Worlds Apart Pt. 02

The people who lived on Io dwelt beneath the surface in an extensive network of lava tubes and artificial tunnels that protected them from Jupiter's harsh radiation storms, some of the underground caverns large enough to contain small cities. Its inhabitants would never have tasted fresh air, never have seen a tree or a bird, never have drunk water that hadn't been reprocessed and filtered a thousand times.

The woman in question had been able to escape via a lottery system run by the UN, and she had been relocated to Jarilo, which was a paradise compared to where she had once lived. She told Jamie that looking up at the sky still gave her vertigo sometimes, as she had never known a life without a ceiling or a cave above her head. Consistent gravity was also an oddity, as AG field coverage in the tunnels was spotty at best. Her job on Io had been maintaining hydroponic systems, and she continued that work on Jarilo.

Even the Bugs that occasionally visited the settlement to help out and bring in supplies were happy to talk with him, eager to socialize with humans. Their lives were far less complex than those of the colonists, but they still answered his questions, talking about life in the hive. The Workers were eager to tell him about how the massive, subterranean complex was expanding deeper into the valley, and how they were building a tether up in orbit that would eventually lay the foundations for a shipyard where vessels would be built for the Navy.

The few Drones that he encountered spoke of their desire to serve in the Coalition as auxiliaries, to fulfill the colony's obligations to the alliance by fighting alongside the humans who they saw as their cousins. Their desire for combat was not born of bloodlust or malice, but rather a sense of duty and a desire to protect their territory.

Liz still wasn't showing any signs of pregnancy, her stomach just as flat and as taut as it had always been. She complained of a soreness in her breasts, but that was to be expected, as the glands were gearing up to produce milk for the babies. So far, there had been no hormone-induced mood swings and no odd food cravings. They continued to see Sousa and his team regularly, who monitored the health of the embryos, informing them that they were developing normally. With every day that passed, the chance of Liz's body rejecting the babies and causing a miscarriage lessened, and they could sleep a little easier.

CHAPTER 8: TRANSPLANT

The day had finally arrived. They had spent enough time planetside for Sousa and the Jarilan doctors to be satisfied that the IVF treatment was a complete success, and the green light was given for them to head home. A message was sent up to the Magellan, which had been performing surveys of the planet during the wait, and another shuttle was arranged to take them back up into orbit. Jamie and Liz packed their things and prepared to say their goodbyes, but Holly beat them to the punch. She arrived at their door with Harry and Blackjack at her side, but this time, there was a whole entourage of Workers in tow.

"I came to bid you farewell," she said as she stepped into their prefab, eyeing the bags that they had piled up beside the couch. "It has been a pleasure, and I will sorely miss your visits."

"We'll miss you, too," Liz replied. "I can't thank you enough for everything that the Jarilans have done for us. Without your help, none of this would have been possible," she added as one of her furry hands moved to her stomach. "A year ago, the prospect of being a mother was a dream, but you helped make it a reality."

"Tell Nightingale and the other doctors that we're grateful for their help," Jamie said.

"I will pass on the message," she replied, so formal as she stood there with both pairs of hands clasped in front of her. "I brought you something," she added, gesturing to the door. One of the workers made its way up the steps, a resin crate the size of a footlocker clutched in its powerful upper arms. It set the container on the carpet, then flipped the lid open, Holly reaching down to pluck something from within. It was a transparent container full of amber fluid, about the size of a large tube of toothpaste. "A parting gift," she explained. "Our Repletes formulated this nutrient paste specifically for Borealan kittens. It contains everything they need to grow strong and healthy. Mother's milk is best, of course, but this will be of great use to you when the time comes to wean them."

"Wow, I don't know what to say," Liz stammered as she peered down at the crate. It looked like a treasure chest full of gold. "How much of this did you make?"

"Enough to last you a good while," she replied. Jamie leaned over a little to get a look past her, seeing that there were at least ten crates of the stuff. "I'd give you more, but the shuttle wouldn't be able to carry it," she added.

"If you ever make it to Earth, you'll have to come visit us," Jamie said.

"I'd like that very much," she replied with a smile. "May we help you with your bags?" she added, glancing at the pile.

