Chapter 3

“Get back in the middle of the tank!” Samal commanded the frightened, newborn hybrid as she floundered around seeking a handhold at the side of her birthing tank. This was the second birthing under his administration. The first one had been a very complacent male who had died in his sleep and found himself in a hybrid birthing tank at University. Grateful to be alive (again), he followed his instructions quite readily – not like this unruly female...

“But Frank’s dying!” Ivory whimpered anxiously, clinging weakly to the edge of the rejuvenation tank. “You’ve got to save him!’

“Let’s get you out, first, sweetie,” Laurie, Samal’s assistant called out. “You have to go back into the middle of the tank so we can lift you out with the net. You see the net? At the bottom of the tank?” The half-drowned hybrid looked down through the blue liquid, still anxious and obviously frightened, then nodded. “Okay, sweetie, you have to be above the net so we can get you out. Got it?”

The soaking wet hybrid obviously understood, as she immediately paddled back and positioned herself in the middle of the tank. Samal gave Laurie a look of pure disgust, which made Laurie laugh. “She’s just a baby, Sam. Treat her gently – she’ll be fine.”

“Not fine!” Ivory yelled. “Hurry and get me out of here! And tell the queen I need to see her. And Tanya! Tabor! She’s my mother-in-law. Somebody’s got to save my husband! Frankie’s dying!”

“Usually it’s an hour at least before they can even talk,” Samal grumbled as he raised the net, and the squirming, very naked hybrid female. “Hold still up there! We don’t want you to fall out!”

“This fucking net really hurts!” Ivory griped. “It’s cutting into my skin something awful! Can’t you hurry up any faster?”

“That’s called gravity, and you’re not used to it because you’ve been floating in that tank for two years,” Samal explained. “Just be glad you’re not on Earth. You’d be a lot heavier there. And try to show some patience. We’ll have you down in a minute.”

“What do you think?” Laurie asked as she moved a bed table underneath the net. “She asked to see the Queen. Who do you suppose she is – I mean, was?”

“Two years?” Ivory yelped, and tried to climb out over the side of the net. “Shit! That can’t be! Frank can’t hold out for two years! I’ve gotta find him! Whoops! Help! Yow!” Ivory landed hard, halfway on the bed table and halfway in Laurie’s arms as the girl tried to catch her.

“Damn you’re slippery!” Laurie grunted as she gave the wet, naked newborn a rough shove onto the bed table. “Now lay on your back. You’ll be more comfortable that way.”

Ivory tried to lift her arm and discovered just how weak she really was. “Please ... help me. I’ve got to save him...”

“Sweetie, it’s going to be a week before you can even walk,” Laurie explained softly. “Now you just tell me what happened to you, and Samal will go get help.” Both girls looked over at Samal, who definitely did not look like he was about to go anywhere.

“Samal,” Laurie said to him. “This girl needs to talk to the authorities. Go find a goddess or somebody and bring her here.”

“It can’t have been two years...” Ivory whimpered. “Please ... I haven’t been dead for two years, have I?”

“I have no idea, sweetie,” Laurie replied softly, gently drying the newborn’s hair with a cotton towel. “Who are you? Do you remember your name from your last life?”

“My last life?” Ivory cried, then settled down as Laurie gently shushed her and helped her to lie back again. “Oh ... it’s ... Ivory. My name is Ivory. Tabor. I’m Ivory Tabor. I was, anyway...” Ivory was starting to pay attention to herself, moving her arms around as she tried to see what she looked like. “Oh, god. I’m a new person. My skin doesn’t look like this...”

Laurie grinned and began to dry the newborn hybrid’s arm while the girl held it up and stared at it. “Well, ‘Ivory’ ... This is what you look like, now. You hijacked a hybrid – the body of a goddess. And ... I imagine you are going to have several visitors very soon, wanting to know why. These bodies are generally reserved for immortals.”

“I am an immortal!” Ivory corrected the woman as she continued to dry her off. “My husband is Frank Tabor. My father and mother-in-law are Frank and Tanya Tabor. Queen Alana herself gave me immortality as a wedding gift.”

“Yet, you managed to die,” Laurie remarked, clearly not believing her new charge. “Why don’t you tell me about that?”

“You tell me first,” Ivory demanded anxiously, “how long Frank Tabor has been missing. Frank Junior, I mean. It can’t possibly be two whole years! Can it?”

“I haven’t heard anything about anyone, especially an immortal, being missing at all,” Laurie replied. “And you’ll have to forgive Samal. He enjoys inflicting worries on people. Just because he’s been tending your birthing tank for the last two years doesn’t mean you’ve been dead that long. You might have died yesterday and been guided directly here.”

“Guided?” Ivory wanted to know.

“Yes,” Laurie replied, more suspicious as she observed that this new hybrid didn’t seem to know much about immortals. “The Praetor usually informs us when someone is about to be reborn. It guides the soul – the individual – here to where it can be united with a new body.”

“Oh...” Ivory replied, then relaxed back on the raised mattress and closed her eyes. “There was ... a discussion, I think. I don’t remember. I don’t know if it was a Praetor. But I remember dying, and talking ... and Frankie cried for me...” Ivory started to get more upset. “Please! You’ve got to send somebody and rescue him! He’s trapped underground and starving to death. I starved to death! I promised I’d go to University and send help.”

“Well, you managed to get to University,” Laurie let her know. “But you need to tell me where to go so we can rescue your ‘Frank’.”

“Fuck...” Ivory whimpered and scrunched her face in concentration. “We were in ... I don’t know the name of the town! The Queen knows where we went! Bring her here! She can help! This cattleman, he trapped us in a storage bin when Frank threatened to expose his use of growth hormones on his beef and making people sick because of it. And now Frankie’s all alone and starving ... trapped with a corpse that used to be his new wife. Me! Please ... help him. I promised I’d bring help.”