by J. Naomi Ay
“Stop it, Senya,” she said quietly, glaring at him.
“What's the matter?” I asked. “Is he giving you hot flashes?”
“He's giving her something,” Jerry mumbled and his brow furrowed.
“Oh screw it!” Katie cried and jumping up, she bolted out of the restaurant.
“Excuse me,” Ron said, and quickly, I moved out of the way because he was obviously anxious to go after her.
“Must be fun,” I said into my beer.
Jerry made a noise and stared morosely into his.
Chapter 9
Shelly
Dear Shelly,
Thank you and the Admiral for intervening on my behalf. It turns out that I am only getting a reprimand for using an unauthorized weapon. Command is not going to charge me with murder for killing Prince Akan. One of the Admirals even suggested I should get a medal for it. What a relief! We're all doing better now although I'm stuck in this nasty, itchy cast for at least six more weeks. Senya is heading back to Takira-hahr tomorrow morning when the spaceplane meets us at the next base. He's feeling much better. In fact, too much better. I'm afraid he'll be out doing what he was doing that got him into this mess in the first place.
Please let Thad know he has been my rock through all this and I owe him big time.
Love,
KdK
Dear Katie,
I'm so glad you are feeling better and everything has worked out. I see that Ron is back in the office but I'm not sure he is feeling well. He seems to be seriously disturbed by something and we are all watching him anxiously. He's cancelled all patient appointments for the time being even though Thad says he's working around the clock in the corporate offices. Thad doesn't know what is taking so much of his time though. Thad also wants to know if you're going to be at the board meeting at the end of the month. He thinks if you possibly can, you should. Especially, if Ron is going to be acting as weird as he has been lately. We don't want the Board of Directors scared away.
Shelly
Message sent scrambled and security coded from an internet kiosk on Spacebase 43.
Dear Shelly,
Please don't share this email with anyone, especially Admiral Tim.
While Senya was ill, I made a very bad decision. The Alliance was holding the Mishnese contingent that had accompanied Akan to Spacebase 37 and were responsible for the destruction there. I told Berkan to ransom the contingent with SdK-Rehnor funds. The Mishnese government doesn't have any money and SdK does, so I felt it was the right thing to do. I didn't think it fair that the Allied taxpayer should have to pay to imprison these guys for the rest of their lives especially when they were only following Akan's orders. I also thought it would demonstrate that Senya was very generous and forgiving.
Berkan and Thad both disagreed with me on this and they insisted that Senya would not allow it but I pulled rank on both of them which is the first and last time I am ever going to do that because they were right. When Senya found out about this, he was livid. He was beyond livid. I've never seen him like that.
The money I used was supposed to go to some big project the Rehnorian company was working on and would have really helped the economy in Mishnah which is seriously bad. I don't know how many people we would have employed, but it would have been a lot and in addition, there would have been thousands of collateral jobs generated too. I guess I'm personally responsible for the continuation of the Mishnese recession.
To make matters worse, Senya said that the Allied government is corrupt and all the ransom money isn't going to go to the survivors and victims of the attack but squandered by the politicians, so all I did was pay them off, not help anybody.
He yelled at me to stay out of SdK business and Rehnorian government business and then he left and I haven't spoken to him since.
K.
“I'm sorry, Dr. Ron isn't seeing any patients right now,” I told Mrs. Griggs. “Dr. Jason can see you on Tuesday.”
“I want my husband to see Dr. de Kudisha,” Mrs. Griggs demanded. “I will pay whatever is necessary.
“It's not a matter of money,” I told her. “Your insurance coverage will pay. How does 2pm on Tuesday sound?”
“With Dr. de Kudisha?”
“No, with Dr. Jason Eckland.”
Mrs. Griggs stomped her high heeled foot and pursed her expensive plastic lips.
“What if I gave you a hundred dollars?” she said.
“Me?” I laughed. “You're trying to bribe me for an appointment?”
“If that's what it takes,” she said snippily.
I was just about to let her have it. I was thinking up my best retort when lo and behold the door opened and the devil himself walked through.
“Dr. de Kudisha!” Mrs. Griggs declared to which he walked right past her as if she didn't exist and disappeared into his own office.
“He's busy,” I said haughtily.
She turned on heel and slammed the door as she left.
“What was that?” Janet asked, coming out of an exam room with some files.
“Nothing,” I replied, looking at Ron's closed door. I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Janet called another patient in to see Jason and I typed up a few insurance claims that I had waiting on my stack. Ron's door stayed closed. I wanted to know what was going on with Katie. I rang him. He didn’t answer. Janet came back with more files.
“What's the matter?” she asked. “You're looking nervous.”
“I'm going to see if Ron's alright,” I said.
“You think he's not?”
“Maybe.” I knocked on his office door. No answer. I looked back at Janet. She shrugged. I opened the door and went in. At first I didn’t see him. He was in the corner by the window, behind the desk. He was sitting on the floor, holding his head. It reminded me of the first time I saw him in the RSI hospital room.
“Are you okay, honey?” I said cautiously, realizing of course that he was not okay. “Do you have a migraine? Can I get you anything? Do you want Jason or Donak to come here?”
