Chapter Three #2
“Completely? Two more days. She doesn’t need genetic realignment, so this is just tissue and fat.” Ra chuckled. “Yes, you will look female again.”
Zoey gave him two thumbs-up.
Cori smiled. “I will stay with her. I don’t sleep, so it’s all good.”
Aretta smiled. “Thank you for your help, Cori.”
“You are welcome. Now, take it easy when you eat your first meal. It is tricky to pick something your body will accept. Ask any one of the ladies in a super suit. They can help you find something.”
Aretta nodded.
Zelda took Aretta’s hand and nodded to her sister and Cori. “I will try to come back before we leave, but it was nice to meet you and nice to see you.”
The ladies waved them off, and Ra led them back up the steps to where Zani met them.
“Uh, Lord Ra?”
“Yes?”
“You are about to become a father.”
He smiled. “I am aware. Oh, you mean now.” He took flight and went in search of his queen.
Zani waved at Zelda. “Come on. You have done this before.”
Aretta grinned. “Yeah, Mom.”
Zelda lifted her skirt in one hand, kissed Orex’s cheek, and ran after her sister. They headed down below, and four levels later, Zelda was shiny and heard the soft grunts of a woman in labour. It wasn’t a dainty process.
The doctor was fretting. “I can’t get an injector into her skin.”
Zelda nodded. “Get some water, some fruit juice, and a light snack. This might be tiring.”
“But... she can’t have foods.”
“If we were going to intubate her. That ain’t happening. If she collapses, she wedges her enormous gut into a restoration unit.”
The human doc blinked. “Right.”
They quickly went to wash their hands, and when they got back, Zani blinked. “Where is Ra?”
Harwin looked at them. “I sent him off to get me some fuzzy slippers. He’s throttling a fabricator right now.”
Zelda laughed. “Right. Did you want to try some different positions to see what you will be comfortable birthing in?”
“That’s how I got here, but sure. What am I looking for?”
“You are looking for something that makes your pelvis feel open and takes the pressure off your butt bone.” She grinned and helped the very tall woman, trying different positions.
After five minutes, they had a result. Harwin wanted to be on all fours with her legs wide, and when the contractions hit, she flattened to the bed.
Zani said, “Can I just take a look?”
“Sure. Ra likes sex in public, so my nightie is as much discretion as I ever get.”
Zani looked and nodded to Zelda. “Is that what I think it is?”
“It’s a brunette.”
Zelda lifted her head. “Bots, get Ra here, now. Medical emergency.”
Two bots took off at high speed, and a moment later, there was a roar, and Ra burst into the room.
Zelda barked, “Wash your hands, kneel, and support her while we catch.”
“They said it was an emergency.”
Zelda looked at him. “Someone is emerging. Hands. Go!”
He moved quick for a big guy, and he was the support for Harwin while her hips rocked, and the baby slid into Zaniah’s hands.
Harwin shuddered. “Are we done yet, are we done yet, are we done yet?”
“Placenta has to show up. I want to wait for it to show up, but would you two like to hold your son?”
Zelda was leaning and giving the fundal massage, and the placenta left the mother. “We are clear.” Everything was removed, and the baby was handed over.
Harwin looked down and laughed. “He has wing buds, and he’s gold.”
Ra didn’t speak. He looked down at the naked baby with his mark on his chest, dark hair, and dark eyes. Harwin stroked his cheek. “There. Now you and Kethen can compare notes again.”
He grinned and swallowed. He kissed her and whispered, “Thank you.”
Zelda smiled.
Harwin looked exhausted.
Zelda said, “Since you have all of these healing units, why don’t you get her in there to avoid any post-partum issues. Just make sure that the settings will keep lactation.”
Ra’s eyes widened. “Right. Will you hold him?”
She didn’t have a chance to answer. She was holding a very large, bloody baby while the mother was taken to restore her to near-factory settings.
Zelda looked at the little naked Hmrain, and she began to rock him. She held him up in the newborn scrunch and walked around while Zani walked around. “Well, this is weird.”
Zani laughed. “You have been out in space for more than a year. Is this the oddest thing you have seen?”
“Not hardly. There was a woman who was claiming companion status just because she had a lot of sex. A few weeks with a Hmrain showed that she was mistaken. Hopefully, she recovers.”
“Wait. What?”
Zelda kept a hand on the little naked back. “What happens to you when you suck a thick straw in a milkshake? What is your response when nothing happens?”
