It was her birth control implant. Her body had ejected it.
It prevents the biological mechanisms of a human conception. It can’t interfere with Scaeven seed.
Lyra’s hand flew to her stomach. Cold fear washed over her.
It alters your body in ways that make you compatible for Scaeven conception.
It couldn’t be. She couldn’t be pregnant.
Chapter Sixteen
Virgo System, Andromeda Galaxy
Copernicus Station
IG Standard Calendar 236.45.17
It took eighteen Earth Standard days of interstellar travel, two ships, and three gate jumps to make it back to Copernicus Station—where Sofie’s university was located, and where Lyra lived when she wasn’t aboardship. In that time, Lyra’s body resumed normal function. But, she noticed warily, her appetite had nearly doubled.
When she set down on the docks at Copernicus, she was met by the university’s director of intergalactic research, and several armed sentinels. Sofie was nowhere to be seen.
“Welcome home, Captain Hallas.” The director held out his hand to shake. Lyra returned the gesture, forcing herself to stop scanning the docks for Sofie’s face and make eye-contact with the director.
“Where’s my sister?” She asked.
“Sofie Hallas is safe at your residence. You can join her there after you’ve been debriefed.”
Lyra fought down the urge to tell the director where he could shove his debriefing. Instead, she nodded stiffly and allowed the sentinels to escort her to an unmarked auto. They brought her to the university, disembarking at the medical sciences building. Inside, they brought Lyra to the Chief Resident, who conducted her medical exam.
After a standard physical examination, Dr. Khoury handed her a biometric scanning probe. Lyra slid it beneath her tongue, closing her mouth tight. It took the machine only a few seconds to read her. It chirped at the completion of its scan and the doctor glanced up at her.
“Did you know you were pregnant?”
Lyra sighed shakily. “I suspected.”
“Looks like you’re about eight weeks along.”
Lyra frowned. That wasn’t possible. She hadn’t had a lover in… well, a very long time. Asier was the only male she’d been with in years.
The doctor gave her a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry about the father. The university can contact his family, if you would like.”
It took her a second to understand what the doctor was suggesting. And then it hit her—eight weeks ago she would’ve been aboardship. By the doctor’s estimate, the only possible father could’ve been another crew member. And all the male crew members were dead.
Given the fact that Lyra didn’t have an implant anymore, the doctor would’ve assumed that the pregnancy had been intentional, and the relationship therefore a serious one.
“I’ll handle it,” Lyra said quietly. It was for the absolute best that the university believed her child to be from a normal, human union. If they knew the truth…Lyra shoved the thought from her mind.
“Your vitals are indicating stress,” the doctor murmured. “Are you alright?”
“Of course not,” Lyra said. “What kind of lunatic wouldn’t be stressed right now?”
Dr. Khoury conceded with an apologetic smile and turned his attention back to the scan.
She she was cleared of any foreign pathogens, and declared in good health. The doctor led her to a shower facility and gave her clean, university branded scrubs to change into.
Her personal items were stowed in a sealed waterproof bag. She didn’t have much, just the ill-fitting Ravanoth flight suit, her ejected birth control implant, and the IPS core she’d kept from Asier’s shuttle. It’d been foolish to keep it. She didn’t know enough about Scaeven tech to be certain he couldn’t somehow still access it and find her.
But, maybe a small part her wanted to be found. In any case, it was the only memento she had of him. She took it from the bag and slipped it into the pocket of her scrubs.
When she emerged, clean and dressed, the two sentinels were waiting to lead her to a quiet conference room just down the hall from the medical offices.
She spent hours answering questions. Two high-ranking sentinels, the director, several other researchers, and the university provost pelted her with questions, examining every detail of her experience.
She left Asier and her relationship with him completely out of the story, referring to him simply as “the Scaeven male who facilitated my return.” Even that clinical description had her throat tightening with emotion.
“You said the Scaeven pronounced the planet name as Kiri?” One of the researchers asked. “What language is that derived from? His own?”
“The spiders—did they exhibit indications of sentience?”
“Did you notice any seismic activity in conjunction with the climactic extremes?”
“We’d like to take samples from beneath your fingernails so that we may assess any material we recover. Will you sign here to acknowledge that all alien biological specimens recovered from your body will belong to the university, per the terms of your employment contract?”
“Can you elaborate on the medical fluid the alien male used to treat the injury from the predatory worm? What color was it? Did it have an odor? How viscous?”
“If I gave you pen and paper, would you be able to recreate any of the Scaeven glyphs?”
And on and on and on—questions about Scaeven transport technology, about the toxin in their bodily fluids, about the colors of the forest on Kiri, about Lyra’s health since the first Scaeven encounter.
Hours later, she found herself dully reciting the same thing to every question. “I really don’t know. I’m sorry.”
“Alright,” one of the sentinels—a young, tough-looking woman with dark, assessing eyes—cut the others off. “That’s enough for today. I’m sure Captain Hallas would like to get some rest.”
The researchers looked mutinous, but the provost nodded. “Of course. The sentinels will escort you to your home. ”
The other sentinel, a gray-haired man with broad shoulders and an anvil jaw, got to his feet to walk with Lyra to the transport dock. “There’s a young lady who’s looking forward to seeing you. She had to be put under protective custody when she was told she couldn’t see you immediately.”
Lyra smiled. “That sounds like Sofie.”
When the sentinel auto reached the front of the townhouse Lyra rented, a few blocks away from the university, there was another Sentinel posted at the door—a middle-aged man, lean and watchful. She could see Sofie’s pale face and coppery hair in the window beside the door.
Lyra emerged from the auto, and the sentinel at the door stepped aside, allowing Sofie to burst out. She ran down the steps, reaching Lyra before she’d even stood upright, and launched herself at her sister. Her momentum knocked Lyra back against the auto’s doorframe. Sofie wrapped her slender limbs around Lyra, clinging on like a koala bear, sobbing her name into her neck.
“Honey,” Lyra grunted. “You’re not as little as you used to be.” She staggered away from the auto, awkwardly carrying Sofie’s clinging weight. Like Lyra, Sofie had inherited their father’s height, and stood just shy of six feet tall. Slender and willowy she may be, but she was still not exactly a featherweight.