Inseminoid (11 page)

Mark was in his cabin writing the day’s entry in his diary. A chronicle he intended to use against Holly on their return to Central Control. He wrote that he wouldn’t have left the creature unguarded and that Holly McKay made an error in judgement in deciding to tranquilize the creature; a mistake that cost one able-bodied crewmember her life. Mark was determined to prove Command had made a mistake in promoting Holly over him.

Dinner that night was respectfully subdued. Karl never showed up and, figuring he was still conducting tests on Sandy, Holly brought his meal to the infirmary. He was studying some graphs when she entered.

“Thanks a lot. I forgot all about eating.” A well-done steak was set before him. It wasn’t until he bit into it that he realised just how hungry he had become. He’d eaten little breakfast and nothing since.

“How is she?” Holly asked, motioning to the still-sleeping woman on the bed.

“Fine,” Karl reported. “I was right about the mild concussion but there’s been no brain damage. No broken bones—only a cracked rib and that, I’m pleased to report, is the extent of it.”

“Sounds like she got off pretty lucky,” Holly observed. “Better than Dean and Kate.”

“From the attack, yes,” he agreed. “But the tests turned up something else.”

Holly waited for the doctor to continue.

“Look at this,” he said, handing her a computer printout. Holly studied it and shot Karl a quizzical expression.

“Under the gestation column; tell me what it reads?”

“Two point one.”

Karl explained, “That means she’s two months and one day into a pregnancy.”

“That’s impossible,” Holly insisted with astonishment. “We all took our quarterly contraceptive injections at the same time. I remember Sandy getting hers. Could it be that it didn’t take?”

“Could be,” Karl said sceptically. He wasn’t totally convinced. “Those things have an effective rate of nearly a hundred per cent.”

“So it looks like she beat the odds?”

“I suppose so, although you know there is an antidote if taken within an hour of the injection. It neutralises the hormones entering her system.”

“Why would Sandy have done that?” asked the commander.

“I’m not saying she did, but sometimes people like to play dangerously. And then, in some women there’s an overwhelming desire to enter into motherhood. That’s one thing science hasn’t yet been able to totally conquer.”

Holly shook her head in disagreement. “If Sandy’s pregnant, it can only be through a malfunction of the contraceptive.”

Karl nodded. “You’re probably right. We’ll see what she has to say about it in the morning when she wakes up.”

Holly took a long hard look at Karl. His hair was dishevelled. His white coat still bore stains of Kate’s blood and there were dark bags under his eyes.

“Pack it in for the night. You look a mess.”

Karl managed a laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Holly asked.

“Just that Sandy said almost the same thing to me early this morning before everything fell apart. The whole thing seems like a bad dream, a nightmare.” Karl glanced at Sandy, still fast asleep. “She’s dead to the world till tomorrow. I’ll just check on Kate and then I promise to get some shut-eye.”

Holly returned to command while Karl moved slowly to the laboratory. He really was dead in his feet. The lab was dark when he got there. Only the green and red lights from the life-support machine glowed through the blackness. He went over to Kate’s unconscious body and stood over it for five long minutes. His mind jumped from image to image. He recalled the emergency operation he’d performed on her only a few hours earlier. It had been a slapdash job at the very best. But it was the best he was able to do being so vastly underequipped. Staring down at the woman, hearing only the machine-instigated forced breathing, the doctor wasn’t optimistic about her chances of staying alive long enough to reach the space-station hospital. At any moment infection could set in and he was afraid that opening her up again would be the final nail in the coffin.

Karl turned away from her and stared into the darkness where he knew the creature, or rather the body of the creature rested. It wasn’t going anywhere. An autopsy and dissection could wait until the morning. The time had come to end what had been for him and the rest of the crew, a physically and emotionally draining day.

Mark had finished writing his diary entry for the day and was in his underwear, just about to turn off the light, when there was a firm knock on his door.

“Yes,” he called out.

“It’s Sharon. Open up.”

Mark ran his finger tips over the sensor and the door opened. Sharon was still in her work clothes.

“I didn’t expect to see you tonight.”

