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The little kids were bouncing around like syncopated ping-pong balls, as usual, which was no problem in the gymnasium-sized, completely padded space we called the playroom. Their older counterparts acted slightly more decorous, perhaps in hopes of proving their maturity. They'd wait till the adults were out of sight to have their fun. Since it was my turn tonight, I was alternately acting as nursemaid and trampoline.

Across the room, Star contemplated the particular expanse of star-ridden blackness currently shown in the floor-to-ceiling view screen, a section of sky near the planet Syrdis, as far as I could tell from here. I wondered what he was cooking up now. Nothing involving more field work for me, I hoped.

Two-year-old Adam streaked toward me, his tan skin and hazel eyes glowing with health and mischief. I stretched out for a bigger lap as raven-haired Sky made a bee-line after him, and both kids gracefully arrested their motion in a twin-fanny landing.

"Meddy!" Adam shrieked, bouncing a little, "We want a story!"

Relationships in our family are sometimes confusing to outsiders, but they didn't confuse the kids at all. Michael may have started it, but now every last one of them, from tot to teen, calls me meddy - even if dad or mom would be biologically more accurate. Of course, that means I get credit for some kids I'm no immediate relation to at all. In the same vein, Star is melly, and Vlad and René manage to share the daddy title while Zee and Gaelen are both mommy. It works pretty well, and I love the whole kit and caboodle, so why not?

"Simmer down, littlests," I said, gently pushing Sky's elbow out of my eye. "What kind of story do you want this time? The Three Bears? Cinderella? Star Wars?"

"A real story." Ten year old Michael, always more serious than I would like, hovered near my shoulder, Coco, his sulfur-crested cockatoo never far behind.

"Real?" I asked the unsmiling child, his dark hair and eyes set off by skin as pale as my own.

"Tell us how it all started… how we came to be here." He gestured, and the wall-sized screen changed to a stratospheric view of blue and white Sol-3… fondly known as Earth.

"Well, all that may not be my story to tell." I glanced around the room.

"You were here before I was," Star said serenely.

"But I haven't been here the longest," I protested.

"Don't look at me," added Gaelen, busy with her current knitting project.

"Nor is the story primarily mine," put in Vlad, eyes determinedly on the screen of his laptop.

Zee and René just smiled. Well, they were relative newcomers to the family.

"Okay, you guys," I said, sighing. "I'll give it a shot if the rest of you will jump in when appropriate."

"We will help… if you need us," said Star, meaning he thought he could take a nap while I flapped my gums… the shit.

"And it isn't all a story meant for kids, either," I cautioned the little ones sternly.

"We know all about sex," golden-haired Gabe assured me, and there were small nods all round.

I cringed. I hoped they didn't know all about sex. And, if they did, I hoped I wasn't the main one they'd been eavesdropping on. Little telepathic brats!

Knowing they were about to get their wish, the littlests settled themselves more comfortably, already sticky fingers reaching for a passing bowl of grapes and carrot sticks. I felt not just Michael, but the triplets, Holly, Gabe, and Gray, move closer to me.

Okay. I made an effort to gather my thoughts.

Someone had already copyrighted the best opening line, so I'd have to use something besides "Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away…" although that would have been perfect.