"Sometimes." This in itself was disconcerting, as purple Trance would have hemmed and hawed and changed the subject.
"Then you know what'll happen if I find out you're lying to me." This was most certainly not a question. Trance turned to leave when they both were stopped in their tracks by a youngish-sounding voice, sounding a bit distressed.
"Mother!" it shouted every few seconds, much to Beka's confusion. No one on board was a mother, that much she knew for sure. Well...she glanced at white and gold Trance. The formerly violet one lifted an eyebrow in response to Beka's unspoken question. She didn't know whose it was either. By the sound of it, it was a pre-adoloscent male. Nine, perhaps. Beka hesitantly walked toward the source of the voice, weapon drawn in case any Kalderans or other violent beings with large guns chanced to appear.
As it turned out, the voice found her. Or rather, a young boy with dark hair and blue eyes that were startling in his complexion, which reminded Beka of Tyr. He looked extremely relieved to see Beka, which would have surprised Beka if his next words had not left her jaw on the floor. "Mother! Finally, I have found you." He looked at her quizzically for a moment before, "you're not my mother. Or you are, but...different."
"Well, I can answer you there, kid. I am not your mother. I'm no one's mother, and I'm not looking to be any time soon. Valentines don't make especially good parents." She added, almost as an afterthought.
"Valentine? But then you are my mother, or you are related to her." It was only then that she noticed the boy's forearms. This kid was a Nietzschean, calling a Valentine mother?! The plot ever thickens, Beka thought wryly. "Her name is Rebekka Valentine, son of Igantius Valentine." His head was high and his voice proud.
"Trance?" She said inquiringly, not taking her eyes of the boy in front of her.
"I would guess he's from the future, as I am. Farther down, perhaps. Or not; I left you and Tyr and the others a few years ago...anything is possible." If Beka had seen her expression, she would have agreed wholeheartedly, for it said 'anything but this, that is'.
The child, for his part, seemed very annoyed at being ignored. "Do you know where she is? She told me to stay here while she searched for someone." He scowled suddenly, a very child-like pout, greatly at odds with his formal tone.
"Well, I'm Beka Valentine, kid, and I'm right here. I don't know where this other Beka Valentine is, though. Do you know who she said she was going to find?" Another question was begging to be asked, but Beka tried to ignore it.
"I am not 'kid', I am Sharval (A/N gold star to the person who knows what that means!) Anasazi, out of Rebekka by Tyr." Beka's lips slowly curved. "She said she wanted to find...uh...Harper, I believe." He saw her face and frowned. "This is no laughing matter, Rebekka."
Her faint smile grew into a full grin. "Not at all, Sharval, was it? It's just that there's someone I'd really like you to meet before you leave." She was enjoying this far too much. "Trance, weren't you about to take me somewhere?"
Trance nodded shortly and led them out of the Maru. They passed through several tesseracts, as Trance called the energy fields that tossed them around the ship seemingly at random. She was gingerly holding the child's hand, though neither of them was very happy with the arrangement. If he looked twelve or so, he was probably seven, she reasoned. No one spoke during this time.
"We're almost there," Trance announced. "Just one more." They stepped into a corridor and zap! there they were. Harper, the Perseid who wasn't Hohne, Dylan, and Rommie were already there.
"This is Trance, that's Sharval." Beka gestured at each with her weapon. "I really think Tyr should be here for this." Everyone looked at her strangely, but she gave no hint as to her meaning.
"Trance?" Dylan began but was interrupted by a large Nietzschean flying through the door, a Magog following.
"Father!" Sharval cried. He would have rushed to Tyr had Beka not restrained him. "Rebekka, what are you doing?" he struggled, mightily for such a young person.
"Remember how I'm not really your mother? Well he's not really your father." She explained hastily, as her, Harper, Dylan, Trance, and Tyr all shot at the Magog just outside the door. They drove them back far enough for the door to slide shut, thus blocking them out for the time being.
Tyr turned and examined the occupants of the machine shop. "Trance and Sharval," Beka answered even before he asked. She smiled sweetly. "Sharval, why don't you tell the nice man your lineage?" Tyr hadn't heard Sharval call him father, so this was going to be as surprising to him as it had been to Beka.
Sharval looked hurt at this, though the expression was so fleeting Beka wasn't sure if she had seen it correctly. "I am Sharval Anasazi, out of Rebekka by Tyr. Rebekka is the daughter of Ignatius Vale..."
