Jane stretched languidly all over.  It was time to get up but it was so nice and warm beneath the Ikiiri blanket that she didn’t really want to move.

 “Do you know how long I’ve wanted to watch you do that?”  The amused voice of her bedmate brought a smile to her face.

 Opening her eyes, she looked up into a bright blue gaze.  “Probably about as long as I’ve been waiting for you to catch a clue.”

 “That long?”  He mock frowned while moving his fingers stealthily into tickle range.  “Are you by any chance calling me slow?”

 She fluttered her eyelashes at him.  “Heavens, no!  Why I was only on my sixty-fourth hint.”

 “Wench.”  He said while going for the tickle zone.  Their laughter seemed to fill the room with warmth and she wondered how she’d ever lived without it.

 “David.”  She said breathlessly. She felt suddenly helpless in the face of the feelings he’d released inside her.

 “Jane.  My God, I never dreamed you’d want a dried up old reporter like me.”  The look of wonder on his face gave her a severe twinge in her chest.  “I know exactly how Ruth feels.  Certain sure that there’s been some horrible mistake and you’ll look at me and wonder what you ever saw in me.”

 “Never.”  Her hand caressed his cheek.  “You’ve got that backward.  I’m the one who wonders what an experienced writer with two Pulitzer Prizes, and God knows how many other awards under his belt, could see in a woman who’s just now discovering where she wants to go with her reporting.”

 He kissed the palm of her hand and held it against his heart.  “How about we agree that we’re both seeing clearly now and what we see is each other?”

 “Oh yes, David.  Plain as day and twice as beautiful.”  She flexed her fingers against the springy curls that showed grayer than the hair on his head.  But thinking about what he’d said distracted her from her intent to tease.  “Do you really think that Ruth doesn’t believe that Peter could love her?”

 “It’s in her eye and that almost constant amazed look she gets when he hugs or touches her.”  His eyes were compassionate.  “She sees the scars every time she looks in the mirror, those and the white hair remind her that she’s ten years older.  She looks at him and sees a handsome man in his prime, strong and sure.  She thinks that you’d be a better match for him.  Two beautiful young people with friendship and a past to bring them together so they can bring beautiful children into the world.”

 “Is that what Ruth thinks or are those David-insecurities?”  She kept her voice gentle with an effort of will that made her hand tremble.

 “I think our fears are pretty similar.  I can’t compete with youth.”  David smiled sadly and shrugged his shoulders.

 “And I’m not asking you to.  David, I love you and I think we can make a good partnership.  We can use my youth with your experience and build a relationship that’s solid and strong.  But you have to let go of your fear first.  Can you do that?”  She almost held her breath while waiting for his answer.

 “You are so sure.”  His eyebrows squeezed together in concentration.  “I’ll try, I can promise I’ll do my level best to face the fear and send it packing.”

 “Good.  If you hadn’t said that, I would have been forced to tickle you into submission.”  She quickly slid her hand down to the ticklish spot she’d found on his left side and laughed out loud when he pinned her down to stop her fingers from moving.

 Then he was kissing her again and she was caught up in the passion that only he evoked in her.  Breakfast was going to be very, very late today.

******************

 Something had changed, she thought to herself, something profound.  There was an air of excitement added to a feeling of relaxation among a small group of the colonists.  The group seemed to be limited to the Council members and a few others.  But no one was talking except for the excitement about the FBI agents and the computer choosing her own name.

 Damn, now I’m thinking of the computer as female.  I’ve been up here too long.  She shook her head and headed for Joe who was sitting by himself in the dining hall, staring into a cup of something hot and steamy.

 “Joe, could I ask you a question?”  She hovered behind the chair next to him and sat down as soon as he smiled and nodded at her.  “Do you think it would help for me to talk with Ruth about Peter?  I don’t want to butt in but she seems to be struggling with the whole relationship thing.”

 His smile was infectious.  “I think it would be a big help, Jane.  She’d given up hope of ever having a ‘normal’ life.  To be told now that she can have everything she wants, including a loving partnership with someone she’s secretly loved for months, has thrown her off balance.”

 “That’s what I was afraid of.”  Jane sighed and ran a hand through her hair.  “I don’t know if I’ll be of any use but David mentioned something about her thinking that Peter and I would be better together.  And I can blow that little theory right out of the water.”

