“I love you, too. I’m sorry Ididn’t mention I was late.”
“I know this isn’t easy foryou either,” he said. “But a child’s a blessing, a time ofcelebration whenever it comes. Everything happens in the right timeand place for the experiences we need. I’d better tell Master Bakkathat I can’t go to the monastery for training.”
She clutched his arm. “No, youhave to go. It’s too important.”
“I’m not going to leave younow that I know you’re pregnant.”
“That’s only a possibility.”She couldn’t let him abandon his training for her.
“A strong possibility and Iintend to be with you in case you need me. You’ll be going througha lot of physical and emotional changes. You’ve given so much to bewith me, the least I can do is to give up this training so we can betogether.”
“You have to do what you’veagreed to do. You made a commitment.”
“I didn’t know you werepregnant when we discussed it yesterday. The training could take manymonths.”
“I know and I’ll miss you,but it will work out all right this way. I’ll be gone for at leastsix months on Alandra anyway. It’s the minimum tour of duty.”
His eyes widened in disbelief.“You can’t go to Alandra. The Coalition doesn’t allow pregnantwomen into war zones.”
She frowned. “I hadn’tthought about that. I guess I won’t mention the possibility.”
“You’re not going.”
“Why not? Being pregnantdoesn’t change my abilities as a combat pilot.”
“Combat pilots can’t affordto get motion sickness.”
“You worry too much.”
“Take a pregnancy test. Ifyou’re not pregnant, you can go back on active duty. I’ll evenfly you to the Coalition base.”
Toemeka felt trapped, concernedabout what a test might reveal.
4
Domed City of Kanai
Moon Barmin
From the cockpit of the Viper 4X,Toemeka watched the stars and planets turn into streaks of light asMichio’s spacecraft went into a jump. Before leaving the retreat onplanet Ritlan, she had reluctantly agreed to take a home pregnancytest.
It was positive.
She took a second test and itshowed the same results. Although she was still getting used to theidea of being pregnant, it was clear she couldn’t return to activeduty to fight the war on Alandra. Instead she was headed to thesecret city of Kanai with Michio.
Toemeka didn’t like spacejumps. They usually went smoothly, but sometimes a ship justdisappeared and was never seen again. A short jump took only a fewminutes, but one to a distant part of the galaxy took much longer.They required a series of jumps and were made on large ships.Fortunately, this was a short jump.
A jolt sliced through Toemeka asstars and planets reappeared in the blackness of space. Loomingdirectly in front of them glowed the large orange planet Ormezd,surrounded by multi-colored rings and numerous moons of varioussizes.
“It’s breathtaking!”Toemeka exclaimed. She’d never seen Ormezd before as it was anuninhabitable planet, composed of gases and not on any regular flightroutes.
Michio nodded. “Yes, it is.We’re headed for a moon called Barmin. It has a thick atmospherewith the correct temperature and composition to support it. We haveto travel through several rings to get there.”
“Traveling through ringsdoesn’t look safe,” Toemeka said.
“I’ve flown it many times,”Michio said. “ZB, calculate a route through the rings.”
Thefirst ring is unstable. Enter with care, the computer replied.
Michio flew the ship into theoutermost green ring. It flowed like a patterned wave similar toripples in a lake. They flew by asteroids the size of mountains andequally dangerous meteors.
Soaring out of the ring, theyflew by a moon, then entered a glowing yellow ring. A large boulderhurtled toward the ship and Toemeka jerked instinctively towardMichio as he maneuvered their ship out of the way.
In the third ring, Michio flewthe ship into dense clouds. The ship emerged near the surface of agrayish-blue moon. Michio skimmed the moon’s landscape, passingover mountains, valleys, craters and a wide river.
“I don’t see any vegetation.”Toemeka peered out the window, fascinated by everything she saw. “Itlooks like a lifeless world. Are there any plants or animals?”
“We haven’t found any. It’stheorized that it’s too cold to support life.”
A large, glass-domed city cameinto view.
“There’s Kanai,” Michiosaid. He pressed the transmission button on the radio. “MichioKimes requesting permission to land.”
A voice came back, “Welcomeback, Michio, permission granted.”
A hangar door opened and Michioflew inside the one-ship landing bay and cut the engines. Toemekareached for the door handle as the hangar door automatically closed.
“Wait for the bay to pressurizeand fill with air and heat,” Michio said. “Barmin’s atmosphereisn’t human-friendly.”
Toemeka spotted a dial on thewall. When the arrow reached the green safety zone, she got out ofthe ship. Excitement surged through her; this colony would be theirfirst home.
She felt weightless as shestarted walking. “I feel so light. There must not be much gravityhere.”
“About a fifth less than planetRitlan,” he said. “We’re required to work out every day in thegym, doing calisthenics and weightlifting to keep up our muscle mass.Otherwise when we travel to a planet with average gravity, we’d beweak.”
Michio came around to her side ofthe ship, carrying their travel bags and whistling cheerfully. “Let’sgo.” She turned the wheel that opened the pressurized door, thenthey stepped into the hall and rode a moving ramp to a bank of tubecars. Tall buildings flashed by as the glass tube car shot upwardthen slid sidewise along a track. It stopped with a soft jerk and thedoor slid open. They stepped into a glass, curved hallway and walkedpast a series of doorways. Potted plants decorated the halls and manytrees lined the street in the city below.
“There are a lot of trees andvegetation here,” Toemeka said.
“We grow plants that thrive ina controlled dome atmosphere since we need them to produce oxygen andfood. We can’t count on supplies from the outside world, so thecity has to be self-sufficient in making its own breathableatmosphere, producing food, and transporting water from other areason the moon. It’s not easy living here. The structural integrity ofthe dome has to be carefully and constantly monitored.
“Everyone is expected tocontribute to the community. With your background in science andengineering, I imagine you’ll be assigned to the team thatmaintains the dome.”
“I didn’t know I’d
