Nicole Krizek (11 page)

He was running out of options.

He sat in his office, with his head down on his desk, and waited for an epiphany.

He was not the only scientist failing either. He had transmitted Lacy’s DNA sequence and genome to the Arathian Center for Genome Research and they were also working, tirelessly, to find a way to repair Arathian DNA using Lacy’s, but unfortunately they were coming up with the same results. It was maddening!

He heard his door whisk open and looked up to see Lacy standing in the doorway with a tray of food in her hands. “You always work through lunch so I thought we could eat here together.” She said with a brilliant smile.

He smiled back at her, “That’s exactly what I need right now. Thank you little one.”

She went in and sat the tray on his desk, mindful of the piles of tablets strewn about. “This isn’t the usual place for a picnic, but I thought you deserved it since you’ve been working so hard.”

He appreciated the thought but asked, “What is a picnic?” Lacy began uncovering the dishes. Ty did not recognize much of the food and watched as she poured the juice.

She sat on his lap and smiled. “Usually, a picnic is when you eat food outside and enjoy nature while having a meal. You go to a park or someplace peaceful, spread a blanket and put the food out. On Earth I loved taking my lunch outside in the summer and eating in the sunshine. It was always so peaceful.”

Ty didn’t miss the longing in her voice and promised himself that he’d take her on a proper picnic as soon as possible.

“Eating here, in your office, isn’t exactly like being out in the sunshine, but I thought that it might be a nice change for the two of us to eat peacefully instead of in the Dining Facility with everyone else.” She added.

“It’s a lovely idea,” He said kissing to top of her head. “I needed a little peace and quiet today.”

“Is your research not going well?” She asked.

He looked into her eyes for a moment, not sure if he should tell her, but he saw determination in her gaze and knew she deserved to know everything.

“The truth is that it’s not going well. Every test shows that you’re a match for our race, but I can’t get our DNA to cooperate, no matter what I try. It would help if we knew the exact reason why we can’t reproduce, then I could concentrate on one section of DNA, but I have to work with the entire genome at once.”

For the first time in his life, Ty felt like a failure. He had the future of the Arathian race in his hands, had finally found DNA that could save his species, and he wasn’t smart enough to come up with a cure. He hung his head, dejected, and sat there with his arms wrapped around his little mate.

Lacy had never seen Ty like his. In the last couple of weeks his usually cheerful self had steadily become more and more depressed. She knew it had to be because his research wasn’t going well. That’s why she had planned the picnic, in the hopes of cheering him up a little, but now she doubted her plan.

Her heart was heavy as she looked at him, and she knew she had to make him change the way he was seeing his research. She took his head in her hands and forced his eyes to meet hers.

“Ty, I know that you think that you’re failing but you’re not. You said yourself that you’re working with the entire genome at once, and you focus on one area at a time, but aren’t the tests you’re running eliminating possibilities?” She asked.

That perked him up a bit.

“When you run a test on a certain area of the DNA strand and it’s negative doesn’t that just mean that you’re crossing one more piece of the genome off the list of possibilities? So, the more tests you run, whether or not they succeed, you’re still narrowing down the entire genome. You’re making progress.” She gave his head a little shake to emphasize her point. “They may not be positive results yet, but they’re still results.” 

She smiled at him and was pleased when he reciprocated.

“You’re right, my little Lacy, I shouldn’t let myself get so depressed about the negative results. They’re not failures, just negative test results.”

“That’s right!” She said happily and gave him a big kiss on his cheek. “I’m so lucky to have such a brilliant scientist as my mate.” She paused to kiss his neck and whisper, “And one that only has another couple of hours left on his shift… When he’s done, he can go to our quarters, and I can show him properly how highly I think of him.”

She saw Ty’s eyes glaze over for a moment before he shook himself. “We’d better eat then so I can finish my shift quickly!” He said enthusiastically. Lacy laughed as he eagerly dug into the food she had brought.

*****

A couple of weeks later, Lacy stood in her bathing chamber, enjoying her shower and the new soap she had replicated. The scent was something she had never smelt before, but it had a wonderful relaxing fragrance and it reminded her of standing outside on a summer’s day.

