Aberrant: Infinite Earth - Fiction - Episode 4: The Exterminators (FIN)

[The Traveler]

3 Days from Zero Hour...

The Professor woke on the Hikari Maru in her quarters. They were already in transit back to Brittania and she knew it would be wise to rest up as much as she could. She looked in the mirror, and noticed almost immediately the changes in her figure since her tryst with Chris and at first she was embarassed.

"Bloody hell... I'll have to reconfigure my suit for these." She says, pushing in her bust a bit and watching it sway.

After she brushes her teeth she felt odd... she was keenly aware that something about her was wrong... actually not wrong... but definately different.

"Odd, my blood sugar is off slightly... and my hormonal levels have reached... They've reached some new levels..."

She was never aware of herself until now. Perhaps her body had to adapt to a virus present at the Sanctuary Earth. Perhaps it was fatigue. But when she noticed, out of the corner of her eye the change of dimensions of her stomach, she runs to Sickbay after putting her suit on and setting it to readjust to her frame. She runs in and immediately sticks a needle-like contrivance into her finger after taking her right glove off, and places a sample of blood in a blood analyzer.

As she does so she runs her Ionic Screwdriver over her stomach and sends the information to her computer there.

But when her blood analyzer's light flashed a bright blue and she saw the Six shadows in the scan she made...

"I'm gonna be..."

Her eyes tear up, then she punches a screen in rage.

"Dammit... not now." Indeed not now. If she is pregnant, she may become a liability when Brittania and even the continuum needs her most.

But... she had to tell the truth. She applies some liquid bandage to the cuts on her right knuckles and activates the comlink.

"All hands... this is The Professor. I want everyone in my Ready Room in 5 minutes. There is a change of strategy I want everyone to be aware of."

She adjusts her suit, but before she steps out, Endeavor appears behind her.

"Just as I calculated... you will return to oblivion and you will die."

"I don't intend to die."

"Are you sure Mech will stand by you? The Council has already forsaken your universe."

The Professor walks up and backhands Endeavor across the face. "How dare you. You have the powers of a God yet you won't life a finger to our aid?"

Endeavor seems to snap back like a rubber band from the hit and she puffs up like a puffer fish in frustration.

"Not all of us have given up. Long and I are about to arrive at their gate point in the Orion Nebula. But you intend to flank them... don't you?"

The Professor nods.

"Then for your sake, hope that Chris is by your side."

Endeavor disappears as quick as she appears. "Damn meddler..." The Professor snipes after she left and then walks to the ready room to meet with Mech and the others.

[Mech]

Chris had been down in his quarters, reading the results of the scans on himself that Endeavor had had him run. Most of the the data had been utterly shocking. He was even more powerful than her, and even more than that, he had been subtly reworking himself to make him even more powerful.

He and the sakurako'd spend their time together, mostly in and intimate embrace, with her sleeping on him or nestled against him. She sept too long today, and he'd gotten up because endeavor wanted to run tests. Still now she was summoning everyione and he arrived first. He smiled to her, noting she looked great today, and he could swear she looked, more adult now. She wasn't cute, she was sexy and womanly now. He spared a moment while they were alone to kiss her softly. "I've missed you, it's about time you woke up today.." Then he went and took a seat.

He noted Sarah and Mary looking at him more lately, but thought little of it. Even Endeavor studied him with more than academic interest during her examinations.

[The Traveler]

The Professor smiled and kissed Chris. "Thank you."

Three materialized near the main display table.

The Professor cleared her throat and began to speak. "First off, our friend Endeavor left me with what the Council intends to do with Brittania... They have forsaken it. Only Endeavor and Long will stand against the Hive and their horde."

She sighs. "That leaves us. And I have a plan."

She pulls up a tactical readout on the table with a hologram with Three's assistance. "Endeavor left me with the current disposition of the Hive fleet at my lost home. The Queen's ship is well behind the fleet in orbit around the dead earth. Located at the lagrange point behind the Moon. The fleet itself is massing at the Kuiper Belt at Pluto."

