Knollig: A Terraneu Novel ( Book 2) (9 page)

“What did you do that for?” Amber yelled. “It is
only a matter of time before Kniam shows up now!”

“You are acting irrationally, and Kniam is the only person I know that
can talk some sense into you.” Mairi defended herself, “When he gets here, I
will give you privacy…but you are telling him.”

Amber’s eyes filled with tears, “I don’t know what is wrong with me. Why
am I acting so crazy?” She ran her hands through the hair at her temples.

Mairi gave her a hug, “It’s going to be fine.” A loud pounding sounded
from the front entry. Since Kniam was authorized to enter their living dome,
she just yelled…”Come in!”

She gave Amber a reassuring smile, and then headed to her entryway, when
she got to Kniam she just motioned over her shoulder to the courtyard. “In
there.”

Kniam was off like a bolt, rushing to his mate’s side, “Amber…are you
okay?” She saw him drop down on his knees next to her. “Please tell me what is
wrong. We always said we would be honest with each other…” Mairi was at the
doorway when she heard him shout, “Pregnant,” when she looked back it was to
see him pressing kisses into Amber’s stomach. ‘Are you sure little female?”
Kniams voice was thick as smoke.

She hurried out the doorway, and paused at the balcony. A walk around New
Haven sounded nice. She called, “Cebat…Tabec…come!” If the Sacath were anywhere
near, they would be a nice addition to her stroll. She often “borrowed” them
from Amber if she was going to be walking alone.

She had cleared a few laps around different home sites with the sacaths,
when she spotted Knollig rushing her way. Telling the pets to “Go home.” She
picked up her pace to get to Knollig.

“Mairi, I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” He sounded panicked and
she was instantly sorry for causing him alarm.

“I am so sorry. I was giving Amber and Kniam some privacy. Did you see
them?” Mairi asked as she wrapped her arm around his waist.

“No. There wasn’t anyone in our living quarters when I arrived. What is
going on? Why did you call Kniam from the class?” Knollig put his arm around
her, and they were making their way back to their home.

“You will have to ask Kniam.” Mairi hedged, she didn’t want to break such
important news, if Amber and Kniam had decided to keep it private. On Earth a
female could have complications up to the third month, and she didn’t want to
cause an uproar in the men. Besides, it was Amber and Kniam’s news to tell if
she wanted.

Knollig got a suspicious look in his eyes, and then went “blank” telling
her, he was doing just as she had suggested. He was talking with his brother.
His face remained impassive, then he said, “There is an emergency meeting of
the Council. We need to go.” Grabbing Mairi by the hand, he hurried toward
town. Knaleg soon joined them.

“Do either of you know what this is about?” He asked. Mairi just shrugged
innocently. She really didn’t know what the meeting was about, she could guess
what caused the need for it though.

“Mairi knows something, but Kniam isn’t talking…and I don’t have any
idea.” Knollig responded to his brother. Before Knaleg could start pestering
her, as she knew he wanted, Knollig stopped him, “Leave it alone. We will find
out as soon as we get to the meeting.”

Knaleg gave a shrug of his massive shoulders. “Then we might want to
hurry.”
 
He suggested.

“That is fine with me.” Knollig laughed, grabbing Mairi up and over his
shoulder both brothers started running. Mairi was laughing with them, and since
Knollig was holding her securely it was a quick run to the Council chambers.

The three entered the dome to find Kniam and Amber along with Asteen and
Thian. The only member not present was Ailech, they would have to wait for him.
Just as Mairi had that thought, he entered behind them. Breathing heavy he held
up his hand, “Sorry, I was scouting out the North property for the next
expansion. I was quite a distance away.” He took in deep lungfuls of air until
finally he said, “I’m ready, what is the emergency?”

With that everyone turned to Kniam, since it was his job to start any
meeting. He wasn’t moving from Amber’s side, his face was beaming. She felt a
lump build in her throat, she was so happy for the couple!

Kniam looked down at Amber, then back at the group…”As you all know Amber
has been acting strangely, and everyone was getting worried. When Mairi called
me away from the meeting it was about Amber. My female and I have talked, and
she is okay with me telling the Council. We ran some tests.” Before anyone
could panic and ask if everything was okay. Kniam blurted, “She is pregnant!”
The Council members all had one second of shocked faces…then everyone was
talking at once.

