Of Blood and Angels (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 3) (13 page)

After they left, I called Tim who reported
that seven F4 tornadoes were sighted in Kalika-hahr this afternoon.

“Someone needs to figure out how to stop
this,” Donak said as they walked out.

“Perhaps it is time he went back to Rehnor
and destroyed his own planet instead,” Kenak murmured.

Chapter 10

Caroline

Katie was pregnant.  She didn’t know it. 
She thought she had some strange form of space sickness that made her tired all
the time and throw up all day long.  I could see it though.  Her boobs were
twice the size of normal and she had a huge pimple on her chin from all those
excess hormones.  Jerry saw it too. 

“How far along do you reckon?”  I said.

“When was the last time he was here?  Six,
seven weeks ago,” Jerry stared at his fingernails.  “We ought to take a look. 
Make sure the kid's okay.  Might have some blood issues.”

“I'll call her in.  I won't tell her why
though.”

Jerry nodded.  “Hey Caroline,” he said. 
“Do you know what the probability of a mutant Rozarian impregnating a Human
is?”

“No.  I would think it wouldn’t be very
likely.  He's Rehnorian, remember?  Maybe they're different.  You think maybe
it's not his?”

“It's his,” Jerry muttered.  He was
looking at his fingernails again.

“Well, they are allowed,” I replied.

Jerry pushed his glasses up his nose with
his finger.  “He's going to screw her over and now she'll be left with his kid
too.”

“No, he's not,” I cried.  “Just because
you wish it so ain't gonna make it happen.”

Jerry smiled a little.

“Go bring her in and let's take a look at
the little guy.”

“Or little girl.  I hope she comes back
after her shore time.  It would be so much fun having a pregnancy aboard.”

“Why exactly am I coming down to sickbay?”
Katie asked.  I had waited until she was off duty.  She was obviously dragging
and her face looked almost as green as a Talasian.  “Do I get to get my cast
off?”

“Jerry wants to run some tests.  You're
not feeling well,” I replied.  “You might be able to get your cast off.”

“I'm okay.”

“No you're not.”  She got into the lift
and didn’t argue.

“What kind of tests?”

“Just a scan probably.  Maybe a little bit
of blood work.”

“Great!”  Jerry greeted us as we entered
the sickbay.  “I was hoping to try out that nifty, new SdK scanner on somebody
and who better than Mrs. SdK?”

Katie offered him a weak smile.  She was
afraid we were going to discover she had a tumor and was dying.  Most patients
limped into the bay for their physical, certain they were about to hear a death
sentence.  After we told them nothing was wrong, they practically flew out of
there.

Compliantly, Katie lay down on the bed
while Jerry adjusted his scanner.  It took about ten seconds before the little
image appeared.  The screen flashed with its vital signs.  Everything looked
completely normal. 

“What are you guys looking at?”  Katie
whispered. 

“You've got a growth in your uterus,”
Jerry replied seriously.

Katie turned away and tears started
leaking from her eyes.  “I felt a lump,” she said.

“That’s your uterus growing.”  Jerry
glanced at her and then winked at me.  “It’s definitely got a lump in there. 
In about seven months, it's going to be a really, really big lump.”

“How big?” I asked.

“Oh,” Jerry mused thoughtfully.  “I'd say
about eight pounds, twenty-one inches.  But that's just a guess.  Let’s see
what Dr. SdK’s scanner thinks.”  He hit a few buttons.  “Hmm.  The scanner
thinks it’ll be twenty-two inches.”

Katie was weeping and didn’t hear him.

“I'm going to go grab something,” Jerry
said and disappeared into his office.

“Probably for the best,” Katie sobbed.

“What do you mean, honey?”  I handed her a
wad of tissues.

“I'm not cut out for the job anyway,” she
blubbered.  “It was all my fault.”  She mumbled something about thousands of
jobs and economic recovery and I don't know what else.  “I can't do it.  I just
can't do it.”

“Sure you can, honey,” I said, but I
hadn’t a clue what she was talking about.  “If anybody can do it, you can.”

She shook her head and cried some more.

“What's the matter?” Jerry sighed, coming back
with a tiny computer chip.  He pushed it into the slot on the SdK monitor.

“It would be better if I just died,” Katie
sobbed.

Jerry looked at me with raised eyebrows.

“Hormones,” I shrugged.

Jerry nodded and turned the monitor back
on.  “I forgot the audio chip,” he said.  “Now, listen to that.”

“What the hell is that?” Katie shrieked,
ending her melodramatic sobbing.

“Sounds like a nice strong heartbeat to
me,” I replied.  “Can I see the picture again, Jerry?”

