by T. S. Ryder
"What's wrong?" His voice was soft.
"Your musth is still affecting me."
There was a long pause. "I'm not in musth anymore. I've been out for nearly a standard week."
Lisa's blush deepened. "I don't know what that means."
"It means that you should not still be feeling the effects."
"It's the rush of endorphins from being rescued, then."
Zon chuckled. "Can't admit that you find me irresistible, huh?"
"Those people who had me on their ship," she blurted, trying to change the subject–yes, she found him very attractive, but that was all there was to it. Maybe that was why she was feeling desirous. She knew she couldn't have an emotional connection, and a sexual connection was the next best thing.
"What about them?"
"They said I had universal DNA. They told me what that meant, but it's impossible. I'm a genetic scientist, I know DNA. It's impossible for one species to share all its DNA with another species, but the second species to have a little extra it doesn't share. Evolution doesn't work that way."
Zon shrugged. "I don't know much about DNA and genetics. Sounds like a load of gushlot if you ask me."
"They said it was like I was human." Lisa held her breath, watching Zon closely. To her surprise, he laughed. Actually threw his head back, laughing so deeply that it turned to coughing.
He put a hand to his chest, bringing himself under control, and shook his head. "Don't worry about that. Humans don't exist."
Lisa's jaw dropped. "But they do."
"Your species believes in them?" Zon looked intrigued. "I'll admit, it's odd that so many planets have similar origin stories. The myth is that we all originated on a single planet, but a great war released geo-nuclear radiation and changed us, and our ancestors all left on ships, hundreds of ships that got lost from one another and eventually settled on various planets, rebuilding their populations."
Geo-nuclear radiation? Lisa's heart thumped hard in her chest. That was what she had been researching, its effects on human DNA, when she was taken. And she had been stored in a cryostatus, going at light speed. Who knew how much time had passed… She choked back bile. It couldn't be possible. It just couldn't.
"The name of this mythical original species always translates to human." Zon shrugged. "I don't buy it. If we were all from the same planet—"
"Earth," she blurted, hands trembling.
"Yeah. Some people claim to have found it…" Zon looked up at her and trailed off into silence. He frowned and reached for her. "What's wrong?"
Lisa stared at him. How could she say what she thought was true–knew was true? Her world was gone. Her home was gone. She had universal DNA because… because it was all true.
"I am human," she whispered. "I'm from Earth."
Zon's eyes widened.
"I thought that… that the aliens that took me from Earth were probably around here somewhere. But they aren't, are they? That was… it must have been thousands of years ago. We had only just traveled to the moon in 1969. I was born in 1987. I'm twenty-nine years old, it was 2016 when I was taken. But… but if humans are myths, if they left Earth long enough ago to develop into other species…"
A hesitant hand grasped her wrist. "It doesn't mean that it was your Earth, Lisa. There are other explanations."
"What explanations? Universal DNA. The fact that all you different species are humanoid and mammalian, not to mention that you do share some DNA, means that you came from the same source. And if human is the word for your creator species, if you came from Earth in ships… I was found in a ship going at light speed. Relativity means that I could have been there for what was only years for me, but thousands out here. And that's not even taking into account that I was in cryostatus, and there is no telling how long I was there."
"Lisa—"
"Earth is gone. My home is gone." Lisa huddled on the bed, wrapping her arms around herself. "What am I supposed to do now?"
Chapter Seven
If Zon hadn't assured her that they were miles underground and that the planet had a natural radiation that was harmless to organic organisms but made scanning difficult, Lisa would never have felt safe enough to fall apart the way she did. Even though she had had no idea about how she would get back to Earth, she had clung to the belief that she would, somehow, return. Now she knew that wasn't going to happen, and she curled up in bed, crying.
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, leavi
ng 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. But 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 briefes
t 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.
