We were both aliens now.
I was moving into unknown territory. The ship came to a halt, and Talis came to my aid. My eyes were heavy, and he kept telling me to keep them open. For him and my child. Just do it for my daughter, he said.
Every word echoed in my ear, but I didn’t have control anymore. My daughter would come into this world without me in it.
“Just keep her alive,” I whispered.
Talis strapped himself into the robotics suit and fired up the system. “Gonna need you to stay with me here, doll.”
“Gonna need you to... stop ... calling me ... doll, doll.”
I was fading like the stars past our window. And all I could do was smile.
15
Talis
Outside our window, I could see the orange and red swirl created by the supernova of my galaxy. I lowered my head and sent a distress call out.
“Please. If anybody is out there, send help. I think she is...”
I shut off my communications radio with the edge of my fist, seconds away from smashing everything in sight. No one would respond. Both the Nyelan people and the Sankarian invasion were dead. Was it worth it?
As soon as the shuttle burst into flames, Mia faded out like a lighthouse. She didn’t see what I saw. Near the airlock windows, the burning corpse of Cade seemed to rise and laugh before being sucked away. It was terrible, but I did what I had to, putting the engine into overdrive. We were finally away from it all, but we were not above it.
I never wanted to see another human ever again. Alphas were frightening, but humans were pure chaos.
There was no destination left for us. We were two vagabonds, en route to whatever planet or starship would take us first.
The bionic suit helped me make an easy and clean incision on Mia. It was a perfect C-section. Luckily, our technology was worlds ahead of Earth’s. I was still afraid it wouldn’t be enough.
Slowly, I felt through the thick edges of skin. Our daughter came out almost effortlessly, almost like it was a simple act. But it was not so simple. It all seemed to pour into me, the energy of becoming a father. My hormones were changing me, forcing me into the next stages of life.
I couldn’t keep going on like this, as a criminal. On the run from powerful empires was not the trajectory I planned. Down to it, I was a good soul. Okay, maybe not always benevolent. But I was decent, and I wanted to choose a better life.
All I wanted was right here, but I couldn’t believe my eyes. Our child was here, but she wasn’t breathing. I cut the cord and listened to her heartbeat, but I could hear absolutely nothing.
“Come on. Please.”
Her face so beautiful. Perfect in every way. This one was a fighter, a girl who would grow against the odds of her circumstances. She came from strong genes, and I wasn’t just speaking on my behalf. Her mother was a warrior, too.
I did everything I could, but I was no trained professional. I relied on instructional videos and biotech gear that ran off of changing algorithms. These surgical machines were developed for other races. Humans, frankly, weren’t ever discussed.
She wasn’t crying as she should have been. She wasn’t breathing. I was tough, but this was breaking me. These women made me who I was. A father. Sometimes, a hero.
I repeated the process of revitalization.
Tears flooded my eyes, cheeks, my lips, but I paused and sucked it all down, groaning and digging back with my heels. I knew what I had to do when I saw how much my child needed me.
What did I have if I didn’t have this family? There was nothing more important.
I had to suck it up and do what the operating screen told me to do. I started to thread the tubes in her throat. I gave her the appropriate levels of epinephrine, oxygen, and I sat back and monitored her vitals.
At two minutes, there was nothing. No reaction at all. All I could see was my child’s rising chest, so brittle and in need of me. I ran upstairs and sighed with great relief when I saw that the robotics had started to finish Mia’s surgical procedure. They had stitched her, but she had lost a lot of blood.
While the robotics maintained her wounds and managed her pain, I ran back downstairs. It had been five minutes since I left my child in the hands of my tools, but I couldn’t see any change. I sat and kept watching, though my brain told me to turn away, to accept when nature had won. But I just couldn’t do that. There wasn’t a bone in my body that could sit back and accept death.
At minute seven, a faint heartbeat registered on the screen. I stumbled forward and gasped. “My girl,” I muttered, thumb lightly touching her soft cheek. A tear rolled down mine.
She was struggling, but she was alive. It was the most difficult choice in the universe, but I knew I had to take a step back and let revitalization process work on its own.
I ran upstairs to the separate room, making sure Mia was getting the help she needed. She was holding on, just like her daughter.
This was what I was afraid of. Losing everything again. Of all the fights I had gone through, I didn’t think I would be able to handle this one.
There was so much blood, I thought Mia might die. She needed a transfusion. I lay next to her, preparing more tubes, expecting my blood to be rejected. When it worked, I was shocked. It meant….
She was different. She wasn’t an omega, yet she could give birth to our daughter and share my blood. It was miraculous in every way possible.
This wasn’t an ending. It was a beginning.
As my mate and child regained their health, I put on my suit and exited the ship. Holding on, I managed to rig an extra fuel cell into the energy core. I reentered and checked the scale map to examine for any minuscule quantum fluctuations big enough to manipulate.
There was one thing, but I didn’t account for it…
I zoomed in on my mapping systems and found the irregularity in time that I was looking for. It was a tear in the universe, a cut that must have been created when our sun ate our galaxy. A peculiar idea came into my head. Was it possible that I could use it to bend time?
