Alien Caller (53 page)

“I know that
when you go home, you’re both going to start panicking again. But
before either of you starts feeling too frightened by this, don’t.
You’ve already nearly completed the first trimester without even
knowing, and in the maternity business the first is the worst. Most
babies with serious problems are lost then. She’s nearly through it
without any worries, and she’s perfect. She’s a normal healthy
baby. I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to repeat that,
but I will. She is a normal healthy baby.” He was almost shouting
it at them, though David wondered if he was telling it to them, or
himself.

“I also want
you to know that you are going to be the first couple in history to
have an entire hospital unit working day and night just to make
sure you both get through this, and have a beautiful baby daughter
to show for your trouble. This may be unexpected, but that doesn’t
mean we don’t know what to do. We do. We’ve delivered hundreds of
babies here, many with very serious problems. Your daughter has no
problems at all. She’ll be no trouble.” Under his coat David
wondered if he was sweating. Were his fingers crossed behind his
back?

“You will be
back here tomorrow at 11:00 am sharp, after a nice lie in and a
good breakfast, so we can run some more tests. I’m sure you want to
know everything about your daughter, who she takes after and how,
and so do we. Tomorrow we will be able to tell you that.”

Chapter
Twenty Three

In bed that
night to say they were still stunned was an understatement. For
David it was as though somebody had smashed him in the head with a
shovel, and he’d spent the day almost incapable of thought,
rational or otherwise. Anything he actually did do, be it make the
lunch or weed the garden, he did on automatic, most of his brain
running around in ever decreasing circles.

At the heart of
it was the entire concept of having a baby of course. It was
something David had never expected and he had no idea how to
prepare for it. And yet he wanted to. That was the strange thing.
As the doctor’s news continued to echo in his tired brain, he kept
experiencing moments of complete transcendent joy, followed by
moments of total panic. With his background he wondered if could
ever be a good father; then he remembered the looks of the doctors
that morning and wondered again if they had made a mistake. Or that
they hadn’t but that the baby would be a freak. He so didn’t want
any child of his suffering. And he couldn't stand the thought of
her being teased as a result of her mixed parentage. And so his day
continued, as did Cyrea’s.

She hadn’t
spoken much after the appointment. Neither of them had, wrapped up
as they were in their shock, but he knew she felt all the same
things he did. Only for her it was surely even more intense, as the
baby was growing inside of her. Part of her. And she’d never
expected it.

And so they ate
their dinner in silence and then sat out on the garden seat and
watched the sun slowly set over the distant hills beyond the lake,
all in silence. Conversation was limited to only those things that
were routine and insignificant. Things they could do on automatic.
Refill the coffee cups, wash the dishes and so forth.

The TV that
night, mainly a sports show and a comedy, they watched together but
again almost like zombies. The sporting highlights failed to
capture their attention, and they failed to find anything to laugh
about in the sitcom that followed. And so it would have stayed,
until David’s training finally returned to him, with the quiet
chimes of the kitchen clock. Nine bells, bed time. Weird as it was,
for a brief while he suddenly found some worth in the lessons he'd
had drummed into him as a raw recruit.

A soldier, in a
strange land, can never allow himself to be off guard. He had to be
alert, mentally prepared for anything, no matter what the world
threw at him. There could be no relaxing. No giving in to panic or
doubt. No giving in period. Face your fears, deal with your doubts,
and think your way through the unknown. So his instructors had
taught him, and so he finally remembered their lessons. Even if it
had taken the entire day.

They were
having a baby. Period. It didn’t matter that it was impossible or
that it made no sense. It was happening, so deal with it. The baby
might be perfect or she might have problems. Again, face it. There
was nothing they could do about it except accept it. Face it, move
on.

And they had to
move on. He finally understood that sometime during the comedy.
They had to get past this and carry on with the mission. Which was
to have the most perfect baby they could. That meant doctors and
diet, proper exercise and no stimulants. From that moment forward
David understood that. This was a mission they were on, and like
all missions, it had to be carried out perfectly. Failure was not
an option. Fear and doubt was irrelevant. Only the mission
counted.

He looked to
Cyrea to tell her that, and then saw the glazed look in her eyes.
She still hadn’t reached that stage. It was his job to get them
through this. Having spent the entire day in some sort of shock, it
looked like she was going to go to sleep the same way. David
decided he had to crack them out of it. They’d already spent the
day as though concussed. He didn’t want to go to sleep the same
way.

“Love, bed
time.” He didn’t give her a chance to protest. Not that she would.
She barely even noticed as he turned off the TV. He wasn’t sure
she’d really noticed it when it was on. He hadn’t. It didn’t
matter, as he led her back to the bedroom, and helped her undress.
He even tucked her in before turning the lights off and climbing in
beside her.

Normally, he
wouldn’t have to do anything like that. They would have started
groping long before, and if they were lucky, they’d have made it to
bed an hour or more before, and would have been making out like
teenagers ever since. But this wasn’t a normal night. He still
wanted her as any man should, but right then he was still too
confused. There were still too many other thoughts running around
in his brain, much as he tried to cope with them.

Instead he just
held her close, taking comfort in her touch, and hoping she took
the same. He lay beside her, his head on her breast, one arm under
her waist, the other gently stroking her stomach in awe. The
promise of things to come. Joy and terror all wrapped up together.
It was a difficult time for him just then, being so close to the
source of all his confusion; of hers too. But slowly he regained
his control. He needed it. They both did.

“Love. We have
to talk.” Probably not the most intelligent thing he’d ever said,
but it was enough. Cyrea stared at him, saw the determination in
his eyes, and accepted it. She nodded slightly, giving him
permission to carry on, listening.

