"I want to, big guy, but I can't right now. I got a ship full of problems to deal with."

"Oh." He flexed his organ one more time, seeping out a dribble of thick liquid onto my fingers. Mm, tastes okay.

"Er ... does it have to be straight vaginal sex for the effect? Can it be oral? Ingested?"

"Master Rowney said it had to be injected to the womb. Mistress Phillida claimed since Selene loved oral, this should work too. But Master Rowney replied my junk definitely has to be inside your womb, and make its way to your ovaries. Something about how it's to reactivate those bits. If this makes any sense."

*sigh*

"Yeah it does, unfortunately. Well thanks for the info, Glen. At least for today, let's get moving and busy fixing my ship!"

---

"So ... this power line goes to ... there? I think?"

Sitting on the floor of the bridge with my head leaning under a console, I had the vague feeling I'm repeating the same kind of dialog which I'd overheard years before. Only this time, instead of me being kept back in a corner on a proverbial electronic leash, I'm now front-and-center for the main event ― trying to find a power drain somewhere in all the wiring and conduits between decks.

This is truly the fourth time I'm at this station, today; Glen cannot help because he does not have the same kind of understanding of electricity or electronics I did. Do. Um ― it's probably why as an elf summoned to the other world I ended up doing some very high end 'lightning wizard' type stuff. Scared the jeepers outta both ally and enemy alike. And also, probably advanced their understanding too, of those same things I was doing for fun.

I do sorta feel weird about 'accidentally' zapping the one prince's balls ... cooking them in his crotch- Maybe.

But in the immediate time, I'm trying now to remember scraps of conversations either overheard or somehow imagined which the key players would have said, or actions done. It's like a virtual play, going on in my own head right now.

Sergeant Carnes would have been keeping one eye always on me ― thinking I'd do something devious ― well yeah of course I would, but what the hell dude. And, he'd worry about me getting hold of the energy for some foul use. Technician Mandelbaum would keep pointing to one spot, saying 'this has to go there, that has to come here' or something in a matter of fact way. Mandi, after pushing her tits back into place, would again be acting so ignorant but playful, and would keep saying negative things such as 'just get the vamp to touch the power lines, then you will know what has power'. Probably half the reason why I set her vibe to overload so often ― hey she started it, inferring I should be electrocuted to 'take one for the team'. WHAT TEAM?!

I can only shake my head, all those old memories triggering more sudden memories. Yeah I can't forget those days; but I would if I could. Only in this moment, I think I need to remember what I can of those things, just so I can put the pieces back together. Kinda reminds me of an old nursery rhyme ― 'Humpty Dumpty'.

"I'm gonna be shitting bricks if it really does turn out I have to touch a bare wire though-"

"Why would Selene be 'shitting bricks'? Have you ingested some bricks before this?"

"... er, no. It's another of those old time sayings. Yeah I know. Doesn't make sense, yet so many old timers used to say it."

But the problem remains. What is the matter with the power run? This console should have full pow-

-er.

Um.

Well it might be another case of ... guess what, something I did once before.

Was I really such a dick? despite not having one?

... yeah, probably.

The power line, only accessible from one certain point ― and it means now, I'll probably have to crawl back through those tight conduits. At least now, I should not have to deal with spiders and such, if this vessel has been lifeless for a while.

---

"... three, deck four, aha I see it."

And like a giant 'hint' type of light bulb from an old style video game, I got the idea to see what I left undone. An arm's length away, it's a place where a wire got 'cut'.

Oops.

-n, now what. Find something to weld the wires together, or to bridge the gaps in the lines ― hey you know what, I seem to recall that engineering repair room should have some of those ... unless the dock 'cleaned up' and took whatever spares of things they could find. Yes I bet they did. Still; I'll go check-

Hey what the hell, they left one. One, single connector. I need three, dammit.

Punching up a number on the tablet, I see the face I'd hoped to see again.

"Mister Gunderton. Guess what, I need at least two wiring harness connectors, the type that fits type 'YR-3' wiring."

"... uh what-"

"Type, 'Y', 'R', 'three'. A connector to fit those lines. Seems someone in the past 'spliced' a set of wires, and to get going I need at least two more. Probably a half dozen to keep me going after this too. And I'm sure your tech guys might have taken out a lot of spares when this ship came to your dock for sale. Well I at least need a few connectors to get me going, or else I'm staying for a while."

