“So it’s true what they say about Ithaden being like cats in the water,” she said playfully when she had almost reached him. Her reading up on Ithaden culture had paid up; she was finally able to tease Sid.
“We haven’t really had any use for it… Our planet doesn’t have a lot of water as you know, we don’t need it to survive like you do. But I’m willing to go on the deep end for you, Ith-rassil,” Sid said, bridging the distance between them in one swift stride.
The water was up to his torso now, but he didn’t seem to pay attention to it anymore. His hands reached inside the water and found Kate’s waist. Gently, he pulled her close to him. Kate wrapped her arms around his neck and, aided by the salt water, effortlessly wrapped her legs around his waist. They stayed like this for a while, hugging each other tightly, the water caressing their naked skins. It was the closest they’d physically been in months. Kate sighed.
“I missed you Sid,” she said. “I know we had a lot going on these past months… but I really, really missed you.”
Sid surprised her with a chuckle. He seemed strangely amused.
“Forgive me, Ith-rassil. I forgot that human couples are expected to mate more often. In Ithaden culture, it doesn’t usually happen more than a few times a year… But I’m very willing to atone for my mistake,” he said with a glance at Kate, who was now wide-eyed in astonishment. A few times a year? Her Ithaden history books certainly didn’t mention that… No wonder Sid didn’t feel like anything was wrong!
“I will atone, starting right now,” he whispered, kissing her neck.
A moan escaped Kate’s lips. She didn’t know if it was the time it had passed since their last intimate encounter, or her pregnancy hormones messing with her libido. But even that simple kiss, drove her mad with longing, so she decided to show him exactly how much she wanted him. Propelled by the water, Kate started rubbing herself on his bulge, feeling his full Ithaden anatomy slowly emerging. Now it was Sid’s time to moan.
Holding her by the hair, Sid kissed her forcefully, becoming more erect by the second. It was obvious he couldn’t control his desire for her any longer. He slid inside her easily and started thrusting. Slow at first but hard, grabbing one of her legs and putting it on his shoulder. At this angle, Kate could feel him so deep inside she almost screamed. Kate let go and fell back, allowing the water to hold her while she climbed her other leg on Sid’s shoulders as well.
“This is amazing,” she panted.
He was only able to grunt at this point, his eyes burning with passion.
Sid held her by the waist with one hand, his thrusts becoming faster now. His other hand traveled to Kate’s nipples, erect from the water and her own arousal. He grabbed one of her breasts forcefully, using his new hold to plunge inside her even harder. This felt so different from the previous times they’d made love. It was urgent and primal, like a storm that could not be stopped, only ravaged everything in its way…
With her hands open wide over her head and her eyes taking in the vastness of the sky above them, Kate completely surrendered to this feeling, a feeling she never thought possible. An orgasm that seemed to build slowly and never end, new waves of release taking over her whole body with every thrust. Her eyes filled with tears of joy.
Kate’s legs were trembling now on Sid’s shoulders, unable to take this pleasure any longer. But Sid’s release wasn’t long behind. He soon exploded inside her, arching his body back and holding her tight by her legs. A deep growl escaped his lips. And then, once his trembling had subsided, a laughter. It was soft and exhausted, but also liberating. Sid bent over and picked Kate up, holding her into his arms once again. He felt alive, Kate realized. She felt it too, perhaps for the first time in her life with that intensity.
By the time they headed back to the cabin, night had fallen in Europa.
Kate’s wrist terminal started beeping. A frantic, repetitive sound. The screen turned all red, as it was supposed to do in medical emergencies.
That’s so odd, Kate thought. Up until this point, she was feeling just fine.
She was walking in the woods, still invigorated from her swim. Kate had gotten into the habit of swimming daily since that first day, four months ago. Sometimes Sid would join her, slowly learning how to swim — although most times he had other things on his mind… Kate smiled at those memories. It’s like there was something about the lake that ignited their passions better than the four-poster bed on the top floor of their cabin ever did. Of course, when swimming in the lake’s salt waters, Kate didn’t feel being weighed down by her ever growing belly. So that helped.
