Once again, Kala began panting and making a whining sound as her body tensed in contraction.
“The contractions seem to be coming relatively regularly.” I said while trying to act as calm as I could, but actually I was a nervous wreck and felt I should be doing something, but at the same time having no idea what it should be. I walked to Kala’s side and put my hand on her shoulder as though somehow it would help.
“Don’t touch me,” Kala snapped through gritted teeth. “This is hard enough without you touching me!”
“Sorry,” I muttered and then as her contractions subsided, I said.
“Ship, we were traveling at sub light speeds when I awoke, how did that happen?”
“When it became apparent that the ship was going to impact the planet Desolation, and neither of you had regained consciousness, emergency programing disengaged the Gravity Wave generator and slowed the ship.”
“Why didn’t you initiate a course change or do a controlled landing?” I asked.
“Automated navigation control processes were damaged in the impact with a ship.”
I sighed, “Is the atmosphere on this planet suitable for human habitation?”
“Atmosphere is suitable for human life.”
I looked at Kala, who by now was covered in a sheen of perspiration. She lay with her head back on the pillow, and her eyes closed.
“Kala, how are you holding up?”
“I’m having two babies, how do you think I am holding up?” Kala said with a cold tone. I had heard that during labor that many women take on a less than cordial demeanor, especially toward the father of her children, I was starting to worry that this might carry over after birth.
Over the next hour Kala didn’t speak to me much and most of the sounds that came from her were grunts, screams, and occasionally terms and phrases that were more akin to curses than communication. The med unit continued to announced with regularity when contractions were about to begin and gave a periodic countdown as to the time the babies would arrive. On the screen I could see the vital signs being displayed for Kala and the children as well, though I had no real understanding if they were normal or something I should be concerned about. As the final moments drew closer the med unit began to instruct me on actions that I would have to take in delivering the twins. Unlike the med unit on the NEW ORLEANS, which could actually perform surgery, the med unit on the ALI was only able to provide diagnosis, administer some medications and instruct an individual on how to treat another individual, so it was up to me to assist in the delivery of my offspring.
The last words Kala spoke to me before Lunnie made her way into this world, and yes Lunnie was first as though it could have been any other way, was, “Tib if I knew when I first met you what I would be going through now I would have asked for a transfer to another ship,” and then the med unit computer announced. “Contraction beginning, prepare to receive first child.” As Kala began to pant and groan, her eyes squeezed shut tightly, I looked down to see the head of a small child beginning to appear. Moments later I found myself lifting a small and screaming Lunnie in my hands as Kala gasped.
“Is it over? Which one is it?” She gasped.
“It’s Lunnie, and yes she’s perfect,” I said as I looked down at her red and crying face.
“Contraction beginning, prepare to receive second child,” the med unit droned, catching me off guard as I expected there would be more time between deliveries. I barely had time to sever the umbilical cord as instructed by the med unit and lay Lunnie down on the bed beside Kala, who began panting again and straining. Unlike Lunnie, Reidecor didn’t seem to be in any rush to join his sister in the outer world and a few moments later the med unit announced, “Contraction ended, fetus delivery delayed.”
“What happened Tib? Is the delivery over? She asked in a weak voice.
“No, he’s not here yet, perhaps on the next contraction. You need to push harder!”
“Push harder! What do you think I am doing here? Taking naps!” Kala snapped and I noted the tone of anger and frustration in her voice, something I had never heard before, for the first time I realized that she was undergoing more pain and stress than I could fully understand. I had no time to contemplate this as the med unit announced, “Contraction beginning, prepare to receive second child.”
This time there was no delay, Kala began panting, grunting, and pushing so hard I feared she would die from the effort, and this time Reidecor didn’t have a choice, as with one loud grunt Kala pushed him forth from her loins.
No sooner was Reidecor free from Kala’s womb, than he began crying and instantly Lunnie, who had been crying up until this moment stopped and opened her eyes, and I swear she smiled. I know they say babies don’t smile at this age, but I tell you she smiled.