There; in a 'passive aggressive' sense, I've left it vague on whether I'd blame him or his dock for my not being able to leave. I am almost certain they will somehow 'find' a set of connectors, probably a few extra items too, which works for this ship.

"... I ... I'll check into it, Miss Selene."

"Okay talk to you later then."

*click*

Eh, he didn't want to chat with me anymore anyway.

---

At this point, looking through the list, I've got the number of problems down from the peak of thirty, to now under twenty. Nineteen, right now, and most of the main problems done if I can get the wiring problem completed. The one gravity generator might be flawed; but if I can avoid that one deck where gravity is only on the 'partial' side, then I and the big guy should be alright.

In this case it's also now a matter of starting up the ship real proper, and then checking power levels and fuel and consumables. Well even if I don't eat all the time, I still like sweets and things. Even I will need daily intake of water too, or risk drying out. And for sure if I am to take on crew and passengers somewhere, then for certain I'll need those things for the ones I do take on.

My tablet just alerted me ― a presence on the port side shuttle bay. Hmm; Gunderton is changing things up a bit, isn't he? Not coming aboard in the same place he arrived before. Well then, let's go meet ... er no not you big guy, you stay here, while you don't have clothes your large thing might scare him ... or give him strange ideas of what I'm into, and kinks and things.

"Hey Gunderton, nice to see y-"

I pause, at the next guy who steps off the shuttle.

"-you!"

The moment is ruined; no, my mood is what's ruined; pulling out a jump scare at a time like this would just ... not do my hatred of the second guy here, any justice.

"Oh hey my little lamb chop."

"Don't call me that!"

It's my old nemesis, the one who did this to me.

I hate him. He's the one I'd kill each time I saw him ― just to try to make myself feel better about now being a vamp girl.

"Well anyway. Fancy meeting you in a dinky little place like this. My, my, isn't the universe seeming smaller every day."

"Karl! Shut up! I'll kill you!"

"That's not nice; and after I came all this way, just to see ... you."

I jerked back. "Me?"

"Yeah you. I need a job; seems someone has been spreading bad rumors about me or something. Cannot get a job with the major shipping lines either. So I guess I follow you for a while, bug you to hell and back, and in the long run hope to find a job. Hmm, maybe you'll hire-"

"Fuck you!"

"-me. Why?"

"YOU DID THIS!"

"... one of my better jobs, I'd say."

"I wanted to be human, you undersized dick! You took that from me!"

"... um," injected Denney Gunderton. "Miss Selene ... you know this guy?"

"Yeah in the worst way. Why'd you bring a leech like that."

I knew, for one vamp to call another a 'leech', was an even more impressive insult than when a human called one of us, this term.

"H, he seemed to know-"

"I asked him to bring me, lamb chop."

"I said shut up Karl. Now, Mister Gunderton. What do you have for me."

"... th, this sack of spare parts."

He set down a sack, seemingly lightweight, but filled with a few smaller bits and pieces I'm sure would be necessary for some job or other.

"... and I'm leaving ... with or without any passengers."

Gunderton took one passing look at Karl, then turned slowly back to his own shuttle.

"You gonna go with him Karl?"

"Nah, I'd rather stick to you for a while."

I'm pissed off, I wanna rip his frikkin head off, but even then it might not solve anything but give me a chance to cool down after some number of hours.

At least by then, I would have thrown myself into fixing some things, maybe breaking some other things, and back around to fixing things the rest of the way.

But no. He'd still somehow survive the 'head removal' or something. I haven't tried that yet, but somehow I fear this bastard would still survive.

"... suit yourself. Stay outta my captain's cabin. You don't get an officer's quarters or anything but you can take one of the passenger quarters for now. The going rate will be a couple thousand credits a week. Payable in advance."

"I'll get my things here situated then. When's dinner-"

"You're on your own for that. I don't have a chef or cook. Unless you wanna be it. I don't know if this ship has any food stores either."

"What, no pay for the service, little lamb?"

Gunderton's shuttle lifts off, and I let loose my own stream of profanity at my nemesis.

Unlike Gunderton who gets to leave, I have to stick with my ship, and he just left this jackass with me.

---

At least ... with the parts I have here, I can get back to work. Might even make some actual progress.

Even if ... seeing him again ... puts me back in a bad mood that I haven't seen in ... what decade is this again.

Glen is at my side, when Karl walks onto the bridge.

"Hey ... who's the nude beefcake?"

