by Ann Williams
“But why? I see many expectant women.”
“Yes, but you forget that this is all relatively new to us. In the past few decades we have been so busy developing our technology that we have spent little time learning how to birth babies.
“There are many subjects covered in the archives at Government House—childbearing is not one of them. Unless we simply have not found it yet.
“Many women die when the child comes and so does the child. We know what to do,” she said sadly, “we just don’t do it well.”
Marina’s eyes darkened with sympathy. “But surely among the people who were not infected by the drug, there are knowledgeable women who could teach you what you need to know.”
“Perhaps. But travel among the various groups around the world is very difficult. And the government has many devices to hunt us down and kill us. If we could all band together, perhaps our numbers would be great enough to make a difference. As it is, we are merely thorns in the side of a great monster who would devour us all.
“With the machine Sammell has developed, we can change all that. But these things take time, and if Bartell has access to MDAT before Sammell can stop him, then we are defeated before we begin.” She studied Marina closely. “We need all the help we can get.”
Marina raised an eyebrow. “Are you thinking I might be able to help you?”
“Can you?”
“I…don’t know. You’re far more capable than I am. What could I do?”
“Do you know anything about childbearing?”
“I used to live on a farm when I was growing up and I saw plenty of babies being born—baby animals, that is. And in college I took a course in first aid and another in natural childbirth,” she answered doubtfully. “But—”
“Anything you could teach us would be of great value,” Gissel said eagerly, losing some of the aloofness with which she’d treated her up to now.
“But I’m only here for a short time,” Marina reminded her. “Sammell plans to send me home as soon as he returns with MDAT.”
“Do you want to go?” Gissel asked, watching Marina’s reaction to the question.
“No,” she answered simply. “I want to stay.”
“You care for Sammell.”
“Yes.”
“And he cares for you?”
“He said he does.”
“Then why does he want to send you away?”
“Sam is very—” Marina broke off to search for the right words. How could she say what she meant without embarrassing Sammell?
“Ignorant?” Gissel asked, smiling when she saw the indignant expression flash into the other woman’s eyes. “I do not mean stupid,” she explained hastily, “I mean he does not understand many things—” she gestured to her heart and then toward Marina’s. “—the way you and I understand them.”
Marina smiled. This woman understood far more than she had given her credit for. Sammell was indeed a fledgling when it came to love and emotion.
“He’s afraid for my safety,” she explained. “He feels very responsible for my being here.”
“But you can help us! And if you go back—” Sitting forward, Gissel suddenly grasped both of Marina’s hands. “If his plan works, you and Sammell will never meet. Has he thought of that?”
“Yes,” Marina answered sadly, returning the woman’s comforting pressure.
“I will speak to Sammell.”
“No!” Marina said quickly. “Don’t do that, please. It wouldn’t help and…”
“And you do not want him to know about his conversation,” Gissel added wisely. “Very well, I will not speak to him of our conversation, but I will help you change his mind.”
“You will? Why? I thought you didn’t like me.”
“Indifferent,” the other woman corrected, “I said I am indifferent, not that I dislike you.”
“All right, but why do you want to help me?”
Gissel pressed one of Marina’s hands flat against her abdomen. “I am with child. I do not want my baby to die— I do not want to die. If you can prevent that, I would gladly go before King Wyndom himself on my knees.
“Darryn and I were both born in incubators,” she said as if that explained everything. “But we are a family now and we hope to have many children.”
It was not a testimony to Marina’s great charm, but it was an honest answer. And if she were in the other woman’s place, Marina thought she’d feel the same way.
“Thank you for wanting to help me. I would be glad to help you in any way possible when the time comes—if I am here.”
Later Marina lay on the bed where she and Sammell had made such beautiful love together and prayed for his safe return. She loved him very much, but talking to Gissel had made her think about her own family, her brothers and their wives and children and her mother and father. She would be leaving them all behind if she stayed here. Could she do that? For a little while she’d thought she could, but when it came right down to it—could she?
Life in this world would be very different from her own. Even if the government was overthrown, life here would be far removed from the idyll she’d planned once she’d found a man whom she loved enough to want to settle down and raise a family.
She loved Sammell with her whole heart, but…
No! No buts. She had found the love of her life.
“Sammell,” she whispered, a warmth spreading through her at the sound of his name. She hugged the pillow where his head had rested, inhaling a scent that was all his, and felt an ache begin low in her body. Was he thinking of her?
The ache grew until she couldn’t stand to lie in the bed if he wasn’t lying beside her. She stood and went to the curtain. Pulling it aside, she stared out at the people, most of whom were now at rest. A child cried out and a woman moved to its side. Another woman held a baby to her breast, her husband at her side, his arm around her, his head bent to watch the suckling child.
Sammell was not her only reason for wanting to stay here. He was the main one, of course, but there was a great deal she could teach these people. Teaching was her profession. And she was darned good at it.