"Endeavor and Long will engage them at the Kuiper Belt while I lead the Hikari Maru in assaulting the Queen's ship directly."

She adjusts her suit, her new breasts being a pain. "I think with Chris tying up the fleet assisting Endeavor and Long would be a good start. Mary... I trust you can assist Chris in this endeavor."

Mary nods. "I... sort of became familiar as to how Mech does things and I can do some damage myself."

"Good. I and Sarah will head to the Queen's Ship... more like ram the ship into it's hull to crack it open like an egg. She'll be extremely damaged but she can recover like I can. Over time. I and Sarah will use an escape pod like a boarding craft and go through the shattered hull of the Queen's ship and confront her directly."

Three looks nervous. "Three, I will keep a copy of you on the escape craft and give Mary a copy as well. It would be like nothing happened."

Three nods, now feeling calm again. "As we know, I left Sarah's clone on Sanctuary to keep Ichi company. We will return to get them once this offensive is over."

She turns towards the wall view-screen that showed the flow of trans-dimensional space around them, streaked with black from the taint created by the Hive's influence.

She clasped her hands behind her back. "I... must be truthful... When I and Chris got together on Sanctuary... we had... relations."

Sarah stifled a giggle.

"As such..." The Professor emphasized with some annoyance. "...the natural consequence of carnal indulgence occurred."

Mary quirked an eye.

"I... I'm preggers."

Those words shocked Sarah, while Three looked incredulously. Mary smirked. As for Chris...

[Mech]

Chris looked at her and his eyes narrowed slghtly. It was done now, and of course on the eve of a huge deadly battle no less. Still there was a part of him that could only smile. If he'd not have fought to protect her before, he would now, her and the child growing within her. "While unexpected, that's certainly pleasant news." His eyes held a mischievous glint, and he got up to embrace her. "As I stated before, I'm with you, even if it's just us here." He indicated Sarah and Mary too. "We all are Sakurako."

"Now, Now I have a real reason to fight, to win, and to come back, to you."

He smiled. he had more to say about their interludes together, but it wasn't for everyone to hear.

[The Traveler]

The Professor nods.

"I wish I had more... Shadow... Irma... Heather... the others... But this is all we have. All we got. And if we fail it'll not matter what we have lost. Because we will lose everything."

Sarah nods. "I knew the risks when I first decided to travel with you, Professor... You have my sword."

Mary smiles. "I've been itching to fight long odds for god knows how long... and in the name of Brittania."

The Professor holds up her finger as if to hush everyone. "Once we succeed... we will return there, Mary. But... we have to make sure that Brittania knows you as Ensign Minneapolis, not The Headmistress. The only one there that can really figure this is Captain Jane."

"I can do a lot of good there in Brittania. Would love to work with Section J."

The Professor nods. "We all will get home. I for one... would love to have my children there... and maybe teach again."

"We all will have to find something to do. I will be ejecting the other escape pods. They have a miniature D-Drive built into them for one jump. They are all synched to return to Brittania. The Hikari Maru will send it's remains... whatever it can muster... back to Brittania as well to regenerate. It will do so once we leave. We can use the escape pods to return."

"Based on current estimates... it will take one to two years for the Hikari Maru to self-repair."

"Then again with the amount of energy that will release either with the Hikari Maru or with the destruction of the Queen Ship... I and Sarah's lives may be forfeit."

She looks down at her belly. "I am... making contingencies to prevent this, and I will employ them as I go."

[Mech]

Chris looked at her, and his yellow eyes blazed. "Won't happen." He shook his head. "I won't let any of you die.. I promise you that."

The room thrummed with power, his, as it was clear to see he'd been truly motivated by the Professor's news.

