Deadly Poison - Part I

Moonbase Alpha's status report, 1346 days after leaving earth's orbit Dr. Helena Koenig recording. We are entering a solar system that seems to make up for all the missing stars lately. Moonbase Alpha is on watch for space travelers and planets. Kano has said that in three days we will be in expedition reach of a planet. Commander Koenig is taking every precaution to alert us to any dangers. All Eagles have been serviced and scanners and security systems have been overhauled for efficiency.

"Is this the last one, Ed?" Helena asked as the nurse wiped the sweat from her forehead. She held the stone up into the light and rotated it from all angles. They were in the operating theater removing gallstones from a high-risk patient. In all they had removed six. The scanner had shown five but they found a smaller one pressed into the folds of her tissues and hiding between two other stones.

Ed Spencer passed his hand over his forehead he was sweating too. "Yes, that seems to be the last one." She placed the last stone in the tray with the others. Helena's focus waned and her vision blurred for a moment. She could feel a queasy sensation in her stomach. No one seemed to notice her sudden discomfort.

"OK, Ed, close the opening." Helena put down her laser scalpel and forceps. She headed to the door. Ed handed his instrument to the nurse and moved to the side she had just vacated.

It was touch and go but we did a good job, Spencer thought.

Helena had some packing to do if they were going to be prepared for the exploration. She had not had much hope of finding a habitable planet but anything was possible with the Lord on their side.

She removed her gloves and her operation attire. She began washing her hands. She was tired but she was also excited about going on exploration. Green sickness was about to get to her if she did not get some time off this rock.

She had resolved before to have a positive mindset with her new found faith. Having John's support meant the world to her and she smiled as she remembered their commitment to God together.

John and Alan were taking the Eagles out for testing. Helena decided that she would have to contact Kano directly to find out what type of planet they were exploring. She finished washing her hands at the sink and dried them as she exited the operation theater.

She head for her office. Helena stopped as a wave of dizziness overcame her. She stood clutching the post. Her vision blurred for a moment. She shook her head. She remembered she had not eaten breakfast this morning.

She entered her office and called hospitality. She ordered a sandwich and they said they would rush it. Helena did not feel hungry though.

Bleep, Bleep.

Helena opened communications on her compost. It was her hunky husband John Koenig. "Hello, my love. How is your day going?" he smiled.

"My day is going well. How is yours going? I was just about to call Kano for some info on that planet. Do we know much about it yet?"

Koenig's head went from view for a moment as he adjusted a few switches and knobs. Helena realized that John was considerable less agitated these days. He was his same practical self but he was not as cagey as before.

"Well, David says the temperature is below normal on one side of the planet. He can't get a reading on the other side. As far as he can tell, there are no trees, vegetation or animals. It does not look habitable."

John saw the momentary disappointment on her face but he did not comment. She perked up and decided to change the subject. "How are the Eagles coming along?"

John glanced over at Alan before answering. "We had a bit of a problem with Eagles 7 and 24, on-board fires, actually." John grinned but he could see Helena was not smiling. She looked concerned.

"A fire, was anyone hurt?" She asked. John held up his hand and she saw that he had a bandage on. "Why wasn't I informed, John?"

"It was no biggy Helena, all is well."

"So, did you find out what caused the fire?" she queried

"Faulty wiring." John adjusted a few more instruments and looked at the screen. He saw Helena sway and turn almost green. "Are you OK, Helena?" it was now his time to be concerned.

"Yes, I am alright. I haven't had breakfast," John watched as she composed herself.

"Did you speak to Bob about this?" John started to say but Helena cut him off.

"I'm a doctor, John! And I'm telling you I'm fine ... just had to get to work before having a chance to eat something and now my blood sugar is a bit low. That's all!" she snapped.

"Don't get testy. What is causing this sudden irritation?" John asked.

"I'm sorry. I feel a little hot all of a sudden." Beads of sweat broke out on her forehead. John watched as her complexion turned slightly red.

"Helena what's going on? You just turned two different colors, green then red. Are you alright?" John watched as she covered her mouth and rushed from the panel. He heard retching noises in the background.

"Helena, Helena!" John looked bewildered. After a minute Helena's face appeared. "Helena, what is going on?"

"I don't know John. I feel nauseous for some reason." John face went out of view. She did not look good. He called Bob Mathias. Bob's face came onscreen.

