NOVEL FROG Chapter Thirty-Four: Falling Into Place
Human Sphere
Space Center X7- Alpha Centauri Sector
Promenade
Brigadier General Ilyian Rodrigo stands at parade rest in front of a large viewport. A colonial marine jogs to within a meter of the general and snaps off a crisp salute. He offers General Rodrigo a tablet computer.
“New orders, General!” the marine says in a matter-of-fact tone.
General Rodrigo takes the tablet and holds it in a large hand. His expression tells the marine in front of him all he needs to know. The information contained within is for Rodrigo’s eyes only. The soldier performs another crisp salute, which Rodrigo casually returns, and then the marine is gone.
General Rodrigo makes his way to his quarters. There is a wry smile on the aging general's face. New orders are usually good news.
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Typing in his passcode and pressing his index finger against the verification pad, Rodrigo waits for the approval message to appear before palming open the door and stepping into his quarters. He crosses his ornately furnished room and plops down on a plush chair.
Placing the tablet computer on the glass dining table, Rodrigo enters his passcode once again. After verifying his identity, and answering several security questions, the message General Rodrigo seeks becomes visible on the screen.
TO: Brigadier General Ilyian P. Rodrigo
FROM: Patrick Ang, Ryan McDermott, Henry Ellis (Weyland, Yutani, and Associates); General Erik Weyland
SUBJECT: Objective Amended
MESSAGE: Buyout of Dayshadow Industries successful. No viable threat. Vessel U.S.S. California still missing. No communication in over 240 hours. Command fears vessel lost. Mission is to locate the California and ascertain the cause of her distress and/or demise. Weyland/Yutani liaison will rendezvous at your coordinates in eleven hours.
Secure all specimens and data upon arrival. Be advised: Mission perimeters are classified.
Delete this message once you have read the information therein.
Rodrigo closes the message, logs out, and puts the tablet to sleep. He crosses the room and stares out of the circular viewport which serves as his window. Stars shimmer like jewels, in the distance, and General Rodrigo puts on a tired smile.
Finally, some action.
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Lab Room Three
Dr. Boyd looks fixedly at her medical tablet. Having crept off to her private quarters, Teresa pours over the mountain of data she has managed to compile so far. Sweat runs down her face and she wipes at it with a finger.
She is focusing so hard that she doesn't notice when the double doors slide open behind her. The doors slide quietly shut. Dr. Boyd's mouth moves wordlessly as she reads the information on the tablet's screen. She reaches across the table and grips her stylus in a sweaty hand. Wiping her hand on her lab coat, she finally becomes fed up with the heat. Removing her lab coat, she places it on the back of her chair.
"Oh...My goodness," Teresa says.
Dr. Boyd squints at the tablet in front of her, not wanting to believe her eyes. She presses two fingers against the tablet's front and spreads them apart. The image on the screen enlarges. Dr. Boyd leans over the table, her eyes widening to match her amazement.
"This is...Really...Well...Weird," she mutters to herself. "Weird, but interesting."
Biting her lower lip, Teresa scrolls through different images using her right index finger. Her eyes take on a childlike brilliance and a smile explodes onto her face.
"This is wonderful!" Teresa gushes. "What kind of planetary conditions can produce a cellular mutation like this? But, they're so...human. Kind of."
So intense is Dr. Boyd's excitement that she is completely unaware when N-Vorl closes to within feet of her. The looming yautja stares over Dr. Boyd's shoulder at the tablet lying on the table. He is careful to stand in such a way that even a hint of his silhouette will not be reflected on the shiny surface of her tablet. His brow creases as he recognizes what is on the doctor's screen.
Teresa runs a hand through her long, black hair and giggles like a drunken college girl. She blinks as if clearing cobwebs from her mind, and inputs several special commands into the computer. A simulation program starts up.
Teresa sighs and rests both elbows on the edge of the desk. She props up her head between her hands and closes her eyes. N-Vorl lifts one foot as if to approach. However, Teresa abruptly raises her head and laughs softly. Ripping the ponytail holder from her hair, Teresa climbs from her chair. N-Vorl slowly backs off and then halts. He is grateful for the room's dim lighting.
