XXIX

The journey to Science & Medical would normally take little more than a couple of minutes from our current position. Unfortunately, one of us was nearly choking to death whilst being carried along at a snail's pace by two men with only three arms between them. I continued to gag uncontrollably as Alan and Nathan struggled to move me as quickly as they could. I'd lost control of myself by this point. I couldn't feel a thing, yet my arms and legs were flailing around like they had a mind of their own. Was this how Cara had felt just before she'd died? Unable to control her own actions, unable to scream out in pain or shout for help? Then again, I wasn't even sure that this was the same situation at all. Cara had been impregnated by a Facehugger. I'd been impregnated by a fully-grown Xenomorph. I didn't even know that was possible. It probably wasn't, in fact. Just another of Xena's myriad of genetic anomalies. Then I suddenly remembered… Xena…

She couldn't be dead. Surely. We'd only known each other for a couple of days, and now this had happened? And when we were so close to escaping, too. Another minute earlier, a few seconds even, and we could have made it to the Syracusia 1 dock. We could have been out there right now, sailing away into deep space, free. But no. She had to go and die on me, didn't she? Ryan had to come along and stick his bastard oar in, and now she was gone. And as if that wasn't enough, she'd only gone and knocked me up before she went! I couldn't raise a human child by myself, let alone one that was a fucking Xenomorph!

Another few long minutes later, we finally reached Science & Medical. Nathan and Alan had to lay me down on the floor, my entire body still shaking wildly, as they went to open the door. My face was pressed down against the smooth, cold metal, but I couldn't move myself away from it. I couldn't even shiver, my nervous system totally irresponsive of any external stimulus. I heard the muffled sound of Nathan talking as he and Alan came back to lift me from the ground. Then, the two men carried me into the room, before dragging me up onto what I could only assume was an operating table.

My others senses were starting to fail me now. I could barely hear a thing, and my eyesight was beginning to fade away. I could just make out Nathan's silhouette leaning over me, brandishing a long, thin object. He said something at this point, but I had no idea what, hearing nothing but a garbled mumble. Given what happened next, it was probably: 'I'm just going to give you an anesthetic, Matthew', because less than a second later, I felt a sharp pain in my right arm. Within moments, my writhing body began to relax, and soon I lay completely still on the table. Then, my eyes and ears finally gave out altogether.

"Can you hear me, Jones?" Came a voice from somewhere close by. I opened my eyes to see Alan leaning over me at the end of the operating table. His expression was totally unreadable, but the tone of his voice indicated genuine concern for me.

"Yes." I replied, attempting to sit up slowly. A sharp pain in my stomach quickly brought me back down, though.

"Don't try to move, Matthew." Nathan called, wandering over from the other side of the room. "Not yet, anyway."

"What, you mean you haven't done it yet?!" I snapped, although judging by the pain in my stomach, I already knew the answer.

"Just calm down, Matt." Nathan continued. "That anesthetic was just to stop you from writhing about like some kind of beached seal. We'll give you something else before we make the first incision."

"Incision?" I asked, suddenly worried about the procedure that I was about to undergo. "You don't mean…"

"Caesarian section." Nathan nodded, obviously surprised that he even needed to clarify this information. "Well, not an actual C-section, of course, that would be impossible. Unless there's something you've not been telling us, Matthew?"

"Fuck off!" I chuckled, glad that Nathan could still see the lighter side of the situation. "You're here to deliver my baby, not question my sexual identity. Although, a man giving birth to a child? Maybe you're right to question it."

"Well, madam…" He grinned, turning around to a small table behind him. "Don't worry. We'll have that baby out in no time." When he turned back, he wielded a small cutting device in his right hand, and what looked like a tube of glue in his left.

"Grike, could you take this for me?" Nathan continued, handing the tube to Alan. This room was the only place on the ship where Nathan could order him around without consequence. Even so, Alan gave him a blank look as he took the tube from him.

"Now, Matthew," He explained, fiddling with a dial on the side of the cutting tool. "Alan's going to rub this gel on your stomach to ease the pain. Hopefully, you shouldn't feel a thing."

