During our epic battle against Cain and Jezebel, Jinx's sphere-shaped drone remained powered down, at least long enough for us all to enter the space ark and for Abraham to secure the airlocks. As the ark passed into airspace over the habitat, Jinx reestablished radio contact with the source of his AI. The drone could have blasted his way in, but that would have compromised Cain's safety since he was in control of Jinx for that moment in time.

Before we left the space ark, Abraham performed a complete diagnostic scan on Jinx. This included the drone and the source of the artificial intelligence at the habitat. He did all this from the safety of the ark. Once the tests concluded, he reset all the AI's directives and created new encrypted security codes to prevent further hacking and control by anyone else in the future. Also, he used Cain's eyeball to gain access to the rocket ship to give Jinx permission to fly the spacecraft home. Eve and I would require extensive training to pilot such a sophisticated machine, which ruled us out since we have more important things to concern ourselves with, like the repopulation of the planet.

As for the eyeball's removal process, I'd rather not get into that.

Turns out, the result of our efforts for establishing a presence for humanity had doubled without our knowledge. Once Jinx landed the rocket ship near the habitat and we set foot back on Earth, his first directive was to give Eve a medical exam. On the flight home, she revealed Jezebel had not knocked her out, but had only cold-cocked her enough to make her woozy. She had faked unconsciousness, waiting for the right moment to make a move. Her plan worked, almost, but then the second Abraham waltzed into the room. Still, Jinx needed to verify her pregnancy hadn't failed.

In the hab's examination room, in the same hallway as the labs, Eve sits on the edge of the cushioned bench and sighs long and hard, like she dreads the outcome of whatever tests the drone needs to run. Before we left the ark, Abraham had winked at me. Eve didn't see it, and I had no clue what he meant by it. Moments after he dispatched of Cain, he gestured at her womb and had proclaimed hope. Guess that was prior to medical confirmation.

But why the wink before he sealed the rocket ship's airlock and set us on our way?

After I drew blood from her arm and deposited the vial in a compartment inside the drone, Jinx remains quiet as he analyzes the sample. Without telling us the results, he scans her abdomen with the blue light from his video screen. As the beam skims over her mid-scan, a mild tremor rattles the exam room. Eve narrows her eyes and glances up at me as I stand beside her. I shrug, unsure what to make of it. It doesn't faze Jinx as he completes the scan and the blue light switches off.

"Spill it." Eve fixes her gaze on the drone.

"It seems I detect three heartbeats," Jinx says.

"That's good, right?" I smile at Eve. "There should be three heartbeats in the room. Mine, yours, and the baby's."

"That is not what I meant."

Eve tilts her head, jaw sagging. "What are you talking about?"

"I knew the results of these unnecessary tests before I left the space ark, but Abraham forbade me from telling you."

I scoff, now knowing what the wink was about. "Seriously?"

"As serious as the most advanced artificial intelligence on the planet can be."

Another tremor shakes the habitat, and I want to change the subject and ask him about the seismic activity, but even though the second one—in only a few minutes—is stronger than the first, Eve holds her hand out to cut me off. She wants to know about her baby.

"Jinx, you better tell us the results, or Eve might yank out your circuit board and stomp on it."

The hovering drone, jets of air keeping it aloft, swivels toward me, then back to Eve.

"He was joking," she says. "The results, please?"

"I thought so." Jinx's wavy blue lines dance on his video screen as if he's happy at her reply. "Now that I have kept you in suspense, per orders from Abraham, I will conclude the matter."

"That would be fantastic," I say.

Eve drills him with her eyes, waiting...

"There are three heartbeats inside Eve's body," Jinx says. "Her own, and that of two fetuses."

Eve's jaw drops even lower.

A laugh burst from my abdomen. "You're kidding? Two babies?"

"Twins?" Eve asks, eyes bulging.

"That is correct."

I give her a bear hug from the side, squeezing her shoulder against my chest as she sits on the bench, about to fall off the edge. When I let go, she peers up at me, and her gaping jaw and wide eyes transform into the faintest smile. I cup her cheeks and kiss her square on the mouth. Not prepared for it, she puckers at the last second and closes her eyes as our lips smack. When I draw back, her expression intensifies into the widest grin.

"Twins," she says. The word sputters out like she had to force it off her tongue.

"Two whole babies." I turn to Jinx. "For real?"

"At six weeks, I can't determine the sex of the children, but I can tell you they appear to be healthy and growing inside their mother's womb."

Eve sighs. "Things are going to change around here."

"Big time," I say.

As I stand in amazement, the room explodes into the full thralls of an all-out earthquake. The trembling rocks the habitat, sending Eve off the edge of the exam bench. I catch her before she falls. We clutch each other, our hearts pounding against each other, watching the walls rumble and the cabinet doors vibrate against their hinges. Jinx floats in front of us like it's nothing to him.

After several long, intense seconds, the quaking dissipates and finally stops.

"What was that?" I ask Jinx, knowing the answer, but wondering what caused it.

"That was an earthquake of six-point-one magnitude."

For a few minutes, we gather our nerves and steel ourselves against the possibility of more quakes, but none occur, at least not for now.

"Do you recall when we first came to Earth aboard the habitat I informed you that a caldera lake sits atop the largest super volcano on the planet? It seems the pressure cooker has agitated the sleeping giant."

Eve and I can only speculate what the future holds.

In the following days, Yellowstone remains quiet as our babies grow inside her womb, but I can't help but wonder which is going to happen first, a volcanic eruption of biblical proportions, or the birth of our children. In the meantime, we keep each other strong in the warmth of our passionate embrace.

Love never fails, as long as we have each other, but a super volcano doesn't care about anyone but itself. Even so, Eve's kiss and our dream of a family give me something to live for.

The End