Thesis
Thesis
Breakaway + 4 yrs, 8 months
“The smaller the population the greater the need for genetic diversity.”
Viability analysis of the reduced isolated population, A.R. Carter
Univ. of So. Fla. Press, 1999
Dr. Helena Russell finished her morning rounds at 0830 hours. The two environmental technicians injured in yesterday’s explosion at OutLab 2 were improving overall despite minor setbacks. Kaitlyn Smythe’s leg was showing early signs of infection, so Helena modified the antibiotic regimen slightly. Michael Rian had extubated himself overnight and was breathing on his own, but he was still suffering from severe cramping muscle pains all over from being electrocuted.
She sat down at her desk to go through the ‘paperwork’ that had piled up in her absence dealing with yesterday’s recovery efforts. ‘Paperwork,’ yet another verbal anachronism like ‘the dark side of the moon’ that persisted in common speech, thought Helena. Through necessity, Alpha was now almost paperless. With Maya’s help, highly upgraded PDA’s were now the norm and wireless links with Computer were throughout Alpha.
Helena refocused on the item in front of her. She would be willing to bet that six of the seven known pregnancies were unintentional. She remained unsure about Shermeen. Five of the remaining six were simply too surprised when told, especially the delighted Annette Fraser. Sandra didn’t know yet, but Helena was certain a surprise was going to be there, also. She had asked Sandra to come at 1000 hours for a recheck to confirm that there were no late-arising complications from exposure to the explosion and subsequent mild hypothermia. She rather expected Alan to show up with Sandra, but if he didn’t, she would call him to join them at the conclusion of the exam.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alan awoke at 0830 hours, for once before Sandra. Well, she had had a very hard day yesterday and was entitled to her fatigue, he thought. As he lay on his back next to Sandra, Alan felt a frisson of fear when he thought how nearly he had lost her, as Tony had nearly lost Maya.
If it hadn’t been for the Professor’s excessive cautiousness when developing the remote research labs, Sandra and the others would never have had enough oxygen. The clever baffles he had developed had also absorbed much of the force of the explosion. Professor Bergman was still greatly missed.
Alan rolled over on his side and looked at Sandra. The dark circles under her eyes were better and she didn’t have that pinched, exhausted look. She was still just the faintest bit wiffy of sulphur, but he would go to the grave before admitting that.
He had woken her up around midnight when his need to reassure himself of her presence became overwhelming. She had responded to his urgent lovemaking with her own urgency. He feared he had fallen asleep on top of her. He tried not to do that; he was always a bit afraid of crushing her.
Not being able to help himself, he started to run his fingertips along the side of her face and then proceeded to roam further. Sandra woke up slowly, a languid smile on her face as Alan nibbled her ear. She wrapped her arms around his chest and encouraged him to continue with kisses and caresses. An altogether satisfactory way to wake up.
“Let me up, love. I’m squashing you.”
“No, you are fine,” Sandra replied, eyes closed, not letting him go.
“Helena will certainly notice if you are a bit flattened at your check-up…” he looked up at the commpost, “in one hour.”
“Is that why you always get up so quickly?” When she felt Alan’s nod, Sandra added. “Silly, I like being ‘squashed.’”
And with that request, he stayed put and snuggled for just a little longer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Less than two weeks ago, just after the mission to ‘Planet Barney,’ Koenig had reviewed residential assignments at the conclusion of the weekly command conference. The marriages of John and Helena, Tony and Maya as well as Alan and Sandra had concentrated the entire command staff in one residential location. In an attempt to preserve the chain of command in case of a disaster on Alpha, Koenig wanted to reassign each couple as far apart as feasible. He wanted three functioning teams that could take over command of Alpha at need.
Invoking the privileges of command, John and Helena kept their quarters nearest to the Command and Medical Centers. Bill and Annette Fraser as well as Yasko were reassigned to this central location. Tony and Maya relocated to the extreme other end of the residential block, where Dr. Bob Mathias, Alibe and her husband as well as one of Alan’s crack pilots joined them. Alan and Sandra took the remotest quarters recently reconfigured from storage space that were near the main Eagle Bay. Dr Ben Vincent and two senior security members, one of whom was a certified pilot, joined them in this outlying location, promptly and inevitably nicknamed ‘The Outback.’ While convenient for Alan, this left Sandra with a bit of a ‘commute,’ or as much as anyone had on Alpha.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A busy thirty minutes after getting up, Alan and Sandra were showered, dressed in fresh uniforms and ready for a quick breakfast. Alan held Sandra’s seat for her and then fetched coffee, rolls and fresh fruit. Never a big eater, Sandra passed on all offers to Alan’s concern.