"Enough," Tyr growled quietly. Beka looked at him expectantly. "Who is the boy?"
"Father!" he protested.
Beka glanced down at the child. "Tyr, there's no reason for you to be an ass. I don't know who he is either, but you have to admit, he does resemble you."
"He has your eyes," Trance observed, in a tone closer to purple Trance's than Beka had heard all...what time of day was it now, anyway?
"Thanks, Trance." She addressed the others. "You stay here and...do whatever you were going to do. Dylan, I'm going to try to find..." this time it was she who was interrupted by an opening door. The Magog were gone, only to be replaced by...Beka Valentine. She was older, and her hair was both shorter and redder, but it was definitely Beka. No doubt there. Sharval ran to her in a very undignified fashion. Only when he reached her did he realize there were others watching.
"Mother, I am so relieved to see you again. I was afraid I might not."
Redheaded Beka smiled at her son. "I'm glad to see you again, Sharval. I thought I told you to stay put, though I should have known you wouldn't. We'll have to see what your father thinks of this when we get home." Her tone was warm and affectionate, though it was not one that a person often takes with a child Sharval's age. It sounded more like she was conversing with a friend her own age.
She raised her gaze to the rest of those in the room. "I would like to speak with Tyr and Beka in private, if you don't mind. We'll be right outside if you need us." With this, she stepped outside, with Sharval at her side.
"Dylan?"
He shrugged. "I...I don't see why not. She is...you." At any other time, Beka would have laughed at his face. She and Tyr followed the direction her future self had taken.
They arrived to a somber scene. "Sharval, you are the best thing that has happened to me, and you know that. And in another time, I know you would grow up to make your father and I proud, and everyone back home jealous. But there, you probably wouldn't grow up at all." Beka could see how this pained her future self, how her heart was slowly breaking inside of her.
"But I do not know these people. And I know I would survive, Mother! I have your and my father's genes, and you are both survivors. I know I could!"
Tyr and Beka exchanged confused glances. Beka, for her part, did not like where this was going.
"Oh, Sharval. I don't know what I'll do without you." Tears brightened future Beka's eyes unnaturally. She faced Tyr and Beka, their presences finally acknowledged. "Listen, I know this is going to sound crazy, but..."
"Damn right it does! You may be a great mom, but me...yeah, not so much. But before you are leaving....you both are leaving, you have quite a story to tell me. But that's not the point. I cannot take care of this kid. I'm sure he's fantastic and all but a kid? Come on, you know me better than anyone."
She smiled back with a wry smile, so typical of Beka it frightened. "I know you better than you do, believe me. It'll be hard, but you'll be fine, I promise."
"Am I to have a say in this?" Tyr asked impatiently.
Both Bekas turned to him with an almost identical expression. This unsettled Tyr to a rare degree. "Actually you don't, as it's already been decided." The red-haired Beka told him, smiling to take the sting out of her words. She shook her head, like an adult exasperated at a pair of teenagers.
"You two." And with that she walked away, tossing a flexi behind her before disappearing in a tesseract. Sharval ran toward his mother, but the field that had been there not a minute earlier was gone. He stopped and scanned the corridors.
"Where is she?!" He was dangerously near tears, it seemed.
Dylan came out of the machine shop. "She's back to whatever time she came from. We used the tesseract machine, so this ship will finally be back to normal. The effects of the machine ended when it was activated."
Beka's thoughts swirled madly. "Harper?"
Dylan nodded. "He's fine. Trance and Rommie will take him to Med Deck until he wakes up." Sure enough, the two emerged, an unconscious Harper between them. Rommie rolled her eyes at Dylan, though whether at Harper's fainting, the crisis, or its conclusion, Beka couldn't tell.
It was only then he noticed Sharval. "If the machine's effects are over, why is he still here?"
Beka shrugged. "Same reason dominatrix Trance is, I guess. His mother gave me this." She held up the flexi.
"You mean, you?"
Beka sighed. "Me, whatever. So, what do you plan to do with the kid?"
"Well, he is yours and Tyr's. The decision should be at least partly yours."
"Hmm, you mean you have no idea either. Great."
"I will not have him raised by anyone else, Dylan." Tyr spoke up. "If he truly is my son, he will stay here."
"Then I stay." Sharval gave Tyr a long, clear-eyed look.
"We'll see."
To be continued...