“Sure,” Jerry said and adjusted the monitor. 
I peered over his shoulder.  “Let’s see if we can get a better angle.”

“Cute!” I cried.

“What?”  Katie tried to sit up but Jerry
pushed her back down.

“You want to see?” he teased her.  “Stop
crying then and get yourself together.  Can you believe this is our Goldie,
Caroline?”

“Nuh uh,” I said.  “Look at him wiggling
around in there.  Hi honey.”  I waved.

“Let me see!” Katie barked, swiping
angrily at her eyes.

Jerry laughed and turned the monitor
around so she could see too.

“Oh my God!” she gasped.  “Oh my God, now
what am I going to do?”  She covered her mouth with her hand.  “Sick!”  I
grabbed a barf tray.

“That should be ending in another couple
weeks or so,” Jerry said as I wiped up her face.  “You're just about two and
half months and by three, you ought to be feeling a whole lot better.”  Jerry
started rattling on about neonatal vitamins and avoiding the alcohol and
restricting her duties but Katie was busy hyperventilating and not paying any
attention to him.

“What's the matter, honey?” I asked when
Jerry finally shut his mouth.

“Is it okay?  Can you tell now?  Is there
anything weird about it?”

“It…” Jerry raised his eyebrows again. 
“It?”

Katie bit her lip and nodded.

“He looks just fine,” Jerry smiled, “completely
normal.”

“He?” she sniffed.  “What about his eyes?”

“Well.”  Jerry peered closely at the screen. 
“I can't tell what color they are, but he is genetically flagged for blue and
they appear to be developing normally.  Right now, Katie, this fancy, schmancy
SdK analysis system is telling us there doesn't appear to be any mutations. 
It's also telling us his blood type is O positive.  Ron's blood type wouldn't
even register on his own machine.  I think your chances are good that this is
going to be an ordinary, healthy boy, not another Superman.”

“Thank God,” Katie exhaled and then smiled
at us.  “Can I see the picture again?”

Jerry turned the monitor again and like
one big happy family, we all stared at the little guy wiggling around.

“I can feel that,” Katie said.

“No way.  It's too early,” I cried.

“I can!” she insisted.  “All week I
thought I had picked up a space worm!”

“Well, Auntie Caroline says that boy ain’t
never going to be a worm.”  I gave her a big hug.  “He’s going to be big and
strong and as beautiful as his daddy; maybe even more so because he’s going to
have his mama’s eyes.”

Katie started crying all over again at
this.

“This is why I avoided obstetrics,” Jerry
mumbled and went to hide in his office.

Chapter 11

Katie

I was lying in bed and feeling ill.  At
least Jerry had taken my cast off.  There were two more weeks left in this
cruise and then I was off for two months.  I didn’t know where I was going to
go or what I was going to do.  The little guy was fluttering around my abdomen
reminding me he was there, just in case I dared to forget.

Jerry knocked on the door.  He came in and
sat down next to me, a serious expression on his face.

“What’s the mattter?” I asked fearfully. 
Maybe he was coming to tell me something was wrong with the baby that he didn't
see last time.

“Are you going back to him?”

I exhaled loudly, relieved that I was not
about to discover that I was carrying a bird-boy.

“I don't know,” I replied, hugging my
blanket.  “I don't want this baby to be the deciding factor.”

“Were you going to go back before you
found out?”

“I hadn’t made up my mind.”

Jerry nodded.  “When was the last time you
spoke to him?”

“Two months ago, when we had that fight.”

“You haven't heard from him since?”

“Stop it, Jerry,” I said, looking away
from him.

Jerry studied his fingernails.

“I'm scared enough as it is.”  I said.  “I
don’t need you to come in here with your recriminating looks.

“I’m not accusing you of anything, Katie. 
I’m sorry if it looks that way.”

“You think I made a mistake.  I know you
think that and now I’m stuck in it forever.”

“Katie,” he said and reached for my hand. 
“I’m just trying to help.  What are you scared of?  Did he threaten you?”

“He didn’t threaten me.”  I took my hand
away and crossed my arms.

“Then what are you afraid of?  Are you
afraid that you are stuck in it forever?”

“No!” I said quickly and sucked on my
lip.  “It’s not…”

“Who is he, Kate?”

I looked away.  “It’s who he’s going to
be, Jerry.”

“I think he already is whatever he is
going to be.”

“Well, you have no clue,” I snapped a
little too sharply.

“Why don't you clue me in then?”

“If I do, then you'll know what I know and
someday when I'm being court-martialed you'll have to admit it and you'll be
court-martialed too.”  I laughed as if this were a joke.

