“Have a seat.”
Trisha collapsed into a plush chair. Justice kept his smile in place as he took his seat.
He leaned forward to brace his elbows on his desk, resting his chin onto his hands. He looked amused.
“You look so serious. Don’t be. I told you before that I’m very willing to get you whatever you need for the medical center.”
“This isn’t about that.” She had to slow her pounding heart. “This is about a personal matter.”
The smile slowly faded as his gaze narrowed. “Please tell me you aren’t resigning.
We need you.” He lifted his head, removed his elbows from his desk to fall back against his chair, and looked suddenly tense. “I’d be more than happy to discuss money with you if this is a salary issue. We really want you to continue working with us. You are an excellent doctor and my people have grown to trust you. You have no idea how much we value that and you.”
She shook her head. “It’s not about money and I don’t want to lose my job or quit, though you might not want me to work for you after this meeting.” She took a deep breath, studying Justice. “I’m sorry. I’m scared to death right now.”
“Of me?” He looked surprised.
“Of the situation. I don’t even know where to begin. Something has happened and it’s pretty serious. If anyone realizes how severe this is, it’s me.”
“All right.” Justice took a deep breath. “Tell me what is wrong.”
“I’ve been given access to a lot of the medical files that contain some of the recovered research data from Mercile Industries. They tried to breed New Species men and women. I know you are very aware of this.”
His face tightened. “Yes. I was personally subjected to a lot of their breeding studies.” His voice had lowered to a growl.
“From what I’ve read, from the files I’ve been given, all their testing was between two New Species pairs and it always failed. They never attempted to breed New Species with pure humans.”
“No. We were considered too dangerous and they were afraid we’d kill any of the staff who attempted to lure us into having sex with them. You can’t blame us.”
“I don’t.” She hesitated.
“They severely abused us.”
“I know that. I— It’s happened,” she stated very softly.
123
“I don’t understand. You found a file where they held those studies on some of my people? Some of them agreed to have sex with humans while we were prisoners?”
She fought the urge to burst into tears. “No. I’m sorry. I’m not being very clear. A full human has conceived a child with a New Species.”
“That…” He looked dazed. “You’re sure?”
“Positive. I ran the tests myself this morning and preformed an ultrasound. The fetus has a strong, well developed heartbeat and it looks perfect. I won’t lie. This pregnancy isn’t normal. The heartbeat is that of a much more advanced fetus and the measurements are off on the size. It appears the growth rate and fetal development are farther along than a typical pregnancy. It’s alarming, Justice. The baby is growing faster than it should be and the pregnancy symptoms are premature for the gestation period.”
Her fingers dug into the chair she sat in. “For the first time, according to what I know, a New Species has been able to help conceive a baby. I know you believed all your males were sterile but at least one of them isn’t.”
Justice suddenly stood. He turned to the window and presented Trisha with his back. He remained silent. Trisha watched him with fear. She had no idea how he’d react. She had a television, watched interviews with hate groups, and knew that it would only bring New Species huge trouble when word spread that they could not only have children, at least one of them wasn’t sterile, but that the mother wasn’t New Species.
A lot of idiots believed cross breeding of that sort would be a grave offense. They’d compare it with an animal and a human breeding. Their prejudices disgusted Trisha but she couldn’t change their narrow minds. Justice finally turned with a huge grin.
“That’s wonderful!” He dropped into his chair. “And we’re sure it was definitely a human and New Species breeding?”
“One-hundred percent sure.”
He laughed. “I never thought I’d be able to have children. None of us did.” He stood again and almost leaped across his desk to grab a gasping Trisha. He yanked her out of the chair, into his arms and hugged her. “This is the best news ever, Trisha.
You’re a genius! You did it!”
Trisha pushed gently away from Justice until he released her. She looked up into his grinning face with a horrible feeling. He obviously thought she’d done something as a doctor that resulted in the pregnancy. She knew she needed to set him straight immediately.
“This wasn’t something I did on purpose. There was no medical intervention. This just happened. It’s a completely unplanned and natural-occurring pregnancy.”