"Hopefully?" I snapped, but my voice was drowned out as Nathan flipped on the miniature saw. I felt a cold sensation as Alan rubbed a dollop of gel on my stomach, and Nathan leaned in closer with the saw. Now the procedure could begin.

"Here goes nothing." Nathan announced enthusiastically. Not the most reassuring words to hear from a surgeon, I'll grant you. But it was too late to turn back now. I watched in horror as he suddenly plunged the tiny cutting device deep into my skin, and began to slice through it like I was little more than a pizza. Luckily, though, the gel seemed to work perfectly, because I could barely feel more than a slight tingling sensation as he hacked away at my stomach muscles. Admittedly, I winced a little bit when blood began to spurt everywhere, but I don't think you could really blame me for that. Finally, after about a minute or so of cutting, Nathan finally turned off the saw, setting the bloodied tool down on the table behind him.

"Are we done?" Alan asked, clearly forgetting that the most fundamental part of giving birth is to actually remove the baby.

"Not quite." Nathan replied, turning back to the medical table. "You might want to close your eyes for this part, Matthew." He turned back to the operating table, a pair of large forceps in his hand. I didn't need to be told twice. I stared up at the ceiling, already prepared for what was to come next, and shut my eyes as tightly as I could. The pain that came next was too excruciating to even begin to describe. I screamed aloud, but still refused to open my eyes. I felt something being wrenched from my stomach, something big. 'Oh, Xena, why?' I thought to myself. 'Why did you have to…"

"JESUS CHRIST!" I yelled, struggling to remain laid down as I felt Nathan give one final yank. I opened my eyes for just long enough to see blood fly everywhere as the baby was freed from my stomach. And at last, the pain was over.

"Congratulations, Matthew," Nathan beamed, urging me to sit up so he could pass me my newborn child. "It's a… human."

"It's a what?" I asked, sitting up to look at the baby. Sure enough, there before me, wrapped in a bundle of warm towels, was a tiny, almost premature-looking, human baby boy. Covered in blood, and crying his eyes out, but nevertheless, he was human.

"I don't understand." I continued. "It can't be… can it?" I looked into the sobbing child's eyes in disbelief as I spoke.

"No." Nathan replied. "It can't be. But it is. He is." I glanced over at Alan, who seemed similarly confused. There had to be some kind of logical explanation for this. Then again, could logic really be applied to a situation as bizarre as this?

"I'll run some scans." Nathan continued, taking the baby from my arms. "We'll find out if he's really human."

Less than ten minutes or so later, I sat on a chair by the door of the room, my stomach still aching from the operation. Alan, for once in his life, was actually sat comforting me, although to be fair his presence wasn't that reassuring. I was amazed that he'd remained so calm throughout this whole ordeal. After all, he was dead against me even being with Xena just half an hour ago.

"Matthew?" Nathan called out after a while. I got up, and walked over to his desk, where he urged me examine his computer monitor. On the screen were several strings of code and points of data, interspersed with long, scientific-looking words.

"And what's that supposed to show?" I asked, trying to make sense of the seemingly garbled text.

"He's not human." Nathan explained. "At least, not entirely. Just like any other Xenomorph, his DNA consists quite strongly of human genes. Apparently, so strongly that he looks like your average human baby."

"Will he stay this way?" I enquired, intrigued by Nathan's words. It was still hard to believe that I had actually given birth to this child, let alone to think that he was part Xenomorph. That he was Xena's. To think, we'd actually had a child together…

"I doubt it." Nathan replied, breaking my train of thought. "I reckon that as he grows up, he'll begin to look less and less human. Once he's reached full maturity, he'll be indistinguishable from any other Xenomorph."

"I see." I nodded, Nathan's words echoing in my mind. "Thank you, Nathan."

"Will you still keep him?" Alan asked, calling over from a nearby medpod, where he stood looking down at the child.

"Well, I can't get rid of him now, can I?" I chuckled, walking over to join my fellow crew member.

"What are you going to call him, Matt?" Nathan asked, also leaving his desk to come and join the two of us by the medpod.

"I think…" I began, looking down into the infant boy's eyes. Even now, I was reminded of Xena, although of course he looked nothing like her. Perhaps a name that would honour her, even in death. Perhaps…

"I think I'll call him Xanthus."