I didn’t know if any of this would work, but I had to try. My ship was a piece of junk. It was practically an antique. But there were modifications in place. I’d spent nearly every penny on the ability to dart through the stars. I kept this from Mia because I didn’t want to get her hopes up. At times, the mechanism was faulty. It was going to take a lot of energy and fuel, and there was also the fact that I had never received the proper certification to use such a high amount.
Well. Fuck the police. I had one shot, and this was my family we were talking about.
I looked out into space, gazing at the supernova that ate my planet. It looked beautiful.
It was nice to see it one last time.
16
Mia
Through the rock of earth’s great plains.
Into the dust that rides against the grain.
Man plows the land, destroying all absence.
Far and wide spreads the seed.
We were all running from something, which meant we were all going somewhere. I was made from seed. And so were you.
I was dreamt of below the stars, back when humans knew what a home was. My family gave birth to me so I could have the moments that would define me. I never understood their fears, but I was beginning to feel the unconditional worry that comes from bearing a child and watching it take form.
I opened my eyes, and the sound that came to me jarred me awake. An alarming cry cut through the silence. I looked down to see Talis leaning over me, full of despair and concern. His face was covered in sweat. His hands were stained red.
“What happened... ouch.” I moved, but barely got anywhere without feeling extreme pain sweep through my lower torso. I looked down to see a pile of blood-soaked cloths in a basket. There were discarded hospital tools I had never seen before. To the right of me, his bionic suit lay across the floor.
Talis lunged forward and lightly held my shoulders back. “Stay still,” he said, pani
cked.
“What’s going...?” Another cry came from my left. Still feeling weak, I leaned my head back and to the side and saw her, my daughter. “I’m not dead,” I choked.
She yawned and cried some more, wriggling her toes against the comfy, clean towels she rested on.
“Nearly thirty-six hours,” Talis muttered and wiped his forehead. Tears fell from his eyes, and he turned his head to shield me from his weakness. “You were gone for what felt like an eternity. I thought I lost you forever, Mia.”
I felt so shallow. Every breath I took felt like it could be my last. I reached toward my baby and touched her toes, dumbfounded by the events that surrounded this pregnancy, this bundle of joy. How was I alive? How did any of this happen?
Outside, behind the glass, a bright swash of orange and red hung in the space around us. A supernova. It was absolutely stunning.
“I’m here,” I swallowed and looked at him with shock and pure emotion. “You protected me.”
I felt stronger now. I blinked and sat up, knowing I should be resting, but I needed to see my child.
Talis leaned over our baby and gently picked her up. “She was born without a pulse,” he muttered, cold but relieved. “Both of you hung on the verge of death, but you made it. Doesn’t matter how hard I try. I can’t believe it, but you don’t need me to protect you.”
“Trust me. I wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for you,” I said.
And Juliana. She was there for me, through thick and thin. Rest in peace.
Slowly, Talis placed our child in my arms. In a time where I had just lost everything, I felt like I had inherited the world. I’d faced death and an uncertain birth, but I got something most people never received in their lives. I got a chance to live completely new.
My baby was the most beautiful creature in the universe. One look into her glowing eyes, and I fell in love. I knew she would be the answer to everyone’s suffering.
“How is this possible?” I asked. “How were we able to create something so precious?”
He leaned over us, kissing both of our foreheads. “You are an honorary omega,” he said.
I squirmed when I felt the baby latch, and a sudden rush of relief flooded throughout my body. “Excuse me? An omega?”
“Mia.” He swallowed and smiled, eyes watering. “I can’t explain what you are, but you are special.”
“I wish that was the case, but—” .
“You were able to take my knot. I expected more trouble during the birthing process, but you survived,” he said.
“By sheer luck.”
“This is not up for discussion. I gave you my blood. Your body did not reject it,” he stated firmly. “You are the next stage of humanity. The gods be praised.”
“No. She is,” I said.
I closed my eyes, felt the outside space disappear. The hellfire, the bloodlust and devastation of my crew. My best friend, Juliana. I couldn’t believe it was finally over.
“I’m yours, Talis. I pledge myself to you, alpha.”
He kissed me, and I fell asleep once more. We sat as a family, heading away from the bright supernova. As I clung to the verge of sleep, it hit me.
We were looking at the debris of his old home planet.
“I need to talk to you about something. It is important.”
My eyes opened. Talis was standing at the console, facing away from me. His arms were spread on the dashboard, and he exhaled heavily. “Did you hear me?” he asked. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
The roof of my mouth smacked against my tongue. “I’m just waking. What is it, alpha?”
He turned and stood with that supernova glow, looking like a halo had graced around his head. “This place I brought you to is more brilliant than it looks.”
“It is your home planet,” I said.
Talis snapped back. “It is a graveyard, but…”
“But what?”
He looked up into the heavens.
“But I have been keeping something from you,” he said.
