Small Mysteries
Breakaway + 4 years, 8 months
Life was good.
A few years ago, Alan would've bet good money that he'd never utter those words again, even in the quiet of his own thoughts. For that matter, only five days ago things had looked pretty grim when Sandra and Maya had been trapped in that freak explosion in Outlab 2, but now... well, things were looking up. He torqued the spanner a little harder trying to get the recalcitrant bolt to loosen.
Alpha was feeling more and more like a real home. True, in the middle of the 'night' or during the midst of a deep flight mission, homesickness could still hit a guy hard in the gut. Still, most people had started to look forward to the future instead of constantly back to what they had lost on Earth. And he had to admit he was now one of them.
Alan smiled to himself. That was in no small part due to Sandra, and now they even a little one to look forward to. If Bob Mathias's genetics testing went well, that was.
He tossed the spanner back into the box and picked up a different tool to try to get that bolt to move. The last person to work on Eagle 1 had really put a lot of unnecessary effort into sealing the interior rear service hatch. Most hatches were held in place by simple recessed tension catches, but a few odd compartments were configured with old-fashioned nuts and bolts, and of course, the relay he wanted to check just happened to be behind one of those.
He grunted a bit with effort as he tried to force the bolt without stripping it. Sandra had been right. He'd have to curb his enthusiasm, at least in public. Just because things looked good so far didn't mean there couldn't yet be problems with the pregnancy. And there were a lot of other Alphans who might be jealous of their good fortune. Helena had warned not every woman was going to be able to have kids, but Sandra so far had made it through that critical first trimester. And they hadn't even realized she was pregnant until four days ago.
So much for morning sickness.
Almost ready to concede defeat and fetch the power spanner to get that damn bolt to move, the thing began to give. Alan pushed harder with both hands and was surprised when the bolt loosened with a suddenness that caused him to lose his balance and fall to the deck of the Eagle with the hatch door clattering down next to him. Well, then, that was more like it. As long as no one caught him lying flat out on the deck like a landed mackerel.
Pushing himself to his knees, Alan felt an unexpected slickness under his left hand as it slid against the deck. Damn. He must have cut himself. Now that would be another mess he'd have to clean up. Concentrating on trying to find the nut and bolt that had flown off during his fall, he wiped his hand against his pants leg and was briefly overwhelmed by the lancing white pain that shot up through his left hand and arm. What the hell?
He looked down and saw a growing puddle of red on the deck with more of the red stuff actively dripping down to join what was already there. Alan looked at his left hand and saw blood actually squirting out of a long, jagged gash that wrapped around the outside of his hand just below the small finger. He looked closer and almost blacked out when he realized he was seeing white bone. He sat down in one of the seats with a thump. Damn.
Looking around he found a small cloth of the type used by the service techs to clean the Eagle's food prep storage cubicles. He wrapped it around the wound and applied pressure. That hurt, but at least it slowed the blood to a trickle. Well, there was no way to avoid it. He'd have to go to Medical and get Helena to look at it. Just great. At least he was up to date on his tetanus booster. Alan snorted at that thought. He knew he was never out of date. He got way too many cuts and scrapes for that to ever be a concern. Grateful that the pod door was open so he didn't have to use his commlock, Alan walked out of the Eagle into the large, pressurized work space of Eagle Bay 1.
"Hey, Miriam, could you ask someone to look for the nut and bolt from Eagle 1's rear access panel? I dropped them in the bird." The Eagle Maintenance Chief looked up from her computer and frowned to see Alan and the bloody rag heading out the Bay. They didn't actually need that many of the small things so replacements were few and hard to find.
Miriam waved her hand in acknowledgement and headed into the Eagle herself to see what damage Alan had caused.
It took a bit of juggling, but Alan finally managed to summon a travel tube unit without getting too much blood on his commlock. Entering the tube, he noticed all the blood on his pants. Sandra was going to fuss at him unless he could get changed first. He leaned back in the seat keeping pressure on the wound while the tube took him around the perimeter of Alpha. It was nice to be fussed over.
The tube car slowed and Alan stood, carefully repositioning his grasp on the bloodied cloth. Damn, but it was really starting to throb. At least the bleeding seemed to have stopped for the moment. The doors opened and he looked up from his hand to a sight that was not what one expected to see in the middle of the day shift right down the corridor from Medical Center.