"Yes, John."

"Helena's office, she's sick, get over there; find out what's wrong. I am coming in." John could see that Helena had passed out at the console. He turned the Eagle around and headed to Alpha.

John Koenig was not a man to worry but he worried about Helena.

John Koenig entered the Medical Center to see his wife hooked up to a monitor. He had thought the worst was behind them and now here was a new dilemma.

Bob Mathias came over. He checked out her vitals. Bob exited her room and made a call to Millicent Fegel to come in for a check-up. He retrieved a vial from the dish before him. Bob suspicions were correct. When Helena described her symptoms, Bob decided to rule in the obvious. This proved him right but there was another problem as well. One he should have been monitoring.

He called John aside. "What's up, Bob?" he asked.

"Helena's pregnant," Bob said matter-of-factly. John looked at him. What Bob said was somehow not registering. He thought he heard Bob say Helena was pregnant.

"I'm sorry Bob, what did you say."

"You heard me right the first time, John. Helena is pregnant." John sat down on a stool. Did Bob just say what I think he just said or am I dreaming?

"That's impossible, Bob." Koenig looked dazed.

"I am running another test but as far as I can see she is pregnant. The problem is, John, these implants never fail. I have put in many and I put Helena's in before you two got married. She should not be pregnant."

"When will you get the result from the second test?" John asked.

"In an hour. We are also checking her blood. John, her body is rejecting the fetus." John Koenig looked on horrified.

"What," Koenig stood and looked over at her. He went into her room. Bob, followed. He walked over to Helena. He looked down at her flushed features. She has been through so much this past year. Now she was about to lose her second child. Koenig was devastated. He held her hand.

"How could she be pregnant, Bob?"

"I called Milly. I believe that substance they mixed with Helena's blood when they kidnapped her must have altered the implant in some way. We are testing Helena's blood for residue of this substance. I believe her body must have reproduced it somehow and now her tissue is rejecting it as a foreign substance as well as the child."

"What are you saying, Bob. This substance is a part of her body now?"

"It's just a theory, John. We will know more when Milly gets here," Bob stated. As if on cue, Milly walked in. Bob left John in the room and took Milly to an examination room. He had the nurse give her a check-up and draw some blood.

Helena's eyes flew open and she sat bolted upright. Her eyes were wide with fright. John grasped her shoulders and she went into his arms. He held her in his arms for a while as she settled down.

"What's wrong, John?" she asked looking into his eyes. She saw pain and disillusionment there. Something was wrong. It was hard for John to hide anything from her. They were like one person now in many ways.

"You're pregnant." Helena's eyes opened wider.

"What?"

"You're pregnant," John said again.

"I can't be pregnant," she stated flatly.

"But you are. Bob thinks it's the substance they used to keep you alive when you were on Titan."

Bob Mathias walked into the room then. He watched Helena's face. A calm look came over her features. The smallest hint of a smile came to her lips. Bob could see she was happy.

John held her face up to him. "Helena, your body is rejecting the fetus," John stated.

"What?" she asked , "What do you mean?" She looked to Bob.

"We will know more later Helena. I am testing your blood for that unknown substance, and I am also checking Milly's. Her implants were put in before the Titan's experiment. Yours was put in after the experiment. We are checking every angle to see what's wrong."

"I don't know how this is possible." Helena's face still had that little smile as she spoke. Yes, I do know how this happened.

They had just left the pool where they had gone for a swim. John was tired after being on duty all night but he decided to take a swim with her nonetheless. They approached their quarters hand in hand. John buzzed them in and Helena went straight to the bathroom to wash the chlorine from her hair and to shower.

John headed to the refrigerator and rummaged around for a drink. He saw Tony's awful brew and decided to overlook it. He drank some fruit drink Helena had brought back the day before from the recreation center He gulped it down. He was now four days since they had been baptized

John had not touched her in those four days. He was going to be away from her for the next few weeks with the Eagle testings and upgrades. He felt the stirrings now. He entered the bedroom. The tired feeling fell from him like a mantel. He felt energized He began stripping his clothing. He could still hear the shower running. He entered the bathroom, and her figure silhouetted through the screen.

He opened the screen and her eyes lit up in surprise. He stood watching her as the water cascaded down her body. He felt the stirring much deeper as the knots in his stomach tightened. Helena extended her hand to him. He entered the shower. Her hair had turned into golden strands and he could see the shampoo dripping from her tress.

