The Scapegoat: a Capricorn Adventure

Space Part 5

Image by NASA on UNSPLASH

After the flyby of the sun, things settled down to the interminable routine of space. Peyton was require on the bridge merely to monitor the controls and watch for the unexpected. Unlike a retro space adventure series, the unexpected never happened.

Doran and Peyton exchanged life stories to break the monotony.

"I was born in Perth, Western Australia," Doran began.

"I've heard it is pretty there..."

"It was - built around the Swan River."

"Is it suffering from pollution like the rest of Earth cities?" Peyton asked.

"Not too bad - it must be one of the cleanest capitals on earth," he grinned. "One of the sleepiest too."

"Sounds wonderful."

"Now you..."

Peyton's life story could bring danger if anyone researched her past closely enough and discovered the altered records, so she purposely kept things vague.

"A little town in Texas."

"Texas eh? No wonder you went into space travel. Was it anywhere near Houston?"

"Not too far..." Peyton was grinning. Being vague was sorta fun. More fun than telling the truth somehow.

"You're joshing me!"

"I kid you not."

"Private school or public?" Doran moved the biography along. "I'm guessing private."

"You would be right." Actually, Peyton had been enrolled in the space academy at a very young age. "What about you?"

"I'm a public school boy."

"How did you get into space then?"

"Well," Doran looked abashed. "I did a stint in the air force..."

"You? I can't believe it." It was hard to imagine the irrepressible Doran bowing to the strictures of military protocol - but then come to think of it - he managed in space. 

"But I finished my term and moved into testing spaceships - I'm a lover not a killer."

"I can imagine. But then what moved you from research into space travel?"

"I got curious about the real thing. Luckily before I got too old to make the change."

Doran's story was more interesting than Peyton had thought. Then he moved onto comparing notes about first loves, and Peyton shut the conversation down quick smart. 

"I've just had a broken heart. I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay - I'll go easy on you."  

****

The hours passed monotonously during the rest of the trip, until one afternoon, Ariana told Peyton that she felt the contractions start. 

"The pains began as a dull ache all around my lower back," Ariana said. "I thought it was just a bad day."

"You had better go to Medical."

"I don't think it's quite time yet."

"Make sure you get me paged when you need." 

 The stoic Aries had  ignored the pains for a few hours, and then asked her fellow hydro-technician Ivan, who was a sparkling and mercurial Gemini, to escort her to the cruisers' hospital bay.  

Upon recieving the message, Peyton, asked to be excused from duty on the bridge. Then she hurried to medical to provide her roomate with moral support. 

"How are you doing?"

"The pain has centred around the abdominal area, and began pulsing periodically," Ariana explained.

Ivan, the hydro-technician who had become a good friend, hung around as long as the women would allow him. He seemed very anxious, and finally, Peyton dismissed him with reassurances that Ariana would be in good hands.

"Go and hang out with Doran," she said. "I know you two have become buddies."

"He's probably not off duty - because if you are here... someone has to be on control."

"True - but the Captain takes over to allow the crew meal breaks and rest periods."

"Let me know when the baby is born."

"Will do."

Ivan disappeared down the long corridor and the automatic door slid to a close behind him. Peyton and Ariana exchanged amused glances.

"He is so sweet..."

"But you didn't want him here any longer did you?"

"No - he might have got an eyeful."

The ship's nurse was a careful Cancer. She timed Ariana's contractions, and announced that they were twenty minutes apart - then fifteen - and in due course ten. The nurse remarked that it was a good thing Ariana had come to the ward, because it looked as though she would be giving birth quickly.

"I hope your muscles haven't weakened under the low gravity," the Nurse said. "You could have a bad time of it."

"I send several hours a day in the gym," Ariana assured the nurse.

Both Ariana and the nurse were clearly nervous. There had been very few recorded instances of childbirth in space to this date. Ariana and the baby were contributing to history that very moment.

Ariana's contractions lasted into the evening. It was five minutes past midnight, January 21, SCET (spacecraft event time), when Ariana finally gave birth to a healthy baby boy. She clasped him to her chest proudly.

"He is an Aquarius," the Nurse pronounced happily.

Star signs had become a big thing in their space-faring culture. Most people looked up towards the stars as their future, instead of down at the earth, which had supported them in past centuries. Being an Aquarius would bring the baby good fortune.

"An Aquarius!"

Ariana was obviously thrilled. She looked down at her son. Even though he was a baby, he had a black tuft of hair and his eyes had a cute slant. The pigmentation was a dark blue, but the Nurse assured her the eyes would darken to brown very soon. 

"He is beautiful," Peyton whispered. 

"I can imagine him succeeding at space school,"  the Nurse commented. "Such a bright little boy."

Ariana glanced out of the nearby window. The shutters were not drawn, because the Nurse had not expected anyone to be out in space, watching the woman giving birth. She could see a rocky body in the distance. It was a Near Earth Object, possibly one of the Atens.

"I am going to name him Khufu," Ariana said. "That could be Khufu out there."

"What a cool name - for a cool little baby..."

Ariana turned to Peyton. "Would you go to a terminal and register the birth for me, please?"