But this morning Sid was on a refuelling trip with Xuff and Ror, to gather minerals and aloes for the ship. Thankfully they didn’t have to go off world, as Europa’s many oceans provided them with what they needed. So Kate went to the lake alone.
After a quick dip, she decided to canvas the southern part of the lake for more berries. There were a lot growing in this area and although they contained significant traces of radiation, Ror had found a way to isolate the harmful isotopes and make them perfectly safe to eat. It seemed like a lot of hassle when they could just print any food they wanted, but Kate liked eating “real” food she had foraged herself. At least that’s what she told the team. She was too embarrassed to tell them it was probably a weird pregnancy craving.
“If only Margot could see me now, being a proper country girl,” Kate said with a chuckle, thinking of her mom. She was wondering if she’d ever see her again, when her wrist terminal started beeping like crazy.
She fumbled with it for a while, thinking it must be another malfunction. Despite being in Europa for many months now, the whole team’s wrist terminals still haven’t managed to completely assimilate to being so close to Earth, the center of the original time anomaly… But after a minute or two, a small pool of water on Kate’s feet and a weird sensation on her legs made it very clear this was no malfunction. Her water had just broken.
She was about to give birth, Kate realized, three months earlier than expected. Alone, in the woods.
Kate started panicking. She knew that Sid, Xuff and Ror were on a boat hours away. And the rest of the team was probably at the cabin, which was on the other side of the lake. She definitely chose the day to explore! Even with one of the ATV-like vehicles the Mechs had printed, it would take them about half an hour to find her… Could someone give birth in half an hour? At this point, Kate wasn’t sure of anything. She could feel her heartbeat getting faster, which made her wrist terminal keep beeping, but she didn’t dare to remove it or make the beeping stop. Annoying as it was, it was also her only S.O.S. signal for someone to come find her.
Thankfully, someone did.
Theth must have felt the spike in her energy, because she was there faster than Kate could have hoped. Gently, she helped her climb on the ATV and kept one hand on her belly while steering the wheel with the other. It was reckless driving, but the Ithaden’s touch was taking the majority of Kate’s increasing pain, so she wasn’t about to complain. By the time they reached the cabin, Kate realized she was extremely lucky to have someone like Theth nearby. Xuff always talked about helping her give birth when the time came, but Xuff wasn’t here and if she was being honest, Kate couldn’t have asked for a better doula than someone who was a living, breathing painkiller.
Giving birth, as it turns out, doesn’t happen in half an hour. Not in Kate’s bi-species pregnancy at least. According to the scans Theth was running in regular intervals, Kate had been steadily dilating for about three hours now, but she still wasn’t ready to deliver the baby.
“You need to rela,x Kate,” Theth said with one hand on her forehead, taking away some of her pain.
She couldn’t take it all. The overflow of energy would make the Ithaden sick, plus Kate’s body needed some of the pain stimuli to be able to carry on with the birth. If she got too comfy, this kid would never come out. And she was desperate for him to come out by now. Her son. Their son.
“When is Sid getting back?” Kate managed to say between contractions.
“He should be here soon,” Theth assured her.
Kate sank back to the four-poster bed, trying to do her old breathing exercises. Soon, the pain subsided a bit more. She felt her eyes closing.
When she opened them after what felt like a minute, Sid was here. His eyes were weirdly bloodshot, like he had been crying. At the corner of her eye, Kate also saw Xuff holding a bundle of something, wrapped in blankets. The bundle seemed to be moving…
“Ith-rassil,” Sid said, stroking her face with a gentle hand. “Our son is here. Our Third Sun. He is perfect.”
Kate had been asleep for more than a minute, Sid explained. He and Xuff arrived slightly after Kate had passed out, racing upstairs only to find her out of it and Theth at the verge of exhaustion. He ran another scan on Kate and saw that the baby had turned on his side, making it impossible for a natural birth. Sid and Xuff then gave Kate some sedatives so that Theth could take a break from playing the part of the sedative herself before she also passed out. As it was the only way to deliver the baby safely, Sid and Xuff performed a C-section on Kate. Her belly was currently wrapped in Ith bandages, to recover from the operation. She shouldn’t try to move, Sid said.
