CHAPTER 49 -NUMBERS
"Four . . . Ten. . . and . . . .Ten."
Elizabeth, who was lying on an examining table, tightly squeezed the hand of Jack, who was standing to her right.
To her left, Mr. Turner, the middle-aged stow-away who had turned out to be a wealth of knowledge and was volunteering in the infirmary, stood next to the ship's chief medical officer. The two men stared at the black and white image being produced by high-frequency waves. The strained silence in the room was broken every few seconds by the doctor calling out numbers.
A nervous Elizabeth remained still while the doctor moved the sonogram wand along her belly, which had been prepped with a light green-colored gel. Even Jack, who normally remained calm even in stressful situations, was tense as he looked at the screen and tried to decipher what the other men were seeing.
"Two," the doctor called out the new number. Mr. Turner typed the number into the chart on his small hand-held computer.
"Two," the man with no bed-side manner said again less than a minute later. The Thorntons remained quiet. Afraid to break the doctor's concentration.
"One. One."
"One."
"And . . .four", the doctor announced happily as he removed the wand from Elizabeth's belly.
Both men smiled at each other which made Elizabeth feel better. She had been too nervous to ask what all the numbers meant, but the expressions of the men, and the action of Mr. Turner, who now touched her shoulder in a congratulatory way, caused her to release the breath she had been holding in anxiety.
"Good?" she questioned the men. Jack was silent but she felt his hand clench hers a bit tighter as he too awaited nervously.
"Excellent," the doctor announced. "I am really impressed. Things are going much better than I had dared hope. Especially given the potential for radiation exposure."
"All those numbers?" Elizabeth questioned while she moved to sit up. Jack put one of his hands behind her and helped her into a sitting position on the examination table.
"Four, ten, ten, two, two, one, one, one, four," Mr. Turner said. He set his computer on a counter and handed Elizabeth a paper towel to wipe the gel off her abdomen before continuing.
"Four limbs, ten fingers, ten toes, two kidneys, two lungs, one liver, one stomach, one spleen, four chambers of the heart. You have one healthy baby."
The faces of Jack and Elizabeth both broke out into large grins.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" Jack asked.
"It is," Mr. Turner said with a twinkle in his eyes. "You can be surprised now or you can be surprised four months from now. Which would you like?"
The smiling couple looked at each other, both thinking the same thing, before answering. "Four months from now," Jack replied for both of them. "It doesn't hurt to wait."
"It hurts," the six-year old girl pouted to her teacher.
Elizabeth put her hand on Tess's shoulder and escorted the tearful girl down the corridor to the infirmary. Class had ended a few minutes early due to the little girl's injury.
"It's going to be fine. Doc will spray it with something to numb the pain," Elizabeth explained to her young student.
"Doc's mean."
"He's not mean. He's just. . . gruff. I saw him this morning and he's a very good doctor."
"What if another one gets me?" the girl asked with a sniffle.
"It's going to be okay. No more will get you." Elizabeth's voice rose at the end of her reply as she grabbed the Tess and pulled her to the side of the corridor to avoid the insect flying towards them. Within a split second, two women came running down the corridor in their direction.
"Don't swat at the honey bee! Don't swat at the honey bee!" they screamed in unison as they chased their elusive prey.
The honey bees had been brought to Planet Assaymark a year earlier, had spent 12 months pollinating new plants and producing honey, and were now being returned to Earth for study after having been replaced with two new colonies.
Kept in the small etymology room on one of the lower levels, their colonies had never been a problem.
Until now.
It has all started with the food rations. Days of reduced portions had led to complaints, growling stomachs, and morbid discussions about the Donner party of 1847. Some crew members had even made a list of which people should be eaten first if the transporter was delayed even more.
Although Elizabeth knew they were just joking – at least she hoped they were, she still kept her hand protectively over her stomach when she heard someone complaining about being hungry. She realized that with her healthy size she was probably at the top of every potential cannibal's menu.
Yesterday, two of the passengers had remembered about bee colonies. More importantly, they had remembered that honey bees make honey. Golden delicious thick honey. Edible golden delicious thick honey.
Unfortunately, the two passengers knew almost nothing else about honey bees. Unable to distinguish between drones, workers, or the Queen, and not realizing that smoke dispensers can be used to distract the insects, they had simply covered their arms with sweatshirts, opened the plexi-glass boxes which enclosed the combs, and thrust in their greedy hands.
The bees, which were savvier than the would-be thieves, had attacked immediately in defense of their food supply.
Soon the queens from each colony, hundreds of male drones, and female worker bees were flying throughout the transporter. It was the female worker bees with stingers that were the problem. All sixty-thousand of them.
"PASSENGERS AND CREW ARE PROHIBITED FROM KILLING OR INJURING THE HONEY BEES. THEY ARE A SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENT. ETYMOLOGY PERSONNEL ARE COLLECTING THE BEES. PLEASE ALLOW THEM TO DO THEIR JOBS. ANY PERSON FOUND TO DISTURB A BEE WILL BE ARRESTED.
"You have got to be kidding me?" Jack rolled his eyes in disgust at the intercom announcement. He and Elizabeth were leaving the security office where she had stopped by to meet him after she had taken Tess to the infirmary and then to the girl's living quarters.