He cleared his throat by way of polite interruption. "Perhaps you two should get a room?"
John Koenig released Helena without the slightest sign of embarrassment. "We're planning to do that right now."
Helena brushed a lock of blond hair away from her face as she finally noticed Alan standing there with his bloody hand. "What happened to you?" Her face immediately had the look of resigned concern Alan was well familiar with.
"Just a scratch," Alan shrugged. He looked quickly to make sure he hadn't left a trail of blood. "Maybe needs a stitch or two."
"There's a whole lot of people ready to help him right through those doors," John said keeping a firm arm around Helena's waist to keep her from turning around to head back just that way. His look at Alan brooked no good for the pilot if he did anything but agree. Right.
"Sure, Helena, you two just continue what you were doing. It's really very minor." He smiled at Helena as she sent a worried look his way and then quickly ducked around the pair before a grimace of pain put a lie to that statement. He heard the doors of the tube swish shut just as he reached the double doors of Medical Center.
Once again attempting to keep pressure on the wound while reaching for his commlock to open the door, he sighed in relief when the double doors opened to let a brown-sleeved tech pass through. "Thanks mate," Alan muttered as he walked through quickly before the door could close.
"What happened to you?"
The no-nonsense feminine voice brought a smile to Alan's face despite the worsening pain in his hand. "Oh, nothing much, Leftenant"
"Yeah, right." JoAnne Rysdell snorted looking at Alan's hand. She did not buy anything Captain Alan Carter said without a medical scan to back it up. He'd deny a problem even if his hand had been cut off. And by the amount of blood that was in evidence, that might not be too far off the mark. "Come on, follow me."
"Yes, ma'am."
JoAnne pointed to the exam station and donned a pair of gloves as she waited for the good Captain to assume his position. She watched him carefully as he hopped up on the table easily, despite that recently broken left leg still being a bit stiff. Alan only flinched when his left hand accidentally bumped the bedside stand with the exam instruments. Okay, so the blood on his pants did not seem to indicate a significant leg wound.
"And what happened this time?" She sat on a stool in front of Alan, took his left hand and started to unwrap the blood soaked cloth.
"Sliced myself on a hatch door, I guess. There was nothing else around that could have done it. Leftenant." Alan's grin was interrupted by his swiftly inhaled breath at the sight of the widely open gash under the cloth.
JoAnne darted an annoyed look at the pilot for his frivolity, but then she reached out a bloodied gloved hand to steady the weaving man. "Hey, don't you dare pass out on me!" A wash of color returned to Alan's pale, sweaty face as he returned for the brink of unconsciousness.
"Why is it always the macho ones?" JoAnne muttered as one of the nurses came over to lend a hand.
"Now, doc, it's just that blood and bones belong inside a guy, not like... that..."
"Just lay back, Alan." JoAnne darted a quick, wry glance to Alan's flushed face. "It'll be a shorter distance to the floor."
"Gee, thanks," but Alan did indeed feel better once he was flat and couldn't easily see his hand. Keeping his eyes closed also helped. He heard a clatter on the bedside stand followed by the pressure of something firm against his left arm and then blessed numbness from his elbow down. This time the sigh was one of profound relief.
If it couldn't be Helena, then JoAnne was a solid choice for backup, Alan thought. The young woman had been part of a small group of medical students from the Uniformed Services University in the States visiting Alpha at the time of Breakaway; she alone of that foursome had survived those first few hellacious months. Bob Mathias had finished off her clinical training and had then supervised her residency period producing a well-rounded physician and general surgeon.
Dr. Rysdell actually had held the rank of first lieutenant in the US Air Force before earning her medical title, and Alan had long enjoyed twitting her about being a fellow military officer stranded up here among all these undisciplined civilian types. JoAnne had even been born and bred military and had grown up circling the globe as a military brat with her career enlisted parents. She had stoically accepted her abrupt 'assignment' to Alpha, but still, Alan had been an understanding shoulder to lean on those first few chaotic months.
Studiously not looking at whatever it was JoAnne was doing, Alan wondered if she had started to settle down with any one person. The first few years, JoAnne had been so focused on finishing her medical training as quickly as possible that she had barely set foot outside of Medical Center. Alan thought she certainly was a pretty thing, and had even spared a thought in that direction a couple of times himself. Her appearance hinted at a heritage that spoke of many parts of Earth, what with her cafˇ au lait complexion and lovely, dark Asian eyes, and a hint of red in her dark brown hair. Her no-nonsense approach to life was refreshingly direct and very military.
