The medical quarter of the compound was more than what Terri had expected given what she was used to onthe Wanderer. It was a true wing, with several sterile rooms designated for the healthcare of the Monushava line. The tranquil blue of the walls was even more unexpected. It was a surprising contrast, given that the dark walls seemed to be standard everywhere she looked—albeit broken up by the panels that tapped into the system controls and large holographic screens that cycled through images that she could only guess were of the family.
Tarik greeted her with mellow smile as she stepped inside, Veral crowding in close behind her. Although he dropped his head in a respectful nod, he slid by Veral, practically brushing him aside and ignoring the threatening growl that rose from her mate as he gestured toward the med-bed.
Although bigger than the one on the ship, this at least was familiar. Terri shot a quick glance at Veral. He glowered at the medic but huffed as he stalked over to the far side of the med-bed where he settled against the wall, close but out of the way of the medic who circled the bed making adjustments in passing. She gave her mate a brave smile in an attempt to comfort them both before she climbed up onto it without comment and stretched out with her hands folded just above her belly.
Tarik leaned over her and ran a handheld device down her body. Veral had done this often enough that she knew that he merely used it to take her vitals. Although he hummed a bit with the rapid vibration of his mandibles, the process was over quickly. He set the device on the small table to her right and placed his hand on a panel on the side of the med-bed. A blue holographic shield popped up above her. In that field, she could see the holographic image of her baby curled within her.
“The scans you gave me were recent?” Tarik asked Veral abruptly.
Her mate nodded. “Yes,” he replied gruffly. “They were taken just five rotations ago. At first, I was doing scans daily until it appeared that the gestation was proceeding normally for Argurma breeding. Even with the sudden acceleration in the growth rate of the fetus, nothing else registered as abnormal. Without any way to conclusively interpret what was happening, I decided not to distress Terri with further tests, given my lack of skill in this area.”
The medic hummed again as he shifted data around in the hologram.
“She is growing at an astounding rate,” Tarik agreed after a moment. “Exceedingly fast. Other than that, you are correct—she appears otherwise normal. Her nanos are already thriving through her bloodstream, although there is a presence of something else that appears to originate from the mother’s body.”
His lips thinned minutely as he magnified his view of her daughter. Immediately, he moved up and magnified the area of her arm. There she could see the strange, steady internal pulse of her symbiont glowing like a jewel in the hologram. Within the magnification, however, she could see a thin glowing line that seemed to weave into her.
“This is the symbiont you mentioned.”
It was a statement rather than a question, but Veral inclined his head again in silent agreement when the medic looked his way.
Tarik’s eyes narrowed at the symbiont intently. “It is unlike anything I have seen or anything in the medical databases that I have access to via my processors,” he stated flatly. “Our cybernetics amplify the general muscle or muscle group which they are designed to augment, or specific functions of our brains, but this symbiont is connected not only to the female’s tissue, but deeply imbedded in her nervous and vascular systems. There is a particularly bright, thick thread here,” he observed, tracing a claw over a pulse thread of light. “It is the same line that I see accessing your offspring through the blood exchanged between mother and offspring via the uterine lining. It is tapping directly through your offspring to this…”
He turned the hologram to an angle that hadn’t been achieved by their med-bed on their starship and magnified her baby’s arm until she was able to see a small glowing jewel that appeared to be growing off of her baby’s forearm. It also had a visibly bright thread.
Terri swallowed back her nausea. How had that gotten there, and why? Veral seemed to be of a similar mind because a low, threatening growl rumbled from him as he stared the tiny symbiont growing on their daughter.
“Has that thing infected my offspring?” he hissed.
Tarik tilted his head curiously, not looking away from the holograms. “Not at all. It is replicating itself to pass on its protections to the offspring that it is programmed to protect. It has not infected your offspring but is providing more immediate protection to the developing young. It is no more invasive than our own nanos that our offspring inherit from us to make them stronger, healthier, and longer living. In truth, it is far more advanced than any of our cybernetic modifications that must wait until after maturity to be added in phases beginning in adolescence.”
“So it won’t hurt her?” Terri asked, desperately needing the clarification to set her mind at ease.
Another mellow smile was directed at her, and the medic shook his head. “There is low probability of that. My calculations indicate that the environment it is creating with the nanos is modifying your offspring, causing a quicker growth. In our species, she already possesses all her organs, and so this is merely a rapid acquiring of mass that would have happened later anyway, but at an accelerated rate accomplishing in weeks what would take lunars. It could be a response to the mingling with the human species’ naturally shorter gestation.”
A low sigh escaped her mate and his eyes closed wearily, making her heart swell with emotion. Veral did not confess worries, but clearly he had been just as concerned as she was.
“I am pleased to know this,” he said at length. “With there being no danger to my mate, I will make plans for imminent departure within the next three days. That should be enough time,” he said thoughtfully.
“I did not say that,” Tarik replied evenly as he terminated the holographic shield.
The sudden disappearance of the light made Terri blink to adjust her eyes as she slowly sat up in the med-bed. Veral was at her side, his arm spanning around her to assist her out of the bed as he glared once more at the medic.
“Then speak plainly,” he growled, his vibrissae whipping.
Tarik didn’t look any more flustered by the display than he had throughout the entire exam, his own vibrissae twining in a relaxed state around his shoulders. He met Veral’s eyes, and his brow plating rose a little.
“Although the symbiont and the nanos are helping your daughter’s and your mate’s bodies absorb the stress of the accelerated changes, your female will become more easily tired and need to feed regularly. Large amounts of food are going to be needed for both of them… quality food, not replicated food,” Tarik added when Veral bristled indignantly.
Terri didn’t blame her mate. He did make sure that she had plenty of food to eat, keeping their replicator stocked, and kept the disgusting axna fruit.
“Replicated food carries all necessary nutrients. It is not inadequate,” Veral objected with an annoyed snarl.
Unperturbed, the medic initiated a sanitizer over the med-bed.
“It may contain some of the basic nutrients, but it is inferior to fresh foods obtained here on Argurumal. Also, it would be better for your offspring to have some exposure to our planet’s gravity for a period, in my estimation. There is also the fact that females often have difficulty in birthing—we are not beyond risking our females in death from birthing. We still lose some occasionally, even now. I would advise that you allow me to oversee her delivery. I will be able to make the right notations to record her birth for legitimacy purposes in our records and can do so without setting off suspicion. If you want your daughter of the line to have any chance of truly inheriting, she will need records of birth filed.”
Veral drew back slowly from where he was standing nearly toe-to-toe with the other male and huffed.