Emma's Six- Six Wives

Late 1509- Meddling for the first time

Catherine is pregnant.

It happened so soon after the wedding, and I hear alarm bells going off in my head. Catherine only just learnt she's pregnant, and many will end in disaster. From what I remember, this is one of them. She'll lose the child. Miscarriages and stillbirths are common here, but I must make sure it happens.

But I don't want to use my soul-stealing powers to achieve it. I'd rather go through time without killing anyone. Besides, no one knows of my alien powers yet. The longer I keep those quiet, the better. I don't want people coming to me and asking that I kill people for profit. I won't do that. But how can I start this miscarriage?

I don't want to hurt the Queen, but I don't have a choice. If this pregnancy doesn't end in miscarriage, that can turn England on its head. The Church of England may never form, Henry VIII may only marry twice rather than six times, and all sorts of things can go wrong.

Soon, I hear screaming, and I pick up my skirts and hurry into the presence chamber. All the maids-of-honour gather in there, while the ladies-in-waiting and the physician look over Queen Catherine. 'What's going on?' I ask Maria.
'Queen Catherine is going into labour too early,' she whispers back, 'but the ladies-in-waiting and the physician barely know anything.'

We wait for long, agonising hours, waiting for news. Eventually, one of the ladies-in-waiting appears from the room and shuts the door behind her. 'How is Her Grace?' One of the maids asks.
'She lost one of the children, but the physician is confident the Queen is still pregnant.' Catherine is no longer pregnant; I didn't have to intervene. Thank God for that. The other maids look at each other excitedly; they still hope Queen Catherine is pregnant and a child will come soon. I don't want to ruin their joy, but I think I need to warn Queen Catherine. She needs to prepare herself for what's to come. I don't doubt she's a strong woman, but she needs someone to fight with her. People are stronger together.

'Can we see Her Grace?' Maria asks.
'Wait a few moments, see what the physician says.' The lady-in-waiting returns to the bedchamber, leaving us alone. There is no way to tell whether someone is pregnant in this time. If Catherine stays the way she is, everyone will assume she's pregnant even if she isn't. I must warn her of what will come. My mission is to keep history as exact as possible, so I must do all I can to keep it that way.
'Her Grace must be glad. To still have one child living....'
'Maria, I need to go and do something. I'll return soon.' Maria gives me a strange look but doesn't question what I'm going to do. I stand up and cross the room, keeping my steps paced. All I want to do is flee to the maidens' bedchamber and look in one of my history books. I need to help Queen Catherine as much as possible.

I find the biography I brought with me about Catalina and open it. Instead of a table of contents greeting me, I see a blank page.

What?

I go through the whole book, but all the pages are blank. 'What happened?' I ask. I check my other books and find them blank. 'No, no, no!' I thought having my history books with me would help. I forgot they ended up blank. Is it because I haven't lived through history yet? What happened?

K-9. K-9 is here with me. I must find him. 'K-9?' I put my books away and stand up.
'Mistress Emma?' K-9 asks, rolling out from a corner in the room.
'K-9, my history books turned blank. Do you know why that could be?'
'Regret, I have no information in my data banks about such a notion. Suggestion: consult another human being.'
'But I can't. I'm on my own, and no one here knows what will happen. I want to tell Queen Catherine, but what if she doesn't believe me? What if she calls me a liar?'
'I regret that I don't have the answers, Mistress Emma.'
'Well, we may as well do something useful. Can you scan for alien activity?'
K-9 sticks his antenna out as he scans, his eyes flashing. 'All normal, Mistress Emma.'