39.

Having stayed with Cindy the Friday night in the medical bay, Maria attempted to keep herself busy over the weekend but being so distracted it was too difficult for her to accomplish any task that she had set for herself to complete. With how things so happened to be over those couple of days, there was little occurring anywhere she found worthy of her attention.

Constantly checking in on her daughter over the weekend however did give Maria the chance to get to know the two doctors who between them decided to split the medical duties equally since the death of Stanley Holmes. There are more than two doctors still aboard the ship though two would be considered to have seniority and rather than one taking total charge things would be split between the two.

Up to Stanley's death it had been considered to be his medical bay. He was the oldest and most experienced doctor and he had originally been invited onboard The Pathfinder with the intension that he would be the lead doctor in charge of all things medically related. His death is so recent that it still difficult to fathom that he is gone.

With it being so soon after Stanley's death, his loss is without a doubt being heavily felt. There is a time to mourn and a time to be professional. Stanley's co-workers still have a job to do. As it had been discussed and even with both Aaron Gray and Sylvia Thompson having expertise in different areas of medicine neither one nor the other considered themselves or the other one to be any more or less qualified to run a medical facility, so they come to the most logical conclusion.

They still had a team of interns who were eager to learn as well as having plenty of nurses on hand and of course there are other doctors. It may have been a rush to place people aboard The Pathfinder as it prepared to leave Earth though at that and going off into the unknown no chances were being taken that might hamper its mission.

***

Sylvia was born on seventeenth of March 2063 in county Donegal, Ireland, and with March seventeenth just so happening to be Saint Patrick's Day little of her nationality would have an effect on her personality. Sylvia was among the last few people ever to be born in Ireland. The patron saint of Ireland is known for having rid the country of snakes and in late March of 2063 it was the people of Ireland along with the people of the United Kingdom who were to flee from their homelands to move more inland Europe.

With the neighbouring lands all being far too small, too tough, too difficult for life to continue to survive on, especially with the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean being to the west of Ireland, evacuating to mainland Europe became a necessity.

Tail ends of hurricanes originating off the coast of Florida would regularly make their way towards Ireland and the UK, and they would still have so much force to them by the time they would arrive that of havoc would ensue. The hurricanes were also becoming such a common thing hitting Ireland and the UK that evacuation indeed became the logical move to make, thus leaving these countries, or what was left of them, without a population.

Growing up Sylvia had never dreamt of being a ballerina or having her own pony. She never saw herself becoming a princess. Instead, she always had a fascination for astrology so straight away upon her arrival upon The Pathfinder she had something in common with Maria other than being a lady. The men, or as Sylvia liked to say, the boys of The Pathfinder, seemed to outnumber the ladies so Sylvia would be very determined to leave her mark.

The ever-increasing number of natural disasters back on Earth is what brought Sylvia to medicine. So many people becoming injured or losing their lives with there being so few people with medical training to keep up, Sylvia just got stuck into medicine with a lot of it just being learn as you go rather than studying for years in colleges. She was lucky though. She always had good people around her. Her learning may have happened the hard way but it happened, nonetheless.

As for Aaron, medicine had always been a thing of interest. Instead of him growing up wanting to be a cowboy or dreaming of the Wild West or of anything else that a young boy or young man would dream of, Aaron grew up wanting to save lives and make a difference and with being from a place called Houston meant that medicine and space travel would go hand in hand.

If Aaron was going into space, then it meant it would be on the biggest and fastest ship possible and that was exactly what would happen to him. His training however was more formal rather than being mostly hands on and learning on the run though that did come into play on occasion.

***

With everything she had been through it came as no surprise when exhaustion finally took Maria over and when Sunday night came, she slept straight through to Monday morning, getting almost a full nine hours of sleep. This bout of unconsciousness did not prevent her from getting to the medical center bright and early on that Monday morning the sixteenth of December.

