by J. E. Foltin
CHAPTER SIX
LIFE ENTERS THE WORLD
About two o’clock in the morning, there was a loud yelling heard from the women’s side of the cube. Ten minutes later, another.
“I think the baby is coming!” Twyla yelled.
Thankfully, Akiko was in the pod next to her and heard her screams. She ran over to attend to her.
She asked her neighbor Luisa to help get her to the center of the cube. She was already awake. Not having a cigarette in four days had caused her to have insomnia. As they helped her to the center, her water broke.
When they reached the center, Akiko asked Luisa to go find Michael to help her with the birthing.
Not knowing which pod was his, she woke each man up as she searched. After the seventh try, she finally found him. She told him that the contractions were starting and that Akiko needed his assistance.
After putting on a new jumpsuit, he ran to the table to help. He saw that she was still in the early stages and still had plenty of time.
As the others came to the table for breakfast, they found it a little difficult to eat with her suffering through her first childbirth.
Meanwhile, the power pumps caused a new crisis. With the pumps available to all nations, the nations of the world wondered how the water boundaries would be determined.
For example, the United States claimed the Pacific Ocean, but so too did Russia, China, Chile, and Japan. How much of the ocean would be made available to each country? If Russia didn’t think they were given enough territory, what would be the consequences?
Likewise, the United States could lay claim to the Atlantic Ocean, but so too could Brazil, England, and the west coast of Africa. The countries of the world feared the United States would get too big of a share of the pie.
Then, there were the Arabic countries. They calculated how much money they stood to lose from the new source of fuel. They threatened to go to war with the Qadarians.
It was decided that before the first of the pumps became operational, all concerns would be voiced, and a fair agreement would be made to boost the ailing economies of all nations, not just a select few.
In Newark, the first of the followers began to arrive. Howard would hold a rally that night to unveil his plan to send the Qadarians packing. Or at least expose them as the frauds they were.
As lunch approached, Twyla was well into her labor. She had dilated to three centimeters. Michael was there holding her hand every step of the way.
After lunch, Levi spoke to the twenty-four.
“Good day. How is everyone doing today?”
“Most of us are doing fine. However, Twyla is having her baby.”
“Baby? You mean reproducing?”
“Yes.”
“We are curious to see how your species reproduces. How does it happen?”
Everyone there flashed back to that moment when they had to give “the talk” to their child and explain to them where babies came from. Just like then, none of them felt comfortable enough to tell them. They turned to the expert, the doctor, to provide the answer. Even Akiko was nervous, but she told them.
“The male human has a penis. The female has a vagina and ovaries. The ovaries store eggs.
“When a man and a woman engage in sexual intercourse, the man puts his penis into the woman’s vagina. At the peak of arousal, the male ejaculates sperm into the female.
“Hundreds of thousands of sperm swim through until they get to the ovaries. The sperm fertilizes the egg. At that point, life is created.
“After a period of around nine months, the fetus is grown enough, and the female gives birth.”
“How do you reproduce?” Scott asked.
“We aren’t nearly as physical as your race is. Ours is more of what you would call an asexual reproduction. We reproduce once during our life expectancy. When we reach our thirtieth year, our fingers and toes drop off.
“Each of those grows into a new life. Each of those is a newborn Qadarian. Now that we have told you how we reproduce, we wish to see a demonstration of how you humans create the fetus.”
Again, an uneasy feeling fell over the twenty-four. While they had gotten to know each other over these past four plus days, none had grown to that intimate level. One did try to “take one for the team”.
“Jessica, would you like to have sex with me, just as an educational experience for them?” Travis asked.
“No way. Ew.”
After talking it out, they felt the most suitable demonstration would be between the two who have had sex before, the husband and wife.
Benjamin and Tracy agreed to show them, but they couldn’t do it with an audience watching. The other twenty-two turned their backs to them.
Still, they couldn’t perform knowing the others were present. The others stepped away from the group.
The Lundquists took off their clothes and lay on the floor. Knowing the Qadarians were watching still hindered their efforts.
“You could always pretend I’m Ignacio,” Benjamin stabbed.
“You aren’t helping.”
“Just making a suggestion.”
It was the most awkward sex they had ever had, but the Qadarians seemed satisfied with their presentation. When they put their clothes back on, the rest returned.
Twyla’s cervix had dilated to four centimeters. Michael began breathing exercises with her, exercises that she had learned in her Lamaze classes. Akiko asked the Qadarians for a few supplies to help her.
As the birthing continued, the group talked amongst themselves. The topic came up about when each person lost their virginity.
“There has only been one woman in my life,” Francis said. “I met my wife Alice back in high school. We dated for several years.
“We waited until the day we were married to have sex. I was just about to set sail for Vietnam. We got married at the Justice of the Peace, and then spent the night at a motel. The next day, I left for war.”
