Aces Abroad

He took her hand gently. "We'd better get you to Dr. Tachyon."

On the way back to the Winter Palace Hotel, McCoy put his arm around her and drew her to him. "Everything is going to be okay," he soothed. "You're probably just tired."

"What if it isn't that? What if something is really wrong with me? What," she asked in a horror-striken whisper, "if I'll never fly again?" She buried her face against McCoy's shoulder as the others looked on in mute sympathy. Her tears soaked through his shirt as he stroked her long brown hair. "Everything will be all right, Peri. I promise."

"Hmmm, I should have expected that," Tachyon said as Peregrine tearfully told him her story.

"What do you mean?" asked McCoy. "What's wrong with her?"

Tachyon eyed josh McCoy coldly. "It's rather private. Between a woman and her physician. So…"

"Anything that concerns Peri concerns me."

"It's that way, is it?" Tachyon looked at McCoy hostilely. "It's all right, josh," said Peregrine. She hugged him. "If that's the way you want it." McCoy turned to go. "I'll wait for you in the bar."

Tachyon closed the door behind him. "Now, sit down and wipe your eyes. It's nothing serious, really. You're losing your feathers because of hormonal changes. Your mind has recognized your condition and has blocked your power as a means of protection."

"Condition? Protection? What's wrong with me?" Peregrine perched on the edge of the sofa. Tachyon sat next to her and took her cold hands in his.

"It's nothing that won't be cleared up in a few months."

His lilac eyes looked straight into her blue ones. "You're pregnant."

"What!" Peregrine sank back against the sofa cushions. "That's impossible! How can I be pregnant? I've been on the pill forever!" She sat up again. "What will NBC say? I wonder if this is covered in my contract?"

"I suggest you stop taking the pill and all other drugs, including alcohol. After all, you want a happy, healthy baby."

"Tachy, this is ridiculous! I can't be pregnant! Are you sure?"

"Quite. And judging from your symptoms, I'd say you were about four months along." He nodded at the door. "How will your lover feel about being a father?"

"Josh isn't the father. We've only been together for a couple of weeks." Her mouth dropped open. "Oh, my God!"

"What is it?" Tachyon asked, concern in his voice and on his face.

She got off the sofa and began walking around the room, her wings fluttering absently. "Doctor, what would happen to the baby if both parents carried the wild card? Joker mother, ace father, that sort of thing?" She stopped by the marble mantel and fiddled with the dusty knickknacks set on it. "Why?" Tachyon asked suspiciously. "If McCoy isn't the father, who is? An ace?"

"Yeah."

"Who?"

She sighed and put aside the figurine she was playing with. " I don't think it really matters. I'll never see him again. It was just one night." She smiled in recollection. "What a night!"

Tachyon suddenly remembered the di

"I ca

Right, she thought. Another notch on your bedpost. But then maybe I was just that for Fortunato too.

"Let's face it, Doctor," Peregrine said flippantly, angered by his self-centeredness. "He's the only man I've ever screwed that made me glow. It was absolutely incredible." She smiled inside at the furious look on Tachyon's face. "But that's not important now. What about the baby?"

A multitude of thoughts dashed through her mind. I'll have to redo my apartment, she thought. I hope they've fixed the roof. A baby can't live in a house without a roof. Maybe I should move upstate. That would probably be better for a child. She smiled to herself. A big house with a large lawn, trees, and a garden. And dogs. I never thought about having a baby. Will I be a good mother? This is a good time to find out. I'm thirty-two and the old biological clock is ticking away.

But how did it happen? The pill had always worked before. Fortunato's powers, she realized, are based on his potent sexuality. Perhaps they somehow circumvented the contraceptives. Fortunato… and josh! How would he react to the news? What would he think?

Tachyon's voice broke into her reverie. "Have you heard a word I've said?" he demanded.

Peregrine blushed. "I'm sorry. I was thinking about being a mother."

He groaned. "Peri, it's not that simple," he said gently. "Why not?"

"Both you and that man have the wild card. Therefore the child will have a ninety percent chance of dying before or at birth. A nine percent chance of being a joker, and one percent, one percent," he emphasized, "of being an ace." He drank more brandy. "The odds are terrible, terrible. The child has no chance. None at all."

Peregrine began pacing back and forth. "Is there something you can do, some sort of test, that can tell if the baby is all right now?"

"Well, yes, I can do an ultrasound: It's abysmally primitive, but it'll tell if the child is developing normally or not. If the baby is not, I suggest-no, I urge you, very strongly, to have an abortion. There are already enough jokers in this world," he said bitterly.

"And if the baby is normal?"

Tachyon -sighed. "The virus often doesn't express itself until birth. If the child survives the birth trauma without the virus manifesting, then you wait. Wait and wonder what will happen, and when it will happen. Peregrine, if you allow the child to be born, you will spend your whole life in agony, worrying and trying to protect it from everything. Consider the stresses of childhood and adolescence, any one of which might trigger the virus. Is that fair to you? To your child? To the man waiting for you downstairs? Providing," Tachyon added coldly, "he still wants to be a part of your life when he learns of this."

"I'll have to take my chances with josh," she said swiftly, coming again to the thought that dominated her mind. "Can you do the ultrasound soon?"

"I'll see if I can make arrangements at the hospital. If we can't do it in Luxor, then you'll have to wait until we get back to Cairo. If the child is abnormal, you must consider an abortion. Actually you should have an abortion, regardless." She stared at him. "Destroy what may be a healthy human being? It might be like me," she argued. "Or Fortunato."

"Peri, you don't know how good the virus was to you. You've parlayed your wings into fame and financial success. You are one of the fortunate few."

"Of course I am. I mean, I'm pretty, but nothing special. Pretty girls are a dime a dozen. Actually I have you to thank for my success."

"This is the first time anyone has thanked me for helping to destroy the lives of millions of people," Tachyon said grimly.

"You tried to stop it," she said reassuringly. "It's not your fault Jetboy screwed up."

"Peri, Tachyon said grimly, changing the subject as if the failures of the past were too painful to dwell upon, "if you don't terminate the pregnancy, you'll be showing very shortly.

"You'd better start thinking about what you're going to tell people."

"Why, the truth of course. That I'm going to have a baby."

"What if they ask about the father?"

"That's nobody's business but mine!"

"And, I would submit," Tachyon said, "McCoy's."

"I guess you're right. But the world doesn't have to know about Fortunato. Please don't tell anyone. I'd hate for him to read it in the papers. I'd rather tell him myself." If I ever see him again, she added silently. "Please?"