E:A Vol 6 Ch 17—December 21, 2120

Chapter 17: December 21, 2120

After a day of shopping for Christmas presents, Chris ordered several deep-dish pizzas, which the group picked up on the way back to Victoria’s estate where the twins and the Rayth family members were awaiting their arrival. While some carried in the pizzas, others kept the kids occupied so the presents could be taken up to the attic unseen.

Janice and Lutia set the pizzas in the living room and grabbed napkins and paper plates for everyone. People sat anywhere, tired from the long day. Conversations started up around the room as the food was eaten. Near the end of their meal, Becket stood and called for everyone’s attention. “Sorry to disturb you, and I know we have a lot of work to do with getting the new addition going, but…uh, well, I’m throwing a wrench into the plans for the week. We’ve been doing a lot of talking and praying,” he paused and looked at Amelia with a loving smile, “Lia and I have decided to get married on Saturday.”

“Today Saturday!” Mik’kenna exclaimed, almost spitting out the little bit of food in her mouth. She grabbed her napkin and apologized, trying to mind her manners.

“Next Saturday,” Becket chuckled, “after Christmas. If we keep waiting for things to calm down, we’ll never get married.”

He sat back down next to Amelia and took her hand into his own. “Since the sanctuary’s been cleaned out, we’re just going to have it there. I know my bride would have loved to have it here in the spring with all of the flowers in bloom, but I love this woman and want her to be my wife.”

Mik’kenna ran over to him and launched herself onto his lap, giving him a kiss on his cheek. “I glad you get married. It be nearly all my life I wait for dis. Bubby and I pray for you every night. I love you.”

Her little face and honest words caused Becket to tear up. He held his god-daughter tight. “Oh love, that’s so sweet. I love you and Ky. Thank you both so much for praying for us.”

Ky’nayth was hugging Amelia and switched with his sister. Soon hugs were coming from everyone congratulating the soon-to-be newlyweds.

“So the sanctuary on Saturday,” Victoria said, “do you have decorations? A dress? Flowers? Music?”

“I have the dress; it was my mother’s. Thankfully it escaped damage in the attack. I was so glad that they got our floor cleared last week. That was the first thing I looked for. But I don’t have anything else. That’s the wrench. I don’t mind a trimmed down, minimalist wedding. I wanted something small. I have my dress, I have my groom, that’s all I need.”

“And we’d love for Kenna to be our flower girl, provided we can find flowers, and for Ky to be the ring bearer,” Becket said.

“We do it!” Mik’kenna clapped. “We do. I did flowers for Uncle Kol’non and Aunt Be’atta wedding and Bubby did rings. We has ‘sperience. You no worry. We do it!”

“There are some of Scientists on the flagship that I’ve worked with who I would like to invite,” Becket said. “Lia and I wrote up the invitations. I thought maybe the kids could use their tricycles to deliver them for us while Lia and I distribute invitations on the city-ship.” He looked at Zy’nayth, “I’d defer to Rayth tradition. I’m not sure if I should personally invite them or how that works.”

Zy’nayth smiled, “The children can deliver the invitations after church tomorrow.”

“I’m pretty sure we can get flowers,” Victoria said. “While the kids are delivering the flowers, we ladies can get together and help you with that. Any of your other friends, of course, are welcome to come down here to help.”

Zy’nayth got out his tablet, “Let me make sure we do things properly,” he said. “Mik’kenna dear, would you be so kind as to get me another glass of iced tea.”

“Kay,” the girl said, dislodging herself from Becket and running to the kitchen.

“What time will the event begin?”

“Ten sharp,” Becket said.

“Has the sanctuary been properly cleaned?”

“You saw it last week, it looked good, didn’t it?”

“I was checking for structural issues, not cleanliness.”

“Well, I think it’s fine.”

“I assume the piano was damaged.”

“We haven’t ordered a new one. Just too much right now,” Amelia said.

“Have your parents pick whatever they would like. I will pay for it. Victoria, the children will need appropriate attire, I do not think they will fit into what they wore for Kol’non and Be’atta’s wedding.” Zy’nayth turned back to Becket, “Do you have a honeymoon planned?”

