Nimisha's Ship
- Автор: Маккефри Энн
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «Nimisha's Ship». Краткое содержание книги:
When Nimisha takes an experimental ship on a solo test flight, something goes horribly awry, marooning her light-years from home on a planet as deadly as it is beautiful. Now the ruthless members of a rival branch of the Rondymense family are given the chance they've been waiting for: to reclaim the Ship Yards by any means necessary.
Only Nimisha's ingenious child, Cuiva, stands in their way. But for how long? For just when her daughter needs her most, Nimisha is in a precarious situation herself--and unable to help. But Nimisha has never given up in her life--and she's not about to start now . . .
A pain shot through her and she gasped.
"Uh-oh," Syrona said. "Doc…"
"Bring her over here."
Jon was beside her in an instant, helping Syrona lift her to her feet. He half-bent to pick her up, but she stopped him. "Walking's useful," she said, and then gasped as a second, far sharper pain caught. "Maybe not this time."
He grunted as he settled her in his arms and made a joke of groaning at her weight, depositing her quickly within the diagnostic unit as extendibles moved to preprogrammed positions.
Casper and Tim were herding the children out again, leaving Jon and Syrona to cope with the delivery.
"We've got this down to a fine arrrrrrt-" Nimisha's gasp cut off her attempt at humour and Syrona was pulling the voluminous smock up over the swollen abdomen even as the couch adjusted itself for the task ahead.
"This is going very fast, Nimi," Doc said. She felt the cool of the hypospray, and then a third unbelievably intense contraction was cut off.
"What happened?" she cried, alarmed.
"You won't feel a thing now," Doc assured her at his most persuasive.
She exhaled a relieved sigh and leaned back against the pillows now propping her into a more comfortable position. Jon took her left hand in his and, with the other, dabbed at her face with a cool cloth.
"Thanks, love."
She couldn't feel but she could see the action of the uterine muscles, and she adjusted her breathing accordingly. At Doc's urging, Syrona pushed down on Nimisha's abdomen and, with a startled cry, kept the emerging baby from a headfirst collision with the foot of the couch.
"A boy," Syrona said.
"But I can't have had one so soon," Nimisha exclaimed, noticing no appreciable diminution in the size of her belly.
"Take it, Jon," Doc said quickly.
"I'm having more twins?" Nimisha demanded, furious.
"No," Doc said calmly. "Triplets."
Nimisha was speechless, which was just as well, because both Jon and Syrona were too busy handling three babies and the afterbirths. Syrona, holding the first son, rushed to the open hatch and called Casper back.
"Doc?" Jon said in a tone of outrage that gratified Nimisha.
"Yes, yes, I knew, but as you also know, Nimisha didn't come near me during the first trimester. This is all your, or her, doing. Or maybe there's something in Erehwon's soil that is increasing human fertility. I don't know, but I swear upon my Hippocratic oath-"
"You're an AI, you never swore one," Nimisha roused enough to protest weakly
"Lord Naves did," Doc replied so caustically that Nimisha realised he had not tampered with this pregnancy, though how he could have, she couldn't guess. "I'm replacing your implant right now," he added.
"Saves me insisting," Jon said firmly.
Nimisha groaned. Holding the girl he had taken while Casper coped with the third, another boy, he strode to the head of the couch and kissed her tenderly.
"I don't mind having so many children from you, Nimisha Boynton, but I don't like you so distressed."
"She's perfectly healthy, Jon," Doc said. "I wish I knew what to look for to isolate the factor of so many multiple births in you two women. The good aspect is how far up this will raise you in the esteem of the Sh'im."
"There is that." Despite herself, Nimisha started to laugh almost uncontrollably and was immensely grateful for the analgesic that prevented her abdominal muscles from hurting at the abuse of laughter.
"No, she's not hysterical," Doc said when the others looked concerned. "At least she sees the funny side of this."
"I'm not sure I do," Jon said almost savagely.
The need to placate him sobered Nimisha and she pulled his face closer to her, stroking his cheek and then parting the wrapper of the child he held so she could see the face of her latest daughter.
"She looks like Cuiva did," she said, blurting it out, and then she was crying as uncontrollably as she had been laughing.
"I'll handle this one," was the last thing she heard Doc say as a friendly oblivion overtook her.
She woke in her own bed, Jon dozing in the chair, his head propped on one hand. She was sore, but at least she could see her toes again, and she breathed such a sigh of relief that Jon woke with a start.
"How are you?" he asked, dropping to his knees beside the bed, clasping her hand and then smoothing her hair back from her face.
"I feel a little sore, and a great deal foolish for that emotional show."
He smiled. "Shock is what I'd call it. Does the girl really resemble Cuiva?"
"As she was at birth," Nimisha said, trying not to let the sadness she felt colour her words. Then she looked around. "Where are the babies? Are they all right? I never even looked at them."
"They're fine, Uk, EIoo, and Lal are minding them in the spare cabin. They've been bathed, fed, and are sleeping."
"You look so tired, love," she said, fingering his silvering hair back over his right ear.
"I am," he admitted. "Doc did replace your implant. Five children are more than enough. More than enough."
"I haven't really minded, Jon, but having them one at a time in the normal fashion would have been much easier."
He gave a tired chuckle. She patted the other side of the bed, which he normally slept in. "If the babies are in Sh'im keeping, you need your sleep."
He slid in from the foot of the bed so he wouldn't rock her, but when he measured his length beside her, she snuggled against him, grasping his left hand in hers and pillowing her head on his upper arm. He was asleep almost as soon as she dropped off again.
CHAPTER 10
Nimisha did not join the welcoming committee when the Acclarke landed on the field. In the days since the news of their emergence and contact with the beacon, she had been slow to recover from the birth of the triplets. Neither Doc nor Jon had to appeal to her common sense to remain resting in the Fiver.
She was alerted by Helm when the Acclarke was on Insystem drive and he could initiate contact at her command. Which she did almost immediately, unable to wait until anyone else could join her, so eager was she to speak to those on the Acclarke.
"Lady Nimisha Boynton?" the astounded captain asked, staring at her with disbelieving eyes.
"Boynton, yes, indeed, Captain…?"
"Nesta Meterios," the other woman said quickly. "And most gratified to see you alive and so well."
Nimisha managed a brief smile. "Not half as pleased as we are to know you've survived that bloody wormhole." Then she had to ask. "By any remote chance, is my daughter, Cuiva, on board, Captain Meterios?"
"No, my lady," and Meterios sounded shocked at the very idea. "The Acclarke is a navy vessel. But I do have good news in that regard, Lady Nimisha. A pulse giving the location of your beacon was received four years ago, and the Five B, with Captain Caleb Rustin, your daughter and her companion, and six other handpicked crew set off by Interstellar Drive to rescue you."
"Oh, Cuiva," Nimisha sighed, her throat closing and her heart pounding at the very thought of seeing her daughter again.
"Lady Nimisha?" Captain Meterios asked anxiously. "Are you all right?"
"I am overjoyed to the point of being speechless, Captain. Have you any idea of their ETA?"
"They can't be but a few months away now, my lady. The Acclarke, however, is carrying mail packets that have accrued on board in case the wormhole opened. Which it obviously has, since that is how we got here. You are living on the Fiver? The planet is dangerous?"