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Chapter 1[]
Dead Man's Hand: Family Values[]
JumpShip, MV Daisy-May
Zenith Jump Point, Bucklands
Bucklands Province
Federated Commonwealth
August, 3057
"Women actually go through this voluntarily?" Joker asked, laying back on the bunk that took up most of the small cabin, "On purpose, even?"
"There's an old joke." Kelso smiled from her seat, only just out of arms reach, "God's in his workshop one day, tinkering around with the designs for Adam and Eve, and He asks one of the angles to get him the box of nerve endings. 'No, not that one' He says, 'The super-sensitive ones on the top shelf.' So the angle dutifully gets the box down and carefully hands it over, and asks 'What are you working on that needs something so powerful? The heart? The brain?' 'No.' God shakes his head, 'I'm working on the reproductive organs.' this shocks the angel, who asks why something so basic needs something so powerful? 'Because,' God turns to the angle, 'I'd occasionally like to hear them screaming out my name as loud as they can.'"
Joker burst out laughing.
"That's better." Kelso nodded, "Although, I am surprised that a good Catholic girl like you hadn't heard it before."
"I'm Roman Catholic, not some heathen New Avalon Catholic, like you."
"Sex is Sex, no matter what world you're on, or God you pray to." Kelso shrugged off the jib, "Did I ever tell you that I'm the youngest of six?"
"Dead God in heaven, do they not have TriVid on whatever backwater world you came from?" Joker asked, only half joking, "I'm still not convinced that going through this once won't kill me!"
"What's going to kill us is jumping around with no destination in mind." Kelso countered, "We all get that you need to spend as much time as possible on a GravDeck, in your condition, it is eating into our walking-around money."
"Yeah, next time we go into Clan space, we're see about grabbing a JumpShip." Joker put her hands behind her head, "If I remember the shipping schedule correctly, the ships bound for Inarcs, before heading back out to Main Street. From Inarcs, we should be able to find a ship headed for Kowloon."
"Kowloon?" Kelso asked.
"We need a place to lay-low while I..." Joker trailed off mid sentence.
"We could have turned around and gone back to Sweet Water." Kelso suggested, "I'm sure Alex's family would have..."
"Loved to have a constant reminder of the 'Mercenary bitch' who go most of the their loved ones killed around?" Joker asked, a dark expression on her face, "No, we need to go somewhere we can keep a low profile, and Duchess Ngo owes us a favor or two. We go there, keep our heads down until this slap-fight between the Falcons and the Wolves dies down, and then we try and find some honest work."
"Decided what you're going to do?" Kelso asked, hesitantly, "With the kid, I mean?"
"No." Joker turned over onto her side so the other woman couldn't see her crying, "Haven't a clue."