All That Glitters Ch. 45

A few moments later, a change of directions was indicated on the track they were following. The ship followed the new track to space station Varnala, where a Pod-Drran technician slipped out of the ship in an EVA suit and installed the ICS antennae on the outside of the vessel, before putting up a portable Gara-Hinn shield to protect the station while he punched a hole through the outside into the interior. He then swiftly put the wiring for the antennae through the vessel's walls, into the interior before sealing the outside and shutting down the Gara-Hinn.

The technician then slipped into the airlock and entered the station proper. He went to where he had drilled through the hull of the ship and attached a support to the wall near where the wiring came through. After sealing the inner half of the wiring, he installed the unit for the ICS on the support. It had its own power source so it was independent of the station.

He then had the Comms Tech, Sha-Halda, attach a lead from the stations comms unit dedicated to the control unit for the ICS.

"You can now simply use the comms unit you have dedicated to this device for all your communications," he advised Sha-Halda.

He then tuned the antennae, showing Sha-Halda what he was doing and why. Sha-Halda understood immediately what was occurring. He locked onto the signal being sent from Liramor-23 and tuned the unit to it.

"It is ready now," he advised Sha-Halda. He contacted The Trine.

"We are tuned to the signal from Liramor-23," he advised the ship.

"Very good, have their Comms Tech contact Liramor-23," the ship ordered.

"The tech had Sha-Halda open her unit and make contact with Liramor-23.

"Liramor-23, this is Varnala, in orbit around Maha-Oran, we are establishing contact," Sha-Halda spoke into the mike.

"Varnala, roger, we hear you clearly," Liramor-23 replied. "We are sending a video and texts to you. Please let us know if it arrives in good order, over."

A short, ten-second vid came through the unit along with some texts with embedded images. The Pod-Drran technician confirmed that the texts and the vid were clear.

He nodded to Sha-Halda, turned and left the station.

"Pemipinae, you now have the means to contact Liramor-23 directly. We will always have someone monitoring this contact. Any inquiries from you will be answered immediately," Nar-Tree stated.

"I would suggest that you contact Liramor-23 now and speak with the Director, one Fiona Marsh. This ship will return to Liramor-23 and I will be available to you at any time of the day should you require anything from us," Nar-Tre gave a low bow and closed the link.

The Trine moved away from Varnala, gathering speed until it jumped. It appeared near Liramor-23 and made its way to its dedicated berth.

In the meantime, the Pemipinae contacted Liramor-23 directly.

"Good day, Pemipinae," the strange female said, giving her a low bow. "I am the Director of Operations for Liramor-23, Fiona Marsh. I am of the human species."

"We recognize your species, Director. We have seen Capt. Marissa Bellany," the Pemipinae replied.

"How will this work?" the Pemipinae wanted to know.

"The Pod-Drran have the lead on working to assimilate the Maha-Rrin into the Greater Community," Director Marsh explained. "It has to do with a recent prophecy that seems to have been corroborated by our scientists. I will let the Pod-Drran tell you of this."

"We have already seen the prophecy alleged to have been made by the Atohan," the Pemipinae told the Director. "It is not enough to change our opinion of the situation."

"Then I regret that your people will all die, both sides of your people," Fiona replied bluntly. "As I have said, our scientists have already corroborated this prophecy. Your people are already dying, Pemipinae, and you already are aware of this. Without the Pod-Drran, the Maha-Rrin will perish. Without the Maha-Rrin, the Pod-Drran will perish. It will take some time, perhaps a few hundred years but the end is inevitable.

"You have a chance to change this outcome but that is something that must be arranged between your two peoples, which is why the Pod-Drran have the lead in your assimilation. If they fail, they will die, as will you and your people. They are highly motivated to succeed.

"Chose wisely for your people, Pemipinae. You have only one chance to change the outcome of your demise," Fiona closed the link, leaving the Pemipinae and her ministers to argue for hours about what they should do next.

The Food Court, Liramor-23, The Piscium System

It had been a long and tiring week for all those who were sitting around the table with the Piscium Family. It included the Asoc, her mate the Asost, a few members of her senior entourage including Ambassador Dragon Alvoie, her Seneschal, the Kumar-Pair, and their Gerlendie Guard the Kumir-Rai/Ro, the Pod-Drran Ambassador, Nar-Tre Sai-Rai, some of the House of Ur, Dir. Fiona Marsh and her aide-de-camp, Cdr. Jane Fillertan, and the Civilian Liaison Officer for Liramor-23, Capt. Malteyea. They were all having a good time celebrating the end of the event as tomorrow would be the last full day and the day after they would all return home.