My heart didn’t stop, but I sure felt it skip a beat, and it became hard to breathe. After the shock subsided, I looked at him to make sure he was about to tell me the whole truth about whatever was going on.
“What?” It was more of a demand than a question.
Talis’ face had never looked so honest before. “The only way to keep your people alive is to create a wormhole stable enough to take you back into the past, back to before it all happened,” he said.
Wormholes… My people… Alive? “Talis what are you talking about?” I asked.
“There was an unforeseen accident. A tear in the universe. It must have happened when our sun exploded.”
“You’re not making any sense,” I said.
“I don’t have to make sense. My systems are showing an irregularity in time. There is a force coming from that tear, Mia. I’m using it in combination with the ship’s fuel cells, and getting us the hell out of here,” he said.
Excitement jittered my stomach. Earth, the final frontier?
It took me a second to agree, but once I realized what it meant, I took his face into my hands and kissed him so sensuously that I felt his cock grow against my upper thigh. If I didn’t have to heal, I’d be begging him to fuck my brains out. “You’re incredible,” I said.
“It won’t be all fun and games,” he said. “There will be a lot that we will have to fix on your planet.”
“I know. But it’s for our daughter.” I nodded and breathed calmly. “It will be up to us to save the entire world.”
Wow. When I said it, it really hit me. It wasn’t going to be simple. But was life ever really that easy?
“How far will it take us back?” I asked.
He pressed a few buttons on the screen and shook his head. “It’s too difficult to say. The irregularities on the map are unlike any others I have ever seen. If this works, we could end up somewhere very far away. It is not without risk.”
Puffing out my cheeks, I exhaled and felt a little dizzy. This was big, but we didn’t have much of a choice. We couldn’t float around forever with no food, and most of the medical supplies had been torn into.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s do it. Let’s go to Earth.”
Talis grinned and held his finger over the ignition button. “You sure, little fawn?”
My child took my finger into his hand and held it, making the cutest noises I had ever heard. “Talis. I have never been so sure of anything in my life,” I said. “Press the damn button.”
The most important human trait might have been learning how to let go.
We all go through hell.
We all suffer.
We all die.
But, in return, we have the ability to make relationships and link the good together.
We can fall in love. We can make a story. We can tell the good parts and own the bad.
This wasn’t the end. This was a new beginning.
Talis made sure we were all buckled in. He pressed the bright and flashing button on the screen and pulled back on the ignition rod. With one hand on my baby to protect her from whatever extreme turbulence a wormhole created, I said, “Her name will be Juliana.”
Talis took my hand and squeezed. “It’s perfect. Everything is perfect.”
I felt gravity shift. The exterior of our ship started to rattle. I kept my eyes on Juliana as the particles around us started to alter, separate, and bounce around as if reality was completely illusory. Suddenly, everything flashed, and we whipped in an unknown direction. Sensation was lost, and, for a moment, everything went black.
Our spaceship puttered out and died. A strange glow emanated from outside, casting green and blue shadows against the glass. The color meandered up to our window. No matter how many times I blinked my eyes to confirm its appearance, I couldn’t understand it.
It was some sort of energy, some sort of unknown. Talis jumped from his seat and choked the throttle back, trying his hardest
to get the engine going.
“Where... are we?” I managed to ask.
Somehow, Julian was quiet, but his eyes were open. He was staring at the floating blackness. That’s when I noticed there were no stars around us. In fact, there was nothing at all. We had found ourselves in a vast black swath of emptiness.
Talis hit the screen when a red and alarming error appeared there. “C’mon, you son of a bitch...”
There was another ten long seconds of punching in a series of passcode combinations. Every time he eyed the systems for confirmation, another error would pop up and destroy his hopes.
The color outside our window moved closer. Now, Juliana squirmed and turned fussy. A small cry left her mouth, and then another, until she started to shriek.
The color turned from blue to red, shifting into what appeared to be fire. It started to change shapes, began to resemble a human. I saw it. I looked into its eyes and saw him. Cade.
“Goddammit! Start!” Talis screamed.
“Where are we, Talis? Tell me!”
My heart pounded frantically over Juliana’s cries. The presence outside our window opened its mouth. Cold chills ran down my spine, but the interior of the ship started to feel damp and hot. At once, the presence banged on the window. The most disgusting sounds, a cacophony of choking, retching, and deathly screams—screams from those I knew and once loved—came from the fiery presence.
I threw my arms around Juliana and held my hands around her fragile ears.
“Keep the goodness inside your heart alive, little fawn. You have already changed my life forever,” I said, covering the fear in my voice with a false sense of courage. Motherhood was a strange role for me, but it didn’t matter if the threat was the devil himself. I wasn’t going to allow anything to hurt my daughter.
I held her close to my heart, sheltering her so she could not hear the awful noises that Talis and I were forced to endure. I looked that fiery demonic presence in the eyes and felt all fear leave me. It was like I knew death was watching, forever planning and waiting for the right time to strike, but it didn’t worry me anymore.
Seed: A Dark Sci-Fi Omegaverse Romance (Alpha Unknown Book 2) Page 12