“Just staying in Becket’s chambers,” Amelia said. “We’ve been moving my stuff there.”

“Would you consider my island home?”

“We don’t really know anyone there. Becket probably does, but…”

“Becket knows all of our neighbors. You do not have to leave the house and we can make sure the neighbors do not come to get items from the garden while you are there. I will escort you over and, beforehand, make sure the neighbors know you are coming.”

“I’ll make up casseroles for you to eat, stock the fridge. The garden and greenhouse will have plenty of ripe veggies and fruit. Food shouldn’t be a problem. No fancy restaurants, but it would be quiet and somewhat secluded. Plus there’s the beach,” Victoria smiled.

December 22, 2120

Victoria had stayed up late, looking for a dress and suit for the twins online. She ordered them and would pick up after church. In the morning after the church service, the twins had invitations in their baskets and Zy’nayth led them through the flagship to distribute them to the scientists that Becket wished to invite to the wedding.

The twins had a blast pedaling around the ship to the different quarters, their dogs running along with them. Zy’nayth watched them with a smile and a lump in his throat. He loved them more than he could believe. It had been so long since he’d had a little one. Ten thousand years. When Gal’nayth was little, his time with his son was always limited due to being busy rising in the ranks. Now he was at the top and still seemed to have little time for his family.

“We all done!” Ky’nayth exclaimed as he and his sister came riding back to their father who was talking to a warrior in the hallway.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Amelia and her friends met at Victoria’s estate to find flowers for the wedding.

“Does he have a tux?” Julia asked her daughter.

“Yeah.”

“What about a wedding cake?” one of Amelia’s friends asked.

“With how busy Alan’s team is for the Christmas party, I couldn’t impose on him,” Amelia replied.

“Well I talked with Alan, because that’s what I do,” Victoria smiled. “Nihru was there and, he is a pastry chef. He said he was more than happy to make you a cake. He needs flavors and colors, though. And he’ll make cupcakes for everyone. He’s pretty excited about it since everyone else is baking cookies for Wednesday’s Christmas party.”

“Victoria, it’s too much,” she smiled as tears rolled down her cheeks. “Thank you. But tell him I want a very simple cake. Chocolate with white frosting. Very basic. Oh…Becket likes red velvet. I don’t know. Which do you think?”

“I’ll tell Nihru both and let him decide what to do.”

“That works,” Amelia handed her mother her computer tablet, showing the flowers she wanted. “Mom, look, aren’t they beautiful? Should I get white or red roses?”

“If my ‘pinion, I get red,” Mik’kenna spoke up, squeezing between the two women to eye the photo. The bouquet was enormous and very white. Held at the waist, the trail of roses would sweep down to her knees. “Dat very pretty. I no know. I like white in dat picture.”

December 23, 2120

The ladies talked and decided on red roses for Amelia’s bouquet, which thrilled Mik’kenna. On Monday, the call was made to see if they could be on hand by Friday. There was pushback since it was such short notice during a major holiday week, but Victoria passed a worried Amelia a note stating that she’d pay triple the cost to have them on time. The florist took the offer, and Amelia thanked Victoria profusely with tears rolling down her cheeks.

After the stressful call, the women loaded up, escorted by David, and went shopping for some bunting and ribbon. Victoria also picked up a new dress for Mik’kenna and a new suit for Ky’nayth. She found a dress for herself. She only had four, and two skirts. She hated dressing up. Usually she just wore dress slacks and a nice blouse.

When they returned home, Mik’kenna again settled in with Amelia and her friends as they discussed where to put the few decorations they’d purchased, while Ky’nayth went to help the men who were working on the new addition to the house. An hour later, Victoria’s comlink chimed, alerting her to a scheduled event. “Kenna, it’s time to bake Christmas cookies with Uncle Alan, if you want. I called and told him that we had a big project going on down here, and that we may have to decline. So, do you want to bake cookies or help Lia more?”

“Please give Uncle Alan ‘pologies. I stay with Aunt Lia,” Mik’kenna said. “I no speak for Bubby. He maybe go.”

“All right, honey.” Victoria went down the corridor to the new frame-only addition of the house. “Ky, honey, your sister is going to stay and help Lia with wedding plans, but do you want to go help Alan and the others bake the Christmas cookies?”

