The Starseed Experiment

Chapter Two

Bright lights passed through Uthera's tunnel of vision. She felt as though she were flying through space at warp speed. She'd never used the mind tunnel before so she didn't exactly know what to expect, having never been able to speak to someone about the experience, since they essentially died upon using it. There have been people who have reincarnated from their destinations who remembered using it a lifetime before, but they all forgot exactly what it was like. If she had a body she would have most likely vomited. Her mind felt fuzzy, as if she were in a dream, a pressure emanating around her formless self, closing in around her consciousness. The ride felt surreal, terrifying to say the least. She didn't have enough time to think to herself that it would soon be over. It was sudden, a pop of white light filling her irises, and then she was in what she could only think was water, calmly floating, her form back, though not her own.

No one could have prepared her for the fact that she would remember where she previously was, at least at the beginning. She could only assume she was in a womb, as the plan was to be born of Querra upon arrival. Then she thought of Telba, her wife who was supposed to now be her twin sister. She tried to open her eyes but couldn't, then she attempted to reach out with her mind, assuming her powers would still work for the remainder that she would remember who she truly was. But when she called out, both mentally and physically, she felt nothing in return. That is, until a moment passed and she felt a twinge of heartbreak. Having never felt that before, it crushed her. And then she heard it. A male's voice, loud in her skull.

**Not there.**

Her body flailed in the womb, kicking in frustration, and for a brief moment before the grief set in, she felt bad for causing her mother uncalled for discomfort. The wave of sadness that overtook her, the sheer pain of loneliness, rendered her almost comatose. She couldn't bear the thought of her wife not being with her, her soul folding in on itself in despair. It had been the risk they took, the risk of them not going to their desired locations. But although there was hope in perhaps she had been born before, or that she would be born after, her body still chose to stop working; it may have been subconsciously, or the fact that her body needed the bond to live.

Her consciousness faded in and out as the birthing process began, flashes of a man in her mind's eye. She had never seen him before, not knowing who it could possibly be, or why she was seeing him. But he looked scared, concerned, frantic and urgent, pleading with her not to give up. He looked as though he were caught in some horrid night terror, fighting against all odds to keep a baby alive, calling out for her not to die.

It did no use, no one but her Telba could wake her from the destruction that was her broken heart, no one could convince her to live. Not even the mission could save her from her desire to die. When, finally, she was fully birthed, the doctors crowded around when it was noticed that she wasn't breathing. No crying, no rising and falling of her chest, barely even a pulse.

Uthera felt numb as she was whisked away to an oxygen hood, air being forced into her lungs to awaken her, among other various methods and procedures. Then suddenly she felt something else, a flash of power, as if she were a car being jumpstarted, coming from deep within her body. It wasn't anything the doctors were doing, she could tell. It was akin to what she felt in her and Telba's bond, but it couldn't have been, as upon the feeling, she saw a full on profile of the man. She could only think that he was what truly saved her life, and now that she was stabilized she took her first real breath, and then a scream, followed by crying. It wasn't an unusual sight for a baby to be in traumatized tears upon birth, but Uthera was still remembering, crying out for her true love, knowing she'd have to endure a lifetime without her.

Eventually her body grew tired of the crying and screaming and she faded into a deep, dreamless sleep, and when she next awoke, she was nothing more than a newborn child.