'How do I get back?' I wondered. I looked left and right, dense forest on either side. I'd been so focused on following the source of the noise that I'd entirely forgotten to mark my path or even remember where I was going.

I'd decided on a direction as best as I could remember and waded through the trees. When the forest seemed to be getting denser I walked a different direction.

I must have been walking for 10 minutes to no progress. I wished I'd brought any device with me because atleast it would have a connection to Pola but no luck there.

I occasionally saw some animals watching me as I walked through the trees. I guessed they'd never seen a human before.

Although they looked vaguely familiar, I couldn't recognise any of them. Something interesting though was all animals I came across seemed to have bright blue eyes. A dominant mutation from an early ancestor?

I wasn't making any progress and this became evident when I arrived at a body of water I definitely hadn't seen before. Was I going to die out there? Come all this way just to get lost and die of starvation.

I turned around to double back and there it was. A small scaly creature no bigger than a rabbit staring straight at me with those blue eyes.

"Hello" I said trying not to spook it. "Sorry I don't have any food for you."

'I don't even know what you eat' I thought to myself.

Without a warning, it turned and ran in the direction I'd come from.

Figures.

Just before it was out of sight though, it stopped, turned around and stared at me again.

"What do you want?" I asked fully realizing that I was speaking to an alien creature in English.

'I guess I'm the alien here huh?' I thought.

It turned, took another step, stopped and turned back to me.

Did it want me to follow it?

I walked in it's direction and it took off again only stopping just before it was out of sight.

"Don't follow the weird alien creature, Dani" I sang to myself.

What other choice did I have?

=^..^=

I followed it through the forest my gaze occasionally shifting to the myriad of animals that populated the forest.

All of them stared at me with those same blue eyes. Still I followed the weird little creature. It was too late to turn back now anyway.

We walked for another six minutes before it jumped through some leaves. I pushed passed them and there it was, the beach.

I was so overjoyed to see the Pathfinder and even happier to see the rest of the crew who appeared to be searching for me.

"Dani!" I heard Will shout as he spotted me. The others turned their attention to us.

While using my fingers to brush off my dress which was now ruined, I answered "I'm here, I'm sorry".

He hurriedly closed the gap and enveloped me in a hug. He looked so worried. "I'm sorry" I repeated.

"Where'd you go?" He asked desperately "I told you to stay in the ship"

"I'm sorry" I'm hugged him back. I was so scared. I could have died out there.

"Let's get you cleaned up" He said breaking off the hug.

I turned to look for my little friend but it was nowhere to be seen.

"What are you looking for?" He asked me.

I composed myself, "Nothing" and made my way to the ship while apologizing to the others on the way.

=^..^=

A quick shower later and a change of clothes, we all sat in the bridge as I told them everything that had happened.

"What exactly did it say?" Will asked.

"Humans go extinct and the gate was sent to the past" I reiterated.

"The gate?" He asked again.

I nodded.

"Because something bothers me. Assuming it's true.. and really why wouldn't it be.. assuming it's true, none of that should have happened yet" he reasoned.

It bothered me too.

"And the original owners of planet, they're not wiped out until after the war in the future right?" Will asked.

"That's what he said" I clarified again "They'd conquered space-time for only 10 years"

"Then they should still be here. Where are they?"

Robert who'd been contemplating something finally spoke "Unless we're in the future".

We all paused.

"Time travel?" John asked "You can't be serious"

"It makes the most sense" Robert doubled down "Wormholes warp space-time. Theoretically they wouldn't just connect two points in space, they'd connect two points in time as well"

This was getting way too loaded for me.

"If we're in the future, is everyone back on earth already dead?" Cillian asked.

"In this timeline yes but as long as the wormhole still exists, they should still be able come here" Robert explained.

"Okay" Robert stood from his chair and walked to pick up a tablet. He fiddled on it a bit while we all paid close attention. Satisfied, she showed us a line he'd drawn on the tablet.

"Whats that?" I asked.

"This was our timeline" He picked a random spot in the middle of the line and called it 2032 and marked the end of the line as 2500.

"It's linear because there hadn't been any disruptions to the timeline yet. When they sent that wormhole back, it created a branch" He added a branch to the line.

"We're now here" He pointed to the branch. "Everyone else is still on the original timeline. As long as they wormhole still exists, both timelines are still linked and they can come over anytime".

It made a bit more sense now even if it was still science mumbo jumbo.

"What about the beacons?" Will asked "Do they even work anymore if we're in the future?"

"It should. Entangled particles should remain linked across time but that's just highly speculative"

"I still don't get how the beacon works" Cillian said.

