Chapter Eight
Lisa passed her hands over her relatively flat stomach. What would the baby look like? Would it have Zon's devil-red skin and black eyes? Would it look more human? Her brother's daughter had been the spitting image of her. Would her baby look like her brother? Would it be a mix of her and her alien, some sort of creamy-pink tone, like strawberry shampoo?
"I didn't think it was possible," Zon whispered. "It must have happened the first night we were together. I should have guessed, the male musth excites the female heat, but T'Shav are notoriously difficult breeders. There has never been a mixed baby with one parent of my species. But you're human. You have universal DNA."
"You didn't know."
"No. But now we do, we can take precautions in the future. And it's early enough that we can still do something about this… current situation."
Lisa's eyes widened. Her heart began beating faster as she wrapped her arms protectively around her belly. Really, she knew she shouldn't be so frightened at what Zon was suggesting… she knew that it was just a clump of cells, that it wasn't a real baby yet. But the thought of ending this pregnancy was even more frightening than being pregnant.
Zon saw her fear and knelt, his own expression twisted with pain. "You asked if cross-species breeding is possible. It is, and occasionally there are pregnancies. But it never works out. The babies are born with horrible disfigurements, unable to survive, even if they are carried to term. More often than not, the mother's body rejects the fetus, putting both of their lives in danger. The survival rate for both mother and child in cross-species breeding is so low—"
"No."
Zon fell silent.
"No, I can't. I won't." Lisa rubbed her stomach. "It's the last family I have."
"Aren't you listening to me?" Zon stood, pacing from one end of the room to the other. He dug his hands into his black hair, a frustrated growl reverberating in his chest. Lisa watched him, suddenly feeling calm. If the past few days had been a storm that she couldn't navigate, she at least had something to cling to now. "This pregnancy could kill you!"
"I heard you."
"Never mind could. It probably will kill you!"
"I have universal DNA," Lisa pointed out. "That means that you might have contributed DNA that I don't have to the baby, but it doesn't mean I can't carry it to term and be perfectly healthy."
"You're not thinking straight."
Lisa was silent. He did have a point. After learning that her world had been dead for thousands of years, how could she think straight?
"If you want babies, if you want a human baby, I'll take you to a cloning center. They can clone you. They can even rearrange the dormant genes you carry so that the baby doesn't have to look like you. You could have a girl or boy. But that," he pointed at her stomach, a twisted expression on his face, "that will kill you. I won't let it. I will do anything I have to in order to protect you, do you understand me?"
He was just going to keep ranting. Lisa waited in silence, watching him pace. She would let him blow off steam before restating her position. Whatever else he said, her mind was made up and he wasn't going to change that.
Eventually, Zon stopped pacing. He stared at her, panting.
"Are you finished?" she asked.
A muscle twitched in his jaw.
"You say you want to protect me. Well, if you take this baby from me, you will have to keep me in a straightjacket for the rest of my life, and I will never forgive you."
He shook his head. "Don't do this to me, please."
"I'm not doing anything to you. I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be abducted from Earth, I didn't ask to be sent drifting through space for thousands of years, I didn't ask to be sold at an auction and I didn't ask you to buy me." Lisa paused. "I did ask for the sex," she admitted, a wry smile tugging at her lips. "But I didn't ask to be pregnant. And I'm not going to end it. I can't."
Her hands were rubbing her belly again. Zon ran a hand over his face, pulling at his skin, a tormented look coming to his eyes. He dropped to his knees before her and pressed a hand to her belly. Lisa tensed, but his other hand stroked her cheek worriedly.
"It's not easy for me, either. I did buy you at that market, but I didn't ask for these feelings I have. I didn't ask to see my stars in your eyes… for the briefest second when I realized that you were pregnant I was ecstatic. I never thought I would be a father. But it's too dangerous. You've wormed your way firmly into my heart, and I can't… if I lose you…"
Every word sounded like it was being torn from him. He bent his head, his forehead resting on her thigh. Lisa ran her fingers through his hair, her heart pounding at what he was saying, but she tamped down on that emotion. She liked the sex, and she was grateful that he was looking after her, but that was the end of her feelings towards him. She couldn't give him false hope.
"Please," he whispered again.
"No. But if there does come a point where it looks like the pregnancy will endanger my life, I—"
An insistent beeping interrupted her. Zon's head jerked around and he snatched up his sword. He had healed quite a bit, thanks to the equipment in the cave, but Lisa still saw the way his shoulders sagged, and the sword was not as erect as it had been the first time she had seen him use it. The constant attacks and injuries were clearly taking a toll on him.
"Intruders," he told her unnecessarily, handing her a gun. "Do not point this at me."
"I'm not an idiot, I know how a gun works," Lisa snapped, adrenaline pumping through her body.
"We just need to hold them off until my ship gets here," Zon muttered, more to himself than Lisa. He suddenly focused on her again. "If I am killed—"
"Don't say that."
Zon narrowed his eyes. "If I am killed," he repeated, more firmly this time, "surrender. I don't think they will kill you or even harm you. You are worth far more as a religious artifact than anything else, even as a subject for experimentation. Surrender and tell them you're human."
What would happen to her then? Zon grabbed her, bringing her towards him for a fierce kiss that took her breath away. A second, gentler kiss followed.
"If you see anybody emerging from the tunnel before they say 'halo lights', shoot them."
"Wait!" Lisa could hear the panic in her voice as Zon charged down the hallway. His battle cry sounded even more wild and thunderous in the restricted space. If she didn't know it was just one man, Lisa would have thought that a hundred men were charging down the tunnel.
She only hoped that their attackers would think the same thing and retreat.
The sounds of weapon fire quickly drowned out Zon's voice. Lisa looked around wildly. There was no door to close on the tunnel, a security feature, as the air would quickly run out in this small space. It wasn't equipped with the atomic restructuring technology that Zon told her they had on ships–they could actually break carbon dioxide down into its base atoms and reform the carbon and oxygen atoms into other molecules.
Lisa shook her head. Now is not the time.
The bed was the only thing she could move, so she quickly flipped it onto its side to at least create a barrier between herself and whoever might come in firing. She crouched behind the bed, her grip tight on her gun. Noise echoed down the tunnel, too confusing to make out any individual noises. Her heart hammered, and the ridiculous notion that she should run down the tunnel and put herself in the middle of the battle to force them to stop fighting came to her mind.
She might have actually done it, too, if the sounds of battle hadn't suddenly ceased. Lisa's heart stopped with it. What had happened? Was Zon dead?
Her eyes flickered closed as tears blurred her gaze. Without Zon, how was she meant to protect her baby? She would be sold to the highest bidder, either to be cut up in some lab or paraded around like some sort of freak show. And if they wanted her alive… would they take the risk that her pregnancy might damage her health?
Footsteps.
Lisa tensed, aiming her gun at the tunnel. Her gaze went steely. If it wasn't Zon, then she was going to take out as many as she possibly could.
"Halo lights."
Zon's voice had her jumping to her feet. She was at the tunnel entrance before he stepped inside. Lisa launched herself into his arms and passionately kissed him. Tears ran down her cheeks.
"Get a room," somebody muttered behind them.
Lisa pulled away to see a half-dozen aliens in the tunnel, grinning at the two of them. Her cheeks flushed, but Zon gripped her tighter.
"Lisa, these are my men. They got here just in time." He kissed her again. "Come on. It's time to leave this planet."