• You know it’s just one of those days when you just want to open the microwave, jam something in the door, put your head in and wait until it explodes. I’m serious, it’s just so boring. I sit in my room most of the time, waiting for my doctors appointments or wonder the halls asking questions or searching for gossip. My little bundle is fine. He or she, though I’m sure it’s going to be a girl, is swimming like the little fishy thing she is.
    After we dropped off the girls to their station (and they let me come along for the farewells) I nearly dropped dead from exhaustion. I have to admit, partying that hard was bad for my health. I never knew movement like that until that night. Normally it was just mosh pits and small flowing movements, not sudden spiritual orgasmic movement of hypnotizing awesomeness. Now I was bed ridden with nothing to do but listen to that days gossip read out by the robotic voice of the Challengers mainframe. So far there was nothing and I drifted in and out of sleep as my clock ticked on.
    My dreams usually were about the panda, but that night I had three different bears in my dream. One was a panda, obviously. The second was a black bear, giant, his eyes dark and paws pressed against his waist. The third was a majestic polar bear. As I looked up at him, I saw the emotionless face, and then he smiled. He fell to all fours and padded over to me. His shoulders were up to my ears. He dropped his head until his eyes met mine. I shifted uneasily, but sense the panda didn’t move to protect me like it usually did, I felt no danger.
    “You’ve gotten older,” a voice whispered. The bear; talking? First of all, I could barely wrap my mind around the talking stuffed panda bear, now there’s a real polar bear talking to me? I knew this was a dream, but come on, there had to be some meaning to it? Besides the fact that I was going crazy. “How long has it been?”
    I didn’t exactly know what to say to this, but apparently my body already knew what to do.
    “A few years give or take,” I said. “You look good.”
    The bear stood tall, brushing his stomach wearily. He scratched himself. “Thanks. I’ve been working out; nothing much, just a few hundred push-ups a day.”
    I laughed. I patted the bear on the shoulders, or as high as my hand would go.. “Good to see you, too, I guess. Unless you have a few rolls on you, then I’ll be really happy.”
    The bear laughs. He turns toward the horizon. The sun is lifting its tired head. I smile as the wind ruffles his fur. Over in the corner, the panda and the black bear have hovered together and writing in the ground. They talk in quick whispers.
    “I’m going to help you, ya know,” the polar bear whispers are floating on the wind. I look at him. His paws hover around me. “I’ll do everything in my power to help. Don’t hesitate to call me, alright?”
    “Alright,” his name is a whisper in my ears. I don’t hear it really, so I’m left wondering. But he suddenly shifts. The sun is on his back, in my eyes. He’s changing back to a human. All the bears are, but slowly. A rushing wind blind me for a second as I try to make out the humanoid forms.
    “Discovery?”
    I lift my hand from my eyes. I can see the polar and black bear have slimmed in size but barely in height. My eyes widen in the brightness. I can make out their figures, their silhouettes in the bright background and they are-
    “Discovery,”
    I blink. Jamie is leaning over my bed. He smiled widely. I frowned. My hand is still in the air, blocking the rays of light coming from his flashlight.
    “What?” I croak. My voice was weak. I sighed. “Did you leave something in here when you moved out?”
    “We ran into a storm,” Jamie whispered. I sat up. “Power’s out. We’re trying to reboot the ship as we speak but the captains wanted me to check on you. Are you alright? You were talking in your sleep. Are you feeling-” He stopped, his hand on my forehead. “You’re sweating, you have a fever?”
    “No,” I lied, even though I felt the heat all over me. “I’m fine, just a little cold sweat. Nothing to worry about.”
    “Right,” Jamie frowned. “Stop lying. I’m going to get Narrow.” He stood.
    “Stop right there,” I snapped. He stopped, I could tell by the sudden hault in the light beam. “I’m fine, Jamie.” There was no reply. I stood shakily. “Jamie?”
    “I’m not going to let you do this to yourself,” Jamie turned fiercely. His hands crashed into my shoulders. “You lay your pregnant a** down and get some sleep! Narrow will be here in a few minutes to check on you! Now stop trying to be the hero and just play along with the damsel part for the time being!”
    I could feel his anger as his hands shook. He didn’t want to be so harsh, but he had to, I was as stubborn as a mule, probably worse. He used all his weight to get me to sit back down.
    “I’ll be back in a few minutes, so just be chill,” he whispered.
    I scowled, but it had no effect in the dark room. I curled back into the bed, feeling it sink around me. But I sat up, pushing forward into the darkness. Challenger was down, and I could tell by the noticeable silence. Normally there was the hum of the smaller robots rushing around and delivering things. But it was weird, even if the ship was down, they would work because their batteries were charged by friction. They’d never run out of power.
    My fever subsided slowly. I slipped off the bed. It would take a while for Jamie to find Narrow sense the whole shop was down. I looked around my room, my door was ajar and staff were bumping around without light. Without power there was no system to tell who was using what technology.
    I fumbled around under my mattress. I had my secrets, A.K.A, I stole Amethyst phone. I was so sick and tired of being secluded and not having many chances to call home. I needed it, craved it.
    What are my chances of one low tech machine working after our whole ship was rendered powerless by a solar wind spasm? I don’t know, but low tech pulled through for me.
    ‘Take a deep breath,’ I thought, but my fingers had already flew over the keypad. ‘Or not.’
