The scent of venison stew, blackberry pan pie, applesauce, and fish puree with a hint of wild mint Tan had found along the river hung in the air. The Crew Galley on the barge had supplied several pots, skillets, sheet pans, and eight bowls, plates, cups, plastic glasses; the number of crew that usually was found on a barge of this size. The children would have to eat in four shifts, washing their bowl or plate or mug, and then passing it to the next child in line waiting. The blackberry pan pie would be eaten with relatively clean fingers washed in the creek. The applesauce and fish puree were for the baby. The general consensus of the four adults were that the infant was just over six months old, so the applesauce and fish puree would work well. “What are we going to do with her?” asked Miss Janien. “I ran a DNA scan on her through the Federation Birth Registry, but the parents hadn’t registered her yet.” Tan looked at the infant lying in the makeshift cradle he’d fashioned from a jump-seat taken from the ship. “I’m keeping her, unless we can find her family.” “I think you’re a good man, Tan, but I’m pretty sure they’ll want her placed with a Ruk family,” replied Miss Janien. Major Marsh was sneaking a taste of the venison stew and looked over. “I wouldn’t worry about that, he’s got friends in high places, it’s only going to take one phone call and it’ll be done.” “Promise me you’ll make a real effort to find her family,” said Miss Janien. “I will do everything I can to reunite her with family if possible,” said Tan. Miss Janien nodded. “Okay, well, you better give her a name for the time being.” Tan retrieved the necklace the mother had been wearing from his pocket and held it in his hand. Jade was considered more valuable than gold on Tan’s home world. This one stone could have ensured he would live comfortable for the rest of his life back home. It seemed appropriate that such a stone would represent this infinitely precious life. He slipped the necklace back into his pocket and took the bowl of fish puree and knelt beside the little girl. He offered the infant a spoonful. She scrunched her face, not liking the smell of the fish, but hunger won out and she slurped at the offering. “I’ll call her Jade,” said Tan. “That’s a beautiful name,” said Miss Janien. “But she needs a last name. Is Tan your first name, or last name?” “We only have one name on my world,” said Tan. “The name defines who you will be. My father’s name was Coal, as in one that provides warmth and life. My mother’s name was Roux, as in the cooking term for butter and flour, the foundation of many fine dishes.” Miss Janien hesitated, not wanting to be intrusive, but her curiosity as a teacher was too powerful. “Did your mother teach you to cook?” “Yes.” You said ‘was’.” “They’re both gone now. I was a surprise born late in their lives.” “What does Tan mean on your world?” “It was my father’s humor. My name doesn’t refer to the color, it’s referring to Tanning, as in the process of making leather for clothing to provide warmth and protection.” Major Marsh decided to stop pretending he wasn’t sneaking spoonfuls of the venison stew and filled a bowl for himself, then came to look down on the feeding baby. “So, on your world you aspire to become what your name promises?” Tan nodded as he fed the baby another spoonful of the fish puree. “Yes, usually. Of course, there are always people that… we have a saying for some people. It goes, ‘you’ve forgotten your name’.” “I would like to visit your world,” said Major Marsh. “You would be crushed,” said Tan. “I come from a heavy-gravity world. Jack has bio-mechanical augments that make him stronger than even a Ruk, but he had a difficult time walking on my world. He would tire and have to rest frequently, and he was always slouched over. He told me later how his spine has some kind of reinforced armored plates protecting and strengthening the bone, same as Luca. He said his A.I. was constantly warning him that he was at the very limit of what even an augmented Aeden could endure.” The Major lowered his bowl. “Do you know what the Aeden would do if they knew there was a species stronger than them?” “Yes, I do. The Gate on my world was abandoned and removed from their Gate Network long before my species evolved, so they don’t know where we are, but I can never risk going back home and having the Aeden track me there.” Tan looked up as Mr. Bohth, the second of the two teachers, brought a group