Helena swung her head back. John clutched at her hair and spun her around turning her back to him. He massaged her scalp with both hands as he built up a lather. Helena moaned. His caress was so tender and sweet. Her nipples stood up. John reached his hand forward. Helena was lost to him as he touched her. He felt her body shiver as he caressed her. He ran the lather all over her. He held her in his arms feeling the slippery lather on his skin.

Helena sighed she had not been with him since that day. She turned in his arm. She was surprised to see a look of adoration and not lust on his face. John washed the lather from her hair. Helena closed her eyes. She felt his strong fingers stroke back her tress. She sensed rather than felt him lean forward. His kiss gently caressed her lips. His tongue felt hot as it entered her mouth Helena surrendered to his administrations. Her body trembled with each touch. Suddenly he lifted her off her feet. Her eyes flew open. He was grinning at her and Helena laughed. Then his face grew serious. "I love you," he said.

"I love you," she said. John took her then oh so slowly.

John's hand went to her face. This broke her reverie. He put a wisp of her hair back from her face. He was horrified, but he could see that she was not. "Helena, baby, Bob says your body is rejecting the fetus"

A big grin came to Helena's face. John could feel the muscles knot in his stomach as he watched her. She must be losing her mind.

Her hands went to his face. "John, we are pregnant," she said. She leaned in and kissed him on the bottom lip. John looked at her but he was seeing far into the future. He felt she was not listening. All she seemed to have heard was that she was pregnant.

Helena focused on him, "John, everything will be OK. I won't lose this baby. This baby is a gift from God. I feel it." John felt as though a knife was slowly turning in his stomach and ripping it out. She must not have heard him. Helena shifted uncomfortably in bed.

Bob's eyes went to the monitor; her pressure was up. He came over to her and checked her pulse. "Helena, you need to remain calm. Your pressure just spiked," Bob said.

"Bob, I am so excited, pregnant. This is impossible, pregnant," she grinned. She hugged John to her. Something caught Bob's eyes and he looked down at the sheet when Helena leaned forward. It was blood stained.

"Helena, you're spotting, John, can you give us a moment please. He pulled John from the room and called a nurse and an orderly in. John was now alarmed. Bob pulled the curtains around her so John could see nothing. John started pacing.

Helena was unconcerned that she was spotting. This happens all the time she knew this. She would be fine.

John was skeptical. He could see nothing but disaster ahead. He watched as the orderly came out of the room. The sheets were in a plastic bag. John could see no blood. He stopped and ran his hand over his forehead. After a few minutes, Mathias pulled back the curtains. Helena was sitting up in bed. The smile on her face had gotten bigger. John was beside himself now. He quit pacing and started praying.

Bob gave her a shot. He said it would stop anymore spotting. John felt a calm replace the anxiety. He could not go in there feeling the way he did. She beckoned to him from the bed. He entered the room and was resolved to support her.

She went into his arms and he held her. Mathias and the nurse exited the room. Milly came out of the exam room and made to enter Helena's room but Bob stopped her. He wanted them to have some privacy.

John's heart ached but soared when he saw her face; she was radiant and beaming now. His lips brushed hers lightly. She held him to her. Mathias watched as they held each other for a while.

Bob left to check on Helena's blood sample. He looked at the results lying on his desk. He was afraid for them. From what he could see from the preliminary results of the first blood samples, something was wrong. The chemistry of Helena's blood was changing and if her blood was changing then so was the blood of the fetus

Mathias moved off and decided to go to the lab and check the results in the second sample. He called Professor Bergman on the way. He promised to meet him in the lab in twenty minutes. Mathias thought of the repercussions of this change in Helena's body. They both could die, because of this unknown substance.

When Mathias reached the lab, he had to wait on the results. They handed him the results after a few minutes, what he saw alarmed him. Victor Bergman walked in. Mathias motioned him to one side and clued him in on what was happening.

"Bob, what are you saying? Where is the first result?" the Professor asked.

He picked up the first results and handed them to Victor. Victor was obviously not pleased.

"How could you let this happen? Was no one monitoring them both, because of this substance? I would think with this unknown substance someone was monitoring them, Bob." Victor's voice was terse.

Mathias felt upbraided. It was surely his fault. "We assumed the substance saved their lives, we foresaw no side effects." Mathias' eyes did not meet Victor's glare.

