Healer Amoni frowned worriedly, “Will we be using the amniotic fluids from the alien, or will you use something else? Surely it will take time for Rakhabi to develop her own.”
I’m going to use the alien’s amniotic fluid to start out with. We’ll mix it with the anti-rejection medley we just injected in them. Then, I’ll put a temporary stint in to slowly drain it out and give Rakhabi the opportunity to make her own. It’s different from normal because she’s so different, but I’m confident all will be well. I believe it’s time. Let’s finish this up!”
“I stand ready.”
Healer Gaio watched as Healer Amoni separated the placenta from the uterus and stretched the umbilical cord to hand the placenta to him. He placed it over the wall of the uterus that he had scored and began to make the life-giving connections. It took a lot of time, but it was critical he got it right. “How is the child?” He thought at Healer Amoni not daring to take his eyes away from what he was doing.
“Its heart rate dropped temporarily, but it is now improving as you make the connections.”
“Go ahead and add the transition medley to the amniotic fluid in that womb and we’ll transfer it afterward.
They both continued until at long last Healer Gaio stood and stretched. “The placenta is fully operational, we need to move the child and get this over with.”
“Quicker than you think,” Healer Amoni added, “the alien mother is crashing and we need to move the child so we can focus on her.”
“Very well, transfer the amniotic fluid first, and then give me the baby.”
He arranged the umbilical cord and then the baby before ensuring that the stint was properly placed. Healer Amoni was frantically trying to save the mother who was still losing blood from where the placenta had been. She had wanted her to flush it all naturally, but that would not be an option. Seeing her options disappearing rapidly, she went to the mother’s head and without telling anyone what she was doing, initiated a mind delve. There was very little activity going on in the mind. The only discernible things that kept flickering by were “Mom” and “baby Sid” and a very poor image that she eventually figured out was the baby. Hurriedly she disengaged from her before they were caught into the Creator’s hands together. She would never live if she were trapped in another’s mind when that person died.
“Sid,” she said out loud with a look of wonder on her face. “What an odd name.” The mlaikha looked at her askance but said nothing.
“How is your patient Healer Amoni?” Healer Gaio asked. “I’m as done as can be with Rakhabi. She’s stable at the moment, as is the baby, but we’ll have to keep a very close watch on them for a while. We may need to continue treatments of my herbal medley to ensure that the bodies do not reject one another.”
“I think the alien’s body is shutting down. There is very little brain activity going on. I checked personally.”
“Impulsive today, are we!”
“Do you want to hear what I found out or not?” she snapped back.
“Unique and untested circumstances call for unique and untested actions. What did you find out?”
“Not as much as I hoped for. She just kept repeating ‘Mom’ and ‘baby Sid’. I think that was to be the child’s name.”
“We can tell the birth parents later. Meanwhile…,” he said looking around, “who here is most or very adept at tessering?”
After some whispered discussion, a nlaikha stepped forward. “That is perhaps the only skill I’m proficient at, but I am proficient at it. I stand ready.”
“Very good. I want you to tesser from here to the lift. We cannot step out of this realm otherwise. Once you are there, relay the following to the Mwene. Healer Gaio concentrated for a moment before folding a speech layer on the nlaikha and then said. “You may go.”
Moments later the nlaikha swirled out of view only to reappear on the lift plainly visible to those inside the bubble of energy.
The nlaikha bowed to the guard already on the lift. “I have a message for the Mwene from Healer Gaio. Please take me to him.”
The guard concentrated and after a small gesture, they swirled from the platform onto the platform in the Mwene’s anteroom.
The guard presented the nlaikha to the Mwene’s special guard before swirling back out of sight. Escorted by the special guard, the nlaikha entered the presence of the Mwene and bowed low waiting.
As soon as the nlaikha heard Mwene Crisópraso’s voice, his body jerked straight and from him issued the voice of Healer Gaio.
