Scenes From Space

Chapter Eight: A Flashback

My shift ended before Graham's, so I went up to the room and started to dig through the bug's transcripts and write up the daily report.

Dearest Readers at the Rebel Headquarters,

Today I barely dressed, just to remove what little clothing I had on, in order to entice a few Waseatryn perverts. Cafferty, Dameryn, and Bryrian are the names of the perverts. Through a listening device placed at their table we have learned that there are four houses holding Collective soldiers and engineers, on this planet. They are funneling money into the Kiri'ee Government and expanding the spaceport in hopes of swaying the planet and its peoples to join the Collective willingly. 

However, there has been some reluctance from Kiri'ee. In particular, the Government officials Lady Izzanbii of the Equatorial Ring and Lord Ulrichii of the Northern Island Ring have been vocal about not wanting to turn planetary rule over to the Collective. Prominent business owners like Amber, our host, and Duncan, who runs an export firm for a mineral called Gallrainian Salt have also spoken out about the new tax rates and laws that will be implemented if the Collective takes over.

Here we are at the end of sun-cycle 3/10 and I have succeeded in enticing one Dameryn. I think that I've done too good of a job of enticing. The bug has revealed that he wants me to the point of accidentally on purpose impregnating me and therefore claiming me per the parentage right of the Collective and Waseatryn culture. 

And, TBH, I hate that and I'm super uncomfortable with this whole mission. The charm of me being able to be sexy has worn off and I feel gross and exhausted all of the time. Really rooting for day 10. The good news for my sanity is that I don't have to dance tomorrow. The bad news for my sanity is that Graham and I have to pretend to be on a date...

I sighed. I edited the report down, removing most of the color commentary. I kept 'Dearest Readers at the Rebel Headquarters' to make Commander Exandar laugh. I handed the tablet over to Graham. He had come back from his shift and showered while I wrote the report. 

I went to take my turn. I stripped down and got the patch on my hip off but I could find the chip for the one on my ribs. I put sweatpants and a bra back on and exited the bathroom.

"Graham, help," I whined tiredly. "The skin patch is all." I didn't know what else to say so I just gestured to my left ribs. Graham sighed and sat up. I came over to his side of the bed. He ran his human hand over my ribs. Once. Twice. 

"Shit," he murmured. "One second." His struggle validated mine. I looked up at the ceiling and not at his face or his gentle hand as he palpated the skin with two fingers. I closed my eyes and  lifted my bra and breasts up. The chip had apparently shifted to the top side. Graham tapped the chip so the patch loosened and then he stopped.

I looked back down and was immediately drawn in by his Earth sky-blue eyes. It was weird that I had to describe the color of the sky with a planet modifier. 

"Quick or gentle?" he asked, his eyes and tone were soft.

"Quick." He yanked the patch. I held the screech in the back of my throat. 

"Thank you," I said before heading back to the bathroom.

I let the warm water pour over my body. I let the tears fall from my one human eye as a sudden wave of exhaustion and emotional turmoil rolled over like a wave. I let myself be pulled into a flashback by the riptide.

***

After rescuing me, Ben had decided that I was too hurt to shower or get a change of clothes. He brought me right down to his medical officer, a vampire. The vampire then kicked him out of the room which I was grateful for.

"Alright, let's get you fixed up," the alien said. "What's your name and planet of origin?"

I took a breath. "My name is Guinevere and I'm from Earth."

"I'm Mako. And, another human, so fascinating. You know, our Captain is part human. Let's get a quick scan of everything." I'm not sure that he stopped to breathe. Maybe his species didn't need to breathe. 

He waved a thing over my body. "Looks like you will need some dermal regen and I'll need to reset your thumb and congratulations!"

"Congratulations on what? I've been held captive and tortured for I don't even know how long," I said.

"You're pregnant," Mako said.

"I don't want it. Terminate it," I said resolutely.

"I don't understand," Mako said.

"You scanned my body and got medical feedback?" I asked and the vampire doctor nodded. "Then, do you see the small contraption in my uterus? It's supposed to release a hormone called progesterone."

Mako pulled a machine over and waved a wand over me. An image appeared in a screen.

"Very interesting," Mako said.

"It's supposed to stop me from getting pregnant. If I am," I stopped and tried not to cry. "Then the device ran out of the hormone and failed to prevent it and I need to not be... because I did not"...consent to the sex or the child. I blinked back some tears and looked away from Mako. His eyes were kind of freaking me out. Alien eyes without pupils or irises were weird.

"Oh, I've never term-in-ated a pregnancy before," the doctor said. He tripped over the word terminate, like he didn't understand, or like the translator didn't work quite right. I was full on crying now. I was down an eye and pregnant with an alien baby. 

This was my life. This fucking sucked.

"Just start with my thumb, maybe, please," I said. Mako did. He reset the thumb back into the joint and placed my hand in a tunnel of light. It looked like a UV nail tunnel. He started in on the scalpel wound, waving a warm light over the wound.

"My people consider procreation a gift. Our species has an especially hard time conceiving," Mako said. And it did not make me feel better. "So, if I've put some of my culture into your decision, then I'm sorry. But, my people consider it such a gift that my Mom died giving birth to my brother."

"I'm sorry for your loss. I do not want a child," I said again. Even in the farthest reaches of my fantasies. If I had a child or two, it would be out of love and because my husband wanted kids, not me. The names of the, maybe not having them, kids would have been Sebastian James and Lillian Elizabeth. But, that was a crazy girl fantasy. This was real life. 

"I'm sorry if I'm being insensitive, but I cannot have a child. I am light years away from home and my family. I am alone and I am pregnant without...," I trailed off on the word consent again. I couldn't say the words out loud. They'd be real if I did.  "I just, I just can't," I said. Mako nodded.

"We'll figure it out," he said. "Hey, how come you don't have your eye turned on?"

"What?"

"Your left eye, it's tech," Mako reached up and tapped on my temple three times. My field of vision on the left filled in with blinding technicolor and characters I didn't understand. An instant migraine set in.

"Oh, fuck, nope, how do I turn it off?" I cried in pain.

Mako reached back up and held his finger to my temple for about five seconds until left was nothing again.

"Well, no offense, but this healing has been terrible," I said.

"I am sorry. You were held captive and tortured. It could have been a lot worse," Mako said.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Yeah."

***