“No.”
I went and squatted down in front of him just as I did that first time.
“Senya,” I said. “Let me help you. Tell me what you need.”
He didn’t respond. I could see his hands were trembling. Rising to my feet, I went back to the door and told Janet to ring Donak. Then I shut the door and went to sit down beside him.
“My son Larry would never tell me anything,” I said. “Thad tells me every thought he ever has but Larry would always clam up and suffer by himself. I learned early on with Larry that all I could do was sit patiently next to him and wait until he was ready to tell me what was wrong. Sometimes it took hours. Sometimes it took days but eventually he would open up and then I would help him get through it. That's kind of what a mother does.”
“You cannot help me.”
“Yes I can. Oh, I know you've got major big problems like I can't even imagine but sometimes it helps to tell someone who will listen, someone who cares about you, who even though she didn't give birth to you loves you like a mother anyway.”
He turned his gaze on me. His eyes were exceptionally bright. I wondered why Donak was taking so long.
“You love me?”
“Well of course I do, sweetheart. You and Katie are our family. Tim and I are so very proud of the both of you.”
“Tim does not like me.” He was trembling as if he had a fever.
“Tim adores Katie,” I laughed. “He doesn't like you because you aren’t good enough for her. Nobody would be good enough for her. Not even a future king.” I winked though he didn’t see it.
His hands were shaking violently now and his teeth were chattering. I grabbed one hand and tried to hold on.
“I waited too long again,” he started to sway, “I am sorry, Shelly.”
“What are you sorry about, honey?” It was all I could do to hold onto his hand. “It's not your fault.”
“I cannot understand how to stop this
,” he stuttered through his teeth.
“You'll figure it out, sweetheart. I know you will.”
“No,” he said and then opened his mouth but all that came out was a strange moan. The light flashed from his eyes, blinding me for a moment and then it went dim as his eyes rolled back in his head.
“Janet!” I screamed as his whole body convulsed. “Janet! Janet!”
Janet and Jason ran in and immediately, Janet pulled me away.
“Stay over there!” she ordered and threw herself on top of Ron to try and pin his limbs down while Jason tried to hold his head down and shove a mouth guard in so he wouldn’t bite off his tongue.
“What the hell is that?” I cried as a horrible roaring noise sounded outside. Several patients who were in the waiting and exam rooms peeked in through the door.
“Get out!” I shouted and was about to slam the door when Kenak and Donak came racing through.
“What is that noise?” I asked them.
Donak was already kneeling next to Jason as Kenak ran to the window.
“It's dark, terribly dark,” he cried and pointed at the sky.
“Oh lord!” I gasped at the mass of swirling yellow, red and grey clouds. “It's a tornado!”
“More than one,” Kenak pointed, “oh dear, oh dear, what do we do about such a thing?”
The roaring was coming closer and it sounded like it was heading straight for us. Kenak and I watched in horror as trees were ripped from the ground, speeders were picked up, tossed into the swirling masses and then propelled outward across the parking lot. The sign from atop one of the buildings was in the twisting heap as well as street lamps and park benches.
“Hold him still!” Donak called and for a moment, I glanced back to see that Donak had started what looked like an IV but was actually supposed to work the opposite way, drawing blood out instead of putting fluid in. Ron was shaking violently and blood was splattering everywhere. Donak's needle flopped out.
The first tornado looked like it was heading right for us.
“Get away from the windows, Kenak,” I screamed and grabbing his arm, we ran to the back of the office. The windows shook and rattled as if a giant monster were outside trying to break them in. The tornado passed over us and then another one came. A speeder crashed against the window and the glass shattered. Thankfully, it still held.
“What the hell is going on?” Janet screamed as a second speeder rammed our window.
“Hold him, Jason!” Donak yelled as another needle flopped and a river of blood drained on to the carpet.
The patients were pounding on the door, the vids were ringing and the noise outside was horrific until all of a sudden, it just stopped.
“He's stopped,” Janet said, lifting herself off Ron a little ways. “I think he stopped.”
“He did,” Jason agreed, wiping the sweat from his eyes. Kenak went back to the window and looked outside. The sky was bright pink and there were odd colored clouds still swirling but they were high and far away now.
“It's a mess out there,” he said.
“It's a mess in here,” Janet replied, sitting back on her heels. “Shelly, can you go tell the patients to shut up?”
I opened the office door and squeezed through. There were four or five hysterical people in the outer office.
“The storm is over,” I told them. “Go home. We'll ring you to reschedule as soon as we can.” They filed out just as Thad came racing in.
“Are you okay, Mom?” he asked, grabbing my arm and even though I felt like collapsing into his arms, I nodded yes and took him back to Ron's office. “Another seizure?”
“Yes,” I said.
Inside, Ron was now sitting up, leaning against the wall though his head was sideways. His eyes were closed and he was mumbling something.
“Dude, you're on Rozari,” Janet was saying. “Speak Rozarian, dude.”
“Are you alright, Sehron?” Donak prodded. I saw that the latest IV had fallen out again.
Thad knelt next to Ron, getting blood on his trousers. “She's not here,” Thad said. “She's off in space. She'll be home next week, remember?”