Knollig left her side to rush to his brother, grabbing him in a bear hug,
then slapping his shoulder, “Kniam…that is the best news! Congratulations
brother.” He turned to Amber, “I…that is…” he lost his ability to talk, and
just gave her a gentle hug!

Mairi moved over to Amber, “I am so happy for you!” She gave her a fierce
hug, and then moved to stand by Knollig. He draped his arm around her…holding
her tight against him.

Knaleg, usually the most vocal of the brothers seemed to be struck
speechless. He gave Amber a hug, though it looked like he thought she would
break from the contact. Then he pounded Kniam on the back, “Congratulations! I
couldn’t be happier for you both.” There was suspicious looking moisture in his
eyes, but nobody commented on it. This pregnancy represented a lot more to
these men than a normal one on Earth would have.

After everyone had given his or her congratulations to the couple, Kniam
cleared his throat and became all business.

“We have to alter the plans for Antilles.” He stated firmly, “There is no
way Amber is going through the portal now that we know she is pregnant.”
Everyone instantly agreed.

“We all know Earth English and with Mairi’s help we will be able to
handle the transfer without Amber.” Thian gave Amber an apologetic look, “Not
that you won’t be missed.”

Mairi broke in. “Unless there is a danger in doing them, we will have to
do weekly scans of Amber’s pregnancy, so that there is a baseline for future
pregnancies.” Although she wasn’t a doctor she knew a few things about this
topic at least. “You said you ran some tests? I know with the changes to our
bodies making us ‘solar’, her hormone levels will be different no matter what,
but were there any other oddities?” Mairi moved closer to her friend.

“Would you like to examine the scan? All we had time for was to verify
the pregnancy, we haven’t had a chance to look at the results.” Amber asked,
“It is in the system. We can bring it up on the holograph.”

“I used to do x-ray’s and ultra-sounds as a profession back on Earth, so
if you want my opinion…even though I’m not a doctor, I would be happy to give
it.” Mairi offered.

“Is that what you did? Why didn’t I know that?? Some friend I am for not
even asking all these months.” Amber grumbled.

“It’s okay, I’m not exactly living every day with what I used to do back
on Earth at the forefront of my mind. Life here is different, and it’s not like
my old job is going to help a lot here. Their medical advancements are way past
anything I could keep up with.” Mairi shrugged, “Bring up the scan, and I will
tell you what I can from it.”

Amber looked to Kniam and nodded. He pushed some buttons and up came a
holographic image. Mairi inspected it closely, looking this way and that.
Walked around its 3-D parameters. Muttering to herself for a few minutes she
finally said, “This scan is amazing. I can practically see everything, you
see…this bone here…” Mairi put her hand to the image to point it out, “when
measured can tell the gestation of the pregnancy. From what I can gather, you
are about eight weeks along, give or take a week.”

Amber and Kniam leaned into each other whispering
words only they could hear. Mairi didn’t want to be the one to have to say it,
but she felt she had to just in case.

“Amber, I worked around doctors and was exposed to pregnant women all the
time. I used to hear this speech so much I should have it memorized.” Mairi
moved to sit down and patted the chair Amber usually sat in. When Amber was
comfortable she continued, “The first three months of pregnancy are when eighty
percent of miscarriages happen, there can also be extreme vomiting and ectopic
pregnancy.” Mairi rushed on, “I’m not saying any of those things will happen, I
am just saying what can. Although we can rule out ectopic pregnancy because I
can see that is not the case.” Mairi made sure Amber stayed seated, then
continued so the males in the room would understand, “A miscarriage is when the
woman loses the baby.” All the men were horrified at the idea, and there was a
lot of muttering. “I am only saying what can happen. From what I can see
everything is fine.”

Mairi moved over to Kniam and whispered, “Please sit down Kniam.”

He looked at her questioningly, and she said, “Please, just sit down.” At
her worried look, Kniam moved to sit in the chair next to Amber. They both
looked at her questioningly.

