Invid Lullaby

Chapter 10

Awakening
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Boom, boom... boom, boom... boom, boom...

It had grown used to the calming pattern throbbing within it. Lulled by a regular rhythm, its feeble brain had drifted into vestigial latency.

The child was safe now, within his parents' sheltering touch. Perhaps his guardian was always meant to disappear completely; to fade into nothingness once the baby reached maturity.

Yet, it would not be.

Disrupting its quietude, the egg felt gravity pulling it backwards; someone had snatched it from the crib. Then, came smothering pressure; its captor held on so very tightly. Violent up and down shaking followed, with each running stride taken. All sounds were muffled in the distance. All was still at last. The egg didn't know where it was or whom had taken it, them.

Inside his egg, the scared baby called for his mother, but she didn't answer. She couldn't. The tiny heart's pulses became frenetic, demanding its protector to awake. Boboom, boboom, boboom. Each cell in the cocoon responded by releasing minute energy bolts. The charges merged into a shock wave which engulfed the egg's inner layer and reached outwards.

Obeying its primal directive to protect, the guardian began to morph, to solidify.

_____

Scott's ill-fated shot triggered the lab's alarm and prompted security to the scene immediately. The poisonous compound dropped into the ventilation system was found, countered and its victims, treated.

Slowly, Marlene recovered consciousness. Slowly, maniac desperation struck her.

"I can't feel him! Where is he? My baby!"

No audible reply came, but on the worried faces around her, Marlene perceived more than she needed; dread rattled her. She tried to get up, but rapidly a nurse approached and held her down. The Invid fought and caught a glimpse of her son's shattered crib. She cried hysterically while her mind raced, seeking her baby out.

"Calm down, Miss. You must stop moving!" the nurse demanded while unnatural strength began to overcome her. The woman could have sworn Marlene was glowing. Two additional nurses had to join her efforts to hold the Invid down.

Where are you, sweetie? Her thoughts alone echoed inside her mind. Please tell me! There was no answer.

"My baby!" the Invid cried.

_____

The father woke up to screams. Dizzily, he sat up and looked at the scene. "She needs me now," he told a nurse, halting her attempt to stop him. Feeling compassion, she moved out of his way.

Marlene broke into tears when she saw him, giving up her fight with the nurses. The hands holding her down released her to Scott's embrace.

"I'm so sorry," he told her, hearing her pained sobs.

"It is not your fault."

"We'll find him and those who did this!" Bastards!

She buried her face in his chest vehemently. "I can't hear him anymore, Scott... Our baby could be..." She trembled.

"He could be what, Marlene?" He tensed.

"Dead." Warm streams and aching cries erupted anew.

"No. No..." The father shook his head; his sanity leaving him. "He's all right! He has to be!" No harm could have come to his son. "I'll find him! I promise, I will!"

Marlene continued shedding tears. Through them, Scott saw her eyes hardening; an alien hue descended upon her gentle irises. He tried to reach for her mind, to comfort her, but something had broken between them. The electrical tingle of their mental proximity had disappeared.

Sadness.

Could their baby have been binding them together, letting them share their deepest thoughts? Could he have been a bridge midway between Invid and human psyches?

The connection was gone, as was their child. Could he have really died?

Sorrow turned into anger.

_____

Santa Fe's population had grown, if slowly. A lean flow of arrivals strengthened the little town's roster each month. The tranquility of the ocean-laden ruins and its natural beauty took care of making most foreigners stay. Some came alone, some came with a family, some were friendly, some rather kept to themselves. All had something in common, though, they were survivors.

Lancer and Sera walked through the town's main street. More and more buildings were starting to be cleaned and fixed; some even were being transformed into small stores.

If humans had a remarkable quality, Sera thought it was their cunningness. They never ceased to want to rebuild their lives, no matter the magnitude of damage brought by intergalactic war.

Lancer had suggested they took the walk, thinking that some fresh air would help his wife relax. She had been jumpy ever since that night when she woke up screaming and told him something terrible had happened to Marlene. After that, things calmed a little, but he could see Sera was getting anxious again.

In fact, the Invid princess was nervous. At random times, she thought she'd heard Marlene calling her name, but it couldn't be. Her nerves and worries were playing tricks on her. She wouldn't tell Lancer, but she couldn't escape feeling something had gone wrong and the worst part was not being able to contact Marlene; she was too far. If only Scott would call them and appease their minds! She'd been trying to reach her sister and nephew daily and she'd try again as soon as she got back to Rook and Rand's home.

Santa Fe's charm had subdued her newly-wed friends. It was certain that they planned on staying and Rand mentioned that perhaps they would even start a family. Rook blushed but didn't voice any opposition. Sera and Lancer understood; they were falling victims of the town's peaceful surroundings as well. Maybe they could settle in too.

Anonymity, good friends, natural beauty everywhere they looked. What else could they want from a place to live? Sera's sight wandered. A park. She saw children jumping and laughing. Her imagination leaped across time. She pictured her and Lancer's child running, mingling with those young humans. Happily, peacefully, her little girl smiled.

