Solbidyum Wars Saga 5: Desolation (7 page)

“Tibby you need to wake up,” I heard a soft voice saying.  “You need to wake up now!  It's   time!  We need you.”  That voice, I knew that voice.  Before me, an image slowly began to appear.  It was the image of Lunnie.  “Wake up Tibby, we need you now!”

“Am I dead again?”  I asked.

“No, but we will be if you don’t wake up!”  Lunnie said.

“But you’re already dead!  You were killed on the
DUSTEN
.”

“Tibby, I don’t have time to explain now.  You need to wake up or Reidecor and I will die and Kala might die also.  We need you!”

Something wasn’t right.  Lunnie was dead.  I’d seen her die, and Reidecor was dead also.  He'd died trying to safe Lunnie.  “Go away, you’re dead.  Let me sleep.”

“Tibby, we’re not dead but we soon will be if you don’t wake up and help…” while Lunnie was talking, I observed that she was starting to change shape, getting smaller and smaller.  “You need to wake up Tibby, it’s time.  You need to help Kala, and Reidecor, and me.”  Lunnie was quite small now and appeared to be a four-year-old girl and getting smaller.  “Please wake up and help us daddy!”

Daddy?  Daddy!  Kala, the babies .  Suddenly, my eyes shot open.  I was aching everywhere as I tried to get out of my chair, and I turned looking at Kala in the chair next to me.  She appeared to be unconscious.  I noted a pool of liquid on the floor beneath her chair.  It was all starting to fit together now.  The impact must have caused Kala to go into labor.  Her water had broken and the babies… the babies were about to be born.

“Kala, wake up?  I called.  “Please, Kala wake up.”

I shook Kala’s shoulder, but she didn’t respond.  “Kala, the babies are coming?  We need to get you into the med unit.”

The
ALI
had a small med unit, nothing like the ones on the patrol ships or the larger ships, but a small med unit that swung out of the wall in the main accommodation and could treat most medical emergencies.

“Kala,” I said as I felt on her neck looking for a pulse, “You’ve got to wake up. Lunnie and Reidecor are coming!”

Kala moaned and slowly began trying to turn her head.

“That’s it Kala, wake up.  The babies are coming.”  I said.

Kala moaned again, “Babies?  What happened?  Where are we?”

“Come on, get up!  Do you think you can stand and walk?”  I asked as I quickly checked her over looking for injuries.

“I think so!  What happened?  Why am I all wet?”

“Kala, we need to get you to the med unit.  The babies are coming.  The crash has started you in labor early.”

“Crash?”  Kala mumbled, “babies?”

“That’s it Kala, let me help you,” I said as Kala slowly began to rise out of her seat with my assistance.

“What’s that smell?” Kala asked, and for the first time, I noticed the acrid smell of burnt electrical components in the air.

“I’m not sure,” I said, “possibly some parts that shorted out in the crash.”

“What crash?  Where are we?  Did we get shot down?”

“I don’t know,” I answered.  “I’ve not had time to find out, right now we need to get you to the med unit.”  We were only steps away from the door to our cabin when suddenly Kala stiffened and screamed.

“Ohhh,” she moaned as the first contraction hit her.

“Don’t hold your breath, “I told her.  You need to breathe.  Remember the training vid that Doctor Danjuma had us watch on child birth?”

Kala’s face was contorted in pain, and she began to pant… “Oh Tibby, I didn’t think it would be like this.”

“Neither did I,” I answered as I kicked the cabin door open and helped Kala onto the bed.  I opened the panel to the med unit, and it swung out over the bed, nearly hitting Kala in the head, and for the first time since I woke I noted the ship was not sitting evenly on the planet surface and that the room was slanted to one side.

“Let’s hope the med unit is working,” I said and then realized that perhaps I should not have said that.

“It’s not working?”  Kala asked, her first contraction now having passed.

