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Chapter Four

LEX

I find myself absorbed in the words. The tree is a good distance away from the house and the whispers seem to be getting louder the closer I get. Oddly enough, it appears to be lit up from the inside. Ducking under the long limbs which are hanging clear to the ground, I walk into a wonderland of lights and floating blooms that are swaying back and forth. Small lights appear to be coming from each individual flower.

Moving slowly to the base of the tree, I sit down just like I always did with Nana . Gazing up through the branches at the lights, I inhale the sweet scent of the cherry blossoms. All of a sudden, the whispers start to fade, and the lights start going out one by one. It is dark inside the tree within a matter of seconds, except for one lonely little light. As the darkness settles around me, I swear I hear a sneeze.

Looking up toward the top of the tree, one of the blooms starts to fall. It’s spinning slowly down to me, a slight glow within. Reaching my hand out, I catch it softly when suddenly I hear a sneeze coming from within the flower. Glancing around with a bewildered look on my face, I know I just heard a sneeze. This must be a joke, but I don’t see anyone else around. Bringing the flower up closer to my face so I can see it better, I notice movement inside. Gently , I pull back one of the petals and lying inside of the flower is a little hand.

Oh , my goodness! There is a miniature person in this thing, and I mean tiny! Like the size of a large bean. I can’t believe that Nana’s story was really true. In my hand, a baby fairy lies curled in a flower, shivering. I can see the glimmer of its small wings that seem to be attached to the petals on the bloom itself. I don’t know what to think or what to do, but Nana would have loved this. The teeny thing is so small that I can’t just leave it out here; there is no way it will make it. My mind drifts back to all the things Nana said, … the little fairy must have fallen too soon!

The alarm on the machine jerks me out of those words so fast I almost throw the holo pad. Setting it down, I stop dead when I see the results on the screen. Rylie’s brain waves are all over the place from within moments of me starting the story. Unhooking the lines from my own arm, I run the stats again, making sure that my blood is not harming her in any way. I feel the Destroyer’s floor vibrate lightly under my feet only moments before ViN comes barging in the door with Ember in his arms.

“ Ember needs to be scanned immediately! She can’t keep any sustenance down and is feeling weary.”

“ Lay her down on the bed. How long have you felt like this Ember ?”

“ LeX , ViN is just panicking, I have told him the last three mornings this is normal. All girls get sick when pregnant.”

“ And I listened, but this is no longer early rising.”

“ I would be acting the same Ember ; this is the first known youngling born outside ViN’s race. We knew you were going to have to be monitored more than usual. I may see if SCOUT can put a remote scanner in your rooms so that the Destroyer can watch you and the fetuses’ heart rate at all times. All right, enough of that, lie back and relax. I am going to lay this scanner over your stomach, but you shouldn’t feel anything.”

Raising her shirt slightly, I maneuver the device around her already rounding stomach. It does not take long to find the youngling. Hovering in place, I hit a few commands on it so that I can see the weight, size, and health of the fetus. When the machine beeps, I go to lift the wand only to notice some discoloration on her side.

“ Ember , I want you to turn over for me for a tic. Have you fallen? Or bumped into anything really hard?”

“ No , ViN will barely let me do anything. Oweeee .” The moment that sound is out of her mouth, ViN has a death grip on my arm and a growl on his lips. Shaking my head, I motion for him to come around to my side.

Reluctantly he drops my arm and is leaning over me in two steps. “ Ember , I am not going to touch these bruises, just feel around them. You let me know if this bothers you. ViN , I need you to hold her still so that I can see if this is anything we need to be concerned about.”

The moment I give him something to do he stops growling at me. When I can find no damage on the outside, I have to assume the youngling is actually damaging her from the inside. “ Ember , have you felt any sharp pains or aching in your side?”

“ Now that you ask, yeah. Last night I couldn’t get comfortable on that side, but it seemed to ease up when I rolled over.”

“ Ember , you can lay back now; just let me check something.” Grabbing the medical chart that is updating all her stats, right away I notice the youngling is larger than it should be this quickly.

“ Did your intolerance to certain foods just start?”

“ Yes , just a couple days ago.”

“ Well , this is just an educated guess, but I don’t think the little one likes your diet and she is making it known.”

“ SHE !” they both say at the same time. The smile shared between them makes me feel like I’m intruding.

“ It most definitely is a female; the blood work is positive on that account. But I need to review the test we performed a few risings back.”

“ Can we see her?” Ember rubs her belly with a huge grin on her face.

“ Hopefully , the next time you come in; you will be able to. This scan seems grainier than the previous one and I need to recalibrate the unit so that we can see her clearly. Right now, it’s just fuzz on the monitor.

If you continue to see more bruising or feel discomfort, let me know. In the meantime, ViN , she needs to be up walking and doing as many normal activities as possible. Her body will only weaken if not used and she will have to be strong to deliver this little one in a much shorter time than I originally accounted for. It appears that you were further along than we previously thought.

