Chapter 36
Haven
Goldie was really impressive. Haven admired her dedication to her craft, and how much work she had to be putting into learning healing.
Especially being self-taught. She had no one to ask questions, no one to guide her.
She was doing this all on her own. And set with the task of learning about lvtl pregnancies and embryos, she’d gone all out with the research.
As Haven was subjected to her next written language imprint and body scan, Goldie was telling her and Vytln everything she had learned. And though it was all related to his species, it all looked like new information to him.
He was standing beside the medscanner bed, outside of the rings.
He could hold her hand if he wanted and the rings wouldn’t kick up a fuss, just so long as he didn’t interfere with their job.
But he wasn’t right now. He was instead listening to Goldie with a look of concentration she usually only saw when he was working on a particularly stubborn piece of machinery.
Haven couldn’t blame him. She was trying to pay close attention too. Biology was not interesting, and it was filled with so many ‘if’s and ‘maybe’s, which was annoying, but this was something she was going to be living through, so she had a vested interest in paying attention.
“So, the pregnancy is two Standard years long,” Goldie was saying as she worked, Alred in mini-light form sitting comfortably on her shoulder, his tail swishing around her hair. “But you aren’t really going to notice anything for the first year.”
“Five years,” Haven corrected, grimacing. “It’s being so long.”
“Those are human years,” Goldie chuckled. “And it’s not as bad as all that. With alien technology, our life expectancy is actually a lot longer, so it’s not that long in the grand scheme of things.”
“It’s still being five years.”
“Two,” Vytln corrected again. “As long as you keep thinking of the five, you’re going to worry yourself more.”
“He’s right,” Goldie smiled gently, shrugging.
“And, like I said, you won’t even notice for the first half.
There won’t be any changes. You are going to have to supplement your diet.
You need a lot more minerals than your diet currently accounts for.
If you don’t change your diet, the fetus will drain your own reserves dry and you’ll end up really sick. ”
“Er, what minerals?” Haven asked, frowning. She’d never really paid attention to her diet before. She ate what she liked, when she had the opportunity. Honestly, she wasn’t that interested in food. Not when there was so much to learn and explore.
“Don’t worry about it,” Alred said, his mini-light form waving away the question. “I’ll change your favorites list on the food synthesizer to include foods that are enriched for your needs and safe to eat, of course. You can just order what you want, and the machine will take care of it.”
Haven blinked. “I having a favorites list?”
“You do,” Alred chuckled. “Everyone does. You’ve just been eating off of Vytln’s since he’s the one who has been feeding you.”
“I’ll start picking from her list then,” Vytln said, because he would still be fetching her food.
Goldie continued, describing the second half of the pregnancy.
Although that was when she would start experiencing symptoms, it would be such a slow and gradual process, she would have plenty of time to adjust to the changes.
Her body would change, but the changes would take long enough that it wouldn’t cause her a lot of pain or discomfort.
Lvtl females had long gestation periods, but they were smoother for it. And hearing that described using fancy medical lingo and statistics made her feel better.
The problem that Vytln raised was that this was a hybrid pregnancy, and they didn’t know what to expect with that difference.
Yes, humans tended to carry as the paternal species, but that meant the pregnancies were different from human ones and so there were changes.
There were a lot of differences in the changes their body would experience.
One of which was the temperature thing.
Already, Haven’s body temperature was up.
“It’s like a low fever,” Goldie said, looking her over carefully. “You feel okay though?”
“I do,” Haven nodded, frowning. “Am I being okay?”
“It’s a fever, but it’s not a high one,” she said, frowning.
“Your body temperature is naturally lower than that of a lvtl, and lower than a pregnancy would need. But that’s only for southern lvtls.
Northern lvtls have body temperatures naturally lower than ours.
And southern and northern lvtls are compatible.
When they interbreed, they make middle lvlts.