“Normy, I say yes, ‘cause cookies good, but we in middle of all dis mess and I has keep dem in line,” he stood with his little hands on his hips and his white hair hidden under a kid-sized construction hat. Then he sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “I no know. We say we help with cookies. Maybe should go. We gave word. Daddy, I go talk to Sissy. I no sure what do.”

“Talk to your sister and do what is right.” Zy’nayth looked at his wife, “If you go to the city-ship, let me know.”

“I will,” she replied as Ky’nayth ran down the corridor. “Looks like you got a lot done already and it only 3:00.”

“Two more walls there and there,” Vince pointed, “which will give you four bedrooms over here, too. Eight bedrooms total. Large bedrooms, I might add. We’ll get this done before dinner, then, young lady, we’re going to need paint and flooring and furniture. I’m thankful the others got the foundation and frame up. It’s cold in here even with the insulation.”

“Let me see what the kids want to do. I’ll figure out what I need for all of these new rooms in the next day or so. Too much going on.”

“And I’ll see if I can get the heating and cooling system hooked up. I think David said everything was in place,” Ja’val said.

“It should be,” David replied as Victoria went to confer with her husband.

“I can help you select flooring and paint if you would like after we finish with the walls,” Zy’nayth said. “It would be nice to have the flooring done. We can paint and furnish later.”

“Zy, can you pick the flooring? David probably knows the websites where you can look. I’ll try to at least get paint and some basic furniture picked out. We’ll be bringing down some of the beds from the attic, so…anyway, you can find flooring, right?”

“Yes. Do you wish to remain consistent with what is already in the house or do you wish the addition to have a different décor altogether?”

“Can we do the same style, or wood, or whatever? Maybe different stains in different rooms,” she smiled and kissed his cheek. “I don’t know. I’ll leave it to you. Though I don’t want to have to wait forever to see it like our new chambers on the city-ship.”

With the new addition came a new enormous living room and dining room as well as eight more bedrooms, two linen closets with washing stations, and four full bathrooms. It was going to take a while to figure out colors, fixtures, and furniture, so she was thankful Zy’nayth would at least get the flooring done.

At least, she thought, she’d find some bargins with the after-Christmas sales. She returned to the living room where the twins were talking with quite a bit of animation. Victoria sat on the floor between them. “I think we go,” Mik’kenna said to her mother. “Bubby say we gave word and we has to keep word, so it best if we go. I no think of it like dat, but he right. We give word, so we do right thing and go.”

“We has to be Rayth of honor,” Ky’nayth said, “like Daddy.”

“Aunt Lia, I sorry we go.”

“It’s quite all right. You’ve been a great help, Kenna.”

“With that, I’m going as well,” Victoria said. “I’m sorry to leave you ladies high and dry. I didn’t know about the wedding…”

“Only my parents knew,” Amelia smiled. “See you in an hour or so. Have fun baking!”

Victoria tapped her comlink, letting her husband know they were headed to the city-ship as she and the twins went to the bridge portal in the barn.

Alan had teams set up. Volunteers were each given one-hour shifts. He smiled when he saw Victoria walk in with the twins. “Was worried you weren’t coming with the wedding plans going on,” he said.

“Almost didn’t,” Victoria said. “Is Nihru here?”

“Not until this evening. You have the wedding cake info?”

“Yeah. Chocolate or red velvet cake, white frosting. She wants it simple.”

Alan nodded and wrote out a note, putting it on one of the refrigerators. “I’ll tell him, but in case I forget,” he tapped the note on the fridge, “he’ll see this. Okay, I have you three on scooping duty.”

“Scoopy?” Mik’kenna asked.

“Those volunteers are making up the dough, then when the get a bowl done, they put it on this counter where you’ll be working. So you need to scoop out the dough onto the cookie sheets.”

He got the stools the twins were needed and pointed, “Take a baking sheet from that pile, put one of these non-stick sheets down, then scoop a dozen of these,” he held up what looked like a small ice cream scoop, “onto each sheet. Three across, four down. Finished sheets go on that rack. I’ve got other people handling the baking,” he said as a timer went off and a couple of people took care of getting the cookies out of the ovens and replaced them with others on the rack. Another group was already putting the baked cookies on cooling racks. “Each of those bowls are different types of cookie dough. The team over there will be adding more bowls as they finish mixing.”