Any anger Kate might feel for missing out on her son’s birth, disappeared the second Xuff handed him over to her. A perfect little bundle — and a completely human-looking one at that. His skin color had a very faint yellow-gold tint, but Xuff and Sid reassured her it was normal for a part-Ithaden baby. He had ten little fingers and ten little toes; a tuft of soft, golden hair on his tiny little head. Right when Kate thought he couldn’t be any more perfect, her son opened his eyes and looked at her for the first time. He had bright blue eyes, just like Sid’s.
Kate’s heart was about to burst. She had no idea she could feel so much love for a creature so small. Right then and there, she made her decision.
“Sid, I’m not giving up my son. I’m sorry. I know how important he is to the universe and you all, but I’m not giving him up to some Ithaden royalty to raise him. Not without me around. Where he goes, I go.”
“No.” Sid’s face so full of emotions it was impossible to decipher them all. “He’s our son, Ith-rassil. And where he goes, we go together. Always.”
“You know what the definition of insanity is, John? To do the same thing and expect different results,” Kate said with a cooing voice to her son, caressing him with every syllable as if she was singing him a lullaby.
She adjusted his Ith-spun baby sling on her body and covered them both with the protective vest. That sling was mighty useful, she thought for the umpteenth time. She looked at Sid with a smile of gratitude for thinking to print this for her, so that she can carry their son and still be able to use her arms. Okay, looks like they were all strapped in now and ready for a jump. Another jump… Kate sighed.
Everyone kept assuring her little John was perfectly fine, but Kate was not totally convinced. All that time traveling could not possibly be healthy for such a young child. But she knew they didn’t have a choice. Ever since John was born (Johnassan, as the full Ithaden/human name he would officially take once presented to the Royal Ithaden Palace was), the timeline had become extremely fragile.
The newborn Third Sun’s mere existence was creating a temporal anomaly. Not enough to establish a Quantum Reset yet, but things were beginning to change back to the way they were supposed to be before the Xerrks aggressive time meddling. Multiple timelines now seemed to be existing at once, making it possible to access different realities at the same time… It always give Kate a headache when she started thinking about it. The point was, by now the Xerrks had realized the birth must have taken place and they were hotter on their pursuit than ever. Sid, Kate and the team hadn’t stop running in days.
Kate was sad they had to leave Europa, with its trees and its lakes and its never-ending days. It was the place where her child was born and for that it would always hold a special place in her heart. But it was more than that: their cabin in the woods near that lake, felt more like a home than anything else had in a very long time…
The worse thing was, Kate knew that if the timeline was restored, Europa would once again become a booming planet with an advanced technology, full of space explorers and colonists. Their rustic little paradise would basically be no more. Still, it was worth losing one’s home it if it meant saving one’s universe, right?
“Right, John?” she whispered to her son who was currently half-asleep.
“Everyone strap in,” Sid said. “Let’s hope this iteration, number…”
“Iteration number 28,” Ror offered with a small voice.
“Let’s hope iteration number 28 will do the trick and take us to the right Time Agency, at the right time.” Sid grunted, dimming the cabin lights.
It was clear that Kate wasn’t the only one sick and tired of all the jumps.
As their existence became heavier (after all this time, she still hadn’t found a better way to describe how it felt to time jump), Kate tried to recall their 27 previous attempts to reach the Ithaden capital and bring their son to his rightful place at the palace. In most of them, the whole Ithaden planet was gone: either blown to smithereens by the Xerrks or never having existed in the first place. They had to jump out of these realities right away, not to risk the Ithaden of the ship also blinking out of existence…
But Kate’s probably least favorite iteration, was iteration number 15. It was a parallel reality, where the inhabitants of the Ithaden planet never evolved enough to get past their ancient dragon shape. The whole thing basically looked like a prehistoric jungle, only with dragons being the alpha predators instead of dinosaurs. Kate did not like the gleam she saw on Sid’s eyes when they landed. A primal part of him wanted to dragon out and be with his ancestors, she knew, but if they let him do that even for a while, that reality could cement and everything could be lost. She managed to snap him out of it by handing him over their son. That seemed to put Sid’s priorities back in order.
