Chapter 98

The excitement or other factors seemed to be working against Glosna. She felt some of her cramps but the pain was not too bad. I looked into her mind and quickly called for the diagnostic unit. In seconds one was here circling the women and then her abdomen.

I saw the raw data and knew that her child was sick of waiting. I moved close to her and smiled. "Your baby wants to get out."

"Now?" She wailed.

"Wants to meet Uncle Henry I guess. Let's get you to medical."

Glosna was helped to the matter transmitter station and we were instantly in medical. Tractors carefully picked her up and placed her on a table. Glosna groaned a git at the discomfort but it was not as much as a Human would have. This was her first child. I knew enough this time to not ask about the father because most now were actually donations to the sperm bank.

Glosna was urged by the medical unit to move and in a remarkable two minutes delivered a very small and mentally loud child. The umbilical cord was snipped and sealed in a fraction of a second. I moved in very quickly and took the child and cleaned her off. Her thinking was very clear and she looked to have no problems breathing. The medical unit said she was as healthy as any other Tandra child.

I called for some soft cloth and wrapped the child tenderly. It made me feel very homesick to see the child in my arms reaching out with her mind to fasten onto the closest person to her. With a few steps I was beside the mother and gently lowered the child to her waiting arms. "She is beautiful, like her mother. I know we will all be proud of her some day."

Glosna looked at the child and sniffled a bit hoping for the same thing. In a few moments the placenta was ejected with little pain and small med units came down to promote healing. Another unit came and cleaned up all the fluid and the small amount of blood.

I did my own diagnosis and could see nothing wrong with either of the girls. I knew that Glosna would not want to be alone so I called for a grav unit and put both mother and daughter on it.

Glosna said, "I can walk."

"Not for a while I am afraid. Just enjoy the ride." I talked to her more about children. This was mostly inane because she had only eyes for her daughter. She just wanted to know that someone was near to take care of her.

I caught Glosna thinking how she wanted to show the girls on the base her new daughter especially Mulna the computer tech. Some data was requested and I saw an opportunity here.

"Mom, Bennechi, will you return here to transport two girls to the tug?"

Mom said to just me, "Henry, if we do this you will not have a way to travel."

I replied the same way, "I have the maze. I will only loose a very good set of eyes and ears for the duration."

She still didn't want to but came back as quick as possible. In ten minutes she was inside the base beside the Misto computer. I only wished that I could take the computer too then we could both go.

"Glosna," I said, "you and your child are going to get a ride in the fastest ship in the galaxy. In less than an hour you will be with your friends in the tug."

"But... I can help you here."

"Thanks again but I am not the usual male you know about. I can usually take care of myself though I do like to be babied now and again."

Glosna didn't like this but she did get into the ship with a bit of difficulty. I helped her but Mom or Bennechi could have done much better. When the hatch closed I said, "You and your child will make me proud." The ship disappeared through the main transmitter and was soon streaking for the tug. I knew Mom was anxious to get back.

I went back to my work with my AI family to assist me. There were some interesting features in the computer and I was working with all my mind to see what they really did. There was a temptation to use the crystal to enter the computer but a bar of ceramic placed in it was seriously distorted when I brought it back out. There was a good chance my body would be the same. It was as if the rod was just twisted too far in too many dimensions at one time.

A crystal fragment went through next, carried by my PK. There was little room to move in the computer but when it came out it was no different than when it went in. A larger transmitter crystal went in and was held at the far wall of the computer. The external crystal was minutely altered to focus halfway to the other crystal. In twenty minutes I saw that I could transfer a ceramic sphere through two crystals and into the maze beyond.

"Henry! We are under attack."

I pulled my mind away from what I was doing and said, "Report."

Mom and Bennechi had been intercepted when they slowed down to loose their trail in a stellar mass. A squadron of Misto ships had blocked her way and used all their tractors to hold her in position while using a small energy weapon to shear off what they thought was her engines. They had destroyed four of the six probes used to give her extra speed as they pulled her into a hold.

No biological knew of the maze except me but maybe it could still be kept a secret. "Put Glosna and her child into the maze and I will take them to a safe place." I heard no immediate reply and this worried me.

In a few seconds Mom from Sofaas said, "The ship has been destroyed."

I felt like a piece of my heart were ripped out. Mom continued, "The child has died but Glosna is safe in the maze. Go to her and bring her to safety Henry."

The order felt right. The base computer transported me very quickly to the start of the maze and I ran the short distance to where I saw Glosna cradling a bundle of bloody cloth. I hoped to feel anger in myself but I felt guilt instead. I was the one that had gained her trust and sent her away. Now I was the cause of one more death and this one weighted heavily on my soul. I had been there at her birth and I was the first person to cradle the young life. She had sensed me just after joining us and grasped my mind tenderly.

I had to be strong though, especially now. Glosna was picked up and I moved her through the maze. I doubted she knew what was happening to her because she was just mentally screaming to her child to awaken.

Horus was the closest and in a few minutes I was working through the computer. He or Isis took the two to medical. When I got there the diagnosis was still the same. There was no way of bringing back the life of the child.

Glosna had to be sedated because she did not want to release her child even in death. I said to Horus, "Keep her sedated. She knows about the maze now. It is best that she forget that part."

"What about her forgetting that she had a child?"

"I don't know yet. Just keep her sedated or in stasis till I figure out what I will do."

"Yes my Emperor." He said this with a great deal of feeling because he knew that I had to deal with this alone.

Trying to submerge my guilt I though of the Misto that had done this. I was given very explicit coordinates and I pushed with Horus and Isis to get there as soon as possible.

There were no probes aboard but I would have begin to make them even though our speed would suffer a bit. I would not be able to kill as I should if I didn't have good intel.

Mom and the other AIs had some in reserve waiting for me to do my part. I ran through the maze again working frantically to pull their computers into the maze. When I came back a bare ten minutes later I was dragging a long line of probes linked together. When I stepped from the maze, Isis pulled 83 small probes out. More had been manufactured since this operation began but I had not had time to do my part.

The two probes used as engines were still on the Misto ship. I could command them to destroy their hull and the ship carrying them but this was the first time we would get a glimpse of a still functional Misto warship.

The energy conduits were in place around the smaller of the two crystals. It was still connected to ship's power. I concentrated on the distance and moved the crystal to point in the right direction. Isis controlled a surge of power from the higher universe went through the conduits and one of the probes left to see what would be found.

Mom said, "This way," as she directed me a bit differently and a minute change in power. When she said, "Now," another probe went through.

Through the probes eyes I saw the thirty or so ships and propelled the antimatter charges at all but one. I had no fear that they would find us because we were 13,640 lights away. It was near the natural focus of the crystal and we needed very little power to manipulate the crystal. The target was not struck by our charge but the next shot did do what I wanted. I was very happy because the shields were not repelling our weapons though they had with the smaller crystal.

I raced through the flotilla. More probes had to be sent because they were targeted unless I placed them close to the Misto wrecks. When I thought of Glosna and her child I found that I missed more often so I put the woman's welfare in another part of my mind and continued to fire on the ships. It took a moment but they started to disperse rather than try to protect each other.