"I can leave a duplicate of myself with you to ensure you're both protected." He shook his head. "I could send copies to aid Long and Endeavor, and go with you myself Professor. That would probably work for the best..."

[The Traveler]

The Professor nodded. "This would not divide your power detrimentally?"

She scratched her chin. "Think you could blow a hole through an alloy forged in the heart of a neutron star? That is what we will need to breach that ship's hull. Once we can do that I can slam the bow of the Hikari Maru into her and open an airlock and take her ship Pirate style. Once inside I was made aware that the Queen keeps herself in seclusion with a couple handmaidens who would be a cinch to handle. But Zero herself is... a nightmare. She may pull energy away from her fleet to defend herself and that is what I want."

"If any of her followers are destroyed utterly she loses strength. That is why this attack must be coordinated where the Kuiper Belt offensive happens immediately on arrival."

She smirks. "We're going to scream through the solar system once we drop off Chris's fleet... I wager that is what you'll do at the Kuiper Line, right?"

"I want her to pull energy away from her attackers. That will allow Endeavor and Long enough time to pound them, with Chris' group."

"What could you do though with the amount of energy that might be released when Zero is killed? It is currently estimated at the combined energy of 50 universes are within her."

[Mech]

Chris nodded. "I have some new abilities I've not tried. I should be able to operate several copies at full power long enough."

He considered. "If absorbing that kind of power didn't kill me, I just don't know. Endeavor beleives there's nothing I cannot do give sufficent power. I know I can break down the armor alloy, even if it means some sacrifice on my part."

"This ship is home. Despite it's ability to regenerate, let's not tax it if we don't need to. I'll make a hole, and distract her defenders, you deal with her. If you need help I'll be there."

[The Traveler]

"Right... maybe all I need is just an escape pod and do a classic boarding that way. With you outside she will have to focus her energy into defending against you, not I and Sarah."

Sarah forms a blade out of pure light. "I'm not sure if what I got will do... I've never fought another Nova before."

"I'm sure you'll do good, Sarah."

Mary nods. "Well, sounds like we got a plan." She stands up, pulling back the receiver of her pistol. "ETA?"

"One hour."

"Make your peace now, if you must." Sarah says, standing up and walking to the doors to the meeting room. "If you excuse me, I have to ask for strength from my mother and father."

Sakurako nodded. noting that in the Shinto faith this was exactly the way things went.

"I will be with Chris." The Professor said. "What about you, Mary?"

"I put my faith in preparing. Going to do one final cleaning of my pistols, then clear my head with some meditation before I unleash hell."

"Three?"

"I will be calculating optimal shield configurations for the upcoming conflict, including proper battle maneuvers. One hour should be enough simulation time with excess."

The Professor nods. "Very well... dismissed... except for Chris."

She walks over and puts her hand on his shoulder as everyone left.

Once they were alone, She kisses Chris deeply. "We are going to give them hell, Chris. I can finally put this behind me once we stop them once and for all."

There was a genuine fire in her eyes now, not one of vengeance but one of determination.

[Mech]

Chris reached out for Sarah before she could leave, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly and offering her a heart melting and awe inspiring smile. "You will do just fine Sarah. I hoped to spare you all from any fighting, you espeically, considering what happened to you. That you have to fight is something I see as a failing of mine. A princess should not have to fight alongside her knight."

He looked to Mary and nodded. "I expect your very best, and I know you will not fail me." He spoke with undeniable faith, the sort that could be a light into any darkness.

Finally left alone with Sakurako, he kissed her back, his hands coming to rest in the small of her back. "I'd ask you to not fight, to leave this to me, but you need this closure. Think of the future, with me, with our child. I know I will be. To protect you there's little I'd not do."

He kissed her softly, holding her to him, "Be careful Sakurako, I'll need you to help me afterwards."

[The Traveler]

"It is only fair, Chris. After all you've helped me to this point and will help me one more time."

