Worlds Apart Pt. 02

"Then feed them pie," Jamie added, Liz nodding her head. "That's actually...adorable," he said, Liz grinning at him. "I don't think anyone is going to mind if you cook extravagant meals for them, but maybe try to be more conscious of your desire to mother them. I'm pretty sure almost all of the crew are older than us. Besides, I think they have a matriarch already. She's called Cassidy."

"Alright," she conceded. "I'm a big bundle of raging hormones, but I'll try to be more mindful."

"Don't worry, you'll have plenty of real kittens to smother with affection before you know it," Jamie chuckled. "We should have gotten you a doll or a puppy or something to tide you over."

"It's funny, I never played with dolls as a kid," she said as she relaxed into the couch. "None of them looked like me. Never had a pet, either."

"My family could never get a dog," Jamie added. "We always lived in high-rise apartments. Do they have pets back on Borealis?"

"Some," she replied with a shrug. "There's the Razorbacks, which are kind of Borealis' answer to dogs. Imagine a hyena somehow bred with a wild boar, and that's basically what you get. They're pack animals, which made them easy to domesticate, but those are mostly used as warhounds by the Rask. The Elysians don't really have any pets."

"Humans originally domesticated cats and dogs to make use of their senses," Jamie mused. "We leveraged the hearing and sense of smell in dogs for hunting and protection, and we used cats to keep rodents out of our grain stores. Hell, they were so successful that the Egyptians even started to worship them."

"A very forward-thinking people, if you ask me," Liz replied with a smirk.

"I guess if you're a Borealan, and you already have sharp senses, there's no real need to bring along a hunting companion. I can't imagine a barking dog would be much of a deterrent compared to a Borealan Alpha, either."

"Your kind might have dull senses, but you made up for it by being really good with your hands," Liz whispered as she nudged him with her elbow.

"Is that an invitation?" he asked.

"Mhmm, I'm sore again," she grumbled as she weighed her breasts through her shirt. They were still growing, and they showed no signs of stopping, her copious fat draping itself over her hands. Liz was nearing the end of her first trimester now, and already, they had grown in size by maybe fifteen or twenty percent. What bras she had would stand no chance of fitting her now.

"How much bigger can they possibly get?" Jamie wondered, watching her ample flesh wobble as she released them.

"Sousa said that breast size in pregnant humans can increase by one hundred and fifty percent," she replied, his eyes widening. "There's no data available for Borealans."

She noticed his expression, turning her head to check that they were indeed alone in the rec room. He watched as she raised her boobs again, presenting them to him, her flesh spilling between her fingers even through the cotton of her clothes. He could see her nipples tenting the fabric, as swollen as ever, Liz mashing her breasts together to create cleavage that could have engulfed his arm up to the shoulder.

"I bet you're just loving this," she cooed. "Here I am, all sore and sensitive, and all you can focus on is my boobs getting bigger."

"My fascination comes from a place of caring," he replied, Liz giving him a playful shove.

"Come take care of me, then."

***

Three months had passed, and the Magellan had made its third jump, the survey vessel cruising through empty space as its drive underwent the arduous process of recharging. Liz had expressed some concern that the wracking extra-dimensional energies would disturb the kittens, but Captain Cassidy had assured her that there was no evidence to suggest that. Studies had already been conducted on the subject, apparently, and they had determined that only very late-term babies could be effected by anything other than their mother's stress hormones. Without a fully-developed nervous system, there was nothing to be interfered with.

They were eating breakfast one day when Liz suddenly let out a yelp of alarm, dropping her spoon into her bowl of cereal, milk splashing on the table. Jamie and Sarris were present, both them leaping out of their chairs, rushing to her side.

"What is it?" Jamie demanded, his heart racing. "Is something wrong? Do you feel alright?"

"I-it's fine," she stammered, peering down at her growing belly with wide eyes. "I just felt one of them move!"

Sarris breathed a sigh of relief, Jamie pressing her for more details.

"They're finally moving?" he asked, his worried frown quickly morphing into a delighted smile. "What does it feel like?"

"I guess...like having something moving around in your belly," she replied with a shrug. "I think one of them rolled over..."

