"The last cabin on the left...The patient has an ear infection. The pink liquid goes in first. Followed by two drops of the..."

  A scream pierces the evening air. Yau-tala's head snaps upward and she nearly drops the vial of fluid she was attempting to hand to Consuelo. The ooman female stares at Yau-tala with an expression of sheer terror.

  "That was Helene!"

  Yau-tala and Consuelo take off at a fast pace, heading for Helene's cabin. One of the five women to arrive just after Teresa, Helene has been slow to adapt to life on V'Daha. Often going without food or sleep, Helene is nothing short of a miserable wreck. Nevertheless, the sight which greets the two medical professionals is a horrifying one.

  Helene stands in the doorway of her cabin, cutting her own face with a sharp knife. Blood runs down the woman's cheeks and forehead in thin rivulets. Her wild eyes take in everyone around her, and she shakes her head in obvious delirium.

  "My husband was a good man! And you all killed him. You...You stinking beasts! You killed him. You killed my Hector! We were going to have a baby this year. We had planned everything. He was going to take time off from Weyland Service so we could go home for the birth. You bastards! Sons of bitches! You damn aliens! You killed him! Without Hector...What good would a baby do? So I killed it! I took pills...And I killed it. I don't care that our lives were spared. I could never be one of you. You hear me? NEVER!"

  Helene backs into her cabin and slams the front door shut. Yau-tala and Consuelo race to the door and pound on it with their fists.

  "Helene! Come out. Please," Consuelo begs her fellow human refugee. "You need help. You're not yourself. Come on, Helene. Let us in. We can help you!"

  Silence greets the two med experts as they stop pounding on the door long enough to listen. Then, there is a loud crash and a thud.

  "Oh no!" Consuelo gasps. "Oh no!"

  A towering hybrid male dressed in a golden robe lumbers forward. Yau-tala waves him toward the door. With a solid kick, the hybrid male sends the splintered door flying inward. Too late for Helene.

  The troubled woman hangs from a rope fashioned of blankets. Her body swings slowly back and forth, blood from her self-inflicted wounds obscuring what her hair does not. Consuelo backs away and then hastily runs from the cabin. The sound of violent retching fills the air.

  "Halyiis, will you please cut the ooman down? I don't want anyone else to see her like this," Yau-tala says, tears springing to her eyes.

  Halyiis nods and withdraws his small wrist blades. Nowhere near as impressive as a yautja's wrist blades, but equally as effective. Getting underneath Helene, Halyiis expertly cuts though the rope of blankets holding the dead woman aloft. She falls over his shoulder and he adjusts her weight. Yau-tala retrieves a blanket from the bedroom and covers Helene's body.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Take her to my cabin and place her on the back table. I will prepare her body for burial."

  Halyiis carries Helene from the cabin, marching right past Consuelo as she hurls up her lunch.

  -

  -

  Teresa holds Enilka up in the air and steps cautiously into the river. She goes in about two feet from shore before stopping and sitting cross-legged in the shallow water. She only lowers Enilka when she is sure the water level is not too high.

  "This is called a river, Enilka. It is a large body of water. On many planets...Many worlds... Water is considered the source of all life. Even you and me."

  Teresa kisses Enilka's forehead and draws the childling against her chest. The mild-mannered newborn only blinks, round green eyes studying Teresa's face.

  Teresa remains in a stationary position for several minutes, her eyes shut and her head tilted to catch the brilliant rays of the dual suns. Scar watches her from the shore, as he has done many times before. Without her knowledge, of course.

  A shrill chitter causes Teresa to glance over her left shoulder. Erilnis chitters from his seat in the wooden stroller, wanting desperately to be fed. Teresa sighs and shakes her head, staring at Enilka with solemn resignation.

  "Let the childling wait a bit longer!" Scar commands, his voice signaling authority. "He is much too demanding. Teach him early that he cannot have his way, or he will not heed instruction later. I was once a f'tyhu. As you oomans would say...A twin. My cha'l brother was much like the female childling you now hold. I was more like the surly one. Never caring to hear the words of others. Later in life, it cost me dearly. My life, my clan, and the company of those I love. Do not let that be his path."

  "Elder Scar, you never told me that you're a twin," Teresa says, her eyes widening. "Where is your twin now?"

  "I only saw Scorvo once more after we journeyed to V'Daha. He arrived with an ooman female. She was more yautja than ooman by then. While traversing the sector with my cha'l brother, she fell gravely ill. Scorvo did his best to save her, but she succumbed to her illness. He returned to our kind. And I have not seen him since. It has been many cycles of a season."

  "That is so sad," Teresa mutters. "I'm sure he was devastated. Life in space is so crazy. But then again, life is crazy everywhere."

  Enilka chitters softly, her round eyes narrowing. She flexes a tiny hand in what seems like a wave. Scar tilts his head and smiles at the miniscule creature held to Teresa's chest.

  Teresa puts out a hand as if to use it to stand. Scar motions for Vor'taalnis to remain safely on shore and moves to Teresa's side. He reaches down and scoops up mother and babe before Teresa can object. Carrying them both ashore, Scar lowers Teresa so that she can stand on her own two feet.

  Teresa swallows hard before meeting the settlement elder's gaze. His round amber eyes are fixed on her face.

  "Thank you."

  "My pleasure."

  A memory forces itself to the front of Scar's mind. The frozen continent. Lex's brave leap across the collapsing ice shelf. The mark of the Ta'dnu he'd placed upon her left cheek. The taste of her lips after their escape from the ooman science facility many cycles of a season later.

  Scar searches Teresa's face before allowing his eyes to journey elsewhere. So much like his Lex. But yet so different. If only to taste her lips. He reaches to touch her cheek again. This time, Teresa sidesteps, as if reading his thoughts.

  "I think we should go, Elder."

  "Of course," Scar says, sadness in his voice.