Summary: Shmi tries to hide her mysterious pregnancy from her masters.
Disclaimer: This story is a possible interpretation of the events in
the life of a Star Wars' character. It does not intend to infringe on Lucas
Ltd.'s rights and no profit is being made from it.
Another starship, on her way to another alien world, how many had she
been on in the outer rim? But this time was different, she had a little
one hidden deep inside of her. She'd give anything to be able to shout
to the world about her miracle, but that would be stupid and Shmi wasn't
stupid.
Shmi placed a hand over the small bulge in her belly. So far she'd been
able to hide it with loose fitting clothes. She knew her master and he
would see a baby as a cash commodity, not a miracle. And her Mistress would
just hate the fact Shmi cared about anything. Besides, her master would
want an explanation and there wasn't one. This baby had grown inside of
her without aid of a male, he had no father. This baby's mother was still
very much a virgin. She couldn't risk falling in love or having friends,
those type of things were to easily snatched from a slave. But her baby
was different, it needed her. It wasn't a matter of choice, they would
never take her baby the way they had snatched her from her parents. She
couldn't even remember if Shmi was her birth name or something her enslavers
had given her.
The red light went on her bracelet. That meant come to Smolock's Aid
ASP, Smolock was her master's wife, Shmi's mistress. Their was a guest,
she knew that. Smolock loved to show off her human slave to her friends.
Their was a certain power that went with controlling a sentient being,
a being that could love, hate, and judge you. Shmi climbed out of her bed
and rearranged her clothes to camouflage the growing bulge. Then she went
to fetch the "mistresses" tea. She would be glad when she arrived on Malastare
for these Podracing things. It was the first time she would see one and,
who knows, maybe she would enjoy it.
Shmi could tell Smolock was angry she had taken so long, her feeler
was twitching in annoyance. Shmi gracefully entered the room carrying the
tea and sugar. Smolocks company, a basic speaking Toydarian, was hovering
just above the chair he should have been sitting in.
Smolock was an insectiod type alien with long feelers on her head and
protruding mouth. Her language was an odd type of twitter. It had taken
months of protocol droid translation for Shmi to figure out the basic patterns
of her mistresses language. Smolock understood basic quite well, she just
couldn't speak it. To aid their communication, Shmi wore a bracelet that
flashed different colors for general commands when Smolock wanted her.
She half hoped she would be sold to this more verbally versatile creature
so the language barrier would die. But it wouldn't happen, she was the
property of Smolock's husband, not Smolock. However, she had been assigned
as a personal servant to Smolock.
She supposed Smolock's guest was a racer, or sponsored one. That's the
only guest that seemed to be around these days.
"Wilde will be be winning this race methinks," the Toydarian said.
"[Watto you have a knack for picking talented racers]," Smolock replied
in her harsh language. "[Unfortunately, their talents often making them
more interested in saving their vehicles than winning the race.]"
"What are you saying?" Watto asked.
"[Your racers love the rush, the skill required to pilot the machine
successfully. They care little for winning. Now Spectros, he will win at
all cost.]"
"We will see," Watto replied. "Nice heathly slave you got there."
"[Yes, she is.]"
"And your profit will soon be going up, she is pregnant."
"[What!!!]" Smolock replied, eyes blazing.
Shmi froze. She could be beaten and lose her baby. No, her husband was
a cruel boss, but having one slave mature into two meant more worth, not
less. She hated thinking of herself this way, she wasn't cattle. But thinking
it was necessary for her survival, she had to weigh how important she was
to her masters.
"How did you know?" Shmi asked the Toydarian. She was speaking out of
turn and without being spoken to, but she had to know.
"I've been around humans a long time, long enough to know there habits.
You are not as big as your clothes make you, your hiding the bulge."
Smolock got up and smacked Shmi. She ripped off Shmi's shirt. The small
bulge was very visible when there was nothing but skin.
"[When?]" the insectoid Alien demanded.
"I don't know," Shmi replied, "I have never been touched."
"[Liar]," Smolock said smacking the girl again. She fell to the ground.
"Hold on," Watto said floating between the slave and mistress. "Your
hurting valuable property. So what if she's lying, you just turned one
slave into two."
Watto may have saw her as property, but Smolock's vanity was at stake.
A baby would mean Shmi splitting her attention, loving someone, removing
the solitude and servitude from her slave. There was no one vainer than
her mistress. Better she sold her to Watto now, it would solve a lot of
her immediate problems. Watto looked like he knew a good deal.
"How much for the lot," Wattos asked.
"[They're not for sale,]" Smolock said grabbing the slave and shoving
her into the bedroom. The door locked behind Shmi, there was no sound in
the room. She could now focus on her child.
She heard the buzzing outside her door. To unfamiliar ears it would
have sounded like bunched up twitters. But she knew Mislosh, her master,
was here and he was angry. He'd been with their racer all day, but it seemed
he'd heard from Watto about his growing slave collection and been offered
a deal. He also heard how his wife had almost destroyed his property. After
the argument with Smolock (in which her mistress received a few hits) Smolock
brought Shmi some food, told her she would see a doctor in a day when they
arrived on Malastare.
************
Malastare was an odd world, it's spaceport was buzzing with all types
of species. It was hard to tell if Malastare was home to any of them. Another
slave had been assigned to her former mistress. Mislosh was a wealthy man,
he had carried 4 of his many slaves with him on this trip. He had simply
put Paco, a young boy, in charge of his wife and put Shmi in his own service.