Then, without warning, the Invid's legs stopped holding her; she saw the horizon tilting around her and the ground approaching fast. She would have hit it face-first if it wasn't for Lancer.

"Sera!" he let out after he caught her. "Are you all right?" Tears sparkled in her eyes. Marlene's desperate cry had reached her sister. Sera looked at her husband emptily, unable to articulate. He noticed that curious looks were starting to set upon them.

"Darling, I told you not to eat that," he lied aloud for everyone to hear, then he added quietly: "Is it Marlene?" Affirmative but choked sobs came out of her.

"Do you need any help there?" asked an old woman from a shop. Lancer looked at Sera, her eyes told him better not.

"No, thank you. We aren't far away from home." The woman nodded. Lancer gently helped Sera up.

When he was sure their conversation wouldn't fall into a stranger's ear, he insisted. "What happened to Marlene, Sera?"

"I... I'm not sure. She was screaming."

"Why?"

"It was so loud, I couldn't understand her. I got bits and pieces and terrible feelings, Lancer." The Invid princess looked deep into her husband's eyes. "She kept repeating: Dead! Killed! My baby!"

"The baby? Are you sure?"

She closed her eyes. "I don't know!"

"It can't be! Who would do such a despicable thing as killing an innocent baby?" Lancer tried to regain his cool and took a deep breath. "Lets try to calm down here. They are far away and... and there could be other explanations for this. Maybe the baby had to be isolated or perhaps he's just asleep..."

"But Marlene's cries..."

"We must find out more, before we worry like this, my love." He searched her eyes. "Right?" She nodded softly but doubtfully. They headed back to tell the others.

_____

Scott walked through busy hallways. A frown covered his forehead and his fists were clasped tight. What had he gotten his family into? They were supposed to be safe here and cared for by experts. Instead, mother and baby had been captives; she had been tortured at the hands of supposed friends -or their staff to be precise- and his baby; he had been cruelly snatched away from them.

Marlene's words echoed inside Scott head inclemently. Dead. Their son, killed! Once and again she had tried to contact him telepathically; each failure making the prospect of his death more certain.

Scott feared. Not only for his son, but for her as well. He had watched her driving herself to the limit. She was so weak and so alone. If only she could count on others like her to help, to pool with in her mental search.

He shouldn't have believed Lang when he told him they could handle things. He shouldn't have trusted. Now more than ever, he needed those he could really trust, his friends.

_____

"They did nothing to deserve this," said Lisa lowly. "It is just one bad thing after another."

"We are doing all we can," replied Rick.

"I know." She sighed with frustration and despair. "I just wonder how much more they must go through? How long until we find their baby's murdered body?"

"Don't give up hope, Lisa. Not yet," offered Rick placing his hands on her shoulders.

"It kills me that we don't have any concrete proof against Lrraon! It is so unfair, Rick." she added.

"If he's behind this, he'll pay!"

All of a sudden, a low synthetic beep called for Rick's and Lisa's attention. The Admiral's aide announced that Dr. Lang and the base's security chief had arrived.

The situation had gone from bad to worse with Marlene's baby's kidnapping. As the head of the RDF Council, Rick had summoned Admiral Hayes Hunter, Dr. Lang and the security chief into his office urgently. Gloomily, the humans heard the chief's report. He was apologetic when he told them that no positive signs of the missing Karbarran had surfaced. And to aggravate things, there wasn't any trace of the baby or his captors. They discovered one thing though, Moira Blune, a member of Lang's staff, had accessed the chemical storage room last and had disappeared since then.

Rick was irked. Does this base have a hidden black hole where all suspects just jump into?

He dismissed the chief, but not before demanding to get him answers. At this point, the Admiral had put himself on the line. He had signed an order allowing security to search for a suspected criminal within the base's diplomatic quarter. And nothing had turned up.

Ambassador Lrraon didn't waste this opportunity. He rallied resentful alien delegates to ask for Hunter's head.

If things weren't bad already, the baby's parents were understandably upset. The deal Lisa had brokered to protect them from xenophobic hatred hadn't earned them a much better chance on the satellite than the one they already had on earth. Their son was missing or worse; dead according to Marlene's words.

What now? Was the question on the minds of the three humans inside the room.

"How are Marlene and Scott holding up, Emil?" inquired Lisa. "Have you talked to them?"

"Not vell, understandably..." The doctor was about to elaborate, when Rick's aide called in.

"Yes, Phillip?" he answered.

"Admiral, Captain Bernard is here. He... insists on talking to you, sir." Rick took a moment to reply, he knew what was coming.

"Let him in."

"Yes, Sir."

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Posted on: 2005-03-02

• New Beginnings
• Investigation
• Intervention
• Freedom Lost
• Heaven and Hell
• Missing Pieces
• Panic
• Hit of Miss
• Night Watch
• Awakening
• Confrontation
• Revenge
• Council
• Unraveling
• Finality
• Epilogue