Robert thought for a moment then spoke, "In Quantum theory, paired particles can exist in a super positioned state where they have both a positive spin and a negative spin."

When he saw our confused expressions, he added "Don't try to think about it too much. When one is measured, the other immediately assumes an opposite state. Basically, our beacon contains one of those particles. When we activate the beacon, the particle's state is measured and observed and the one back on earth also gets a definite state."

"I don't get it" I said.

"I'm with you there" John agreed.

"That's okay. Point is the beacon should still work" Robert confirmed.

"Then our mission is the same. Activate the beacons to let them know Gaia is safe especially now we know the local wildlife is friendly".

"Earth-2" I corrected. "They called it Earth-2"

"Right" he acquiesed.

"Let's get that soil tested" He said finally

=^..^=

"So I have some good news" John told me as I sat on the table in the med bay "... or bad news if you're a college girl having unprotected sex"

"I'm pregnant" I sighed.

"Ding ding ding" He was having such a good time with this whole thing. I hated it.

"Over the course of your first trimester, your estrogen levels will rise, this is normal"

I wasn't thinking straight. It felt like my entire identity was under attack. What was I anymore? A man? It didn't feel like it. A woman? Something in-between?

I was pregnant. Just like my mother had been with me. I was no longer anything like my father or brother who had been my role models all my life. The worst part is that didn't sound so bad anymore.

I even enjoyed wearing the dresses now. I could stop at any moment. I had recovered from the surgery and could print a regular ITA suit at any time but instead I kept printing more dresses. Even Heather hadn't done that.

What was wrong with me?

I had Will's child growing inside me. Oh God. I had a man's child growing inside me.

"Are you okay?"

I composed myself and smiled. "Yeah"

"As I was saying, if your breasts swell or get more sensitive over the coming weeks, that's completely normal..."

"Enough" I told him.

That was enough. I hopped off the table and left the med bay.

=^..^=

"Pola, where's Will?" I asked as I walked through the ship looking for him. He hadn't been in the bridge like I had expected.

"The captain is 700 meters northwest of the ship's main access. He is with Cillian. Shall I contact him for you?" she responded through her speakers.

"No nevermind" I quickly responded. "Why do you call him captain and call the rest of us by our names?"

"Would you like me to use your title as well?" She asked.

"No nevermind".

I thought about how it was weird for an AI to dodge a question but disregarded it. I wanted to be the one to tell Will myself and not have him hear it from John.

"Shall I ask Robert or John to accompany you?"

"No" I said simply. She was so fussy.

=^..^=

I met Will in a clearing some distance away from the ship. He was crouched while talking to Cillian and pointing at something in the dirt.

"Dany, what are you doing here?" He asked when he saw me.

"Looking for you" I responded.

Turning to Cillian, he said "You can head back, I'll handle it from here".

Cillian acknowledged and walked off giving me a nod as he passed me.

"Come take a look at this" He said excitedly.

I walked up to him and crouched, carefully closing my legs due to my knee length dress.

"What am I looking at?" I asked not seeing anything particularly interesting in the dirt.

"See these holes?"

"Mm-hmm"

"They're all over this area. A whole network of them. There must be a whole ecosystem in there and we don't know anything about the species that made these paths".

Just as excitedly, he showed me a transparent container filled with clear, crystalline stones.

He handed it to me. It was extremely light.

"These stones have almost no weight at all"

"What are they?"

"That's the thing, we don't know" He laughed happily. "A whole planet and we know absolutely nothing about it. Everything we think we know doesn't apply here. Isn't that amazing?"

I liked this side of him. Like a kid at the playground.

"It is" I admitted.

"I'm getting some samples back to the lab to see if Pola can make some sense of it"

"Hey, Will?" I started.

"Yes?" He answered but still mesmerized by the world in the dirt.

"I'm pregnant" I told him.

"What?" His gaze turned sharply to me.

"I'm pregnant" I repeated.

I watched a smile creep on his face as he slowly stood. I stood too.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, John just did a test"

He covered his mouth with his left hand and put the other on his waist. After pacing slightly, he said "Thank you".

He moved forward briskly and enveloped me in a hug, "thank you so much" he said again.

"I'm going to be a father" He struggled to say with his head buried in my shoulder.

When the hug had run it's course, he pulled away and I saw his watery eyes. I didn't know it meant that much to him.

Before I knew what was happening, I felt him place a hand on my belly and this caused me to jerk backwards. It felt way too intimate.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" He apologized profusely.

I recovered enough to say "No, I'm sorry. You just caught me off guard"

"I won't do it again" He promised.

"No you can, just let me know first" I offered with a smile.

"Can I?" he asked.