Food from a dozen different stalls was packed on the tables as the participants mixed and matched their favourites onto their personal plates. All was going well until a terrified scream came from Ikekia.

"Mommy! Zawwy say God-Ma need hewp!" Ikekia told her mother Junelliya.

Junelliya saw that Zawwy had her hand on her sister's arm and both of the children had real fear showing on their little faces with tears in their eyes.

Junelliya instinctively looked at the Kumaraie and saw that she was in evident distress. The problem clicked in the back of her mind. She snapped her comp open and called up Kayl-Ur.

"Hi, Junelliya, what can I..."

Junelliya cut her off almost immediately... "Kayl, maternal emergency in the Food Court! Come immediately, I'll call the hospital," she called out. There was only one person known to be pregnant on Liramor-23, she knew Kayl would react fast. She closed the link

Junelliya toggled the emergency button on her comp.

"Liramor-23 hospital, Nurse Silliya speaking, how may I help you?" came the reply from her comp.

"Silliya, it's Junelliya. We need a chair and runners to the Food Court, the Kumaraie is in maternal distress. I've called Dr. Kayl," Junelliya informed her.

"On our way!" Silliya replied as Junelliya turned to hold the now frightened Kumaraie.

"I do not understand," the Kumaraie told her. "It is still eight days away from my due date."

"Despite the best of intentions," Junelliya told her with a smile, "babies can really screw up our timelines."

That got a bark of a laugh from the Asoc, who knew full well the truth of that statement.

Dr. Kayl-Ur, who had been shopping on the concourse, suddenly appeared with her mate, Nurse Hend-Ur. They immediately started looking at the condition of the Kumaraie, their comps open and medically scanning her.

"Yes, she is in labour," Kayl confirmed.

Two runners with an anti-grav chair showed up and the Kumaraie was gently placed into it and then they were moving swiftly, the slower Pod-Drran having a hard time keeping up with the much quicker humans, they caught up to them at the central lift as they piled in. The lift promptly brought them to Hotel Deck and the main entrance to the hospital. Heyya and her trauma team were on hand as the Kumaraie was whisked into the maternity room, only the third birth to be held in that room.

The larger scanner was employed as they checked to see what was happening with the Kumaraie. Heyya had a quick consultation with Kayl and Hend before coming back over to the Kumar-Pair, the Kumaroe now showing real worry on his face, as were the four members of the Gerlendie Guard now in the room.

"The amniotic sack of one of the fetuses has detached from the lining of the womb," Heyya informed them. "Normally, this happens after a birth, not prior to a birth. This baby is coming now, and we have no means to stop it.

"Kayl informs me that when this occurs, it will usually start the birthing process of the remaining fetuses. Which means that your children will be born here, now, on Liramor-23."

"We cannot have that," the Kumaroe stated. "They must be born on Pod-Drran soil."

"And they will be," said Nar-Tre as she entered the room with the flags of the Kumaraie and of Pod-Saar in her hands, Fiona Marsh following her.

"I, Director of Operations for Liramor-23, Dr. Fiona Marsh, hereby declare this room as part of the Embassy of the Pod-Drran for the duration of the Kumaraie's stay," she said, taking one of the flag stands from Nar-Tre and placing it at the wall on the right side of the Kumaraie's bed, while Nar-Tre placed the other flag on the left side. Fiona pulled out an official looking document that listed the birthing room and its associated recovery room as part of the Pod-Drran Embassy for the necessary stay of the Kumaraie.

"Good call, Fiona," Heyya smiled. "Now, the only thing we have to worry about is the medical emergency and, fortunately, we have the famous Dr. Kayl-Ur and her mate, Nurse Hend-Ur, to assist us. For the rest of you, I will allow the Kumaroe and four guards to remain, however, you are not to get in the way of the medical staff or you will be posted outside in the hallway. Is that clear?" she asked of the four remaining Kumir-Rai, getting quick nods in reply.