I had little time to reflect on what was going on as the med unit began giving me instructions on how to clean and care for the babies. The ship’s clothing synthesizer had managed to produce small blankets and thin diaper-like items for the babies. I had scarcely finished cleaning up Lunnie when Kala asked.
“Are they all right? I want to see them.”
“Yes, yes,” I said as I placed Lunnie in her arms and then began cleaning up Reidecor. I was surprised to find I was both grinning and shedding tears at the same time, as I wrapped Reidecor in a warm blanket and placed him in Kala’s other arm.
“Oh Tibby they are beautiful,” Kala exclaimed. I noted her smile and I reflected on how quickly the pain and agony of previous moments seemed to be replaced with joy as she gazed on the faces of our children.
“You did a good job,” I said, “how could they be anything but beautiful?”
Kala looked up at me with a huge grin. “Yes I did,” she said with a twinkle in her eye, “and just look at you, the proud father with a grin on his face and tears in his eyes.” I reached up and wiped the tears with the back of my hand as Kala asked, “Could you please get me something to drink? I’m parched.”
Both Lunnie and Reidecor had quieted after being placed in Kala’s arms and though I found myself tired, my work was not yet over as med unit began directing me in how to deal with Kala and the placenta afterbirth. I was able to get Kala from the bed and into the only chair in the small cabin while I changed and disposed of the bedding materials in the recycling replicator. When I came back in the cabin again it was to find Kala nursing both children and I was awe struck at the beauty that mother and children radiated as the enormity of the miracle of birth struck me, and the realization that these children were a part of me and Kala both.
I lay down next to Kala with the twins between us and quickly fell asleep. I have no idea how long I slept but when I woke up Kala was nursing Lunnie and Reidecor again. I knew I needed to check out the ship and our situation from the outside. Since our crash landing, events had moved so quickly I hadn’t had any chance to check out the planet. After making sure Kala and the twins were okay and all their immediate needs were taken care of, I returned to the control room and began consulting the ship’s computer as to both ship’s internal and external conditions. It seemed the ship was inoperable as far as flight was concerned. Life systems were still functional, the food synthesizer still worked, and we would not starve as long as it worked. That was the good news; the bad news was we were light years away from help, we had no GW message pods to launch for help and it would be years before standard messages using the emergency radio beacon would reach any inhabited worlds in the Federation. Our best hope was that some random ship passing near to us would pick up our distress message and rescue us. Until then it looked like we were not going anywhere.
Normally the external ship’s sensors would read the atmosphere for composition outside, but they were damaged in the crash. Information stored in the ship’s computer about the planet indicated that there was a breathable atmosphere, but I was reluctant to give it a try. Kala informed me that there were back up atmospheric sensors in the airlock, and once I opened the outer airlock door the view screen on the door co
ntrols would provide readout for the air. I was concerned, wondering if the airlock door would open, as we didn’t know what external damage had been done to the hull, or if anything might be blocking it.
My first attempt to open the outer lock didn’t do anything at all and a red light on the control panel indicated the circuit was damaged. After rerouting the circuit I crossed my fingers again and hit the button. There was a terrible screeching sound as the door slowly began to open. Through the internal view port I was able to see that a slab of rock had been tossed against the door during our crash, and it was lying against the door. The screeching was produced as the surface of the door dragged across the rock. I glanced at the control panel screen and noted the air was within acceptable breathing levels for humans, though it was a bit lean on the oxygen, and the effect would be similar to about 3300 meters altitude on Earth. I should have thought to stop opening the door once there was enough room to pass through but I didn’t, and abruptly the door cleared the end of the rock slab and the slab fell into the air lock blocking the closing of the door again. I realized instantly that this was going to be a serious problem, as clearly the rock was too heavy for me to remove.
