6. Familiar

"We have to give them names, you know," Mary says. "We can't just call them Thing One and Thing Two."

"Things are exactly what they are," Steve grumbles, but she ignores him, turning to Rem.

"So what did you have in mind?"

Rem starts. "Me?"

"You took to them like your own children. You should be the one to name them." The rest of the crew – sans Steve – nods their agreement.

For some reason, Rem feels trepidation. Unpleasant memories surface in her mind. It's too familiar. "I'll have to start looking up baby names, I guess," she mumbles.

7. Subject

Originally the girl was just a number. Rem had been tangentially involved in the observations back then, when the methods of the "others" were not so invasive, so life-threatening. She demanded that she be given a name. One of them finally conceded and began to refer to the girl in the reports as "Tessla," after the famous scientist. Rem hated it, but she did not protest: as she had failed to do in so many other matters.

The children must be named, that much is true. But Rem does not deserve the honor of being the one to do it.

8. Feminine

"I think we should call him Vash," Rem announces one day out of the blue. She and Rowan are sitting in the Rec Room, enjoying the warmth of the artificial sunlight. She indicates the infant with the strawberry-blond hair, who stalks a ladybug through the green brush.

"But isn't that a girl's name?" Rowan asks. "You know, one of Picard's girlfriends on Star Trek..."

Rem laughs. "It can be a boy's name, too. Besides," she adds, watching as the boy gently plucks the ladybug off a blade of grass, "isn't there a little bit of the feminine in all boys?"

9. Sharp

Naming the other child is a tougher sell. She can almost feel his displeasure as she reads aloud from the baby book, letting each name roll over her tongue. Even though the child drools and requires diapers like a human infant, he also seems so much more intelligent, aware.

Rem sighs and walks over to the counter to peel an apple. When the knife passes into the boy's line of sight, she suddenly stops.

A mental tug. The boy seems pleased, even though his blank expression never changes.

"All right," Rem says, sighing but also smiling. "Knives it is, then."

10. Disapproval

Steve roars with laughter. "Freak names for freak kids! First you give one of them a girl's name, and then you name the other one after cutlery. What in the hell is the matter with you, Rem?"

"You don't approve?" Rem shakes with anger. The nerve of him, to call the children such things...

"I disapprove of a lot more than just their names," Steve says, but Joey stops him from going any further.

"That's enough." The captain lays a threatening hand on Steve's shoulder, who snorts with disgust. He looks to Rem.

"I think their names are just fine."