"Kumaroe, I do not know what the practices of the Pod-Drran are, however, the fathers of human children are permitted to be part of the birthing process," Heyya informed him. He smiled and took his mate's hand in his.

"That will be a first, then," Kayl stated. "Most mates are not permitted in the birthing chamber prior to the completion of the births."

"We will have to record this," the Kumaroe stated. "We will have to show this to Pod-Saar as this is a momentous event."

Heyya understood. She pointed to one of the Kumir-Rai. "You will record. You will make a connection to Pod-Saar and inform the people what is occurring. I hope you do not faint at the sight of blood?" she asked, deadpanned.

That got a laugh from the other Kumir-Rai while the dedicated videographer contacted the planet. They swiftly had a connection and Pod-Saar was informed that the Kumaraie was birthing early.

As an afterthought, Fiona had the Comms Tech send the open link to the Maha-Rrin home world.

************

The Pemipinae was made aware of the situation almost immediately. She had the imagery put up on the main conference room and advised her ministers of what was happening.

"Why is this important to us, Pemipinae?" one of the ministers asked, rather surely.

"The Kumaraie, the leader of the Pod-Drran is in premature labour," the Pemipinae answered, giving the minister a withering look. "That is unusual for members of our species. But lately, this is an all too common occurrence. Our scientists believe it is part of the problem with insufficient DNA.

"If this is so, then there is the possibility that the Kumaraie may lose one or more of her brood. If she loses only one, that would corroborate the prophecy made by the Atohan, which is why I deem this to be a significant event," the Pemipinae finished.

************

Kayl and Hend had another consultation with Heyya. "This is one of the issues we are having with early deaths during births in the last decade or so with the placenta detaching prematurely."

"This becomes more of an emergency than we are aware of, then," Heyya told them. "I will take the lead from you, as you are the species experts. All of our medical equipment, my personnel, and my personal medical knowledge is at your disposal."

Kayl nodded solemnly to Heyya while Nurse Silliya showed the others, who wanted to watch, to the nearby maternity waiting room while things got busy in the birthing room.

Unlike human births, Pod-Drran births were relatively painless and quite rapid, a bit of an anti-climax. The staff soon had four little Pod-Drran infants in their arms in quick succession, one of them showing signs of medical distress, while the other three were doing relatively well despite their early arrival. All four were placed into human-style incubators as the staff tended to the infant who was causing them concern.

The Kumaroe had been employed to cut the umbilical cords of each of the new arrivals as they appeared. It was normal practice to put the little ones to the breast as soon as possible. However, when the distressed child was placed to the breast, it did not suckle. The other children suckled and were promptly placed back into their respective incubators once they had fed.

Kayl was worried about the distressed infant. "This little female is not responding as it should," she informed the staff. "She needs to feed soon or we may lose her."

"What of intravenous feeding?" Heyya asked.

"It has never been done with Pod-Drran infants before, Heyya. Unlike human infants, we would not know what to provide her."

"So she is fighting for her little life on her own?" Silliya asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," Hend agreed with his mate's assessment.

"Her heartbeat is erratic. We will have to hope that we can get her to feed soon," Kayl stated.

"Can we let people in?" Silliya asked.

"Yes, we can allow one or two people at a time to come in and spend time with the Kumar-Pair," Kayl said. "So long as they do not interfere with our work."

The first couple in was the Asoc and her mate, the Asost.

"Congratulations, Kumaraie," the Asoc gently touched the hand of her friend and fellow ruler. "You have a fine clutch of infants."

The Kumaroe laughed. "We call them a brood, Asoc, however, we understand the sentiment and thank-you for your kind words."

"There is an issue with one of the infants?" the Asoc asked, noticing the extra care being given to one by the staff.

"Yes, she is not feeding. She is not responding to stimuli." The Kumaroe stated.

The Asoc shared a look with the Kumaraie. In that moment, she showed concern for the child and for the new mother, expressing the worry of all new mothers for their children. Strangely, it brought comfort to the Kumaraie to know another understood her plight.

There was a small commotion at the door.

"Sorry to disturb you but your God-daughters wish to see the babies before they go to bed," Junelliya said as she and Hanalei carried the children into the room.

