[Moon]

Moon woke early. Celeste yawned, snuggling behind him with an arm around his torso, molding herself to his body as he lay on his side. He allowed his mind to drift back over the improbable events that led him to this point. The woman sleeping beside him had changed everything in his life.

A simple thought came to him. In these last few months with Celeste and the little ones, I have never felt so content.

Still, a more primal desire for her simmered in his loins, but he kept it locked away. For now. How could he ask that of an exhausted new mother with triplets?

Moon did what he could. Nanny-bot and he took over the late night feeding and one mid-day, using the milk substitute to give Celeste some more rest time. The babies were not fooled, but eventually they came to accept the change.

A stirring in the crib caught his ear. He carefully lifted Celeste's arm and crawled out of bed. With a grin, he slunk low across the bedroom floor, approaching the padded plastic crate that contained his quarry. He popped his head over the edge with his mouth open and eyes sparkling. Three big smiles erupted on three small faces and six legs kicked in a flurry of motion.

He turned toward Celeste, who laid on her side with half-opened eyes. "There is no chance for us now."

"What?" She propped herself up on an elbow.

"Watch this."

Moon ducked down out of the baby's view. After a moment, he jumped up to repeat the previous performance. Again, big smiles emerged and legs kicked.

Celeste put a hand to her chin, underneath a gleaming smile. "Oh, that is delightful!"

"Yeah. What was left of our hearts, they now have."

Celeste came to the makeshift baby bed and leaned over. She caught the attention of the little ones. They all rounded their lips and renewed the leg kicking. "I know what they want." She looked up at Moon. "Take one and I will nurse the other two."

"Who is the least hungry?" Moon addressed his children. None of them turned their attention away from their mother. He sighed. "Sorry, Gabriel. Your turn to wait."

Moon picked up the little boy, who pouted and let out a whimper over Moon's shoulder as they left the others behind.

They made their way to the bridge. The dim lights brightened automatically as Moon plopped down in the captain's chair. He sat Gabriel in his lap and swiveled around to face the display panels, hoping the colored display might distract the baby boy from his hunger. It worked.

"Let's see where we are." Looking up, Moon called out, "Sai, star map and telemetry."

A holographic chart appeared in front of the panels. Bright yellow dots denoted stellar objects, each with a small text box denoting name and designation. Occupied settlements or outposts were labeled in blue.

Moon pointed at the chart. "See the green triangle, Gabriel? That is us. And these are some of the outer colonies." Moon spread his hands, expanding the scale of the star map. An orange dot blinked at the far end of the chart. "And that is where we are going. To a place called Sanctuary. We will be safe there."

The baby boy stared at the colors and patterns as if he understood.

Moon brought his hands together, collapsing the scale to show only the Phoenix Star and one nearby stellar object. He was about to close the chart when something caught his eye. A cloudy shimmering object followed behind his ship, barely showing on the telemetry display.

"That's strange." He called out, "Sai, what do you make of this unknown following us about a light-hour behind?"

Sai responded over the speakers. "A spatial reflection of our quantum drive, I believe, sir. What some call a space ghost, caused by interactions between the telemetry sensors and--"

"I am aware of the cause, Sai. It's just that we don't usually have a ghost, certainly one not so far behind."

"Sir, the drive is operating at higher-than-normal frequencies, and it has experienced excessive strain. Thus, it may have developed a ghost image."

Moon furrowed his brow and mumbled, "Hmm..." He bent his head down to the little one in his lap. "What do you think, Gabriel? Should we check it out?" The baby squirmed and Moon nodded. "Yeah, good call."

Moon looked up. "Sai, increase our relative speed to seventy-C. Let's see how this ghost responds."

After a few moments, Sai announced, "Maintaining seventy-C, sir."

Gabriel kicked his legs. Moon pointed at the holographic chart. "Yeah, did you see it too? The ghost increased relative speed like we did, but there was a response lag."

Sai said, "The lag may be only an artifact of the telemetry sensors, sir. There is no known ship stealth technology that produces a signal like this."

