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The waiting area outside the Vital Arc medical offices was almost empty.

A wall display cycled through reminders about nutrition and exercise. Across from them, a couple sat shoulder to shoulder without speaking, their hands intertwined. An older man waited farther down the row, occasionally glancing toward the examination rooms before returning to a Whisperzend conversation.

Kyla sat beside Julian, her right leg bouncing restlessly against the floor.

“Are you nervous?” Julian asked.

Kyla looked at him.

“Aren’t you?”

“I always get nervous when I come to the Vital Arc,” he admitted. “Then I remember this is where you madly fell in love with me.”

Kyla laughed.

“You mean where you fell in love with me.”

Julian nodded thoughtfully.

“That too.”

She rolled her eyes, still smiling.

Julian reached for her hand.

“Everything’s going to be okay.”

Kyla rested her free hand gently on her belly.

“I know,” she said. “I’m not nervous… just anxious.”

She looked toward the examination rooms.

“Today we find out if we’re having a boy or a girl.”

Julian leaned over and kissed her forehead.

The door slid open.

“Kyla Anwar.”

A nurse stood in the doorway, smiling.

“You can come in now. The doctor is ready for you.”

As Kyla stood, the nurse leaned closer and lowered her voice.

“I should warn you,” she whispered with a grin. “Your mother has been waiting for you all morning.”

She glanced toward the examination room.

“I think she’s even more excited than you are.”

Kyla and Julian followed the nurse down a short corridor lined with examination rooms.

The nurse stopped at the last door and tapped the panel beside it.

“You can go in.”

Lina was already waiting.

She looked up from the display in front of her.

“There you are,” she said with a smile.

“Good morning, Mom,” Kyla replied.

“Good morning, Mrs. Soria… sorry, Dr. Soria,” Julian added.

“You know you can call me Lina,” she said as she guided Kyla toward the examination table.

“How have you been feeling?”

“A little more tired than usual,” Kyla admitted.

Lina picked up the handheld scanner.

“Today’s examination is routine. We’ll verify growth, check the heartbeat, and make sure everything is progressing normally.”

She spread a small amount of gel across Kyla’s abdomen.

“It may feel a little cold.”

She placed the scanner against her belly.

The screen filled with gray and black. Lina moved the scanner in small quarter turns, her attention fixed on the display.

Kyla searched the image for something recognizable but saw only shapes and movement.

“There we are,” Lina said softly.

A rapid rhythmic sound filled the room.

Julian took Kyla’s hand as their baby’s heartbeat became the only sound they could hear.

Lina took several measurements, saving each one before adjusting the angle again.

A small smile appeared.

“Everything looks good so far.”

The display flickered, then went dark.

The room fell silent.

Lina frowned.

“Nothing to worry about,” she said. “This old machine needs a restart every now and then.”

She switched it off and back on.

After a few seconds, the display came back to life.

Lina picked up the scanner again.

“Let’s see if our little patient is willing to cooperate.”

She moved the scanner slowly across Kyla’s abdomen.

Then she stopped.

A smile spread across her face.

“I’ll have a grandson.”

Julian looked briefly pleased with himself.

“I knew it!”

Kyla smiled, looking at the display.

“A boy,” she repeated softly.

Lina wiped the scanner clean and returned it to its cradle.

She entered a few final notes into the medical record before looking back at Kyla.

“Everything is progressing normally.”

She tapped the display again.

“I’m prescribing a nutritional supplement for the next twelve weeks.”

Her eyes moved from the screen to her daughter.

“And you still look too thin.”

Kyla sighed.

“I’m eating.”

Julian raised his hand as though testifying before the Council.

“I can confirm that. Mostly pancakes.”

“With butter,” Kyla added.

“And berry spread,” Julian finished.

Lina reviewed the schedule one last time.

“I’d like to see you again in two weeks. If anything changes before then, you call me immediately.”

“Yes, Doctor,” Kyla replied.

Her mother almost smiled.

“Good.”

As they reached the door, Lina spoke again.

“One more thing.”

Kyla turned.

“Have you thought about the name?”

Kyla looked at Julian.

Julian looked at the floor.

“Not yet,” Kyla admitted.

“You have time.” Lina straightened a tray that did not need straightening. “But not as much as you think.”

She smiled.

“And tell your father,” Lina said. “He has been trying not to call me every fifteen minutes.”

“I will.”

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The cabin was quiet. Julian had cleared the table after dinner and turned off the main lights, leaving the room lit only by the soft glow of the desk display.

Kyla sat sideways in her chair, studying the list on the screen.

“How many names are left?” Julian asked.

“I’ve narrowed it down to three.”

“That sounds like progress.”

“It is.”

She stared at the list a moment longer.

“But I keep coming back to Alex.”

“It suits him,” Julian said.

“It’s a good name,” Kyla said. “Easy to say. Easy to remember.”

Julian tilted his head.

“That’s not why you like it.”

Kyla looked away from the display.

“No.”

She was quiet for a moment.

“I think… it would be nice to commemorate Darius too.”

Julian sat on the edge of the bed.

“You should ask Layna,” he said.