I nodded.

Slowly, he moved forward again and placed his right hand gently on my stomach. It felt like electricity shot through my entire body from the point of contact. I shuddered but tried to keep my composure not to scare him away again.

When I looked up at him, he was crying. This man that I'd known as my strong captain all these years was crying. I pressed both my hands on his and let him cry it out. What else could I do?

=^..^=

That night, something horrible happened. Cillian had come back from a hunt with some animal I didn't know. They'd killed, gutted and roasted it over a fire and we're now eating it happily on the beach.

They'd been so excited to have real meat that they hadn't even killed it painlessly. The sounds of its screams still rang through my head.

I watched them through the cameras from the bridge and stewed. Those innocent animals didn't deserve this. Of course I knew I couldn't tell them to stop. They'd eaten artificial food for years. The same one I was currently eating.

While it tasted well enough, it wasn't nearly as satisfying as the feast they were having.

But I couldn't do it.

Even worse it felt like they were killing a part of me. I'd tried to ignore what I'd been feeling because it didn't make any sense but it was hard to deny anymore.

I was feeling some kind of biological connection with the animals of this planet.

=^..^=

The next four months went in a similar fashion. Will and the others surveyed more of region setting up outposts for longer expeditions outward.

Although Pathfinder had several rover-like vehicles in storage, they were essentially useless due to the dense forest that made up the region.

All beacons were active so if Mission Control were still watching, they already knew that Gaia was perfect and Pathfinder could make the journey.

We speculated about when we'd see visitors from Earth but accepted that they were still atleast 3 years away.

"I can't believe I haven't had sex in all these years" John had vented sometime ago.

"I hear you" Robert agreed.

"I can't wait for the other teams to get here" Cillian voiced.

'Three for three' I thought.

"Yeah about time we start.. populating the planet... if you know what I mean" John said with a smirk.

"Ew" I voiced which got a laugh from everyone.

"I want them here so they can wake Heather up" Cillian clarified.

We all voiced our agreement. I felt bad for her. We were out here and she was stuck in stasis simply out of horrible luck.

"I just wanna hear what she says when she sees you" John told me and laughed.

The others agreed.

"I miss her" I said pouting a bit.

Will reached over and rubbed my shoulder. The others acted like it was the most normal thing in the world. It felt nice so I let it happen.

My belly was also getting quite big. Enough so that you could clearly see the protrusion in any dress I wore no matter how loose. I even found myself holding it a lot more often.

It provided a lot of comfort whenever I was stressed or nervous which was a lot recently. At the very least I was crying less than I had been the first few months which were a mess.

I also had a lot more energy now which I spent going on walks. Will still wouldn't let me do any work so this was the only bit of activity I was able to get.

My breasts were growing rapidly as well although I wasn't sure if it was from the AHRT or being pregnant. Frankly it didn't matter. The fact was that I'd had to print a new bra in a bigger size three times already.

I also thought I was putting on some weight which I'd been trying to do for years with little success but the problem was that the added weight was going to all the wrong areas.

I had decided to take a walk when I got bored that afternoon. I'd chosen a knee length floral dress that admittedly showed a generous amount of cleavage but I liked the style so I stuck with it.

I followed my usual route through the forest that Will had cleared for me a few months ago.

It was another beautiful day which we'd come to expect. There were winged animals flying in the sky ranging from small birdlike creatures to a massive species that soared through the skies and roared loudly.

'Good thing they don't see us as prey' I thought.

While most species on this planet stood on four legs, some even relied on six legs. Zoofle, an furry animal that kind of looked like a sheep but bigger which we'd named after the weird throaty sound it made, was hexapedal.

As I watched one zoofle rest in a tree, I wondered why nature had gone down that path. What evolutionary need could there have been for it to develop an extra set of legs? Certainly not for balance because it lacked any. And it just looked so goofy.

About half a kilometer farther into the forest, I noticed that animals had started to scamper away. With each passing second, the forest got quieter.

I decided to turn and head back to the ship but that's when I noticed a pair of eyes staring at me. Dark as night.

It slowly advanced until it was out of the shadows. It sneered aggressively at me. I glanced down and saw its sharp claws digging into the dirt. The massive creature was atleast 6 feet tall with all four legs planted on the ground. Its sleek black fur seemed purpose built for staying invisible while it stalked prey from the shadows.

It snarled and took a menacing step forward. I took one back and clutched my belly.

I had never felt fear like that since I arrived on this planet. My deep connected to all life on this planet had only grown stronger but I didn't feel any of it here. Just fear.

I had to protect my baby. Somehow I had to get away.

How did it go again? 'If it's brown, lay down, if it's black, fight back'?