Those that are suitable for the temperate, middle part of their planet. ”
Hearing that, Vytln noticeably relaxed. “That’s true. So, she’ll have a middle lvtl. I’m okay with that. As long as they’re both alright.”
“Lvtl races are actually determined by body temperature during gestation,” Goldie said, face scrunched up with excitement.
“It’s not genetic, like us. It’s only temperature dependent.
That’s how their races are so polarized, while the middle race is created between them.
So, your temperature might be higher now, but that’s typical for when a bright side breeds with a dark side or a middle lvtl.
I don’t think it will go any higher and, yes, I think the baby will be more like a middle lvlt. ”
“Oh. What is being the difference?”
Goldie looked at Vytln who answered the question for her.
“Northern lvtls are like me, but their skin is white like snow. Middle lvtls have skin that is a gray sort of brown. Their blood isn’t burning like mine, or icy like a northern lvtl.
Their eyes will be dark green. Although,” he looked at her, “considering you are the mother and not a northern lvtl, I don’t know if that will still be true. ”
Goldie took over. “Bright side lvtls are white. I mean white, by the way. Like snow. They have blue eyes and blue blood, like Vytln has yellow-orange. It kind of seems like middle lvtls meet between them and end up with brown skin cast with gray and green blood – like the yellow and blue mixed together. It’s fascinating.
It makes me wonder what mixing with your DNA will do.
Especially since the hybrids humans make are always just a little bit different from their paternal species. ”
Haven pursed her lips. “Hm. I guessing as long as they’re okay and not suffering, I’m not really concerning about them being southern or northern.”
Goldie nodded in agreement, ending the scan and sending the medirings back to their docking station at the head of the bed.
“You look good. Tell me if your fever starts to bother you. There shouldn’t be a problem.
Our bodies adjust to alien pregnancies. We’re really good at it, apparently.
But if you have problems, I might be able to do something. ”
Vytln offered Haven a hand, helping her sit up on the edge of the bed, then down onto her feet.
She kept holding onto him as Goldie came around, mini-Alred yawning like he was sleepy as he braided his hair.
None of which was necessary or true. He could just show his light form’s hair as being braided, and he didn’t need to sleep, or was even capable of feeling tired.
He played entirely too much, but it was kind of adorable.
“You need anything else?” Goldie asked.
Haven thought for a moment before asking, “Do I having a weight limiting or something?”
“Not right now.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Vytln assured her, giving her a look that said clearly he wasn’t going to be letting her carry anything heavy regardless.
“You won’t until the second half,” Goldie chuckled. “Anything else?”
Haven shook her head. “Is it Alred’s turning now?”
“Oh, me?” His light form perked up.
“Yeah,” Haven beamed at mini-him. “We’re planning what parts of your body are bettering off being cybernetic and which ones being fleshy.”
“I’m hoping no more than fifty to sixty percent cybernetic,” he admitted.
“I’m going back to the workroom,” Vytln said, pushing her locs back behind her ear. “I’ll see you when you two are done with that.”
Haven smiled. “Okay. I’ll being quick.”
He grunted and nodded once to Goldie, silently expressing his gratitude, before he walked out of the room. All his questions answered, for now.
“So, what parts are you thinking of keeping robotic?” Haven asked, the three of them going to the console to begin planning.
This was going to be a long process, but before they could get started, they needed at least an idea of the direction they were going.
They had to plan his body. Map out the parts that had to be biologic and which parts could be technologic, and the pros and cons of the parts that could be one or the other.
Like his hands. Fully functional cybernetic hands were very expensive.
Cheap ones that had limited functionality were a lot cheaper.
But if they were making that decision, it might cost the same to just make his hands biologic.
His feet, however, did not need to be capable of such dexterous movement, so could more economically be mechanical.
There were a lot of decisions like that to make. And Haven was surprised to find that, for as much as she didn’t really like biology, working alongside Goldie to combine their two specialties was not only fun but interesting.