of the children to line up for dinner. One of the boys had a transistor radio in his hand and was listening to music being broadcast from the Gobia shipyards. “Where’d he find a radio?” asked Tan. “I found it in the crew quarters,” said Major Marsh. “I thought the kids would like some music.” Tan thought the music sounded like a cat sitting on a fence screeching at the moon, but refrained from saying so. The song suddenly ended, or maybe it was the end of the song, Tan couldn’t tell, and a news report began. ‘Breaking news. The Captain of the RS-24 has been arrested on charges of treason related to the attack on the RS-40. Captain Statth surrendered after a brief gun battle with Federation Agents. The Executive Officer has surrendered the RS-24 to Federation authorities. We will stay on top of this story and report as more information becomes available.’ The screechy song resumed and Tan scowled. It wasn’t music as far as he was concerned. “Do you think it’s a good idea to let the kids listen to the news?” asked Miss Janien. “They weren’t listening,” said Mr. Bohth. “They were just waiting for the music to continue.”Mr. Bohth knelt next to Tan. “Do you mind if I feed her? I have a baby girl, she’s on the RS-72 with her mother and the other evacuees. You can start serving the kids.” Tan stood and stretched, then began scooping out the venison stew. The first boy to be served, the one with the radio, wrinkled his nose at the bowl. “What is it?” he asked. Tan kept his expression neutral. “Slug guts and snail heads.” “Awesome!” replied the boy. The next to be served was a girl. She narrowed her eyes. “It is not, what is it?” “Hamburger stew, I had to make it this way because we don’t have any buns.” The girl gave the stew a suspicious glance, but took it and moved on. The next boy had a dirty face and a tight lipped mischievous grin. Tan recognized the boy as one of the four boys that had watched him gut the deer, but that didn’t matter, Tan knew what the boy wanted. “Snake brains and bat blood,” said Tan. The boy’s grin widened. “Double awesome!” Major Marsh shook his head and joined Tan scooping out the stew. “You’re good with kids.” Tan and the others looked up at the sound of engines. A long range survey ship appeared over the trees, then dropped down to just above the lake and raced towards them. “The Captain is just in time for dinner.” The ship slowed as it neared the camp on the beach. The engines shutdown, but the ship continued to hover silently. Tan wondered what was holding the ship up in the air without the engines, but he probably wouldn’t understand the answer and didn’t ask. It was often best to just accept that a thing was being done then endure the two hour explanation when the Ruk displayed advanced technology. Major Marsh glanced at Tan and chuckled. “I’ve only known you for a day and I already know that look.” “What look?” asked Tan. “The one that says, ‘Oh look, they’re doing magic again, neat’. Tan glanced at the Major from the corner of his eye. “I know it’s not magic, but there’s no reason filling my head with confusing information I’ll never use. I already had enough of that.” “What do you mean?” “Jack’s A.I. was trying to be helpful and started implanting Aeden technology in my brain so I could better understand him. I had to tell her to stop. I didn’t need to know that C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O to know that Jack is just a boy like any other boy and wants accepted for who he is.” The Major handed a bowl to the next boy in line. “Tan, you have an unpretentious earthy wisdom that is so very much needed right now.” Tan picked up the last of the bowls. “My father used to say, keep your head down, boy, or you might drown in a rainstorm.” Major Marsh froze in mid-scoop. “You just had to put that in my head, didn’t you? I’ll never fall asleep again until I figure out what it means.” “Yep, took me a while too,” said Tan. “Okay, we’ll have to wait for this group to finish before we can serve the next group. Let’s go greet the Captain.” The survey ship settled into the water, causing waves to lap up onto the beach and amusing the children as they jumped around trying to avoid the waves. The ship’s draft was too deep for it to get close enough to the beach for a gangplank, the Captain was going to have to wade ashore. The landing struts reached down to find solid ground and stabilize the ship from rocking back and forth. Landing lights shut off and the wings