"You did a real good job of slicing yourself open, Alan, but I don't think you'll need surgery. You missed the tendons and that white you saw wasn't bone, just connective tissue."
"Surgery?" Alan musings were abruptly halted and he almost sat upright in surprise, but the nurse's hand on his chest kept him flat.
"I'll ask Ed Spencer to double check. He's the best at this sort of thing next to Helena." JoAnne nodded to the nurse who stepped aside to place the call.
"Why not call Helena?" Alan asked.
JoAnne didn't say anything but continued to clean the jagged wound suturing over the deeper parts. Finally, after a long pause, "Mathias gave her the rest of the day off. She's been under a lot of stress lately and needs the break."
Alan looked at JoAnne but the woman's lips were pressed tightly closed and he didn't think he would find out anything else from her. He knew Helena commanded a great deal of loyalty from her staff.
Spencer returned with the nurse and spent the next ten minutes poking around and having Alan bend this finger and that on command. "Your lucky, Alan. Avoid using that hand for a few days and then we'll have you do some physical therapy. In a fortnight give or take you'll be back to usual. At least we don't need to waste a tetanus booster on you. I know I just gave you one nine weeks ago." He nodded at JoAnne and then returned to his interrupted work.
"Have you let Sandra know you're here?" JoAnne cast a quick look at Alan as she wrapped his hand in a bulky bandage to pad the sutured wound.
"Not yet." He didn't want to worry Sandra until everything was taken care of. He knew the memories of her three-day vigil at his bedside after that recent near-fatal lunar surface accident were fresh in her memory.
"Well, it is your non-dominant hand, but you're still going to need help for a while getting in and out of clothes and the like. And stay away from sharp objects until I check you again in three days, okay?"
"Yes, Leftenant."
An exasperated JoAnne was about to ask Alan yet again to let that drop when the Medical Center doors opened and Sue Crawford walked in carrying a crying Jackie. The four-year-old dark-haired boy now looked much as he had during the short time of forced maturation by the alien Jarak, but there was a sweetness and kindness of expression that had been lacking during his 'possession.'
Alan couldn't stand to see the lad cry. "Hey, there, what's wrong?" He started to stand but JoAnne's glare caused him to sit back down.
"I hurt my hand!" Sue put the little boy down and he made for Alan like a homing pigeon.
For the past four years, Alpha as a community had been at a loss about what to do with their only child, especially after his admittedly bizarre birth saga. Sue had devoted herself to his upbringing and many of the male Alphans had stepped up to provide father figures for Alpha's son. Alan was one of Jackie's favorites
"You did? So did I." Alan held up the bandaged appendage now that JoAnne had finally finished.
"Did it hurt? What did you do?" Jackie's tears had almost stopped as he contemplated the possibility of adult mortality.
"A little. I cut it inside an Eagle. What happened to you?" Alan patted the medical bed next to him and Jackie enthusiastically scrambled up as Alan held his hand out of harm's way.
Jackie held up his right hand and Alan could see that it was indeed red and a slightly swollen on the back. "It got squashed in mama's lab."
JoAnne moved her stool over slightly so she could examine her next patient and looked at Sue questioningly.
Sue nodded, "He was playing around the instruments when one of them shifted unexpectedly and pinched his hand."
Alan put his good arm around the boy and pulled him closer against his side. Jackie watched the doctor carefully, curiosity mingling with the fear of more pain. Alan thought a little distraction was in order so that the doctor could finish her exam without the little boy's 'help.'
"Jackie, did you know there are going to be more kids on Alpha soon?"
Jackie's dark eyes became round as he looked up at Alan. "Really?"
"Really. And Sandra will be having one of those babies."
Jackie grinned widely. Sandra always made time for the boy and had even babysat him on occasion. Everyone on Alpha had been aware that Jackie had heartily endorsed the marriage of two of his favorite grown-ups.
"You're really going to be a daddy soon?" Jackie leaned trustingly against Alan's good side.
"Yeah, if all goes well, it about twenty-one or twenty-two weeks."
"That's a long time."
