The Watchers: A Space Opera Novella Read Online Free

mother, post-operative care, C-section. Test: negative.
    New Florence. Vibra Valley Medical Center. Four mothers. Two in early labor, one in post-operative care, the fourth, Clarissa, pushing. The result of the post-operative care mother’s child: negative. I wait for the test of the child being pushed out: negative.
    Caspen. Caspen Central Memorial Hospital. Five mothers, all in post-operative care. Tests: negative.
    Caspen …
    Over the next three hours, I visit five more cities and forty-one hospitals, medical centers, and birthing centers. Of the one hundred and four newborns that night, none had tested positive so far. The four-hour limit on a session is approaching.
    I check back in with Sumiko at Saint Thomas Hospital. She’s pushing. Single minded focus. Release into her body, don’t work against it, work with it, it is made for this. Listen to the doctor. Relax, breathe through the contractions, don’t clench.
    Karon has arrived. He holds his wife’s hand, standing by her head. He peeked earlier and had to pull out his poker face not to alarm her. His back hurts; he had been on his feet for a three-hour shift before this. He is a squat, solid man, dark muscles forged over a life of labor, but he’s hoping to move to a supervisor role soon. He hasn’t decided yet if he wants to cut the umbilical cord. He can’t wait to see him, his baby boy Branden. For nine months he has wondered how his son would look—
    The child arrives. Blind, cold, terror: stark terror. A bundle of emotions and reflexes. The doctor works quickly, sucking fluid out of Branden’s nose and mouth. Sumiko knows only exhaustive joy, while Karon is filled with awe and responsibility and the Doctor and nurses bustle about with workmanlike focus. Karon with a surprisingly steady hand, given his emotional battle to not let his awe overwhelm him, cuts the cord. The baby is whisked off to the corner of the room to get cleaned up. Sumiko exclaims for Karon to either get out of her line of sight or go stand by him.
    Footprints are recorded, goop is wiped off, blood samples are taken. The brunette-haired nurse, Ela, takes the blood samples spotted onto paper to the nurses’ station. She rips one of the paper dots off and hands it to Gino with a smile. She is partial to men with cleft chins. She prepares and sends the rest of the samples to pathology for early detect. When she returns, Gino is pale and hunched over the table. Test: positive.
    That’s when Ela decides to ask him out, when she sees his compassion. “What are you going to do?” she asks.
    He looks up and gulps. “What we have to. Enter—” He looks at the paperwork. “Branden Vorce into the database. I’ll— I’ll go talk to the parents.”
    “Do you have to do this right away?”
    “Yes, the authorities are already coming. They’re alerted when the test comes back positive. They’ll stay with the baby here at the hospital until he’s safe enough to move.”
    “Bring the guards. Have you ever seen how emotional new parents are?” she asks at his surprised look.
    He nods his head, picks up two guards and walks into the delivery room.
    Sumiko lays blissfully there, learning to breastfeed Branden. All the commotion of the nurses invisible as they clean up; the doctor has already gone, her work done.
    Karon stands with an arm around his wife and his hand on his son’s back. His son. His boy. He latched on strong to the nipple right away. They had been warned that some babies had a hard time learning to feed, but not Branden. His instincts are strong.
    Karon becomes aware of bodies that are still in a room full of movement. He looks up to see a government official with two guards. No, he thinks. It’s not possible. The official looks upset, nervous. There’s only one reason the official could be here. Where are the exits? Can Sumiko move? How much time is there?
    “Mister, Missus Vorce. The test was positive.”
    Karon’s heart drops. He almost throws up.
    Sumiko is