"So, if you're our mama and they're your parents, then that makes them our grandparents right?" little Ali asked with an air of seriousness as if everything was determined by his answer. Harry nodded and held a laugh when Ali turned and proclaimed Logan his 'Grandpa' and Alex his 'Grandma'. Then with that settled Ali and Jack turned back to each other and shared a look before Ali again asked about who belonged to his unorthodox family, "So, is Riddick our daddy now?"
Carolyn woke from her fitful slumber about monsters and blades and glowing green eyes to see red lights flashing from the control panel. Quickly untangling herself from one of the two blankets that they were able to take with them from the ship, she scurried over to the control panel. Pressing the appropriate buttons to pull up a screen displaying the skiff status, she gasped at what she saw. The skiff showed red caution areas in the life support systems. Pulling up other screens to show the power available to the skiff and other important systems, she dismayed over the power levels and was shocked to see all other systems down. 'What is going on? Why are all the systems down, we should have had more than enough power?' Carolyn thought in panic. Deciding that the low power levels are most likely responsible she focused on them and ran a diagnostic simulation. Looking as the ship showed the power being full as all the fuel cells were put in place; then take-off, she watched in horror as the fuel cells depleted drastically. Running another simulation to discover how much time their life support would last as is, she gasped in panic to see that as is the life support would only last another month, if that. Checking how the simulation would change if only two people were on the skiff, Carolyn's eyes widened at the much better results. Moving up to wake up Imam, Carolyn devised a strategy to get the results that she wanted.
"What is it?" Imam asked sleepily after checking to make sure his son was still comfortable. Remarkably the boy had stabilized a bit after they moved into outer space, although he was still in need of medical care.
"The fuel cells were more inefficient than first thought," Carolyn stated in a sullen tone. Thinking back to that sociopathic murderer Logan, she wondered if he had known more about the possible repercussions to using the skiff than he let on.
"How inefficient? Will we be able to make it to the shipping lane?" Imam asked worriedly, glancing at his sleeping son. He had covered him with the only other blanket and had torn a bit to wipe the sweat from his brow when he came down with fever a bit ago. Noticing the look in Carolyn's eyes, he did not have to know how bad to know that the woman was begetting a devilish plan.
"Life support systems are the only up at the moment, but as is the life-giving system will only last a month," Carolyn said quietly as if to speak it more loudly would cause the life support to suddenly short out. Imam closed his eyes briefly before opening them again to stare questioningly at Carolyn.
"So what do you propose we do then?" Imam asked while combing his fingers through his son's hair. A tingling suspicion told Imam that whatever she proposed would cause intense strife between them. Carolyn paused before pitching her idea and watched Imam interact with his dying son. The silence hung between them for a moment before Carolyn heaved a heavy sigh.
"Well the systems will last for a little longer than two months if there were only two people on the skiff," Carolyn says carefully, watching Imam for a reaction. As expected the man widened his eyes at the implication of his words and moved to block her view of his ill child. The deathly pale teenager remained oblivious of the plotting woman, but his father hand ceasing its movement through his hand did catch his attention. A soft moan from his son turned Imam's attentions from staring at the pilot in shock, but his son did not open his eyes or speak a word. "Do you see, it would be more merciful to end his suffering, doesn't God say that death is more peaceful?"
"His time will not be decided by our hands!" Imam roared furiously.
"Even if it would save us?" Carolyn cried back, forgoing her carefully laid plan.
"It might save our physical bodies, but it would damn our immortal souls. Do you truly believe I would agree to a plan that would separate me from my children for all eternity?" Imam tried to talk sense into the panicked woman. He could see that it was ineffective as the woman ruffled through a nearby bag and retrieved a syringe filled with some liquid. Moving more fully between the woman and his son, he tried again to talk sense into the woman. Carolyn didn't care about the moral dilemma, after all she was willing to kill an entire ship worth of people, what was one dying boy. She ignored the man and uncapped the syringe.
