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She paced, going from the kitchen to the living room and back. She kept going over everything, every little detail of their situation. She knew the answer was going home to Earth.
But it seemed every time she brought it up, Grux shot it down, which angered her. She didn’t understand why he just wouldn’t take her back. They’d stolen a hovercraft before. They could find something to get her back. He wouldn’t even consider it half the time.
She bit her lip, wondering if there was a chance that he didn’t want her to go. Was he possibly hoping to hold her here? She didn’t enjoy that thought.
She heard the front door open, and Grux stepped in. He gave her a smile. “Hey. Did you enjoy your nap?”
She nodded, going back to pacing. Grux shut the door, stopping just a few feet from her.
“What’s wrong?” He tossed his hunting gear onto the ground. It was just a simple shotgun he found in the shed out back.
“What’s the plan?” she finally asked him. “What are the next steps for us? Are we getting a ship? Hiking farther out of the kingdom?”
“What do you mean?” He looked at her, confused.
“We can’t stay here.” She threw her arms up. “Not that I don’t like it here because I do. I’m happy to settle and finally catch our breath, but this isn’t a solution to our situation, Grux. We need to get moving.”
She watched his shoulders drop, and she continued. She needed him to realize that they were sitting ducks if they stayed here. They needed a plan. That was the whole point of being here. Wasn’t it?
“What’s our plan?” she asked again.
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I’m still thinking of our next steps. It isn’t so simple.”
“Why aren’t we finding a ship to get me home? Isn’t getting me to Earth the end game here?”
“Yes,” he said, “but again, it’s not that simple.”
“Then why aren’t we doing that?!” she snapped, losing her cool. “Why aren’t we looking for a ship?”
“Because it isn’t that simple, Scarlett,” he grumbled back at her. “We’ve talked about this.”
“No!” she snapped back. “You’ve talked. I’ve listened. I want to talk now. It’s my turn. I don’t want to live my life on the run. I lived up to this point, scared and looking over my shoulder. I’m not continuing that.”
Her greatest fear was living on the run, permanently unable to settle down and enjoy herself. She wanted it to end. She didn’t want to bring a child into that world.
“Why can’t we find a ship and head to Earth?”
“You’re pregnant,” he said as if it was a reason. “It’s putting kinks in the plan.”
“How?” she yelled, throwing her hands up. “Just how? Why is being pregnant making it harder for you to find a ship?”
“It’s not finding a ship, Scarlett.” He rubbed his eyes. “The travel is complicated.”
She fell silent for a moment.
He continued, “Finding a ship isn’t that hard. I would have ways. The traveling part is hard to figure out.”
“I don’t understand.”
He sighed. “We can go after you have the baby. We can’t travel with you pregnant. It’s dangerous.”
“Nothing is wrong with traveling when you’re pregnant.” She was hardly in her second trimester. It wasn’t hard for them to travel. She knew several people who had traveled when pregnant.
“Scarlett, this isn’t just a simple journey. Earth is a long distance away, and it’s not like just hopping to the next planet over. We have to take a wormhole to get to Earth. That, on a normal, healthy person, is hard on the body. People pass out, and people die. Now imagine a pregnant person. I’m not taking that chance.”
She knew what he was saying was true. She hadn’t even considered they would have to go through a wormhole.
“But a baby couldn’t do that, either.”