Moon pulled his lips together. "Perhaps so..." He parted his hands to expand the chart scale, then pointed to a huge starry cloud. "Sai, make for that nebula and skirt through the edge of the gas field. If this ghost really is a ship on our tail, we will see its displacement."

"Sir, the additional matter displacement will strain the quantum drive. It is already running at near capacity."

"True, but not near as bad as the time we did the atmosphere insertion at Ourania."

"As I recall, sir, we nearly destroyed the ship with that maneuver. Estimated time to nebula contact is three hours and nineteen minutes."

Gabriel squirmed, letting out an impatient cry and scrunching his little face. Moon lifted the little boy to his shoulder. "Oh, yeah. Breakfast. Your table is probably ready by now."

*****

Nanny-bot stood to one side of the bridge, rocking two little ones in her arms. Hope snoozed and Faith yawned, but Gabriel did not want to miss any of the action, sitting wide-eyed in Celeste's lap and gazing at the holographic star chart.

Celeste swiveled her chair to face Moon as he sat in the captain's chair. "Do you really think someone is following us?"

Moon kept his eyes on the telemetry data overlay. "We'll find out soon enough."

Celeste swiveled back, lifting her eyes to the visual display above the chart. "Regardless, the nebula is beautiful." A wispy interstellar cloud spread across the vast space before them, backlit with countless points of light.

"Yeah. It's a nursery for stars. Kinda like what we have here."

Moon felt the arm of his chair vibrate. The movements became more intense in a slow crescendo, tickling his gut. Gabriel threw up his arms and kicked his feet, seeming to enjoy the sensations.

Sai announced, "We have entered the gas cloud. Decreasing relative velocity to sixty-two-C to stay within drive operating limits."

Silence, but for the hum and vibration of the quantum drive, came over the bridge as they waited. Even little Gabriel stilled in his mother's lap. Moon bent forward and put a hand to his chin in anticipation of the ghost entering the nebula.

He pointed. "There it comes."

The ghost image darkened in the holographic chart, surrounded by thin streamers like a wake from a boat. Additional telemetry data appeared in the green text box next to it.

Sai said over the speakers, "Spatial displacement indicated, sir."

Moon flopped back in his chair. "Damn."

Celeste's eyes widened. "What is it?"

"A ship. It's fast and must have some sort of stealth technology that I have not seen before. I doubt it is a Commonwealth vessel."

"So, what do we do?"

"Run like hell." Moon straightened in his chair. "Sai, how long until we get out of this nebula?"

Sai responded, "Approximately twelve minutes, sir."

Moon said, "Okay, here's what we are going to do. The second that we get out--"

Sai interrupted, "We are being hailed, sir."

Moon raised one corner of his mouth. "They must realize we are on to them. Put them through, Sai, but tighten the image to me only. Do not show Celeste or the babies."

"Yes, sir."

An image of a stern wide-faced man appeared on a display panel. The bright crimson collar stripe on his gray uniform clashed with the color of his full red beard. He said in a deep baritone voice, "Phoenix Star, this is Captain Glynn of the Amadi."

Moon narrowed his eyes. "This is the Phoenix Star, Captain. Why the hell are you following us?"

Celeste waved her hand above her head to get Moon's attention. He touched a button on his chair arm, pausing the communication. Tilting his head toward her, he said, "What is it?"

A smile came to her face. "I know him! He captained a starship for the Sol Priesthood and I flew with him on missions to the outer colonies. I was on his ship in the Sol system just as the Empress Iona's estate was attacked."

"Do you trust him?"

She nodded. "I do. Let me talk to him."

"I hope you still can." Moon touched a button to resume communications, spreading his hands to widen the view to include Celeste.

As the image of the red-bearded captain came on, Celeste said, "Liam, it has been some time."

A smile came to the captain, lifting his thick mustache. "Celeste! I am happy to see you well. I feared that--" His eyes widened. Gabriel looked up at the face in the image, mesmerized by it. The captain gazed back. "So, it is true then."

Celeste nodded. "Yes. It is."

Moon said, "Captain, who do you represent?"

"Free Dawn, sir."