Jamie reached down to feel her stomach, waiting with bated breath, but it seemed that the restless kitten had already settled.

"Maybe you'll catch them next time," Liz chuckled.

***

The final jump was complete, Jamie slowly returning to consciousness in his seat, blinking his bleary eyes as he looked out of the bridge window at the darkness beyond. It wasn't the usual expanse of inky blackness pocked with harsh, distant stars, however. Directly ahead of them was a star far warmer and brighter, standing out from the rest.

Just like during their Jarilo approach, the ship had exited superlight a significant distance from their destination and would cross the last few million miles using its conventional engines.

"We have arrived at Sol," Cassidy announced, her chair swiveling to face the row of seats at the rear of the bridge. "Daryl, start our burn. Sarris, send a tight-beam to the American Terminus and request a corridor for orbital insertion and rendezvous. As for you two," she added, addressing Jamie and Liz. "You're almost home."

Liz reached across to take Jamie's hand, giving it a squeeze. The last leg of their journey was nearing its end. They had been away for almost a year, eight months of which had been spent on the Magellan. Jamie had never been homesick during that time, but the closer they got to Earth, the more he felt confident that their decision to return had been the right one.

There was a tug of acceleration as the main engines ignited, spewing a plume of hydrogen flame behind the vessel. It would continue to accelerate for some time, then the engines would shut down, only turning on again once the time came to decelerate. It would probably take several more days to reach Earth.

Jamie rose from his seat unsteadily, leaning on the armrest of his chair for support. With any luck, that was the last superlight jump he'd ever have to endure. After eight jumps, it had indeed gotten slightly easier, but it was still a tremendously unpleasant experience.

"It'll take us about a week to reach Earth," Cassidy said. "That means only seven more days of good eating for us, unfortunately. I have half a mind to put in a request with the UAS for a dedicated ship's cook."

"I actually wanted to ask you about something related to that," Liz said, Cassidy raising an eyebrow. "You and your crew have been so kind to us during our trip, so accommodating, far beyond the scope of simply being polite. I wanted to do something special for you in return, but it would require a rather large quantity of supplies. I was hoping that, since you'll be restocking when you reach Earth, it might be alright."

"What did you have in mind?" the Captain asked.

"In Elysian culture, it's customary to prepare a feast as a show of thanks for a host's hospitality," Liz explained. "Also when sending off friends, when celebrating an important event...pretty much any time there's an excuse to eat a lot of food, really."

"A Borealan feast?" Cassidy asked, nodding her head approvingly. "Bradley will probably complain about having to edit the cargo manifests, but I think that sounds like an excellent idea. Go ahead."

"A Borealan feast?" Jamie asked, following Liz out of the bridge and down the corridor. "Do we have any Borealan ingredients or meats?"

"I can make some approximations with what we have onboard," she replied. "I was thinking we'd pretty much just make a lot of good food, get everyone in the same room for a while before we have to say goodbye."

"I think it's a good idea," Jamie added, Liz smiling down at him. "Guess we're gonna have our work cut out for us."

"It's not like we have anything more pressing to attend to," she reminded him.

***

The day of the feast had come. Liz and Jamie had been hard at work preparing dishes over the last couple of days, creating an impressive spread that should be able to feed the whole crew. They had gotten permission from Higgins to unbolt one of the dining tables in the galley from the floor, sliding it closer to its counterpart to create one long table that could seat all of the crew at once. Captain Cassidy had agreed to give everyone a special period of leave so that they could attend the event. The ship was almost completely automated once it was set on its course, and nobody needed to be behind the wheel at all times.

Liz pulled another large pie from the oven, its crust perfectly browned, wisps of steam rising from the pan as she carried it over to its place on the table. Jamie stood back, admiring the spread of food. Considering that there were almost no fresh ingredients aboard, Liz had done an admirable job.

In the center of the table were two oven-roasted turkeys sitting on a bed of vegetables, basted with a sauce that Liz had made from lemon juice, herbs, and beef stock. The result was brown, crispy skin that would peel right off the meat. The turkeys had been soaked in a saltwater brine before cooking, which Liz said would make them more tender and moist. The vegetables had been freeze-dried, but Jamie wouldn't have guessed it from the look of them.

