<div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/f/fa/Mars_test.jpg)</div><table class="bbc_table"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Character name:</strong></td><td>Lt Colonel Louise Cotter</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Location:</strong> </td><td>Suiting up room, then heading for the hangar</td></tr><tr><td><strong>With:</strong> </td><td>Laura, (everyone else is within earshot)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Doing:</strong> </td><td>Finding out she's going to be a Dammy<sup>1</sup></td></tr></tbody></table><br/><hr/><br/>It took a few seconds for the meaning of Laura's words to penetrate Louise's concentration. "YOU DID<strong>WHAT</strong>?" That was the parade-ground voice... Louise didn't know whether to be overjoyed or livid. The two emotions warred within her for about five seconds, and overjoyed won. The clatter of the metal seal-ring she had been about to fit to her left knee falling to the floor was drowned out by: "<strong>SQUEEEEEEEE!</strong>" She grabbed Laura and squeezed the XO, spinning her off the ground. Then she set the younger woman down and knelt, kissed her tummy and whispered, "You stay safe in there, little one."<br/><br/>And finally, she stood up and looked sternly at Laura. "Alicia, darling, when we get back from this trip, you are so fucking grounded!" Her grin was irrepressible though. She sighed with resignation. "Ah bugger it. This is a dangerous world. We need to learn to live on it, and if that means making maternity sized E-suites, so be it. No, you are not grounded. I would hate it if anything happened to you or the baby, and I would hate it even more if anything happened to both of you, but ... We're here for the duration."<br/><br/>And with that, a huge cheesy grin splitting her face from ear to ear, she picked up the fallen seal ring and clamped it in place.<br/><br/>A few minutes later she was fully suited, gloves clipped to her belt, dangling loosely from her left hand. "Ah, Vee, there you are. You and me, flight deck, five minutes, pre-flight checks. I checked the roster and all the other pilots are otherwise engaged, so it's you and me up front, girl!" She patted the computer tech on the shoulder. There was someone she wouldn't mind at all if Laura took a fancy to her... Stifling that thought, she headed for the stairs, disdaining the elevator, and trotted up into the hangar.<br/><br/><hr/>1] Two new words have come into popular use: Dammy and Moddy. A Dammy is a woman who's DNA is used to father a child. a Moddy is a man who's DNA is used to make an ovum, and who then carries the foetus.