She was washing herself, deep in thought when she passed the soap over her breasts and had to stop because of the dull throbbing pain she felt. She put the soap in its container and cupped her breasts in her hands. They felt the same, but when she gave them a squeeze, there was a deep ache.

“That’s weird.” She said to herself. Maybe one of her men had gotten a bit too rough during sex. She checked her body but there didn’t seem to be any marks, scratches, bruises, or blood.

No blood.

She suddenly felt light-headed and sat down on the floor of the shower. She hadn’t had her period since right before she was taken from Earth. Lacy had assumed that since the Arathians were sterile she didn’t need protection during sex.

Had she been wrong?

She did a quick mental calculation. She had been on the Adastra for five weeks, and was on the shuttle for three days prior to that. She had also been having sex with her men consistently. It was possible.

She had to know for sure!

She quickly rinsed off, jumped out of the shower, and threw on some clothes. With her feet bare, and her wet hair flying free, she practically ran to the Medical Center to find Ty. Not thinking about whether or not she caused a scene, she flew into the room once the doors slid open and ran for Ty’s office. He wasn’t there, but she found him in the laboratory, performing some experiments.

“Ty!”
She yelled, running into the room and making him jump.

“What? What is it?” He said, calmly but urgently.

It was only then that she noticed the other scientists standing around watching aptly. She was suddenly acutely aware of her appearance and actions. She grabbed Ty’s hand and pulled him to his office. The second the door was closed she turned to him, but the words caught in her throat. What if she was wrong? What if she wasn’t pregnant? She didn’t want him to be disappointed again.

“What is it little Lacy?” He asked, gently taking both of her hand in his.

“I don’t want to get your hopes up, because it could be nothing, but I need you to run a pregnancy test on me.”

She stood there watching Ty intently and ready to try
catch him if he looked like he was going to hit the floor, but instead he handled her request with the same calm acceptance he used to handle everything.

“Why do you think you need a pregnancy test?” He asked curiously.

“Because my breasts are tender, and I just realized that I haven’t had my period… my menstrual cycle since I left Earth. I thought maybe it was because my body had gone through a lot. Being cryogenically frozen for nine months and all, plus the stress of being sold and thrown into space… but now I’m not so sure. I think it might be hormones causing it all.” She finally forced herself to stop rambling and waited for him to do what he did best.

“Alright then, I’ll get the instruments and bring them in here. I’d rather do it in the lab, but I want to keep this quiet for right now. I am going to call Kor. He deserves to be here too.”

“Ok.” She said as he walked out of his office. She slid heavily into his chair. Honestly, she was relieved to sit back and let him take control of the situation for the moment.

The gravity of the situation was not lost on her. If she was pregnant that meant that human and Arathian DNA had been able to combine themselves in her body to form new life.

What Ty had been trying to accomplish in his lab for weeks, the three of had been able to achieve, accidently, in their bedroom. Ty walked back into his office holding a device for taking blood.

“I don’t know what a pregnant
Earther’s blood is supposed to look like, but if you think there are added hormones in your system then I will analyze your blood and see if there have been any significant changes.”

“Why don’t you just let the Med Unit look at me and see if there’s a baby?” She asked.

“Because that device is in the middle of the Medical Center, and I don’t want to get everyone’s hopes up until we have concrete evidence to believe that it’s true.” He explained.

More and more she was hoping that she was pregnant. Not only because of what it would mean to the entire Arathian race, but also because she wanted to carry Ty and Kor’s baby. As Ty started to approach, the office doors opened again and Kor walked in. He quickly came to her side.

“Is everything alright? You said you were going to run a test on her, why?” He knelt next to where she sat but looked to Ty for answers.

“We haven’t told anyone else, but Lacy thinks there’s a chance that she might be pregnant.” Ty paused while they both watched Kor’s reaction. He took the news in his typical stoicism, but she knew that his mind was reeling.

“Lacy said that a pregnant Earther female has different hormones in their system, so I’m going to take a sample of her blood and compare it to her initial one to scan for differences. If there are differences, then we can scan her with the Med Unit.”