There was a time when she’d thought about giving it up if she got married, but now she knew she couldn’t. She realized that teaching was a very important part of her. And there were plenty of children here—not to mention the adults—who could benefit from her tutelage.
She didn’t know if it was fate—she didn’t even know if she believed in fate—but something had sent her here. And here was where she wanted to stay. These people needed her—Sammell needed her. Now, if she could only get him to admit it.
The night dragged on. Marina dozed, sometimes in the chair, sometimes in the bed. Sometimes she paced back and forth in the small room. But whether she was awake or asleep, Sammell was never far from her thoughts, a prayer for his safe return on her lips.
Sometime later Gissel came to her door. “Marina, are you awake?”
“Yes. Come in.” Sitting up on the side of the bed, she asked, “What is it? Has there been word from Sammell?”
Gissel came to her and sat beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders. “There has been a weapons fight in the city. And an explosion at the lab. Martial law has been declared.”
“Sammell?” Marina asked quickly, jerking away from her. “What about Sammell—what does that mean? Oh, God, what does that mean?”
“It does not look good.”
“Then we have to get help to them,” she said quickly, surging to her feet. “We have to get help to them,” she repeated. “Don’t just sit there. Get up! You wanted to fight—so let’s fight! I’ll go with you. Come on, we have to find them—we have to make certain they’re all right.”
“There is nothing we can do. If we leave, we jeopardize the safety of everyone here. I cannot do that.”
“Then I’ll go alone!”
Gissel stood. “I am truly sorry, but I cannot allow that.”
“You mean you’d try to sto
p me?”
“I would stop you.”
Marina stared at the other woman’s uncompromising expression. “You know nothing about love!” she whispered harshly. “If you did, how could you stand there, carrying a man’s child—knowing he is in trouble—and do nothing to help him?”
“Perhaps, as you say, I know little about this emotion you call love, but I am old in the ways of war. We must wait.”
“I hate you,” Marina said without passion.
“Yes, I know you do. At this moment, I hate me, too.”
It was said with such heartbreaking truth that Marina found herself feeling sorry for the woman. Tears spilled onto her cheeks. She bit her lower lip against the pain in the other woman’s eyes and looked away.
If Sammell died…
There was a sound from the other woman and Marina glanced back at her. Tears rolled down Gissel’s cheeks. And suddenly they were holding each other close, worry and fear for the safety of the men they loved making them sisters in this dark hour of despair.
Chapter 13
None of the adults got any sleep that night. Gissel led Marina to the communications room and they sat, drinking hot sassafras tea and listening to the police-band radio.
They knew Sammell and the others had managed to get away from the lab, but one of their number had been wounded in the explosion. Marina couldn’t meet Gissel’s eyes because of the thoughts running through her mind. She was praying very hard that Sammell hadn’t been the one injured.
The hours dragged by. They drank a gallon of tea, and everyone took a turn pacing. And the tension mounted.
As they continued to listen to the radio, they heard that a squad of police had spotted the fugitives huddled in a ditch beside the road and a vapor bomb had been sent into the ditch after them. Marina was on her feet and at the door with a cry of helpless protest on her lips when Gissel stopped her.
“Wait! We have underground passageways all through the city. That is how we have managed to run our spy network so efficiently, despite the curfew. Give them a little more time. It is quite possible they have gotten away.”
The woman’s words gave Marina new hope. The alternative was unthinkable. And again the hours dragged by and Marina paced the floor. Every now and then her glance would seek out Gissel and she would study the woman’s calm demeanor with a feeling of growing impatience. How could she sit there, looking so serene, when the father of her unborn baby might be dead?
About the time her own patience had stretched beyond its limits and she thought she might scream in frustration, a commotion outside the chamber drew everyone’s attention. Marina bounded eagerly toward the entrance and then abruptly hung back. If it was bad news, she didn’t want to hear it.
Gissel had already left the room. “They are back,” she stuck her head in the doorway to cry with relief.
Marina pushed past her and hurried toward the Great Hall, where she could see a group gathered. Two men were carrying a third on a makeshift stretcher. For an instant she thought the injured man was Darryn and couldn’t restrain the gladness filling her heart. And then a man stepped forward to give them instructions and she saw Darryn’s face in the firelight. Her glance immediately sought the stretcher and Sammell’s smoke-blackened face.
He looked dead! She rushed forward to hear Darryn tell Gissel to prepare a place near one of the fires for the injured man. He was in shock.
They placed Sammell near the large central fire and Darryn prepared to examine him. But Marina shouldered her way through the crowd and dropped to her knees at Sammell’s side. She did not trust anyone else to examine him—she wanted to do it herself to determine the extent of his injuries.
At first Darryn appeared almost angry at her intrusion. But when it was apparent that she knew what she was doing, he relaxed. And when she called for light to examine Sammell’s eyes for signs of a brain hemorrhage, and cloths and water to clean the grime from his face and hands, he sent someone to fetch what she needed.
