Regulated planet, p.23
Regulated Planet, page 23
part #2 of Worlds Apart Series
He had no idea if the general was bluffing or not, but if he was, maybe it would buy him a few minutes at least. If only he could reach Marlee first and warn her.
“We’ll see then, won’t we?” the general said. “I’ll see you in a few days, when the gunship brings you in to face court martial. If you make it that far.” He disconnected the line.
Tyris took a few deep breaths, and willed himself not to cry. He needed clarity right now.
“What’s all that about?” Nerris’s concerned voice said behind him.
“I’ll explain in a minute,” Tyris temporised. “I need to make a call first.” And he picked up the radio again, this time disconnecting it from the ship’s intercom. The last two weeks in space hadn’t been entirely wasted. He’d managed, with Nerris’s help, to wire the comms so he could tap into the data network. Using that, he could make encrypted calls that were harder to trace. He hoped. He dialled Marlee’s number, and waited.
“The number you have dialled could not be connected,” the computerised voice said, “Please check the number and try again.”
Tyris swore. His heart beat faster and his fingers shook as he dialled the next number.”
“Yes?” Kerit answered.
“Where’s Marlee?” Tyris demanded, too agitated to be polite.
Kerit’s voice was strained with the same concern when he answered. “I don’t know, Ty. They took her and her father to the base a little over four weeks ago. She escaped, I think. It was on the news anyway, with her father, and some doctor. They had pictures of them up everywhere. I don’t think they’ve found her, but I haven’t been able to either. She hasn’t contacted me, or anyone from her home planet. And no amount of searching has turned up anything.”
The beating of Tyris’s heart slowed a little at the news. Only a fraction. “Thanks, Ker,” he said. “Don’t feel bad, there’s nothing you could have done. I think I can track her down. I hope so anyway. I’ll call you back, okay?”
“Sure, bro,” Kerit said. He hesitated, then asked, “You’re not in some kind of trouble are you?”
Trust Kerit to work it out. “A world of trouble,” Tyris said ruefully. “I’ll explain later, okay?” He paused. “Though it’s probably best if no one knows you talked to me. This call can’t be traced, but if they’re monitoring your phone, they’ll know you talked to someone.”
“I have a girl I talk to on the side, but her family doesn’t approve,” Kerit said promptly.
Tyris smiled. “Good. Make it convincing.”
“Sure,” Kerit said.
Tyris cut the connection, and stared at the radio for a while. He’d forgotten all about Nerris in the background, until the man spoke again, “If you want to turn around, lad, we’ll all understand.”
Tyris didn’t move. “It’s too late to back out now. Besides, it wouldn’t matter. You heard Kerit, they took Marlee before I even arrived on Zerris. This isn’t about my mutiny, it’s far more than that.”
“What is it about then? Why do they care who the father of Marlee’s baby is? Is it because of your wife?”
He and Yasmyn had avoided bringing up the mention of Milandra, and Tyris had been too preoccupied to clear up any misunderstandings. Now it was unavoidable. He turned in his chair to face Nerris. “Milandra and I are divorced. She left me before I went searching for Zerris in the first place, and I filed the divorce papers myself before I left this time. This isn’t some jealous payback.”
Or he hoped it wasn’t.
“Then what does it matter who’s baby it is?” Nerris pushed.
Tyris sighed. “I’m not allowed to have kids on Urslat because of a protest I attended in college.” He explained the whole deal to Nerris as briefly as he could, not even caring what the man thought at this point.
“So Marlee being pregnant is what, not allowed? How can they control that? Accidents happen, even on a planet like Urslat.”
Tyris pulled up his sleeve, showing the scar. “Every person who wasn’t permitted to reproduce was implanted with a contraceptive device. It was supposed to be fool proof, but of course it isn’t. Mine must have been damaged in the crash, but there are also some that malfunction, as well as people tampering with them.”
Nerris stared at him. “But if yours wasn’t tampered with, then surely they can’t blame either of you? Especially if you didn’t even know.”
