by Kit Tunstall
Jada hugged her in return, realizing they had exchanged quite a few in the last few hours, but it seemed to be providing a healing touch for both of them. Like her, Jada had been ravaged by Kaiser’s syndrome and confined to a wheelchair until Ryland had given her the dose of nanotechnology that kept the effects of Kaiser’s syndrome in check.
Jess had also taken that injection when Jada and Ryland had freed her and the other women from captivity. Had it only been a few hours ago? It seemed impossible, considering everything that had happened.
Her mind was awash with conflicting facts and confusing feelings, and she vowed to push it all out of her head for the time being. “Will you please take me home now, Jada? I can’t stay here any longer.”
She didn’t share her bombshell news with her friend just yet. She would soon enough, but for the moment, she couldn’t even bring herself to mentally phrase the idea that she was pregnant, let alone speak it aloud. Verbally acknowledging it gave the idea credence, and though she didn’t really believe they were lying to her any longer, she still wanted to confirm it with more conventional, human methods before she spoke of it or tried to decide what to do about the situation in which she found herself.
Chapter Two
It was early the next morning before she was able to leave her apartment long enough to acquire a box of pregnancy tests. Jada and Ryland had brought her home the previous afternoon, and her friend had stayed with her for hours, though Jess had not been the best company. Jada seemed to respect that, and her alien boyfriend was equally respectful.
They hadn’t probed her for information, other than asking how she had been kidnapped. That happened when two Mr. Blands came to her apartment and literally carried her, wheelchair and all, out the front door and into the van. Her experience was almost identical to Jada’s abduction. Apparently, sensing her need to be alone, they had left her after a few hours, though Jess knew she could call Jada any time of the day or night.
Before going to bed and relishing in the experience of curling up in her own bed again, she had briefly called her brother to let Pradheep know she was safely back home. She hadn’t given him the details yet either, though she supposed she would have to.
The truth sounded insane, and as far as she knew, the Dazon had not yet made their presence known to the Earth government. They’d better do it quickly, because as the four hundred women were processed and cleared medically to leave, they would start speaking out about what had happened. Jess would have done the same, and probably would have already started, if she didn’t have her own personal drama to deal with.
After she returned to her apartment, it was a simple matter to use the tests. They worked the same as they always had, though she hadn’t taken one in approximately six years, not since a scare in her sophomore year of college, when she had not been pregnant. Back then, she had been relieved, and now, she prayed for the same negative outcome.
She discovered there was a slight change in tests from the old days. There was no longer one or two lines to indicate positive or negative. Instead, the digital display simply read “Pregnant” or “Not Pregnant.” It took less than a minute for the digital display to reveal the word “Pregnant,” and though she had been expecting the outcome, it still sent her dropping to the floor in a semblance of a panic attack as she drew in deep, gasping breaths that seemed to do nothing to oxygenate her.
Jess curled her arms around her legs and laid her forehead against her knees as she struggled to breathe in and out, trying to calm herself and control the reaction. She hadn’t really doubted Wy was telling her the truth, but she had stubbornly clung to the hope that either he had been lying or mistaken, and perhaps it had been a different woman whose results he’d shown her.
She put a hand to her stomach, mentally envisioning the three embryos growing there. Three? Human women weren’t meant to have triplets, though she supposed with Ha’s hubris, she should consider herself lucky that he hadn’t implanted eight fertilized hybrid blastocysts inside her after consulting the human literature to realize a few multiple pregnancies of that magnitude had made it to term.
What the heck was she supposed to do with three alien babies? The most obvious, and most convenient, answer was simply to arrange termination. She doubted many people would blame her in the situation, considering she’d never met the father of the offspring, and he was an alien. Fear of the unknown would motivate most people to terminate, wouldn’t it?
It was a sensible solution, but she couldn’t help remembering how it had felt just a few days before this whole incident to see a child playing in the park, or a new baby in another woman’s sling, and long for that herself. Crippled by Kaiser’s syndrome, she hadn’t been in a physical state to sustain a pregnancy, and she had been frightened of passing on the disease to her offspring. There was still no cure and very little known about Kaiser’s syndrome, at least with Earth technology.
Ryland had offered her a treatment, though he only had a limited number of doses. She wondered briefly what the other women, those who hadn’t been given the nanotechnology, would have thought of the situation. Each of them had likely made the decision not to have children or more children after their diagnoses, so would they approve of the option of terminating an alien pregnancy, or would they be envious that she had one and the option to make the choice?
Briefly, she allowed her thoughts to wander as she speculated on whether the women who were currently impregnated would be offered the same treatment Ryland had given her, perhaps as a reward or incentive to carry the offspring to full term. Ryland had explained to her everything that he knew yesterday, and he had shared his concerns that his government wouldn’t part with the healing nanotechnology until Earth and Dazonia Major reached an agreement about human women making themselves available for breeding purposes, whether in the form of donating eggs, or perhaps in a situation like Jess found herself.