"This is the only way; it will be merciful and quick. This is a highly concentrated solution, more powerful than morphine; it will kill him swiftly," Carolyn tried to soothe, while inching her way toward the boy's arm. Imam shook his head in denial and nearly missed the woman's lunge for his son. Quickly getting in the way, he did not expect the pricking feeling of the needle or the harsh burn of the liquid as it entered his arm. Shock covered Carolyn's face as she watched the light leave the man's eyes. 'Why would he do that!' Carolyn thought as she watched the man slump over lifeless. Hearing the low moan from the boy who seemed to be trying to wake as if instinctually he knew something was different; Carolyn considered the boy's chances. 'It truly would be more merciful' she thought before she moved to kneel beside the boy and placed her hands around his neck.
The next few weeks after Harry and Riddick's absence was interesting to say the least, as the children persisted in calling the gruff and dangerous man daddy. Shazza and Alex watched from the sidelines, wondering if a pregnancy might compromise Harry's control even more than his fertility cycle. Everything in the cargo hold was sorted through and much of the wood was put into wall frames that sorted the area into housing structures. It was when the group began to discuss or argue about how they would fill in the walls that Harry showed his first symptoms of a possible pregnancy.
"We should just use the rest of the wood to finish the walls, we can break down some of the furniture that was held here for whatever we might be missing," Shazza suggested.
"Then we wouldn't have anything left to operate the stove," Alex pointed out, "maybe we should use the scrap metal."
"There is not nearly enough scrap metal for that," Zeke pointed out, "I think using the wood is our only option."
"Could we go out with lights and bring in sand, perhaps find a way to solidify it and make a brick-type wall?" Shazza asked considering that they would need the wood for the stove.
"We couldn't bring in nearly enough and finding a way to solidify it would use up quite a bit of water, I don't think we have enough for something that adventurous yet," Alex answered.
"Well, then we are all out of options," Zeke said dejectedly.
"We might not have any other options to finish this, we have to use the wood," Shazza said determinately.
"But Grandma said the wood was important for running the stove," Ali objected to the amusement of Logan and Riddick who began to chuckle. Although still tense, the two had made some progress on getting along with one another. Shazza grumbled at being told off by a seven-year-old and forgetting exactly who the child's parents were laid into little Ali. Not long after she initially snapped, she was face to face with an irate Harry.
"What the hell is your problem? Ali was only trying to remind you of the important of wood for the wood-burning stove, but hey if you don't want to be able to cook your veggies or eventually meat than whatever, eat it raw! Have you all forgotten that I can control plants, you know those spindly green things that can grow to towering heights?" Harry yelled, not realizing that with his anger the plants were growing in a web-like pattern along the wall frames to produce the filling that was just being argued about. Shazza backed up slowly from Harry like one would from an angry animal, looking around for some help. Finally, Riddick took pity and moved to put an arm around Harry's waist. Logan took a good sniff and groaned. Alex and the children watched as the walls finished forming and Harry finally fell back into Riddick's arms in exhaustion. From this position, which was essentially a hallway that led to four suites and the stairs, it seemed that a curtain of green was pulled around them. Only the doorways were spared from the cover of green. Moving Harry more securely in his arms, Riddick carried Harry through the nearest doorway, which happened to be the biggest suite that was designed for Riddick, Harry, and the children.
"So, is he pregnant?" Zeke asked from where he was trying to settle his wife's frayed nerves.
"Oh yeah," Alex said with a shake of the head as he herded the children into the suite behind their parents.
Chapter Fourteen: First Trimester/Rescued
Harry woke up on a soft pile of blankets in a green colored room. It took a bit to realize that the green was not an artificial color that someone painted, but living green plants that made up the wall. Wonder filled Harry as he knew that he was responsible for the living walls, but he did not remember pulling the plants upward to form the web-like pattern. Blinking a few times to jog his memory, Harry only remembered his verbal attack on Shazza. Looking around, Harry did not see anyone although he could hear movement and voices from the next room. Moving towards them, Harry looked around the doorway to see Riddick playing with the children. Ali hung onto Riddick's neck and Jack had a firm grip on one leg, but even the dual attack did nothing to prevent Riddick's movement. Laughing at the scene, Harry did not expect two sets of worried eyes to swivel toward him or the barrage of questions.