The pie was the same beef steak and gravy that she had made a few times during their trip, as it was a hit with the crew. She had done what she could to spice up the several packets of instant mashed potatoes that they had used as one of the side dishes, along with a mixed bean casserole made from the same freeze-dried ingredients.

All in all, it would have looked like a Thanksgiving meal if not for the extra meat dishes that the feast's Borealan leanings required. True to her word, Liz had done her best to replicate the cooking style of her ancestral homeland, even if she didn't have access to authentic meats and oils. She had also adapted them to human palates, substituting the fish and vegetable oils that Elysians favored for sauces and condiments more familiar to the crew.

There were chicken breasts baked in a honey garlic dressing, meatloaf with inordinate quantities of barbecue sauce, and pork in a sweet soy sauce that she had enlisted Jamie's help to get perfect due to her people's lack of sensitivity to sweet flavors. They had made good use of most of the stores of frozen meat that were in the freezer.

The expressions on the faces of the crew as they filed into the galley were those of surprise and anticipation. Who knew when they might last have eaten like this? They took their seats around the makeshift banquet table, plastic cutlery standing in for silverware, and paper cups in lieu of wine glasses. There wasn't a lot of alcohol onboard, but Cassidy had brought a bottle of bourbon from her quarters, filling each cup with a small mouthful as she made her way around the table. Liz abstained due to her people's intolerance of spirits, opting for a mug of her favorite drink instead, a meat-flavored tea made using a beef bouillon cube.

Cassidy returned to her place at the far end of the table when she had completed her circuit, lifting her cup in a toast. Tradition dictated that she tap her glass with a spoon to get everyone's attention, but since she had neither, she merely whistled loudly. The murmur of conversation died down as she began to speak, gesturing with her cup.

"I'd like to make a toast," she began, glancing down the table at Liz and Jamie. "To our guests," she continued, raising her cup higher. "When we were diverted from our course all those months ago, I had no idea that we would be making both history and friends. When your job is surveying planets for their habitability, you rarely get to see the fruits of your labor first-hand. The colonists won't arrive for months or years, and it will take even longer to establish a functioning colony. By the time there are families making homes there, we're already light-years away, in orbit around the next promising candidate. We might have only been a glorified taxi service in this case, but it has been a pleasure to see Jamie and Liz go from seeking an experimental procedure with no guarantee of success, to becoming expectant parents. As a serial mother myself, I feel qualified to give the couple some words of advice," she said as all eyes in the room turned to the pair. "Trust yourselves, don't question your gut. You know more about being parents than you think you do."

There was a chorus of here-here's as the rest of the crew raised their cups in turn, Bradley adding a distinctly Australian cheers to the mix. Everyone took a drink, and with that, the spread of food was fair game.

Everyone reached towards the center of the table, cutting off slices of turkey and shoveling spoonfuls of mashed potatoes onto their plates. The conversation was lively as they ate, and they all seemed to be enjoying the food, Liz watching them sample the various dishes with a smile on her face. Jamie joined them, selecting a slice of steak pie, along with some potato and bean casserole. He cut into the soft crust, thick gravy pouring out, the smell making his mouth water. Liz was all about the meat, piling her plate high with a mountain of assorted cuts, finally able to appreciate the cooking she had worked so hard on over the last two days. She bit into juicy pieces of turkey, chicken breasts, and chunks of pork.

Borealans had appetites to match their size, so Jamie was accustomed to seeing her eat portions that were often five times larger than his own, but Liz was going all-out today. He reminded himself that she wasn't just eating for a Borealan now. She was eating for five kittens, too.

***

"All hands, prepare for maneuvers," Cassidy's voice blared over the intercom. "This is your five-minute warning."

They were on their final approach to Earth now, coming to the end of their steady deceleration. Jamie and Liz made their way from the rec room to the bridge, where they strapped into their usual seats, more of the crew arriving to join them. They were facing away from the planet right now, their main engines pointed at it, but the bridge windows that doubled as displays were showing a full view from the aft cameras. Through the torch of blue flame that extended behind the ship, Jamie could see the Earth, so close now that it was the size of a softball. It was just hanging there, shining like a beacon, lit like a crescent moon by warm sunlight.