 “Congratulations, Jane.  You are already more grown up than half the adults on this Base or the Earth.  Perhaps it’s time for some girl-talk with no men allowed and the fate of nations not in the balance. Hm-m-m?”

 “Girl-talk, I’ve got it, Joe.  Do you know where she is right now?  Is the fate of the Base in the balance?”  She wondered if he’d let something drop about whatever had just happened.

 “She’s down in the clinic with Lenora.  It’s ultrasound day.”

 “Cool.  I’ve always wanted to see that.  I’ll go down and see if they’ll let me crash the party.  Thanks, Joe.”  She leaned over and kissed his cheek before heading out of the hall.

 The clinic was rather crowded but Marag moved a little farther to one side so she could squeeze in.  Lenora was pretty much a mound under a white sheet but all eyes were on the monitor above the bed.  The picture was so grainy that it was hard to tell just what they were looking at.  But Sam was explaining what was where and suddenly, Jane could see the small outline of an out-flung hand.  The little fingers were flexing in and out in some kind of rhythm only he or she could feel.

 “Yes, there it is.  Congratulations, Lenora, he’s a boy.  Our first Moon baby is male.”  Sam shared a laughing grin with the mother-to-be.  “Denny, you are going to have your hands full with this one.  He’s already practicing his drumming.”

 A muted cheer went out while the short husky man leaned over to kiss his wife’s cheek.  “Why should he be any different than his mother?”

 “Oh you!”  Lenora mock hit him but Jane could see their hands meet and hold while they looked at the picture of their unborn child.

 The group began to break up and she took the chance to enlist Marag’s help in her campaign.  The redhead was enthusiastic and offered her quarters so they’d have some neutral territory.  She headed out first, leaving Jane to bring Ruth who was still talking with Lenora and Denny.  Peter was right behind her with both hands on her shoulders in what seemed to have become his favorite position.

 Jane watched them with analytical eyes.  Ruth seemed to have come to some kind of peace, leaning back against him without the defensive posture of three days before.  He seemed more relaxed as well; the engaging smile crinkling his eyes the way she remembered from so long ago.  She probed the old feelings inside but found nothing but a fond affection for an old friend.

 Stepping up to the bed, she added her congratulations to the Andersons.  Soon however, Sam shooed them out so he could talk to the parents-to-be.  In the outer hall, Jane eyed Peter with a measuring eye before choosing her approach.

 “Peter, I need Ruth for a couple of hours but you’ll just be in the way.  Go flying something.”

 Ruth chuckled and patted Peter’s hand on her shoulder.  “I’ll be in good hands, Peter.  You know what needs to be done with Chimera’s project.  She’ll know where I am if you need to find me.”

 “Well, okay, but I get equal time later.  Right?”  His grin told Jane he knew exactly what she was doing and he approved.

 “Always, my Peter.”  Ruth smiled up at him and Jane turned her eyes away so she didn’t intrude on their kiss.  It was a short one and Peter left immediately without a backward look.

 “So, I expect you have something to tell me or perhaps ask me?”

 “If you really love him and I think you do, you need to marry him and give him the stability that he’s always needed.  I couldn’t see that ten years ago but even if I had, I don’t think I could have given him the freedom to fly.  He’s a roamer and a doer.  He needs someone to act as his ‘fixed foot’.”  They were moving slowly down the corridor towards Marag and Wolf’s suite.

 “Ah, John Donne.  ‘Thy soul the fixed foot, makes no show to move, but doth, if the other do.’”

 “Damn, I thought I had it memorized.  ‘And though it in the center sit, Yet when the other far doth roam, It leans and harkens after it, and grows erect as that comes home.’”

 “Such wilt thou be to me, who must like the other foot, obliquely run.  Thy firmness makes my circle just, and makes me end, where I begun.”  Ruth finished the poem with a smile.  “Thank you, I needed to be reminded of that.  ‘A Valediction forbidding mourning’, such a sad title but altogether a sublime poem.  I have wondered what my role could possibly be in his life.”

 “You’ll be the still center around which he revolves, I expect.  In a very real sense, he’s the moon to your earth, revolving sometimes close and sometimes far away.”

 “Goodness.”  Ruth eyed her with a little wrinkle between her brows.  “Do you really see us that way?”

 “Well, it helps since I failed so long ago, to reflect comfortably on the fact that we would have never worked out because he was waiting for you.”  Jane chuckled.  “And I was waiting for David.  I think we both got the best of all possible worlds.”