"Are you alright mama? You passed out in daddy's arms and I thought that lady hurt you," Ali said worriedly as he tried to drop from Riddick's back and go over to the confused green-eyed man.
"Yeah, what happened? First you were yelling at Shazza and then all these plants started growing in the frames…" Jack asked with her face scrunched up in confusion from her place on the floor after letting go of Riddick's leg.
"You scared the shit outta your parents," Riddick stated gruffly. Harry rolled his eyes internally knowing that Riddick was also worried, although he would never admit to such an emotion. To Harry's eternal amusement, his children had no qualms with calling their father out on his fib. Two sets of eyes, one brown and the other blue, shot accusatory glares at Riddick before they moved around him to envelop their mother in tight hugs. Holding onto the children, Harry looked over their heads at Riddick to see the amused smirk on his lips.
"I'm fine kids, really. Momma just fainted, I guess from using so much energy to create the living walls. Everything will be fine and I know your daddy was worried too, no need to glare at him," Harry said soothingly to the children. Riddick folded his arms over his chest and watched Harry continue to sooth the children of any fears that he was sick or dying, in case of the morbid imagination of Jack. Walking out of their suite, they did not see any of the others, although Riddick could hear shallow breathing coming from the far suite and the muffled steps from above. Ascending the circular steps to the multi-purpose room as Harry dubbed it; they saw Logan sitting at the table eating a nutrition bar with a bottle of liquor in front of him. Harry frowned at the sight and moved towards him to take the bottle, but before he could Alex showed up and pulled him back. The frown was overtaken by a glare that was aimed at his mother for his interference. Unfortunately, the effect was minimal if there was an effect on the calm man.
"But Dad said he wouldn't drink, he told me so when I was still young!" Harry cried out in indignation, mainly from the interruption in his plans to take the bottle from his father.
"He won't drink again, he just needs to calm himself after a revelation that he is not exactly ready to handle. How about you help me in the garden and we collect some more of the edible leaves and such?" Alex suggested motioning to his half full basket of leaves, stems, and even some roots. It really helped that the act of bringing the plants forward and strengthening them sped up their internal processes. Harry reluctantly agreed to help his mother and left to roam the halls, bringing the children along with him. Riddick sat across from Logan and raised an eyebrow when the man offered him the bottle with a sarcastic 'From soon-to-be Grandpa to new Daddy' line. Taking the bottle from his hands, Riddick took a long swig before handing it back, still slightly hesitant about this newfound camaraderie.
Even now some fruit could be seen growing on the trees, still too small to be of any use yet, but they were there. Alex could only wonder what the fruit of this planet would look and taste like. The lower vines were bare of flowers and it was here that the edible leaves prevailed. Watching as the children picked a few leaves from each bunch that Harry indicated would be the best in taste, Alex pondered about the next eight months. Harry cut a bit from the vine edges and placed that in the basket as well, explaining that it would add some flavor when asked by his inquisitive children. They continued moving through the halls until in the unspecified room that still contained boxes, luggage, and the many things in the cargo hold that they had yet to find a use for, Harry pointed out some small, bumpy berry-type things clustered seemingly randomly amongst the vines. Wondering about the diversity of plant types within the ship, considering the small space, Alex made a mental note to ask about it. The bumpy little fruits were fleshy and a bright purple in color. Several of these were placed in the basket, beside the many leaves and few stems/roots. This continued on for some time before the group returned to the multipurpose room. Upon arriving, Harry was happy to see that there was no more liquor bottles in his father's or Riddick's possession. Setting the basket on the table between the two men, Alex and the children began to pull the various food stuffs out and sort them into categories. Meanwhile, Harry gathered the necessary supplies to prepare the food to be stored safely. As they were working, Alex broached the question regarding the diversity of the plant life.
