Part 7 (1/2)

The woman stepped closer, surprised. 'What is it, love?

'You belong to the Pensare. She traced her fingers across her own breast with her other hand.

Linnea nodded, understanding, and smiled. 'Aaah. Id heard it called different things, but never that. Here we are the Swestr-sisters. The womens lobby. Even on famous Scolar, things are not always equal. Do you bear the marks?

Mira shook her head; another contraction was coming. 'Mia sorella... sister... mine, she panted.

'Roll on yer side. Let me rub your back, little Swestr.

But Mira barely heard her. The individual stab of her contractions turned into one long excruciating pain that s.h.i.+fted to her back. Then a strange sensation overtook her body, as though her pelvis might split apart. Her focus fell to it, and the sense of movement within her.

'Its coming. She thought shed spoken aloud. Had she?

Linnea began helping her onto the floor, into a squatting position. Her st.u.r.dy body bore Miras weight easily.

'Better than on yer back, love. Use gravity to help you get yer little 'un out.

Miras legs trembled with the exertion.

'Its crowning. Now lean on me back, instructed Linnea. 'Im goin to get down low and make sure yer baby doesnt slip.

Mira collapsed across Linneas broad back, fingers spasming into the folds of the cooks overalls.

'Just one little push. Now. Not too hard. This ones slipperier than an eel.

Mira felt disembodied, separate from her skin. Not able to think.

'Mira! Swestr! Pus.h.!.+ said Linnea, sharply. 'Bear down.

Miras mind began to slip away somewhere, to a place that shed been before. But then Insignia drew her back from that blissful oblivion, insisted she return.

Mira?

Insignia had been silent in her mind until now.

Our baby is about to be born, said the biozoon. You must help her.

Mira felt something. Her eyes flickered open.

Linnea had gripped her shoulder with one hand, reaching up, her other hand still cupped between Miras parted legs. The thick fingers bit into her flesh with no apology.

'You must push now. This baby needs to be free of yer. Bright eyes and a sweat-glistening face. 'This is yer important job, Mira, Linnea told her. 'The one you were born for. Dont fail yerself. Or yer baby.

The womans intensity grounded her. Suddenly it wasnt Linnea, a stranger, delivering her baby, but her beloved sister Faja. The same look, the same voice, the same determination.

Fa!

Mira let the sensations back in-the pain, the sense of her own body being torn-and pushed down.

She felt her babys head move.

'Babes here! cried Linnea. 'Its here. Once more.

Mira pushed again, and with the sliding sensation came a release from the pain.

'Here, Ive got yer babe in my hands. Linnea lifted a b.l.o.o.d.y bundle up so Mira could see.

With trembling fingers, Mira reached for the tiny body. 'Its a girl, she said.

'Guess so. Cant see no mans tackle down there. Now lie yerself down on the bed while we deal with the afters.

'A girl, repeated Mira, as she weakly levered herself onto the bed. 'Thank Crux!

Linnea smiled, but continued to hold the infant. 'Yer babe looks good an all to me, love. A tad undersized, as youd expect, but its lungs seem to be working fine.

'I wish to hold her, said Mira.

Linnea shook her head and laid the b.l.o.o.d.y babe in the transparent crib. 'Promised Dolin Id put her straight in here, soon as I cut the cord. Its the only reason he let me in. Once the scans done, yer can have her back. How are yer planning to feed her?

'Feed? Mira hadnt even thought of it.

'Yeah. They do need it, yer know, Linnea said with gentle sarcasm. 'And what name have yer picked?

Mira felt her face warm with embarra.s.sment at her exposed ignorance. Estelle wouldnt have been so ill prepared. Nor Faja. Both would have picked their childs name before the birth.

She spent some precious moments thinking about her sister and her best friend, wis.h.i.+ng they were with her, longing for their company and advice. Then she let her self-pity go and looked to her child.

Our child, Insignia corrected.

THALES.

'Villon? The detention room was so achingly familiar that Thales felt compelled to say the old philosophers name aloud.

But no aged and gentle person emerged from one of the bedrooms; no refined and thoughtful voice replied. Villon was dead, and Thales found himself back in the exact room he had shared with the great man.

Rene had been in the docking bay when the politic guards led him away. Hed seen her there, pressed back against the wall, a slim almost ethereal figure with her fingers clasped tight. He didnt call out to her or plead for her help. He hadnt endured the last months to return home like a boy needing protection.

In the furor of their arrival, and Miras transfer to Mount Clement, Fariss had eluded the guards. Even though she hadnt really understood all the reasons for him risking detention again, shed happily acknowledged his determination. If shed forbidden him, he didnt know what he would have done. His urge to obey her was so strong, and yet his desire to preserve the integrity of his world was equally so.

Fariss had supported him through her nonchalance, and hed seen the sparkle in her eye at the promise of trouble. She relished conflict and battle.

'Do what you must, shed told him before they berthed on Scolar. 'And Ill do the same. Right now, that means not surrendering to your police. Ill be there for you, watching from the sidelines. Her beautiful big eyes widened in thoughtful surprise. 'And to tell you the truth, Im not sure why, except that your skin feels good against mine, and your voice is like a song to me, and my guts tell me to protect you at all cost.

Her unexpected declaration almost liquefied his resolve. Tears had burned his eyelids, and hed knelt before her.

Shed cuffed him gently and pulled him to his feet. 'Pleasure me now, before what will be.

And theyd rolled together in their bunk with a pa.s.sion that had left Thales weak again.

'Msr Berniere?