Knollig had moved to stand behind her, his hand on her back. He was
offering his support.

She looked up at him gratefully, and then she returned her attention to
the couple. “I have an idea why Amber is acting so out of sorts. The hormones
during pregnancy can vary so badly, without proper nutrition…for us that is
sunshine and water…they can be dangerously out of balance. We are going to have
to add minerals to the water for any pregnant woman. Either to be drank or
spritzed on and absorbed through the skin. For a woman pregnant with multiples,
it will be even worse.”

Mairi had her eyes locked on Amber, saw her eyes widen at the knowledge
that she was pregnant with ‘multiples’…then she got a glazed look and Mairi
advised Kniam, “You need to catch her!”

Kniam just looked puzzled, when Mairi said to catch ‘her’…then he saw
Amber slump in her seat. The ‘her’ she was referring to was Amber! He yelled
out and reached for her before she hit the floor. All of the Council members
had rushed forward when Amber started to droop. With her firmly held by Kniam,
who just took her into his lap, they all looked to Mairi.

Knollig broke the silence when he asked the question they all wanted an
answer to, “What is going on?”

Knaleg asked, “Is pregnancy so dangerous that it has her passing out?” He
seemed incredulous at the very idea.

Mairi hurriedly answered, “Pregnancy can be very dangerous. There are so
many things that can go wrong, but I don’t foresee anything happening in this
case. Again I’m not a doctor, but Amber will need to be monitored, take in ridiculous
amounts of sun and water. Kniam will have to see to that.” Mairi looked to him,
and he just nodded grimly.

“We already dose the water with vitamins and minerals…are you saying
pregnant women will need even more?” Thian asked.

“It would seem so with the way Amber was so out of balance. We will need
to keep a close eye on any pregnancies to maintain the proper levels of
nutrients.” Mairi stated.

Amber stirred in Kniams lap. Mairi waited for her to remember what was
going on. She got a funny confused look on her face, and then her mouth went
into an “O” shape. Her eyes quickly swung back to Mairi.

“How many?” Amber asked in a breathy whisper.

Mairi knew she was asking how many she had seen in the scan. “Do you
think Kniam can take the news?” Mairi asked first.

Amber eyed Kniam, then nodded her head, “Yes. We both want to know.”

Kniam was confused now, “We both want to know what little female? We
already know you are pregnant.”

“Yes. What about pregnancy do we need to know?” Asteen didn’t want to be
left out.

Mairi jumped into the fray before anyone else asked something, “Let me
try to show you on the holograph. Is there a way to mark something?” she turned
to Knollig.

“Yes…use this device, I will set it to make a different color for you.”
Knollig moved to the computer and then nodded for her to continue.

Mairi moved to the holograph, then looked back at the men seated around
the Council table. “Amber is pregnant with, as far as I can tell…triplets.” At
that statement Amber looked pale again, Kniam just sat like a stone statue, and
the Council members all had their mouths hanging open. “Here.” Mairi made a
circle…”Here.” Another circle…”and here. Three separate heartbeats, three
babies. Just to warn you sometimes there can be others hidden. This image is three
dimensional and so detailed, I don’t see that being the case though.”

Kniam looked at Amber pale in his arms, then in a voice like gravel, “How
is this possible? I didn’t know Earth females could have more than one…”

Amber was still too stunned to speak, her eyes were glued to the
holographic image of their triplets so Mairi spoke to him, “A female can
release multiple eggs from both sides of her ovaries, not just one. If those
eggs are fertilized, and implant at the same time this can cause what are called
fraternal twins, or triplets or quadruplets. It would depend on the number of
eggs that implant.” Mairi paused to see if anyone had questions then continued,
“Then there is when an egg splits, and you have monozygotic multiples. These
are identical because they split from a single fertilized egg, making twins,
triplets, quadruplets…and so on. It just depends on how many times they split.”

Mairi got closer to Amber, “Do you and Kniam want to know what you are
carrying? Do you want to know the sex of your babies?” She knew there was a lot
going on, and that Amber and Kniam were getting no time alone together in what
was supposed to be a special moment. However as leader of this community, and
the first pregnancy that ever occurred here they were bound to have a marked
lack of privacy.