"How are there so many different types of plants available to us? Even on one vine there are multiple food types available. Then there is the variety present within the garden, many of which I have never seen before. Do you mind explaining that to me, Harry?" Alex asked as he resorted a few stems that had been placed in the roots pile. Harry continued to arrange the various dishes that they had available to them on the counter before he began to explain the best he could.
"Although my power over plants is not the complete control that I have when creating animals, the plants still do their best to conform to my wishes. I knew when I was calling the plants, that we would need many types of food to sustain ourselves without repercussion. Therefore, a large variety of plants were made available in a small amount of space. As for the unknown plant types, I suppose these are the plants that would be native to this planet if those creatures had not decimated the food chain," Harry replied with a shrug. Moving to look over the sorted produce, Harry hummed in satisfaction before grabbing a handful of leaves and taking them to the counter. Alex, Logan, Riddick, and the children watched as he cleaned the leaves with a minimal amount of water before placing them in a small metal pan, one of the many metal cook wares that Shazza had rigged from the leftover scrap metal.
"Riddick could you get me some wood for the stove?" Harry asked, adding a "Please" later when he considered that it would be the polite thing. Riddick just grunted, before disappearing down the stairs. The fourth door in the living quarters, which was conveniently located close to the stairs, contained the wood, broken down from the boxes; this would be where miscellaneous things were stored. After all, the children would need somewhere to play when everything calmed down into a more day-to-day routine. With the wood, Harry started the stove burning and set the pan, which contained the leaves suspended in water, onto the grill-like top to boil. Alex watched his son in his domesticity in quiet contemplation. 'Will he be able to have this if we leave this planet?'
While Harry prepared and stored the produce, the children played with their toys on the floor nearby. The others took up their own tasks, in hopes to have the environment more stable before Harry became too heavily pregnant. Logan and Riddick began moving the things to either the storage room or the suites that they belonged in, while Alex perfected the irrigation in the garden. As they were moving things, Logan and Riddick were confronted with the musky smell of sex. The groans/moans, while soft, were easily heard by their enhanced hearing. It was uncomfortable to say the least, but they continued their task. A while later Zeke and Shazza left their room, only to encounter Riddick and Logan carrying things into the extra room. However, the moment was interrupted by the terrified cries of one of the children. Without a moment's hesitation, the object in their hands was discarded and both men were racing to the stairway. The couple followed at a slower pace, but arrived to see Harry vomiting violently into a battered clay pot. Riddick was holding back his hair, while Alex rubbed soothing circles on his back. Shazza went to comfort the children, who she could see feared for their mama's health. Zeke stood beside Logan, who watched on with a grimace. This arrangement went on for quite some time, well after Harry began to dry heave. Finally, the fiasco ended. Harry was carried by Riddick down to their suite so as to lay down for some rest, while the children stayed with their grandparents. Sitting down around the table, Shazza began to ask the questions she so needed to know.
"So, was that just a normal pregnancy symptom or is he ill?" Shazza asked in concern as the vomiting seemed excessive compared to what she has seen women experience. She was not expecting the humorless laugh from Logan or the heavy sigh from Alex.
"For males, the normal pregnancy symptoms are three-fold worse than for females. That is why we are trying to get everything organized the way that Harry wants it, so there will be no added stress for Harry. Oh, there is a shower system in each suite. It should be in the smallest room traveling down from the ceiling or wall," Alex said both to explain the vomiting and to inform them of the option. Considering the slight wrinkling of Logan's nose, the couple spent some time reacquainting themselves with each other. A smirk of amusement could be seen on Alex's lips when the couple turned bright red, excused themselves, and hurried down the stairs. It seemed the children had a few questions of their own as their eager faces appeared in Alex's line of sight.
"Is it true? Is it true?" they asked excitedly together.
"Is what true, little ones?" Alex said teasingly, knowing exactly what the two bouncing children wanted to know so much about. Logan raised an eyebrow at the children before rising from his chair to continue the task of moving the unneeded objects into the storage room.