“Possibly not, but the official process of proving that the failure wasn’t deliberate is long and painful, and involves having your child removed from your care while the outcome is decided. Unofficially...” Tyris let the sentence trail off, not willing to even consider that possibility.
“So the baby?” Nerris let the question hang.
“I don’t know,” Tyris said. Nothing General Harrington or Kerit had said gave him a clue as to what had happened. “I just hope they’re both safe.”
Nerris said nothing more, and after giving in to a few moments of misery, Tyris gave himself a mental shake.
“I have to call Milandra now. The best thing I can do to help Marlee is get this all sorted out, so I can go find her.”
Nerris nodded. “Good luck, lad,” he said. He was about to leave, when he paused. “That man you were talking to, did you say his name was Harrington?”
“Yes, what of it?” Tyris was impatient for him to leave, wanting to get this over with.
“I’m not certain, but I think the governor on Semala was called Harrington.”
Tyris stared at Nerris for a moment. If that was the case, if they were indeed the same person, his story suddenly got a whole lot stronger. Having made his point, Nerris left the bridge, the door closing behind him with a soft hiss, leaving Tyris with a lot to think about.
He keyed in Milandra’s mobile number, and waited.
“Hello?” Milandra’s falsely cheerful voice greeted him.
“Hi, Landy,” Tyris said.
“Ty? Is that you? Are you back already? Don’t worry, I cleared out of your apartment like you asked.” There was a biting tone to Milandra’s voice that Tyris had expected after how they parted. What he hadn’t expected was the way she was talking too fast, and her voice was too high.
“No, I’m not back, and I didn’t call to find out about my apartment,” Tyris said. Then taking a stab in the dark, he asked, “Did you hear what happened to Marlee?”
“That she was arrested? Yeah.” There was a silence. Too long a silence.
“Did you have anything to do with it?” Tyris demanded. Trust Landy to do something like this.
The long silence was telling. Some rather impolite words were on the tip of Tyris’s tongue when Milandra spoke, “I didn’t know they’d arrest her, or hurt the baby,” she said, talking quickly now. “I just thought Daddy would give her a scare, you know? Maybe make her leave you alone. I don’t know.”
She sounded wretched, and Tyris had to fight his inclination to forgive her. “Why did you care? You don’t really love me, Landy, I’m not sure you ever did. Why did you care that I left you?”
“I’m broke, Ty. No one wants to listen to me crap on about celebrities and has-been’s. The ratings have been dropping for a while. When I thought you were dead and I’d inherited your fortune, well, I overspent. Quite a bit.”
Tyris nearly laughed. “You mean you’ve been screwing up my life for money? Hell, Landy, why didn’t you just ask?”
There was silence, and Tyris guessed the answer. It hadn’t occurred to her. This was almost too perfect for what he needed right now. “It looks like today’s your lucky day. I’ve got an offer for you. One I don’t think you can afford to refuse.”
Milandra sniffed dramatically once or twice, then said, “I’m listening.”
“I have a story for you. One much bigger than celebrity crap. One that could make or break your career. But the government is not going to like it. They’ll pull it before it gets out if they can, so you’re going to have to be sneaky.”
“Is this about the stuff that that guy was saying, about hiding the anysogen so he could profit from it? They’re never going to let us run that.” But Tyris heard a hint of interest.
“It goes much further than that,” Tyris promised. “It has a bit of everything, romance, mutiny, government cover ups.”
“Oh yeah? Tell me more?” The old Milandra was back. Confident, cocky, and Tyris couldn’t help but smile.
“First, I have a question. Did your family ever get stationed off world, when you were just a kid, maybe ten or so?”
Milandra thought for a moment. “Daddy had an off world assignment, when I was about eight. He wanted us to go, but she said there was no way she was taking me to some backwater hick planet, so we stayed home. He was gone a couple of years, then one day he just turned up. Something was wrong, I think. He and Mum argued a lot late at night, but they always stopped when I came into the room. Why?”