"Oh, sure," Jamie replied. With a wave of her hand, more Workers filed into the room, collecting bags from the pile. Jamie felt a little bad for them, he and Liz hardly needed a team of porters, but the squat Bugs were so paradoxically strong for their size that they hardly seemed to mind.

The group made their way towards the landing pad on the outskirts of the settlement, finding the rickety old shuttle waiting for them, its engines idling. The Workers began to load the luggage and the resin crates into the cargo hold as the surly pilot looked on, muttering quietly to himself in disapproval.

Sousa came to see them off, along with a few of his staff members, Liz and Jamie thanking them profusely for their part in the project.

"I have to mirror the Ambassador's sentiment," Sousa said, watching as the last of the crates was loaded onto the shuttle. "I'm sorry to see you go. I would have liked to deliver the litter myself, but I understand that you have a narrow window to safely make it back to Earth. All I can do now is wish you the best of luck."

They said their final farewells to the friends that they had made during their stay on Jarilo, knowing that they would likely never have an opportunity to see them again. It was an odd feeling, leaving behind such a pristine, alien world. What awaited them was the normalcy of Earth, with no friendly Jarilans, and no continent-spanning forests. Not for the first time, Jamie wondered if they had made the right decision in choosing to go back.

"Good luck," Harry said, taking Jamie by the hand and giving it a vigorous shake. "If I know anything about Borealans, you're gonna need it."

Blackjack leaned down, a massive head almost as long as Jamie was tall descending from above. His fearsome, jutting teeth belied his gentle nature, the great creature loosing a low rumble that shook Jamie's bones as he thrust his scaly snout into his hand. Jamie pet him as he would a dog, feeling the rough, overlapping scales beneath his fingers. The Krell's hide was cool and leathery, the alien closing his yellow eyes contentedly as Jamie patted his nose.

"Blackjack says goodbye," Harry added, smirking at the sight.

Jamie and Liz turned, making their way up the cargo bay ramp, pausing to wave to the small crowd that had assembled beside the landing pad as it began to close. Jamie took one last breath of fresh, Jarilan air, watching the last sliver of sunlight fade as the bulkhead sealed.

"Is that a tear in your eye, Liz?" he asked as he glanced up at her. She wiped it away with the back of her furry hand, composing herself.

"It's just my hormones," she replied, rather unconvincingly.

"Strap yourselves in," the pilot called from the cockpit. "I'm on a timetable here, I can't wait around all day."

They sat down in the crash couches that lined the walls of the bay, fastening their harnesses tightly, their haul of crates secured to the deck by mesh netting. The floor beneath Jamie's feet began to vibrate, his stomach lurching with the motion of the vessel lifting off, a rumbling sound reverberating as the landing gear retracted. The main engines roared, and with that, the green forests of Jarilo were left far behind them.

***

Captain Cassidy was waiting for them on the other side of the Magellan's airlock as they left the long umbilical, a broad smile on her weathered face as she welcomed them aboard with a firm handshake. A few of the other crew were there, too, offering to help them with the bags that they were carrying.

"So, a little birdie down at the UAS outpost tells me that your procedure was a success," she said as she appraised the pair. They didn't even need to reply, their grins told her everything that she needed to know. "Congratulations," she added, giving Jamie an enthusiastic pat on the arm. "You two are gonna have to give me all the details over a drink once we get underway. You got anything else that needs bringing off the shuttle?"

"I'm afraid we returned with far more cargo than we left with," Liz replied.

"You two have had a long journey, go take a load off," Cassidy insisted. "I'll have my guys bring the rest of your gear aboard." Liz began to protest, but the Captain wasn't having any of it. "I'll not have an expectant mother carting cargo around on my ship, even if she could bench press most of the men on my crew," she added. "My ship, my rules."

"Yes, Captain," Liz replied with a smile.

"Your quarters are as you left them," she added. "And, welcome back."

***

The sounds and smells of sizzling bacon filled the galley as Liz prepared breakfast, tossing an egg in her pan, the half-dozen crew who were sitting around the dining table looking on hungrily. She had resumed her role as the ship's cook, liberating its denizens from the monotony of packaged meals once more. Jamie was helping out, carrying a plate stacked high with bacon, eggs, and sausages over to them, the scientists and engineers digging in.

