eighteen

Romero had Sana settled comfortably on the sofa in the family room where he sat with his arm around her as she nursed their newborn son. Kevin and Major Hannahan sat across from them on the love seat. Her parents and brother were sitting out in the front room with Chief Cloud, Raven, Windsong, Chief Cloud's wife, and a couple of others from the tribe.

"Like I said," Major Hannahan back in his clothes with his shirt hanging open, "We told your parents you accidentally got trapped in a military installation with top secret stuff going on. So they know you can't tell them everything."

"Accident," Sana mocked disgusted as her head bobbled.

"Well that's basically the truth," Major Hannahan went on, "I wasn't sure we'ld ever find you. We had to fight our way into the mall and retake it over. Then Dr. Goldmen was tight lipped. She wouldn't tell us what happened to you. We caught her incinerating the bodies of several drones. We didn't know if she had already incinerated the two of you..." The thought clearly distressed Major Hannahan, "Finally, one of the soldiers Romero shot decided to talk, told us you took a jeep. We just knew it didn't have a full tank so we weren't sure how far you got in it. Then we found it in the desert with a damn bullet hole in the radiator… I knew you weren't clumsy enough to put a bullet in the radiator," he told Romero. "Then there was no way to tell which direction you went. We had no idea how much food or water you had. Romero, I know if you get sunlight, you don't need to eat, but you still need water. We still didn't know how you would do in the desert. Then there was Sana to consider. Whatever you could do, she wouldn't be able to do half, if that. And pregnancy would reduce that. And we couldn't figure out why you removed the hood of the jeep or what you did with it. I can still hardly believe you both made it out of the desert."

"The jeep hood is in the shed if you need it," Romero told Major Hannahan.

"Keep it as a souvenir," Major Hannahan told them.

"You two really missed the action," Kevin told them. "Adena didn't give up without a fight. The soldiers that answered to her were loyal to her. There was quite a bit of hanky-panky going on in the back ground that none of us knew about, except for poor Donna. Adena threw a monthly orgy for her soldiers, let them use new-face females. Told them it was part of their training. Adena made Donna participate at the parties."

"Poor Donna," said Sana shocked. "I knew Adena was off kilter, but I still wouldn't have expected that."

"Too much power," said Major Hannahan, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely. But she's not in charge of anything anymore."

"You said they put up a fight," reminded Sana, "Is everyone okay?"

"Lost a few soldiers on both sides before we over ran them," shared Major Hannahan, "but except for the drones her soldiers shot shooting at the two of you, no one else was harmed."

"So what happened to everybody," asked Sana. "They didn't have to stay in the mall did they?"

"No," answered Kevin, "Of course most of us have been missing from the world too long to walk back into our old lives. So, we've been given new last names, given a fresh start. I was pleased to learn that my father's not dead. He had a stroke with his heart attack and he was in a nursing home as a John Doe. But he lives with me and Janice now."

"Janice from the mall," inquired Sana with a quirky smile.

Kevin smiled smoothly, "Yeah, that Janice. She's at home looking after Dad... This might surprise you though Anthony and Ellen asked to stay."

"Really," both Sana and Romero asked surprised.

"Yeah," confirmed Kevin. "Anthony said he didn't want to go back to working a 'J-O-B' and paying bills. Said he'd rather stay at the mall where he didn't have to worry about responsibilities and commitments if he didn't have too. Plus, there would always be females available without all the other stuff."

"In other words, he wanted to stay and be a horn-dog to his heart's content," said Sana.

"Exactly," agreed Kevin, "and Ellen also didn't want to go back to a life of responsibilities and commitments. She likes getting her hair and nails done every day."

"What about Donna and Jeremy's baby," asked Sana.

Kevin sighed, "All they could get out of Adena was that they drove him to a hospital and left him. You know anyone can leave a baby, toddler or child at a hospital no questions asked. There are a couple of hospitals east and west of the mall they could have taken him to."

"Unfortunately," added Major Hannahan sadly, "the two soldiers that drove the baby to the hospital were killed in the fight to retake the mall and Dr. Goldmen never asked them which hospital they chose. We offered to still try to find their child for them, but they said they didn't want to rip the child from the only family it has ever known. They just wanted to know where he was at, that he was safe and loved..."

"And Adena," questioned Sana.

"She is now a permanent resident of the mall," shared Kevin with a satisfied smile.

"So the mall stays open," Sana questioned Major Hannahan.

"Yes," confirmed Major Hannahan, "But except for Dr. Goldmen, the rest of the residents will be volunteers. No more ripping people out of their lives. There are plenty of people out there who hate their lives and want to escape. Dr. Goldmen wasn't following protocol."

"Donna had mentioned once," Kevin shared, "that there had been a significant drop in the human population, something she saw in Adena's place. Can you tell us about that," he asked Major Hannahan. "I think we deserve an explanation."