Kor nodded and then took Lacy’s hand in his own. Ty took the other and placed the cylindrical device on her arm. She felt the familiar pressure, but was too busy looking at her men, and trying to gauge their reactions, to pay attention to the device.

Once he had the blood sample, Ty bent and kissed Lacy’s head before heading out of his office to run tests. Kor stayed next to her and stared into her eyes, “How are you feeling about all of this?” He asked.

“I’m ok,” she said, “a little nervous. I’m trying to not get my hopes up.” Lacy added. “I always wanted a family, but had never found the right man. Now I have two ‘right men’ and I find myself wanting nothing more but to make a family with you two.”

Kor smiled lovingly then leaning forward and gave her a deep kiss. He poured all of his love and devotion into that kiss, and she felt it, soul deep.

They waited together, saying nothing else. After a time, Ty came back into the office, looking a little
more pale than when he had left. Kor and Lacy both stood up and looked at him expectantly.

“Well?” Kor finally prompted him. Lacy clutched Kor’s hand, feeling like she could barely breathe.

Ty swallowed hard before replying. “The diagnostic shows the presence the hGC hormone in her blood, which wasn’t present in her first exam. It means that she is pregnant.”

Lacy felt her legs go weak but was, thankfully, swept into Kor’s arms before she fell. He held her tightly and buried his face in her neck. As Ty came close and embraced her she began to cry. The tears of happiness flowed like a river and she did nothing to try and stop them.

She was going to be a mommy, Kor and Ty would be daddies, and their baby would be the first Arathian baby born in eleven years.

After Ty had the Med Unit run a scan on her body, and it was confirmed that she was pregnant, news quickly spread throughout the ship. Everyone she saw congratulated her, and the enthusiasm everyone showed was palpable.

Ty immediately fell into the role of doctor, and questioned her on everything she knew about Earther pregnancies. She was sadly ignorant of the subject, but Ty didn’t seem to be that concerned. She knew that he’d keep a close eye on her health and, knowing him, would probably want to run diagnostics daily.

Kor handled the news differently and had sped off to the Command Center having quickly said something about ‘reevaluating-the-flight-plan-to-steer-clear-of-anything-larger-than-an-asteroid-two-feet-in-diameter’.

She knew that her baby would have one of the galaxy’s most protective fathers, and had to laugh at the thought of it being a girl and of that girl trying to date in her teenage years.

Later, Kor told her that he wanted her present when he called Arath to tell them about the miracle, but, until then, she was ordered back to their room to rest. Deciding not to argue with her mates about their heavy handedness, she headed back to their room, sat at her console, and began researching Arathian pregnancies.

She figured that since she didn’t know much about human pregnancies, and had no way to research them, she’d look up the next best thing.

*****

Lacy stood in the Command Center, flanked by Ty and Kor. On the massive vid-screen were several people on Arath. Kor had introduced them as the royal family, and General Kitsom, his Commander.

Lacy had learned that Arath had the equivalent of a parliamentary monarchy, where the royal family still had power, but elected officials made up the rest of the council.

What surprised Lacy was to see Queen Lyn’ola, flanked by her three kings.
Three kings
! Lacy thought she had her hands full with two men but this woman not only had three but an entire planet to run. What a woman!

All the Arathians on the screen shared Kor and Ty’s darker complexion, black hair, green eyes, and looked to be at least six feet in height. Queen
Lyn’ola was the shortest, but was significantly taller than Lacy’s five and a half feet. She was a beautiful woman who wore a deep red, flowing dress, and had her hair, piled on top of her head, in what looked like a series of intricate knots. Lacy immediately liked her because she smiled openly and seemed to be very genuine.

The kings were all different, as far as Lacy could tell. They all stood shoulder to shoulder, but one of them in particular, King
Racknar, seemed to command attention. He had the same aura of ‘alpha male’ that Kor had. He had short hair and a trimmed goatee. King Arisus, the second of the three, stood on the end and was very quiet. He seemed to absorb everything that was being said and his eyes missed nothing. King Orius, the third of the group, had much longer hair pulled back from his face and no facial hair. Something about him reminded her of Ty, she suspected that he was the caregiver of the family. 

All five of the Arathians on the screen were in shock at the news that Kor had just delivered.