She watched them eat with a smile on her face, spatula in hand, Jamie pulling up a chair to join them.

"I thought we were going to starve to death without you two around," Sarris said, taking as large a bite of his sausage as his mouth could accommodate. "Now I can look forward to another four months of good eating."

"You can say that again," Bradley added, sliding a fried egg onto his plate. "One more microwave-ready meal, and I was gonna take a short walk out of an airlock."

"What was in all those plastic containers we brought onboard yesterday?" Higgins asked, the engineer pausing to chew on a rind of crunchy bacon.

"Resin, not plastic," Jamie replied as he reached over to grab a salt shaker from the middle of the table. "The Bugs on Jarilo make it. They were full of baby formula."

"Really?" Higgins said, raising an eyebrow. "That must be a hell of a lot of formula."

"Well, we're having a hell of a lot of babies," Liz added as she made her way over to them. She sat down on the floor at the head of the table, piling her plate with fried meat.

"How many is a hell of a lot?" Jessie asked, Liz flashing her a toothy grin.

"Five."

"Five!" Higgins exclaimed, almost choking on his bacon. "Fuck me, why are you having five kids?"

"Borealans reproduce in litters," Jessie explained. "One pregnancy could result in five, six, or even seven kittens."

Higgins gave Jamie a sympathetic look across the table, resuming his breakfast without further comment.

"I still can't believe you managed to pull it off," Jessie continued, the biochemist practically shivering with anticipation at the prospect of discussing the experiment in detail. "We downloaded all of Doctor Sousa's data before we jumped away, and I can't wait to sink my teeth into it. What was it like?"

"Standard IVF treatment, for the most part," Liz replied. "At least, according to Doctor Sousa. The strangest part was the gene-editing, which required some Jarilan tech."

"What kind of tech?" she asked.

"It looked like someone had hooked up a cow's stomach to a bank of computers," Jamie replied, Jessie grimacing at the mental image. "It was this big, pulsating organ that the Jarilans told us came from a Betelgeusian Queen."

"They grew it artificially," Liz added. "It didn't actually come from a Queen."

"Yeah," Jamie continued with a nod. "So, this organ could sequence DNA, and it could also map out the relationships between genes somehow. That was what got Sousa and his team so excited. The Bugs hooked the thing up to the server racks, just plugged it into the network like it was a storage drive."

"It could actually determine the functions of the genes?" she asked, her eyes widening as she poised with a piece of sausage on the end of her fork.

"And how they interacted with one another," Liz added.

"Now I really want to get a look at those files," Jessie chuckled.

"What are the babies going to look like?" Sarris asked.

"Pretty much exactly like Liz," Jamie explained. "They spliced in as many of my genes into the mix as they could, but it's better to have the children resemble the mother. Makes the pregnancy safer."

"Sarris, you're not eating enough," Liz said as she shoveled another helping of bacon and eggs onto the confused man's plate. "Have a little more, it'll help put some meat on those bones."

She lay her head in her furry hand, watching the crew eat with a satisfied smile. Liz had enjoyed cooking for them on the way to Jarilo, but never to this extent. After a few minutes, she slapped her palms on the table, getting everyone's attention as she rose to her feet.

"Who wants dessert? I feel like making some pancakes. Jamie, fetch me some butter and syrup, would you?"

He did as she asked, glancing back at the table, where there was still a very sizable spread of food. Pancakes weren't exactly a dessert, the crew would probably struggle to eat what she had already cooked for them, but there was a spring in her step as she returned to the stove. Before long, she was flipping pancakes, her tail waving back and forth as she piled them high on a tray on the counter beside her. She was going all-out, adding chocolate chips to the batter, slathering them in butter and syrup. One of the cupboards had been hiding a can of strawberries, which she was happily cutting into slices. They weren't farm fresh, but so deep in space, having fruit of any kind was a rare treat.

She soon returned to the table with her haul of pancakes, watching contentedly as the crew took some rather conservative servings. Not satisfied with their lack of appetite, she encouraged them to eat more, Sarris looking to Jamie in a silent plea for help as she piled his plate six inches high with melted butter and chocolate.

"I made them human-sized," she said, "so don't be shy if you want seconds."