“Huge process,” Victoria said as she readied clean baking sheets for the three of them.

“We’re making 50,000 cookies. Has to be big.”

“Fifty thousand?”

“Ten cookies per each of 5,000 people. And that’s not counting the Rayth. A bit much, but we don’t do desserts often and it is Christmas and I want people to take some home after the party.”

“Dat a lot of cookies,” Ky’nayth said, awestruck.

“It sure is,” Alan said.

“And then the big dinner,” Victoria said.

“Yeah, that’s what the teams over there are working on. Getting things made up in advance, as much as we can.”

“On top of your regular meals. I don’t know how you do it,” Victoria said.

“The meals aren’t an issue since people don’t generally all eat at the same time. But one meal for that many people eating all at the same time…not something we’ve done before.”

“I’m sure everything will be fantastic,” Victoria said as the twins began scooping dough out.

“You comfortable with a piping bag?” Alan asked Victoria.

“I’m no decorator.”

“Just need dollops for chocolate macarons.”

“That I can do,” she said. Alan switched out the middle bowl of dough, scooting it towards Ky’nayth to add to his efforts, then grabbed a large bowl with chocolate dough. He grabbed a piping bag and loaded it up, then gave Victoria a quick demonstration of how big to make the dollops. She nodded and before he left, two others arrived to help with the scooping. Victoria explained what was going on. Alan simply took the time for the twins, he didn’t want to brush them aside since they were so eager to help and learn.

They worked hard for an hour. There was very little chatting as it seemed like the dough was piling up faster than the baking sheets could be filled.

An hour later, the next set of volunteers arrived. Victoria explained the routine to them, then she and the twins returned to her estate on Earth.

“Victoria,” Kol’non said, “I checked the roasts and put on the vegetables as you asked. The potatoes have been boiling for fifteen minutes. All you will need to do is finish up the mashed potatoes and gravy, and bake the bread. It should be finished rising. Oh yes, the salad is ready to serve. It’s in the refrigerator. I have made six pitchers of tea. I believe I completed the list.”

Be’atta smiled and kissed his cheek. “You are very handy in the kitchen.”

“It works out for the best since you are not,” he winked. “And Janice, Lutia, and Alessa each helped, taking turns with helping Lia with her plans.”

“Thank you,” Victoria said. “Kids, go let your father know we’re back and that dinner should be ready in about thirty minutes.” She let out a poof of air, trying to figure out what to do first. “Be’atta, are Lia’s friends staying for dinner?”

“Yes. We made enough for everyone, or my husband did.”

Vince came walking into the kitchen where Victoria was now checking the roasts and getting ready to make the gravy. “Got a minute to listen?”

“Sure,” she ladled out some of the broth into a large pot into which she added egg noodles.

“Those special presents…I got a call to pick them up tonight if I could.”

Victoria’s eyes went wide. “Do we have everything we need for them?”

“Yup. Will there be an issue with them being here a couple days early? I know we wanted to wait until after the Christmas party, but…the family I ordered them from…they were hoping to be free of them before the holiday. I know it will be troublesome…”

“Shouldn’t be any problems. If anything, your co-conspirators will be ready to assist in any way they can,” Victoria smiled. “The worst will be Christmas Day on the city-ship. But we’ll figure something out.”

“Thank you. I know you’ve got a lot going on.” Vince tapped a code on his comlink. The call was answered immediately. “This is Vince Cavanaugh. Will 7:00 tonight work? Yes? Good. Thank you. I’ll see you then.” He looked back at Victoria, “I’ll need to use your cruiser.”

“All yours.”

“And the kids would be a big assist, if you trust me with them.”

“It’s not a matter of trust, it’s a matter of safety. If Zy’s okay with it, you can take the little conspirators.”

“Take who where?” John asked walking in to get himself a glass of iced tea. Ky’nayth and Mik’kenna had come in with him to see if they could help with the dinner.

“The twins,” Vince said. “The rest is a classified surprise. Ky, Kenna, we may have to move our mission up to tonight. But I need to talk to your father. Remember, this is a secret, okay?”