"His name's Glen. Glen don't reach out to shake his hand, you might catch something from this pile of shit. Karl, don't try anything with Glen; he knows a few tricks and can most likely explode you, you bag of dust and bones. Aha, I like that thought. Exploding Karl. Makes me feel all warm and cozy inside."

"Oh so now I'm not only a pile of shit, I'm also a bag of bones and dust?"

"Yeah pretty much. And anything else I wanna throw in for insults."

I can get used to this, having a direct way to get revenge against Karl, through this humor.

"... I'm leaving, will be in the galley if you need me."

Yeah well when the hell will I ever need him. Except he can cook for me and crew and passengers all he wants; I still won't need him.

Except the one time he did cook something for me ... it was delicious.

... I'm gonna hate myself if I end up liking the guy for his cooking, aren't I.

Fuck it. I'll throw myself all over Glen to ignore him.

---

"Actually this brings it back down to only ten items left. Aah screw it, it's shipshape enough, let's go get paid!"

"Selene, we are ready to take off from here?"

"Yes Glen. Got enough of the wiring figured out, got the power generation system going, got air and water and sewer piping to all decks, and ... yeah I think that's all. Oh update the star charts from the dock's local server, obviously. Er so now what. AI System?"

"Captain. Proper procedure is to file a flight plan with the authority at the point of departure, denoting a planned destination."

"Ah yes now I get it. Well then, press these, enter the log, and send, and ... aha, they actually confirmed it. Oho, for them to confirm a destination of 'the hell away from here' is something to laugh about. Oddly, I am also betting it's not the first time they have seen this either."

"So we taking off now?" inserted Karl, stepping onto my bridge ― again, from wherever he'd been before this. Oh the nerve.

"Yeah ― so leave, or sit down and shut up."

"... as you wish ... Captain Selene."

I rolled my eyes, but nevertheless shrugged off the feeling. Hey what the hell, he's sitting at the security chief's console? Since when did he have that job?

"Hey get off of there."

"You'll need me here, trust me."

"Like I could!"

"Anyway. Just trust me."

"... whatever. Just don't do anything to betray me or you'll be dusted before you blink. Ship AI, set course for Paradise Moon-"

"Captain can I recommend Dungeon III-B as the destination? That moon has a lot of inbound and outbound travel, we're sure to get both passengers and crew."

"Hey Karl who said you could suggest anything."

"Nobody; but like I said you'll need me. I know things."

"... fine. Ship, ... set course ... Dungeon system, third planetary orbit, second moon-"

"Confirmed. Course set."

"Go then."

---

Engines howled and screeched, the view in the viewscreen twisted to one side as our angle to the local yard changed, and the ship seemed to move ... only so slowly.

From the engines which maybe had not been used in some years, a howling or screeching came from the raw or rough parts wear and tear. Some things might need checking again, after a time. I don't know if Glen can help with some of this; if I show the parts which are worn, surely he could build up the component to be what it should be, or to withstand more wear and tear.

For the viewscreen ... at least it was showing the correct way. But part of the 'screen' ― a projected rectangle of gray scaled hues showing 'what is out there' ― seemed far out of focus, like it needed to be tuned, or replaced with a new screen, or reconfigured through software solutions. I had enough problems without now also seeing I have to learn about the graphic rendering engine and configurations-

Hmm; maybe even the movement was somehow jerky or not smooth. I would have to figure out what this unevenness came from, and fix it. Well at least if it were me and Glen, we could handle it for a short while; and maybe hopefully once those engines got warmed up, this unevenness straightened itself out. And for Karl ... well I don't care. Probably twice as much as I don't care about pissing off Reina.

After a few minutes of sitting like this, the AI added a notice. "Vessel is beyond the station space and cleared for switching to FTL drives. Permission to goto FTL, Captain?"

"Yes. Confirm."

The front viewscreen switched out the general overlay of local area, and showed now the transitioning stars speeding on by. Or rather, I knew this to be a trick of the imagination ― we were instead the ones flying by, but it seemed the reverse. So pretty; like that really old ancient computer 'screen saver' I used to love watching it work ... only this, is in 3D.

At least, in the changeover to now using faster than light movement, the ride is far more smooth ― almost perfect, in fact. Not a hitch in the FTL system it would seem.

But ... there's still things to do. I cannot afford to sit still for too long. A counter on a status display showed about thirty seven hours until arrival; in this, I am sure.

"Well Glen, you say you have the housekeeping skills ― I think we should start going through room by room and cleaning up. We should get somewhere in the time before arrival."