Abruptly, she realized she was still sitting on the bathroom floor, and she grimaced as she sat up before getting to her feet. The test sat on the counter, mocking her. There were two left in the box, but she didn’t bother to take them. This test confirmed what she already knew based simply on changes in her own body, coupled with the proof Dr. Wy had shown her yesterday.
In a fit of frustration, she swept the positive test off the counter with the back of her hand, surprising herself by her true aim when the stick landed in the trashcan. She doubted she could repeat that motion and have the same outcome again.
After washing her hands and face, she left the bathroom and began to walk around her apartment. It was good to use her legs and to feel vital again, but she wasn’t entirely certain it was worth the tradeoff of what she had gone through for the last two weeks to be able to do so.
It enraged her to think that the other women, at least three hundred and eighty, still hadn’t been healed and might not be offered the nano treatment unless or until they acquiesced to participate in the Dazon breeding program. To the aliens, they were little more than a womb with legs, or perhaps an egg production factory was more accurate.
Dr. Wy had seemed confident that exo-wombs could easily be adapted to support hybrid children with the right resources, and there would be no further need for the unpleasant task of human women having to actually carry the hybrid offspring. Pardon her for not doing back flips at the prospect. In a way, it was even worse to be so removed from the process of creating children.
She must have made a circuit of her apartment at least three times by the time the doorbell rang and interrupted her. She bit back a groan as she walked over to the door, expecting either her brother or her best friend. She was hoping for Jada, because though she still had to break the news of the pregnancy, at least her friend was aware of everything else that had taken place. Pradheep was still in the dark, and she hadn’t yet decided whether to tell him everything or put him off.
After her abduction experience, and combined with having spent all of her life living in New York, of course she che
cked the peephole before she made any move to unfasten the multiple locks and opened the door. She gasped at the sight of a nondescript man in a black suit standing on the other side. “Go away,” she cried out through the door.
“If you are Jessminda Patel, I must speak with you.”
A sharp edge of hysteria rose in her, and she shook her head though he couldn’t see it through the wooden door offering a barrier between them. “I want nothing to do with you people. Just go away now.”
Mr. Bland didn’t waver, and his voice grew deeper and more authoritative. “You must open the door now. We have many things to discuss and decisions to make, Earth woman.”
Just the way he spoke, and the words he said, clued her in to his identity before she even asked, “Who are you?”
“I am Valkor Tosh, and we have a mutual problem.”
With a sigh of reluctance, realizing he probably possessed the same technology that had allowed the first Mr. Blands to pop her locks and open her door without her consent, she started undoing the locks before stepping back to open the door and allow him to enter. For some reason, it grated on her nerves to hear him call it a problem, and she was surprised to discover she was feeling even slightly protective of the three offspring growing inside her.
As soon as he crossed the doorway and entered her apartment, she closed the door and put on a couple of locks, not bothering with all the rest. By the time she turned back to him, it was in time to see the last glimpse of his Mr. Bland disguise morphing into the real Valkor Tosh. The light around him shimmered and flickered, and a golden-skinned alien with bronze undertones stood before her a moment later, where the human had been.
She had to look way up at him, since he was at least a foot taller than her, and probably more like a foot-and-a-half. He was solidly built and even more impressive in person than he had been on the video display. That technology hadn’t done him justice. She was particularly hypnotized by the way his copper eyes, underscored with a hint of golden luminescence, seemed to darken and fog over. That was a strange way to describe it, but she could think of no better description for the way the colors seemed to surge and shift in his irises.
When he took her hand a moment later, a surge of heat shot through her, triggering a complex well of emotions, with desire predominantly among them. She didn’t think she’d ever been so attracted so instantly to someone before. It had been a couple of years since her last lover, when her health started to fade to the point she could no longer keep up with his physical appetites, and though she had admired Baljal’s persistence in staying with her, she had released him from his promise to marry her.
His promise was given before her health deteriorated, and she had realized she wouldn’t be having children or much of a life at all. He had protested and tried to change her mind, but in the end, she was certain he had felt relief rather than regret when he had walked away from her with her blessing. She had loved him with gentle affection, but not a burning passion that made it impossible to release him. It still felt like the right decision even now that her health was restored. It reinforced that she hadn’t loved him the right way.
It crossed her mind that she would never give the strange alien her blessing to just walk away from her. Her eyes widened at the realization, and his eyes darkened again as his hand tightened around hers, pulling her closer.
“Another problem,” he muttered under his breath, though his body language suggested eagerness rather than the annoyance reflected by his tone.
“What would that be?” she asked, feeling dazed. This was incredibly awkward, and there was no way in heck her body should be practically thrumming with desire, her nipples pressing tautly against the fabric of her silk sari.
She had chosen the traditional garment for comfort, both physical and emotional, because it made her feel closer to her mother, who lived in California. It had inadvertently become a way to torture herself as she’d imagined the reaction of her traditional parents and extended family, both in the U.S. and India, to the news she was unwed and pregnant. Some of them would make allowances for the fact it wasn’t her choice, but she knew just as many of them would be judgmental and insist on marriage.