Sandra was surprised to see Alan accompany her to the travel tube. “Alan, I am perfectly capable of finding Medical Center from here. I have an excellent sense of direction.”
“Call it husbandly concern, Sahn. I just want everything checked out after yesterday.”
“You do have a section to run.”
“So do you, but I imagine they’ll both survive another day without us. I called Bill last night and told him I was on administrative leave today. A perk of the job, love. Alright?”
A quick glance at Alan’s determined face told Sandra he would not be deterred. Nodding her head slightly in agreement as the travel tube car arrived, she agreed, “Alright.” They arrived at Medical Center on time. Sandra was surprised to be directed to the furthest exam station. This was where Helena usually sent patients with serious issues to discuss, usually bad. A brief look of distress brought Alan to her side.
Helena had her usual pleasant bedside manner but did perform a much more thorough exam on Sandra than even Alan, the veteran of many a calamity, expected. She noticed Sandra’s new wedding band and a quick glance verified Alan was wearing its match. As Sandra dressed, Alan turned to the doctor. “Alright Helena, what gives? You’re not telling us something.”
“Come with me to my office.”
Sandra picked up on Alan’s alarm and reached out for his hand for mutual comfort as they followed the doctor.
Helena was deep in thought and did not realize that Alan and Sandra had jumped to conclusions and had worked themselves up to an almost distraught level. They stood waiting for Helena’s news. Helena turned to sit and when she saw their expressions almost let out a highly unprofessional laugh. “Everything’s fine,” she reassured them.
The couple looked confused. Helena knew that this was shortly about to become unlike any post-mission physical either had ever been through. Helena looked at her two friends and smiled, “Congratulations, you’re going to be parents.”
It took a moment to register, and then Alan gave a whoop of joy, picked up Sandra and spun in place in the small office. He then stopped abruptly, set Sandra down very carefully and looked around for a chair for her.
Oh dear, thought Helena. He’s going to be one of those fathers.
“Alan, Sandra is not sick,” Helena said a bit tartly. “She’s pregnant.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once the initial euphoria had settled, Alan asked the questions all new parents asked. “How far along is she? When is the baby due?”
Now, thought Helena, this is where it becomes interesting. “Sandra’s at about 18 weeks.” She could see Alan and Sandra doing the math in their heads. “You are very small Sahn, as is the fetus. I imagine that is why you are not showing yet.” Both Sandra and Helena were well aware that the absence of menstrual cycles was unreliable. On Alpha, all the women lived with terminal menstrual confusion.
“That is not possible,” disagreed Sandra. “We only stopped the contraceptives eight weeks ago.”
“I know, I reviewed the records. You two are not alone. I’m going to bring this up at today’s command meeting. I just thought you two would like a head’s up.”
“Gee, thanks Helena’” Alan agreed wryly. He made a quick shift in thinking. “Helena, when will she need to be grounded?” None too soon to his thinking, but he wanted to be fair.
“I’m not exactly sure.” This had not been a significant issue in the predominately male astronaut corps. To Helena’s vague recollection, professional airlines would ground their gravid pilots at the start of the third trimester, but that had been after legal action by the women. Prior to that, they had been grounded the moment their condition had been known. “We will just have to wait and see. I imagine Sandra will be too uncomfortable to fly in another 2 months or so. I’ll do pre-flight exams before she goes out and I would suggest a co-pilot, just in case.”
That was not the answer Alan was hoping for, but he would work with it. If he couldn’t get Sandra to ground herself he’d make darn sure either he or Fraser flew co-pilot.
“Right, see you at dinner.” And with a very wide, goofy grin Alan escorted Sandra out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They headed out of Medical Center and turned to go to Command Center. Sandra wanted to check in and see how the Data Analysis Section was faring. Alan tagged along, too happy to settle down to work yet. Recalling her conversations with Maya yesterday in Outlab 2, Sandra was worried what the reception to this news would be in Command Center. “Alan, we need to be very circumspect about this. Maya and Tony are going to be upset, I’m sure.”
“Huh? Whatever for?”
Sandra paused to think. The conversation she and Maya had while awaiting rescue was still foremost in her thoughts. Where to draw the line of confidence? “She and Tony have been unable to conceive.”