She kisses him again, embracing him more than she ever has. Although it felt like she was still getting used to her new body. "Of course, if my gambit proves correct, The Queen will be so divided that she will either sacrifice all her troops and the energy they contain still in their bodies, or sacrifice herself in hopes her troops will carry the fight. I doubt either plan will work."

"The more defeated at the Kuiper Belt, the better chance we have at the Moon to eliminate her once and for all. With her eyes focused on you, I and Sarah are a non-factor."

"Until we present ourselves and eliminate her handmaidens."

She cuddles with him. "Let's... let's just enjoy this last moment of peace, Chris."

Her long pink hair shone with a new luster, as if it was perfectly taken care of. "I know we can do this... but... I'm afraid."

[Mech]

"More than this. I'll help you whenever you ask me." he reached down giving her stomach a light pat. "We will have a child together after all."

He held her against him him tenderly. "I am not affraid of this queen, I only fear if something were to happen to you." He stroked her back and kissed her cheek before nibbling on her ear softly. "Don't go in for revenge. "Go in because it safeguards our futuree. It will let our child not worry about this , ever. I will be with you, We're all with you. Let that be your strength.'

He kissed her lightly. "Let me be your strength, as you, my love for you, will be mine."

[The Traveler]

"We're not having one child... Chris."

She cuddles his chin. "We're having Six."

She giggles and flops down on his lap. Drawing circles on his chest.

"You never do things half way, I tell ya what."

[Mech]

Chris just looked at her. "Six?"

He seemed totally lost for words.

"Well I'm glad the ship has unused quarters."

"No I certainly don't."

[The Traveler]

"We got many unused quarters, and I can modify a few meters in the cargo bay for use if necessary. Although now that I have looked at myself a bit, and somehow I seem to know my current condition... I don't think I have 9 Months... more like 9 weeks."

"Hopefully this unpleasantness we are about to undertake won't interfere... permanently."

Her face turns slightly pale and grave. "This situation is... not my favorite situation to be in with child, Chris... but... we're in it."

"Brittania dies without us."

[Mech]

"It wont. "Ill protect you, and them, I promise."

He nodded. "The timing isn't perfect in some ways. but it gives us all hope, and a good reason, seven in my case, to fight, and to win."

"I'll save Britania, for you, for Sarah, and them."

He kissed her softly and pulled her to him."Everything will be okay."

[The Traveler]

"Well... I'd hate to say it, but we should be getting ready. Once we get to the Kuiper Belt we are going to be in the fire."

She stands up. "Once we arrive... our plan goes into effect. Luckily if my Gambit fails, then I have a fall-back with you."

"If anything happens, raise hell."

She smiles and starts to walk out. "We do have, some time if you are interested."

She leans against the door waiting for his response.

[Mech]

He smiled, leading her to his quarters and locking the door behind them.,. "Yes we do, and spending it with you, loving you is how I'd spend it." He smiled.

What followed was a tempestuous tryst that ended with only five minutes before their ETA, It left her flushed, breathing hard and feeling amazing. For him, it served to remind him why he would fight. After she finished getting dressed again he kissed her softly. "Next time, once this is done, I'll have some new things to try."

He finished geting dressed, ready to go to war now....

[The Traveler]

The Professor makes sure the new modification her suit made to her frame is all in place. She checks Sarah's armor and life support systems. She wasn't really used to her adaptability, so The Professor would rather make sure she was ready to handle things instead of dealing with a changed atmosphere. Mary was ready to go as well as Three.

"Alright, make the number of clones you need, Chris. We'll be using the cargo bays like a paratrooper hatch and let Chris's clones and Mary engage. I already recieved a signal that Long and Endeavor have engaged the Hive in full-on combat. The white powered armor is Endeavor... the white tiger-man is Long... just be careful around him because he is... just scary in combat."

"The clones that stay will wait in the cargo bay, and I will be sitting in Escape Pod 1 with Sarah. Three will be piloting. Once we reach Luna, the real fight shall begin."