Over the next couple weeks, all the little projects were completed and the refrigerator was well stocked with produce. Although Harry still experienced severe nausea, he still stubbornly did all the gardening and cooking, which was occurring more frequently. Currently, Harry was spicing some vegetables for a broth and cutting some fruit for a fruit salad. On the table was some hard bread that came in the rations packages on a clay platter. When Harry was cooking, no one was allowed in the kitchen. Therefore, everyone was doing their own thing. The laughter and excited chatter of the children could be heard from the next room and Harry knew that his mother was tending to the garden. Putting the fruit pieces in one of the bowls, Harry set it on the table beside the bread and moved over to the seasoned veggies. Picking up the veggies and placing it on a platter, he moved to drop it into the pot of boiling water that was already sitting on the stove. Riddick came up behind Harry as he finished dropping the veggies in the water and snaked a hand around his waist. Hugging him close, Riddick took a whiff of the cooking vegetables sighing at the delicious scent. Feeling Harry try to loosen his hold, Riddick released him, stood back, and watched Harry work. Movement from stew to countertop was fluid as if there was no trouble doing both tasks simultaneously. Soon, the pot was set next to the fruit salad and bread platter. Eating was interesting as everyone waited to see if Harry would feel nauseous enough to begin vomiting again. Apparently the tense atmosphere was not lost on Harry and he quickly became upset.
"What is your problem?" he asked in an angry hiss, glaring at everyone at the table except the children. Shazza squirmed in her seat at the glare, but the low chuckling from the side of the table caught her attention and became the focus of the glare. Not receiving an answer, Harry began to grumble under his breath a bit before returning to his meal. After finishing the meal, Alex set about cleaning the dishes. Everyone else discussed their current situation. Zeke and Shazza were hoping that a rescue team would come for them. On the other hand, Logan and Riddick were talking amicably about the few necessities still needed to survive on the planet. Harry had his sketchbook in front of him and seemed to be absorbed in his drawing. The subject of the drawing was anyone's guess. Jack and Ali had left the room to continue their play.
"What are you drawing?" Alex asked upon his return after finishing his task. Harry does not answer but moves his pad to make it more visible to the others. The beginning of a feline was sketched on the page, although the purpose was a mystery to some of them. Ignoring them in favor of the drawing, Harry seemed to not notice the conversation switched to him and his pregnancy.
"Do you think he even suspects that he is pregnant?" Zeke asked watching the oblivious young man switch pencils to better simulate the various mixed colors within fur.
"Doubt it; otherwise he would not even attempt using his powers at this time. At least not intentionally," Alex answered watching his son in concern. The others, except Logan, startled a bit at his answer. Riddick moved closer to Harry in hopes to prevent any injury from a collapse.
"You know what would be nice, some way to get meat," Zeke said in a wistful tone, both from actual want and to change the subject.
"I'm sure that Harry will create more animals for just that reason and others. Regardless of the instability of his powers during this time, he will see the necessity of having those animals around. Plus his body will need that sustenance as his pregnancy continues," Alex stated in a very technical manner.
"He would do better if we could get off this rock. Maybe we should have went with Carolyn," Shazza mused.
"You'd have been dead long ago if you went with that fraud. If the creatures didn't get you on the way to the skiff, the faulty power system would've given out killing you all," Logan said harshly, angry that the woman was questioning the plan that his son had come up with.
"Or Carolyn would have done you in herself, who knows whether Imam and his boys are still alive," Riddick added in.
"You don't know that! You could just be putting her down because she was friendly with Johns," Shazza defended, although she began to question her trust in the supposed captain. After all, the gruff men had not lied to her so far. Seeing the contemplative expression on her face, the men refrained from tearing into her any more. Any further conversation was derailed by the telltale glowing from Harry's sketchbook page. The moment the glowing subsided, Harry began to fall backwards. Riddick prepared for the possibility and having quick reflexes caught Harry well before he could have reached the floor. Scooping him into his arms he left down the stores no doubt to lay Harry down in their suite. Sitting on the table next to the sketchbook was a slender regular-looking cat. Its fur was a sandy brown in color except around its eyes where it was a dark brown color. Long, sharp looking claws adorned each paw and its slender tail ended in a small fluffy point. Stretching a bit, the unnamed cat jumped down from the table and left the room. Shazza and Zeke sat in surprise, although that was soon disrupted when a loud squeal was heard from the next room. A chuckle came from Logan before he too moved away from the table and left the room.