In a short time Marina had ascertained that Sammell had no outward sign of broken bones and no serious lacerations or contusions. But she couldn’t be one hundred percent certain about internal injuries without X rays. And his continued state of unconsciousness worried her.
When she spoke with the other men, she learned that he’d been unconscious since getting caught in the lab explosion. Darryn said that though they had given themselves plenty of time to leave beforehand, Sammell had been the last to leave. He’d wanted to make certain beyond any doubt that nothing, including the blueprints for MDAT, would remain.
They’d all been outside when Darryn realized Sammell wasn’t with them. He’d gone back to find him and gotten trapped by a unit of police. Sammell had acted as decoy so Darryn could get free, but then he’d gotten caught himself. He’d barely made it to the door when the explosion had hurled him into the air. Fortunately he’d landed on the soft ground and not the wide granite walkway that led to the building.
Sammell had been injured saving Darryn’s life. That’s the one fact that stood out in Marina’s mind. And she couldn’t help feeling resentful of that fact, though she felt ashamed of the feeling and tried not to show it.
When she was finished with her examination, she washed Sammell’s face and hands and attended to the cuts and bruises. After that, she asked that he be carried to the chamber they’d been given. She followed the men closely, making certain they handled Sammell with the utmost care. But she needn’t have worried. Sammell was a fallen hero in their eyes and they treated him with reverence.
After the men had gone, she sat on the bed smoothing the blond hair back from his face and gently exploring the bruise on his left temple. She had to touch him, feel the warmth of living flesh beneath her fingertips, to make herself believe that he was here, safe and alive.
“The trip was a success.”
Marina turned to find Gissel at her elbow. “I thought you would like to know that all prototypes and blueprints for MDAT have been destroyed along with the government machine. Only Sammell’s machine remains.”
“I’m glad.” But in truth, with her eyes fastened on Sammell’s bruised face, she didn’t feel much gladness. Still, she knew he would be glad to hear the news when he awakened—if he awakened.
Marina felt a hand on her shoulder, and Gissel said encouragingly, “He will recover. You must believe that. I do.”
“I hope you’re right.” She tried a smile, but knew it had to be a sorry example of one.
“I will leave you now,” Gissel said. “If you need anything, stick your head outside the curtain. Someone will come.”
“Thank you.”
The other woman hesitated and turned back. “We leave tomorrow,” she said abruptly.
“Leave?” Marina twisted to give her a quick look. This was the first she’d heard about leaving. She’d thought they were only safe if they stayed in this rabbit warren beneath the ground.
“We must move our base of operations away from here now. Soon the government police will find this place. After tonight it is inevitable. They will find the passageway Darryn and the others used to make their escape, and it will eventually lead them here.
“Besides, we have made it a practice to remain in one place for only so long and it has served us well. We have been here longer than any other,” she added sadly. “It has begun to feel like home.”
“Are you sorry to leave?”
“In a way, yes—in a way, no.”
“Where will you go?”
“To the mountains.” A smile creased her face. “I look forward to the mountains.” Putting a hand on her abdomen, she added, “I want my child to be born in sunshine.
“Besides—” eagerness made her words stumble into each other “—a larger group of our people awaits us there. They have fought their way to us from a far-northern sector. Our numbers will swell to three times what they are now. And with the added force we will be able to mount a large-scale attack and drive the government police fr
om our city.”
“You mean fight—as in warfare?” Marina asked quickly. “But I thought you were going to let Sammell try it his way first.”
Gissel glanced toward the bed then hurriedly away. “He is not able to do that now. And we must strike while we have the advantage.
“In the raid last night, we managed to secure a few weapons. They are few, but they will help us. The police are still reeling from the victory we scored against them. We must keep the advantage, show them we are strong and that tonight was only the beginning.”
“What about Sammell?”
“He will go with us. He is a hero.”
“And me?”
“You must come, too. That is what Sammell would want. And perhaps when he awakens and sees what help you have been, he will change his mind about sending you away.”
“What about MDAT? I didn’t see it when the men returned.”
“It is hidden. They could not carry it all the way here and carry an injured man, too. We will recover it from its hiding place when we leave.”
Marina nodded. “Good night.”
“Good night to you,” Gissel replied. “Get some rest. Tomorrow you will need all your strength.”
When the other woman had gone, Marina scooted off the bed and took a seat on the chair. Folding her hands on her knees, she gazed at Sammell. A hero. He didn’t look much like a hero with all the scratches on his face and the bruise on his left temple, lying so still and pale against the pillows. He looked like…Sammell…the man she loved.
Leaning forward, she touched his cheek. How cold it felt. The two men who had carried him into the room had removed his jumpsuit and placed a blanket over him, leaving it folded to his waist. Marina pulled it up to his chin, her hand lingering to trace the fullness of his lower lip.
He’d be all right—he would be all right! He had to be!
The hours dragged by, and Marina’s eyes began to grow heavy. Her head drooped on her shoulders….