It still seemed so far away, but they weren't heading to the planet itself, they were on their way to the American Terminus. The tethered station was sixty-thousand kilometers above the planet's surface, which according to Liz, was about fifteen percent the distance from the Earth to the Moon.

Deceleration pressed him into his seat as he watched the planet slowly grow, a glint of light catching his eye. It was the Terminus, its tiered stacks of disk-shaped habitats coming into view. It started off so small that he could cover it with his thumb, but it soon ballooned to fill the viewport, far closer than the Earth. He could see the hangars up at the top of the stack, like skeletal cages, along with the tether that extended deeper into orbit where the counterbalance was located. From the bowl-shaped bottom ran the many cables that linked it to the ground, so thin from this distance that he could only catch glimpses of them when they reflected the sunlight at just the right angle.

Hovering near one of the upper hangars, Jamie could see the immense profile of a jump freighter. It was a cargo vessel, a thousand feet long, but the bulk of the station made it look like a toy in comparison. There was a cockpit and habitation module at the front, complete with a hangar bay for shuttles, a wavering force field keeping the atmosphere from escaping into space. At the rear was an engine module, its massive rocket cones still glowing red with residual heat from its last burn. The two sections were joined together by a structure that resembled the jib of a crane, made from crisscrossing beams of exposed metal, giving the vessel the appearance of a giant q-tip. It was covered in dozens of cargo containers, clinging to its length like limpets, each one a different color. It was slowly maneuvering into one of the hangars, jets of blue flame sprouting from the thrusters that were spaced out along its hull.

As they drew closer, Jamie could make out the station in more detail. He could see the innumerable windows that lined the disk-shaped decks, as well as a crawler that was slowly making its way up one of the long tethers towards the docks.

Only now did the Magellan turn around, pivoting on its axis to put its rounded nose towards the station, its velocity low enough that it could maneuver using only its thrusters now.

"Bring her in real smooth, Daryl," Cassidy said as the camera view on the bridge windows vanished. The pilot gave his joystick gentle touches, his eyes fixed on his display, where their approach was outlined by a glowing overlay that guided the ship towards one of the docking ports.

The station was alarmingly large now, completely dominating their field of view, the white hull material gleaming as it reflected the harsh sunlight. The Magellan matched velocity, maintaining a steady distance. Jamie could see one of the airlock doors on the nearest disk, the docking umbilical slowly starting to extend towards it. It reminded him of the bellows of an accordion, the metal frame locking into place, the tarp-like material that insulated it from the vacuum of space stretching taut. The thud that reverberated through the deck let him know that the two had mated.

With that, Captain Cassidy swiveled her chair to face him, spreading her arms wide.

"Welcome back to Earth. I suppose this is where we part ways. Not to rush you, but our docking clearance will expire in a few hours."

"We're ready to go," Liz said, unbuckling her harness before rising to her feet. "We won't keep you any longer than necessary."

"Well, you can waste a little time," Daryl added. "It's not every day that we get to stop at a station."

"Perhaps we can drag our feet a bit," Jamie said, giving Liz a smile.

"You'll need help unloading all of those crates," Cassidy said, bringing up a holographic interface. She tapped at it for a moment, swiping through the glowing icons. "I'll get my guys on it."

Liz looked like she wanted to protest, but the Captain had already made her policy on expectant mothers carrying cargo quite clear, so she kept quiet.

Cassidy accompanied them on their way to the airlock, where they arrived to find that most of the crew had come to see them off. They had said their formal goodbyes at the feast the night before, but there was still a lot of hand-shaking and well-wishing. Higgins and Bradley had already brought their luggage, along with the crates from the hangar. Jamie felt a swell of emotion as he made his way down the umbilical with one of the crates clutched in his arms. He had become good friends with the crew during their months together, and it was unlikely that he would ever see them again. He wouldn't even be able to send them any footage of the kittens, at least, not directly. Perhaps they would be able to receive the files the next time they docked at Earth, which might be many months, even years.