Finally, King Racknar spoke, “That is unparalleled news for our entire race. Congratulations to all of you!”

The queen was unable to stop the tears of joy from sliding down her smiling cheeks.

“You must go, now, to the Galactic Council, and arrive as soon as possible. It is imperative that we request that Earth become a member-planet.” King Racknar instructed.

Lacy remembered what she had read about the Galactic Council. It was, exactly, what its name suggested. The council was an alliance of races from throughout the galaxy. There was a central meeting place, called the Council of Planets, where ambassadors from each race met, discussed, and decided on various issues. It kind of reminded her of a parliament, or senate, back on Earth, except that the scale was completely different. The Galactic Council represented thousands of planets.  

Planets that were members of the Galactic Council were included in special trade negotiations, treaties, helped protect each other during conflicts, among other benefits. She had also learned that it was illegal for one member-planet to attack another member-planet, and if it happened the aggressor was removed from the council permanently.

The king’s order had, both, surprised and confused Kor. The Adastra was a science ship. There were no political representatives aboard.

“My king, I do not understand why that requires our attendance. Surely Ambassador Rexvan is better qualified than we are to make such a request before council.”

The three Kings shared a look for a moment before King
Racknar spoke, “We think it best that you work together, with the ambassador, to ensure success. Earth must be under the alliance’s protection, as soon as possible.”

“Is there something you’re not telling us?” Kor asked his leadership. Normally he wouldn’t have been so outright with the royal family, and his commanding officer, but these were unusual times.

General Kitsom answered, “We believe that once word gets out, and no doubt it will, that Earthers may be the key to our survival the Lazools will attack Earth to ensure our extinction.”

Lacy gasped, and Kor saw Ty put his arm around her in support.

“They have been trying to destroy us for decades, so there was no race happier than the Lazools when we discovered the effects of the vaccine. They’ve been failing for decades to eradicate our race, and we helped them by almost destroying ourselves.” General Kitsom explained. There was barely-hidden loathing in his voice.

King
Racknar continued, “They’ve been waiting patiently for us to die, one at a time, but now we have hope. Earth is the source of that hope and they will do anything in their power to make sure our extinction is absolute.”

Lacy felt sick to her stomach with the realization that her home might be in danger from an alien race and that humans had no hope of defending themselves against. Earth was still so busy fighting amongst
themselves, that they would have no hope of fighting against aliens.

It would be a slaughter.

Lacy’s temper flared, “Those bastards!”

Queen
Lyn’ola agreed in that soft voice of hers, “Yes. Our thoughts exactly, my child.”

“What can we do to stop them?” Lacy asked, suddenly filled with a powerful determination. There was no way she’d let her planet face extermination alone.

“You must go to the council at once.” Replied the queen.

Kor spoke up, “We are honored with this task, but certainly there are other, more suitable ships with political figures aboard that can be of better help to our Ambassador?”

King Arisus spoke for the first time, “We’re afraid that is not possible. You must go. One of the requirements to join the Alliance is that a representative of the petitioning planet must be present. Lacy is the only option for us as a representative.”

Lacy stood staring at King
Arisus. “You mean that I have to go before the Council of Planets and make the request?”

“Yes, you’re the only Earther we know of that’s off-planet and, therefore, the only one who can.” King
Arisus replied.

Talk about pressure
, she thought. Lacy steeled herself before saying, “Okay, I’ll do it.” Then wondered what the hell she’d gotten herself into.

*****

The next few days went by in a blur. The Adastra made great time traveling to meet with the Galactic Council, which was situated on an ocean world with one large island.

When the Alliance was formed thousands of years ago, they had built a large building to house the Council of Planets, and apartments for the Ambassadors to use, on that planet. Over time, a city had formed around the alliance’s building.
Now, it one of the safest cities in the galaxy.

Kor and Ty spoke daily with the Arathian ambassador, Rexvan, and formulated a strategy for gaining Earth entry into the alliance. Lacy let them work out the details while she tried to learn as much as she could about the Council of Planets where she would speak. In truth, she couldn’t wait to see it!