I couldn't fight this thing and it definitely wasn't a bear.

It took a step forward and I took one back. I felt a tear roll down my cheek.

My baby. I couldn't let him or her die before they even got a chance to live.

'Somebody help me. Please' I muttered under my breath.

It took another step forward and I took one back. I must have tripped on something because I fell backwards and it immediately pounced.

I screamed with every fibre of my being and braced myself but the hit never came.

Out of the shadows another of its kind pounced on it and struck it out of the air. When I regained myself, she was standing on front of me, protecting me.

She looked almost identical to it except she was atleast a foot smaller.

She placed herself between me and my predator as it recovered and resumed it's aggressive stance.

It pounced on her, clawing and biting or trying to as she expertly fended off each attack and pushed it away from me.

It was bigger and faster and if I had to guess older than she was. With each hit she took, I felt my heart break over and over again.

What could I do? Nothing. I didn't want to leave her but I knew I had to get away?

I felt hands envelope me and pull me off the floor. I turned to see Will who was picking me up effortlessly and then running in the other direction back to the ship.

"We have to help her" I kept repeated but he paid me no mind. He ran and ran until we reached the end of the path and the Pathfinder and the rest of the confused crew came into view.

I could hear the roars coming from the forest still and even though I couldn't see anything through the trees, I knew she was losing.

"Will, you have to save her, please" I begged "She saved my life. You can't let her die".

He wasn't answering. He seemed singularly focused to get me to the ship.

"Will please!" I pleaded

In one fluid motion, he placed me in the hands of John, told him to take care of me and headed into the ship.

A moment later, he exited with two beam rifles, threw one at Cillian and shouted "With me"

A confused Cillian followed while activating the electromagnetic coils on the rifle. And just like that, the two of them disappeared into the forest.

=^..^=

The world around me seemed to freeze for a moment. I had never been religious but still I prayed to anything or anyone that was willing to answer.

"Please let them be okay".

A minute or two later, I heard the loud but familiar scream of the beam rifle accompanied by two bright burst of light.

I prayed harder.

=^..^=

My happiest moment would arrive when I saw both Will and Cillian exit the forest. The coils of their rifles still glowing from recent use.

I ran, I must have covered the entire distance of the beach in 2 seconds to hug him tightly.

"How is she?" I asked hopefully.

My question was answered when I saw the blue eyes peeking out of the forest. Gently I parted from Will and walked towards her.

Dropping to one knee, I outstretched one hand. Slowly she came into the light and I saw she was limping. Each pained step she took broke my heart all over again.

She limped all the way to me and just collapsed right there. Her quick breathing caused her body to heave up and down. I saw the claw marks and the holes were her skin had been bitten into and a tear rushed down my face.

She was going to die. I just knew it. She saved my life and my baby's life and she was going to die.

I turned looking for John, my eyes pleading before I did.

"Help her" I begged him.

"I'm.. I'm not a vet" He said.

"Just do something please, we can't let her die".

"I need to get it inside. Someone help me" John agreed.

Even with four, they still struggled to lift her weight but eventually they managed to get her on autodoc. Her breathing was so slow.

"Outside all of you" John commanded "Let me work my magic".

=^..^=

Will, Cillian, Robert and I all sat outside the ship's main access quietly waiting for any news.

It was dark now and John had been in there for who knows how long. It was getting cold. The floral dress I wore was offering little in the way of protection.

I must have shivered a bit because next thing I knew Will was walking into the ship. A few minutes later, he came out with one of his jackets and handed it to me.

"Thanks" I managed while putting my hands through the sleeves and covering up.

It was another half an hour before John would exit the ship with smiles on his face.

"Who's the best?" He asked smugly.

"You are" I told him even though I was half sure autodoc had done the heavy lifting.

"She'll live" he said "How did you know it was female" he asked.

I shrugged.

"She has two hearts, can you believe that?" He asked rhetorically. "Oh yeah she's pregnant. Like you." he finally said.

I didn't know what it was about that statement but it sent me over the edge. Soon I was bawling my eyes out with no end in sight.

Whenever I thought it was over, I would think about her risking herself and her child to save me and the tears would pour again.

The rest of them had left to give me some privacy and by the time the waterworks finally stopped, it was just Will and I alone outside the ship.

He hugged and consoled me again like he always did. Always there for me. I hugged him back.

He saved me too. And he saved her when I'd asked. I don't know if it was the pouring emotions or the hormones. But when I pulled away from the hug and saw his warm gaze focused on me, I couldn't resist.

I kissed him.

=^..^=

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Hey friends. Hope you enjoyed this one. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.