"Where do we start, Selene?"

"We'll start here on the top deck and proceed from room to room, clearing them as we go. Like the old Nutter Dungeon. HA! Remember those days, I think I even drove a dungeon master crazy-"

"... dungeon master ... what?"

"Shut up Karl, it doesn't concern you. Go back to playing with yourself."

"... as you wish. Captain."

---

Glen and I made fast progress. Even if these first ones were cabins for the command officers and department heads of this flying barge, then they were still of modest comfort. At least the captain's cabin was marginally better than the others.

And because both Glen and I were 'from' the other world, we had such things as our inventory systems, and cleaning skills to automate this cleanup. Sweep into a room, store anything and everything loose, then fire off a whole room cleaning skill, then place things back, one at a time ― and then done.

I'll admit, we did things so much different than if we had to hire a 'cleaning crew'. In that case, they'd be removing physically from the room, all these loose items, possibly damaging things in the process, doing the 'it looks good enough' cleaning, then dragging items back inside until 'it looks good now too'. I wanted to skip all this; a person's first impression of their stay here would be of first seeing a clean room, a clean ship. All else could be wreaking havoc upon our nerves; but the appearance mattered.

The only problem with this, is ― our mana regen in this world is, notably, next to minimalistic. So we'd had to alternate who did what part of a cleaning process, just to keep from being drained. Found a lot of little 'contraband' items too ― all the dirty habits some people had, from past years. Things not cleaned out by those people on the shipyard. Understandable, they didn't want any of these used drug and sex paraphernalia, and no neither did I. Still; we moved through a floor at a time, a room at a time, and got things to a more shipshape state. ― The one junior officer's cabin on the third floor, for some reason had the wall panels tore off, so now I gotta figure out the replacement of panels too. Probably something Sergeant Carnes might have overlooked, in his own monitoring of us 'solitaries'. Come to think of it, wasn't this his room?

See I'm not afraid of performing a full day's work ... at my own schedule. I'm more motivated to do this when I see the benefit, or know it's for a purpose which helps me. So me performing this 'housekeeping' with Glen is something I'm glad to do. It's my ship dammit, I want it to look clean and ready!

---

At about the fourth hour in, though ― having reached the ends of the third deck ― we're tired beyond belief.

"Time for a bit of dinner, big guy, then we can go lay down."

"Selene is ready for sex?"

"... ready to consider the sex. Not quite sure of the outcome, even with Rowney's blessing."

"Master Rowney was absolute on this, though. He said Selene would have full control of her fertility again."

"Oh well then does that make me still a vamp or a human again? I don't know; but I do want the option to have children."

Dragging Glen along, we return first to the bridge, to note Karl still at this post, the Security Officer's duty station.

"What the hell Karl. You ever move from there?"

"Even if the destination is a 'safe' system and world such as Dungeon III, I know of many dangers. Pirates, perhaps, trawling between the stars, looking for easy prey such as us."

"Yeah well if any attack, I'll expect you to put your own life on the line."

"If I do will you like me then?"

"... huh? What the fuck you going on about?"

"Simple. I want you to like me."

"You aren't exactly choice material, there."

For once, his calm smile faltered.

"... well it's back to that, then. You really cannot forgive me for the past. Despite my attempts to reconcile things, you do not want to let it go."

My head was swimming ― was he trying to say, he's working through to saying The Pledge? Like he wanted to give this pledge but had to get through any unresolved issues, first?

More like ... am I one of his unresolved issues?

Well I ... I hadn't made it any big secret of how I hated him, of how I felt it was his fault for doing this to me.

"Need food, before I can consider your issues."

"-excellent! I've prepared some simple things to start already, Captain-"

"Just ... food first, no flowery words or attempts to woo me."

---

If left to my own mortal tendencies, before the bite, I would have matured and grown up and probably even gotten married and yeah had children. Probably would never have gotten to go to the other world, and do all those things either. A fair tradeoff; mortality and life lived in value; in exchange for immortality and a life in which crappy choices followed me around relentlessly. And it seemed I'm not the only one, either; others of our kind seem to also be so emotionally fragile. It's probably why so many vamps have to hit hard against the human aggressors.

In consideration though, eating this ― oh god did I miss such five star meals ― this heavenly delight, I wondered too. Karl was one of my own issues, before I took the vows myself; yet now it seems I am one of his. I myself had not handled it so well, even going so far as to say I 'faked' forgiving an absent Karl. Yet now Karl wanted a direct forgiveness from me, to him, so he could ... whatever. Okay so then if I did forgive him ... what then? Would I feel any better, or have less worries, or be able to do more things?

