As he approached, he saw that she was trapped under some paneling and concrete. With almost no effort at all, he threw the obstructing debris out of the way. When he reached the concrete and lifted it to the side, she moaned in pain.
“Thank you.” Her eyes were half closed from the pain. “What happened? I don’t remember anything after leaving the conference room.”
“I don’t know. Don’t move just yet,” he advised, helping her lie back.
Casting a nervous glance around, he placed his hands on the bleeding wound that had torn a hole in her pants. He closed his eyes, and a second later the wound had stopped bleeding. Another second after that, and it was like nothing had ever happened.
She blinked in amazement. “Wow, thank you. Guess I won’t be needing any morphine after all.” She tried flexing her leg and felt absolutely no pain. “That never gets old,” she said with a grin. He grinned back.
A second later, they heard running footsteps. Chase instinctively jumped to his feet and stood in front of Sarah, adopting a fighting stance. But it was just Ryonna, Ronan and Tar’Lock. Nonetheless, they stopped dead in their tracks at his reaction.
“Easy, Chase,” Ryonna said, a relieved smile shining in her eyes.
Sarah got up and dusted herself off. “Hey, guys.”
“Are you alright? What happened?” inquired Tar’Lock.
“We’re fine, and… I don’t know.” Chase looked worried.
Just then, Yanis came running. He tried to speak, but settled for frantic hand gestures as he caught his breath.
“I see you found another way out.” Chase grinned. He pressed his comm. “Commodore Saroudis, please respond?”
There was a crackle on the other end.
“Saroudis here. We detected an explosion on our sensors shortly after I arrived onboard Destiny. Is everyone okay?”
“We’re fine, Commodore; glad you weren’t in the building. We’ll need manpower to search for casualties and injured people; there might be some stuck in rubble.”
“I’ve already dispatched helper bots; they should be there shortly.”
“Good. Thank you, Commodore. We’re all—”
But just then, Sarah fainted out of the blue. Tar’Lock caught her with his super speed, but Chase grabbed the comm in alarm.
“Actually, Commander Kepler just collapsed. I’m bringing her to the Destiny; have the med-bay ready for our arrival.”
“I’ll let them know you’re coming. Hope she’s alright.”
“Thanks, Commodore. Chase out.” He clicked off and turned to Ryonna.
“What can I do, Chase?” she said preemptively.
“I’d like you three to look for survivors and assist the medic bots when they arrive.” He took Sarah from Tar’Lock, then turned to Yanis and added, “You’re with me.”
Onboard the Destiny’s med-bay, Sarah had been placed into an examination bed. A ring-shaped medical device scanned her head to toe. Then a ceiling-attached, laser-wave scan made some extra readings.
“How is she, Doc?” Chase asked nervously. He had been watching each scan like a hawk.
“I am not detecting anything wrong with her.”
“Her leg was broken. I healed her.”
The doctor’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? Would you mind explaining how you did so?”
“I really don’t have a clue. I just put my hands on the wound, closed my eyes, and everything happened automatically.”
“That’s handy. I have to say, it’s even more impressive if you say she had a broken bone, as I see absolutely no crack whatsoever on my scans.” He looked at Chase quizzically. “I would love to study these healing abilities of yours and see if we can replicate them with technology. Of course, we can already fix broken bones, but it takes time in the regeneration chambers and usually there is a tiny trace left when scanning a patient. For all intents and purposes, my scans indicate she’s never had that bone cracked. Or any others for that matter.”
“Sure, Doc,” he said impatiently. “But what about her current condition? Why did she collapse?”
“The only explanation I can guess is that it’s related to her pregnancy.”
There was a second’s pause, followed by a mild cardiac explosion.
“Her WHAT?”
“Right, it’s very early. She probably doesn’t know it either.” The doctor peered down over his spectacles. “But she is with child.”
Sarah was… with his… but… what?!
“You alright, Lieutenant Commander? You look… flushed.”
Chase flailed his right hand in response and sank down in the nearest chair. His mind was racing at a million miles a minute, but he was able to come up with a single question.
“Can you make a DNA scan of the fetus? Can you detect my DNA in there? Also, can you give me the approximate date of conception?”
“Let me check... It should only take a minute.”
The doc interfaced with the nearest monitors and brought up all info on the fetus. He then brought up Chase’s DNA from file and compared.
“Ninety-nine point ninety-seven percent match that your DNA is part of the child to be.”
“Shouldn’t it be a hundred percent?” Chase asked nervously.
“Well... I see a few possible explanations.” The doctor studied the screen. “Either the DNA is extremely similar to yours, perhaps a twin brother—”
Chase’s expression became grave but he let the doc continue with his assessment.
“…or, and this is more likely, our sensors aren’t exactly calibrated to detect human physiology with the same amount of precision as our own.”
“Isn’t our physiology the same as the people of Earth?”
“Mostly, Chase, but we evolved on another planet with another set of rules. There are still significant changes. Think of it as a sub-species, if you’d like. Sure, our main double-helix DNA is the same, but with changes due to environment, different gravity levels, and the like… all of it’s come together to impact us over the centuries.”
