by Ava Walsh
Zon sat beside her, stroking her hair silently, letting her grieve her planet, her family, her life. She occasionally wondered if he had ever been planning to take her back, but never asked. It didn't matter now.
"Senett is my home planet," he told her at one point. She didn’t know how long it had been since they had retreated to the cave. "The T'Shav home planet was destroyed hundreds of years ago. An asteroid collided with the moon, sending it off course. Only a tenth of the population was evacuated. The survivors had to take whatever work they could to survive or turn to piracy. It's why we have a reputation as being mercenaries. Because that's what my ancestors did to survive."
"Those people who took me said that you were a warlord."
"I command a fleet. A dozen fine warships, an army of strong soldiers."
Lisa rolled over and stared at him in surprise. "Then why are we here, alone?"
"Revenge is something one does on his own."
"You also die on your own," Lisa muttered. She wiped the remnants of tears from her face. "So… you are a warlord. A criminal."
Zon's brow rose. "Criminal? No, I make sure all of my services are legal. I might have criminals in my fleet, but our services are contracted by oppressed people to fight wars they can't fight themselves. I suppose I do police a rather large area. There are plenty of corporations and governments that want me dead because of it, but I also have a lot of allies, and the United Species is on my side. Most times at least."
"And here I am, just a scientist," Lisa said.
"A beautiful, intelligent scientist," Zon amended.
"Beautiful. Big boobs and big butt." Lisa ran a hand over her voluptuous curves. Too big, at least according to her last boyfriend. "I know a lot of my coworkers think–thought–that I only got the position and grants I got because I'm beautiful. And they were probably right, to a degree. There was a high premium on beauty in my culture."
"Did beauty matter more than skills?"
Lisa thought a moment and shrugged. "In a way, I guess. I mean, actors and actresses were always beautiful, and they got paid ridiculous amounts of money, especially compared to how much people like nurses and teachers were paid. You'd think people responsible for health and teaching the future generations would be worth more… maybe that's why our society collapsed."
Zon held her tightly and kissed her forehead. "When we get back to my fleet, I will make sure you have all the research facilities you want. Your science might be a little behind ours, but you're very intelligent, and I'm sure that you will be able to absorb it quickly."
Sighing, Lisa buried herself deeper into his arms. The science here was so beyond what she knew. Teleporters. Universal DNA. Cars that could reflect landscape but not living beings. It was going to take her a lifetime to figure it all out.
At least I have a lifetime to devote to it now.
The thought didn't really cheer her up, but with Zon's arms around her, she did feel a little better. "Did you contact your fleet?"
"Yes. They should reach Senett soon. A few more days at most. We'll be away soon enough. Before you know it, we will be flying through the stars. I can't wait to show you nebulas and supernovas."
"That sounds good. Nebulas and supernovas…" She raised her face to his, brushing her lips against his. It seemed like sex was the only thing powerful enough to distract her from the shambles her life was in. "In the meantime, can you show me stars?"
***
The next morning (at least, she thought it was morning), Lisa threw herself out of bed, grabbing the nearest container. Her stomach emptied into it, leaving her weak and shaking when she was finally done. It had been happening ever since Zon had rescued her from the traders, and like every other time he held her hair back from her face and rubbed her back soothingly until she was done vomiting.
"I don't like this," he said. "I understand that stress may have been responsible for the first few times, but it's been long enough, you should have recovered by now."
Lisa moaned, wiping her mouth. "Maybe it's the food. Maybe my system just can't handle it."
"You were fine before." Zon carried her back to the bed and took care of the vomit, all the while shaking his head and muttering. "I want to do a medical scan. There is a risk that it will cut through the radiation and alert them to where we are, but you're having difficulty keeping anything down. We need to find out what's wrong."
As always, the nausea faded rapidly after she had thrown up, and Lisa wrapped her arms around herself. "Shouldn't we wait until your ship gets here?"
"If they did something to you, or if the teleportation did, then we need to know now, so we can start to combat it. Space travel can be very dangerous for those who are sick. The ship has to generate tachyon particles, which infuse in both organic and non-organic matter, and some people have an adverse reaction to the saturation."
Tachyons. Lisa shook her head. Another thing that had been argued to be theoretically possible, but actually impossible as far as the science of her day was concerned. She was going to have to read up on that when she had the chance. In the meantime, she lay down on her back while Zon pulled out the medical scanner. It looked very similar to something you'd find on Star Trek, a wand wirelessly connected to a cellphone-sized tablet that showed the results. The technology that was hidden in this hidey-hole was obsolete by Zon’s standards, though, and the scan emitted its own type of radiation that could be easily picked up from space.
Lisa only hoped her kidnappers weren't looking for an odd source of radiation.
Zon passed the wand over her, and a little beep from the tablet indicated that it was working. His frown increased once he was done, and he tapped a few times on the tablet screen.
"What is it?" Lisa sat up again, peering over the top of his hand. The squiggly lines intersected with spiky symbols meant nothing to her. Either she was going to have to learn to read the other languages, or she was going to have to get an update on her translation chip, so it would translate written words as well as spoken.
Zon shook his head. "A parasite."