“Ok,” Jerry nodded sitting back and
crossing his arms in front of his chest.  He pushed his glasses up his nose. 
“You don't have to tell me and someday at your court-martial, I will act
totally innocent and tell them that you never knew a thing.”  He smiled. 
“Actually Katie, I came here because I wanted to tell you something. Well, a
few things.”

Involuntarily, I groaned.

“No, hear me out,” Jerry insisted. 

“Ok,” I said and pulled the blanket up
higher on my somewhat enlarged chest.  Jerry's eyes followed my movements and
remained there focused on my chest.  Having an enlarged chest was a very new
experience.  I pulled my blanket up to my chin.

Jerry cleared his throat.  “First off, I
want to say that whatever happens I want you to know…”

I shook my head.

“Hear me out!” he continued.  “I want you
to know that I am always here for you, for both of you.  I will always take
care of you, Katie.  Just know that.”

I wouldn’t look at him.

“Say, thank you Jerry,” he said.

“Thank you, Jerry,” I repeated.  “I do
know that.”

“Now,” he said.  “This is what I think you
should do.  I think you should go back home in two weeks to the palatial palace
he has built for you in Rozari.  You are both stubborn, arrogant and sometimes
incredibly foolish.  Swallow your pride, go home and act like nothing has
happened.  Enjoy the miracle of the next few months and the years to come.”

“How can you say that after what you just
told me?”  I swiped at a tear again.  Damn these hormones!

“Katie, Katie, Katie,” Jerry cried.  “Ron
is a good guy.  He may be arrogant, patronizing, weird, and whacked out
sometimes, but let me tell you, he is a genuinely good guy.”

“How do you know?”

“I've spent a fair amount of time in
sickbay with him.  I've seen him with patients and regardless of how he treats
the rest of us, he is wonderful with them.  The patients love him and they
trust him.  I can see why he gets the big bucks.  And…”

“And?”

“And, despite the fact that I really want
to hate him, I like him.  He's a good guy to grab a beer with and I consider
him a friend.  I hope he thinks the same of me.”

“That's really sweet of you, Jerry.”

“I'm a sweet guy in case you haven't
noticed.  Anyway, I don't believe he picked you out of the millions of women
that were dying for his attention just to irritate me.  He knew what he was
doing and to tell you the truth, I don't think he makes too many mistakes.  You
may not think you're up to whatever job he's going to give you in the future
but my gut tells me, you are and he knows it.”

“I'm not Superwoman,” I protested.  “In
case you haven't noticed.”

“Goldie,” Jerry smiled sadly.  “Superman
didn't pick Lois Lane because she could fly.  He picked her because she could
make him fly, metaphorically speaking.”

“Ya think?”  My face got very hot.

“I think,” Jerry nodded.  “You know,
honey, your chances of conceiving from a Rehnorian with type Z blood were about
a billion to one.  I think you've got yourself a little miracle baby because
Someone Else wants you back together.”

“Really?”

“I'm no prophet,” Jerry snickered.  “But
sometimes you just have to wonder.”

“I do love you, Jerry, but…”

“I know,” he interrupted.  “I’m your best
friend and your brother.”  He leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. 
“Uncle Jerry is going to spoil this kid rotten.  Okay, Sis?”

“Okay,” I nodded and he brushed his lips
against mine in an unbrotherly fashion before letting himself out.

Two weeks later my waist was expanded and
my feet were puffy but I wasn’t throwing up anymore.  I decided to go back to
Takira-hahr even though I still hadn’t heard a word from Senya.  The
alternative would have been to move back in with my parents, which would be
horrific for all of us.  I could imagine my mother introducing me to everyone
as her divorced daughter and her alien baby.  Even though just about everything
made me weepy, that thought made me laugh. 

Caroline and I walked through the
airlock.  She was babbling on about a new resort she and her latest beau were
going to go check out on Cascadia III. 

“Now don't bend,” she scolded as I reached
down to pick up my bag. 

“You think I can bend anyway?” I asked. 
“Do I waddle yet?  I feel like it.”  She grabbed my bag and gently placed it
over my shoulder.

“You look fine,” she said.  “Nobody would
know unless you told them.  Now when you come back in a few months, Lordy,
everyone is going to see you coming and going.”

“Great, I look forward to it.”  I blew her
a kiss.  I headed out into the terminal toward the private docks where an SdK
spaceplane should have been waiting for me.  I had rung Thad a few days ago and
asked him to send one.

“I'm so glad you called, Kate,” he said. 
“I'll get a plane right off to you.”

“How is everything?” I asked hesitantly.

