techniques given us to extend our lives might work for them, but they might not. It would be… experimental, Tess. Risks go together with experiments.'
'Oh, God. But I'm so scared of losing him. Or of him getting old while I'm still young.'
'There is another question. Ought I to interfere? It would clearly breach the interdiction.'
'Which Charles has already breached.'
'Yes. But knowledge works slowly, and Bakhtiian, my dear, may well change the face of this continent very quickly indeed. How long do we want it to go on?'
'It doesn't matter, does it?' Tess asked bitterly. 'Either way, we play god. Either way, we choose for Rhui.'
'That is the burden of greater knowledge. But there are two other factors, Tess. One only Charles knows of, and now you: there are clues, here on Rhui, that there may be a way to alter the human life span, to extend it past the one hundred twenty years given us by the Chapalii, to double it or more. I intend to break the code. I believe that I'm close to doing so. In fact, with your cooperation, I need some subjects from the jaran, although I've had some luck studying them since I arrived here.'
'The wounded,' said Tess under her breath. 'God, that's cold, Cara.'
'If I save them as well, why not let them benefit all of us? Lie down, I'm going to take some blood and run the scanner over you.' Tess lay down. 'I want Bakhtiian. Perhaps I'll make you a trade: let me examine him, take tissue and blood from him, and I'll see what I can do about some kind of basic serum to retard his aging.' Her expression grew distant. 'And if I can manage it,' she said, more to herself than to anyone, 'it will mean I possess Rhui's code.'
It was an odd, unsettling experience, to see Cara wear the look that Ilya wore when he contemplated lands he did not yet control.
'But don't answer me now,' added Cara, crashing back to earth. 'I can't quantify the risks for you, only say that there will be risks. I can't predict how his chemistry will react. You'll feel a pinch here; that's the needle. Now breathe normally and lie still.'
Tess shut her eyes. A low hum filled her ears. A breath of air puffed on her face and drifted down over her body, followed by the slight tingle of some kind of pressure and field. 'I'll risk it. I have to. Though I don't know how you can study Ilya without betraying all this.'
'Shhh. Don't move. Tess.' Her voice lowered, becoming grave. 'There's a more serious problem. Why did you remove your implant? To get pregnant, I know. But it's too risky. I have four recorded deaths, three many years ago and one recent, of women who died in childbirth from a reaction to the-well, once it was an Earth woman who got pregnant by a Rhuian male and died, in the others it was the opposite. It's an antigenic reaction to blood types and antibodies that no longer mesh well. I don't want you to get pregnant, Tess. No, one more minute.'
The silence drew out.
'There, we're done.'
Tess pushed herself up. 'But Cara-'
'No, I have no recorded instances of women who survived cross breeding.'
'What about the children?'
'In one instance the child lived, because I arrived immediately after birth.'
'Then there must be-'
'Tess, as soon as a woman gets pregnant, she is inundated with hormonal changes. My research shows that the risk is immediate and acute. I suppose-' She broke off.
'What?'
'You did start puberty here, on Rhui. That might-'
'That might what? God, Cara, you must know how badly Ilya wants children.'
'What about what you want?'
Tess hung her head, and her voice shook. 'I want something of him, after he's dead. But that's only part of it. I never thought about children before. There was never any urgency in it. But I want children with him, Cara. Can't you understand that?'
'Since I have no children of my own?'
'I didn't mean it as an accusation.'
Cara finished transferring blood from one tube to another and pressed a few buttons, and then came to sit on the table beside Tess. She put an arm around Tess, and Tess felt safe with her. Tess trusted her. 'Tess, I will study the matter. When did you take the implant out?'
'Three months ago.'
'That should give us time. It usually takes a year until ovulation resumes. Meanwhile, I want you to take some of this rather primitive birth control method I have with me. Goddess, child, I will take no chances with you. Do you understand that?'
'But, Cara-'
'No. No chances with you. I'll run a fuller test on you once I've gone through these preliminary results, and once I do a study of Bakhtiian, I'll see if I can make any kind of prediction based on blood type and other factors. That's as far as I'll go, Tess. If you won't promise me now to use this contraception, then I will forcibly insert an implant in you where you can't dig it out. Do you understand me?'
There was no compromise in Cara's voice, and little enough hope. Tess's throat felt all choked, and a moment later she felt the rush of tears. She buried her face in her hands to cover the tears, to hide them. She squeezed her eyes, as if that could stop them, but the devastation she felt was stronger than her self-control.
'Oh, Tess.' Cara wrapped both arms around her and held her as if she were a child. 'I'm sorry.'
A foot scuffed at the entrance. 'Cara? Tess?' It was Charles. Tess looked up in time to see him push the inner hanging aside and stand there in the gap, watching her. 'Ah. You've told her about the dangers of pregnancy, haven't you?''
'You're glad of this, aren't you?' Tess broke out of Cara's embrace and jumped to her feet. 'Well, it doesn't matter. I won't leave him anyway.'
Charles stiffened. 'I hope you think better of me than that.'
Tess stared at him, smitten with the sudden and astonishing realization that he actually cared what she thought of him. That it mattered to him.
A beep sounded, low and brief, from the counter behind them.
'What the hell?' muttered Cara. She slipped off the table and hurried around to the counter.
'I'm sorry, Charles,' said Tess slowly. 'I didn't mean it. You aren't petty.'
'Thank you.' He chuckled. 'But don't overestimate me, Tess. Sainthood is a heavy burden to bear. However, I don't think my pettiness extends to that.' He hesitated. 'Knowing what it means to you.'
The words came hard to him. She could hear that and it touched her that he would open up to her like this.
'Charles,' she began tentatively, 'I know-we've always been far apart in years, but-'
'Oh. Shit.' Cara turned. In the glare of artificial light, she looked grim, angry, and scared. 'Damn you, girl. What have you done?'
Tess looked at Charles, but he simply shrugged, puzzled. 'What have I done?' she asked.
'This alters things considerably,' said Cara. 'Clearly, whatever else may happen, I'm not leaving your side for the next nine months.'
Tess went white and sank down onto the table, clutching at the edge with her hands to steady herself.
'What's going on?' asked Charles. An instant later, his face altered as the realization hit him. 'But surely, if it's so dangerous-Cara!'' The expression of helplessness on his face looked totally out of place. 'Perhaps a surgical abortion-'
'No!' yelled Tess, even as she realized she might have no choice.
Cara shook her head. 'No. We'd still have an antigenic reaction to deal with.'
'She's all I have left, Cara,' he said, his voice so low that Tess barely heard him. She didn't know how to respond; Charles wasn't supposed to be so vulnerable.
'I'm well aware of that, Charles,' said Cara coolly, as if she were offended. 'I think it would be safer if I instead applied my skills and some testing to bring her safely to term.'
The vulnerability in Charles's expression vanished, smoothing into the mask worn by a duke in the Empire.