Teresa turns from her chair and heads for the futon. Throwing herself on the bed facedown, Teresa squeals into her pillow. Careful not to be too loud. She flips over onto her back and crosses one leg over the other.
"This is what it's all about," Teresa says. "I wish I had been given this project all along. With more information...I might be able to narrow down some likely planets of origin. Hmmm. A good place to start would be chemical compounds in their blood. They breathe oxygen just fine. So it has to be a planet with conditions comparable to Earth. I'd have to account for gravity, temperature variances, atmospheric conditions, and composition of the planet. Things which might effect their evolution or embryonic development. They're definitely not from Mars. Anymore than I'm from Venus."
Rubbing a hand over her belly, Teresa smiles inwardly. Another soft laugh escapes and she covers her mouth to suppress the foolish giddiness rising in her chest.
"Do they lay eggs?" Dr. Boyd wonders aloud. "Like a chameleon or an iguana? Or say, a dragon?"
She sits up on the futon and places both hands at the crown of her head.
"Or, does the mammalian side carry more genetic weight?" Teresa continues to muse. "Live birth? Hmmm! Probably more likely. That would have to be one enormous egg. This isn't some cartoon with impossible dimensions. Glotis' hips aren't much wider than mine. And how would a female pass such a large egg? Their survival rates would be something like zilch. Mmmm. Survival rates. Exactly how many of these yautja are there? Millions? A few millions? Billions spread throughout the galaxy...Or the universe?"
Teresa bites her lip a second time and then releases a loud chuckle. Unbuttoning her blouse, she childishly throws it on the floor. She tosses her head forward, and shakes out her hair; aiding the sweat trapped in her scalp to dry faster. Running both hands through her hair, she stares absently across the room.
"And what's with the secrecy?" Teresa asks aloud. "Glotis is Glandis' sister...For crying out loud! I'm sure she can get any yautja she wants. What's so special about P'taal? He seems pretty ordinary to me. For a yautja. Kind of genteel. Cute even. But not exactly Prince Charming. And why...Do they have to sneak around to be together? What are they hiding? Why is Glotis willing to risk everything for this one yautja? Assuming she is taking a big risk. Strange."
It seems that with each subsequent externalized question, Teresa has removed another article of clothing. Until she sits on the futon in only her underwear. Leaning over the side of the futon, she rips loose a snack cake taped underneath. Old habits die hard. She'll put in a few extra situps later. Maybe.
Dr. Boyd continues to verbalize her thoughts as she slowly munches on the chocolate dessert. Leaning back, with one arm resting behind her, Teresa closes her eyes and takes in a deep breath. The air in the room is no longer stifling and her moist skin has begun to dry.
N-Vorl takes in everything. Every word, every gesture, every breath. While Dr. Boyd's near nakedness is no longer new to him, the feeling creeping into his chest is. A feeling strangely like lust. For an ooman?
Using sheer force of will, N-Vorl manages to keep his composure and his position in the center of the floor. His fingers flex as he remembers the soft feel of her skin and hair. He knows the doctor's routine very well by now. She will be asleep soon. Only then, will he leave.
Sure enough, as soon as the last of the dessert cake is devoured, Teresa balls up the wrapper and leans over the edge of the futon to throw it in her tiny trashcan. She lets out another childish giggle and sighs heavily.
"This is going to be sooo great!" Teresa coos. "The Judases have nothing on these yautja. Not really. If they ever get their heads out of their asses, and actually listen to me. We can beat these bugs. But then again...What beats a yautja? Guess, we'll find out. Checkmate..."
The last few words of Teresa's speech are spoken in a drowsy slur. She stretches noisily and then lies back on the futon. Adjusting her body, she seeks maximum comfort. Comfort she won't necessarily find. Her eyes slowly close, and eventually her head drops to one side.