“Who’s the surprise for?” John asked.

“I believe I said it was classified,” Vince said as he put an arm around Ky’nayth and led him to talk to Zy’nayth.

“Come on, just a hint?”

“Nope. Now pull those roasts out and set them on that far counter for me, please,” Victoria said. “Put a towel or hot pad down first.”

“Mik’kenna,” John said as she got him the hot pads, “want to tell Uncle John what you guys are up to? What the big surprise is?”

“Yes. I want tell so bad,” she smiled, “but I no can. I promised.”

“How about if I give you a cookie?”

“Bribery is bad, Uncle John,” she put her hands on her hips. “Sides, you no has cookies.”

Victoria chuckled. “We prepped them. They won’t say a word.”

“Fine. I won’t tell you what I got you for Christmas.”

“That’s ‘kay. I wait.”

John set the second roaster down and took off the oven mitts and looked at Victoria, “You prepped them pretty darn well.”

“We sure did.”

“Okay, what else do you need me to do?” he said after setting the last roasting pan on the counter.

“Bring in the picnic tables to the parlor. We can’t eat a roast and all the trimmings if we’re sitting on the floor. The dogs will have their noses in everyone’s plates. Lia and her friends can eat at the dining room table, we’ll sit at the picnic tables.”

“I’ll grab the others and get that done. I know where the card tables are, those would probably be easier. I’ll get it done, whatever I decide,” he chuckled and went off to get a couple of helpers.

***

“Well, friends, I hate to eat and run,” Vince said, then wiped his mouth with his napkin as he stood, “especially without dessert, but I did promise to be there on time. Kids, you ready?”

“No dessert?” Mik’kenna’s face fell, “No dessert?”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” Victoria said, “I will save some for all three of you. I promise.”

“Kay, thank you.” The twins went and got their coats, boots, hats, mittens, and scarves on, and loaded into Victoria’s cruiser with Vince.

“So anyone want to tell us what he’s up to?” Janice asked as she began to clear the table.

“His surprise. He’ll tell you,” Victoria said.

At 8:15, the cruiser came to a stop just outside of the garage. From inside the house, it looked like Vince was unloading dog crates, though the dogs were in the house. The twins ran inside each carrying two empty crates. “Mommy, Daddy, can you please help get other crates? I has get out of all dis coat and stuff,” Mik’kenna said.

The kids managed to keep the adults occupied telling them about their long trip and all the sights. Victoria carried in one empty crate, but Zy’nayth and Vince’s crates each had occupants. Victoria set up baby gates to form a pen, then threw a couple of old towels and an old sheet inside.

“Ja’val, Lutia, Janice, Ny’van, Becket, and Lia, get over here,” Vince ordered. “In these crates I have seven Jack Russell Terrier puppies. I began thinking that the seven we have might get lonely, so after doing some extensive searching, I found these pups, all from different bloodlines, to add into our family. Now, I did take a big gamble by not asking you if you wanted a dog, so feel free to say no. Ky, Kenna let’s get them into the pen so they can be admired.”

The twins handed the squirming dogs to Vince who put them in the pen. “Since I do know that Lutia has wanted a puppy since these other guys came into our lives, she gets first choice,” Vince said as the seven other dogs came sniffing around, unsure of what to make of the puppies.

“That’s easy,” Lutia said and immediately picked up a puppy with one brown ear, one black ear, a black face with little brown cheeks, and with a body that was mostly brown. “Hmm, this little girl is Cinnamon.” She looked at her husband, “You okay with this?”

“I sort of knew about it. I’m glad, however, that your favorite food isn’t squid.”

Vince looked at Janice, “Your turn.”

“Really?”

“You want one, don’t you?”

She smiled, “I’d love one.”

“Well, pick one out.”

She carefully checked over each dog and picked a boy. His back two feet looked like they were wearing black socks. His front feet were white. His mostly white body had primarily brown markings except his black ears, and face. She named him Boots.

“I was unsure about you,” Vince said to Amelia, “especially since you’re about to get married. But I didn’t want to leave you and Becket out. Would you like one? And know that while you take your honeymoon, the twins, with their parents’ permission, have agreed to look after the pup. If they don’t, I will. And since I wasn’t sure if you each wanted a pup, depending on how your prayers about the wedding went, I have a couple extra pups here if you want two.”