Major Hannahan nodded, "Native populations and others that don't live modern, like the Amish, are doing fine. Their populations are stable... But the population for those of us that live modernly have been steadily dropping. We originally thought the root of the problem was how many years women were spending on birth control. But that's only part of the problem. We're putting off marriage until our late thirties and early fourties and then we're not rushing into having children because we want to make sure the marriage is going to work, and most don't work. I'm twice divorced myself. But they focused on just making females at first, females that wouldn't have trouble getting pregnant even after years of birth control use and would still produce healthy offspring.

So, we started creating these women, training them and sending them out into the world with the directive to get married and have a happy family with a minimum of at least two children. Then we start interviewing them after they've been out in the world for a few years and they're not getting married and they're not having children. Well, then we had to figure out why they weren't getting married and starting families. And they all told us the same thing, they can't find a suitable mate. So, we started interviewing females in the general population like yourself, Sana, college students and older. And we learned that most women weren't waiting so long for marriage and children by choice. They're telling us the same thing the women we created are telling us, they can't find a good man and that's why they're putting off marriage and children so long.

Next, we interview men, college age and older. Turns out the real problem is the average man is a jackass. Their attitudes regarding marriage, women and children are all wrong. They don't want to get married. They want to keep their freedom and play the field like Anthony. Women are objects of play. And children are a burdensome responsibility they don't want. They want to party and screw every available female they see."

"I've dated a few of those," shared Sana, "I didn't think I'ld ever meet anyone that truly loved me and wanted me."

Major Hannahan sighed sadly, "I used to think like those men myself. That's why I'm twice divorced. I didn't want to take any of the blame for my failed marriages either. I thought they were supposed to put up with my crap, other women and such. It took me a long time to grow up and realize that none of what I thought of as being a real man was true. A real man isn't afraid of commitments and responsibilities and doesn't run from them.

Any how the geniuses put their heads together and decided they should focus on making men. Then one of them realizes people need to be able to make choices and decisions, let's allow them to choose their own sex and stuff. So they started doing that instead of just focusing on making males. They decided to just integrate the first however many into society to see how they did at finding wives. Romero here was the first male to be ready to join society.

We sure weren't expecting him to have already found a woman he wanted to spend his life with or for her to be pregnant already. But this is what we want: happy, loving, child producing families. So, we're willing to do whatever you need to help you establish yourselves. Ms. Coles, I'm sorry, you were missing too long and they replaced you at your old job. But it won't be any trouble to find you something similar or even better."

Sana looked at Romero for a moment, then back at the major, "Actually, we like it here. The couple that was supposed to be here are both dead. If we leave, there won't be a doctor here."

"Is it okay if we stay here," asked Romero.

"Sure," answered Major Hannahan, "We'll make sure you have everything you need to run a successful, proper clinic."

"So how did you find us," asked Romero.

"After searching extensively and not finding your bodies in the desert, we thought there might be a chance you were both alive. We were sure Ms. Coles..."

"Mrs. Redmen," Romero corrected the major. "She's my wife, Mrs. Redmen."

Major Hannahan cleared his throat and nodded, "We were sure she would contact her parents, so we monitored her parents' phones for over a month. Then my lieutenant said, 'You know, they're both very smart people. They probably knew we'ld monitor her parents' phones. Maybe we should check their emails and web-pages.' Every once in a while my lieutenant has a worthwhile thought. Yet at first we didn't notice anything strange or unusual. Then my lieutenant suggested comparing a couple of months prior, when we know you couldn't have contacted your parents to see if there was any changes or anything new. That's when we saw that your mother had suddenly begun communicating with someone called Razor-Ray and this started a couple of weeks after you escaped the mall. The timing was right. So we did a little digging to see who Razor-Ray was, came up with Naomi Parker.

Initially we thought that maybe this Parker woman was a go between for you and your mother. Then we learned that Naomi was dead, died a few months before the email account was created in a car accident. Her husband disappeared shortly after. Then it was like okay, what were the Parkers up to and how would you know them or have access to their info? Of course, none of their accounts had been touched in months. But it wasn't hard for us to learn they had applied and been accepted to be doctors in Timbisha Shoshone Territory.

This tent was paid for and set up courtesy of our world government. So we had a location, verified that Razor-Ray's emails were coming from here. Then we went and talked to your parents, explained that you got stuck on a military base, that you and someone you met there had escaped together before I could get you out properly. Like I told your parents, you're not in any trouble, neither of you. We just wanted to make sure neither of you were seriously injured, that the pregnancy was going well and generally just make up for the hell you went through.

This little guy's birth is a piece of history. He's the first of what we hope will be many." He nudged Kevin with his elbow and said, "Hint, hint."

"Janice and I want children," responded Kevin smiling, "She just stopped her birth control and we're settling into our new lives. It'll happen."

Major Hannahan nodded, "We recovered your vehicle Mrs. Redmen. But it's really not appropriate for where you live now."

"I suppose not," Sana agreed.

"We'll replace it with an all-wheel drive SUV," the major told her. "An infant seat will be installed for you, top of the line, no cheap stuff.