“The procedure has been a success. At your convenience your Excellency, we await release from the realm of the yulupalexa.”
The nlaikha’s body jerked again and he said, “I carry a message from Healer Gaio, your Excellency.”
The Mwene smiled. “So I hear. Your charge is fulfilled. Let us return.”
The nlaikha looked somewhat confused not having heard the message himself, but he followed the Mwene and his retinue without a word.
When Mwene Crisópraso arrived back in the transportation center he grasped hold of his staff, which was still embedded in the floor. He could not just pull the staff out without properly bringing back the section of the TC that was in the realm of the yulupalexa and drawing the power back into himself. Again, a thin ray beamed from his head to the tip of his staff effectively reconnecting him to the matrix of guards still standing unmoved at their stations. A translucent film hid the shadowy forms from sight and when it dissipated, everybody was again visible. As one, the brightly glowing crystals on the guards’ staves winked out. The guards staggered weakly as they were released from the Mwene’s control. The light shining from the sigils in the floor raced back to the Mwene as if drawn by a large magnet. His crystal staff pulsed brightly before fading to its original sapphire hue as well. He lifted his staff from the hole in the floor and instructed the guards to find replacements and get some much-needed rest. “So, Healer Gaio, it is done?”
Healer Gaio bowed slowly. “Yes, your Excellency. The first procedure is done. We have two more to do when more preparations have been made.
“I have already spoken with Jacinto about accepting a child. She has gone to speak with her soul mate to confirm that he feels the same as she. She is excited and stands ready.”
As they spoke, Healer Laina swirled onto the lift behind them with a guard and a nlaikha in tow. They stepped off the lift and bowed low waiting for Mwene Crisópraso to acknowledge them.
“Healer Laina, what excellent timing you have. Is this then the nlaikha you have selected?”
“She is, your Excellency. I surveyed many of the mlaikha and most have commended her for this honor.” Laina motioned for the nlaikha to rise.
She rose slowly to her feet, but never lifted her dark brown eyes to meet those of the Mwene. She shifted uncomfortably, waiting for the Mwene to speak.
“You realize that though you agree to this and are honored, you will remain a nlaikha yet?”
“I do, your Excellency, I see no better way for me to fulfill my vows than to lend my body to the service of your Excellency in this fashion. And the child, will he be born nlaikha, too?”
The Mwene adjusted the circle upon his head before replying, “He will be mine personally.” He turned to Healer Laina. “You may proceed healer. Healer Gaio will be working with you as he did with Healer Amoni. Healer Gaio, send for me when you are ready. Oh, and good work with the last procedure both of you. Healer Amoni, you will oversee the care of Rakhabi and you may find a suitable healer to continue the care of the alien. If there are any special instructions due to the nature of the procedure, be sure to pass those along.”
They bowed low as the Mwene got back on the lift with his guards and retinue and they swirled out of sight.
There was a collective sigh after he was gone. It wasn’t that they didn’t like him, just that he was the Mwene after all and they were always a little bit nervous and in awe of him when he was around.
“Healer Gaio,” Healer A
moni said, “Could you arrange for a healer to care for the alien? There should be one available that is currently attending the other aliens. Perhaps Healer Palano would do. I want to take Rakhabi to her suite and make the arrangements for her and her soul mate.”
“Gladly.” He smiled, “Job well done by the way. Until next time.”
Healer Amoni watched him leave with Healer Laina and the nlaikha before turning her attention back to Rakhabi who appeared to be sleeping now. She shooed away all but two of the mlaikha and had them push the hovering table behind her. She had a good idea about where Rakhabi and her soul mate would enjoy living during their stay. “Yes,” she thought, “I know just the place.”
CHAPTER SEVEN:
Death
Shorty slowly worked his way towards the back of the cave. The lamp in his helmet glowed brightly; its wide beam illuminated the dark and cool surface of the cave. He had found droppings of some large animal by the front entrance, but no other signs since then. He had found no signs of smaller animals at all.