That ... all of those are intangibles. No absolute way to quantify this or that. Only if I did try it, and let him have his forgiveness ... but oh hell that would probably mean I'd have to let him stay on, as a proper crew. I don't know how I feel about any of that, though.

Next, to bed. I dragged my big guy along with me, like I'd done so many days in the past; only without him wearing clothes it came down to just me grabbing his arm and directing him into my cabin instead of into the filthy slave tent allotted for me. I look at my bed, look at him, and sigh ― dropping off all clothes onto the floor.

Turns out, after all that work, I really may be horny enough to try things with Glen. Well then let's get to it boy! Not sure about the pregnancy part right now; but even that might be interesting to do. Hey I can flip-flop on my own decisions at any time! And no I am not a politician!

This is wonderful ― Glen filled me in a way I hadn't known before possible ― something in how Rowney put him together? Yeah that sperm of his did get filled in to reach into my inner parts; I don't know how long until such things reach the ovaries, traveling through the fallopian tubes from the uterus. Or how long for the 'transformation' to take effect. I get that it has to be 'started' by the forty eighth hour; but this says nothing on how long to drag this on.

And for it, it seemed Rowney also allowed a 'proper sizing' of Glen's dick, once it fit inside of me, declining in size until it fit more comfortably tight. But those balls though ― monsters, in any fashion, they held all of Glen's baby making stuff of legend. Funny how I could now have that near human orgasmic effect, just from this sexual encounter, unlike any of my other human/vamp attempts of the past. Aah thanks Rowe for this, I needed it.

At the end, the big guy just fell asleep on top of me; which is okay, I did allow this for the few men I truly enjoyed sexing. Plus it allowed him to stay inserted into me, holding all those fluids in, to enter my womb and to move about within me.

I grinned shyly ... or not so shyly. This is gonna be great.

Except.

Yeah. I'm still a captain of this starship now, and I got a duty. Well fuck it, I can still do a duty while pregnant; it just meant I had to ... well now here's a new and strange thought ... find a doctor who could specialize in vampire pregnancy.

I mean, whoa ... a vampire pregnancy.

If I didn't find one who could also keep a secret, it would mean, I would somehow come to the attention of those news rags, and then my whole life would come under one giant microscope.

Well fuck that. I wanna still be free, and without the scrutiny such a thing would bring about. But at the same time, even I can realize that my own soon to be natal care would be important.

Another part of me, of my psychology, causes me to smile. With a pregnancy, can I finally get a bigger chest set?

I giggled, softly, not waking Glen. Yeah my belly size might expand too, beyond its static three sizes ― all those little things I'd noted in human women that I'd envied them for me not being able to have. But now it seems somehow I can, if this goes on as it will.

---

A few hours later, I awaken. Glen has finally awoke before me, and gone on about my quarters, cleaning up where we'd skipped the first round of cleaning. True to his word, he's an almost master at the cleaning, to do so much with so little mana expended.

Somehow, now I feel different ― well still somehow 'vampire like', but now ... a hint of something I used to feel. Human? Could it be?

Where in the previous hours interacting with Glen, I should be dripping out his excess cum ... but somehow my vampiric body even took in the last bit, and maybe applied it toward some 'regeneration' or maybe an appropriate 'reversion' to a human state. And too, it felt as if ... this is all too weird, I gotta take a cool bath-

Too cold! But it's the same temp I always use- Suddenly these cool baths don't do it for me? Aah then I have to get back into a habit of the nice warm bath. Okay calm my beating heart-

Beating heart? Actual near normal blood pressure?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

---

So ... on the flip side. Am I still a vampire or what. Can I still take on another, like Karl, head to head, and win? Eh ... well I'm loathe to find out, without some assurance of boundaries in said fight.

"Hey big guy, ready to continue the day? First stop, back on the bridge, and then back to cleaning?"

"Yes. But was our performance good?"

"Oh definitely good, Glen. I have no complaints. I even have to praise you for doing that so well."

"I learned from watching, what Selene liked."

I could only smile at this, as I repeated my earlier dressing habits ... a little less on the floral scent, as somehow I now smelled the scents even more thoroughly than I did as a vamp girl. Hmm; something of a halfway human vamp girl, then. But still feeling like dressing this slutty. Um, well now that Karl is here ... maybe tone it down? Don't want him jumping me expecting some play between us-

"What the-"

Karl. Still sitting at the security console.