"Parasite?"
"The equipment is reading a lifeform attached to your uterine wall." He cursed softly. "I knew that I should have given you clothes sooner. Something has climbed up into you and attached itself there. It's feeding off you and changing your hormone production."
The moment he said 'uterine wall', Lisa's heart stopped. She hadn't even thought about her menstrual cycle since she woke up here, but… "How long have we been here?"
"Ten standard weeks."
That meant nothing to her. She had no point of reference to compare it to. Taking a deep breath, she plunged ahead. "All the species share DNA, right? Is interbreeding possible? Do they all have similar gestation periods?"
Silence answered her. Zon stared at her wide-eyed. She stared back, the possibility hanging between them like a physical barrier. Shaking himself, her alien warlord turned back to the tablet, punching in a few more commands. She didn't miss the way his skin paled when he received his answer. He stared at the tablet for a moment then stood straighter.
"The average species' pregnancies takes seventy-two standard weeks. It appears that you are pregnant. Eight standard weeks."
Pregnant. Lisa thought she might vomit again.
Chapter Eight
Lisa passed her hands over her relatively flat stomach. What would the baby look like? Would it have Zon's devil-red skin and black eyes? Would it look more human? Her brother's daughter had been the spitting image of her. Would her baby look like her brother? Would it be a mix of her and her alien, some sort of creamy-pink tone, like strawberry shampoo?
"I didn't think it was possible," Zon whispered. "It must have happened the first night we were together. I should have guessed, the male musth excites the female heat, but T'Shav are notoriously difficult breeders. There has never been a mixed baby with one parent of my species. But you're human. You have universal DNA."
"You didn't know."
"No. Bu
t now we do, we can take precautions in the future. And it's early enough that we can still do something about this… current situation."
Lisa's eyes widened. Her heart began beating faster as she wrapped her arms protectively around her belly. Really, she knew she shouldn't be so frightened at what Zon was suggesting… she knew that it was just a clump of cells, that it wasn't a real baby yet. But the thought of ending this pregnancy was even more frightening than being pregnant.
Zon saw her fear and knelt, his own expression twisted with pain. "You asked if cross-species breeding is possible. It is, and occasionally there are pregnancies. But it never works out. The babies are born with horrible disfigurements, unable to survive, even if they are carried to term. More often than not, the mother's body rejects the fetus, putting both of their lives in danger. The survival rate for both mother and child in cross-species breeding is so low—"
"No."
Zon fell silent.
"No, I can't. I won't." Lisa rubbed her stomach. "It's the last family I have."
"Aren't you listening to me?" Zon stood, pacing from one end of the room to the other. He dug his hands into his black hair, a frustrated growl reverberating in his chest. Lisa watched him, suddenly feeling calm. If the past few days had been a storm that she couldn't navigate, she at least had something to cling to now. "This pregnancy could kill you!"
"I heard you."
"Never mind could. It probably will kill you!"
"I have universal DNA," Lisa pointed out. "That means that you might have contributed DNA that I don't have to the baby, but it doesn't mean I can't carry it to term and be perfectly healthy."
"You're not thinking straight."
Lisa was silent. He did have a point. After learning that her world had been dead for thousands of years, how could she think straight?
"If you want babies, if you want a human baby, I'll take you to a cloning center. They can clone you. They can even rearrange the dormant genes you carry so that the baby doesn't have to look like you. You could have a girl or boy. But that," he pointed at her stomach, a twisted expression on his face, "that will kill you. I won't let it. I will do anything I have to in order to protect you, do you understand me?"
He was just going to keep ranting. Lisa waited in silence, watching him pace. She would let him blow off steam before restating her position. Whatever else he said, her mind was made up and he wasn't going to change that.
Eventually, Zon stopped pacing. He stared at her, panting.
"Are you finished?" she asked.
A muscle twitched in his jaw.
"You say you want to protect me. Well, if you take this baby from me, you will have to keep me in a straightjacket for the rest of my life, and I will never forgive you."
He shook his head. "Don't do this to me, please."
"I'm not doing anything to you. I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be abducted from Earth, I didn't ask to be sent drifting through space for thousands of years, I didn't ask to be sold at an auction and I didn't ask you to buy me." Lisa paused. "I did ask for the sex," she admitted, a wry smile tugging at her lips. "But I didn't ask to be pregnant. And I'm not going to end it. I can't."
Her hands were rubbing her belly again. Zon ran a hand over his face, pulling at his skin, a tormented look coming to his eyes. He dropped to his knees before her and pressed a hand to her belly. Lisa tensed, but his other hand stroked her cheek worriedly.
"It's not easy for me, either. I did buy you at that market, but I didn't ask for these feelings I have. I didn't ask to see my stars in your eyes… for the briefest second when I realized that you were pregnant I was ecstatic. I never thought I would be a father. But it's too dangerous. You've wormed your way firmly into my heart, and I can't… if I lose you…"
Every word sounded like it was being torn from him. He bent his head, his forehead resting on her thigh. Lisa ran her fingers through his hair, her heart pounding at what he was saying, but she tamped down on that emotion. She liked the sex, and she was grateful that he was looking after her, but that was the end of her feelings towards him. She couldn't give him false hope.