Both Aaron and Sylvia were in the medical center when Maria arrived. Cindy was already wide awake when her mum entered through the main entrance. Sylvia stood by Cindy's bed while Aaron greeted Maria as soon as he could see her. Maria couldn't help but smile as she threw a wave over at Cindy. Cindy smiled reservedly and waved back.

Maria soon would look away being guided away from her daughter by Aaron. Cindy, in a moment of worry, whispers to Sylvia.

'Oh no, he is going to tell her, isn't he?'

'Yep', Sylvia's response did nothing to reassure Cindy.

'You are distracting me on purpose, why?' Maria asked Aaron being wise to his efforts.

Aaron was caught off guard and was unsure how to respond.

'Err ...' Aaron looked over towards the other two.

'Cindy? Ok give it to me, what is wrong?' To Maria, Aaron was very easy to read.

'Your daughter, well em ...'

'Well em what?'

'She is pregnant.'

As soon as the words came out, Aaron's face squirmed. In fact, the whole of Aaron's body had squirmed in anticipation of Maria's response as if he himself had done something wrong rather than him being the bearer of some ... news ... and was preparing himself to receive some kind of punishment. As well as Aaron's face reacting the way it did, his shoulders raised, and he had easily crouched down about seven or eight inches.

'What?' Maria asks loudly.

Aaron's face squirms tighter.

'How long?'

'A little under three weeks, give or take a day or three' replies Aaron while only opening one eye. Maria remains calm or at least appears to be calm, so Aaron continues.

'Three weeks, and you can tell so early?

'Yes, this however is a very odd case.'

'What do you mean by that?'

'It would appear that Cindy's body had been preparing for pregnancy ...'

'Fact of life Doctor, this is part of what a female body does.'

'No, not like this, ... I mean ... it is as if Cindy's body had been preparing for pregnancy as if it were to be some sort of a guarantee prior to becoming pregnant ...'

'What are you saying?'

'As far as we can tell, Cindy had even been giving off strong pheromones without that actual knowledge of doing so and very specific pheromones too, possibly to attract a particular mate.'

'You are saying she chose to become pregnant and chose her partner ...?'

'Yes, though without her own knowledge ... I can't explain it, we are baffled. She will also experience things differently, earlier, like morning sickness and so on. Just over two and a half weeks is such a short period of time, it is as if she is further along without actually being further along.'

Maria remembers Cindy not feeling all so well on the morning before her ... paranormal moment.

'We'll give you guys a moment' Sylvia tells Cindy.

'Please don't' responded Cindy.

Sylvia grips Cindy's wrist and tells her that she will be fine. Maria moves quickly and straight off hugs her daughter.

'That seemed to go well' Aaron tells Sylvia.

Sylvia just smiles and moves away to give Maria and Cindy some room and Aaron follows Sylvia's lead.

'Honey you are just sixteen, I would ask you ... what were you thinking but as I am told, you were not quite yourself. Is David the father?'

'Yeah, I'm so sorry mom; I thought I was going to lose him to Jasmine. I know it was stupid of me and as well as that it is not like I could just walk into a chemist out here; it was just the one time and we ended up losing David anyway.'

Cindy begins to cry, and Maria's eyes soon began to well up.

'Mom I'm sorry.'

'It is alright ... I love you baby girl.'

The two hug tightly. Maria of course was not and is not happy, not entirely anyhow and Cindy is and always will be her daughter, all the more so given the existential circumstances.

'I love you too mom.'

Maria's thoughts turn. She is worried about Cindy's supernatural side and worried about what occurred prior to bringing Cindy to the medical facility. If this were any other time with any other situation, she would let things be to a certain extent, but Maria needs to know if there had been any other incidents involving the spirit that Cindy has been able to see.

'Have there been any further signs of our friend Cormack?'

'Cormack? Who is that? I don't know anyone called Cormack?' Cindy appearing to look more than a little confused looks blankly at her mum.