“Uh, first, I suck harder, and then I just scoop out what I want.”
“That is a Hmrain sex drive.”
Zaniah blinked. “Well, shit.”
Ra came back and looked at the baby. “I am going to bring him to his mother’s side. Orex is fidgeting.”
“Ah, I should attend him. Here is your son. Do you have names for him?”
Ra took the tiny, little creature, and he looked at him with wonder. “Not yet.”
“Give Harran a thought. It combines both of your names, and Harwin goes first.” She looked around and found some folded fabric to one side. “I am going to bundle him up.” She snagged the baby and smiled at his sleepy little face.
She wrapped him in the gauze, and he was a little ball with a head on top. She laughed. “There you go. One burrito.”
He grinned. “He is easier to hold this way.”
She showed him how to set the baby on his shoulder, and a small snuffle was the result.
Ra nodded. “Thank you for your assistance. I will take excellent care of your sibling. Now go and soothe Orex. He’s worried.”
She laughed, and as Zani was still bustling around the room, she headed up to her overseer.
He was waiting on the steps, and she smiled and walked toward him. “Hello. Successful delivery. Baby and mom doing well. Ra is stunned. It’s a good look for him.”
Orex hugged her and kissed her. “You smell like blood.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess. Side effect of labour.” She bit her lip. “I need to find a sonic or solar shower.”
He smiled. “But you were fine assisting?”
“Sure. I remember having Aretta alone, so I know what is necessary.”
“What?”
“Oh, her father was gone at that point. I was alone, and there was a snowstorm. I couldn’t drive out, and no one could come in. So, I watched videos, the emergency services talked me through it, and I managed.”
He frowned and hugged her again. “If we have children, you will not be alone.”
She wanted to drag him into another alcove and start one right then, but Aretta was off to the side. She looked at her daughter. “Hey, bug. How long were we gone?”
She shifted from Orex to Aretta, and she got another hug.
“You were gone about an hour. Lord Orex said not to worry, that babies arrive in their own time, so I told him about when I showed up, and he was very interested. Did you know that there are archaeologists here? They are all kinds of species. Harwin used to work with them as a bodyguard, but she woke up Ra and took down a raider shuttle, not in that order.”
Orex smiled. “Ra had it carved into one of the walls. He is planning several chambers for the records of Harwin. He ordered a meal for us in the main throne room.”
She nodded, and they turned to the stairs. Aretta smiled, Orex put his hand out, and Zelda put her fingers on his wrist. Aretta walked behind them as they went up the stairs.
When they got to the top of the stairs, she darted past and said, “The team is this way.”
Zelda smiled at Orex. “She is excited, and this is something I wish for her to continue.”
He smiled. “Then, we will go.”
Zelda grinned, and they walked after the teen. A few Terrans were walking around the space, and some smiled and waved.
“Oh, that is so weird.”
Orex was quiet. “Seeing your own people? There are Terrans on Orval.”
“Oh, I know, but they aren’t happy. It is hard work setting up a new colony, and we still have the mindset that we will be ejected to die. We don’t know how to survive on our new world yet.”
He paused. “That is why Marta scrambled for position.”
“Correct. We have been fighting to live, and many of us stopped fighting.”
“You didn’t stop.”
“No, but I had someone to fight for.”
Orex glanced at her and followed her gaze to Aretta. He nodded, and a determined expression filled his features. Zelda followed his gaze to her daughter, and the only thing she could think of was that Aretta was getting some kind of pony.
The room had several researchers in it, and they were looking at and cataloguing artifacts that Ra had given them.
Aretta was delighted and moved from one table to another, and Zelda smiled. “She wanted to go into archaeology.”
“She can. There are many abandoned worlds outside of Hmrain control. There are temples and cities and ancient settlements, all silent. Of course, no way she is going to one of those without an army of guards.”
Zelda chuckled. “You are really taking to having a child.”
“I will practice every day when you and she wake, and when you sleep, I will go over how to do things better the following day.” He smiled.
She looked at him and his thoughtful focus and felt a wave of amusement. Orex was a girl’s dad. This was going to be interesting.
A soft voice said, “Lord Orex, meals are waiting for you and your party.”
Zelda smiled. “Aretta, come on. You have to start eating again.”
Aretta looked like she wanted to dig in, but she nodded and came toward them. “I forgot.”
“I know, but sleepers who don’t start processing food lose all appetite, and they start fading within three days. We are fighters, so let’s fight for a sandwich.” She smiled.