“What about my Fury DNA?”
The doctor’s eyes widened. “Fury?”
Chase ran his hand through his hair. “Right, it would seem I’m part Fury, Doc.”
“That would explain why your scans are slightly different than ours on a cellular level. So yes, it could also be a simple factor explaining that very small discrepancy. That and that strange eye color of yours.”
Chase scoffed. “It’s not… strange.”
The doctor stifled a chuckle. “Not many people with purple irises, Chase.”
Chase chose to ignore this. “What about a conception date?”
“The baby was made June twenty-seventh, by Earth calendar, plus or minus a couple of days.”
That was around the night they’d spent together at her apartment, their first date. Chase exhaled deeply in relief.
“That’s strange,” added the doc.
“What is?” asked Chase in alarm.
“Well, it’s probably nothing, but Sarah also shows a slight DNA discrepancy with her previous scans in the database. I can’t quite put my finger on what could do that. I’ll run some more tests. For the time being, I wouldn’t worry. She’s healthy, that’s what matters. And perhaps she’s recently undergone some sort of trauma…?”
“You can say that again, Doc! She’s been captured and tortured by someone claiming to be my brother. From what she said, it sounds like she might have died several times and was brought back to life. Then, if that wasn’t enough, upon her return to Earth she learned that her uncle had passed during the battle against the Zarlacks and the funeral is in a couple of days.”
The doctor nodded seriously. “That’s it, Chase. She has been through much more than just one person can handle, and the presence of the fetus on top of that? That’s a lot for both the body and the mind to deal with. Add to that, I can’t predict what your Fury DNA could do to her own. We know there can be exchanges between the fetus and the mother in some cases.
I think the past few days have simply taken a toll on her psyche and the pregnancy is responsible for these minute differences.”
Whether or not that was reassuring, Chase couldn’t quite decide. “Alright, Doc, thanks. Oh, but… how’s the baby? The torture must not have been good for him… or her.”
“The fetus seems fine, in perfect health, in fact. If it ever was hurt or damaged, perhaps you healed it as well when you fixed her leg without realizing it.”
“Right...”
Sarah stirred faintly as her eyes began fluttering open and shut.
“I’ll give you two some privacy,” the doc said, and left the chamber.
Chase nodded as the doc left and sat on the examination bed, taking her hand in both of his. “Hey, you… You gave us a big scare.”
She looked confused. “I don’t know what happened. One moment I was fine, the next I just blacked out.”
“The doc said it’s normal after all you’ve been through lately.” He hesitated, wondering how to proceed. “But… there is something else.”
“Now what?” She sounded exhausted.
Chase’s eyes started to water. Seeing the change, she sat up and took notice.
“You’re scaring me, Chase, what is it?”
He took a deep breath and decided to just get it over with. “You... you’re pregnant.”
At first, her brain couldn’t comprehend the news. But before long, little tears of joy wet the corners of her eyes. Her face softened and she gazed up at Chase with a radiant smile.
“That’s… that’s wonderful. But… are you okay with this?”
He let out a gasp of laughter. “Well it sure took me by surprise. But yes, I’m very, very happy.”
She beamed. “So am I.”
Time seemed to suspend as they sat in a happy silence, basking in the good news. For a moment, the rest of the world fell away, and the new little family had a bit of peace. For just a moment… everything was as it should be.
When Sarah fell asleep again, Chase left the med-bay and headed to the bridge.
“How’s Commander Kepler, Chase?” Saroudis asked as soon as he came in.
“She’s fine, thank you.” He blinked, still in surreal shock. “She... she’s pregnant.”
The commodore first raised an eyebrow, then beamed at Chase. “Congratulations! You’re about to become a father.”
“Yeah... it looks that way.”
The commodore paused. “Are you worried?”
Chase held a hand on his neck. “Honestly, it’s just all very sudden—not something we planned. So, yeah, I’m really happy. I guess I’m just… worried about the kind of world we’re going to be bringing this child into.”
“That’s normal, Chase.” Saroudis smiled. “Every man becoming a father will ask himself that very question. It’s the cycle of life: we are born, we live, we make children, and we die.”
“I suppose so.”
The commodore cleared his throat. “Well… I’m sorry to change the subject but I have some bad news.”
Chase straightened up. “I’m listening.”
“Preliminary investigation of the accident seems to show criminal intent.”
A chill ran down Chase’s spine. “Sabotage?”
“Or terrorism. It’s too early to tell, though we already received confirmation of another suspect explosion in Asia, in another building the Alliance built. We knew there might be resistance to the fast-paced changes we applied to Earth society. We faced similar problems ourselves at one point in time.”
Chase sighed. “Yeah. I could see how a death count like the one they just had could also be quite a motivator to recruit distraught people to rebel against any new system.”
“Especially those who lost people close to them—family members, dear friends. I heard of a faction that was greatly upset at the steps we took to reduce meat farming.”
Chase plopped down into his chair. “Right there, you see, that I don’t get. Meat production, especially cow, was responsible for more than half the pollution on their planet, not to mention most of these animals were treated appallingly.”
