Page 41 of Taken to Voraxia
“The Rakukanna is a hybrid Dra’Kesh-human. As of this span, there are only two hybrids alive today and she is the only female.” He pauses, as if waiting correction or contradiction.
“Yes. Hexa,” I stutter, “That’s correct.”
Continuing, Raku tells her some of what I told him earlier. Here I was thinking that he’d taken the information and immediately discarded it.How wrong I was.
“The Rakukanna has informed me that human females are extremely fertile. However, because they were forced to participate in the hunting ritual of Cxrian, and provided no medical care, provisions or equipment, human females who were among the first to be bred by Dra’Kesh males did not survive the birthing process and neither did two-thirds of their kits.”
“Xana guide us,” the woman says in a hushed, horrified breath. Her ridges flare pink and then fade again. “Fertile females have lost their lives?”
“Hexa.”
“And younglings?”
“Hexa. To ensure the fertile females are able to continue living to produce human children, hybrid younglings conceived during this forced Hunt have since been discarded by females. Without any record keeping, it is impossible to know just how many hybrids have been lost. That Voraxia has lost. Female losses from faulty medical equipment, or from attempting to birth hybrids has numbered in the dozens. My Rakukanna’s own female sire was among the first to perish.”
She gasps as if she’s witnessing the murders now before her eyes, many times over and my stomach is weighted with stones. All over, I start to sweat.
“A thousand graces, my Rakukanna. May Xaneru relieve your pain.”
I feel myself burning up. After rotations of being made to believe that my mother’s death was my fault, hearing Xoran’s telling of what happened and this female’s — Lemoria’s — response, I am moved. Deeply.
Lemoria’s ridges have turned a deep grey now, and I can interpret the color only as grief. A genuine grief. I hold my hand over my heart and nod my head, in a colony gesture.
“Thank you,” I tell her. And I mean it when I do. Rotations of guilt suddenly seem to slide off of me like droplets of water into a larger pool, absorbed. They are powerless now.
She stiffens suddenly, glancing to Xoran. “This loss is a crime for the whole of Voraxia. There must have been those among us who knew of this.” Her ridges flash bright red.
“There were, and they will be punished. You can rest calmly this night and all others, knowing this.”She can? They will?
“In the meantime, my Rakukanna and I have fulfilled the call of the Xanaxana. It is exceedingly unlikely that our coupling will bear offspring given that we did not use a breeding belt, however, I will not take any chances.”
The woman’s ridges flare yellow. She bows. “Apologies, but no breeding belt?”
“There was neither the place, nor the time to construct one. And as you well know the Xanaxana will not wait.”
“Nox,” she says, voice a little more breathless than it was before. “I understand. And I understand your request. You can be sure that nothing will happen to our Rakukanna while there is still breath in my lungs. On my life and my honor, her pregnancy will neither bring harm to herself nor to your future kits. Does the Rakukanna have time now for some initial tests?”
“That is why we are here.”
“You wish to stay, my Raku?”
“Hexa.” He shifts his weight almost imperceptibly from one side to the other, but I still feel it. “I am not going anywhere.”
A little smile comes to the woman’s face and I wonder if Xoran didn’t see it too, but she quickly smears it away and whirls around to face the table in the center of the room. The only thing made out of wood, it’s red and glossy with darker red veins and rings rippling dramatically though it.
Lemoria pulls a plush fur out from beneath a cabinet below the table and drapes it over the red surface, making the whole thing look more like a luxury than a medical cot. Not that I would even know what a medical cot looks like. I’ve never been into the medical facility. Never had enough rations to trade for even the most basic checkup.
“I have extensive knowledge of Dra’Kesh breeding cycles and anatomy, however my knowledge of the humans is limited, to say the least,” Lemoria turns and flicks her fingers at what looks like blank russet wall, only for a whole host of holo screens to suddenly pop up. The part of my mind excited by gadgets salivates.
“I will need to visit with the Rakukanna extensively to fill in any gaps, and travel with a team to the human planet to run tests on human subjects if I am to stand the best possible chance of ensuring the complete safety and comfort of the Rakukanna throughout the duration of the birthing cycle. And then of course, of ensuring the same for human females on the human planet. We will need to set up a permanent outpost there to provide rotation-round medical care for any future hybrid births, should there be any.”
The lilt of her voice begs a question which Xoran hesitates to respond to. His muscled arms cross. “The Rakukanna and I have already begun discussing the future of our inter-species’ cooperation. However, I had not at the time known of the horrors perpetrated against their more fragile population. More will need to be discussed to ensure that future matings between Voraxians and humans are healthy in all ways.”
“Of course,” Lemoria says.
“I believe the Rakukanna would be best positioned to lead these efforts as one of her first duties to her people, and ours. These humans live in Voraxia and their offering to Voraxia in the form of kits, of any species, can only be seen as a blessing from Xana. As I stand as Raku before you now, know this,” he says to her, though I know the words are meant for me — and I cannot believe he’s saying them, “humans and hybrids fledged Voraxian and cared for accordingly.”
Lemoria nods curtly as if this were an obvious decision and not something wild and outlandish and never before dreamt of with the possibility — no, with the guarantee — to change everything for the colony. Forhumanity.My jaw drops while Lemoria flicks on a few more holo screens. Finally, she moves to the other side of the raised, fur-covered bed and pats it lightly.