"Please," he whispered again.
"No. But if there does come a point where it looks like the pregnancy will endanger my life, I—"
An insistent beeping interrupted her. Zon's head jerked around and he snatched up his sword. He had healed quite a bit, thanks to the equipment in the cave, but Lisa still saw the way his shoulders sagged, and the sword was not as erect as it had been the first time she had seen him use it. The constant attacks and injuries were clearly taking a toll on him.
"Intruders," he told her unnecessarily, handing her a gun. "Do not point this at me."
"I'm not an idiot, I know how a gun works," Lisa snapped, adrenaline pumping through her body.
"We just need to hold them off until my ship gets here," Zon muttered, more to himself than Lisa. He suddenly focused on her again. "If I am killed—"
"Don't say that."
Zon narrowed his eyes. "If I am killed," he repeated, more firmly this time, "surrender. I don't think they will kill you or even harm you. You are worth far more as a religious artifact than anything else, even as a subject for experimentation. Surrender and tell them you're human."
What would happen to her then? Zon grabbed her, bringing her towards him for a fierce kiss that took her breath away. A second, gentler kiss followed.
"If you see anybody emerging from the tunnel before they say 'halo lights', shoot them."
"Wait!" Lisa could hear the panic in her voice as Zon charged down the hallway. His battle cry sounded even more wild and thunderous in the restricted space. If she didn't know it was just one man, Lisa would have thought that a hundred men were charging down the tunnel.
She only hoped that their attackers would think the same thing and retreat.
The sounds of weapon fire quickly drowned out Zon's voice. Lisa looked around wildly. There was no door to close on the tunnel, a security feature, as the air would quickly run out in this small space. It wasn't equipped with the atomic restructuring technology that Zon told her they had on ships–they could actually break carbon dioxide down into its base atoms and reform the carbon and oxygen atoms into other molecules.
Lisa shook her head. Now is not the time.
The bed was the only thing she could move, so she quickly flipped it onto its side to at least create a barrier between herself and whoever might come in firing. She crouched behind the bed, her grip tight on her gun. Noise echoed down the tunnel, too confusing to make out any individual noises. Her heart hammered, and the ridiculous notion that she should run down the tunnel and put herself in the middle of the battle to force them to stop fighting came to her mind.
She might have actually done it, too, if the sounds of battle hadn't suddenly ceased. Lisa's heart stopped with it. What had happened? Was Zon dead?
Her eyes flickered closed as tears blurred her gaze. Without Zon, how was she meant to protect her baby? She would be sold to the highest bidder, either to be cut up in some lab or paraded around like some sort of freak show. And if they wanted her alive… would they take the risk that her pregnancy might damage her health?
Footsteps.
Lisa tensed, aiming her gun at the tunnel. Her gaze went steely. If it wasn't Zon, then she was going to take out as many as she possibly could.
"Halo lights."
Zon's voice had her jumping to her feet. She was at the tunnel entrance before he stepped inside. Lisa launched herself into his arms and passionately kissed him. Tears ran down her cheeks.
"Get a room," somebody muttered behind them.
Lisa pulled away to see a half-dozen aliens in the tunnel, grinning at the two of them. Her cheeks flushed, but Zon gripped her tighter.
"Lisa, these are my men. They got here just in time." He kissed her again. "Come on. It's time to leave this planet."
Chapter Nine
Lisa had never been one for sci-fi shows. The science in
them was usually so horribly researched that it left her wanting to vomit, rather than entertained. Now she realized that while the science was off, the application wasn't as bad as she had thought. When Zon brought her to his ship, she was fascinated by everything she saw. People walked around using holographic tablets, wearing goggles to scan the walls to check connections. There were even stations, called molecule breakdown stations (MBS) where waste of all sorts was broken down into its individual atoms and reformed into whatever item was needed, similar to how oxygen was produced.
"This is amazing," Lisa said, looking around the medical bay while Zon sat beside her.
Her fingers itched to explore all the technology around her, and it was difficult to make herself lay still for the doctor to perform more in-depth scans of her midsection. Rather than the wand scan that Zon had performed, the doctor put her on a bed, exposed her belly, and pressed small nodules to it. These scanned her insides and built a 3D holographic image of what she looked like.
Zon still wanted to be sure that she was actually pregnant and not carrying a parasite. The holographic image of her uterus was bizarre to look at, but what was even more bizarre was when the doctor refocused the image so that the embryo could be seen. She wasn't even far enough along to be carrying a fetus yet. The projected image didn't look remotely human or baby like. In fact, it looked like a terrifying mix between a tadpole and dinosaur.
Lisa clutched Zon's hand. She had seen images of embryos before. According to her knowledge, this would eventually develop into a baby.
"The genetic scans confirm it," the doctor said. "T'Shav DNA."
A rush of relief washed over Lisa and she couldn't stop a laugh. She turned a beaming smile to Zon, but his brow was furrowed in worry. Seeing her expression he attempted a smile, but she could see his heart wasn't in it. It dampened Lisa's enthusiasm a little. The doctor turned off the scanner and removed the nodules from Lisa's belly.