"Captain on deck," he called out, trying his best.

I shook my head with a weird grin; I really should still hate him, but somehow in the last few hours, things had ... my perspectives had changed. No longer should I be so eager to piss off people-

Goddess Reina, yeah sure, piss her off to whatever place she'd hate to be. But the rest of us, not so much.

The time to arrival indicated, showed in the range of twenty five hours and a scant four minutes more. Plenty of time to get back into cleaning and such.

"Captain ... eh, Selene."

Karl called for my attention, just before I had left the bridge.

"What."

"S, something you wanna share-"

I don't know whatever the hell he could mean- unless somehow does he have oversight into ... even the captain's quarters? Ugh ... another dreadful thought.

"What, what are you saying Karl."

"Did you, um, have something ... did I hear ... something about pregnancy? Did something change?"

In a way, it's sorta sweet him reverting to the lovesick schoolboy prototype, of a former life. This probably was what his life was like, in the distant past.

"It's personal. If you stick around and play nice, I may tell you someday."

"... oh. Well okay. Captain."

He's blinking a bit, frustrated to maybe almost know something, but not be told directly.

I think I just broke the cutie. Or am about to, if I can keep it up for a while longer. Well except I didn't consider him a 'cutie' so much in the first place. And broke, eh ... wasn't he already?

"Let's go big guy," I called out, dragging the now properly clothed golem/human along with me.

I think Karl is now looking so properly crushed, in his failed expectation.

---

A quick nibble on some of earlier leftover foods, then straight to cleanup detail. It might go faster if Karl were also doing this; but then if I did have him working alongside us, I'd have to spill the beans on this new ability we had.

-er, well, if he was using the security monitors and somehow saw what we were doing, then of course he'd come to know, something strange was up with us. I just ... didn't know how far to trust him with this. An eagerness to share my 'past life' experiences, I did not have. And especially since it was him.

Since Glen and I had previously gotten into a quiet but easy pattern of working together, we'd managed in six hours to finally clear all the way down to deck seven. Funny to see I could then pick up whole shuttles and store them in inventory; this would be a nice trick, to keep extra spaceships in my grasp. Well ... up to a certain size, anyway.

Since this ship has twelve decks, this more or less puts us over the halfway mark, on cleaning up. Most of the time today was in decks five and six, actually; working around the power and propulsion systems is not a fun job ― figuring, if I mess up with removing something necessary-

-aah I don't want to think about that. If I did, I'd begin thinking of how this inventory storage system might in some way be a curse instead of a magical support system. But for now? Er, yeah, keep doing what I can ― until or unless something changes, for better or worse.

---

Now it should be early afternoon, if going by Earth's clock ... as seen from the old 'Greenwich Mean Time'. Seems a hobby of many a vamp to go by this, just to remember the old times. Some device manufacturers even included an option to go by this time by default.

I don't care so much about the time; but for some reason I'd always wanted to remain on the basic twenty four hour clock. Made things easier, not having to go by some other 'alien' or 'interstellar' modified time. Plus if each world visited had their own day lengths, matters got a bit worrisome, unless someone keeps track of those things. Mostly the ship's computer system.

So when Glen and I go to eat once more, only to find Karl tagging along, I find it a chance to keep up the pressure against Karl, to see how far he'll go in keeping his cool. Mostly by talking to Glen instead of him.

"Captain, I wanted to ask about-"

"Hey Glen. How are you doing since you arrived here with me?"

"I feel fine, so much better than the last world."

"Captain I-"

"So no adverse effects? Everything about you is the way it should be now?"

"Yes, Selene. I do feel fine. Thank you for asking."

If Glen is getting that I just don't want to talk to Karl right now, he's not saying so; in fact he might even be playing along with my gag. But also, I do note Karl growing a slight bit more impatient.

"Captain, please-"

"What, Karl."

Somewhat surprised at my directness, I do see the vampire pull back, involuntarily.

"I heard you say something about pregnancy. I know it's not possible for us vampires; I've tried, myself, to get many females pregnant. It never works. How ... what is ... I want you to explain this."

"Nope, I can't. Or maybe won't. Not yet anyway."

"... then what can you tell me."

"Just this, a brain teaser ... what is heard but never seen, speaks the loudest when most needed yet the quietest when least needed? Answer this, and I may tell you more."