Chapter 11: The Choice

Dimitry knocked on the door to the small family habitation unit Jefferson lived in with his wife and daughter. The door opened very quickly, fast enough that someone must have been waiting at the door for his arrival.

He stepped inside and surveyed the room with sunrise. The walls had what looked like bed sheets attached to cover up the bare metal. The floor had varnished wood on it as well, which was also rather uncommon.

Jefferson stepped back from the door and motioned him in. Dimitry complied silently, something about Jefferson's demeanor was strangely grim.

Jefferson's wife, Boryana, sat on the edge of a hammock. “Hello Dimitry. How are you?” She asked.

“I'm alright, how is everything? How's Izuli?” He replied.

“Izuli's good, she's playing with some of her friends now.” She said slowly.

Dimitry took note of her ignoring his first question but didn't mention it.

Jefferson motioned towards a chair. “Please sit.” Then he moved to join his wife.

Dimitry sat down and watched the pair closely.

Jefferson spoke first. “So. Dimitry, as you know the procedures that were performed on me had certain… Side effects that drastically shorten my life expectancy. Probably ten more years if I am lucky.”

Dimitry nodded slightly, the gears in his mind churning as he tried to get a grasp of the situation. Boryana interjected. “And, since I grew up on an old Village class home ship I was exposed to a great deal of radiation at an excessively young age. Originally I thought I had gotten out relatively unscathed, but it turns out I did not.” She fell silent and leaned forward covering her eyes.

“And unless cancer treatment technology advances quickly… Well you know the statistics.” Jefferson said.

Dimitry sat with a stunned expression. “I'm so sorry.” He said in a low voice.

“And we want you to be Izuli's godfather. You know what the means don't you?” Boryana said on the edge of tears.

Dimitry crouched forward and silently mouthed “What the fuck.” Before sitting up. “That in the event of both of you becoming… Unable to continue to act as parents I would become Izuli's legal guardian.”

Jefferson nodded.

“I'm going to assume I wasn't the first choice? Why not Alexi? Both of you go way back with him.” Dimitry asked.

“Due to his past as a spy hunter he has a great many enemies. He is also so paranoid he would probably shoot his own grandmother if he thought she was a threat.” Boryana said.

“And Izuli really hates Rankin for whatever reason. I don't have any family I can even remember. All that I was able to remember was my own name, and that took weeks, even though they had the records. The scientist had my other records destroyed.” Jefferson added.

“And well, since I was on a Village class ship all of my family members have high probabilities of getting cancer, and I can't put Izuli through this a second time.” Boryana said softly. “I trust you with my husband’s life on a nearly daily basis when you are deployed.”

Dimitry stared in silence for several seconds before saying. “Killing bandits before they can get a shot off at him when he charges at them screaming is one thing. Potentially raising a child is another. I don’t have any experience in that.”

“Nobody does when they start. And yet humanity has made it this far.” Jefferson said.

“Anyway, you and Jessica are getting married soon aren’t you?” Boryana asked.

Dimitry stiffened and Jefferson flinched. Dimitry knew that she was rather traditional about that sort thing and would most likely disapprove of the somewhat casual relationship he and Jessica had. “Not at this time… She is still early in her career, and there are a variety of factors we have to consider. Especially because I have no idea if I’ll be reassigned, or if she will have some sort of really great opportunity somewhere else and I can’t follow due to my military service.”

Fortunately Boryana accepted the explanation. “Ah, of course, she does have great ambition that girl does.”

“Indeed.” Dimitry said.

“To be perfectly blunt, we expect that at least one of us will be alive until she becomes an adult, but we just want to make sure. And even if you are forced to become her parent she’ll be nearly an adult anyway.” Jefferson said, but his arm around his wife.

“What if something happens to me? I’m not exactly in the safest profession. Next week I could catch a bullet and that's it.” Dimitry said.

“And what if something happens to Izuli? I don’t like thinking about it, but the shadow of death is always looming nearby.” Jefferson responded.

Dimitry nodded. “Give me a few days to think over this.”

“I understand.” Jefferson said as Dimitry walked towards the door.

A few hours later Dimitry lay in his hammock staring at the ceiling. He would do it. He didn’t exactly have much of a choice in the end. He had lost his father at a comparatively young age, and it had caused all sorts of problems for him he was still working through, he couldn’t imagine how bad it would be to lose both parents. The chance of him actually needing to become Izuli’s adopted father was low anyway.