folded back to their stored position, and then a hiss of air escaped as the airlock door slid open and silhouetted a small figure in the hatchway. He hadn’t known anyone else was flying with the Captain. The small figure came into view as it leaned out and looked down at the water. Tan’s eyes widened. “Luca!” Tan ran into the water towards the ship. “Daddy!” Luca shouted back as he saw his father running towards him. Luca jumped from the hatch, not considering for a moment whether Tan would make it in time to catch him. But Tan did catch him, and lifted the boy into a huge bear hug. “I was so worried,” said Tan. “I got so much stuff to tell you. My name’s Dolphin now,” said Luca. “Is that so?” replied Tan. Luca nodded excitedly. “The Captain gave me my call-sign, but Jack didn’t get one because he was bad, so I just call him blobfish.” “Jack? But I thought he went back to Aeden,” said Tan. Jack stepped out of the shadows and into the hatch entryway. “Hello, Tan,” said Jack, hesitantly. Tan smiled. “Jack! I am so happy you stayed.” Tan held a hand out for Jack. “I’m not a baby, I can walk,” said Jack. “And my name isn’t Blobfish.” The Captain stepped out next to Jack. “What is that delicious smell… is dinner ready?” “Margus, what’s this about Dolphin and Blobfish?” asked Tan. The Captain instantly recognized the danger signs. Tan had just flipped into Papa Bear mode at the suggestion that an injustice was being done to one of his boys. “Luca earned a call-sign by saving thousands of lives today.” “And Jack?” asked Tan. “I killed someone, so I don’t get a call-sign,” said Jack. “I see, and who did you kill?” asked Tan. “I killed the terrorist that sent the Death Seeds up to you and Luca, and everyone else” said Jack. “She planned to kill everyone on the ship because she was insane.” Tan glared at the Captain with narrowed eyes. “So, the boys did what each does well. Jack did your dirty work for you and killed the bad guy that caused so much suffering today. Margus, Jack fights bad guys, because that’s what Jack does, and Luca saves good guys, because that’s what Luca does. Just because one of them has that special steel in his heart to do the thing the rest of us find distasteful but necessary, doesn’t make him less of a hero. Jack is the courageous sheriff that wears a white hat and a big silver star on his chest and rushes in to protect the innocent when the rest of us has run away.” Jack’s mouth dropped open. Tan was defending him harder than even his grandfather had. Tan was defending him the way a... father would. “Thanks… Tan… I mean… dad.” “No, boy,” said Tan. “You don’t have to call me, dad. You’re not comfortable doing so because you have a dad somewhere out there in the universe and you feel it diminishes your memories of him by calling someone else, dad. So, call me Tan, that’s sufficient. I know how you feel, and you know how I feel, that’s enough.” Captain Dagas glanced from Tan to Jack. Tan wasn’t so far off from what he was thinking himself, but Tan also didn’t know the whole picture. “Tan, you see an injustice because you are their adopted father and each is perfectly equal in your eyes. But, if you are their father, then what am I, brother.” Tan took a breath. It wasn’t so much that he was upset as he had been so worried about the boys that the release of that stress now that they were safe was causing him to search out a target of his pent up emotions. Tan nodded. “Welcome home, brother, dinner’s ready.” The Captain jumped down into the water and placed a hand on Tan’s shoulder. “Good, you have to be unequivocally fair with the boys at all times, I do not. Give me the room I need to employ discipline as I see necessary.” Tan nodded. “Of course, I’m just happy the boys are safe.” “Does that mean you’re Uncle Margus now?” asked Luca. “Yay, our family is getting bigger!” Captain Dagas headed through what was only knee-deep water to him, but waist-deep water to Tan. Tan turned back towards the beach, and carrying Luca, followed the Captain. A moment later he heard Jack behind him jump down into the water. “COLD, COLD, COLD,” shouted Jack, and swam past Tan towards the beach. The water was chest-deep for Jack. “You could have told me it was ice water!” shouted Jack as he ran to the campfire. Captain Dagas strolled up onto the beach and looked at the kids still eating. “So kids, what’s for dinner?” The boys all started shouting at once. “Slug guts… Snail heads… Snake brains… Bat blood.