 “Yes, is seems we did.”  Ruth shook her head.  “Peter is so sure and I want to believe he’s right.  Even Penelope seems resigned to a wedding.  The one I’m really worried about is Julie.  I promised her that no harm would come to her sons and now look at what I’ve done.”

 Jane risked a quick hug before knocking on Marag’s door.  “I think she’ll be all right with it . . . eventually.  It’s too bad that her Mom couldn’t be there when she finds out.  Grandma Sophie is the eternal Earth-Mother.”

 “They already know.  It seems when Peter kissed me after the attack, they were watching.  I don’t think she’s breathing fire and brimstone but it’s kind of hard to tell over the comm lines.”  Ruth nodded absentmindedly to Marag’s ‘come in’.

 “I made tea and swiped some of the cinnamon rolls we froze a few weeks ago.”  Marag smiled at them both and waved them to the table.  “I’ve promised Simon to make them every week.  I think he wants to include it in the wedding vows.  You know, ‘do you promise to love, honor and bake cinnamon rolls as long as you both should live?’  I’m pretty sure he’s already spoken to Father Adam.”

 Jane was doubled over laughing and Ruth wasn’t far behind.  Marag grinned smugly and poured the tea, waiting for them to finish chortling.  The next hour went smoothly as they questioned Ruth’s likes and dislikes.  Jane made notes since she’d be doing the shopping planet-side.  They all agreed that white wouldn’t do since virginity wasn’t a problem for either of them.  Marag wanted green for herself and Simon while Ruth hesitantly asked if blue and silver might do for them.

 Like a flash, Jane had a picture of Peter in blue and Ruth in silver, something medieval and flowing.  “I know exactly what you need.  Let’s get measurements for both of you.  I know a little fashion house in New York where they will make us exactly what we want.  Do you two trust me?”

 Ruth laid her hand over Jane’s.  “Yes.  Pick out something that will force me to be beautiful if only for the ceremony.”

 “Oh, honey, you’ve got to see past the scars to the you that we see.”  Marag placed her hand in turn over the others.  “They’re just silver lines of suffering that remind us of some of the price that was paid for this Base and our shot at the stars.”

 “Peter sees only the woman whose heart touched his.  You could be wearing jeans and a t-shirt and he’d see the beauty in you.  You’ve got to trust us on this, Ruth.  But I can and will choose something that will make you feel pretty.  Guaranteed, cross my heart.”  Jane solemnly made the childish gesture.  “Besides, it’s not everyday that an old fiancée gets to dress her ex-boyfriend for his wedding.”

 They all laughed at that and went back to planning the menu for the party afterward.  Jane could see the relaxation between the other two and the easing of tension that had been so prevalent earlier.  Something told her that it wasn’t just the end of the attacks.  Suddenly, she had it.  They weren’t worried about any future attacks either.

 Which meant that they knew who was doing it and had somehow managed to find a way to stop him or her.  She thought quickly, her mind racing through the minefield that questioning had become.  Sighing internally, she pondered her lack of distance to this problem.  Firmly on the side of the colonists of Moon Base, she couldn’t even pretend to be impartial.

 Right along with everyone else, she wanted to see the creeps behind the attacks hung, drawn and quartered.  But part of her still wanted to be the one who broke the story.  Damn, she hated it when her conscience got the better of her.  At least she could ask and see what came out.  Marag was writing down a list of things they’d need from Earth and Ruth was sipping tea when she gathered her courage.

 “What’s changed, you two?  Why is the tension gone?”  She asked with bated breath.  “If you can’t tell me, I’ll understand but I’d really like to know.”

 Ruth’s gaze was serene.  “Chimera discovered the identity of the man behind the attacks and  . . . neutralized his ability to hurt us again.  I don’t know if breaking the story should come before the trial or during.  Marag, what do you think?”

 “I think there are approximately ten thousand reporters working their little fingers to the bone to find that fact and we might as well have someone sympathetic to our cause get there first.  Chimera, why don’t you tell Jane about your search?”

 Jane listened spellbound while the computer proudly told of her searching and finding of the billionaire intent on making Moon Base his alone.  She made notes as fast as she could, taking Chimera over some points more than once until everything made sense.  In an odd sort of way, she agreed with the computer.  Reparations for trying to destroy a people seemed imminently fair to her.