The cave was wider than it was tall and was slowly dropping in height. Where the ceiling had been a good meter over his head at the entrance, he was now stooped over slightly. The cave took a curve back towards the camp to his right, and he found himself on his knees crawling under the still lowering ceiling. He shone his light well ahead of him and saw that it appeared to gain in height again. Sure enough, when he had crawled another three meters, the ceiling rose dramatically forming a large pavilion-sized cavern. To his right, the rock formed a shelf about knee high and angled up to where it met the ceiling. The slope was littered with loose rocks that had shaken loose from the roof and walls to his left. Water was seeping from a crevice and sung a constant cadence of drips into a small pool on the floor. The water trickled across the floor from the pool and disappeared in a large crack that ran width-wise across the cavern. Directly in front of him at the far end of the cavern, a large stalagmite rose from the cavern floor and nearly met a spiked stalactite hanging from the cavern ceiling. To either side of them, the cave branched off into two tunnels. The left one descended quite steeply. His light was not strong enough to pierce its depths. The right one, however, looked very promising as it descended at a more manageable rate. It was so slick though, that he knew he should not traverse it alone. That, and if the tunnel continued on very far he could easily get lost down there.
He turned around and headed back out of the cave. It took a lot less time to go out, but then he wasn’t being as cautious as he was on the way in. One could never be too careful he thought as he rounded the corner and headed towards the bright oblong hole that marked the cave’s entrance.
So intent was he that he failed to notice the large green eyes that blinked as he walked by. He also failed to see the large shape that detached itself from the back of the cave entrance and padded quietly after him, stopping only when it was a pace away from the intense light that landed on the cave floor.
He turned off his headlight as he walked out of the cave blinking and squinting at the light to which his eyes were no longer adjusted.
Looney Rooney was stretched out on the ground toward the bottom of the hill not 60 paces from the entrance to the cave. He sidestepped as he descended the sharp incline taking care lest he lose his footing and find himself rolling down the hill. When he reached Michael (which took longer than he had expected), he had still not moved an inch. “Wake up there Rooney, or did you go and die on me?”
Looney Rooney didn’t turn or move other than to wave his hand wildly behind his back trying to silently shoo him back or keep him silent.
“Well at least I can tell you’re alive,” he said as he took another step forward. His shadow, now lengthening out, fell in front of Rooney’s face and he rolled over half cursing under his breath.
“You self-absorbed jerk!” he exclaimed struggling to get his stiff limbs under himself. He would have toppled down the rest of the cliff, but Shorty fastened onto the front of his shirt and straightened him up on his feet. His arms continued to whirl wildly until he realized he was no longer in danger of rolling down the cliff. He blustered and stuttered for a few moments unsure of whether he should continue his tirade or thank Shorty for keeping him from an untimely death or serious injury. He settled instead on a weak glare.
Shorty took advantage of the fact that words were slow coming to his lips. “I’m sure you’ll never see another of whatever that was in your entire stay here will ya! Don’t hold it against me now. If you hadn’t noticed, the sun is almost down behind the hill. I’m sure they can still see it back at the settlement, but we’d better get back or it’ll be dark before we are there. We definitely don’t want to tempt the nightlife.”
Looney Rooney continued to glare at him, but his words belied his thoughts. “Yea, I hadn’t noticed! I really don’t want to be out here after dark until I know more of what’s out here.”
“There was still plenty of light up at the cave entrance, but it will get dark quickly in these hills.”
Together they set off back the way they had come. “Thirty ticks are all it should take. You need to be more careful Rooney,” Shorty said. “Either bring someone else with you or don’t lie down and get so absorbed in what you’re doing. If I was a predator, you’d never have gotten your weapon out in time to use it.”