"That's what my life has come down to?" he continued. "I am an expert marksman, have black belts in two forms of martial arts, and I'm up for promotion to investigator, and this is what I'm left to? Arresting people for swatting at bumble bees."
"Honey bees", Elizabeth corrected him.
"Whatever", Jack said disagreeably.
"Let's not think about the honeybees. Let's concentrate on something exciting and new," Elizabeth encouraged good-naturedly.
"Like maybe next I'll be arresting people for stealing spiders?" he asked dryly.
"Noo. Like picking your new assignment," she said eagerly.
The door to their living quarters slid open and they entered the room which was empty of their roommates.
Elizabeth sat down on a lower berth and took off her shoes while Jack scooched up against a propped-up pillow near her and opened his laptop.
The small brown box on the shelf along her berth shelf caught her attention and she hesitated a moment before reaching for it.
She opened the box and guiltily looked at the pastry which was meant as her afternoon snack. Abigail had frozen several pastries weeks prior to the rationing and was still given Elizabeth one a week as an indulgence.
Gosh, this looks delicious.
"Ugh. I can't possibly eat this," Elizabeth said as she turned her head away in disgust.
Jack gave her a curious look. "What are you talking about? It's a chocolate croissant. You love them."
"Not any more. You eat it or I'm throwing it out."
"You can't throw it out. It's food," Jack responded. His own stomach suddenly felt emptier than it had in hours. "And since when don't you like them?"
Elizabeth scrunched her nose as if the scent of the croissant was offensive and handed the pastry to Jack. "I don't know, but if you don't get this out of my sight, I'm going to be nauseous."
"Nauseated. You never get that right."
"Whatever," Elizabeth said with a small smile. "Just eat it."
Jack hesitated for a moment. Torn between forcing his wife to eat the croissant and filling his own empty stomach.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. I'm not hungry and the smell makes me gag."
Elizabeth turned to her computer effectively ending the conversation before Jack could realize she was lying to him.
"We have to list our three top choices," she said. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Jack hesitated only one more split second before gratefully taking a bite of the croissant.
"Hope Valley, Canada. I like the name," she said at first but then paused. "But you never know. Some people's idea of hope isn't the same as others. They may just call it that as a marketing tool. And I read somewhere that they have too many birds there. Let's stay away from there."
"What'd you put down as another option?"
"Fort Rose, Vermont. I like the sound of that. Although, I'm not sure how often they have roses in Vermont. It gets chilly there."
"It's named after a person, Captain C. Rose. Not the flower. And Elizabeth, we can't pick our next assignment based on the name. We need to look at location, job opportunities, cost of living," he said sensibly.
"I am. But names are important. I've crossed off several places in North America. Most of the South is a no-go. Too warm. And they have alligators."
Jack chuckled. "I don't think the entire region has gators, but I like Autumn. Riding horseback through the trees with their changing leaves" Jack added. "Not going to happen there."
"How about Montreal?"
"I heard it's great but one of us isn't so hot with French."
"Good point. How about New York?" Elizabeth asked.
"Depends. Not near the city. Too busy. Up north near the Thousand Islands would be nice. They get a lot of lake-effect snow though."
"How much snow?"
"Lots of snow. Lots and lots of snow. Lots and lots and lots of snow. Might be a bit rough."
Elizabeth frowned at the idea of juggling a baby in one arm while shoveling piles of snow with the other. "We want somewhere with four seasons, not too busy, but busy enough. A good job for you and a good job for me. How hard can it be?"
Jack gently pulled Elizabeth up against his body. She leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed.
"I love you. You truly are the best thing that has ever happened to me. And no matter where we go, we'll be fine," she said. "As long as we're together."
Jack tilted his head and placed a kiss in Elizabeth's hair. "I love you."
The couple stayed snuggled against each other while Jack scrolled through the possible assignments.
"Hey, how about this one? Liskow, Canada. It sounds perfect for us."
Elizabeth leaned towards the computer and read the description of the posting on the screen.
"It does sound perfect! Put it as number one on our list. Liskow. I like the way it sounds", she said excitedly. "I love you," she happily noted as she lifted her lips to his for another kiss. "And I love that you're mine, Officer Thornton."
OFFICER THORNTON TO LEVEL THREE ROOM BRAVO. OFFICER THORTON TO LEVEL THREE ROOM BRAVO. CODE GREY. CODE GREY.
Elizabeth looked towards the intercom which was blaring the announcement and then at Jack. "Think someone swatted at a bee?" she joked.
Jack scowled as he gently extricated her from his arms. "This one's a fight. Code Grey. You stay here."
Not on your life, Elizabeth thought as she scrambled from the berth and followed after him. Where you go, I go. The two of us are a team forever. Besides, I want to see who's fighting this time.
"Elizabeth, I thought told you to stay behind," Jack yelled over his shoulder when he noticed her hurrying down the corridor behind him.
"You did. I just chose not to listen to you."
"Give me you hand", he said as he reached for it. "And stay out of the way when we get there."
UP NEXT: CHAPTER 50
Dear Readers, I don't think I need to tell you how angry I was after the TV show season finale! If you feel the same way, please read my story "The Missing Last 10 minutes to Season 5 finale that they forgot to air".