Aretta paused with her eyes wide, and she looked at Orex. “Do sleepers really start fading in three days?”
“For some species, it is less time.”
He opened his wings and shepherded them behind the servant who had called them.
The wide-open space had a buffet at one end with some low couches and tables around.
They washed their hands in the wide bowl at one end, and Zelda made sure to go last, washing up to her elbow, turning the basin pink.
“Weird how you get used to wearing blood.” She shrugged and slipped her sleeves back in place.
Orex laughed and picked a few things for her in a wide wooden bowl, and Aretta grinned and picked a number of items based on colour. Her bowl looked like a rainbow.
Orex walked with Zelda to one of the couches and sat before pulling her onto his lap.
Aretta blinked. “Mom?”
“Traditional seating. If a Hmrain has a consort, they pull him or her onto their lap as a demonstration to everyone around them.” She shrugged. “They may or may not feed them. It’s like taking care of a pet.”
Orex snorted and handed her the bowl so that he could hug her.
“It is more like taking care of something that makes you happy. Until I connected with Zelda, I had no idea what having a proper consort could be. Now, I want to make sure that she is taken care of. When we are on a new world, she might not be able to tell what is edible, and to save me from being without her due to discomfort, I supervise what she eats.”
Aretta sighed. “And you like having her on your lap.”
“That, too.” Orex nodded honestly.
Zelda snorted and looked at the selections that she had. She took a piece of something that looked like baklava.
Aretta blinked. “Why is this food so familiar?”
Zelda could answer that. “Ra liked Earth and liked the food, so that is what we have here. Food from the Middle East. I am guessing this is a locust in honey.”
“Ew, like a bug?”
Zelda ate it. “A crunchy, sweet bug. Try it. Lots of protein.”
Aretta took one of the bugs and bit it in half, wincing. To her surprise, her eyes opened wide, and she ate the entire thing.
Orex whispered, “They are also easy to digest.”
Aretta got two more and then started to try the other food. Zelda sighed in relief, then Orex tapped her bowl, and she continued to eat all the small items, one by one. Honey and nuts made up a lot of the sweets, and chicken and pastry made up a lot of the savoury. The spices differed.
She finished her bowl, and Aretta finished hers with a happy sigh. She flopped back on her own couch.
Orex handed her bowl to the server, who was nearby, and the woman grinned. “It is lovely to see other Terrans out here.”
Zelda smiled. “I am glad to be out here. So is my daughter.”
The woman looked at Aretta. “The resemblance is uncanny.”
Aretta groaned. “The food is really good.”
Zelda laughed. “Yeah, there is the resemblance right there.”
Orex wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on his shoulder. “And she is equipped with such charming accessories.”
Zelda reached up and caressed his cheek. “And surprisingly comfortable.”
Aretta giggled.
Orex turned his head and kissed her neck. “And focusing on patience.”
Ra and Harwin walked into the space, his grin wide. Harwin looked rueful but lovely in full regalia. She held the baby close to her chest.
Harwin smiled. “Where is Zani?”
Zani came up from downstairs. “Good. Here. Just had to get everything sorted.”
Zani leaned over as she passed Harwin. “He’s still adorable.”
Orex held Zelda and rose, slowly setting her on her feet.
Zelda walked up and said, “Harwin, Queen of Aten, thank you for allowing me on your world.”
Harwin blinked. “Seriously? How do I breastfeed?”
“If you want a quick primer, I can show you. I think you formally have to welcome me, or Ra and Orex will think we are going to fight.”
Harwin snorted. “Zelda, Consort of Orex, please be welcome. Now show me how to feed this little guy.”
Zelda smiled and introduced Aretta. “This is my daughter. She’s the one who put me through my paces way back when.”
Aretta bowed. “Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”
Harwin paused. “Oh, my god. I am a ma’am.”
Zelda turned to Ra. “Where can we practice so she can be comfortable?”
Ra turned to one of the bots. “The study on this floor.”
She nodded and looked to Aretta. “Are you good here?”
“I am good, Mom. I don’t want to witness that.”
Harwin snorted. “You might if your mom and Orex have kids.”
Aretta blinked. “They can do that?”
Harwin laughed. “How do you think this guy got here? That’s what consorts are all about. We are genetically matchy match when they are done with us.”
Aretta went and sat down as she considered the ramifications. Zelda sighed and walked with Harwin to the office. The baby couldn’t wait.