    I heard the first call tone and my heart lept with happiness. The second toned and I realized exactly what I had done, or what I hadn’t done. I forgot to block the number. By the third tone, I suddenly realized I called the command room instead of my home number.
    My arm didn’t move to close the phone and cancel the call. My heartbeat was so loud I felt it shake the room.
    “Hello?” My heart leapt into my mouth. I could only pant. This wasn’t the usual voice. A Golden? Maybe. He sounded that way. “Excuse me? I can hear you breathing. We all can, dear.”
    Speaker phone, greatest invention for public humiliation anyone on a phone could use. I only had one response for this, and hopefully no one knew the code who was Golden.
    “Me llamo Senora Journey,” I managed to whisper. My tongue felt like it was swelling in my mouth and my throat cracked dry. “Me llamo Senora Journey.”
    In the background I heard an explosion of voices. One translated what I had said, another said the call was fir him.
    “I swear,” my father said loudly, giving a nervous laugh. “I tell her not to call, but she keeps it up. I’ll put it on private. Everyone get back to work.”
    When I heard the phone click to private I lost it. I fell into fits of crying and gasping. “Dad, I didn’t mean to,” I cried. “I didn’t know what number I was dialing. I’m sorry,” I gasped. “So sorry.”
    “I” he started.
    “No, I know you’re busy, I just wanted to give you an update. Tell mom and April I said hi! Oh, and Jamie joined the resistance! He wanted me to tell you to tell his wife he loves her and he’s going to save her. We’re doing fine, but we’re having a little technical difficulties.”
    “Discovery-”
    “Oh, and I’ve decided to keep the baby,” I paused. “I can’t really give the reason, but I feel like it’s apart of me now. Not just physically, but-why so quiet?”
    “Discovery,” this voice wasn’t my fathers. I shivered. “You’re keeping the baby willingly?”
    I clasped the phone shut, tossing it across the room. I wanted to punch myself for being so stupid. I should have made sure I wasn’t on speaker anymore. I should have made sure Dad was alright with me talking to him. No, I shouldn’t have called in the first place. I should’ve ended it when I had the-
    The phone rang across the room. I shivered again, crawling over to it and pressing my fingers against the cold metal of it. If I let it go to voice mail, Amethyst would know what I did. If I picked it up, who knew who was on the other end? But I didn’t want Amethyst to be in danger. But who was more important? Me or Amethyst?
    “He-hello?” I hesitated, afraid of who I’d receive.
    “My dear,” My body trembled. “How many times must we discuss your lying tendencies? And what is this? You’ve decided to keep the baby?”
    I mouthed words, but no sound came. I closed my eyes.
    “Discovery,” Boomer whispered. “Love, lets talk. You’re the first to have gotten away from me, now you’re willingly carrying my child? Beautiful; you’re just beautiful. But your escape is something I wish never happened. Now I have to punish everyone in your wake. Do you really want that?”
    I didn’t answer. He seemed to enjoy my terrified silence. “Now, Discovery, do you really want all those people to suffer for you? I thought you were a hero, not a runner. How long do you think you can last in this mad dash? How many people do you think are going to suffer for you before they all get fed up?”
    ‘Ground Control to Major Tom-’
    I closed my eyes tightly; for here am I sitting in a tin can. Yes, a single tin can. If it wasn’t for this tin can we’d be dead. There’s no telling what’s going on around us. Our ship is down, everything is down. We’re helpless- and there’s nothing I can do.- Of course not, Unless I can power a whole ship with my phy-link, we’d be done for in a matter of hours if our air circulation system didn’t come back on. And I’m stuck on a phone with a psychopathic man who technically owns me. This song, it defines me, but it suddenly turned into something else.
    And I-
    Yes, me? What about me? What was wrong with me?
    I took the road less traveled by-
    ‘You kept the baby?’ Yes, I did; because she is apart of me, and maybe if you were a woman like me you would understand, Boomer. Because you do not know how it feels to have life in you, have something living and breathing because you live and breathe. And the thought of her, though small and wonderful, makes me feel beyond alive. Because I am alive, she is alive; and because she is alive, I will fight to be alive and away from you, Boomer.
    And that has made all the difference
    All the difference in my life. This crazy experiment has gone wrong-no, RIGHT! I am right! I will never be wrong! This child I hold is mine, and being mine, she is rightfully right! She is my life, my right to life. And if I am wrong to love her, well screw the universe, cause it feels so right!
    It takes a few minutes before I realize I’m breathing heavily. I’m that angry-no, worse-
    “Screw the universe,” Boomer whispered.
    I said everything out loud. But it gets worse
    “Discovery,”
    -Because Narrow and the whole gang are in the doorway staring down at me, and they don’t see the phone in my hand.
    “If that’s how you feel, fine,” Boomer laughed. I could see him smiling, his twisted lips curved upwards. “Screw the universe.”
    And that was when someone wrenched the phone from my hand and shut it. I don’t know what happened after that, but I know one thing. The lights were back on, and I had activated my link without thinking. Everyone on the ship had heard the speech. Narrow held me tightly, rocking back and forth. I felt hot tears running down my face, some running down his face. And I couldn’t take it. I did what I had been doing sense day one; I passed out.
    I am right, I will never be wrong. This child I hold is mine and being mine, she is rightfully right. She is my life, my right to life. And if I am wrong to love her, well screw the universe, cause it feels so right.