Michaela had stifled any protest when Galluzzi locked the rest of the transportees behind the hatch down on Deck Three. In Michaela’s mind, if Kevina was pregnant, it meant the ship’s birth control was breaking down. Something was wrong with the dietary progesterone supplement. Kevina would only be the first, given the realities of men and women in close confinement.

After Felix came Sheena and Felicity. A year later, Tomaya was born. Almost one baby a year followed, including Breez, now five; Toni, who was three; little Kayle had just had his second birthday; and then a spate of infants. New life born among them in spite of the poor nutrition and the numerous miscarriages. The children had given her people a separate identity, one that the surgically sterilized crew would never mimic. And now, eight years and nine kids later, she could see the fruits of her wisdom. A certain enjoyment came from watching the parents treating their young to lasagna. Of watching the children’s faces screw up, or the smacking of their lips.

For her part, Michaela wasn’t sure if the lasagna was as good as she remembered. With no dairy, cheese was only a memory. These weren’t egg noodles after all. There were no chickens on Donovan to lay eggs, but the rich red tomato sauce was so good she didn’t care.

In a very real sense, the children belonged to all of them. A living legacy to their survival of Ashanti’s near-disastrous passage. A counterbalance to the horrors of the Unreconciled, of the starving times, and an affirmation that they had made it across thirty light years of space to continue as a species.

The first-level room where they ate was located on the Pod’s north end, and served as mess hall, auditorium, commons, and—when the tables and benches were folded flush into the floor—as the gym/playroom. The kitchen where Bill Martin held court opened off to one side. Through the central doorway was the landing. A hatch behind the stairs opened out onto the dock where the seatrucks and launch were stowed and could be lowered to sea level.

The second set of stairs—opposite and through the pressure hatch—went down the tube and through a second pressure hatch to the Underwater Bay five meters below sea level. Continuing down the length of the Pod, beyond the stairways, was gear storage on either side of the hallway. Past storage, on each side, were the personal quarters. Finally, the hallway ended at an observation blister with its clear dome looking out over the water.

Opposite the tube access, a set of stairs led up to the second-level labs, clinic, com center, and offices. From there, yet another set of stairs opened to the landing pad on the roof.