Harry was beginning to become suspicious of his father, mother, Riddick and their children. The children seemed more cautious and careful around him, which was odd because his vomiting alone would not cause such deliberate concern. Especially since they were not seemingly concerned with the strange symptoms he was experiencing. Riddick and his father seemed to be on alert whenever he went within a foot of his sketchbook much less opened it. His mother, well, his mother was acting pretty normal. It was more the amusement that Harry kept noticing in his gaze that set Harry on edge. This had been occurring for the last week, since he had drawn the cat in hopes to control the bird population. No more cats would be added until well after the eclipse ended, to prevent the decimation of the population. More often than not, Harry would hear murmurs of conversation that would be ended the moment he entered the room. Quite frankly it was beginning to annoy the hell out of him. Leaving his garden to find his mother or lover, Harry mumbled to himself about secret keeping jerks. Finding almost everyone in the kitchen, except the children and Riddick who were most likely in their suite spending time together, Harry stormed over to them.
"What exactly are you people hiding from me?" Harry demanded with his hands on his hips.
"We're not hiding anything Harry," Alex said, although he could not keep the amusement out of his voice.
"Bullshit, don't lie to me. I know something is going on that apparently everyone but me knows about, so what is it?" Harry snarled angrily. If anything the amusement in his mother's eyes increased and Zeke tried unsuccessfully to cover his laugh. Harry began to glare darkly, a look he learned from his father to encourage truthfulness.
"Don't try that with me, if you're father can't successfully cow me with his patented 'Don't fuck with me' glare than you have no chance to succeed. Perhaps our secret is something that you should know yourself, something that you should know about your own body," Alex said trying to push Harry into discovering the answer for himself. Harry paused at that answer and truly thought about what could be so important that he should know about it. His eyes widened as he began to stutter out what everyone already knew. They watched as Harry turned abruptly on his heel and stalked down the stairs. Walking into their suite, Harry saw Riddick standing in the middle of the main room. Moving over to him quickly, Harry slapped him hard.
"You got me pregnant and didn't tell me," Harry accused, but soon his anger melted into elatedness and he jumped into Riddick's arms exclaiming happily that they were going to have a baby. Up above Logan was chuckling at his son's mood swing and upon telling Alex what he heard, smiled along with Alex at the thought of Harry's happiness. The feeling of elatedness did not leave Harry for the next week, as he continued about his routine. However, as Alex expected, Harry realized that they need a few more things to have proper sustenance. Moving over to his sketchbook, Harry was sure to alert Riddick and his father of his plans so if he passed out he did not hurt his growing child. Sitting down at the table with Riddick standing not far, Harry began to draw an animal that would give them milk. As he drew, Harry did not notice the others come into the room to grab some food from the bowl setup on the table for just that purpose. Every now and then one of them looked at the strange creatures that were being revealed on the paper. Instead of the singular focus that Harry displayed previously when drawing, he remembered to stop to eat and such. He was nearly done when Harry decided to cook a meal for everyone, wanting his children to eat something substantial. After finishing the meal, Harry finished his drawing and quickly placed it inside the opened pen before backing away. The four animals left in the pen after the glowing settled down were interesting to say the least. All four were deep brown in color and had six stubby legs. A curved raised spine bone graced their backs and the largest two had similar curved extensions on their sides, much like wings. Two small horns graced their heads, although on the two smallest they looked more like bumps than distinctive horns. They were strange animals. Moving forward to take his sketchbook back and close the pen, Harry began to explain his latest creation.
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