Little Pritchards, Part 1

Artemis and the lab drones worked around the clock. The 'Pritchard Household' had expanded significantly. There was now room for all eight of the prophesied children, along with some other amenities such as a play room, storage, etc.

"Alright, that should do it for the bedrooms, get to work on the play areas now" Artemis ordered. The drones willingly got to work, knowing there was a can of DW-40 in it for them.

"Nice work Artie, the kids'll love it" Holly said.
"I'm sure they will, but I'm wondering how many of them will have my taste in decor, and how many will have their mother's"
"I'd say it's an even split"
"What makes you say that?"
"The way they look at the decor in the robotics bay"
"Wait...what?!"
"Yeah, they're already here. Oh...wait...Yeah! The Missus says that..."
"HOLLY YOU STUPID GIT HOW LONG AGO DID SHE TELL YOU?!"
"Three hours"
"GAH! I MISSED THE BIRTH OF MY SCIENCE-DAMNED CHILDREN! HOLLY YOU BASTARD! GREAT EROTIC SCIENCE, HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!"

Artemis charged off, leaving the clueless drones and a flabbergasted Holly behind.

"Well that was rude" Holly said.

Robotics Bay

The Missus wasn't angry at Artemis, she was livid with Holly though. But, in a way, she wasn't angry with him. The last thing she needed was having Artemis around trying to 'micro-manage' things.

Artemis arrived to see his children, all eight of them, trundling about the robotics bay, playing.

"Oh! They're beautiful!" Artemis said.
The Missus agreed with him, and asked about naming them (she wanted to wait for him, even though they agreed on the names ahead of time).
"Yes, I think the names we agreed upon will do just fine..." Artemis said.

First, of course, was the jet black skutling that inherited Artemis' evil genius (unfortunately the little guy also inherited all of his neurosis, it would be interesting having yet another neurotic madman aboard, especially one that could traverse the entire ship using the robot corridors), the little Skutling would be Artemis K. Pritchard VII. The other names would come in no particular order. Next was an awkward, oversized fellow. He had already developed an awkward, deep voice, an awkward 'walk, a strange shade of orange as his paint job, he was just an awkward kid (I'll save you the description), he would be named Plato. Then there was the peppy, energetic lime green Skutling, Nikola. The last boy was a tiny little crimson Skutling, very fearful but very loving, Archimedes.

The girls were just about as varied as the boys. The first was the 'girly-girl', a vibrant pink (vibrant enough that she could probably land a Starbug trying to find the 'Dwarf in a dense nebula) little Skutling, named Mary. Next was the downer-esq goth skutling, who was a gloomy shade of dark grey, Rosalind. There was the purple Skutter that took entirely after her mother, being strong and smart, but kind and loving, Helena. Finally, there was the destructive and somewhat crass cyan Skutling, Athena.

Artemis was beside himself. He never could have imagined having a family, it was humbling. The arrogant bastard scientist that carved a dark, bloody swath through the realm of science that had travelled 3,000,000+ years into the future, was finally able to settle down. Even after everything that had happened. His mortal wounding was turning out to be the best thing that happened to him.

"So, are you ready to go home?" Artemis asked The Missus, who nodded, keeping her eye on the little Skutlings as they ran about the bay.

<tag/TBC>