The crew were soon full to bursting, only Jessie able to resist the allure of the pancakes. Rather than the hearty breakfast getting them ready for the day, most of them looked ready to go straight back to bed. Liz was finally satisfied, Jamie giving her a sideways glance.

When they had all filed out of the room, he joined Liz in loading the dishwasher, carrying over a stack of plates.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked. She seemed happy, beaming as she slotted the cutlery into the racks, but he wasn't sure how else to phrase his question.

"I feel fine," she chimed, hitting the touch panel on the machine with her padded finger as she set the cycle going. She stood up, planting her hands on her hips, peering down at him curiously. "Why do you ask?"

"I just think you might have given Sarris refeeding syndrome with all those pancakes."

She put a hand to her mouth, chuckling to herself.

"Don't you think he looks thin?"

"A little," Jamie conceded. "Just go a little easier on the portions next time, or we're all gonna put on fifty pounds by the time we reach Earth."

***

Liz lifted her shirt over her head, reaching up to cup one of her breasts, wincing as she gave it a gentle squeeze. Jamie watched from their nest of cushions and sheets, stifling a yawn as she examined herself in front of the wall-length mirror in their quarters.

"They're getting so heavy," she grumbled. "I swear I've gone up a bra size already. I'm just glad I'm not on Borealis right now. Another thirty-percent gravity would really be a kick in the teeth."

"But you never wear a bra," Jamie replied.

"Do they look bigger to you?" she asked, turning towards him. She was being clinical about it, but seeing her standing there topless as she fondled a pair of breasts larger than his head in her hands, it was hard to be objective.

"I mean...they've always been big," he replied. "Maybe I should examine them more closely..."

"You're used to being rough with me," she began, covering them up protectively. "But I'm super tender right now, so you'd better treat me like I'm made of glass."

"If it's really that uncomfortable, we can just abstain for a while," he replied with a shrug. "I'm not gonna die if I go a few weeks without sex."

Liz let one of her breasts fall, lifting a curved claw to her lips, chewing on its sharp tip hesitantly as she considered. The flush in her cheeks betrayed the salacious thoughts that were racing through her mind.

"Let's not go that far," she replied. "Truth be told, with all these hormonal changes, I've been feeling kind of...squirmy."

"Squirmy?" he chuckled.

"Sousa told me that there would be increased blood flow, that I might see some minor swelling, but it's made me really sensitive. I feel like if I just touch myself down there, I'm gonna pop. I read that sex is supposed to help ease discomfort, too," she added. "It releases a chemical called oxytocin."

"Well, if it's about releasing oxytocin, I guess I have no choice. Strictly for medical purposes, of course," he joked.

"Alright, smart-ass," she replied with a smirk. "Put those dull fingers to use, and be gentle with me. I've never had to worry about you being rough before, but I've never felt so...fragile."

Jamie watched her strip off the rest of her clothes, then she lowered herself into the nest beside him, shifting her weight to get comfortable. She lay on her back, gravity spreading her ample breasts, Liz opening her legs almost nervously as she waited for him to take the initiative. This new fragility lit a fire in him. Even when they were teenagers, Liz had always been tough, and she was a downright tank after returning from Borealis. She was five-hundred-pounds and eight feet of almost pure muscle, she could have wrestled a Siberian tiger into submission, but she was now so sensitive that his merest touch made her shiver.

Her green eyes tracked his hand as he slowly reached for her breast, gently cupping it. She gasped, the motion making her flesh quiver, Jamie weighing it in his palm. It really did feel larger, heavier, even if only by a little. He was familiar enough with her breasts that even a small change would be obvious to him. He let the wobbling globe's weight sink his fingers a little deeper, Liz gritting her teeth.

"Does it hurt?" he asked, glancing up at her beet-red face. "I'm trying to be as gentle as I can."

"I...I dunno," she murmured, rubbing her powerful thighs together.

"You don't know?" he chuckled.

"It's like all my wires are crossed," she replied. "It's sore, but it feels kind of good. K-keep going..."

He did as she asked, starting to massage her breast with tentative strokes, bringing his other hand to bear as he struggled to wrangle the weighty mass of fat. Liz squirmed in the sheets, her entire body seeming to move in time with his gentle kneading, her face contorting into an expression that could have been either delight or discomfort.