Stepping Stones (20 page)

Jake squinted, catching a glimpse of the predator slipping through the grass.  “I’ve seen a couple o
f those around
lately,” he
said
.  “They look like a cross between a fox and a cat.”

Moments later the creature disappeared, showing itself again briefly as it crossed a clearing.

“What’s it doing?”

“Hunting, probably,” Jake answered with a shrug.  Then, dismissing the animal, “It’s beautiful here, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” Lara answered, surprised to find
that
she truly meant it.

“What’s it like where you come from?”

Lara considered carefully.  “It’s hard to explain in terms you
could
comprehend.”

“Try.”

“Well, i
t’s beautiful there, too,” she said, again catching sight of the fox.  “There’s life, so much life.  Not like here, but
. . . i
t’s beautiful there, too.”

Jake and Lara fell silent once more, continuing to track the fox as it crept through the fields.  As it neared the base of the mountain, a bird appeared, hovering in the currents above the valley floor.  It hung in
an
updraft a moment, then abruptly folded its wings and dived at the fox, pulling u
p at the last second.  Seeming
injured, it fluttered to the ground thirty meters from the
predator
.

The fox changed direction.  Before
it reached its prey, the downed bird rose
again
, only to fall once more near a stand of trees bordering the field.  “Is it hurt?” Lara asked as the bird
barely
escaped a second time.

“I don’t think so,” Jake answered.  “It looks as though it’s trying to draw the fox away.  Probably has a nest in that field somewhere.”

“But it’s risking its own life.”

“Animals
often
do that to protect their young.”  Jake placed
a
hand on Lara’s abdomen.  “Speaking of
which
, how’s it doing?”

“He,” Lara said.  “The child is male.”

“How do you—”  Jake shook his head.  “Never mind.  I should know better by now.  How soon will he come?”

“Soon,” Lara answered.  “I’ve accelerated his growth and made other changes as well.  He’ll be a ve
ry special human. 
At present he is fully formed and e
ager to see his new world.  He says he is
eager to meet you, too.”

“You
talk
with him?”

“Of course.  I want him to remember me after I’m gone.”

Jake regarded
her
carefully.  “Gone?  What do you mean?”

“You know
that
my people are looking for me. 
When they arrive, I must depart
.”

“But . . .
do you really have to leave?  Can’t you—”

“No,” Lara interr
upted, taking Jake’s hand
.  “I’m a soldier, bound by duty to return.”

“But . . .”

“I’m sorry, Jake.
  It’s out of my control.
”

Jake nodded.  “I guess I knew
you would
have to leave sometime.  I just . . .”  His voice trailed off.

“I will
miss you,” said Lara, surprised
by
the depth of her feeling.

“I’ll miss you, too.”

“No matter what happens, I won’t leave until the c
hild is born,” Lara promised, a sudden
emptiness welling within.

Again Jake nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

“Another transport vessel will arrive and you
can
leave with your son, if that is your wish,” Lara continued.  “You and
your
child can return to Earth.  You don’t have to be alone.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”  Jake entwined his fingers in Lara’s, then forced a smile.  “There’s nothing for me on Earth anymore.  I belong here.  Besides, the next transport won’t even be sent until the
Patriot
confirms the placement of our colony.  Assuming they dispatch another vessel
immediately, it will
be years before it arrives.”

“Years?  But the trip only took twenty-two days.”

“Twenty-two days—
ship’s time.
  While we were in transit, over eighteen
years
passed on Earth.  You know the relativistic effect that warp travel has on time.”

“No,” Lara replied, shaken by Jake’s words.  “I didn’t.”

Late
r
that night, Lara lay awake long after Jake had fallen asleep.  She could hear him breathing softly beside her.  Outside the wind had
picked up, and the sound of it rushing
through the trees reached her before she felt it buffet their dome.  Repeatedly, her thoughts returned to Jake’s revelation on the hillside. 
Including the time they had spent in transit
, over
eighteen
years had passed since
she
entered this
continuum
.  True, the arrow of time moved more swiftly here than on her home plane, but
eighteen
years
?  Why hadn’t she been contacted?  And where was the enemy?  Had her failure to complete her mission resulted in some disastrous outcome for her race?

She could wait no longer.  Regardless of the risk, she had to know.

Tentatively, she opened her mind and examined the swirl of stars
that surrounded
her, instantaneously traversing the boundaries of spac
e and time.  She found nothing.

Could the Dark Ones have abandoned their search?

Hoping against hope, she
next
turned her attention to
a
neighboring galaxy known to the humans as Andromeda.  She recoiled from what she
discovered.  Inexplicably, h
undreds of stars had been reduced to glow
ing shells of incandescent gas.  Only
shattered remnants
marked
their previous existence.  One by one, she visited other galaxies in the local cluster.  Some were as yet untouched, but
many
had suffered the same catastrophic
fate
as Andromeda.  As she watched, a sun in a nearby elliptical galaxy blossomed, incinerating its attendant planets in a cataclysmic
explosion
of light.