"Yeah, but it'll pass quick enough."
JoAnne got up and rolled over the portable scanner to make sure none of the small bones in the boy's hand had been broken. Jackie looked a little apprehensive, but he still had important questions to ask Alan.
"Will it be a boy or girl?"
"Don't know yet. Do you have a vote?"
Jackie shook his dark head. "I don't care. I just want someone my size to play with."
Alan laughed. "Well, that'll take a while, but you're going to be awfully important to all the new kids."
"I am?" Jackie looked at Alan in wonderment.
"Absolutely. Who do you think will show the newbies where to find the best hiding places..."
"Hydroponics!"
"...and who to ask to get seconds of dessert..."
"Juanita!"
"...and who gives the best Eagle tours?"
"You!"
"Exactly. We're counting on you."
The little boy sat up straight and proud, a big smile on his small face.
"Everything looks okay. No permanent damage." JoAnne smiled at the small boy. "Jackie, do you think you could hold Capt. Carter's hand for a moment?" She asked the boy who was still feeling rather proud of his upcoming responsibilities.
"Yes, ma'am." Jackie dutifully reached out to hold Alan's right hand as JoAnne unzipped Alan's left sleeve and quickly proceeded to inject a long acting antibiotic deep into the muscular arm and then zip the sleeve back up again. The entire operation was done before Alan could react.
"Ouch! That hurt!"
Jackie covered his mouth with his free hand but all the adults heard the childish laughter.
"Thank you, Jackie. That was a big help." JoAnne smiled at the boy and then walked over to talk quietly to Sue.
Jackie hugged Alan tightly, accidentally bumping the newly bandaged hand and causing Alan to wince. The boy jumped off the table and ran over to his mum to share with her the wonderful news. He was going to be an important person!
Sue sent Alan a look of gratitude as she picked up the small boy and settled him on her hip, Jackie still chattering on as Alan cradled his hand against his chest. He used his commlock to open the door for Sue and the lad and was getting up to follow them out, when he saw Sue pause to speak with someone in a yellow sleeve followed by Jackie's high-pitched laughter.
"Alan, do you have a moment?" Alan turned his head to see Bob Mathias walk out of the back reaches of Medical Center holding a clipboard loosely in his hands.
"Sure, doc."
"I called Sandra and asked her to stop by." Bob smiled down at Sandra as she stepped up to Alan's side. Neither man missed Sandra's quick glance into the ICU bay nor the shadow that crossed her face. Bob tactfully led them back to his office in the quieter reaches of the Center. No need to raise bad memories of that fearful time, even though things had turned out amazingly well.
Dr. Bob Mathias had volunteered to supervise a genetics testing lab when it became evident that the upcoming population boom would need close monitoring. It fell to him to review the results of the analyses taken from Alpha's next generation. Unfortunately, his news hadn't always been good.
Bob gestured to the sofa he kept in his office for those times he had the chance to sleep while on night call. Sliding the clipboard into a drawer of his desk and picking up a tablet viewscreen, he pulled his chair around and sat down near the sofa by his friends.
Sandra took the moment to glance at Alan's bandaged hand and then at his face, raising an eyebrow in tacit question.
"It's not that bad, Sahn. Really." The look on Sandra's face carried the same doubt JoAnne's had just the hour earlier. Alan feigned a wounded expression. "Doesn't anyone here believe me?"
"No, not really." Sandra's quiet voice and gentle expression carried a mixture of relief and exasperation.
Alan smiled and reached out his good hand to take one of hers and he looked up to see Bob smiling at the by-play between the two.
Bob settled back in his chair and his facial expression shifted to one of professional neutrality. "I have the results of the genetics evaluation on your child."
Alan felt the temperature in the room drop a few degrees and Sandra's grasp on his hand tightened, although from the corner of his eye he could see no change in her polite expression. This was a moment of truth. The potential genetic damage from radiation, magnetic fluxes, and who knew what else was never far from mind. Just about everyone on Alpha was all too well aware of the fragility of the human genome, and Alan was dreadfully aware that he was at higher risk than most. The Eagles were shielded as well as man could make them, but still...
"Overall, things appear normal. The fetus's physical development on ultrasound is right on schedule if one simply accepts that Sandra will in all probability have small babies." Bob handed the tablet viewscreen to Sandra and leaned forward to explain what was in front of them. "As you know, humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes which account for all the genetic information needed to construct a human."