“Look into it. I think he was on Semala when the meteors were discovered and was part of the cover up of the events that happened there.”
“Daddy?” Milandra’s tone was disbelieving. “It wasn’t his fault. He wasn’t part of the cover up with this other guy anyway. Was he?”
“I don’t think so,” Tyris said. “But he didn’t turn around and try to save them when a possibility was presented to him either. Instead he ran for home. Then he made sure the whole story was buried, so it didn’t come back on him. Now he’s going to cheat these people again, by reneging on their deal to exchange the anysogen on their planet for another liveable planet.”
“They don’t have any choice,” Milandra defended, “There aren’t any other planets, and we need that fuel.”
“Need doesn’t equate to right. No matter how much need we have, that doesn’t give us the right to take it by force, which is what your father’s doing. It’s against the law, Landy, and I can’t stand by and watch it.”
“What did you do, Ty?” she asked suspiciously.
Tyris grinned, even though she couldn’t see his face. “I’m afraid I turned my guns on the mining ship and ordered them to stand down. I have the crew on board my transport ship, and I’m bringing them back to Urslat. If we make it that is. Your father’s threatened to send a gunship after us, and he doesn’t care that there are innocent people on board. I have a recording to prove it.”
Milandra was silent, so silent in fact that Tyris began to think that he’d lost the connection. “Milandra?”
“I’m just thinking,” Milandra said absently. “I need to confirm if Daddy was the one on Semala the first time, that will make the story far more reaching. Then if we tie it in to your story with Marlee, that gives me the human element that will draw people in. Can I mention the baby, or do you want that left out?”
“Sure,” Tyris said recklessly, “Everyone knows about it anyway. I won’t keep hiding. I want everything out in the open. But they’re going to try to shut this down, Landy. You can’t let people know in advance what you’re going to say, or it will never air. Even so, it will probably be pulled before you can finish.”
“I’ll sort it out,” Milandra said, “But you’re going to owe me big time Tyris, I’m putting my job on the line here. If I get this out, and it’s a big if, I could have my entire show cancelled.”
She was fishing. He’d expected that. “I’ll tear up the pre-nup,” he offered. Milandra had been the one who had wanted it in the first place anyway. Young and impulsive, with no money to speak of other than his wage, he would have left it to chance. Milandra though, had insisted, sure her news show would make her millions. Neither of them had expected Tyris to inherit a small fortune from his Uncle Max.
“I’ll hold you to that,” Milandra promised. “I’d better get to work. How long until that gunship catches up to you?”
“Two days, three at the outside,” Tyris admitted. “Make it fast, Landy.”
“I will,” she promised, then cut the connection.
There was only one thing left to do. Tyris stared at the interface he’d rigged up. He couldn’t phone Marlee, she had no phone, but the little tablet he’d given her could receive text messages.
If she still had it.
Chapter 17
Marlee hovered in the background, a handful of clean towels in her hands, watching Dr Benton kneeling next to Anna, as she writhed in the throes of heavy labour. Dr Benton held a stethoscope against her distended belly, and listened, her eyes closed, her lips moving as she counted silently.
Sweat dripped from Anna’s brow, despite the fact that the room, twenty metres underground and one of the few with a vent to the surface, was quite cool.
Marlee wished there was something she could do to help, but this wasn’t her journey.
Not yet.
The woman’s soft panting turned into a groan, then a low moan, almost a hum, as another contraction caught hold. Her husband rubbed her lower back, in the same position he’d been in for the last hour. Marlee held her breath, biting her lip.
Despite having witnessed plenty of animal birthing, she’d never seen a human being before. Only a handful of women had actually had children on Zerris, and Marlee hadn’t been close enough to any of them to be in attendance.
The woman’s keening rose, louder and more insistent, and just when Marlee couldn’t bear it any longer, turned back to soft panting. She leaned back against her husband, and Marlee let out her breath too.
Dr Benton patted Anna’s arm. “You’re doing well,” she said. Then, as her husband wiped her forehead with a wet cloth, the doctor took the chance to stand up and stretch her legs. She crossed to where Marlee stood.