“Damn,” I muttered in English, “Isn’t ANYTHING going to go right?” I pushed the button for the inner airlock door which fortunately functioned as it should. Even though I knew there wasn’t any chance of the rock that obstructed the outer door being moved, I tried it anyway but even my best efforts refused to budge it. Unless I found a way to break it up into smaller pieces, it was staying where it was. I climbed up and over the rock and to the exterior of the ship; what greeted me there was not what I had hoped, and I felt the weight of despair settle over me. I stared at a desert landscape of rock mesas surrounded by sand, and sparse plants that resembled the desert Joshua trees of old Earth. The sky was a dark blue black with a bright sun that lit the reddish yellow sand. Two moons, one white and the other blue, hung in the sky providing a picturesque view. If I had not been so disturbed by our situation, I would have found it truly beautiful.
The first thing I did after glancing about for life signs was to survey the exterior of the ship, it had managed to plow up about 500 meters of soil and rocks on its landing. The second thing I noted was the damage to the nose of the ship, and that it looked to be more than what would have occurred from the landing. There was a long scar that appeared to have been caused from a glancing blow to the top of the ship where it may have impacted some large object. I was able to climb the dirt piled on the one side of the bow to where it reached nearly the top of the ALI, and from there I was able to walk out onto the ship’s top. As I followed the scar, I discovered an object imbedded in the hull about half way down the ship. There was something familiar about the object, I knew it didn’t belong there, but what was it? Then I remembered the rods that protruded from the Tottalax ship and how they had glowed just before Kala and I blacked out. Were these part of the Tottalax sleep weapon? I walked over to the rod, which was about 300mm in diameter and knelt down and examined it. It was embedded in the hull of the ALI, but how deep I could not tell. I could see where it had broken off the Tottalax ship and it was hollow; I assumed that there had been some instruments or electronics inside of it, but those were gone now.
I stood up and looked about. From the higher vantage point, I was able to see a lot more of the surrounding area. We had crashed in a desert basin surrounded by tall rock mesas, similar to those in an area called Utah back on Earth. There was scant plant life about but nothing that looked useful for anything more than a fire, if the plants would even burn. I noticed a small decline coming in from two directions in the plain area that might be a place where a stream could exist, it was about 200 meters from the ship. I descended from the ship and began to walk toward the ravine, when the thought struck me that it might be wise to take a weapon with me as I didn’t know what I might encounter. I turned back and re-entered the ship, I was retrieving a small laser pistol from the arms locker when I heard Kala calling me.
“Tib, have you been outside?”
“Yes, I was just out there looking over the ship.”
“How bad is it?”
“It’s bad. We definitely are not going anywhere in this ship. I’m afraid we are here until someone gets our distress call and comes to rescue us.”
“At least we can use the ship for shelter, and the replicator is still functioning,” Kala said. “I checked the reading on the fusion reactor and while we have greatly reduced power levels, it seems to be holding constant at the same level and is providing enough power for life support.”
I noticed that Kala was lying on the bed next to the babies, and she had some pads attached to her abdomen with wires running to the med unit.
“Are you sick?” I asked.
Kala looked at me and then glanced down to her stomach. “Oh, these. These are just electrical stimulation pads that use mild impulses to cause the muscles to contract and help get me back into my pre-pregnancy shape. Don’t they have anything like this back on Earth?”
“Ah, I don’t know to be honest. I never kept up on such things. I do seem to remember hearing some women discussing stretch marks and doing exercises after child birth, but I never paid any attention to them.”
Kala shook her head and then asked, “So, what’s it like outside? Other than the ship, I mean.”
“It’s mostly desert. There are some sparse treelike plants, but they look pretty barren. I spotted what might be a stream bed near here that I want to check out, but I felt I should take a gun with me. I have no idea what may be out there.”
Kala said, “I’ve checked the computer records earlier, and they mention some animal life forms but nothing extremely threatening. Most of it is quite small. The computer says that the majority of the animal life here is nocturnal as a means of surviving the periodic solar flares. During the days the animals survive by hiding underground in small caves and rock crevices where the solar flares can’t reach them, that’s how they survived. Even the plants here retract their blossoms and leaves during solar flares, and their thick barks and outer husks are capable of deflecting all but the most intense flares.”
“Were there sentient life forms here at one time?” I asked.