“Terrible,” he laughed.  “Really rotten.” 
Thad looked away for a minute before he spoke again.  “He's been incredibly
busy.  I'm not making excuses, I'm just telling you as I see it.  Akan's gone
and it's all in his lap now.”

“But what about the King?” I protested. 

“The guy's in his nineties.  He's not
functioning on all cylinders.  They desperately need Ron there and they're
throwing everything at him because the planet's a mess.  Plus, he's got all the
stuff we are doing here and a few days ago, he had a seizure.”

“Oh no," I moaned.  “Was it bad?”

Thad laughed again, sort of.  “Nah. 
Nobody was killed by the tornadoes that crashed into the building and only five
speeders were wrecked.”

“Wow,” I gasped.

“Bad would have been six or more speeders
getting wrecked,” Thad added.  “Listen Kate, just so you know, when he woke up,
he was really out of it.  He kept asking for you.  He didn't remember where you
were.”

“He was asking for me?” I sniffed. 

“Yeah.  So get over it.  Don’t hold any
grudges.  The dude needs you even though he may be too stubborn to admit it.”

So there I was in the terminal, heading
down to meet my plane when I decided to stop at the Starbucks kiosk and pick up
a decaf.  I set my bag down, paid for my drink, turned to pick up my bag and it
wasn’t there.

“Oh, I remember this scene,” I said. 
“This is where the handsome prince picks up the maiden, drinks her coffee, sets
her in the back of his white, no black spaceplane and flies off into the sunset
for sometimes happily ever after interspersed with periods of pure hell.”

He was staring at me, well blindly staring
at me through his glasses as if I had just grown another nose. 

“Lady, are you still in line?”  Someone
nudged me, so I stepped away. 

In truth, I was thrilled he was here.  If
he wasn't looking so confused and distressed, I would have thrown myself at
him. 

He was looking better than he had a few
months ago but still unkempt.  His hair was wild and long and he hadn’t shaved
for at least a week.  He was back to wearing torn jeans and sockless sneakers
with holes in the toes.  It occurred to me how comical it was that this guy was
going to take over a whole planet and was now running a multi-billion dollar
company. 

“Let's go home,” I said sharply when I
realized he was stuck in an almost catatonic state.  He dropped my bag and held
his temples.  I snatched my bag from the floor and pushed him toward the lift. 
“Come on now big guy, don't go doing anything weird on me here.”

Even before the door to the lift swished
shut, he sank down to the floor.  After five years, I knew that when he sank
down on the floor like that, he wasn’t talking to me.  I stopped the lift and
waited it out.  After about twenty minutes, he finally sat back up on his heels
and looked at me.

“I did not know,” he said, which were the
first words we exchanged in two months.

“Surprise?”

He shook his head.  “I do not understand
what he is.”  He rose to his feet.

“Um, Jerry said he’s a baby?"  I
started the lift again and in a moment, we were at the private docks boarding a
SdK plane.  “He's half Human, half Rehnorian.  I thought they went over that
kind of stuff when you were in med school." 

Senya didn’t even glare at me.  He sat
down in a seat by the window with his hands on his head.  I stowed my bag and
headed to the galley for a couple water bottles, waving away the flight
attendant who had the sense to disappear and leave us alone.  Then, I sat down next
to Senya as the plane headed out toward Rozari.

I offered him a water bottle.  “Truce?”

He took it and but didn’t open it, just
rolled it around in his hands as if he were deep in thought.

“Are you okay?”  I asked.

No response.

“I’m okay, thanks for asking,” I said. 
“I've only gained ten pounds mostly in my boobs, I've finally stopped throwing
up all day long and I've got a giant zit on my chin but otherwise, I'm great.”

Senya studied me again, his brow furrowed.

“So,” I continued.  “Tell me about the project
that SdK Rehnor was going to work on.”  I tried to be cheerful.  “You know, the
one I totally messed up by giving away all your money.  Did you fix it?”

He stared at me.

“What is it?” I cried.  “Why are you
acting so strange?”

“You need to go back to space,” he said.

I drew back in my seat.  “Why?”

He turned away.

“Senya?”  My heart froze.  He didn’t want
me anymore.  Maybe during these last two months when I didn’t hear from him, he
had found someone else.  “What is going on?” I demanded.

“We will talk more when we are at home. 
You may stay for a while but then you must go back to space.”

I stood up.  “Who is she?”

He furrowed his brow again and looked
confused.

“You bastard!” I cried.  “You dickhead! 
I’ve been sick as dog these last few months carrying your son and you’ve been
screwing around on me!  Is that how it’s going to be now?  Akan’s dead and
you’re
The Man
, so it’s back to doing whatever in the hell you want to
do?”

“I do not understand why you accuse me of
this,” he said.