“You speak Mishnese, Thad?” Kenak asked astounded.
“A bit,” Thad replied and turning back to Ron, said something.
“Ay yah,” Ron responded, along with something else.
“It's okay, dude,” Thad replied in English. “I didn't see any lightning. It was pretty wild out there though. Tornadoes seem to be your weather system of choice these days.”
Ron mumbled again.
“No, I don't think anyone was killed,” Thad said. “You wrecked a few speeders. You want me to drive you home?”
“Ay yah,” Ron sighed. His eyes were nearly closed with only a little bit of light escaping.
“Come on, dude, let's get you up.” Thad griped him under the arm and Jason took the other one and between the two of them, they got Ron back on his feet and stumbled out the door.
After they left, I called Tim who reported that seven F4 tornadoes were sighted in Kalika-hahr this afternoon.
“Someone needs to figure out how to stop this,” Donak said as they walked out.
“Perhaps it is time he went back to Rehnor and destroyed his own planet instead,” Kenak murmured.
Chapter 10
Caroline
Katie was pregnant. She didn’t know it. She thought she had some strange form of space sickness that made her tired all the time and throw up all day long. I could see it though. Her boobs were twice the size of normal and she had a huge pimple on her chin from all those excess hormones. Jerry saw it too.
“How far along do you reckon?” I said.
“When was the last time he was here? Six, seven weeks ago,” Jerry stared at his fingernails. “We ought to take a look. Make sure the kid's okay. Might have some blood issues.”
“I'll call her in. I won't tell her why though.”
Jerry nodded. “Hey Caroline,” he said. “Do you know what the probability of a mutant Rozarian impregnating a Human is?”
“No. I would think it wouldn’t be very likely. He's Rehnorian, remember? Maybe they're different. You think maybe it's not his?”
“It's his,” Jerry muttered. He was looking at his fingernails again.
“Well, they are allowed,” I replied.
Jerry pushed his glasses up his nose with his finger. “He's going to screw her over and now she'll be left with his kid too.”
“No, he's not,” I cried. “Just because you wish it so ain't gonna make it happen.”
Jerry smiled a little.
“Go bring her in and let's take a look at the little guy.”
“Or little girl. I hope she comes back after her shore time. It would be so much fun having a pregnancy aboard.”
“Why exactly am I coming down to sickbay?” Katie asked. I had waited until she was off duty. She was obviously dragging and her face looked almost as green as a Talasian. “Do I get to get my cast off?”
“Jerry wants to run some tests. You're not feeling well,” I replied. “You might be able to get your cast off.”
“I'm okay.”
“No you're not.” She got into the lift and didn’t argue.
“What kind of tests?”
“Just a scan probably. Maybe a little bit of blood work.”
“Great!” Jerry greeted us as we entered the sickbay. “I was hoping to try out that nifty, new SdK scanner on somebody and who better than Mrs. SdK?”
Katie offered him a weak smile. She was afraid we were going to discover she had a tumor and was dying. Most patients limped into the bay for their physical, certain they were about to hear a death sentence. After we told them nothing was wrong, they practically flew out of there.
Compliantly, Katie lay down on the bed while Jerry adjusted his scanner. It took about ten seconds before the little image appeared. The screen flashed with its vital signs. Everything looked completely normal.
“What are you guys looking at?” K
atie whispered.
“You've got a growth in your uterus,” Jerry replied seriously.
Katie turned away and tears started leaking from her eyes. “I felt a lump,” she said.
“That’s your uterus growing.” Jerry glanced at her and then winked at me. “It’s definitely got a lump in there. In about seven months, it's going to be a really, really big lump.”
“How big?” I asked.
“Oh,” Jerry mused thoughtfully. “I'd say about eight pounds, twenty-one inches. But that's just a guess. Let’s see what Dr. SdK’s scanner thinks.” He hit a few buttons. “Hmm. The scanner thinks it’ll be twenty-two inches.”
Katie was weeping and didn’t hear him.
“I'm going to go grab something,” Jerry said and disappeared into his office.
“Probably for the best,” Katie sobbed.
“What do you mean, honey?” I handed her a wad of tissues.
“I'm not cut out for the job anyway,” she blubbered. “It was all my fault.” She mumbled something about thousands of jobs and economic recovery and I don't know what else. “I can't do it. I just can't do it.”
“Sure you can, honey,” I said, but I hadn’t a clue what she was talking about. “If anybody can do it, you can.”
She shook her head and cried some more.
“What's the matter?” Jerry sighed, coming back with a tiny computer chip. He pushed it into the slot on the SdK monitor.
“It would be better if I just died,” Katie sobbed.
Jerry looked at me with raised eyebrows.
“Hormones,” I shrugged.
Jerry nodded and turned the monitor back on. “I forgot the audio chip,” he said. “Now, listen to that.”
“What the hell is that?” Katie shrieked, ending her melodramatic sobbing.
“Sounds like a nice strong heartbeat to me,” I replied. “Can I see the picture again, Jerry?”
“Sure,” Jerry said and adjusted the monitor. I peered over his shoulder. “Let’s see if we can get a better angle.”