N-Vorl moves first to Dr. Boyd's computer, which is still accessible on the table. After a few moments, he crosses to the other side of the room, where Teresa lies upon the futon. For what is easily the fifth time, he removes a piece of hair from in front of her slumbering face. Teresa only stirs a little, her chest steadily rising and falling.
N-Vorl regards the sleeping ooman with a blank expression. Caressing her cheek, he is unable to keep a smile from building on his rugged yautja face. She is strangely beautiful. For an ooman.
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When Dr. Boyd returns to the main lab, hours later; she is in an eerily cheerful mood. The doctor's cheeks have a healthy glow and there is a faint smile on her lips. Glancing around the room, she notices that N-Vorl is not in attendance. Teresa's eyes narrow, and her brow knits.
"Maybe he needed to tinkle," she says to herself.
Sitting down at her workstation, Dr. Boyd sifts through some of the data and embryo implantation analyses on her desktop computer. Glotis strides purposefully towards Teresa and lowers her yautja medical device to the table. The yautja scientist glances down at the human doctor with a faint smile of her own.
"You are looking well, ooman," Glotis says. "Your rest seems to have done you good."
"Yes," Teresa answers truthfully. "Remarkably, I had the best sleep I've had in weeks. I'm used to just running, running, running. This project is really taking it out of me. And this heat. We...Oomans aren't made for this excessive heat. But, I'll live."
"That is good news," Glotis replies. "Now, we can focus more energy on our work. You were starting to appear distracted."
"Was I?" Teresa exclaims, taken aback.
"You were," Glotis insists.
"Well, we can't have that!" Dr. Boyd teases. She offers Glotis a conspiratorial smirk. "We have important work to do."
Glotis returns Teresa's smirk, in yautja fashion, and nods.
"I assume those are the most recent results for embryo viability?" Teresa inquires.
She studies the information on Glotis' yautja medical device with keen interest. After a moment, she crosses one leg over the other and turns slightly in her chair. She tilts her head to the side in friendly sarcasm.
"Although, I can't really read those characters and symbols. Mind giving me a translation?" Teresa teases.
"I will do you one better," Glotis says, matching Teresa's sarcasm. "I will make you a device so that I do not need to nursemaid you through every phase of our research...Ooman."
"That's so wonderful of you," Teresa counters with a tiny chuckle. "I'm so grateful we've had this opportunity to work together...Yautja!"
A laugh escapes Glotis mouth, and P'taal raises his head. The warrior's eyes soften as he observes the joy in his forbidden lover. It has been a long time since either of them has truly laughed.
In the entrance to Lab Room Seven, N-Vorl finally rematerializes. He has been there almost the entire conversation, observing.
He'd overstayed his time in the doctor's quarters. Teresa had nearly caught him leaving while she dressed. Had she turned around only seconds faster, she would have seen the doors sliding shut.
N-Vorl's mind has grown sorely conflicted. What is more important? His loyalty to his elder...To the project? Or the privacy of this ooman female?
Every moment he spends with her, be she clothed or unclothed, is becoming extremely problematic. Every time he ventures to touch her, he wants more. He wants to wake her and declare his presence. To hold her against his body. As he did in the lab. Just her scent is enough to excite him. This is not his usual mind.
N-Vorl pulls himself together and practically marches from Lab Room Seven. It is his intention to come off as severely inconvenienced. As if searching for the doctor has eaten into his valuable time. He is caught off guard when Dr. Boyd turns in his direction; a bright smile plastered to her face.
The towering yautja halts his heavy gait and stares at Teresa from across the room. Dr. Boyd waves him over with that same large smile on her face. Her blunt ooman teeth are on full display, and he studies them with renewed interest.
"There you are, N-Vorl!" Teresa says mockingly. "I was wondering where you'd gone. We were discussing great advances in engineering. Why don't you join us?"
Glotis laughs yet again, and Teresa winks energetically in N-Vorl's direction. N-Vorl simply nods. He appraises Teresa from where he stands. Wishing he had thought to wear his mask.