Eyeing Valkor, she had the irrational thought that perhaps marriage wasn’t such a bad idea after all. A moment later, she shook her head and forced that thought away, reminding herself she was simply reacting to his proximity. She didn’t even know anything about him beyond his name and that he was a decorated soldier. And the father of the triplets inside her. That last fact was like a douse of cold water, and her desire temporarily abated.
She pulled her hand from his as she realized they were still holding each other. “I hear you were as surprised as me to find out about Ha’s genetic tampering.”
Valkor inclined his head. “It was a shock when my superior relayed the news that I was to be a father.” His eyes gleamed, and though they weren’t as dark as they had been, they surged again with a new wave of gold, rather than a darker color. It made her think of happiness or pleasure. “It was an honor I had not expected, and certainly not until I retired from active military service to the Empire.”
Realizing she was being rude, she waved toward the couch and invited him without words to follow her before she walked toward it and sat on one end. She was happy that he took the other side, leaving two cushions between them. “How does that work? I don’t know much about your society. Ryland told me some things, but I’m unclear about who raises your children.”
“Many are raised in government facilities, the same places where they are bred. Of course, if our duties permit, we do have the option of raising our sons ourselves.”
She grimaced at him. “You don’t bother with daughters?”
Valkor looked shocked. “I would be pleased to be the father of daughters, but it’s so rare an occurrence that the assumption is generally you will have male children. Female children are usually raised separately, ensuring the highest state of health, and in mental preparation for the role they must fulfill.”
“The role of egg factory,” she said, making no attempt to hide her judgmental response. “Your women are little more than breeding slaves, and you expect human women to be the same?”
“I don’t expect such a thing, Jessminda Patel.”
“Just call me Jess. If you don’t expect me to be a breeding slave, why are you here?”
His scowl deepened, and his brow ridges formed a V over his eyes. “I am here to offer support for you and my offspring. I’m certain this is a difficult situation for you, and you will require financial and emotional support, from what I understand of human reproductive cycles. I simply want to make this pregnancy easy on you.”
She frowned at him. “I haven’t even decided if I’m going through with it yet. What do you say about that?” Was she testing him? Jess wasn’t sure, and she wasn’t certain what response she wanted from him. She knew she wouldn’t respond well to an edict forcing her or attempting to force her to carry the pregnancy to term, but she didn’t know how she would react to any other response on his part.
“I know this is nothing you and I have chosen, and neither one of us were given the option, and of course it is your choice, but I hope you will decide to give our children life. Even if you want nothing more to do with them when the pregnancy ends, I would be eternally grateful if you would bring them into the world so I can accept responsibility for them.”
She bit her lip, somewhat surprised by his answer, but also unsurprised. That sounded strange, but it was the truth. Even as she had made the provocative statement, she had already known what he would say, hadn’t she? How could she know that, since she barely knew him at all?
Perhaps it was simple common sense on her part. Someone didn’t travel a gazillion light-years just to offer emotional support to someone they had never met, who was carrying their child. Children, she mentally corrected herself. He would have had his own agenda for coming, and considering the reproductive problems in the Dazon Emp
ire, it wasn’t a shock to know he wanted her to carry the pregnancy to term.
In spite of that, and though she knew nothing about him, she was certain it wasn’t his duty to his race, or desire to see his species continue, that prompted him to ask her not to terminate. He seemed to genuinely want their offspring.
As she sat there quietly, contemplating it, Jess realized she felt the same. She hadn’t anticipated or volunteered for the pregnancy, but after just a few years thinking she would never get pregnant or have a child, it felt wrong to her to terminate the ones she now carried. It was true she could safely reproduce now with a human male, but her conscience weighed heavily on her at the idea of destroying three forming lives, whether or not they were critical to the survival of an alien species.
They were half her, and they were relying on her to stay alive. It wasn’t a burden she’d asked for, but the answer suddenly seemed clear. “I would appreciate the support and the opportunity to get to know you as we embark on this adventure together, Mr. Tosh.”
“Valkor, or just Val.” His eyes gleamed, and it was clear he approved of her choice. “Thank you, Jess.”
She shrugged, feeling weird about being thanked for continuing the pregnancy. “I think we’re just making the best of a bad situation.”
His eyes darkened again with that hint of copper as he looked at her. She was certain it was a sign of desire, and she didn’t know whether to be flattered or freaked out.
“The circumstances are strange, but I can’t deny Dr. Ha made a good pairing. I never expected to experience the mating flare, especially not with a human female to whom I’d never been introduced.”
Jess’s eyes widened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Our species has an innate mating instinct, and it helps us recognize our optimal partners. When we find a woman that we wish to claim as our mate, a surge of energy fills our body, and there is just a sense of knowing. I have no better way to describe it to you, but as soon as I saw you and smelled your essence, I knew you are meant to be my mate, Jessminda Patel. I experienced the mating flare the first time I touched you. This turn of events is convenient, don’t you think?”