“Roy Wohlford,” Barbara said. “I met him as a freshman in college at a frat party. He was interested in me in a room full of beautiful women. He made me feel special. In one foolish moment, I decided to have sex with him I never saw him again after that, but I heard he bragged about the moment to all his brothers.”
“I already told you about mine,” Christian said. “My friends took me out to Vegas to pop my cherry. She said her name was Bridget Kelly. You never know if a prostitute is giving their real name.”
“I met Tomiichi Kojima before I moved to the United States from Japan,” Akiko said, taking a break from birthing. “He was handsome, tall. He was also my next door neighbor.
“One night when our parents were away, he came over. One thing led to another. Soon, we were in bed.”
“In my tribe,” Michael said, “we believe that it’s bad karma to have sex before marriage. I haven’t had sex, and won’t until I marry.”
“I, too, am choosing to remain abstinent until marriage,” Cassidy said. “Boys have tried, but my body is a temple, a palace no man can enter without my permission.”
“Her name was Sandra Gross,” Scott said. “She was my date for Prom. I had wanted to ask her out for a long time, but only then could I get up the nerve to do so.
“We rented a hotel room and spent the night there. Somehow, how I pictured it and how it happened were totally different.”
“I met Edward Burke on the set of one of my first movies Fit for a King,” Jessica said. “Though we didn’t have any spoken lines in the same scene, we did share a few scenes. I was smitten at first sight.
“Two weeks later, production wrapped. He took me out to celebrate. That night, we had sex. He said he wanted a serious relationship with me.
“A month later, he left for a film in England. I never heard from him again.”
“Well, I can say I had sex with Pamela Anderson,” Wyatt said. “No, not that Pam Anderson.
“I was nineteen. She was twenty. We dated for three months before having sex. The most memorable thirty-nine
seconds of my life. Two months later, she dumped me.”
“Dean Krebs was in my biology class,” Tracy said. “He sat behind me, slipping me notes every so often.
“We started dating. He took me up to Lookout Point. In the backseat of his Buick, I lost my virginity.”
“Janet Mullenger was my date for Homecoming,” Benjamin said. “We had a couple dates before the dance.
“It wasn’t until after the dance that we had sex. I will never forget it. It was such a terrible experience that I didn’t have sex again until I met Tracy.”
“Keenan Murphy was friends with my older brother,” Neveah said. “I was seventeen; he was twenty.
“He said he had a crush on me, and I was dumb enough to believe him. One night, I let him have his way with me. It hurt so much, yet he wouldn’t stop no matter how much I screamed.
“A few weeks later, I found out I was pregnant. He denied being the father, but since he was my first and only, he had to be. As I said before, he made me get an abortion.”
By now Twyla’s cervix had dilated to six centimeters.
“Spencer Quinn was one of my first clients,” Chloe said. “I worked with him once a week. Soon, it was twice a week.
“Eventually, he asked me out. I knew it was wrong to mix business with pleasure, but he seemed harmless enough.
“After a few months, we decided it was time to take the next step. That was when we had sex for the first time, my first time.”
“I am reminded of the Virgin Mary,” Dennis said.
“Stop. That’s enough. Every day, we have been spilling stories of our personal lives and you have been quoting Bible verses, not telling us a thing about yourself. What are you hiding?” Quincy said.
“Fair enough. I met my wife Ruth when I was in Bible College. She had the voice of an angel and a voice to match.
“A year and a half later, we were married. It was only then that we consummated our relationship.”
“When I was seventeen,” Bella said, “I was asked out by Ryan Celce, the quarterback of our football team. He made me feel like I was special, something few others in my school did.
“That was until he had sex with me. Once that happened, he discarded me like a candy bar wrapper. He really hurt me.”
“I had almost the opposite happen to me,” Travis said. “When I was sixteen, my friends set me up with the school slut Shelly Grabowski.
“I knew I was done way too early, but she never let on. She kept me excited well after I was spent.”
“I knew my first husband Charlie Parker since I was five years old,” Helen said. “He lived just a few houses down the road from me.
“We played together as kids. When we hit high school, we started dating. For my twenty-first birthday, he proposed to me.
“We were married a year later. Only then did we finally have sex for the first time.
“I miss him so much. We were only married for a few years when he died in a car accident.”
“Loretta Horowitz was my Prom date,” Wayne said. “She wasn’t the most popular girl in school. Then again, neither was I.”
“She wasn’t my first choice for Prom, but she was the only one who said yes. We had fun at the dance.
“Like so many others, we carried that fun back to the hotel room. It didn’t last very long, but I will never forget it.”
“I wish I could forget my first time,” Luisa said. “I was a sophomore in college. I was walking home from a fraternity party. I did have a little too much to drink.