Not really being sure how to react to that reply, Maria decides not to inquire any further, for the moment at least.

'Cormack, I do kinda like that name, maybe if I have a boy, who knows?'

40.

George Jones sits alone in darkness within his quarters. He has been on his own, totally on his own since he took the life of a murderer, on his own that is except for times he remembered to go eat though at that, those in close proximity would not be providing and had not been providing any company whatsoever. George, in his own actions or inactions, made sure of that. Sure, most of his life George has been alone, in this moment right now though, things are different.

There are many who would actually like to congratulate him, thank him for doing what no one else did, take out a murderer, preventing that murderer from having any opportunity from ending any more life, still George had been left to his alone time. This alone time would come to an end with a visit from both Owens brothers. The Owens brothers had taken on the challenge of guiding George on his own personal journey and George had curried no more favour of one brother over the other or any favour of them both in general.

Personal time had been given to George to recover from what he had been through though when he continued not to show for his shifts and training, time came for that visit to be paid. When no answer came on two previous visiting occasions Kyle and Jinder, being just who they are and what they are, allowed themselves into young Mister Jones's quarters. The heads of security have access to anywhere they need to be.

With all lighting within the quarters switched off, in the darkness of the main living room George could not immediately be seen. His name had been called and no reply would be given for in that darkness he sat completely motionless. When eyes adjusted to the lack of light the presence of young Mister Jones could be detected. George didn't even flinch when the main lighting was eventually switched on.

'George ...' speaks Jinder about to react to the current predicament with a pearl or two of wisdom before thinking better of it, Kyle had also thrown Jinder a look to suggest keeping things calm and simple.

Both brothers moved further into the main living room moving chairs so they each could take a seat either side of George.

'Don't you have any family around George?' asks Kyle once he and his brother have sat down.

George turns his head, 'nope.'

'Didn't you come aboard the ship with friends?' asks Jinder.

'Nope, I came aboard alone. I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, or come to think of it maybe I was unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the right time. This is partly why I felt a need to earn my keep. Someone else could have been out here instead of me.'

'Well George, both Jinder and I are glad you did come aboard. Isn't that right Jinder?'

'Oh, it is, yeah.'

'We also think it is time you came back to work. It's not the same not having you around.'

'I killed a man ... can you believe it? Someone is dead because of me'. If the distress in George's voice wasn't clear, then it was clear in his body language.

'It as a justified shooting' speaks Kyle.

'You did the right thing' speaks Jinder. 'By the way, where the hell did you get that gun?'

'I made it ...'

'Seriously? Where'd you learn to do that?'

'My father thought me not long before he died. I figured security could get dangerous on a ship like this, so I made it, never even giving a second thought that I'd ever actually use it.'

'Everyone we have talked to believes that you did the right thing. No one believes you are a threat or a danger. If anything, George, people think of you as a hero.'

'They do?'

'Oh yeah, and I am glad myself and Kyle are the first to properly congratulate you.'

George throws a look at both brothers, one after the other, then gives a half smile.

'Did you see that Jinder? I think the kid just smiled.'

All three smile before Kyle would speak again.

'We will see you bright and early and on time tomorrow for training. Is that clear young man?'

Kyle holds out his right hand. George accepts the handshake before saying 'yes sir, very clear ... More tai chi?'

'If you are up for it.'

Both brothers stand and begin to make a move out of the room.

'What about my gun? Where is it? And can I have it back?'

Turning back towards George, both brothers smile.

'We can talk about that at another time ...'

'... though in the meantime, don't be making yourself another one, ya hear?'

'I do ... just in case I don't show enough appreciation; I want to thank you both for all you have done for me.'

'... Half past eight in the morning. Don't be late.'

'I won't ... won't be late, that is.'

Sincerity may not have been at one hundred percent though George could feel enough coming his way that this visit paid to him that he can begin to properly rebuild and move on from recent events and he had dished out enough too to stick to his word.