“I love dogs,” Amelia said as she turned to her soon-to-be husband, “but it’s up to you. I know how busy you can get.”

Becket smiled warmly, “Like Ja’val, I was sort of in on this too. Go ahead and pick one. I don’t think we need two, though it would be cute.”

Amelia picked the only one of all of the dogs that whose brown spots were closer to a rust color. His face and ears were black, though he had a rust-colored snout. He had one larger spot of brown on his back, and smaller brown and black splotches throughout his coat.

“What’s his name?” Ky’nayth asked.

“Let’s keep it simple. Rusty.”

“Okay, Vice Chancellor, four left to choose from. Pick one for yourself,” Vince said.

“I can show you how to feed and stuff,” Mik’kenna said.

“Thank you, sweetheart, but I had a few dogs in the past. I don’t have trouble feeding them, just myself.” He knelt down and looked at the four remaining dogs. “With Becket and Lia only taking one, what are you going to do with those not chosen?”

“I wanted plenty for everyone to choose from. The two that aren’t chosen will be taken back,” Vince said.

“Takey back?” Mik’kenna asked. “Where?”

“To the people we got them from. They will sell them to someone else.”

“But…”

“It’s okay honey, they’ll get good homes. Ny’van, pick one out.” The Vice Chancellor reached in and picked up a little boy. He had a big black nose, brown ears, and lots of black and brown spots of all sizes and shapes on his torso. “I think you and I could get along great. What do you think?” The puppy wagged his tail and let out a little bark. “Is that so?” The puppy licked Ny’van’s cheek. “This one’s a keeper,” he said.

“What’s his name, Uncle Vice Chancellor?” Ky’nayth asked.

“I think he looks like a Vin’toz”

“What’s that mean in English?” Amelia asked.

Ny’van grinned, “Short friend.”

Amelia chuckled, “I like it.”

“Okay boss, your turn,” John said to Vince. “We got two girls and one boy left, it looks like.”

“I’ve had my eye on this little girl’s cute brown face and her sleek white coat.” Then he chuckled, “And this one crazy black foot in front.”

“What you name her?” Mik’kenna asked.

“How about Frostie? It’s cold out. She’s white like frost. What do you think of that?”

“Welcome to the family, Frostie,” Mik’kenna said.

“So we have one boy and one girl to take back. I’ll call the owners and let them know.”

Mik’kenna’s eyes began to brim over with tears as she held the leftover little boy puppy in her arms. “They need stay with us. They like the other puppies. They like the big puppies. They happy here.” Her bright blue eyes, streaming with tears looked at her father, “Daddy, please, we no send dem back. They family now. Please! Please! I beg you with all heart. We keep, please!”

Ky’nayth was holding the little girl and stroking her. “She is sad. She think no one want her.”

Zy’nayth sighed, “We are not keeping…”

“Daddy, please, they want to stay! Please, Daddy!”

Zy’nayth caved but thought fast. “Christopher, can you call and see if Major Kessler would like a dog? Amelia, could you call your parents and ask the same. They may bridge over and look at them, even take them back tonight if they want. If they are not interested, we will go down the list of our other closest friends.”

“We picked up the appropriate food, bowls, collars, leashes, everything for them,” Vince said, “including the training pads.”

“Now?” Amelia asked. Zy’nayth nodded, and looked at his children, “If they do not want the dogs, we will see if perhaps a couple of our Rayth friends on the island would like them. Or ask around on the city-ship.”

John whispered in his ear, “You could keep them. That’s what she wants.” A low groan was uttered by the High Chancellor, causing John to grin. “Can’t believe you caved so fast.” He received another groan in reply.

Amelia’s parents loved the idea of having a dog. Steve Kessler was also up for the idea. They’d be down to select their picks.

“We has one girl and one boy left,” Ky’nayth said. He put his hand on one of them, “This is the girl. She’s got a pretty brown face and cute black and brown ears. She has a pretty black spot on her back, and lots of brown mixed in. She’s really pretty. And she very sensitive.”

