by T. S. Ryder
"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 briefest 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.
She only hoped that their attackers would think the same thing and retreat.
The sounds of weapon fire quickly drowned out Zon's voice. Lisa looked around wildly. There was no door to close on the tunnel, a security feature, as the air would quickly run out in this small space. It wasn't equipped with the atomic restructuring technology that Zon told her they had on ships–they could actually break carbon dioxide down into its base atoms and reform the carbon and oxygen atoms into other molecules.
Lisa shook her head. Now is not the time.
The bed was the only thing she could move, so she quickly flipped it onto its side to at least create a barrier between herself and whoever might come in firing. She crouched behind the bed, her grip tight on her gun. Noise echoed down the tunnel, too confusing to make out any individual noises. Her heart hammered, and the ridiculous notion that she should run down the tunnel and put herself in the middle of the battle to force them to stop fighting came to her mind.
She might have actually done it, too, if the sounds of battle hadn't suddenly ceased. Lisa's heart stopped with it. What had happened? Was Zon dead?
Her eyes flickered closed as tears blurred her gaze. Without Zon, how was she meant to protect her baby? She would be sold to the highest bidder, either to be cut up in some lab or paraded around like some sort of freak show. And if they wanted her alive… would they take the risk that her pregnancy might damage her health?
Footsteps.
Lisa tensed, aiming her gun at the tunnel. Her gaze went steely. If it wasn't Zon, then she was going to take out as many as she possibly could.
"Halo lights."
Zon's voice had her jumping to her feet. She was at the tunnel entrance before he stepped inside. Lisa launched herself into his arms and passionately kissed him. Tears ran down her cheeks.
"Get a room," somebody muttered behin
d them.
Lisa pulled away to see a half-dozen aliens in the tunnel, grinning at the two of them. Her cheeks flushed, but Zon gripped her tighter.
"Lisa, these are my men. They got here just in time." He kissed her again. "Come on. It's time to leave this planet."
Chapter Nine
Lisa had never been one for sci-fi shows. The science in them was usually so horribly researched that it left her wanting to vomit, rather than entertained. Now she realized that while the science was off, the application wasn't as bad as she had thought. When Zon brought her to his ship, she was fascinated by everything she saw. People walked around using holographic tablets, wearing goggles to scan the walls to check connections. There were even stations, called molecule breakdown stations (MBS) where waste of all sorts was broken down into its individual atoms and reformed into whatever item was needed, similar to how oxygen was produced.
"This is amazing," Lisa said, looking around the medical bay while Zon sat beside her.
Her fingers itched to explore all the technology around her, and it was difficult to make herself lay still for the doctor to perform more in-depth scans of her midsection. Rather than the wand scan that Zon had performed, the doctor put her on a bed, exposed her belly, and pressed small nodules to it. These scanned her insides and built a 3D holographic image of what she looked like.
Zon still wanted to be sure that she was actually pregnant and not carrying a parasite. The holographic image of her uterus was bizarre to look at, but what was even more bizarre was when the doctor refocused the image so that the embryo could be seen. She wasn't even far enough along to be carrying a fetus yet. The projected image didn't look remotely human or baby like. In fact, it looked like a terrifying mix between a tadpole and dinosaur.
Lisa clutched Zon's hand. She had seen images of embryos before. According to her knowledge, this would eventually develop into a baby.
"The genetic scans confirm it," the doctor said. "T'Shav DNA."
A rush of relief washed over Lisa and she couldn't stop a laugh. She turned a beaming smile to Zon, but his brow was furrowed in worry. Seeing her expression he attempted a smile, but she could see his heart wasn't in it. It dampened Lisa's enthusiasm a little. The doctor turned off the scanner and removed the nodules from Lisa's belly.
"How likely is it that it will be carried to term?" Zon asked.
"The risks of hybrid babies are well known. I can start the procedure to—"
"Don't you dare." Lisa narrowed her eyes and glared first at the doctor, then Zon. "I made my choice, got it?"
Zon sighed. "Lisa wants to wait until it's further developed, to make sure that it will pose a risk to her life before it's removed."
The doctor frowned. "We might not know that until the fetus is fully formed, at which point it will be so far along that ending the pregnancy will come with severe risks. I would feel much better about this if—"
"You don't have to feel good about it," Lisa interrupted. She didn't like how the doctor was talking to Zon as if she wasn't even in the room. "I want to see a genetic comparison between my DNA, Zon's and our baby's."
The doctor glanced at Zon, who nodded. Lisa folded her arms, glaring at the doctor, but thanked him when he gave her a tablet with the information on it all the same. To her relief, the DNA was expressed in the familiar double helix pattern. There were a few things where she had to ask for translation and clarification, but within a few minutes she set aside the tablet and smiled.
"As far as I can tell, I'm not carrying a hybrid baby."
Zon's brows rose.
"See for yourself," she said to the doctor, who returned to them with a doubtful expression. "All major points in the DNA are congruent with Zon's. My 'universal' DNA means that I'm carrying a T'Shav baby."
"She's right." The doctor's jaw dropped as he rechecked his results. "Why didn't I—"
"You weren't looking."
