The Jesus Incident

Hali could not repress a gasp.

Waela whirled and glared at her.

Hali realized suddenly that now she was a target.

"Waela, I swear to you that I don't know what he's talking about. I'm here to protect you and your baby, not to hurt you."

Waela gave a curt nod, returned her attention to Ferry.

Andrit groaned and pushed himself upright. Waela bent and, with one hand, hoisted him to his feet. In the same motion, she hurled him toward the couch where he narrowly missed Brulagi and Usija. The effortless way Waela did this made Hali hold her breath, then exhale slowly. Very dangerous, indeed.

"Tell us the circumstances where Ship refers you to Hali Ekel," Waela said. Her voice was like a bubbling volcano.

Andrit leaned forward abruptly and vomited, but no one looked.

"When we asked if it was the child causing this or if it was you," Ferry said.

Hali gasped, her vision suddenly blurred by memory of a dusty hillside, the setting of a blazing yellow sun, and three figures tortured on crosses. What kind of a child was Waela carrying?

Waela spoke without turning. "Hali, does that mean anything to you?"

"How was your child conceived?" Hali asked.

Waela turned a startled look toward her. "Kerro an.... . for Ship's sake, you know how babies are made! Do you think we carry axolotl tanks on those subs?"

Hali looked at the deck. The legend said immaculate conception - no man involved. A go.... But it was only a legend, a myth. Why would Ship refer the questioners to her? Many times since that trip through time, Hali had asked herself why? What was I supposed to learn? Ship spoke of holy violence. The accounts concerning the Hill of Skulls which she had sca

Waela continued to stare at her. "Well, Hali?"

"Perhaps your child is not confined to this time." She shrugged. "I can't explain, but that's what occurs to me."

Apparently, this satisfied Waela. She glanced at Andrit, who was holding his head and remaining quiet. She turned back to Ferry.

"What is it about my baby? What're you afraid of?"

"Murdoch?" It was a desperate plea from Ferry. Murdoch crossed his arms and said, "We got the reports from Ferry an...."

"What reports?"

Murdoch swallowed, nodded at the holoprojection with its spiral of red dots.

"What were you supposed to do to me?" Waela asked.

"Nothing. I swear it. Nothing."

He's terrified, Hali thought. Has he seen this feral threatened-mother phenomenon before?

"Questions?" Waela asked.

"Oh, yes, of course - questions."

"Ask them."

"Well, I wa.... I mean, I discussed this with the Natali and, we, that is, Oakes, wanted me to ask if you would return ground-side to have your baby?"

"Violate our rules of WorShip?" Waela looked at Usija.

"You do not have to go groundside," Usija said. "We merely agreed that he could ask."

Waela returned her attention to Murdoch. "Why groundside? What did you hope to do there?"

"We have stockpiled a large supply of burst," Murdoch said. "It's my belief you will need every ounce of it you can get."

"Why?"

"Your baby is growing at an accelerated rate. The physical requirements for the cellular growth ar.... very large."

"But what about the sick children?" She turned toward Andrit. "What have they told you!"

He lifted his head, glared at her. "That you're responsible! That they've seen this before groundside."

"Do you want me to go groundside?"

They could see him battling with his WorShip conditioning. He swallowed hard, then: "I just want it to go away, whatever's making my son sick."

"How do they explain my responsibility for this?"

"They say it'.... . psychic drain, often observed but never explained. Perhaps Shi...." He was incapable of repeating outright blasphemy.

They chose a poor tool to attack me, Waela thought.

The pattern of the plot was clear now: Andrit was to demonstrate potential violence in shipside opposition to her. She would be forced to go groundside "for your own good, my dear." They wanted her down there badly.

Why? How am I dangerous to them?

"Hali, have you ever heard of this phenomenon?"

"No, but I would agree that the evidence points at you or your baby. You don't need burst, though."

"Why?" Murdoch demanded.

"Ship is feeding her from the shiptits."

Murdoch glared at her, then: "How long have you Natali known that this baby was growing too rapidly?"

"How do you know it?" Usija countered.

"It's part of this phenomenon - rapid growth, abnormal demand for energy."

"We've known since our first examinations of her," Hali said.

"You kept it under wraps and proceeded with caution," Murdoch said. "Precisely what we did groundside."

"Why would you want to feed me on burst?" Waela asked.

"If the fetus gets enough energy from burst, the psychic drain does not take place."

"You're lying," Waela said.

"What!"

"You're as transparent as a piece of plaz," Waela said. "Burst ca

Usija cleared her throat. "Tell us, Murdoch, about your experience with this phenomenon."

"We were doing some DNA work with kelp samples. We found thi.... this survival characteristic. The organism absorbs energy from the nearest available source," Murdoch said.

"The mother's the nearest available source," Hali said.

"The mother's the host and immune. The organism takes from other organisms around it which are, ahhh, similar to the hungry one."

"I'm not aging," Hali said. "And I'm around her more than anyone."

"It does that," Murdoch said. "It takes from some people and not from others."

"Why from children?" Hali asked.

"Because they're defenseless!" That was Andrit, fearful but still angry.

Waela felt energy charging every muscle in her body. "I'm not going groundside."

Andrit started to get to his feet, but Usija restrained him. "What are you going to do?" Usija asked.

"I'll move out to the Rim beyond one of the agraria. We'll keep people, especially children, away from me while Hali studies this condition." She looked at Hali, who nodded.

Murdoch did not want to accept this. "It would be far better if you came groundside where we've had experience wit...."

"Would you try to force me?"

"No, oh no."

"Perhaps if you sent us a supply of burst," Usija said.

"We would not be able to justify shipment of such a precious food at this time," Murdoch said.

"Tell us what you know about the phenomenon," Hali said. "Can we develop an immunity? Does it recur or is it chronic? Doe.... ?"

"This is the first time we've seen it outside a lab. We know that Waela TaoLini conceived outside the breeding program and outside Colony's protective barriers, bu...."

"Why don't I get answers from Colony?" Ferry asked. He had been sliding his chair slowly to one side while Murdoch spoke, and now he looked up at the man.

"That has nothing to do wit...."

"You speak of not shipping burst at this time" Ferry said. "What is special about this time?"

Waela heard desperation in the old man's voice. What is Ferry doing? Something deep in him was driving these questions out.

"Your questions do not relate to this problem," Murdoch said, and Waela heard death in his voice.

Ferry heard it, too, because he fell into abashed silence.

"What do you mean about the conception being outside of Colony's barriers?" Usija asked. It was the scientist's voice gnawing at an interesting question.

Murdoch appeared thankful for the interruption. "They were floating i.... . in a kind of plaz bubble. It was in the sea, completely surrounded by the kelp. We don't know all of the details, but some of our people have suggested that Waela and her child may no longer be humantype."