“I don’t know yet,” I answered, and I looked for the switch to activate it.  “It should work.  I seem to recall that it has its own back-up power supply that’s good for several days if the ships power is lost.”

“We must have ship’s power,” Kala said.  “The lights are still on.”

“Yes but they could be on the emergency back-up.  I'll need to check later,” as I was saying this the lights on the med unit began to flicker, and the vid screen on the unit began to light up.

“Place sensor pad over the patient," the mechanical voice of the med unit instructed.

I did as the machine asked as Kala settled back on the bed.

“Patient is in child birth labor.”  The machine stated flatly.  “Patient appears to have undergone non-threatening physical trauma and is in near state of shock.  Administering medications to assist in delivery and in restorative life functions.”

“Fetuses appear to be several weeks premature but healthy.  Administering medication to help with fetus lung and heart functions.  Time until birth estimated to be 1 hour and 18 minutes.  Contraction starting to commence,” the voice continued as Kala stiffened and began panting again as moisture off her face, as she was starting to perspire.  I ultimately got a towel from the bathroom and gently wiped her brow.”

“Tibby, you’re going to need to deliver the babies,” Kala blurted out as she stared me in the eyes, “I don’t want that machine delivering our babies.  I want the first hands that touch them to be those of their father.”

“But I'm not sterile,” I said in dismay.

“Of course you aren’t or we wouldn’t be having these babies!” Kala said through a grin.  Her words shocked me, and it took a second for me to realize that even in her labor Kala was joking with me.

“Okay, you got me on that one.  However, my hands aren’t sterile, and I don’t want to get any germs on the babies.”  I answered.

“Tibby, you can sterilize your hands using the med unit.  Just place your hands in that hole in the middle of the machine, and they will be sterilized.”

I did as Kala asked and noted a bluish light come on and reflect off the surfaces around the opening.

“Tibby, what happened?  Where are we and how did we get here?”

“I don’t know Kala.  When I woke up, the ship was warning that we were about to crash.  I took a chance and tried to bring the nose of the ship up at the last second, so we would skid across the surface in hopes of less damage and injuries, and then I blacked out again.  When I woke up, we were on the ground, your water had broken, and you had begun labor.  That’s all I know.”

“Ship’s computer, this is Kalana.  Damage report.”

“Ship has sustained substantial damage.  Flight systems are inoperable.  Fusion reactor is damaged and operating at only 5% capacity.  Weapons system is inoperable.  Life-support systems operable, communication system functional on emergency channel only.  Emergency beacon activated prior to crash, beacon still functioning.”

“Ship, this is Tibby, can you tell us what planet we have crashed on?”

“You are in sector J-2398 on the planet named Desolation in orbit around the star DZ-665708.”

“DZ!” Kala blurted.  That means it’s a star which experiences periodic large and dangerous solar flares, like the one that destroyed Astamagota.  Ship, when was the last major solar flare that impacted this planet?”

“Last solar flare to impact the planet was 43 years ago.” The ship replied.

“And how often do major solar flares occur here?”  Kala asked just as the med unit voice chimed in with “Contraction starting to commence.”

Kala began panting again as her body stiffened and the ship’s computer droned.  “Major solar flares occur every 40 to 48 years.”

“Oh great,” Kala grunted out between clenched teeth.  We landed right in the middle of solar flare season.”

“Won’t the ship’s hull protect us from the radiation?”  I asked.  There was a pause while Kala panted before answering.  “It should, but we don’t know how intense the flares are or how much radiation they emit, nor do we know how much heat it will pour out on the planet when it does.  It might be strong enough to melt the hull for all we know.”

“I seemed to have noted some vegetation on the vid screen before we crashed.  If there is vegetation, the heat can’t be that much or everything on the planet would be vitrified and there would be no plant life.”  I said.

“I hope you are right Tibby.”

“Ship, how far are we from the planet Plosaxen?”