“And this is the boy,” Mik’kenna said, “He’s strong and likes to run. He has a tan face, we only has two with light brown faces, and he has big floppy black ears. And he’s one of the rare ones that is mostly black. He’s a strong puppy. Very smart too. And fast. He would be good to run with on the trails.”

“Pretty good sales pitch,” Steve said.

“I have all of their papers,” Vince said. “These seven new puppies are from seven different parents, none of which, as far as we know, are parents of our original seven. All have had their shots.”

“Have they been…spayed and neutered?” Julia asked.

“No. We’re leaving that up to the guardian. Victoria thought it might be nice to start a little breeding program. Right now really isn’t the time since we’re still digging out and getting things working again, but it’s something to think about in the future. Have our own E:A Jack Russells.

“Can I see the boy?” Julia asked. “Very handsome young man.” She looked him over, then set him down and picked up the girl, “And just like Mr. Ky’nayth said, you are very pretty. Major, you interested in one?”

“I’d take either. You pick first.”

“I like the little girl, she seems very sweet.”

“She is,” Mik’kenna said. “She a little scared and sad. She no understand what going on.”

“Poor little thing. Steve, do you mind if I take her?”

“Works out perfectly because this little boy is the one I want,” he grinned at Mik’kenna, “to go running with me.”

Ky’nayth picked up his tablet, “What are you going to name them? I has to keep records case we breedy them.”

Julia spoke up first, “I think Brownie will be a good name. She has all the colors of a brownie in that cute little face of hers.”

“Samson,” for my little guy, Steve said. “He’ll be big and strong like Samson.”

“I introduce the other new puppies,” Ky’nayth entered the names then put down his tablet. “This is Cinnamon, and Rusty, and Boots, and Frostie, and Vin’toz. And here,” he pulled out a sack, “we got collars and leashes. You pick out your own.”

“And dis big bag has food and puppy pads. We bring more up when we come back from holiday.” Mik’kenna patted a large bag of food. “Now they get dis every morning. It their crunchy food.” Then she got into a shopping bag and pulled out a couple of cans, “And they get this at night, it’s their squishy food. It easier on their tummies so they sleep better. And make sure they always has fresh water. And we put some balls and pull toys in here for them to play with.”

“Sounds like you guys thought of everything,” Steve said. “I need to head back and set up a little place for Samson. I think I’ll take one of those blue collars, if that’s okay.”

Ky’nayth pulled out the collar and matching leash. Then he ran over and got one of the puppy crates. “He can sleep in this in case accident in night. We has one for Brownie too.”

Julia picked out a collar for Brownie, then put the puppy in the crate. Her husband took Samson in his crate while Steve got the heavy bag of food, puppy pads, and bowls.

“We’ll bring back more of everything when we return,” Vince said, “but that’s more than enough to hold you for a month.”

“One tip,” Victoria spoke up, “bring them down in their crates to do their business, don’t try to walk them. It’s much easier to clean a messed crate than a hallway.”

“Wait please,” Alessa spoke up. “Um, I sort of have a suggestion. Today’s probably been pretty traumatic for the pups. Maybe it’s best if they all stay here together tonight. Get used to being away from their old home and acclimatize to the older dogs. And, maybe, if the High Chancellor doesn’t mind, all of the dogs could stay together with the twins tonight.”

Before he got the teary-eyed look from his daughter again, Zy’nayth nodded. “As long as everyone agrees,” he said.

“Thank you for considering us as guardians for these cute little ones,” Jacob said, “they’ll be a nice addition to our family. Brownie, we will pick you up in the morning.” Julia hugged “her little girl” and wished her a good night. Steve gave Samson a good scratch behind his ears and told him to be good. To everyone’s surprise, Vince returned to the city-ship with Jacob, Julia, and Steve.

“Before everyone heads off to bed,” Zy’nayth said, “we have some good news which Vince is going to tell those on the city-ship.”

“What?” Janice asked.

“The city-ship will start heading back to Andromeda in about an hour. She will not be speeding back as my flagship will not be escorting her. I do not want to push that new engine mount on its first long-range trip.”

Chris looked at John, “Did you know?”

“No. Everyone’s been keeping secrets from me.”