“So? Maya’s as dear as my own sister, but she’s from a different species, for heaven’s sake. Certainly they didn’t expect to have kids?”
Sandra looked around and pulled Alan aside into a small empty spur hallway. Speaking very quietly and intently, she said, “According to Maya, Terrans and Psychons should be able to. She and Helena believe that Magus somehow caused an incompatibility just between Maya and Tony. She really would like to have children, but is too afraid to hurt Tony’s feelings to consider the alternatives.”
“Which are?”
“Having another Alphan be the father.”
“Yeah, Tony is going to accept that one real easily,” Alan replied sarcastically.
“That is exactly what Maya is afraid of.”
And with concern for his friends tempering his own joy, Alan finished the walk to Command Center.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The weekly command staff meeting started that evening at 1800 hours over dinner as was usual. Everyone brought their notes, now on PDA’s, and a good appetite. The dietary section often used the command staff as their guinea pigs for new dishes, which, as Alan had said on occasion, could be a very dubious honor. Maya was usually the most adventurous and willing to try anything once.
After everyone served themselves from the buffet, John Koenig started the meeting. “Alright, everyone is here and in one piece,” including Maya and Sandra in a smile. “Where do we stand this week?” He turned from habit to look first at Helena.
“The reclamation of the ‘Planet Barney’ water,” and Helena grinned at the whimsical designation that had entered into common speech, “will restart in a day or so, once the OutLab is recertified by the technical division.”
“Have we figured out what caused the explosion?” asked the Commander looking at Maya who set down her utensils.
“A combination of rare minerals in the water oxidized in an unforeseen way with the chemicals that saturate the filters. It is a rather novel reaction that has the chemists excited. It may be useful to create more controllable explosives.”
Tony leaned over to Alan and muttered, none too softly, “You could have fooled me.”
Sparing an amused glance at the men, Koenig asked Maya, “What alerted you that there was a danger?”
“I’m not sure, but there was an odor that was familiar from a chemistry set my mother used to teach me basic science when I was very young. I remember running a reaction and creating a small explosion that set one of my dolls on fire. I was very upset.” Once again the Terran-born Alphans were reminded just how different Maya truly was.
Tony and Alan had little new to report from their sections. Koenig looked at the typically quiet Sandra, but she, atypically, did not seem to pay any attention to the meeting. “I am sorry Commander, but no, nothing of concern to report from Data Analysis.”
Koenig looked at Alan, but he did not seem to be upset with this atypical behavior. He seemed focused on dissecting the new main dish. One of the catacomb farms had had great success with mushroom spores from a pre-Breakaway experiment and, of late, dietary was including them liberally. Alan hated mushrooms.
Helena put her utensils down and pushed her plate away. “John, there is one more subject I need to bring up.” The serious tone of her voice caught everyone’s attention. “I recently looked up a research thesis written by a member of the space commission that almost exactly parallels our situation.”
Alan gave a very startled look at Helena who did not meet his eyes. No one else seemed to notice.
While organizing her thoughts, Helena leaned forward and rested her chin on steepled fingers, going into what John fondly called her ‘doctor mode.’ “As a community, we are ready to move beyond the static sterility we have endured since Breakaway. We discussed this as a group,” and Helena specifically looked at John, “and agreed we have the resources now to allow children.
“Our numbers are very small, dangerously so. Of the 141 women on Alpha, only about 100 will be able to conceive children. Of those, only about 60 will bear viable fetuses to term due to radiation damage, the effects of deep space and psychological issues. We will need each of these women to bear five or six children with no more than two by a single father. I can not predict the mortality rate of the children, and suspect that even of those who live to maturity, some will not be able to reproduce.”
“That’s going to upset a lot of people from conservative cultures. It may wreck some relationships,” commented Tony. Sandra saw Maya lower her eyes.
“Not if we make it a cultural imperative to place the children’s welfare first,” added Alan seriously.
“It sounds like you’ve thought about this,” Tony said a bit surprised looking at Alan.
“Yeah, some. It helps to pass the time on missions.”
Koenig looked at his staff as they absorbed the information each in his or her own way. “Helena, how many children should we allow at first?”
Helena laughed a little. “I don’t think it’s a matter of ‘allowing,’ John. For a reason or reasons that I do not yet understand, we will be having our first population boom starting in 20 weeks. I’m not including Shermeen; I suspect as a research botanist she found her own way around the contraceptives. Within six months we should have 7 children, 8 including Jackie Crawford.”