The youngling is growing rapidly, but you have gained very little weight. This might account for some of your nausea, as the child is absorbing more of your essence than you are. I have ordered a diverse meal for you to eat this rising. You need to understand not all this sustenance will be favorable to you, but I need you to consume as much protein as possible. This youngling will and has taken on more of ViN’s dominant genes than yours, so she will need meat. It will take several tics to reset this machine, so unless something happens you think I should know, I will see you late next rising.”

ViN hastily picks her up. “ She needs to walk.”

“ She can do so at a later time.” Ember just shrugs and I watch as they walk out of the room.

“ Destroyer , I need you to reset this machine and please advise me when it’s operational again.”

“ Medic LeX , the machine was recalibrated automatically earlier, but I will see it done once again if you are doubting its observation quality.”

“ This is concerning because if this machine is suddenly faulty, I can’t watch the fetus properly.”

“ I will notify you if I find any calibrations that are off, Sir .”

“ Thank you, Destroyer . While you are working on those adjustments, I am going to head to the dining hall and then take a moment to get cleaned up. Now , I am wondering if it was the machine or the fact that my eyes are fatigued. I need to get some rest. Set Rylie’s sensors to high alert and I will return shortly.”

“ Confirmed , Medic LeX .”

Glancing at the screens above her bed but seeing no change, I walk out of the med bay, my thoughts heavy with the fact that I couldn’t see Ember and ViN’s young clearly. I am so caught up in my own world I practically plow Qwin over when I round the corner. Thankfully , my reflexes kick in and I grab her before she falls.

“ Wow , close call … thanks for the save there, LeX ! I think we were both walking around blindly.”

“ Did I injure you? Where is EvO ?”

“ I’m fine and last time I checked he was running a ship or something. Where do you think he is? He is at the helm now that ANDI has disconnected, and he said he needed to give some final instructions to the crew before joining me in the dining area. Is that where you’re headed?”

“ Yes , please forgive me for not paying more attention, I was deep in thought.”

“ You have a lot on your plate LeX , it’s understandable. How is Rylie ?”

“ The same, unfortunately. SCOUT says she is awakening slowly, but it is discouraging to see her laying there so still. I have started reading to her; they say that helps. EvO told me that you knew her back on Earth ?”

“ I met her in passing, really. She was over the human resource department, where we built the pods. Every now and then we would pass in the cafeteria, and she was always the first to smile, say hello, or good morning. I’m sorry I don’t know anything else.”

“ This is more information than I originally had. Come , I do not feel like dining alone this late rising, and if anything, it will bug EvO . It will allow me the opportunity to tease him about leaving his girl to roam the ship alone where anyone can claim her.”

Qwin tucks her arm around mine, laughing as we walk together just a short distance to the dining hall. Her easygoing and pleasant demeanor and the fact that she makes me laugh is something I didn’t realize I needed. Seeing EvO’s dark purple form enter the room has me pulling Qwin closer to me just to rile up my brother.

Before Qwin has time to react to me moving her, EvO picks her up only to sit her back down on his lap. “ Get your own female, brother and keep your paws off mine.”

“ Why should I do that when I can find one wandering the halls all alone because her mate has abandoned her using the excuse of having to run this ship?”

EvO doesn’t get to say a word before Qwin intervenes. “ Oh , quit it both of you, or I’ll go find someone else to sit with.”

EvO nips at her neck, and she laughs as he growls at her playfully. Suddenly , I feel like an intruder and just as I start to get up, EvO stops me.

“ Where are you headed in such a hurry, Brother ? I would have thought your workload would have lightened once the other humans departed.”

“ My Rylie still has not woken, and to be honest, I am exhausted. I was simply on my way here to pick up a quick bite when I ran into your lovely mate. She was kind enough to share her company with me while awaiting your arrival. Are we heading toward Falcor ?”

“ We are, but before we left this part of the sector, I sent a few drones out to see if they could locate the beacon we were receiving after leaving the Nebula . Something is projecting those sounds even if we can’t see what, or where it’s coming from. The Destroyer will start moving toward Falcor at any time now and we should have some downtime heading there and once docked.”

“ Always a puzzle to solve isn’t there, brother? I will leave you two to the rest of your meal and go see if I can catch up on some well-needed rest. I will be in the lab if you need me.”

“ LeX , you have a perfectly good set of rooms above us with a much nicer sleeping platform.”

“ True , but they are located too far from Rylie , and I need to be close in case she regains consciousness.”

“ I understand, LeX . I would be no different in your position. Remember , you are not alone and that we will gladly stay with her if you need help.”

“ I appreciate your concern and you two enjoy the rest of the rising.”

Qwin smiles up at me when I pat her shoulder before walking away. Glancing back, my heart hits my chest as I watch them together like they are the only two in the room. The ache to have that for myself has me stumbling back to the med bay. Pulling a chair up against the hover bed, I reach out, taking her small hand in my own, rubbing her fingers gently. Exhaustion pulls at me heavily and I lay my head down on the bed’s hard surface and then close my eyes.