Alan and Sandra looked at the rows of squiggly X's marching two by two across the screen. Some pairs were tall and skinny, others rather stout, but they all seemed to match to the untrained eye. Alan watched as Sandra rested the tablet in her lap and with a slender finger traced the outlines of one of the pairs in the middle of the pack. She looked up at Bob with a question in her eyes.
Bob nodded, not surprised the data analyst had picked up on the chromosome pair that did not quite follow the ordained pattern. "Yes, there is one small anomaly just there which I can not identify."
Alan's heart plummeted and his right hand was suddenly squeezed tight with a force he would never have attributed to Sandra. "In plain English, doc, what does that mean?"
"I simply don't know, Alan. It's not any recognizable pattern that would indicate a problem, nor has it seemed to interfere with the fetus's development, which appears perfectly standard for this stage. I'm not even sure where the extra bit came from. It may well mean nothing, but I felt it only appropriate for you two to be aware. We simply don't know what to expect after all the time we've spent in deep space." Bob shrugged. "We'll follow the progress of the pregnancy closely."
"Dr. Mathias?" Sandra's quiet voice carried a wealth of questions she was afraid to put into words.
"No, Sandra, no need to consider the worst possibilities yet. We simply need to watch closely. I would still work on finding her a name." Bob smiled gently and reached out his hand to touch Sandra's arm in a gesture of comfort and reassurance.
There was a pause as what Bob said sunk into conscious awareness.
"Her?" Alan's grin returned.
"Undoubtedly, her." Bob smiled again and stood to leave the room to give the couple privacy.
Alan sat back on the sofa and exhaled a deep breath. He started to run his left hand through his hair but stopped at the sight of the bandage. Now, why had he assumed the child would be a boy? He picked up Sandra's hand to kiss her fingers when he realized that she hadn't moved since Bob had left. He turned to look at her. Sandra's face was completely blank. With a shiver, Alan recalled this was how she had looked for weeks after Paul had deserted Alpha and she had been left completely without hope. He rubbed her hand against the side of his face and spoke softly. "Hey, Sahn, Bob doesn't look all that worried."
Sandra nodded her head just the slightest, not turning to look at him.
Alan sat up and placed his good arm around Sandra and pulled her close. "Sahn, have faith. We've come this far. We knew it wouldn't be easy but she's already a survivor. The two of you landed Eagle 15 in the midst of that damned energy storm and made it safely through the Outlab explosion." Alan felt how tautly Sandra was still holding herself. Trying to think what to say next, his usual sense of humor inevitably surfaced. "And she's survived my efforts to cook you a dinner or two, hasn't she?"
Sandra chuckled at that and finally relaxed against him. Alan was a terrible cook. Still holding her tightly, Alan leaned back against the sofa. Turning so that his back rested against the arm of the sofa and his right leg stretched out along the length of the sofa, Alan momentarily loosened his right arm as Sandra nestled up against him. Each simply sat for a while deep in thought. Alan thought of the joy his mum would have had for another grandchild, especially from her ever-wandering son. Sandra's thoughts swirled around worst case possibilities.
Alan could tell Sandra was worried, but for some reason he was confident it was all going to turn out all right. He simply knew with a complete surety that this child was going to be healthy. She was already special beyond measure.
"Eliza's a good name. What do you think, Sahn?"
In one of the unexpected, rapid shifts in mood that Alan had learned to expect from Sandra in private, she turned around and kissed him with an enthusiasm that still took him by surprise. His ability to think clearly rather went to mush.
"Her name is Danae. But you can choose a middle name, Eliza if you wish.
"Yeah, alright. Danae Carter it is." He'd save his mum's name for the next daughter. Forcing his mind to work coherently through a rising tide of hormones, he looked closely at Sandra to see her response to his choice of their daughter's surname. Sandra had never formally changed her last name, although to be fair, he'd never thought to ask her to.
Sandra smiled her acceptance and again kissed him with a thoroughness that made him wonder if they could lock the door to Bob's office for a while. While he was trying to think through the logistics of how to proceed on the small sofa available, Sandra stood up laughing and held her hand out to him.
"Come on, Captain Carter. I've signed over early and I imagine no one is expecting you back on duty this late after..." and she nodded to the hand where a small amount of red was starting to seep through.
