'I'm sorry,' the harried older woman spoke quickly, several communications devices going off in the background, 'you're going to have to keep her. I just don't have a place for an infant in any of the facilities, the ones still standing that is. The last round of planet bombs created so many homeless, parentless children you can take your pick!'

'We'd like to keep her,' Noel Forrester replied through gritted teeth, 'but what if her parents are still alive and looking for her?'

'I don't have a missing child fitting that description. To the best of my knowledge, she doesn't match any of the reports we have. I've even run the DNA you supplied through the lost children data base. There isn't a person living, looking for this little girl. If you want her,' at the end of her tether, the woman almost demanded, 'I suggest you keep her. I'll have the appropriate documents started by my assistant immediately. I'll even have a friend in the records invent a birth certificate to prove she's yours if that's what you really want. God alone knows how many of those are destroyed every day with these Gamalon attacks on our cities.'

Hating himself for the capitulation, Noel knew the cost of taking baby Nova from his wife. He couldn't do it. In fact, in the forty hours since Teresa found the infant, he grown attached. Strange, in the same time period the enemy increased their assault on the Earth. Almost ten planet bombs softened up the Eastern Sea board of the former United States of America, followed by an aerial raid on several cities in the same area. The Earth Defence Force managed to stave off the attack, loosing almost half of the ships and men they'd sent to fight the incursion. Fresh calls for young men and women to join the EDF ensued. Ships they could manufacture, crew were becoming harder to find but experience, that disappeared at a phenomenal rate.

'Done,' Noel Forrester stated glaring at the woman. 'What do you need from me?'

'Can you come in tomorrow morning, around ten?' the woman sighed somewhat relieved this additional child didn't fall into her overfilled lap. 'I'll have the official documentation ready. Please bring your wife, your child and identification for both parents. It shouldn't take more than half an hour.'

'It can't be that easy,' Noel shook his head in disbelief.

'In case it's escaped your notice,' acid dominated the woman's tone, her attention already elsewhere, 'we are at war. In times like this, a lot of things happen that shouldn't. Even if you didn't want her, I've no choice but to leave the child in your care. I have nowhere to place her.'

A few minutes later, Noel tried explaining the content of his seventh call to the authorities to his wife. The first fell on deaf ears. The next two calls, sent during the worst of the bombing, demanded he call back later. They'd been forced to keep the child overnight. The bonding process had commenced with Teresa popping out to buy a few necessities for the child.

Another attempt ended in a recording, promising the appropriate authorities would contact him soon. Almost an entire day passed before his fifth call finally elicited a response. By then it'd already been too late. Teresa considered baby Nova theirs. She'd purchased a crib and clothing, moving the child into the spare room.

The content of the sixth call forced the Forrester's keep the child for yet another night. The only concession, Teresa needed to take the baby for a check-up and DNA screen yesterday afternoon. She'd been officially placed in the system. Today's call gave Noel the results of those tests.

'I know we've seen increasing planet bombs in this area, but,' at a loss for words he shrugged. 'I hadn't realised how many displaced people, especially children this wars crated. Maybe we should have tried to adopt before.'

'So long as we have our daughter,' Teresa smiled brightly, the happy child cuddled into her embrace. Looking up to her husband, soft brown eyes stated her pleasure at this turn of events. 'How are we going to explain this to our neighbours?'

'The same way I've been explaining it for the last two days,' Noel suggested, 'by not saying anything and smiling politely. It's not going to matter much longer. This area's radiation is increasing and will be affected by the most recent attack. A lot of people are moving away before the World Council declares it an unliveable zone. Construction of the underground cities will start next month. Within ten years, the entire population will be forced to live like moles if we can't find a way to stop this.'

'Are you thinking we should go early?' Teresa asked.

'I've already applied for housing,' Noel cringed. He hadn't wanted to worry is wife at the rapidly changing socio-political climate. 'As one of the primary investigators, our family fall into a high priority group for repatriation. I don't know that we can build fast enough with limited resources to house the entire population. Then again,' he looked into space, 'if the death rate rises with increasing attacks, there might not be that much of a populace to relocate.'

'You believe things will get that bad?' Teresa sucked in a breath.

'I don't think,' Noel carefully considered his words, 'we've seen the worst the Gamalons have to offer yet. Yes, things will get worse as food, water and power are once again in short supply. It's going to create resource shortages, building entire cities in ten years. I wonder what will be left for our daughter's generation.'

Above them, hidden in a creator on the dark side of the moon, Eaton and Cosma watched the scene in the Forrester's living room and waited. Their ship cloaked in a device making them effectively invisible to the Gamalon raiding party, they witnessed the offensive. Unable to stop the deadly attack and insidious radiation, the Iscandarians felt helpless. Cosma allowed as much bioenergy as she could spare to the environment surrounding the Forrester's apartment complex.

'We,' she turned to her bond mate, 'have done all we can. The Earth's energy allowed me to affect the changes needed for Nova to stay with this family. From now on, they will consider her their own.'

'Even I can feel the strength of the love this woman our daughter will call mother emanates,' Eaton sounded somewhat astounded. 'I cannot conceive of a bonded pair unable to bear a child.'

'It demonstrates the differences between our people,' Cosma kept her emotions under tight regulation. 'There is much here on Earth which would benefit from our Bio-energy. These people are not yet ready to embrace a peaceful co-existence with the universe. They have been at war with each other until recently. Think back to the same period in Iscandar's history. We almost destroyed our world before change occurred.'

'That,' Eaton sent his surprise down their bond, 'was a very long time ago.'

'Yes,' Cosma agreed, 'both Earth and Telezart have much to learn before they can become part of the greater universe. Our daughters will be instrumental in the process. Now, we are needed elsewhere in the galaxy. The great plague we feared has spread.'

'You believe it is our destiny to eradicate it?' Eaton asked.

'That,' Cosma added, 'will be our final service to this universe. After that, we may join the Bio-energy.'