Birthright: After Earth Read Online Free Page A

continue the pregnancy so that he can have another Ghost at his disposal for a—”
    “Stow that right now, Lieutenant.” Green looked well and truly pissed. “I have said and done nothing, in the entirety of my career, that would remotely imply I would have such a dehumanizing attitude toward my people, and frankly I resent the hell out of what you’re saying.”
    “I’m sorry, sir,” she said immediately, and meant it. “It’s … just a lot to take in right now. I need some time to process it.”
    “I understand,” said Green. “Take all the time you need to decide upon your course of action.”
    “Thank you, sir.”
    “You have until tomorrow.”
    She paused and then nodded. “Thank you, sir.” She pivoted on her heel and headed for the door.
    Just before she reached it, Green called, “Lieutenant.”
    She turned back to him.
    “Congratulations,” said Green.
    “We’ll see about that, sir,” Mallory said, and walked out.

v
    Mallory lay in her quarters the entire night, staring up at the ceiling. She kept resting her hand on her belly, trying to sense whatever it was that was going on within her. “Talk to me,” she whispered. “Tell me what you want.”
    The small passenger did not respond.
    She drifted in and out during the night, sleeping for minutes at a time. Every time she did manage to slumber, she was pelted with an unceasing barrage of images: her husband, climbing out of the grave, his arms outstretched, falling upon her and clawing at her stomach, trying to rip the infant from her.
    When the first light of the twin suns of Nova Prime began to crawl over the horizon, Mallory’s eyes were red with strain. Not with tears; she felt as if she had cried herself out after Jan’s death. Instead they were red with exhaustion. When she looked at herself in the mirror, she reminded herself of something out of an ancient tale of the undead.
    An hour later she was sitting on the edge of her bed. She was wearing civilian clothes and her hair was wet; obviously she had showered and dressed, but she had no recollection of doing so.
    Focus. You need to focus
.
    There was only one thing she could think of focusing on.
    Another couple of hours later—because it took her that long to muster the will to leave her quarters—Mallory was standing at the site of her husband’s grave.
    Well, at least he hasn’t crawled out of it
.
    Valhalla Point was the official burial site for the honored Rangers who had fallen in the line of duty. The headstones were simple: small rectangles of rock with the name of the buried individual chiseled into them. Many preferred cremation, but others weremore traditional, and the Rangers endeavored to accommodate all preferences.
    Mallory was far too practical an individual to think that Janus was “there” somehow. She knew her husband was gone. He would no more hear her at this site than any other. Ultimately it wasn’t about him. He was beyond caring about worldly concerns. It was about her voicing her problems and her inner turmoil.
    “I don’t know what to do, Jan,” she said softly. “First of all, I don’t know what to do about the baby itself. You were the one who kept talking about having children. You would have been a great father. I don’t know what kind of mother I’d make, and without you …
    “Besides, what kind of world would I be bringing our baby into? Monsters roam, trying to kill us. Aliens attack us from on high. We can never relax our guard, ever. A lousy mother bringing a baby into a lousy environment … why should I do that to him? Maybe it’d be better if he was never born …
    “But …” She hesitated, her voice choking slightly. “How can I kill the only part of you that’s left? How can I do that to him? How can I do that to you …? Have I spent so much time focusing on killing things that I’ve totally forgotten how to worry about the living …?”
    She sank to her knees in front of the grave.