"A private room, with a bed?" He leered in a totally hapless manner and was rewarded with Sandra's laugh. Alan heaved himself off the sofa, wincing at the twinge of pain that was starting to return. He'd better get something for that. He took Sandra's hand and they headed out.
As they walked through the now quiet triage room, JoAnne looked up from her desk. "Here Alan, you're going to need these. Remember, be back in three days." She tossed him a small bottle that Alan caught deftly in his good hand. As Alan reviewed the directions printed on the bottle for the pain pills, JoAnne more respectfully got up and handed Sandra a small bundle of supplies for her to help change the dressing at need. "Make sure to tow him back here if it gets red or hot."
The women exchanged a small look of commiseration for males who lacked the good common sense the Lord gives to gnats.
"Thank you, JoAnne."
Giving Alan one last stern look, JoAnne returned to her desk and Sandra turned to lead the way out.
They made their way across Alpha to their quarters in the newly reconfigured residential area near Eagle Bay 1. Alan would have liked to take Sandra's hand, but knew that would make her very uncomfortable in public. Instead, he asked her about the day's events in Command Center and was rewarded with reports of how completely quiet things had been.
It was too early for dinner, but Alan did get a glass of water and a few crackers to wash down one of JoAnne's pain pills. He hated the fuzzy feeling narcotics could give him, but the throbbing pain was growing rapidly worse and he wanted to be able to focus on Sandra.
He turned around after rinsing out the glass to find Sandra watching him, her head tilted slightly in puzzlement. "Alan, how can you be so certain the baby is alright?"
Alan didn't really know, and couldn't begin to put it into words. He walked over and looked down at her. Even in the brightness of their quarters, her eyes were wide open and dilated. She was so beautiful. "Do you trust me, Sahn?"
"Yes."
"Then trust me on this."
The feelings he had been holding in check since Mathias's office waited no longer. He kissed Sandra deeply and swept her off her feet, sore hand be damned, and carried her into their bedroom. In the past eight months he had usually found action to be much more effective then words.
After an exceedingly pleasant few hours spent enjoying each other's company, they dressed and went to the cafeteria for dinner. There was no sign of John or Helena although this was their usual dining time also. They shared a meal with the Osgood's and then returned to their quarters. Sandra selected an old black and white movie and they curled up together on the sofa to enjoy it, or at least Sandra did. Alan fell asleep with his head in Sandra's lap, as he usually did when there were subtitles. After the movie, nudging Alan awake, Sandra sleepily crawled into bed. Alan joined her a few minutes later no longer sleepy in the least. It was a while before they fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, Sandra awoke and lay quietly, still worried about the significance of that small genetic anomaly. Her thoughts traveled in useless circles and she fervently wished she could speak with her step-mother. Diane always had been able to think though a problem with reassuring logic.
Not even curling up against the warmth of Alan's back could help her relax enough to return to sleep, so she slipped out of bed and went to pick up the clothes they had discarded before dinner. Holding Alan's blood-stained pants, she shook out his orange-sleeved shirt. A small something fell and bounced off her slippered foot. She placed the clothes in the hamper and then reached for her commlock to turn up the light. Alan protested by grabbing a pillow and covering his head.
Sandra spared Alan a resigned look and got down on her knees to hunt for whatever the object was. She ran her hands over the carpeted floor until she finally felt something small, less than a centimeter across and perforated in the center. Sandra's face had a bemused expression as she held the small object in the flat of her hand. What was an old-fashioned metal nut doing in Alan's clothes? She placed it on the bedside table, next to his commlock and turned off the lights. Crawling back into the warm bed she paused. Had she just felt something? Inside her? Sandra lay perfectly still on her back and turned her awareness inward. Yes, there it was again.
Alan rolled over onto his back when he realized Sandra was not curling up behind him. "Sahn?" Sandra reached out for his right hand and placed it low on her abdomen, pressing slightly. He rolled over completely to face her, ignoring the throbbing pain in his damaged hand and focused completely on what he hoped to feel.
Under their interlaced fingers, just barely sensed, almost like the thrill of a distant Eagle's engines which was felt before being seen, Alan felt his daughter move.
As he had promised Sandra, Danae Carter was alive and well.
13 March 2006
MDG