AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Waela continued to stare at her. “Well, Hali?”
“Perhaps your child is not confined to this time.” She shrugged. “I can’t explain, but that’s what occurs to me.”
Apparently, this satisfied Waela. She glanced at Andrit, who was holding his head and remaining quiet. She turned back to Ferry.
“What is it about my baby? What’re you afraid of?”
“Murdoch?” It was a desperate plea from Ferry. Murdoch crossed his arms and said, “We got the reports from Ferry and . . .”
“What reports?”
Murdoch swallowed, nodded at the holoprojection with its spiral of red dots.
“What were you supposed to do to me?” Waela asked.
“Nothing. I swear it. Nothing.”
He’s terrified, Hali thought. Has he seen this feral threatened-mother phenomenon before?
“Questions?” Waela asked.
“Oh, yes, of course—questions.”
“Ask them.”
“Well, I was . . . I mean, I discussed this with the Natali and, we, that is, Oakes, wanted me to ask if you would return groundside to have your baby?”
“Violate our rules of WorShip?” Waela looked at Usija.
“You do not have to go groundside,” Usija said. “We merely agreed that he could ask.”
Waela returned her attention to Murdoch. “Why groundside? What did you hope to do there?”
“We have stockpiled a large supply of burst,” Murdoch said. “It’s my belief you will need every ounce of it you can get.”
“Why?”
“Your baby is growing at an accelerated rate. The physical requirements for the cellular growth are . . . very large.”
“But what about the sick children?” She turned toward Andrit. “What have they told you?”
He lifted his head, glared at her. “That you’re responsible! That they’ve seen this before groundside.”
“Do you want me to go groundside?”
They could see him battling with his WorShip conditioning. He swallowed hard, then: “I just want it to go away, whatever’s making my son sick.”
“How do they explain my responsibility for this?”
“They say it’s a . . . psychic drain, often observed but never explained. Perhaps Ship . . .” He was incapable of repeating outright blasphemy.
They chose a poor tool to attack me, Waela thought.
The pattern of the plot was clear now: Andrit was to demonstrate potential violence in shipside opposition to her. She would be forced to go groundside “for your own good, my dear.” They wanted her down there badly.
Why? How am I dangerous to them?
“Hali, have you ever heard of this phenomenon?”
“No, but I would agree that the evidence points at you or your baby. You don’t need burst, though.”
“Why?” Murdoch demanded.
“Ship is feeding her from the shiptits.”
Murdoch glared at her, then: “How long have you Natali known that this baby was growing too rapidly?”
“How do you know it?” Usija countered.
“It’s part of this phenomenon—rapid growth, abnormal demand for energy.”
“We’ve known since our first examinations of her,” Hali said.
“You kept it under wraps and proceeded with caution,” Murdoch said. “Precisely what we did groundside.”
“Why would you want to feed me on burst?” Waela asked.
“If the fetus gets enough energy from burst, the psychic drain does not take place.”
“You’re lying,” Waela said.
“What!”
“You’re as transparent as a piece of plaz,” Waela said. “Burst cannot be better than elixir.”
Usija cleared her throat. “Tell us, Murdoch, about your experience with this phenomenon.”
“We were doing some DNA work with kelp samples. We found this . . . this survival characteristic. The organism absorbs energy from the nearest available source.”
“The mother’s the nearest available source,” Hali said.
“The mother’s the host and immune. The organism takes from other organisms around it which are, ahhh, similar to the hungry one.”
“I’m not aging,” Hali said. “And I’m around her more than anyone.”
“It does that,” Murdoch said. “It takes from some people and not from others.”
“Why from children?” Hali asked.
“Because they’re defenseless!” That was Andrit, fearful but still angry.
Waela felt energy charging every muscle in her body. “I’m not going groundside.”
Andrit started to get to his feet, but Usija restrained him. “What are you going to do?” Usija asked.
“I’ll move out to the Rim beyond one of the agraria. We’ll keep people, especially children, away from me while Hali studies this condition.” She looked at Hali, who nodded.
Murdoch did not want to accept this. “It would be far better if you came groundside where we’ve had experience with . . .”
“Would you try to force me?”
“No, oh no.”
“Perhaps if you sent us a supply of burst,” Usija said.
“We would not be able to justify shipment of such a precious food at this time,” Murdoch said.
“Tell us what you know about the phenomenon,” Hali said. “Can we develop an immunity? Does it recur or is it chronic? Does . . .”
“This is the first time we’ve seen it outside a lab. We know that Waela TaoLini conceived outside the breeding program and outside Colony’s protective barriers, but . . .”
“Why don’t I get answers from Colony?” Ferry asked. He had been sliding his chair slowly to one side while Murdoch spoke, and now he looked up at the man.
“That has nothing to do with . . .”
“You speak of not shipping burst at this time,” Ferry said. “What is special about this time?”
Waela heard desperation in the old man’s voice. What is Ferry doing? Something deep in him was driving these questions out.
“Your questions do not relate to this problem,” Murdoch said, and Waela heard death in his voice.
Ferry heard it, too, because he fell into abashed silence.
“What do you mean about the conception being outside of Colony’s barriers?” Usija asked. It was the scientist’s voice gnawing at an interesting question.
Murdoch appeared thankful for the interruption. “They were floating in a . . . in a kind of plaz bubble. It was in the sea, completely surrounded by the kelp. We don’t know all of the details, but some of our people have suggested that Waela and her child may no longer be humantype.”
“Don’t try to get me groundside!” Waela said.
Usija climbed to her feet. “Humans bred freely Earthside and anywhere they liked. We’re merely seeing it happen again . . . plus an unknown which must be studied.”
Murdoch directed his glare at her. “You said . . .”
“I said you could ask her. She has made her decision. Her plan is a sensible one. Isolate her from children, put her under constant monitoring . . .”
Usija’s voice droned on outlining specifics to implement Waela’s decision—a place with a shiptit, a rotation of Natali med-techs . . .
Waela tuned out the droning voice. The baby was turning again. Waela felt dizzy.
None of this is normal. Nothing is as it should be.
Blip. The fear lifted in her awareness, then dropped.