“The ship is 95.4 standard light-years from the planet Plosaxen,” the ship's computer stated.

“And how close are we to the nearest Federation planet?”

“We are 8.8 standard light-years from the Federation planet Crontos of the AG-93745 star system.”

“But how?  How did we get so far from Plosaxen and the battle?”  I blurted out.

“Question not understood.”  The computer droned.

“Ship, how long has it been since we departed from the space around Plosaxen?”

“Four days, 19 hours and 27 minutes.”  The ship replied.

“Four days!”  Have we been unconscious all that time?  I asked.

“You were unconscious until one hour and 23 minutes ago at which time you regained consciousness and changed course direction resulting in crashing with the planet surface.”  The ship answered.

“What caused us to lose consciousness prior to us leaving the area of the planet Plosaxen?”

“Unknown.”  The ship answered.

“The last thing I remember,” Kala began, “we were looking at some projections on the Tottalax ship, and they started to glow.”

“Ship, can you tell me what happened after we lost consciousness at Plosaxen?”

“You initiated the Gravity Wave drive as you lost consciousness, the ship impacted a glancing blow against the nearest ship as it accelerated away from Plosaxen.”

I didn’t remember engaging the Gravity Wave system, but it was possible my hand may have brushed the control as I blacked out.

The ship said.  “Contraction starting to commence.”

Once again, Kala began panting and making a whining sound as her body tensed in contraction.

“The contractions seem to be coming relatively regularly.” I said while trying to act as calm as I could, but actually I was a nervous wreck and felt I should be doing something, but at the same time having no idea what it should be.  I walked to Kala’s side and put my hand on her shoulder as though somehow it would help.

“Don’t touch me,” Kala snapped through gritted teeth.  “This is hard enough without you touching me!”

“Sorry,” I muttered and then as her contractions subsided, I said.

“Ship, we were traveling at sub light speeds when I awoke, how did that happen?”

“When it became apparent that the ship was going to impact the planet Desolation, and neither of you had regained consciousness, emergency programing disengaged the Gravity Wave generator and slowed the ship.”

“Why didn’t you initiate a course change or do a controlled landing?”  I asked.

“Automated navigation control processes were damaged in the impact with a ship.”

I sighed, “Is the atmosphere on this planet suitable for human habitation?”

“Atmosphere is suitable for human life.”

I looked at Kala, who by now was covered in a sheen of perspiration.  She lay with her head back on the pillow, and her eyes closed.

“Kala, how are you holding up?”

“I’m having two babies, how do you think I am holding up?”  Kala said with a cold tone.  I had heard that during labor that many women take on a less than cordial demeanor, especially toward the father of her children, I was starting to worry that this might carry over after birth.

Over the next hour Kala didn’t speak to me much and most of the sounds that came from her were grunts, screams, and occasionally terms and phrases that were more akin to curses than communication.  The med unit continued to announced with regularity when contractions were about to begin and gave a periodic countdown as to the time the babies would arrive.  On the screen I could see the vital signs being displayed for Kala and the children as well, though I had no real understanding if they were normal or something I should be concerned about.  As the final moments drew closer the med unit began to instruct me on actions that I would have to take in delivering the twins.  Unlike the med unit on the
NEW ORLEANS,
which could actually perform surgery, the med unit on the
ALI
was only able to provide diagnosis, administer some medications and instruct an individual on how to treat another individual, so it was up to me to assist in the delivery of my offspring.

The last words Kala spoke to me before Lunnie made her way into this world, and yes Lunnie was first as though it could have been any other way, was, “Tib if I knew when I first met you what I would be going through now I would have asked for a transfer to another ship,” and then the med unit computer announced.  “Contraction beginning, prepare to receive first child.”  As Kala began to pant and groan, her eyes squeezed shut tightly, I looked down to see the head of a small child beginning to appear.  Moments later I found myself lifting a small and screaming Lunnie in my hands as Kala gasped.