The warning claxons go off as the Hikari Maru enters realspace.

"Move!"

[Mech]

Chris split off enough copies three for the belt, three to assault the hive's exterior, and he himself would go with The Professor. "I'm ready to go, everyone knows their place." He stood with her and Sarah, and the Trio of clones surrounded Mary, smiling. The clones were all in Gundam form as soon as they left the ship taking apart Hive drones with astounding speed, One was larger than the others, and that was the one Mary rode on.

The three others stood on the hull of the HM, as Mech waited in the pod with them, feeling the clones tapping his reserves.

[The Traveler]

The Hikari Maru screamed at 0.75c, barreling towards the barren, dead earth. The light from the planet was from the network of quantum draining contrivances spiked into the crust. As they approach, even the dying core of the sun could finally be seen, still burning, but a barely visible ember hovering in the endless night.

The Professor and Sarah sit in their escape pod with Chris.

She watches the countdown fed from Three to the pod's display. She also watches the feed provided from Endeavor.

"25 percent success so far, Chris... good work. What in the... Mary has jumped out and is engaging on Pluto directly with their ground forces at their gate generator?!?! What a champ!"

She adjusts her suit. "I will be depressurizing the pod, more than likely there will not be an atmosphere on the ship when we breach. Sarah, you are sure about this?"

Sarah nods, her armored suit making her look more like a space marine from a science fiction novel.

"3.... 2.... Chris, let it have it!"

The three clones with the Hikari Maru Jump off when the Hikari Maru stops in position and the three clones change into the forms of the Macross Quarter and slam into the hull of the Queen's ship with a rage unlike anything seen by man. Except a Nova...

Then the central Mech jumps back and arms it's main gun and fires of a concentrated tachyon beam into the hull, cracking the hull wide.

The Professor smiles. "Showtime!" She pulls a lever in the roof of the pod and it fires out towards the hole. The three clones providing cover from the token defense the Queen's ship could provide.

When the pod crosses the line of the hull it is rocked several times on crossing the hull...

"Oh great... catastrophic hull failure..." The Professor says with her comlink through her cyberkinesis.

"Prepare to bail!"

Sarah grabs the handles on her seat and pulls, and Chris and The Professor follow suit.

Moments later the three are standing in vacuum, the large chamber the Queen calls home towers before them, the vacuum of dead space behind them, the lights of battle and the dead glowing earth behind them.

The Professor staggers to her feet as the hull closes behind them and the chamber pressurizes.

"Odd, Zero... you're making us comfortable?"

The four handmaidens start walking forward. Zero nowhere to be seen.

The Professor pulls out her Ionic Screwdriver and Sarah forms a Light blade in her hands.

"Well, Professor... I'd like you to die... in comfortable surroundings."

"Then... in the name of My Earth... I will make those your last words... Chris..."

[Mech]

Chris stood there, and in an instant The Superior stood in his place, the first of the handmaidens already crushed beneath ten tons of ferrotitanium sword. Zero looked at him and knew she behelf an equal in terms of real power. He was beautiful and terrifying, and before him only a God would be more than wheat before the Reaper's scythe.

The second handmaiden died in the hell of his Ion cannon, carbonized instantly as the hellish blue white beam hit her. "This ends here and now Zero. "Yield, or perish, you and all your brood."

[The Traveler]

The Professor takes a chunk of steel and places it in the emitter of her Ionic Screwdriver and points it at the third handmaiden and with a click fires the chunk of metal into her head, causing it to explode. "The Lorentz Force... a battle scientist's best friend!"

Sarah dashes in as the Fourth handmaiden manages to launch an attack, only to have her biological blade cut apart with Sarah's light sword. In a moment she dodges to the side with a spin and the handmaiden sees a light form from her chest. "I am the light that will shine upon the wicked. In the name of clan Hideyoshi I will not falter."