There were delighted looks.
“Alright then,” Koenig concluded, more than a little surprised by Helena’s revelation, “by next week’s meeting I want thoughts on how to accelerate Alpha’s expansion and how each section will have to make modifications to accommodate infants and children. Invite the appropriate people to make presentations. After that meeting I will make a formal announcement to Alpha.”
Everyone stood up, gathered their things, and turned to exit. Tony held his hand out to Maya and they were the first out. John looked with some concern at a very quiet and distracted Sandra. “Are you sure you’re alright Sahn?”
Holding Sandra’s chair for her, Alan looked at the Commander with a smile on his face and a special grin for Helena, “She’s not sick, John, she’s pregnant!” He picked up Sandra’s things with his own and put his free arm around her shoulders; it was time to head home for a private celebration.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day while walking routine security rounds, Tony found Sandra working in a computer lab designing schematics for scaled down, child-friendly commlocks. “Congratulations, Sahn.”
“Thank you, Tony.” Tony’s dark eyes and handsome face appeared sincere, but wistful. Sandra folded her hands in her lap and gave him a long look. “Tony…” Sandra was unsure is she should say anything. Awkwardly, she continued, “Maya and I talked, some, while waiting in the OutLab for you and the others to arrive.
“And?” Tony’s expression closed slightly.
“Just…. you and Maya will make very good parents. Consider all the options. Nothing can happen that will diminish her love for you. Talk with her and listen.”
Tony first looked a little angry, then thoughtful.
With a small smile Sandra added, “Ask her about the geese.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later that day, Helena walked into Medical Center to start her overnight shift. The lights were dimmed and the background beeps of the monitors were soothing to her doctor’s ears. She relieved Ben Vincent and did a quick check on the sleeping patients.
She entered her darkened small office to do chartwork when she noticed with a start that someone was already sitting there. She turned up the lights.
“You know who the author of that thesis is.” It was a flat statement, said in a very flat accent.
“Yes.”
“You know that there are some very controversial conclusions.”
“Yes.”
“And?” There was a long pause as the two colleagues regarded each other steadily, blue eyes holding green in quiet challenge.
“No one needs to know the author. That can be ‘lost’ to a data slip.”
“Thank you, Helena.”
“You’re welcome. Richard is a very nice middle name.”
“It was my grandfather’s. Good-night.”
“Good-night, Alan.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before turning in, Sandra was once again rearranging their few possessions. She was still trying to find a balance in their new ‘Outback’ quarters, especially given the space she had set aside for the baby. As Sandra held her treasured needlepoint depiction of the Acropolis, she directed Alan to move the ‘Tampa Tribune’ picture once again.
“Maya told me of your ‘ride’ back on that last planet. She said she had a wonderful time and wished she could try that form again, but that there was not enough room on Alpha.”
“I’d say not. Did I tell you that was how she blackmailed me into flight lessons?” asked Alan.
“I wondered.”
“The deal was lessons for her silence. The last thing I need is Tony getting on my case for that stunt. Why did she tell you?”
“We talked about quite a lot in the Lab yesterday, waiting for you and Tony to come.” It gave Alan a feeling of quiet pride to know that Sandra had that level of confidence in him. He hoped never to abuse it.
“I just hope Tony doesn’t find out, at least for a while. What’s this?” Alan asked picking up a flat CD jewel case off the small sofa table.
“Maya stopped by while you were out. She said it was a baby gift, that Tony copied some songs he thought might make good lullabies.”
Alan saw the list of composers that Tony had included: Beethoven, Brahms, John Denver, Gordon Lightfoot, The Wiggles, Gregorian Monk Chants, and The Beatles.
“Tony has quite the eclectic notion of what qualifies as a ‘lullaby,’ Sandra volunteered.
“I’d say so,” agreed Alan. He opened the cover and on the inside of the printed list of composers saw a note handwritten in Tony’s distinctively precise parochial school penmanship.
Alan, check out track four-- T.
Alan slipped the CD in the player. When the lyrics of the John Denver song “Eagles and Horses” started, Alan looked up at Sandra and gave a rueful laugh as he recalled the ‘horseback’ ride on the purplish planet.
“He found out Sahn.”
I had a vision of eagles and horses
High on a ridge in a race with the wind
Going higher and higher and faster and faster
On eagles and horses I’m flying again
MGK