At last Lara understood. 
Appalled,
she
pulled in the tendrils of her mind. 
She had
counted over three hundred supernovae in Andromeda alone, and
many more in other galaxies.  Normally, s
tellar explosions occurred only rarely
, coming at the end of a star’s life
. 
These explosions hadn’t happened naturally.  With a feeling of profound horror and regret and shame
, she realized
they were because of her.

Despite her fear of being discovered, Lara again opened her mind and called for help.

Minutes later she shook Jake.  “Wake up!”

“What’s the matter?” Jake
mumbled
groggily.  Then, suddenly alert, “The baby?  Is it time?”

“That’s not it.  Look at me.  There’s something I must show you.”

Puzzled, Jake peered into
the widening pools of
Lara’s eyes.  As before, he saw into her mind, this time gazing upon the unthinkable destruction that had taken place in galaxies millions of light years distant.  “
All those stars exploding . . .
What’s going on?” he asked shakily.

“I told you the Dark Ones
were
hunting me,” Lara answered.  “Each of the shattered sun
s you see once supported a planetary system
that was home to
intelligent life.  Instead of
searching among those life
forms for me, they simply exploded
the primary star
, incinerating everything in the
system
.”

“But why?”

“To
winnow me out.  U
pon destr
oying all organic life near the star
,
I would
be the only one left.”

“But causing a star to explode.  How is that possible?”

Lara shrugged.  “It’s a simple matter to enter a sun and disrupt the
delicate
balance between its gravitational contraction and the radiation pressure from its core.”

“Enter a star?  You can do that?”

“N
ot while confined to this body.  But yes,
I can do that.  As can they.”

Jake passed his hand over his face, stunned by Lara’s words.  Entire races annihilated,
solar systems destroyed . . .
because of her.

“There’s more,” Lara continued somberly.  “I
just
contacted my headquarters.  They’re not coming for me.  It seems
the information
I’m carrying
is false.  F
rom the
very
first
, I
was intended to fall into enemy hands.  I was meant to be a sacrifice.”

“You’re not going through with it, are you?” Jake
demanded
angrily.

Lara glanced away.
  “No.  I won’t give my life, n
ot for them.  But now that I’ve revealed myself, the Dark Ones will soon arrive.  I can escape, but I must leave immediately.”

“Lara—”

“There is
no time for discussion,” Lara interrupted.  “I need your help.  When I vacate this body
,
it will cease to function.  You must take the child now.”  She walked to
their
dome’s medical cabinet,
searched
through the first-aid canister, and returned with a scalpel.  “Cut him out,” she said, extending the knife to Jake.

Realizing what she was asking, Jake
shook his head.  “Lara, I can’t—
”

“Y
ou have to.  I know what to do. 
I need your hands to do it.”

Jake backed
away
.  “I’ll . . . I’ll get the doctor,” he stammered.

“There is
no time. 
My enemies will be here in minutes. 
It must be done now.”

Once more Jake look
ed into Lara’s eyes a
nd knew
, beyond a doubt, that
she was
telling the truth
.  He tried to find another way
,
but couldn’t.  As if in a dream, he watched as she lay on the bed.  Then the knife was in his hand and
Lara
was in his mind, and he knew what
he had
to do.

Fighting to control his trembling, Jake opened Lara’s bedclothes and made the first incision, drawing the scalpel down the midline of her abdomen.  Like paint from a brush, a bright trail of red welled up behind the blade.  Again he cut, and again, dissecting through layers of
skin
and muscle and fascia.  Through Lara’s mindlink he could feel a
shadow
of the pain she was enduring.  Afraid to look
at
her face, he
focused
his attention on the task before him.

S
weat beading his brow, Jake made
a
final incision through the tough muscular wall of the uterus, cutting wh
ere Lara instructed.  C
lear fluid
suddenly washed the wound.  He
could see the infant, tangled in the umbilical cord.  With shaking hands,
he
reached into the
glistening membranes.  C
arefully, he withdrew the child and brought it into the world.

A perfect baby!  A boy!

Seconds later the stillness was broken by the sound of the infant’s cry.

After tying and cutting the cord,
Jake
knelt beside the bed.  By then the child had stopped c
rying, and h
is pale blue eyes were open and alert.  “May I hold him?” Lara whispered.

Overcome with emotion,
Jake
placed the baby in Lara’s arms. “What do you want to call him?”
he asked softly
.

Lara looked up.  “If you agree,” she answered, “
I would
like to name him Adam.”