She withdraws her blade. "In the name of the Emperor..."

The handmaiden falls from her wound and Sarah turns around. "...I will forever serve."

She turns to the central chamber. "This is not my universe, Zero! But I fight beside my friends! You will not have Brittania!"

"So... if it isn't the fallen Princess..."

Sarah turns around and 10 meters away Zero stands, crossed arms and a glare like a demon. Her blackened armor covering her body like some dark monstrosity from the 9th level of hell.

"I will make you fall completely... you will make a good drone."

"Over my dead body." The Professor says, Pulling out a blaster. "Stand down and answer to Justice."

Zero smiles. "You know... you cannot kill me. Not if you wish to survive. You cannot possibly prepare for that amount of energy coursing through you... I'm suprised you didn't calculate that, coward." Zero says, Smiling, sure of her position.

"I already have... Zero... and I am sorry... if you will not yield... you will be brought down."

[Mech]

The cowling over Connor's chest opened, and power began flowing into him. "I'm already absorbing your power Zero, refilling my own. Your fleet will perish, your people scattered as cosmic dust. Yield now, surrender your throne and power, and take away your life."

half a dozen weapon pports focused onto her and his golden eyes gleamed with grim determination. "I will not ask you again."

[The Traveler]

The Queen grinned, she was about to say something but she noticed with every soldier she lost in the Kuiper, she didn't get that energy back... but where did it go?

Then it hit her... she had to call her energy back, but if she did, all of her troops would be fodder. If she allowed this to continue though she would be dead and her hive would be nothing but a bad nightmare for the continuum.

For the first moment in her insane life she felt fear. She was in check and there were no exits. Except... no delaying wouldn't work... killing the little princess was out... The Professor would just come back... eventually, and Mech...

"You know... this all could be yours... the power of universes under your command. Quadrillions of troops at your side. You could lay waste to anyone that wronged you. All you need to do... is say the word and you would be an emperor of a legion!"

She starts to saunter over. "The Professor doesn't understand... all I wish to do is unite all life in the Multiverse... What is more noble than that?"

She stroked the armor plates of Chris, caressing him. "I would be a fine concubine... I would even allow The Professor and Sarah here to serve as your handmaidens. You would be a god... most importantly... your children would live. All Six of them."

[Mech]

"You wish to Unite it under your heel. That is the difference between you and I. You wish to fight, to conquer. I wish only to explore and raise my family in piece. That you think yourself my equal, their equal, sickens me."

His sword speared straight through her heart pinning her in place. "I will take your power, all that you have, and I will give it back to everyone you wronged." He looked at her grimply, hiodling her with his arms as the sowrd caused her to vomit blood.

"My children will live though it won't be your concern Zero.:"

the cowling opened as he siphoned her power, and then using it to wipe her from existence. The flash of light that followed was blinding. Then it was over, and they were inside the Hikaru Maru, Mary, Long, and Endeavor and Sarah were there, and they weren't in britania. The Hive was gone scoured from Reality, only Ichi left.

The monitors were showing Chris standing on the deck, in mecha form, the glow fading until the cowling closed, and all fifty tons of his gundam form fell backwards onto the armored skin of the Hikaru MAru as he began to revert to his regular form.

[The Traveler]

The Professor stumbled to her feet from the momentary jump... there was... a starfield?

"Sarah! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just stunned."

"Mary?"

Mary was shook up. "I'm... sorta here."

The Professor looked up and saw Chris reverting. "No... not like this." She runs out of the Bridge to an airlock, and does an emergency opening. The Professor remembered to fasten her helmet quickly so she didn't have to adapt, and activated it's emergency depressurization mode as the door blew open. Her suit got quite big by the time she used the navigational thrusters to move into position and grab Chris. By the time they were inside, she quickly closed the door, and put an oxygen mask on his face as the room pressurized.

"Chris... speak to me! Chris!"