“Yes, there was a growing civilization here once, and according to the computer, there are ruins about the planet from then, but the sun unexpectedly began flaring frequently, and the environment changed. Over a period of 1000 years, the civilization and the people all died. That was about 9,000 years ago, now the flares are less frequent but still take place often enough to prevent colonization. There aren’t any resources here with sufficient value to make it worthwhile for anyone to come and risk the flares to exploit the resources here.”
“Why didn’t the people simply leave the planet?” I asked.
“They never reached that level of technology, and no civilizations visited the planet and made contact with the natives here before the solar flares. There is some evidence that indicates they may have had limited flight capabilities, but it was all very primitive, and they never made it out of the atmosphere.”
“I see. I guess I should have thought of that.” I responded as the sounds of whimpering came out of our cabin.
“Oh, it sounds like Lunnie is waking up and wants to be fed.” Kala said as she turned to the door.
“How do you know it’s not Reidecor?”
“Ha,” Kala said. “Lunnie is just like her name sake. I assure you it,s Lunnie, and like her aunt, she too won’t wait to be second for anything. Come see for yourself.”
I went to the room, and sure enough, it was Lunnie crying as Reidecor slept soundly beside her, with no signs of distress at the noise. I picked Lunnie up and almost immediately she stopped crying and opened her eyes, peering into my face.
“See, she wants her daddy’s attention,” Kala said as she walked over to me with a grin.
“She can’t really see me,” I said. “I read somewhere that babies can’t
focus their eyes for several days after they’re born. Besides, I’m just a person to her, she has no concept yet what a mother or father is.” I no sooner said this than Lunnie’s face wrinkled up, and she let out a loud yowl.
“I think you better apologize to your daughter. I think you have offended her,” Kala said with a laugh.
I was staring at Lunnie’s face, and I swear she was staring me in the eye with a look akin to anger, and it nearly made me laugh. I jokingly said, “All right, Lunnie, I’m sorry. You know I am your daddy.” To my surprise, she immediately stopped crying and looked at me with a calm and curious face.
“Here, let me have her,” Kala said as she reached for Lunnie. “It’s about time for her feeding.”
“Do you need me to stay and help you, or can I go and check out the ravine for water and any signs of life?” I asked.
“I think I can handle things here, but don’t be gone too long. Reidecor likes to sleep, whereas Lunnie seems to hate sleeping, but as soon as he wakes up both of them will want attention at the same time, and your help will be appreciated.”
“I’ll try and not be more than an hour, “I answered as I headed for the exit hatch.
It was only a short walk to the ravine; it turned out to be deeper and wider than it appeared from the ship. It actually was more like a slot canyon than a ravine, and it was larger than I had expected. From the top where I stood it appeared to be about 15 meters deep and about 10 meters wide, and carved out of solid rock that seemed to lay only about a meter beneath the soil. In the bottom of the canyon, I could see a small shallow stream of water, which varied in width from 600 millimeters in some places to nearly the width of the canyon in others. I looked about for a way down, but all I could see was nearly smooth, vertical rock walls; surely there would be side channels that would slope down from the desert around me to channel water down into the canyon. I would just need to look about and find one. While I was looking down into the canyon, something caught my eye. It seemed that one of the rocks was moving. I looked closer and noticed a trail on the sand behind the rock and realized that it was indeed moving and dragging itself through the sand, leaving a trail behind it. My first thought was it might be a turtle, but I saw no legs, nor did I see anything that resembled footprints on the sand. Slowly, the rock-like creature reached the water, entered and soon disappeared beneath the surface, where the glare on the water obscured its path. I decided to move in an upstream direction of the canyon in hopes of finding a smaller ditch that might slope down into the canyon. I hadn’t gone too far when I came across an area strewn with rubble and clearly appeared to be a portion of a wall, made by some intelligent life form, which protruded out of the sand. As I looked around I could see outlines in the sand that indicated that at one time a number of structures had stood in this location, and from the arrangement, it must have been a small town or city.
Solbidyum Wars Saga 5: Desolation Page 6
