A Thread of Time: Firesetter, Book 1 by J. Naomi Ay

seconds.
    “This is great!” Wen proclaimed. 
    Little Red giggled.  At least she was
having fun.
    “Yep,” I replied.
    Jill didn't return.  An hour later, the
pizza gone, Little Red leaning sleepily against Wen's shoulder, I glanced across
the restaurant, catching a glimpse of a starship outside.  The Asteroid was
written across her side.
    “What the fuck?” I shouted to the
consternation of the parents at the neighboring table.  Bolting from the booth
and racing to the window, I watched the Asteroid drift away from my view. 
“Wen, does that say Asteroid?”
    “Sure does,” Wen exclaimed.
    “Goodbye, Mommy,” the girl called, waving
her hand.
    “She left you here?” I gasped. 
    The child shrugged and blinked her eyes,
great limpid pools as green as the oceans on Talas III.  Like the oceans, they
were wet, filling with tears, threatening to dribble down her cheeks.
    “I'll call my commanding officer and get
the ship to come back.  Don't worry, kid, we'll make your mommy come get you.”
    “She won't.  She told me goodbye.”  The
girl sniffed and reached up with her thin arms.  “Pick me up, Daddy.  I’m tired
and I want to go home.”
    “Wen?” I called.
    “Now.”  Little Red yawned.  “Please
Daddy.  Let’s go to your ship.”
    “No, I mean, Wen!” I shouted at my friend,
who had gone back to watch the animatronics do their thing.  I wasn't sure what
type of animal was dancing now, other than they appeared insanely weird.  They
each had three heads, seven legs, two tails and reproductive organs.  Frankly,
they shouldn't have been dancing with children present to watch their
anatomically correct organs swing.  Instinctively, I put my hand over Little
Red’s eyes.  “Wen!  Get over here!”
    “What?”  Reluctantly, he turned back to
me, a crazy smile on his lips and a deep purple blush creeping up his cheeks.
    “This kid---uh---”  I realized I didn't
even know her name.
    “Sandy,” she murmured, her arms still
outstretched.  “Pick me up.  I’m tired.”
    “Come on, Wen,” I announced, reaching for
the kid and hefting her across my shoulder, where she promptly wrapped her arms
around my neck and laid down her head.  Striding past the animatronics, I
headed out into the busy mall.  “Jill abandoned Sandy.  What kind of a mother
does that?  We've got to take her to the base's police station.  I'm sure they've
got some kind of social services there.”
    “That's terrible,” Wen agreed, his eyes
still glancing back at the dancing naked things.
    “What a b-i-t-c-h,” I continued, spelling
for Sandy's benefit.  “I mean, what sort of cruel parent would do that to this beautiful
child?”
    “But, I wasn't abandoned,” Sandy murmured
sleepily.  “Mommy said it was time for my daddy to take care of me.”  Then, she
shoved her nose into my neck and started to snore.
    “We'll have to find him,” I declared,
although I kept my voice at a whisper.  Poor baby needed her rest instead of
traipsing around this spacebase looking for some dude.
    “Uh---Lancelot,” Wen started to say,
stopping in the middle of the shopping hordes, nearly becoming trampled by a
family of Cascadians, each nine-foot tall. 
    “What?”
    He waggled his finger back and forth, his
mouth once again smiling in a goofy way.  I turned to see what he was waving
at, expecting the anatomically correct animatronics to have followed us into
the mall.
    “What?  What are you pointing at?”
    “You, Lance.  You're her father.”
    “No way!” I shouted, nearly dropping the
kid on the concrete floor.
    After that, I picked up my pace, running
to the spacebase's administrative offices.  I figured they could direct me to
the police or whoever would care.  
    Naturally, it was after hours and the
offices were closed, except for emergencies, in which case I had to pick up the
red phone and dial zero.
    “Lance?” Wen asked, just as I was reaching
for that phone.  “What are you