“I know.”

He folded his hands together.

“I’m not saying she’ll object.”

“I know what you mean.”

Kyla traced the edge of her Whisperzend with her thumb.

“It was one of the last things he said.”

She swallowed.

“It was in the family log. It was in the Council chamber. We all heard him choose a name for a child he would never meet.”

For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

Kyla nodded.

“You’re right.”

She took a slow breath.

“I’ll call her.”

She touched her Whisperzend.

“Computer, call Layna. Open speaker.”

The tone sounded twice.

Then Layna’s voice filled the cabin, warm and immediately familiar.

“Kyla?”

“Hi.”

“Hold on.”

They heard a chair scrape across the floor and the muffled sound of someone being gently redirected.

“Alyka,” Layna laughed, “sit down properly.”

A brief pause.

“I have you on speaker, so whatever you’re about to say, you have an audience of one and a half.”

“We had the twenty-week examination,” Kyla said.

“And?”

“It’s a boy.”

There was a sound on the other end that Kyla could not identify at first.

“Oh, that’s wonderful,” Layna said, her voice breaking. “That’s wonderful, Kyla.”

“Thank you,” Kyla replied, her own voice breaking.

“How was the examination?”

“Good, but the doctor was impossible,” Kyla said. “She spent several minutes looking at the baby and then looked at me and said I was too thin.”

Layna laughed.

“That sounds like your mother.”

In the background, Alyka said something too quietly for them to understand.

“Alyka, say congratulations to Kyla.”

A small voice came through the speaker.

“Congrat’lations.”

“Thank you, Alyka,” Kyla said.

They heard a pleased little laugh.

“We’ve been going through names,” Kyla continued.

Layna did not answer immediately.

“I wanted to ask you about Alex.”

The silence lasted long enough that Kyla checked to make sure the call had not dropped.

“Say that again,” Layna said.

“We’d like to name him Alex. But not without asking you.”

A chair moved on the other end. Then a door opened and closed, and the sounds behind Layna became quieter.

“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t want to talk about this in front of her. She repeats everything now.”

“I understand.”

Layna took a breath.

“Do you know what Darius said the night we found out I was pregnant?”

Kyla waited.

“He said, ‘If it’s a boy, Alex. After Grandpa.’”

Her voice dropped.

“I told him we had months before we needed to decide.”

Layna was quiet for a moment.

“He told me he already had.”

Kyla looked toward Julian.

“He would have been so happy about this,” Layna continued. “About your baby. About both of you becoming parents.”

“I know.”

“And he would have complained that you stole his name.”

Kyla laughed through the tears gathering in her eyes.

“That sounds like him.”

“It does.”

They were quiet together for a moment.

“How is Alyka?” Kyla asked.

“She’s good. Loud. Curious. She asks questions from the moment she wakes up until the moment she falls asleep.”

“She sounds like someone I know,” Julian said.

“I heard that,” Kyla replied.

Layna laughed.

“She’s starting to ask about her father.”

Kyla’s smile faded.

“What do you tell her?”

“The truth. What she can understand.”

Layna paused.

A soft noise came through the wall behind Layna, followed by Alyka calling for her.

“Sometimes I worry that all she’ll have of him are my memories,” Layna said.

Kyla looked at the list of names on the display.

“She’ll have more than that. She’ll have my memories too. And Taro’s. She’ll have all our stories.”

“I guess,” Layna said. “But someone has to keep telling them until she’s old enough to carry them herself.”

Another muffled thump came from the other room.

Layna sighed.

“I should go. I think she broke something.”

“Go,” Kyla said, smiling. “Good night.”

“Good night, Kyla.”

“Good night, Layna.”

The tone sounded once, and the cabin was quiet again.

Julian remained on the edge of the bed.

“Alex,” he said finally.

“Alex,” Kyla repeated.

“It already feels like his name.”

Julian stood, kissed the top of her head, and went to get her a glass of water without being asked. She had cried, and neither of them was going to mention it.

“Logminter,” Kyla whispered.

> Ready to record entry.

“We’ve chosen Alex as the given name for our son.”

> Given name recorded: Alex.

Kyla looked toward Julian as he returned. “Help us determine his commemorative name.”

> Reviewing current commemorative lineage distribution.

Evaluating living bearers, historical continuity, and projected lineage preservation.

A brief pause followed.

> Recommended commemorative name: Soria.

Kyla stared at the screen.

“Why Soria?”

> Of the four last names that we could choose from, Soria is the least represented among the living population aboard Helios.

Commemorative naming was established to preserve names at risk of disappearing across generations. Long before Helios, humans used names to carry memories from one generation to the next.

Julian stood beside her.

“So he’ll carry your mother’s family forward.”

“Show us the full name,” Kyla said.

The words appeared on the screen:

> Alex Soria Darrow Anwar

Kyla read it silently.

Julian read it aloud.

“Alex Soria Darrow Anwar.”

Kyla placed her hand over her belly.

“Welcome to Helios, Alex.”

Outside their cabin, the ship continued its silent journey toward Ross 128.

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Kyla's Diary - Chapter 15: Names