“I need a release. I know I won’t be able to get to sleep without one and I’m not in the mood for anything artificial.”

“Want a drink?” Mark offered.

“Stiff,” Sharon replied. She lay back on the bed while Mark poured her a double shot of whisky. “Here.”

Sharon gulped it down in one swallow. “What a bitch of a day.”

“It should be our last week here.” Mark said. “Holly doesn’t know she’s in over her head. We can’t do any more than we’ve already done here. I say, gather up the tablets and the remains of the creature and take it all back to the space station for study. Too many things have gone wrong since we got here.”

“Holly is the commander on this mission,” Sharon reminded him.

“That was a mistake.”

“I’m not in a position to argue with you. Petty jealousies and power struggles have no place here and I’m not wasting my time or effort talking about them. Drop it.”

“Okay, I will, but I’m bringing court martial action against her when we get back.”

“That’s up to you. I’m here to fuck. How about it or do I have to break rotation?”

Mark took a sip of alcohol straight from the bottle and stripped off his underwear.

“Remove my clothes,” Sharon ordered him. Her words and her harsh tone sent a wave of desire flowing to Mark’s loins. He reached out and unzipped her one-piece jump suit. Her breasts were small and she neither needed nor wore a bra. She stepped out of the pile of clothes at her feet.

“Now the panties.”

Mark fell to his knees and slid the silky material over her hips and down her legs.

“Now stand up.” He did and she took his hardness into her hands and squeezed until he could stand the combination of pain and pleasure no longer. Sharon released him and ordered him to lie back prone on the bed. Mark did what he was told and she mounted him. She played rough and she rode him until he could no longer contain himself. At the same second she drew his member in deeper, her muscles tightened and she climaxed.

Sharon rose from her position and put her jump suit on again.

“Thanks,” she said and left the room with Mark still breathing hard on the bed.

Barbra lay in Mitch’s arms. In contrast to Mark and Sharon, her lovemaking with the professor had been long and gentle. It was only the luck of the draw that matched them up on the rotation but it was a bit of fortune that Barbra had desired desperately. They had known each other for ten years, since she had been one of his students. She believed it was absurd to separate them now just so they could work on the same project together. Damn the rules, she thought, lying together contented and fulfilled. Those regulations about rotation weren’t for people like her and Mitch. They were meant for crews who had to be together for perhaps years in places where monogomous relationships might be destructively binding. After all, didn’t Mitch work best when they were together? She understood him. She could anticipate his emotional, sexual and professional needs. That’s why it didn’t bother her in the least that during sex Mitch’s mind might wander on to hieroglyphics. In fact, she remembered that once during an earlier mission he had broken a language code of some long-dead civilisation just as their lovemaking had reached the point of no return. It was that discovery that cemented his reputation as one of the greatest living intergalactic archaeological and linguistic experts alive. Even as they lay together, Barbra could almost feel the wheels spin in Mitch’s head. She was proud of her contribution to science.

Karl faced the new day with eagerness. There was much to do. He had two things on his mind as he showered and dressed. First he would see how Sandy was doing. Then he would switch hats and go from doctor to biologist. The creature needed dissecting. He grabbed a quick breakfast in the mess and put a cup of coffee, two slices of toast and a hard boiled egg on a tray to bring to Sandy.

She was sitting up in bed when he entered the infirmary.

“How do you feel?” he asked with a smile.

“Famished. I feel like I could eat for two,” she laughed.

“Understandable, you are.” Karl announced.

Sandy’s jaw dropped open. “Come again?”

“I put you on the computer after your, ah, attack yesterday to check the extent of the injuries and to see if you had any internal problems.”

Sandy nodded. “Yes, go on.”

“And the diagnosis showed you are just over two months pregnant.”

Sandy leaned back against the pillow. “I must be hearing things. I thought you just said I’m going to have a baby.”

“Then you didn’t negate the contraceptive hormones?” Karl inquired just to be sure.

Sandy looked at him with incredulity painted over her face. “Why in hell would I do that? I’m not cut out to be a mother, at least not now. I’m a scientist just like everyone else on this mission. What happened? I took my injection.”