Kate was still shaking her head at all this, when she realized the cabin lights where back on. They had arrived, it seemed.
“Oh, goody,” she muttered under her breath. She couldn’t wait to see what fresh horrors this particular trip had in store for them.
She didn’t have to wait long. Ror’s scans confirmed there were indeed, several horrors at bay in the form of Xerrks ships opening fire. But his scans also confirmed something else, something that brought Kate an immense sense of relief: they had finally found the right version of reality.
This was the day of the Xerrks attack. Enemy ships were circling the Ithaden capital. A battle was raging and building were destroyed, but both the Time Agency and the Royal Palace seemed to be holding for now.
As they all unstrapped from their vests, Kate saw Xuff making eye contact with Sid and Sid simply nodding. Nothing was said, but it was clear that some sort of plan had just been decided. Soon, Kate found out exactly what that plan was.
“We’re taking the time shuttle,” Sid said, whisking her and their son away from the main cockpit.
They ran toward the smaller, two-person ship, while he explained that the only way this could work was with the rest of the team staying behind to fight against the Xerrks.
“The battle raging just now, we’ve already seen how it ends. But with Xuff and Berranav and the rest manning the defences from up here, the Time Agency may stand a better chance. At least they may be able to hold on a bit longer, long enough for us to do our bit.”
Their “bit” was to take their son, the long-awaited Third Sun, to the Ithaden Royal Palace and hope it will be enough for a Quantum Reset.
“Okay, my golden boy,” Kate said to little John as Sid fired up the engines of the time shuttle. “It’s time for you to meet your grandparents and save the world. No pressure.”
Flying on a time shuttle while trying to avoid the Xerrks and their blasts was the complete opposit
e feeling from time jumping. Time jumping was like stepping into a void and standing very, very still. This…
“This totally sucks!” Kate yelled, as Sid made yet another of his evasive manoeuvres, practically turning the shuttle upside down mid-air.
Little John woke up and giggled. He seemed to be finding this whole thing amusing, as if his parents had taken him to a roller coaster ride, not a battlefield… Kate’s heart was breaking that her baby had to go through all of this, that this was considered a normal life for them. At the same time, she was beyond relieved that the Ith baby sling held and little John was still safely strapped on her chest.
Not a moment too soon, Sid managed to land the shuttle on one of the Palace’s many turrets. Grabbing Kate by the hand, they ran toward the entrance door and then down a very long and very swirling flight of stairs. Kate could feel the walls shaking around them as the building had started taking in real hit from the Xerrks blasts. How long until the vision of the half-burned palace they’d seen came to pass?
She also noticed something else as they were descending: a weird swirl of colors, not unlike the one Kate and Sid had witnessed at the Shrinking, had started unfolding around the three of them. Sid noticed it too.
“It’s happening!” he exclaimed while taking Kate through a door and toward what she now recognized from Xuff’s stories as the throne room. “Just a little bit longer…” Sid murmured, running even faster.
They were both panting now. If it wasn’t for little John’s gargling laughter, who apparently still thought all this was some weird adventure, Kate wasn’t sure she’d have found the power to keep going. But she did, and soon they reached the foot of the Ithaden throne.
The throne was made from Ith and looked like a sun with tall, golden spears surrounding its center like the sun’s rays. It was just like Xuff had described it: majestic, if a bit pretentious. Kate however was less interested in the throne itself and more in the squad of guards surrounding it. Would they try to stop them? Question why they were running like crazy toward the king? Assuming that was the king sitting on the throne…
The Ithaden’s Slave Page 15