All he got in response was a grunt. It was still hot, even though they were behind the shadow of the foothills. They stopped next to the river after 15 ticks to rinse themselves off since they both had a good portion of the hill clinging to their sweaty bodies. Not long after that, they rounded the last hill and the settlement came in sight. It already looked quite organized from a distance. “We can head back up there again at sunrise, but make sure to bring some help. I will too, there’s much to do.”
“If you are bringing someone else anyways, I’ll just go by myself. I mean with someone of course, but not where we were today. I want to go further up the ravine and take water samples along the way.”
“Can you wait a day to do that? I need you to come inside the cave with me and test the water and some of the other mushrooms for edibility. If we ever have a collapse, we will need to know what we can eat and if the water’s ok to drink.”
“O.K., I’ll give you one day and then I’m back to what I need to be doing for everyone else. Now I gotta go while there’s still a bit of light or I’ll never find my tent. I’ll meet you here just after sunrise.”
“Perfect. See ya.”
They turned and headed their separate ways. Shorty was tired and hungry, and the smells alone wafting towards him from everybody’s cooktops didn’t help that one bit.
Mwene Crisópraso flinched as he looked upon the scene in the small room on the other side of the one-way window. When he had ordered a rescue team to tesser to the bridge to search for survivors, he had almost hoped there were none. Now he did for sure. His advisor Nenele was the only one left on the bridge. When they found her, she had still been screaming uncontrollably and had to be cut and peeled off the surface of the bridge where she had literally melted onto its rugged surface.
She was sedated now, but her silent screams continued to echo in his mind. It would have almost been more merciful to not save her life, but they were a life-loving people and would never stoop so low as to encourage death as a way out of a difficult or painful circumstance.
Making the situation even more critical was the second heartbeat that beat an erratic cadence within her. Unlike the children in the aliens, this child was already tuned to his mother, and separation was impossible without killing one or the other of them. On the positive side was the fact that she was from here and the healer knew what they could and could not do to save them.
If – no – when she survived and bore the child, she would have to be monitored closely. For that matter, the child would have to be as well. There was something about the child that wasn’t quite right. He resisted every attempt of assistance, yet there was something that kept his erra
tic heart from stopping completely. Even attempts to scan him with the core rod resulted in just shadowy reflections of what they should have been seeing.
Nenele lay face down on the table in the center of the examination room. She was elevated and restrained by a force field that would keep her from losing more flesh from sticking to its solid surface. There were four healers that were gathered around her. Two were linked and acting in concert to re-create a layer of tissue that would act as the muscle and skin that should have been covering her entire body. Another was attempting to stabilize her vitals and the last was attempting to break through the defensive barrier around the child.
So much had changed. Only yesterday the Mwene had only had to concern himself with the normal everyday affairs of managing his mwendom. Not much had changed in the last twelve thousand turns of recorded history. The prophets had foretold these events, but such civilization-changing events “never” happen in your own life. That reminded him of the compiled volumes of prophecy that he really needed to re-read. There were even some that had not yet been transferred over to the newer and more secure slate system.
He took one last look at Nenele and mumbled a prayer that the Creator would give the healers wisdom in caring for her. He silently hoped that the guards and Baryesu’s death had been quick and painless.
Hundreds of spans above Mwene Crisópraso, concealed within a dark crevice in the middle of the long bridge between worlds, huddled Baryesu. He was still alive though you could barely call him that. He “dove” for cover when the Mwene’s rescue team had come by. The small part that was still him wondered why he had done that. He had no feeling in his body. No pain. No ability to taste or smell. He heard nothing, saw nothing. Yet, he perceived everything. Frost was forming on his extremities, and yet it troubled him not a bit. He was but a charred husk of his former self. He obviously could not return to life as he’d known it. The moment he began to wonder what he would do now, a new “other” part knew what he must do. He must set himself apart from the others. They would not understand him now. He must protect himself. He must get strong. Then and only then, he would begin to gather those around him that would appreciate him for who he now was, not for who he had been.
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