The Alliance was made up of over four hundred races, which occupied thousands of planets throughout the galaxy. To make matters more difficult, each race had their own atmospheric requirements. For instance, Earthers and Arathians both breathed oxygen, but she read about other species whose atmospheres were comprised of nitrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, and more. There were several species represented that lived under water, and there was even one that survived, surrounded by magma.

It was a fascinating system of government and Lacy’s excitement grew, day by day.

One morning, when she was getting dressed and fighting off the latest waves of morning sickness, Ty walked into their bedroom. He immediately saw her gaunt appearance and guided her to sit on the bed.

“Is it bad this morning my love?” He asked, concerned.

“It’s bad every morning, afternoon, and evening,” she tried to say nonchalantly, but it sounded hollow, even to her. Ty had offered her a medicine used on Arath to help pregnant females with nausea, but Lacy was reluctant to take something meant for an Arathian while she was pregnant. She didn’t know how it would affect her, and so she had refused, until her symptoms became so debilitating that she couldn’t handle them.

“I’ll be fine in a moment.” She said reassuringly. “It comes and goes in waves, and this one will be over soon, then I’ll finish getting dressed and we can go meet Ambassador Rexvan.”

Ty kissed the top of her head, but he wasn’t fooled. He knew she was miserably sick, but staying strong for everyone’s sake. He had been watching her closely to make sure she was getting enough nutrition and had been feeding her food that was high in calories since she was eating so little. The only items she seemed to want to eat were cravings for weird combinations of foods, like ice-cream with pickles. He hoped that she got past this stage of the pregnancy quickly.

Truthfully, he didn’t want her anywhere near the Galactic Council or the stress of trying to save Earth, but there was no real choice in the matter. She was the only Earther and, thus, the only one who could make the petition. He would just have to keep a close eye on her and remove her if she seemed to get too uncomfortable.

A moment later she was up and putting on the dress that she had replicated the day before. Lacy had said something about ‘looking the part’. Ty didn’t know what that meant, but she had said that she wanted to replicate some new clothes and he had been more than happy to indulge.

He had to admit that her efforts had paid off. She looked stunning in the long sleeved, formfitting, black dress she had chosen. She also said something about wanting to match the formfitting
flightsuits that Arathians used as uniforms, but he hadn’t paid much attention because he was too busy admiring how the fabric seemed to embrace her every curve, and end at mid-thigh. The knee-high black boots she had chosen completed the outfit.

She caught him staring at her and turned slowly in a circle. “How do I look?”

Ty bounded off the bed and gave in to the temptation to run his hands down her body. “You look beautiful my love. Good enough to eat.” He punctuated the remark by nibbling on her neck, right below her ear, a place that he knew she loved. Luckily, or unluckily, Kor walked in at that moment; any longer and Ty wouldn’t have been able to stop.

“You’ll have to wait until later for that.” Kor teased. “It’s time to meet Ambassador Rexvan.”

Lacy all the sudden grew nervous and grabbed Ty’s hand for support. Kor was at her side a moment later, taking her face in his hands.

“Will you be able to do this, little Lacy?”

She gave him a smile, “Yes, I’m going to be alright. I’m just a little nervous.”

Kor nodded and then lowered his head for a gentle kiss. He pulled back, kissed Ty, and took Lacy’s hand.

Then, he lead his mates to the shuttle.

*****

Kor was truly amazed at the view during their decent to the planet. At first, all that could be seen was the vast blue ocean. Slowly a tiny island, that grew larger and larger the closer they got to it, came into view. At the center of the island-city, sprawled the circular shaped building that housed the Galactic Council.

It was a massive structure that spread out in all directions, with gardens and pools, throughout the grounds. There were many small domes that were topped with symbols, representing each of the races. Some were flags and, some, holographic images. Kor easily spotted
Arath’s colors and piloted the shuttle in that direction.

After landing the shuttle and opening the hatch, they found Ambassador Rexvan waiting for them.

He was not what Kor had expected.

He was barely older than Kor with tied-back, shoulder-length hair. He had on the typical Arathian dark pants and tall boots, though he wore a loose black shirt. He had
an warm smile, but his eyes were the sharp eyes of an Arathian alpha male and Kor had to feel sorry for anyone that opposed him in the game of politics.