“Cyrea. You
remember when we talked all those times about not being able to
have a baby? We told ourselves we were happy as we were, and that
it was enough. But we were lying. I wanted a family then and so did
you. If perhaps in some way someone up there listened and heard us,
and gave us what we asked for, then I think perhaps we should just
be grateful.”

“I am grateful.
I just never expected it, because I knew it wasn’t possible. And
it’s not. It’s some sort of practical joke.” He stopped her with a
kiss, before she ran on into a panic. The same panic that had kept
threatening to overcome him all day.

“Love, I beg to
differ. A whole fleet of doctors beg to differ. And the baby in
you, our daughter, she really begs to differ.” He kissed her still
flat stomach, gently but insistent, reinforcing what the doctor had
told them; that she was pregnant.

“We both saw
the monitor and you can’t deny it. She’s there, inside you. Our
very own daughter. Let’s just accept it. It doesn’t matter whether
it’s possible or not. It’s happening. We have a daughter on the way
and a new mission. First we’re going to have our baby, and then
we’re going to be parents.” He tried to put as much certainty as he
could find into his voice, and perhaps it was enough as Cyrea
moaned her acceptance.

“But I can’t be
a mother.” The shock in her voice was terrible to hear. He knew she
had not expected to be a mother, not since her time had passed to
be with one of her own people, and she had long ago accepted it.
Much as he had. Being with him and making love had done nothing to
change that certainty for her, while he had simply never really
thought about it.

“You’ll be a
great mother, and it’s not a choice. I’ve never been a father
before either, and quite frankly I’d given up all thought of such a
thing. But now not only am I getting to meet people from another
world, not only have I been granted another chance at love, but I’m
finding out I’m going to be a dad. Thank you.”

“It scares me,
just like it scares you. But I also remember our first few weeks
together, and the way we managed to turn secret passion into open
warfare. In time we got through that. And the results ever since
have been wonderful. This is the same. Again we’re both afraid, but
that’s not important. The only thing that matters is that we’re
going to be parents. We have to be the best parents we can possibly
be.”

“But it’s still
not possible. It’s got to be some sort of mistake, or worse.” Her
thoughts like his, just kept returning to that same impossibility.
He had to snap her out of that vicious spiral.

“Cyrea. Do you
want this baby?” She stared at him as if he’d gone mad, and he knew
she wanted her. It was just that they both knew it couldn’t be
happening.

“So do I.” He
kissed her gently. “I very much want our baby. I love her mother,
and I love her.”

“Just like you,
I’m terrified the child’s not going to survive, or else have some
horrible problem. But I want this child. Our child. I really do. I
have no idea how this is happening, or why, but I don’t care. The
only thing that matters now is that we’re going to have a daughter.
We must prepare for the mission.”

“We’re not
going to war soldier.” She was just reacting to his tone he knew,
sensing almost that he was giving her orders, which in truth he
probably was. But if that was what she needed right then, then that
was what she was going to get.

“Oh yes we are
Love. We’re going to war with a brand new enemy. Our own doubts,
and fears, our ignorance. Things which could make us less than the
best parents we can be. We have a baby to protect and raise. And
there’ll be a six or seven month lead in to the war, followed by a
life long campaign. Make no mistake love, this is a war and we will
win it. We start now.”

“Yes General.”
Finally there was some humour in her voice.

“That’s Major
to you Love, and insubordination in the ranks will not be
tolerated!” He finally heard the first hint of a giggle from her.
“In the morning we’re going back to the doctors, to get their
advice. Then we start on the exercise programme, diet, parenting
classes and so on. Everything they tell us to do.”

“You mean I
do.”

“Rank does have
its privileges Private!” She poked him in the ribs as he no doubt
deserved, and more or less had expected.

“All right, I
mean us. I’ll do your diet and exercises with you, if they’re
humanly possible. And we’ll go to the parenting classes together. I
want to be there when she comes into the world. I want to hear her
speak, and watch her take her first steps. And when she’s old
enough I want to teach her to play baseball.” And she’d be good
too, he knew. With maybe his strength and height and her mother’s
speed and flexibility, she should be unstoppable.

“Baseball? If
you’re going to teach her human sports couldn’t it at least be
basketball? I mean, baseball is so boring. All they do is sit in
their little sheds, and wait while someone else throws a silly
little ball three or four times at someone with a bat. And then
they chew and spit all the time. It’s so dirty.” Cyrea and he had
spent numerous hours discussing their worlds and in particular
sport. Baseball was something they were never likely to agree on.
But that very disagreement had just become worth a fortune as it
took her mind off the impossibility of it all.

“Well I like
it, and I know she’ll like it, so you’ll just have to watch.
Besides it’s got to be better than that fugue game that your people
play. I mean sure they seem to run around a lot, and the ball does
go through a hoop, but there are no rules.” Cyrea had brought home
a disc of the game and they’d spent an evening comparing it to
Earthly sports, and finding little common ground.

Fugue was
played with an unbalanced soccer ball, which was thrown through any
number of hoops; the square court was dotted with them. But that
was as close as it got to any game he’d ever imagined. The ball
flew in strange patterns because of its off centred mass, and there
were no teams. Instead it was a game played by twenty players, each
acting alone, but always teaming up into pairs or threes at
critical moments. As one went for a throw at a hoop, one or two
others might spontaneously stop everything and try to help them,
thus sharing the points. Then when you added in the complication
that there were three balls on the court at any one time, three
referees, and the fact that the hoops were also not circular, it
made his brain tired just trying to understand.