Chapter Nine
Lisa had never been one for sci-fi shows. The science in them was usually so horribly researched that it left her wanting to vomit, rather than entertained. Now she realized that while the science was off, the application wasn't as bad as she had thought. When Zon brought her to his ship, she was fascinated by everything she saw. People walked around using holographic tablets, wearing goggles to scan the walls to check connections. There were even stations, called molecule breakdown stations (MBS) where waste of all sorts was broken down into its individual atoms and reformed into whatever item was needed, similar to how oxygen was produced.
"This is amazing," Lisa said, looking around the medical bay while Zon sat beside her.
Her fingers itched to explore all the technology around her, and it was difficult to make herself lay still for the doctor to perform more in-depth scans of her midsection. Rather than the wand scan that Zon had performed, the doctor put her on a bed, exposed her belly, and pressed small nodules to it. These scanned her insides and built a 3D holographic image of what she looked like.
Zon still wanted to be sure that she was actually pregnant and not carrying a parasite. The holographic image of her uterus was bizarre to look at, but what was even more bizarre was when the doctor refocused the image so that the embryo could be seen. She wasn't even far enough along to be carrying a fetus yet. The projected image didn't look remotely human or baby like. In fact, it looked like a terrifying mix between a tadpole and dinosaur.
Lisa clutched Zon's hand. She had seen images of embryos before. According to her knowledge, this would eventually develop into a baby.
"The genetic scans confirm it," the doctor said. "T'Shav DNA."
A rush of relief washed over Lisa and she couldn't stop a laugh. She turned a beaming smile to Zon, but his brow was furrowed in worry. Seeing her expression he attempted a smile, but she could see his heart wasn't in it. It dampened Lisa's enthusiasm a little. The doctor turned off the scanner and removed the nodules from Lisa's belly.
"How likely is it that it will be carried to term?" Zon asked.
"The risks of hybrid babies are well known. I can start the procedure to—"
"Don't you dare." Lisa narrowed her eyes and glared first at the doctor, then Zon. "I made my choice, got it?"
Zon sighed. "Lisa wants to wait until it's further developed, to make sure that it will pose a risk to her life before it's removed."
The doctor frowned. "We might not know that until the fetus is fully formed, at which point it will be so far along that ending the pregnancy will come with severe risks. I would feel much better about this if—"
"You don't have to feel good about it," Lisa interrupted. She didn't like how the doctor was talking to Zon as if she wasn't even in the room. "I want to see a genetic comparison between my DNA, Zon's and our baby's."
The doctor glanced at Zon, who nodded. Lisa folded her arms, glaring at the doctor, but thanked him when he gave her a tablet with the information on it all the same. To her relief, the DNA was expressed in the familiar double helix pattern. There were a few things where she had to ask for translation and clarification, but within a few minutes she set aside the tablet and smiled.
"As far as I can tell, I'm not carrying a hybrid baby."
Zon's brows rose.
"See for yourself," she said to the doctor, who returned to them with a doubtful expression. "All major points in the DNA are congruent with Zon's. My 'universal' DNA means that I'm carrying a T'Shav baby."
"She's right." The doctor's jaw dropped as he rechecked his results. "Why didn't I—"
"You weren't looking."
Before either of them could continue, Zon had scooped her into his arms. Lisa protested, given his injuries that hadn't fully healed yet, but he ignored her and carried her through the corridors. The beaming smile on his face was enough to keep her from continuing to protest.
He deposited her on his bed in his room. Other than the bed and a wall of weapons, it was utterly empty. Lisa's eyes brightened as Zon lay beside her. She slung a leg over his hip, giggling breathlessly. The euphoria of knowing that she was pregnant and that there was no danger from having a hybrid baby had her libido, which seemed to always be simmering, flaring to an inferno.
To her disappointment, Zon didn't do much other than share a few kisses before he tucked her into the bed, pulling the blankets up to her chin. Lisa sighed.
"I'm not made of glass. Just because I'm pregnant—"
"I know. But it's been a trying few days and we both need our rest."
Lisa tried to kick herself free from the blankets. "I'll rest better if I get rid of some of this excess energy first…"
Zon chuckled and shook his head. "No, my love. We need to talk as well."
Talk. The dreaded word. Lisa had hated it whenever one of her boyfriends said they needed to talk. It always end badly. She twisted the blanket in her hands, not replying.
"First, I want to say I'm sorry for insisting we end the pregnancy."
"You were worried for me," Lisa replied, stroking his face. "I can't be angry at you for that. I'm just glad you decided to wait and see, and not take matters into your own hands."
A pained look crossed Zon's face and he nodded. From the fearful expression in his eyes, Lisa suddenly realized that he had been far closer to doing just that than she had realized. At her shiver, he moved closer, wrapping his arms around her. His devil-red skin was as hot as flames and felt good in the cool air of the ship. Apparently, heating took up a lot of energy. That made sense. After all, they were in the dead of space.
"What else do you want to talk about?" she asked quickly.
"Well, since you are going to have my child, I thought that you should know more about my species."
Lisa nodded. That made sense, too.
Zon shifted, as though he was trying to get even closer to her. Lisa attempted to grind herself against him, but a hand on her hip stopped her. Dark eyes smiled at her and he chuckled low in his throat, shaking his head.
"T'shav don't marry," he started. "Many other species have commitment ceremonies, but we don’t. It's unnecessary. We simply have mates. The females choose what males they want to be with, and they are with them for whatever length of time they want. Usually, many females gather to the same male, to have companionship and help raising their young. They usually stay with one male until they have a child old enough to protect itself and then move on."
Lisa scowled, now struggling to free herself. "I'm not sharing," she said bluntly. "If any other female shows up and tries to be your mate, either she goes or you both do!"
Zon laughed out loud. He clasped her tighter in spite of her struggles and nuzzled her neck. "If there were other females, they would be here already. I'm not interested in more than one female. It makes me a rarity among our people."
There was no freeing herself, so Lisa stopped struggling. She huffed out an annoyed breath, though. "Why is that?"
"My people believe that our souls are born in the stars," Zon said. "Each star gives birth to one soul, which is in turn born into physical bodies again and again until the star itself grows old and dies. But sometimes, a single star will produce two souls. Those souls, no matter how far apart they may be when they are born into physical bodies, will always find each other. I knew from when I was a boy that I had such a starmate."
A cold ball slipped into Lisa's stomach. He couldn’t mean what she thought he meant… they had fun together. The sex was great. Maybe, with time, they could start talking about love… but this whole talk of starmates was just too serious.
"I don't know what my soul did all those years ago to be parted from you for so long, but from the moment our eyes met, I knew I had found you. My starmate. I've waited thousands of years for you, Lisa." His arms tightened. "And I've finally found you."
He brushed his lips against hers, but Lisa couldn't make herself return his kiss. The whole notion of starmates was impossible. And the fact that Zon thought she was his… that was insane. But she couldn't tell him that, not after he had been so sweet to her. Instead, she mumbled that she was tired and turned over.
She didn't sleep.