 When she said that to the others, Marag laughed.  “It’s because women are more practical than men.  It’s those years of settling childish arguments and keeping the peace on the school grounds.  Children have a finely drawn sense of right and wrong that we ignore at our peril.”

 “I don’t know much about children.”  Ruth said ruefully.  “I tend to treat them as my peers because I don’t want to talk down to them.  I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.”
 
 “You do just fine, honey.  Don’t change now.”  Marag patted her hand and looked up at the clock.  “Good Lord, look at the time.  I need to get to the dining room for my shift.  Jane, do you need anything else for now?”

 “Nope, I’ve got both your measurements.  I’m going to let you measure the guys.”  And she waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

 “Oh my.”  Ruth turned an interesting shade of pink while Marag just rubbed her hands together.

 Jane left with a full notebook and a real need for some solitude.  Heading back to the room assigned to her, she found David sitting and writing frantically on his laptop.  He looked up with an almost anguished look.  “Tell me that you got the story from Ruth.”

 “Yes.  Who did you get it from?”  She asked, sitting down across the table from him and pulling out her notebook.

 “Seth.  It’s the most unbelievable story I’ve ever heard.  But it has to be told just right.  We can’t prejudice the case when it goes to trial.”  He ran the fingers of one hand through his hair.  “If it goes to trial.”

 “Let’s work it out separately then pool our data.”  She suggested before grabbing her laptop and flipping it on.

 “Yes.”  He was already back to work.

 Fondly, she shook her head and brought up a new document to start listing the facts she’d been given.  Two hours later, she surfaced with a rough draft and sore shoulders from sitting hunched over the screen.  David was pacing slowly around the room speaking in a quiet monotone to an unseen audience.

 “David . . . David, we need to eat something.”  She stood up and stretched all over.  Turning towards him, she surprised a look of bemused lust on his face.  Crossing to his side, she kissed him with single-minded passion until they had to break apart to breathe.  “Okay, are you back with me now?  Let’s go eat.”

 “Eat!  You can think about food after . . . after that.”  His jaw dropped.

 “Of course, I can.”  She smiled sweetly up at him.  “You’re going to need your strength.”  She backed towards the door.  “All of your strength.”
 He followed her with a gleam in his eye.  “You will, too.”

 They laughingly headed for the dining hall, content with their story and each other.  Jane ceased thinking about the story or even the wedding, letting the conversation travel where it wanted.  Dr. Cecilia Bonsette, the new botanist, was speaking of the need for a fixed schedule of dark and light for the plants under her care.  She was enthusiastic about the Base’s eventual need for a more varied mixture of seedlings.  Jane thought about what a few dwarf citrus trees might provide in the way of fruit for their diet and asked a question about their feasibility.

 Cecilia approved of that suggestion and asked the others for their favorites.  That brought the others at the table into the conversation and Jan listened with amusement to some of the plants mentioned.  She really couldn’t see cactus as a possibility but Cecilia seemed to agree that it would be a good choice.

 Sitting back with a sigh at how much she’d eaten, Jane let her gaze take in the room and who was sitting with whom.  David nudged her knee under the table and tilted his head towards the door where Peter and Ruth were standing.  There came a sudden lull in the buzz of conversation and Ruth’s voice pulled all eyes to her.

 “We need to have another all base meeting at 1900 hours.  There are some decisions to make about our future.  We’ll see you there.”  And they left.

 Speculation was rife all around the room.  Jane listened to some of the ideas with an inner smile.  The meeting should prove interesting.  And that gave her an idea about which angle to take with her part of the story.  Whispering an aside to David, she slipped from the dining hall and back to their room.

 Setting up her computer, she took the rough draft and began shaping it into the human-interest story that it was.  Pioneers taking along part of their pasts while building a future and planning ahead while under attack from an unseen enemy using biological weapons in the fragile biosphere on the Moon.  This was about people and the age-old search for a new frontier.

 It was about greed and conscienceless mercenaries fighting for a man who wanted the Moon base and didn’t care how he got it.  A shadowy man working from behind the scenes who thought that money could buy any thing.  She didn’t have to wax poetic because the facts spoke for themselves.  Whether it did or didn’t come to trial, this verdict would come from the people of the Moon.

 A new breed - she thought about it and decided not to even approach that question.  She was way too close to the inhabitants not to be completely on their side.  So she’d use that bias to show the small family units working together as friends and help-meets.  She’d leave the big picture to somebody else.  Her forte continued to be showing the private face of individuals just doing their jobs.