Ikekia reached out to the Kumar-Pair. The Kumaroe took her into his arms, getting a Linkess (rubbing of foreheads) from the child. The Kumaraie got Zarrenia, who gave her a mournful look and a gentle kiss. The child stroked the Kumaraie's face with her hand, the gesture near broke the Kumaraie's heart. It was if the child knew something that the adults did not.

Junelliya wisely took Zarrenia back into her arms and moved over to the quad pack of incubators. Zarrenia leaned down and touched each of the shells smiling as she did so, until she came to the last. The smile faltered, then faded as little Zarrenia touched her forehead in the same manner as her father did when he spoke of those who were a little shy of their mental faculties.

"The lights are on, but no one is home," Fayad would say, then make the same gesture that Zarrenia was making.

Zarrenia reached over and touched her sister. "Zawwy say, no home," Ikekia said, both children shedding a tear, Ikekia using the same gesture to her forehead that Zarrenia had used, unconsciously imitating her father.

Heyya had been to the Piscium's home enough times to have seen Fayad use that gesture and make the comment they were all so familiar with. She swiftly grabbed a small ECG band and placed the device on the child's tiny head.

Kayl, Hend, Heyya, and Silliya all watched the devices monitor before each one sagged at what they saw there.

Heyya turned to the Kumaraie and grabbed her hand tightly. "There are no higher mental functions, Kumaraie. Only the deepest autonomic functions are being recorded. The child did not suckle because she could not; she never will. I am sorry, Kumaraie, but the child is brain dead, likely from the trauma of the displacement of the amniotic sack from the wall of the womb.

Kayl was suddenly there, the tiny infant in her arms. She passed the little bundle to the Kumaraie, who held her in her arms, looking down into the impassive face of her child. The Kumaroe wrapped his arm around his mate, his free hand coming over to touch the child. They listened to the sound of the heart monitor, its unsteady beat beginning to lengthen and finally falter. Five minutes after she was placed in her mother's arms, the child breathed her last.

The Kumaraie let out a wail of anguish that was matched by her mate, crying over the loss of a life that had not even had the chance to begin. Their cry was met with the voices of all the Pod-Drran in the room, who knew the anguish of loss and voiced it with the Kumar-Pair.

*************

On a world some twelve light years from Liramor-23, the Pod-Drran all understood the significance of the death of this child. Prophecy had been completed. They mourned the loss of an innocent life and the changes that life foresaw for their people.

************

On another world, a little farther away, the leaders of the Maha-Rrin too, understood the significance of this loss, yet still they argued what they should do. Until a sound came over the live-feed they had been watching...

************

The Asoc began to rumble deep in her throat, a sound that was matched by her mate the Asost. They both raised their snouts to the ceiling and began a long, slow dirge, their feet stomping to the slow beat. They sang the song of life lost, of family rift by the loss of one of their own. For three full minutes they sang the song, finishing it, as all Asocan songs did, with the traditional snap of their jaws and final stomp of their feet.

Then, the soft, bell-like voice of Junelliya could be heard. She sang an old Pod-Drran song in the original language of the people, a song that was purportedly written by the Goddess herself. This song too, was a song of loss but it was markedly different from the one voiced by the Asocans.

Junelliya put her heart into the song, giving it all the sweetness and tenderness it needed, showing through her voice alone, that this was a song meant to honour a child lost too young.

On Pod-Saar, the people had watched as the Kumaraie's child had died, had listened to the astonishing sounds of the Asocans as they lamented the loss of this tiny life. But the people knew the song that Junelliya was singing for them now.

The voice of the Atohan touched all those who were listening. Those that knew the words, mostly priestesses, acolytes, and the older members of society, sang along with her.

Even on Liramor-23, the Priestess and her acolyte sang the song of loss. Despite the fact that Junelliya was not Pod-Drran, there was no doubt of the words she was singing. All the Pod-Drran recognized them for what they were.

And not just the Pod-Drran...

On Maha-Oran, the Pemipinae and her cabinet watched the live image from afar. They all knew the song as it was a common refrain with the people during the constant struggles against their world and the earth tremors it produced.

There had been too much death on this world, the endings all recorded with this very song. That a human could sing it with such conviction startled the viewers. A few were more than moved. They too began to sing with the Atohan. Many in this room had lost loved ones to the tremors, and some had even lost little ones prematurely.

The Pemipinae was surprised that the conviction of her ministers would be swayed by the words of an ancient song of their people, sung by one of another race.