Well, I'm not sure whether people will be confused about his or not.

I was reading a thread where someone was asking about wormholes and space travel. I voted in favor of wormholes, because given the state of Clark's diaper, it didn't seem like he'd been in the ship for long.

UNless he had a robo-nanny, of course...

No, not confused at all. I was a tad at the beginning, but a few lines after the hull comment, I got it. :-D Now I have a mental image of mechanical arms changing a diaper. Good story!

Interestingly original take on the whole trip through space thing!

Ah, I'm going to lose Top Banana now, but it's worth it to post that I enjoyed your post.

At first I tought it was Lara, but when I read "hull" I also knew what was expressing their thoughts.

It was sweet and sad.

LOl - I never thought of the state of CK's diaper!

Surrogate? Like in surrogate mother? Like in, hmm, the ship itself is Clark's surrogate mother?

And when the surrogate mother finally decides to open her hull, that's when she is giving birth to her "son". And then she is going to hand him over to others, because that is what surrogate mothers do.

Well, that was certainly original, Shayne!

Ann

Beautiful!

I thought it was Martha, but then I thought you were going to be sneaky and have it be Lois somehow...though that doesn't make sense.

The ship was cool!

I kept picturing the female robot from the Jetsons for some reason<g> Nice sentiment though for us real mothers too. Laura

OK, I thought Martha and then became completely confused after reading this:
Maybe you're talking about Lara, then? I also wondered if you were writing about someone else entirely before realizing you were talking about the ship. D'oh!

Beautiful sentiments about motherhood. I was sad to read that the ship 'died' after delivering the baby. A very original idea. I liked it.
BJ

I hate it when a story gets me all weepy-eyed over a dang robot. Which is a back-handed way of saying this was a poignant story which really jerks at the heart-strings of us weak-kneed, mom types.

Well done.

On the other hand,
James didn't feel like signing in as himself so I shall dictate (trying not to feel the shame that he is so male he can be a moron, at times).

The first time I read it, I skimmed. It still pulled on my heart strings. (Elisabeth notes: but he said all the jerky, moronic things the second time he read it, over my shoulder)

The second time I read it, I thought, "Hmmm... This must be before Tempus goes back and steals the baby. Though I can see HG Wells cooing at the silly baby.

James
who forgot to say, "Good story. Yeah."

I'm flattered by all the replies.

It occurred to me that if you were going to send your only child out into interstellar space cared for by a machine, then you'd program it to love him...

You got it right, Ann, and even thought of an angle or two I had only thought of subconsciously.

Karen...I too have that image of mechanical arms. Thanks.

Thanks DS Dragon. Thanks for losing top banana, Roo.

Thanks Queen of Capes, BJ.

Elisabeth, James, thanks again.

I know I'm a little late, but....
Yes, I still had to comment on this story. It's a great view on things. Like you, I have been wondering how little Kal-El had survived his trip. The diaper thing as well as the feeding question have crossed my mind on more than one occasion. And the bathing thing.

I sure love your take on this. At first, you had me terribly confused, as I suspected it's Martha speaking. I then reconsidered to Lara and even Lois with the baby they found in the fourth season. While reading it a second time, I finally realized what was going on, though.

The whole idea of a space ship with feelings is great and original. What I still don't know for sure, though: When the ship feels darkness surround 'her', is it because 'she' dies, or because 'she' is buried by Jonathan? He did bury the ship somewhere near the farmhouse, didn't he?

Kind of off topic, but I just have to say two things:

1) Mellie, your avatar looks like a picture of the girl/unicorn from The Last Unicorn--that was my favorite movie when I was little.

2) If you like ships with feelings, I suggest the Ship Who Sang series by Anne McCaffrey.

And to get back ON topic . . . I know I've said this before, but this fic was really neat, what with the whole twist of it being the ship.

Awww... Shayne, that was just wonderful.