Before either of them could continue, Zon had scooped her into his arms. Lisa protested, given his injuries that hadn't fully healed yet, but he ignored her and carried her through the corridors. The beaming smile on his face was enough to keep her from continuing to protest.
He deposited her on his bed in his room. Other than the bed and a wall of weapons, it was utterly empty. Lisa's eyes brightened as Zon lay beside her. She slung a leg over his hip, giggling breathlessly. The euphoria of knowing that she was pregnant and that there was no danger from having a hybrid baby had her libido, which seemed to always be simmering, flaring to an inferno.
To her disappointment, Zon didn't do much other than share a few kisses before he tucked her into the bed, pulling the blankets up to her chin. Lisa sighed.
"I'm not made of glass. Just because I'm pregnant—"
"I know. But it's been a trying few days and we both need our rest."
Lisa tried to kick herself free from the blankets. "I'll rest better if I get rid of some of this excess energy first…"
Zon chuckled and shook his head. "No, my love. We need to talk as well."
Talk. The dreaded word. Lisa had hated it whenever one of her boyfriends said they needed to talk. It always end badly. She twisted the blanket in her hands, not replying.
"First, I want to say I'm sorry for insisting we end the pregnancy."
"You were worried for me," Lisa replied, stroking his face. "I can't be angry at you for that. I'm just glad you decided to wait and see, and not take matters into your own hands."
A pained look crossed Zon's face and he nodded. From the fearful expression in his eyes, Lisa suddenly realized that he had been far closer to doing just that than she had realized. At her shiver, he moved closer, wrapping his arms around her. His devil-red skin was as hot as flames and felt good in the cool air of the ship. Apparently, heating took up a lot of energy. That made sense. After all, they were in the dead of space.
"What else do you want to talk about?" she asked quickly.
"Well, since you are going to have my child, I thought that you should know more about my species."
Lisa nodded. That made sense, too.
Zon shifted, as though he was trying to get even closer to her. Lisa attempted to grind herself against him, but a hand on her hip stopped her. Dark eyes smiled at her and he chuckled low in his throat, shaking his head.
"T'shav don't marry," he started. "Many other species have commitment ceremonies, but we don’t. It's unnecessary. We simply have mates. The females choose what males they want to be with, and they are with them for whatever length of time they want. Usually, many females gather to the same male, to have companionship and help raising their young. They usually stay with one male until they have a child old enough to protect itself and then move on."
Lisa scowled, now struggling to free herself. "I'm not sharing," she said bluntly. "If any other female shows up and tries to be your mate, either she goes or you both do!"
Zon laughed out loud. He clasped her tighter in spite of her struggles and nuzzled her neck. "If there were other females, they would be here already. I'm not interested in more than one female. It makes me a rarity among our people."
There was no freeing herself, so Lisa stopped struggling. She huffed out an annoyed breath, though. "Why is that?"
"My people believe that our souls are born in the stars," Zon said. "Each star gives birth to one soul, which is in turn born into physical bodies again and again until the star itself grows old and dies. But sometimes, a single star will produce two souls. Those souls, no matter how far apart they may be when they are born into physical bodies, will always find each other. I knew from when I was a boy that I had such a starmate."
A cold ball slipped into Lisa's stomach. He couldn’t mean what she thought he meant… they had fun together. The sex was great. Maybe, with time, they could start talking about love… but this whole talk of starmates was just too serious.
"I don't know what my soul did all those years ago to be parted from you for so long, but from the moment our eyes met, I knew I
had found you. My starmate. I've waited thousands of years for you, Lisa." His arms tightened. "And I've finally found you."
He brushed his lips against hers, but Lisa couldn't make herself return his kiss. The whole notion of starmates was impossible. And the fact that Zon thought she was his… that was insane. But she couldn't tell him that, not after he had been so sweet to her. Instead, she mumbled that she was tired and turned over.
She didn't sleep.
Chapter Ten
"And this is the filter that detects any pathogens or foreign particles and analyses them before breaking them down to the atomic level." Zon's hand felt heavy in her own as he showed her the quarantine section for any new food or water taken on board. "Sometimes we have to jettison those atoms back into space, though. You wouldn't believe the weapons people create."
Lisa struggled to pay attention. All this should be fascinating, but she was too preoccupied by what she had learned of Zon's feelings for her. His starmate. She had to admit it had a nicer ring to it than soulmate; something more universal, maybe. But it was still terrifying. Yes, she had already planned to stay with Zon for the foreseeable future, but that was because she didn't know anything about this new world she had found herself in.
And we're having a baby together, she reminded herself. It wasn't like she could just leave him…
But love made things so much more complicated! She wasn't entirely certain that she believed that love was real, and not just a product of chemicals released in the brain. What happened when those chemicals ran out? What happened when Zon got bored of her and decided she wasn't his starmate after all?
Her arms wrapped around her middle as she turned and walked away, not even bothering to try to pay attention anymore. Tears filled her eyes as she thought of all the things that he could do with her after that. She was valuable. Who was to say that when she wasn't exciting anymore, when he got tired of constantly protecting her, he wouldn't just sell her again?
I'm his pet, not his starmate. He could tell me anything and I'd believe him.
