Page 97 of Ruined Omega

“So I will make a promise to you as well,” the AI goes on. “A covenant. Although I doubt that it will ever be necessary, I shall add my protection to that of your Alpha pack. As long as you live, Hines, I too will do my part to make sure that no harm comes to you. You and your Alphas exemplify the spirit of the Zone and the Source. Therefore, I shall ensure that you have many descendents, and your genetic line shall be strong.”

“Um...thanks?” I stammer stupidly, not knowing what else to say.

“Look that’s all well and good,” Lily says from the sidelines. She is still obviously pissed about what Seraph tried to do to me before. “But how are we going to be able to trust you after this, Seraph?”

“Your concern is understandable,” Seraph answers her. His artificial eyes seem to defocus for a second, then they come back. “Therefore, I have sealed our covenant with a sign.”

“A sign?” I ask. “What do you mean? What kind of sign?”

“It will be revealed in two hundred and seventy days. Now, if you will excuse me, I have many things to meditate upon.”

The floating face wavers like a bad video transmission and then flickers out, leaving the massive chamber of the Temple even darker than before.

“Wait!” Lily shouts, but Seraph is already gone. She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Sorry, he has a bad habit of disappearing like that.”

“I still don’t see how we can trust Seraph after what he did to Hines,” Sloane says.

“I do,” I say softly.

“You do?”

“I don’t know why exactly, I just…I sense that he was telling the truth.”

I lean back into Tal’s embrace. With Canaris and Baen flanking me on both sides, I feel so warm and protected now. I really do have faith that nothing bad will happen anymore. I press back against Tal even harder, and I can feel his heart thumping against my shoulders. It is thumping in perfect harmony with mine.

“We’ll just have to wait and see,” Canaris says, stroking my arm so tenderly with a hand that just minutes before killed many enemies.

“But what was that last thing Seraph said?” asks Baen. “Two hundred and seventy days? That would be about…”

He attempts to work it out on his fingers, loses track, starts again.

When the realization comes to me, it comes as a soft tickle in my belly.

“Nine months,” I breathe. “It’s about nine months.”

EPILOGUE: HINES

nine months later…

Another contraction pangs inside me. My belly tightens and pain radiates through my pelvis. My ragged cry of pain reverberates through the Temple of the Source.

There was a time when I would have been mortified to shout so loudly in this place.

Now is not such a time, however.

The temple is different from how it was the first time I saw it. The light is still dim, and the windowless, domed ceiling still swoops high overhead, giving the impression of a high-tech, man-made cave. And of course, the center of the chamber is still dominated by the enormous sphere of the Source. Even now, I can feel its power humming in my bones, in my muscles, in my swollen womb.

But there are differences too. Signs still remain of the swift and sudden battle that happened here months ago. The wall where the Farlander army invaded has been patched and reinforced with pieces of metal and stone gathered from all over the ruins. There is also a mismatched section of the ceiling—a reminder of the stray missile that Baen deflected at the last minute.

Yes, the temple has been changed. You could even say that it has been scarred. But the essence of the place remains the same.

I have changed too.

The most noticeable difference is my belly, which Lily is intently listening to with a stethoscope.

Over the past nine months, my belly has grown and grown, becoming like a ripe watermelon, then a fully inflated beach ball, and finally…this seemingly impossible rotundity that is weighing me down against the birthing nest my Alphas have arranged for me here in the presence of the Source.

That navel ring was supposed to make me extra fertile. It sure seems like it worked.