“I know you did. But it looks like you just had some bad luck. Don’t worry. We’ll abort it.”

Sandy was relieved. “I’m ready if you are.”

But Karl shook his head. “No, not yet. It’s still early in the pregnancy and I’d like to give your body a few days to recuperate from the attack.”

“Whatever you say.” She deferred to the doctor’s judgement. “But let’s see, two months ago, you say. That was before the new rotation. So the father must be Gary. Good to know his pistol fires more than blanks.”

Karl laughed. “I see you’re coming along real fast.”

“So can I get back to work? I hate lying around.”

Karl considered the request but decided against allowing it. “Maybe by tomorrow. I still want to do more tests. Sometimes problems don’t show up on the computer until after twenty-four hours have elapsed.”

Sandy tried to sit up and a throbbing began in her head forcing her to return to a prone position. “I guess you’re right. I’ll take it easy.”

Karl went over to the drug cabinet and removed a vial of white tablets. “If the pain returns take one of these.” He set the vial on the side table. “Now I’ll leave you. A certain job of dissecting awaits in the lab.”

“Don’t suppose you could wait a day, do you? I’d like to help out.”

Karl shook his head. “There’ll be plenty to do when you’re ready. I only expect to start pigmentation analysis today.”

Karl turned to leave but a thought hit. “Sandy, didn’t you think something was strange when you missed your last period?”

Her smile fell away and she reported, “Karl, I didn’t miss my period.”

Something wasn’t right. Instead of heading for the lab Karl made for the command centre. He had promised to keep Holly up to date on Sandy’s condition. On his way he passed Mitch’s study.

The professor saw him and called out, “Karl, have you got a minute?”

“A quick one.” Karl entered the small room. Strewn about were papers, data sheets and various research books on dead communication systems. The stone tablets removed from the cave were laid out neatly on Mitch’s desk. “What’s up?”

“It’s been slow going but I think I’ve figured out the script. So far, and I want to point out that I could be way off, it looks like the planet was ruled by twins.”

Karl stepped closer to the tablets but the engraving meant nothing to him. “You mean it had dual leaders?”

“Hmm, but it’s more than that. It was believed the two suns controlled events here.”

“Hence the two leaders,” Karl suggested.

“Perhaps. But it seems that a force of some sort was believed to have been transmitted from the suns to produce couplets in all births.”

“Interesting,” Karl said. “And the creature? Where does it fit in?”

Mitch shook his head. “I don’t know yet. But if it’s mentioned in the tablets it shouldn’t be long now. The big problem has been solved. I’ve broken the code.”

Karl ducked out of the room and continued his journey to command. When he entered Holly was conferring with Mark and Sharon but she broke away from them when she saw Karl.

“Good morning. Have you had a chance to see Sandy?” She asked.

Karl said he had. “She’s in good spirits and should be able to resume work as early as tomorow.”

“What about the pregnancy?” Holly asked, lowering her voice.

“She says it’s news to her. She figures the injection missed. But then she said something that worried me. She claims she hasn’t missed a period.”

“That’s very strange,” Holly commented. “Maybe you’d better give her another test.”

“I plan to this afternoon. I want to give her a chance to rest up a little more.”

“Anything else?” Holly asked. She had much work to do and didn’t want to waste valuable time.

“No. I’m on my way down to the lab. It’s time to cut into our friend and see what lies beneath that skin of his.”

Sharon was behind the controls of the communication system. She had taken over the job after the incident with Kate. On a mission of this type with limited personnel, crew members were required to be proficient in more than one speciality.

Sharon watched the monitor screen as the different cameras scanned their respective areas. The transmission from the laboratory was grey.

“Karl,” she called out, “you haven’t turned on the light to the lab yet. That should already’ve been done. Can’t monitor what’s going on there if it’s dark.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I’m on my way down now. Why don’t you remote the light on from up here.”

Sharon threw a toggle switch and what she saw flash on to the screen caused even that hard-bitten woman to cry out. Holly was the closest to the console and rushed over to it. She sucked in her breath and bit her lip. At once, the others joined them and they froze. Before them was a scene enough to turn the hardest stomach.