the continually brightening room.
Turning from the console, she walked into her sleeping den. A few minutes later, she returned to the front room with a bundle of clothes in her hand, went to the communications unit and tried the emergency number again. She only heard more pops and clicks of static.
She placed her hand on her extended belly as she looked out at the Grimai pens. “Cub, I have only one option left, and I hope I make it, or you will be born on the road to Sharpak.”
She tried the emergency number one last time with the same results. She cleared the console, and with a determined look on her face, began what she knew would be the longest walk into town she ever made. On a normal day her pace got her to town in an hour and a half. For this day she felt it would be at least twice that, probably more.
As the morning’s summer sun warmed the rich soil, not long into her walk, the onset of another contraction made her turn for the side of the lonely dirt road. A huge, rough gray boulder became the point of her focus as the contraction ripped through her body. It passed, her body relaxed and her mind cleared. It was then she remembered the conversation with her pediatric life holder at her last checkup three days before.
“I see no problems with you or your cub. Everything is going as it should. I believe you will go over your due date a few days as the cub is not yet turned into the proper birthing position.”
At that appointment the final prognosis was the cub would not come into the universe until the next week. Yet, Mother Nature conceived other ideas and now she stood on the side of a dirt road, focused on a boulder the size of her house, to get through a contraction. When it ended, she relaxed against the boulder and was not prepared for the sudden onset of the next one.
Severe pain seared through her body and she screamed as the pain increased. The inside of her legs were suddenly wet. With palms pressed solidly against the boulder, she tried to breathe through the contraction and failed. With her jaws clenched and her eyes closed, she slowly sank to her knees on the hard, rocky ground. Her sweat fell to the dusty dirt road and sent up a mini cloud of dust. The blood pounded in her ears and she gasped when she felt her cub move further into the birth canal. When that contraction passed, she got to her feet turned and leaned against the huge boulder and knew then she would not make it to town to birth her cub in the safety of the Sharpak Life Hold. The next contraction, she felt the cub move a lot, the pain in her abdomen increased many fold.
“Stop!” she held on as the contraction played havoc with her body. After it passed, she hiked up the front of her long skirt and made a personal exploration of her body that told her she was much closer to giving birth than she thought. “Just my luck.” She wiped the sweat from her face with the bottom of her skirt and looked around for a suitable place to bear her cub as her ancient quadruped ancestors did, in the wild.
On the side of the road where she stood, was the hard, rocky ground of a black volcanic wasteland turning to grassland. Wild flowers poked up and around the black chunky rocks. Although a beautiful mix of blue, white, yellow and red flowers on green and yellow stalks of all shapes and sizes, the area was not at all inviting for her need. Looking to the other side, a short distance from the road she saw the lush coolness of a small forest and toward that, she began to walk.
As she entered the dense overgrowth the darkening light enveloped her. The thick canopy above blocked most of the sunlight. The smell of rotten wood and unseen life assailed her senses. She snorted to clear her sensitive nose as she struggled around and through the low heavy underbrush that snagged her skirt and further hampered her walk.
She looked at the dead trees around her, spotted a fallen tree, held aloft by another under it. Dropping to her knees between the
Turning from the console, she walked into her sleeping den. A few minutes later, she returned to the front room with a bundle of clothes in her hand, went to the communications unit and tried the emergency number again. She only heard more pops and clicks of static.
She placed her hand on her extended belly as she looked out at the Grimai pens. “Cub, I have only one option left, and I hope I make it, or you will be born on the road to Sharpak.”
She tried the emergency number one last time with the same results. She cleared the console, and with a determined look on her face, began what she knew would be the longest walk into town she ever made. On a normal day her pace got her to town in an hour and a half. For this day she felt it would be at least twice that, probably more.
As the morning’s summer sun warmed the rich soil, not long into her walk, the onset of another contraction made her turn for the side of the lonely dirt road. A huge, rough gray boulder became the point of her focus as the contraction ripped through her body. It passed, her body relaxed and her mind cleared. It was then she remembered the conversation with her pediatric life holder at her last checkup three days before.
“I see no problems with you or your cub. Everything is going as it should. I believe you will go over your due date a few days as the cub is not yet turned into the proper birthing position.”
At that appointment the final prognosis was the cub would not come into the universe until the next week. Yet, Mother Nature conceived other ideas and now she stood on the side of a dirt road, focused on a boulder the size of her house, to get through a contraction. When it ended, she relaxed against the boulder and was not prepared for the sudden onset of the next one.
Severe pain seared through her body and she screamed as the pain increased. The inside of her legs were suddenly wet. With palms pressed solidly against the boulder, she tried to breathe through the contraction and failed. With her jaws clenched and her eyes closed, she slowly sank to her knees on the hard, rocky ground. Her sweat fell to the dusty dirt road and sent up a mini cloud of dust. The blood pounded in her ears and she gasped when she felt her cub move further into the birth canal. When that contraction passed, she got to her feet turned and leaned against the huge boulder and knew then she would not make it to town to birth her cub in the safety of the Sharpak Life Hold. The next contraction, she felt the cub move a lot, the pain in her abdomen increased many fold.
“Stop!” she held on as the contraction played havoc with her body. After it passed, she hiked up the front of her long skirt and made a personal exploration of her body that told her she was much closer to giving birth than she thought. “Just my luck.” She wiped the sweat from her face with the bottom of her skirt and looked around for a suitable place to bear her cub as her ancient quadruped ancestors did, in the wild.
On the side of the road where she stood, was the hard, rocky ground of a black volcanic wasteland turning to grassland. Wild flowers poked up and around the black chunky rocks. Although a beautiful mix of blue, white, yellow and red flowers on green and yellow stalks of all shapes and sizes, the area was not at all inviting for her need. Looking to the other side, a short distance from the road she saw the lush coolness of a small forest and toward that, she began to walk.
As she entered the dense overgrowth the darkening light enveloped her. The thick canopy above blocked most of the sunlight. The smell of rotten wood and unseen life assailed her senses. She snorted to clear her sensitive nose as she struggled around and through the low heavy underbrush that snagged her skirt and further hampered her walk.
She looked at the dead trees around her, spotted a fallen tree, held aloft by another under it. Dropping to her knees between the
Similar Books