Dr. Redmen, we hope you'll be willing to share your son's growth and development with us. We don't want to be intrusive, but we are very interested in the wellbeing of all of you. I have an email address and you can just email us his progress. The data-heads are really interested in how fast he'll walk and talk and stuff like that. Good thing they don't give newborns IQ tests or else they'ld be asking for that now and they will later."

Romero looked at Sana and shrugged, "That's fine. I understand their interest. I can give them a monthly report and if anything significant happens, I'll send an instant update."

"Good," replied Major Hannahan, "And we'll make sure you have everything you need to run a proper clinic, equipment etc. We'll get you a couple of extensions. One will give you more clinic space. The other will give you more living space in the back here, two more bedrooms and a full bath so you'll have one and three quarter's baths. We'll also set up accounts so you can order medical supplies. Those will never cost you anything.

And from time to time, a data-head will want to stop by for a visit. Don't worry it'll never be Dr. Goldmen. Like Kevin said, she's a permanent resident of the mall now."

"What happened to 'We don't want to be intrusive,'" asked Sana.

Major Hannahan put his hands up in surrender, "It should only be once or twice a year. Most likely I'll be with them. But your cooperation will be appreciated. For being here, you get a personal stipend for clothes, food, etc., but yours will be extra generous for putting up with our occasional intrusions into your lives."

Sana took a deep breath and sighed, "Fine." She didn't feel like they had much of a choice. Besides, she wasn't the same person she had been nearly a year ago when she found herself trapped in the mall. She could never just waltz back into life as she'd known it before. In the beginning, she would have given just about anything to get back to her life. Now, what she had was so much better, so precious to her. She was Romero's wife and mother to their newborn son that they had yet to name. They had good friends here, real friends, not just work associates or colleagues.

"So, what are we allowed to tell people," asked Sana. "My parents for instances, they're going to want to know everything about Romero, this man who is suddenly their daughter's husband and father of their first grandchild. What's okay to tell them? And keep in mind I'm not in the habit of lying to my parents."

"Like, how old am I really," asked Romero. "My ID says thirty."

"The data-heads are really proud of you, Romero," Major Hannahan shared. "The typical drone might kick around in the sub-terrain for two or three years before they start questioning their existence and wondering if there's more to life than what they're experiencing. You did that within six months. And while you all learn super-fast and have excellent recall, you've learned the fastest and have a photographic memory. We really wanted you in the army, but you all do better when you choose what to do with your lives. You liked medicine and helping people. You have excelled beyond anyone's expectations. From growth tube emergence to ready to join the real world usually takes about eight to ten years. You were ready in four."

"Four," repeated Sana wide eyed, "Are you saying I just had a baby with a four year old."

"You need to remember," Major Hannahan told her, "He's not a typical human being. He doesn't have parents, and he never had a childhood."

"But my DNA came from someone," pointed out Romero. "I kind of have relatives somewhere, genetically speaking."

"Genetically speaking, sort of," said Major Hannahan. "Let's remember, I'm not a data-head. I only have slightly above average intelligence. When a data-head comes, which one will be coming in a couple of days, I didn't let anyone come today except my lieutenant because I expected you to be skittish and I didn't want to put a nosy stranger in your faces before I let you know no one's going to be coming after you, no one's going to try to take your baby or split you up... I'm not as smart as you or any of them, but I guess you could say they're Romero's parents.

I know DNA from abandoned embryos is used. Then some gene splicing and gene therapy is used. So genetically speaking, Romero may have several parents. I just know right now, he's their pride and joy. The program's not permanent. They just want to stop the population from dropping. We basically have zero unemployment because there aren't enough people to fill all those positions. I don't know if you noticed the lack of staff in the sub-terrain of the mall. The drones are basically running things down there."

"We were lost down there," shared Romero, "In an area that had been neglected for a very long time. We had to ask maintenance-bots for directions."

"We don't have enough people," replied Major Hannahan. "They're talking about consolidating all the armed forces into one. We've bulldozed a hundred ghost towns this past year, including one that used to be a major metropolis."

"I can't tell my parents I had a baby by a four year old," said Sana upset.

"Sana," Kevin said smoothly, "do you love this man?"

Sana looked at Romero and her eyes welled up, "Yes, with all of my heart and soul," she answered.

"And I know he loves you," said Kevin, "He's a man, not a four year old. He's the man you love, the father of that beautiful baby at your breasts. How we usually calculate age and maturity doesn't apply to him or Janice or any of the others. You've got a good man who adores you and that's all that matters."

Sana nodded her agreement, "You're absolutely right. Whatever it says on his ID is fine with me. I'm not going to let it bother me."

And Sana didn't let it bother her. Her parents and brother stayed for a week. Two data-heads came with Major Hannahan and his lieutenant three days later. Extensions were brought out and added to the tent. One extension was just a small extension that created an exam room. The second extension gave them a full bath and closet off their bedroom, moved the original bathroom, gave them two more bedrooms and more living space.