“Still, that doesn’t condone what Alejandro Vargas did to me. We had gone on a few dates. He wanted to have sex with me; I wasn’t ready. That didn’t stop him. He forced himself on me. He held me down and ripped off my panties from under my dress. I screamed ‘Stop’, but he kept going.
“He stole that precious moment from me. We broke up that night, and I filed rape charges against him. Thankfully, he paid for his crime by going to jail. Not long enough, as far as I’m concerned.”
“My first time was with a girl named Sheryl Rosenblum,” Quincy said. “In the early nineties, it was still taboo for a black man to date a white woman, especially in Detroit.
“We never bothered anyone. To us, love had no color boundaries. We didn’t care what everyone else thought.
“After a few dates, we decided the time was right for sex. It wasn’t her first time, but it was mine. Both of us enjoyed that brief moment.
“In the end, we felt it best to part ways a few months afterward. Things started getting violent, not between us, but the way people reacted to us. We stayed friends, but for her safety, I broke it off.”
“Celeste Thibault was a cheerleader at a rival high school,” Marc said. “We first met when my basketball team played hers. I hit the game winning shot. As I fell to the ground and looked up, she was the first person I saw.
“It was love at first sight. I asked her out the moment I stood up. She said yes.
“We dated for six months before we finally had sex. We would still be together, but she left for college. I got hurt and couldn’t go with her to Central Michigan.”
Twyla was fully dilated. Akiko told her to start pushing. The pain was intense for Twyla. Michael stayed with her every step of the way, holding her hand and comforting her. While the Qadarians did make available the supplies needed, the one thing they couldn’t provide was pain relief.
“I first met Cody Holmquist online through match.com,” Robin said. “A friend of mine met her man on that site, so I figured I would give it a shot.
“After chatting a few times, we decided to meet. We hit it off instantly. It wasn’t long before we were an item.
“A few months later, we felt the time was right for sex. At least it felt right at the time. After that moment, we thought otherwise.
“It was too quick to jump into that. We backed off for a while. Eventually, we went our separate ways. Guess those websites aren’t always right.”
“I met Kelsey Booker at basic training,” Brody said. “I took a bad fall off the obstacle course and twisted my ankle pretty bad. She was the nurse that took care of me.
“After she fixed me up, I knew I had to get to know her better. I would go back making up stories of stomach cramps and such just to talk to her. Eventually, I asked her out.
“We dated a few times. The chemistry between us was something I had never felt before. One night, the passion between us just grew to the point where we had sex.
“Then, a few weeks later, she was deployed to Iraq. I still had to finish basic and couldn’t go with her. If not for that, I would be married to her today and not my wife.”
As Twyla continued to push, Akiko said she could see the head. After a few more pushes, the baby was born. It was a girl. Akiko used the scissors provided to her by the Qadarians to cut the cord.
Twyla was still in pain. This wasn’t over yet. As Akiko looked a few minutes later, she said, “Another head is coming.” Twyla was unaware she was having twins.
After a few more pushes, the second baby was born. It was a boy. “Is that it?” Twyla asked jokingly.
“I believe that is all,” Akiko said.
“You did great,” Michael said.
The Qadarians were watching the entire time, witnessing the miracle of birth.
“Is it normal for your species to reproduce in pairs?” Levi asked.
“No,” said Akiko. “The norm is usually a single child. Sometimes, more than one egg gets fertilized that creates multiple fetuses. Other times, the fertilized egg will split into two creating twins. It’s not rare, but it’s not common.”
As mother lay with her two newborns, she was asked what their names would be. When she first learned she was pregnant, she decided on Adam if it was a boy and Eve if it was a girl. Since she had one of each, and given the circumstances, she decided to use those names.
Now that the excitement was over, the Qadarians delivered a Chinese dinner, with shrimp fried rice, egg rolls, wonton soup, Peki
ng duck, kung pao chicken, moo sho pork, and, of course, fortune cookies.
“Well, since everyone else had their say,” Twyla said, having had time to recover, “my first was Bruce Muldoon. I was a bit of a wild child in high school, willing to go out with anyone that asked me.
“Bruce was the first, though, that wanted to have sex with me. It was a bit painful, but I enjoyed it. I decided Bruce wasn’t the man I wanted to date exclusively.
“Once we broke up, he spread the rumor that I was easy, that any guy could score with me. Needless to say, I got many offers for dates, but I knew what they really wanted. I limited my dating after that.”
Each of the twenty-four took turns holding the babies. Twyla asked the Qadarians for formula, diapers in abundance, and twin strollers and basinets. They obliged.
It was a happy time inside the cube.
Meanwhile in New Jersey, Howard revealed his master plan to his gathering of followers, which reached two hundred. When the curing tents were made available to the general public, a few of them would pose as patients wanting the cure-all. One would incite the Qadarians to attack. The rest of the group would fan the flame into panic and riot.
But that wouldn’t be for a few days.