“Ignorance is bliss.” The commodore shook his head. “We can’t blame the humans for information they didn’t have, at least not clearly.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, when the lobbies—be it fossil fuels, agricultural, or any other ones in power—most of them made damn sure that the majority of people on Earth were unaware of the true impact their business practices had on the environment. Instead, they made it seem like they were going green—like doing a magic trick, the art of misdirection, if you will. Attract attention to something else, so you can do an entire other thing in the meantime.”
Chase frowned. “That doesn’t make it better.”
“I never said it does, but by presenting a distorted truth to the people, you can control them with greater ease. That’s what was happening on Earth before. If you remember, we pointed the finger at fossil fuels when we arrived because that’s what the Internet seemed to pick as the main reason for pollution on Earth. Only when we made deep scans of their atmosphere did we realize that this was not the case. It was only a ruse to mask yet another problem from the eyes of the public. Why do you think we haven’t put so many restrictions on fossil fuels? Sure, we replaced the largest, more dangerous processing plants, and we’re trying to remove the nuclear ones to avoid natural catastrophes when something goes wrong. But planes are still flying, cars are still running.” He leaned forward. “That’s because their impact wasn’t hurting the planet nearly as much as the meat industry was.”
Chase nodded thoughtfully. “At least with the synthesizers, they can experience the taste of meat without having to squander and pollute their own world now.”
“Yes, I agree. And I must admit their meals are nothing short of delicious. Granted I haven’t tried many, but the pizza in particular is extraordinary.”
Chase smiled, recalling his very first taste.
“However,” continued Saroudis, “there will always be people who don’t want a substitute to anything, and, to a certain point, I can understand that. That’s why we are reducing and not banning this area of their agriculture. We are, however, making sure the animals are living under top conditions. No more farms and hangars where the poor things were squeezed together and unable to see the sun shining in the sky.”
Chase thought back to the attack. “So we have to watch for underground movements and possible terrorist cells in the near future?”
“I think it was unavoidable, yes.”
Chase stayed pensive for quite a while. While it was in his nature to condemn needless violence at face value, he couldn’t help but feel sympathetic to their cause. How would he feel if someone swept in and changed his entire way of life, only to have millions die in the process? The rage, although the means were unacceptable, could be understood.
Just then, the ship started to tremble.
“Lieutenant Commander?”
Chase realized he was entering a dangerous state and quickly quieted his mind. The trembling stopped almost immediately.
“Sorry, Commodore.”
Saroudis looked concerned. “Still having issues controlling your abilities?”
“That was more an experiment I was trying.”
“Do not conduct experiments on my ship!” Saroudis exclaimed. “No offense, but seeing how quickly unstable you can become, judging from the state of your quarters the last time you lost control, and the overall damage it had created in that entire section of the ship, I will have to ask you to refrain from doing this onboard this or any other ship for that matter."
Chase didn’t answer.
“Do I make myself clear, Lieutenant Commander? I am not making a suggestion here.”
“Yes, Commodore, perfectly clear. And you’re right, it would be easier to brainwash or at the very least convince people of ideas if they had lost someone close. I’m sure there are plenty of potential volunteers
on the surface of the planet right now who fall under this sad category.”
“We knew that all along. We have been through this before the Alliance was created in our part of the universe. If history is to repeat itself, there will be more acts like these. I hate to use that word, but we must be prepared to deal with the fallout of all that has happened. Humans are not strangers to acts of terrorism; this could be a prelude to a dark phase for this world.”
Chase’s face tightened. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking right now?”
“That the accelerated speed at which we made Earth evolve might result in an even faster, darker, and stronger counter-response and that our own technology might be used against this world in the process?”
“Exactly,” Chase agreed. “Our arrogance in thinking we could control evolution, supervise them and make sure they avoided our own mistake, was a huge delusion.”
“I think it’s too early to tell. After all, these could be isolated occurrences. But should there be more acts like these, on a bigger scale, then yes, I am worried about the exact same thing. I do think, however, that we acted the best way we could under the circumstances and I do not regret any of our actions. They were made with the best intentions.”
“I, on the other hand, am not as sure, even in that regard.”
“I’m surprised to hear that coming from you, Chase. After all, you have been talking with the gods of Olympus—surely they were guiding us towards the right path.”
Chase stared down at his hands. “Are they?”
“I cannot believe what I’m hearing!”
“Look, Commodore, I’m sorry. This day has been a lot to take in and my thoughts are all over the place at the moment. But I do not believe in gods. Even Aphroditis herself said that god is a concept, and that they are simply more advanced beings. So for the time being, I am more than happy getting advice on how to face some of our predicaments. However, I do not like the idea of being someone else’s puppet. Sarah told me about the strength of the mental grip Argos had on her mind. How she felt powerless to do anything; a prisoner in her own body, she said.”
“What does that have to do with this?”
“I’m just thinking, making a parallel with how humans were deceived by their leaders and invisible factions, that perhaps the Olympians are using a different approach to reach a similar goal. Control.”
Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure Page 61
