, and called back home to let Haruki know. He was as happy as they were at the news. Then he said he'd see them in a couple days so they could all celebrate once they got back.

They went back up afterwards, then the nurse handed little Kimiko to her mother. Evelyn held her daughter to her and smiled at Lucas. "I wish I could cry right now. I'm so happy Lucas."

Lucas, with tears rolling down his face once more, stroked his wife's face. "Don't worry love, I'll do it for both of us. I love you."

The nurse smiled at the two of them, then handed Lucas a tote bag with some supplies to take with them. She explained to them what to look out for just in case. Then said, "You have nothing to worry about, she checked out fine. But better safe than sorry. The bag has some diapers and formula for her, plus all the paperwork, birth certificate and other such things."

She smiled, "Again, congratulations to the three of you. I'm very happy for you all." She bowed to them, "Ganbatte" (Good luck to you).

Lucas smiled and bowed back, "Tetsudatte kurete dōmo arigatō" (Thank you so much for your help).

They walked down to the lobby of the hospital, and smiled as they saw Evelyn's father. They walked over and Kenji grinned from ear to ear as he saw the three of them. "I'm so happy for you, this is wonderful. What did you name her?

Lucas smiled as Evelyn said to her father, "Your granddaughters name is Kimiko father."

Tears rolled down Kenji's face, "Kimiko. That's a beautiful name, it fits her." He reached down and stroked her face gently with his finger.

"Come, the car is parked close by, then we'll go to the hotel. Everyone is waiting for you."

They walked over to the lot and got in, then headed to the hotel. They went up to their room and everyone was waiting for them. Both their mothers were crying as they saw them and Lucas's father was smiling with unshed tears in his eyes.

Lucas and Evelyn smiled, "We'd like to introduce your granddaughter. Our most beautiful, wonderful, daughter, Kimiko."

The party started after that.

That night, Lucas and Evelyn sat together after she fed Kimiko. Lucas looked at his wife and daughter smiling gently as he watched them. Kimiko was sleeping and she had a smile on her face. He smiled and said, "She even smiles like you my love."

Evelyn smiled back, "I love you Lucas. I never though this day would ever be possible."

Lucas smiled back at her, "I love you to. But I remember something Haruki told me when I said something was impossible. He looked at me and smiled, "Nothing is impossible, it's just the way to do it hasn't been discovered yet."

He smiled at her again, "Also, nothing is impossible when you love someone as much as we do."

They headed home the next day, and once they got back to their house, they both smiled as they saw Haruki sitting on the front porch smiling, holding a teddy bear for his surrogate granddaughter in one hand and a bottle of Saki in the other.