[Mech]

He was out cold. Whatever he'd done took more power than he'd ever used, and knocked him down hard.

Endeavor moved behind her. "He did it for you."

"He's not dead, but I suggest you run a scan of where we are, and you;ll understand more..."

[The Traveler]

At first she was going to ask the entity, but decided otherwise.

"One question before I do... is Ichi alright?"

"Yes... every last member of the hive was erased from existence... But Ichi regained her Humanity and is currently sitting on a air mattress in the Caribbean sipping a martini."

She stands up. "You know Professor I was about to say you were trying to be like me with that suit..."

The Professor gives her 'the look' that says "shut it."

"Three... Activate all sensors. Tell me what the computer sees."

There is a pause... a very long one.

"Three... Bridge respond..."

"This... This is Sarah, Professor, I think... I think Three blue screened from the shock. Mary's fainted... But by these readings... Your universe... is back."

The Professor rushes to the com-panel in the airlock. "Please repeat, Sarah, this has to be some Simulacrum universe."

"Negative, the N-Drive is offline for repairs... been that way since the event. Professor... the Universe has revived itself..."

The Professor did the calculations... her brain spun... but then there was a com-message.

"ESS 1, this is UN Headquarters in New York, emergency base Alpha, please respond."

Others around the world started trying to hail her. She opens a general comlink. "This... This is Sakurako Hino... Mission... Accomplished."

All around the world, the remainder of Humanity left their bunkers and shelters, all of only a Hundred Million left.

"Sakurako, this is Nippontai Station 3, we recieve you! My god... how did we?"

"I... I don;t know. But the one responsible is in bad shap I need to take him to sick bay. I request no one come up until... until I understand what happened. Sakurako out."

Endeavor smiled. "And the Professor died today... But Sakurako was born again. You... don't have to..."

The Professor stopped her. "I am The Professor... forever."

She opened the door back into her ship. Endeavor still smiled as Sakurako carried Chris in her arms to Sickbay.

"See you tomorrow..." Endeavor says as she disappeared.

[Mech]

Chris awoke the next day, finally regaining his strength. "Okay, don't let me do that again." He woke up with Endeavor and Sakurako watching him. He looked to Sakurako and smiled. "Surprise.'

[The Traveler]

Endeavor nodded. "As predicted. This... this'll be the last you see of me and the council. Unless you stumble on that little universe Orion Sigma created. Good work you two."

She stands up, patting Sakurako on the shoulder and vanishes.

The Professor just watched. Her suit still sitting loose and limp on her body. She hadn't even considered changing clothes. Too many shocks.

"Chris... You... did the impossible."

She stumbles over from fatigue. She had been up for days, speaking to people on the planet and to the Council, briefing them.

"If it... is of any comfort, The Council reports there is no more trace of the Hive. Also... whatever happened restored my universe... everything that went through Heat-Death was revived. 100 Million people Chris... that is all that remains of Humankind. The cities still stand, the farms await cultivation... it is as if the Hive never came."

She holds her head before falling into Chris' bed. "I'm... so tired."

She strokes Chris with her gloved hand. "The Children are alright, so is the crew."

As she pets Chris' chin she starts to cry... "Thank you."

[Mech]

He shook his head. "Sorry, I couldn't bring more back..." He was still tired, and his arms enfolded her to keep her comfortable. "You're safe, they're safe, Sarah and Mary and the ship, that's what matters Sakurako."

He stroked her hair softly, kissing her forhead.

[The Traveler]

"If it... is acceptible, I asked that we are allowed to stay on the Hikari Maru... they agreed. It's my ship now to do with as I see fit."

She smiled a little. "Once we've rested I plan on staying in orbit and giving birth here... I know this will be a shorter than normal gestation period."

"But... I need rest... I've been run ragged. It would be detrimental to our children otherwise."

She cuddled up on the bed. There was a smile on her face. One that hasn't been seen at all since he first saw her. One of... content joy.

-FIN