Theta Twelve

The Hologram's Daughter

Giving birth turned out to be an unmanageable process. No matter how hard Rimmer pushed, there seemed to be no movement or relief. He had been at it for fifty minutes. Babies often liked to take their sweet time coming; he knew this. Though at that point, all Rimmer wanted to do was reach inside himself and haul it out.

The added of Aria repeatedly telling him to breathe and push made the whole ordeal further unbearable. After the umpteenth time, Rimmer decided to tune her out.

His body wouldn't stay still. Every muscle in him twitched and trembled unwittingly. It also seemed as though his vision was darkening. Weird, he thought, that it was happening. Then he pondered why his head was starting to feel foggy.

Despite his vision and now hearing becoming worse, he could still make out that Aria was beside him, telling him to breathe once more, but with urgency in her voice.

What he didn't realise was that he hadn't been breathing for over forty seconds; he was too focused on getting the baby out. While he didn't technically need the oxygen, the effects of holding in what he had causelessly been doing for years, coupled with his body overexerted, he was coming close to passing out.

Through muffled hearing, Rimmer heard a voice shout, "Breathe, Arnold!!"

In that instant, he drew up a big gasp of unnecessary air, followed by a series of smaller breaths as he tried to get his bearings.

Aria put her hand to her chest and felt her quickened pulse. "Oh, Jesus. I thought you were gone. You were–" She copied his look, crossing her eyes, keeping them barely open and snarled as if she had drunk a pint of GELF hooch.

Just as Rimmer stared to laugh for the first time in a while, a severe contraction interrupted him. Soon after, he was mimicking the expression Aria made a few seconds ago.

"Yeah, that," A smirk whisked across Aria's face. Once she realised he was actually in pain, she instantly became troubled. "Right, no time for jokes. Just push."

While biting down on his lower lip, Rimmer clenched the sheets before him and pushed hard on his exhale, yet still controlled. When the contraction relented, he unwound to a degree.

Squinted eyes stinging from perspiration gazed sleepily at her. "I'm not doing very well, am I?"

"You're doing fine," She placed her hand over his tightened fist which still gripped onto the bedding. Observing his trembling limbs, it was clear to her they were about to give in. "Though maybe you should lay down."

Lethargically, he shook his head.

Another lasso of pain whipped around his pelvis and began to squeeze tight.

Two short breaths of preparation later, he bore down once again. He paused, then pushed a second time; it lasted longer than the first. For all that, he still hadn't made much progress, and it was driving him crazy.

Rimmer whined on his extensive breathe. "I'm not sure how much more of this I can take."

Aria spun around then grabbed the psi-scan in one movement, and she examined Rimmer. It gave her the results on its display after that.

Twenty per cent left. Not good.

"How do you feel?" Aria gently grazed her fingertips repeatedly up and down the hologram's back. As if I didn't already know.

"I'm tired."

She could visibly see the spasms in his belly, but Rimmer wasn't reacting in the slightest. He wasn't even moving except for his tongue quickly darting out to wet his dry lips, and even that was too overwhelming.