 She printed it out for editing and got up to stretch.  It was 1930 and she decided to go down to see what kind of comments or arguments came from the crowd of new millionaires.  She was curious how the sudden wealth would strike some of the colonists who’d come from such poverty.  The hum from the meeting hall was excited but controlled.

 Running Elk was questioning the computer about the transactions between the mercenaries and Mr. King.  For a moment, Jane saw the fierce determination in the old man’s eyes.  She had no problem seeing him as the representative of his warrior ancestors from the 1800’s.  Implacable to their enemies, the Apaches sought to protect their families in the only way they knew how, force against force.

 But something in Chimera’s voice reached him and he seemed to approve her act of reparation on behalf of her family . . . the colonists of Moon Base.  He sat down and one of the scientists stood to ask a question about equipment needed for . . . she craned her head to see which one it was.  Radiation equipment should mean Dr. Reinbeau and with a further gyration from the edge of the room, she got a good enough glimpse to make a note in her notebook.

 The interplay between the colonists was fascinating and she settled against the hard wall to take in the unfolding human drama.  She smiled to herself ruefully and noted that it wasn’t just human but aliens and a maybe-sentient computer as well.  They were going to need a whole new vocabulary to deal with the issues arising from the Base and its inhabitants.

****************

 She was yawning by the time the meeting broke up at about 2300 hours.  Even Ruth seemed to be fighting to stay awake, her cheeks growing paler as time went on.  Jane wondered if there’d been some act of healing before the meeting.  But Peter was holding her hand and casting little side-glances that deepened the frown between his eyes.

 Finally, Seth got up and adjourned the meeting until the next day.  “We’re talked out for now, folks.  Sleep on it and we’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow morning at 10:00.  Work shifts are on hold for the moment until we know what will happen.  Thank you all for your comments and opinions.  We’ll get through this just like we did the attack – together.  Good night.”

 Jane spotted Ruth close her eye wearily and lean back against Peter’s shoulder.  Slowly making her way around the room to the table where they were sitting, she got there just in time to catch Sam taking Ruth’s pulse.

 “Ruth, is there something you’re not telling us?”  He asked her gently.

 She shook her head.  “Nope.  I just feel so tired.  I thought I’d never wake up properly this morning.  Not even with the wonderful incentive I had.”

 Peter blushed at Sam’s raised eyebrow.  “Could she be anemic?  All the healing and dying and coming back to life might have bypassed something.”

 Sam shrugged.  “Since I only know about healing what I’ve learned in the last five months, I’m no expert.  Come on down to the clinic and I’ll take a blood sample.  We’ll have the results in the morning.  Then if it’s just a matter of adding iron, I’ve got some great supplements.”

 “Fine.  Let’s do it now so I can go to sleep.”  She answered sleepily.

 “Jane, are you ready to do some filming?”  Seth greeted her while his eyes strayed to Sam and Peter walking Ruth out of the room.

 “I just need to do another edit and have David take a look at it.  Then I’m ready to go.”  She said cheerfully.

 “Mine is ready too.  Once Jane takes a look at it.”  David’s voice came from behind her at the same moment his arm came around her shoulders.

 Seth smiled at them both.  “I’d appreciate it if we leave out the money aspect for the moment.  Once the Base decides where they’re going with it, it’s fair game.”

 “Not a problem, Seth.  We’ve got enough material for about a week’s worth of stories without once mentioning Chimera’s reparations.”  David chuckled.  “I’m not sure how much of the computer we can use.  It would sound too much like a science fiction novel.”

 “Ahem,” the computer’s voice came from above their heads.  “Why is it so hard to believe that a computer can think for herself?”

 Jane exchanged a silent look with David then decided to answer the question.  “Well . . . Chimera, it’s hard because none of our computers ever have thought for themselves.  You are the very first so far as we know.”

 “Well!  How disappointing.”

 Jane had a hard time containing her laughter and she could tell the others did as well.  David made the suggestion that they sleep on the story for now, edit tomorrow morning and go live in time for the nine a.m. news.  Seth agreed and they all split up to catch some sleep.  With David’s arm around her shoulders, she felt the satisfaction of a job well done.

 And tomorrow, they’d tell the story to the world.

*************************
End chapter 42