It occurred to her, during the trip here, that finding out the baby
had mysteriously appeared in her womb, finding out she was a virgin, would
lead one of two theories, Miracle or Curse. There was only one solution,
find a human male or the equivalent to end her virgin status. But when
would she have time? And more importantly, could she go through with it?
They had entered the pod racer hanger now. The pilots of these vehicles
were odd little things. Most of them were multi-limbed with a flexibility
that boggled the mind. There were a few with the basic two arms two legs
structure, but this was rare. There were no human racers. In fact, there
weren't many humans to be found.
"[We will now go get you examined,]" Mislosh said guiding her out of
the hanger bay. He had left his other slaves to assist his racer.
Mislosh had a speeder waiting. It already carried his wife and her new
servant. Shmi couldn't resist a smirk, by simply procreating she had come
under her master's protection. She was now valuable, two for the price
of one. But it would only last as long as she and her baby were one. When
he was born, he could be taken away or sold away.
They landed on the outskirts of the city and walked to the tall medical
building. Smolock headed into the city's marketplace with her servant while
Mislosh took her in the Medical facility. Her fingers twisted nervously
all the way in.
********
The medical assistant was an odd being with a short muzzle and long
sharp teeth. No matter where she went, the creatures seemed to be from
all over the universe. She couldn't tell if any of them called Malastare
home originally. Mislosh examined the chart shaking his big insectoid head.
"[It's impossible. Humans can't reproduce on their own.]" Mishlosh stared
at Shmi, standing humbly with her head bowed.
"There are other ways to impregnate a human," the medical assistant
said. "But it would have been next to impossible to do so without you or
your wife having knowledge of it."
"[Is it impossible that a mistake was made,]"
"There are no mistakes," the medical assistant defended, glaring at
him.
"[So you say, but after the race I will be coming back for a second
opinion.]"
Mislosh stomped out. Shmi followed holding her belly. She wasn't paying
attention, her mind was reeling. What would he do once the pregnancy was
confirmed as unaided. It was while she was shuffling these thoughts that
she walked into the blind man. She said sorry right away. Mislosh helped
the man up and scolded her for her carelessness. Then the man looked at
her, which was impossible because he was visibly blind. But still it seemed
he saw something.
"The cursed mother," the man yelled. "She who will bring on our destruction.
She must be destroyed." The man ran out the room yelling. This being a
medical facility, all dismissed him as disturbed and went on there way.
Except that Medical Assistant, he stared at her. She pretended to ignore
him and ran out the door behind her master.
She had been left in her room after they returned from the podracing
hanger. She enjoyed the silent time with her baby. A boy, she had been
told. What would she name her son? She closed her eyes and and tried to
think of a family name. "Lisander," it popped into her head like a whisper.
Who was he, her father, no someone else. Luke, Jake, Hayden, David, James,
they were some of the more exotic names she knew. Forget it, there was
no family past to link to, no home world to link to, only the stars. And
a final haunting memory of being snatched away from her mother's arms.
Her arms, the picture flashed in her mind of a woman holding her as tight
as possible and being hit over the head. That was when she had screamed
"Mommy."
Mishlosh didn't know she'd heard him negotiating in the next room. He
probably felt it would be more profitable to sell her now than to wait
for her demon spawn to be born. Okay, he hadn't used those words, but he
the incident at the doctors had freaked him out. Now he had three guest,
Watto, an alien from Ovin IV, and a Space Pirate. They'd all inspected
her like a piece of meat and now all she wanted was a bath, but none was
forthcoming. She was in no condition to be sold to a space pirate, Watto
seemed decent enough, the Ovin IV alien spoke excellent basic and seemed
very educated. Why he was involved with such disreputable types, even wealthy
ones, was beyond her. Except that he enjoyed the dangerous sport of Podracing.
She had come to understand that more than half the racers usually lost
their life before the bloody sport was over. It didn't surprise her. The
machine paid for being fast by being very delicate. She didn't even know
if she wanted to attend the race tonight.
She heard the bid go up on her across the room. The Ovin IV alien who
had seemed less interested than Watto and the Space pirate, had suddenly
out bid them both. Her fate was rapidly switching hands and players. She
couldn't stand to think about it so she went to sleep.
In the morning, they'd headed back to the stadium. She wasn't thrilled
about seeing the race anymore and now she was sorry she slept through the
negotiations for her destiny. Then she smiled, she knew her destiny, to
be a mother. if she closed her eyes she could see the little pink face
of her son. She couldn't run, because the transmitter in her body would
destroy her and her baby.
She sat beside her master in his private box as the racers took off.
She somehow felt connected to these powerful machines, to the little lives
inside of them. She flinched as racer after racer went down, but she couldn't
close her eyes. A lump was rising in her throat, what would she do if they
ever tried to take her from her son?
"Mommy," she heard her young voice yell again.
Her master's racer did not win the race. In fact, his racer didn't walk
away from this one. But instead of morning the loss of a living being,
Mislosh complained about the loss of money and property. Her son would
never have such a horrible disregard for life. The Ovin IV alien walked
up to Mislosh as soon as they reached the floor below the stands. Mislosh
grumbled and pushed Shmi toward the alien. Was she part of the bet? The
alien smiled a crooked smile and took her away. She suddenly felt the kick
of her little son. Her ownership had changed hands again, but this time
she wasn't alone, her son was with her.
"Mommy," She heard her youngerself scream in the night. The memory
wasn't clear, she remembered the smoke, the explosions. Space pirates throwing
mask over every moving creature in the place, capturing them for slavers.
An ever since then she'd been alone, until now. She forced herself awoke,
away from the memory.
"It's true Mishlosh," the medical assistant said handing her master
the chart. "She was not impregnated by natural means."