“I don’t have anything at all to ease her pain.” Lines etched her face. “If only I had access to some of my equipment... The baby doesn’t seem to be in any distress, but I feel like I’m doing this blind.”
“Women were having babies for many, many years, without any medical assistance,” Marlee said. “She’ll birth this baby, just as many have before her.”
“But what about all the babies or mothers who didn’t make it? All our equipment has made it so much safer, for both the mother and baby.” Ameli’s voice was low, and she glanced back at the woman to be sure she couldn’t hear.
It didn’t help Marlee’s confidence and she let her hand rest on her own belly. In a few months, it would be her turn.
She refused to be afraid. “No one on my planet. You might not have equipment, but you do have knowledge, and that makes a difference.”
Dr Benton’s shoulders lifted. “Of course. And I’ll do everything I can to be sure this goes smoothly.” Anna’s panting increased and her dark, worried eyes turned back to the doctor.
Ameli knelt beside her again. “You’re doing fine. It won’t be long now before you’ll be holding your baby.”
Her husband gave Dr Benton a grateful smile, before resuming his rubbing through another contraction.
A soft beep intruded over the woman’s low moans. Marlee glanced towards the door where her bag sat. Was the sound coming from her tablet?
“Marlee, I need a hand here,” Ameli called. “Her waters have broken.”
Taking one last look at the bag, Marlee knelt down next to Dr Benton, mopping up the amniotic fluid that had gushed over the mattress. Anna panted, and Marlee could see in her eyes that she was exhausted.
She’d been in labour for only a few hours. There was still a long way to go.
Marlee stepped back with the wet towels, and turned away to give the woman some privacy while Dr Benton performed an internal exam. She pushed aside the curtain and placed the wet towels in a bucket standing there and picked up some clean ones.
“You’re seven centimetres dilated,” Dr Benton said. “You’re making great progress. Not too much longer, and you’ll be able to push.”
The woman nodded, and her partner held a cup of water to her lips. Marlee settled in to wait. There wasn’t much she could do at this point. Even Dr Benton simply monitored the baby’s heartbeat from time to time and kept a close eye on Anna. Her moans came closer together now, with barely a break in between.
The time seemed to stretch out and the high intensity in the room was exhausting. Marlee needed a distraction. Wasn’t there was something she was going to check? That’s right. She reached for her bag.
“I need to push,” Anna panted.
“Let me just check you first,” Dr Benton said. There was a pause. “Ten centimetres dilated,” she agreed. “You can push now.”
Anna’s grunts sounded different now. Instead of suffering through the pain, she worked with it. She seemed to have found a new energy, focused inward, as she pushed her baby into the world.
Marlee’s eyes were drawn to her, just in time to see the baby’s head appear, dark with hair. She stared, transfixed by the site. A rush of emotions flooded over her and she stared in amazement. The top of the baby’s head retreated, then returned, and each time, a little more was visible. Then suddenly, the whole head slid through. Anna paused, panting hard.
“One more push,” Dr Benton urged.
Anna grunted with effort, and the tiny wriggling baby slid into Dr Benton’s waiting hands.
Marlee held her breath until the baby gave a healthy cry.
“It’s a girl,” the doctor announced, as she laid the baby on Anna’s belly.
She gave a strangled, exhausted laugh, her arms going around the infant automatically. Marlee handed Ameli the towels, and she wrapped them around both mother and baby, sheltering them from the breeze.
Marlee hung back, almost feeling like she was intruding on their family time, but unable to tear herself away, as Dr Benton helped the baby latch on for her first feed.
They made a beautiful picture, the three of them. The father leaned over the mother’s shoulder, both sets of eyes shining with love. It warmed Marlee’s heart. This was why she was doing all this. These babies deserved to be born, and to be with the families that loved them.
Her hand rubbed her belly. She tried not to think of Tyris, so far away and out of communication. He’d be home soon. They would share this experience together, she was sure of it.
