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

doing?”
    “I’m calling the authorities.”
    Naturally, the phone was dead.  No dial
tone.  No numbers to push.  No operator to ask me what in the hell I wanted.
    “Fuck,” I exhaled, leaning against the
wall and shifting the sleeping child to my other shoulder, as the one she was
drooling on had started to ache. 
    “She's very pretty.  She looks just like
you, except for---well---she's a girl and she has red hair and green eyes and
looks completely different.  I mean---”
    “Shut up, Wen,” I sighed.  “We'll take her
back to the ship and let SpaceForce Command figure this out.”
     
    I had thought that Command would compel
Jill to take Sandy back.  Abandoning her child was an action unbecoming of an
officer.  Of course, the same could be said for me, because sure enough, DNA
tests proved that Sandy was mine.  So, there I was, a brand new father to an
eight year old girl.
    I was given a new cabin with a tiny closet
of a bedroom for my daughter and she was enrolled in the ship's school and
daycare programs.  At night, we would eat together with Wen and Noodnick in the
family dining center, along with all of the other crew who had kids aboard.
    It was a little difficult at first getting
used to this little person in my life.  Sandy loved to watch the vid and
monopolized it whenever she was in our cabin.  She also liked to lock herself
in the bathroom and lay in a bubble-filled tub for hours on end, leaving me to
run down three decks to use Wen’s toilet whenever I had to go. 
    Having Sandy around did bring a few
benefits, though, some that I could never have imagined.  To all the single
women aboard, I suddenly looked like an awesome father.  They flocked around me
and the kid, asking me out on dates even though they had refused me before. 
Nearly every weekend, Noodnick or Wen was called upon to babysit.
     
    A couple years later, after I had been
promoted to full commander, when Sandy was in the fifth grade, or thereabouts,
the Discovery was reassigned to patrol the fourth sector.  We were near the
boundaries of what had been the old Empire, orbiting a moon which had an
amusement park that Sandy was sure to like. 
    We were heading out on shore-leave with
Wen and Noodnick, when I discovered that old coin sitting in my dresser
drawer.  On a whim, I put it in my pocket. 
    “Hey, I wonder if anyone on this moon will
be able to tell me how much it’s worth.”  I was talking mostly to myself, but
Sandy overheard. 
    “What?”  She turned her gaze away from
that show on the vid, which featured a bunch of kids singing in some high
school auditorium.  Once again, I marveled at how incredibly beautiful my child
was.  No matter how many times I looked at her, my Sandy had the appearance of
a red-headed angel. 
    “I've got this coin.”  Fishing it out of
my pocket, I began to explain about my inheritance and how I had intended to
take it to the old Empire.  “So, I've been in space for nearly a dozen years,
and this is the first time I've gotten anywhere close.  Maybe someone will make
me an offer for ten thousand dollars or more.”
    “May I see it, Daddy?”
    “Sure.”
    I laid it in her hand.  It was gold and
heavy.  Despite its age and wear, the etchings were still quite clear.  The
backside had the Imperial Crest with the black eagle and two crossed swords. 
Displayed on the front, in profile, was the old emperor's face.
    Sandy looked at it in her palm and her
mouth fell open wide.  Her big green eyes instantly filled with tears. 
    “What is it?” I cried as her hand began to
shake. 
    “I lost this,” she wailed.  “This was
mine.”
     

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 11
    Pellen
     
    We had traveled across the sea for nearly
seven days when the peaks of the Blue Mountains came into sight.  This was
quicker than I had imagined, for the distance to our motherland had always
seemed as far as the next star, and as difficult a journey as traversing
through space.  The winds