"You assumed. Bob your assumptions may just have caused the death of both Helena and her child. We need to analyze this substance now. Get your best lab people here. I will get my people. Call William in the chemical department. We need to find out what this really is. Assemble everyone here in an hour." Victor Bergman left clutching the files in his hand.

Victor Bergman went back and forth between his technicians and Bob's. They had agreed to work long hours to find out just what was happening to Helena Koenig. They had worked steadily now for three hours only the preliminary tests were done so far.

Victor looked through his microscope. Something was just not right in the composition of Helena and Millicent's blood. Still, Helena and Millicent's blood were different from each other. Bergman looked up from his samples, Ed take a look at this and tell me what you think?"

Ed Spencer came over and looked at the two samples. He looked up at Victor. Victor could see that Ed was thinking the same thing he was. "This thing is changing its composition, Victor. It's like that gas you have experimenting on."

Victor shuddered as though someone had just walked on his grave. Ed had hit it square on the head. The two men looked at each other. Maya walked in and Victor went over to her. He spoke in her ear and she followed him over. Maya looked at the samples. She could not believe what she was seeing.

She faced Victor and Ed Spencer. "Is this what I think it is?"

Victor looked at her, "What do you think it is?" Maya turned her head to one side, she thought maybe she was incorrect in her summation. She looked at Spencer and then bent to look at the sample again.

Maya straightened her head and looked at Spencer and Victor in turn. "What's going on, Victor?" Maya was looking frightened. They had called her about Helena. This could not be Helena's anything.

Victor responded, "That's samples of Helena and Milly's blood, Maya." Maya looked horrified.

"I thought it was the gas that had somehow absorbed something and changed composition. Helena's blood, Milly's blood, Victor, how did this happen."

"We dropped the ball, Maya." Victor shook his head; he was disappointed in himself as well. With all that was going on, on Alpha he had not thought to investigate Helena's blood composition further after all they did to her and Milly down there. It had saved her life and that was all they cared about at the time. Now it may cost her, her life.

"Helena is pregnant, Maya. Somehow, the substance interfered with her new implant. Bob will have to removed it because it became inactive," Maya went to the stool and sat down. All kinds of horror scenes were playing in her head now. Victor went to her.

"Maya, we need your help to analyze this substance." Maya stood up and nodded her head. She called Main Mission and asked Sandra to take over her post. She had to work with Victor on this project. She would have to fill Sandra in later, if Helena did not call her.

Maya and the rest went to work analyzing the blood samples and isolating the substance present in both women.

Bob was fussing over Helena and she was being a bad patient. Finally, Bob left for the lab to see if Victor had anything yet. Helena sat up in bed. She wondered how she never even suspected she was pregnant all this time.

5 weeks pregnant, that yellow substance in my blood must have something to do with it. That day in the shower, I did fell something but I dismissed it. I must have become pregnant then.

Helena hugged herself. She had called Leah and told her the wonderful news. She had not gone into details. Leah had not questioned the miracle but just accepted it. Helena spoke to her at length. She said she would stop by later. Helena also spoke to Alibe and Sandra, she had not told them yet what was up but preferred to do it in person later.

Helena felt her stomach, she leaned into the pillow a happy grin on her face.

Hours later John walked into Helena's room to see she had fallen asleep. He had gone to engineering to report a fault in Eagle 12. He had spent some time also talking to Yitzhak. John was remembering the conversation. He sat in a chair next to Helena's bed. He watched her sleep.

Yitzhak had been supportive of John with this new crisis. John leaned into the chair and looked at her. He shifted his position and the chair creaked a little. Helena's eyes opened. He smiled at her. He got up and stood over her. She scooted over in the bed and he sat down swinging his leg up on the bed and leaning back he placed his arms around her.

She snuggled up to him. "John, I feel fine. May I go home now?"

"Helena, you know the answer to that question. Just six hours ago you were spotting."

"I know but I would feel better if I were home." She looked up imploringly at him.

"I have no jurisdiction in the Medical Center Haven't you told me that and shown me ever so often?" John smiled wickedly.

"John Koenig, don't pull that with me," she scolded him.

John looked at her seriously. "Let me tell you clearly then. Unless Bob Mathias clears you, you are not leaving medical."

Helena looked at him, she could see he was serious about this. She shrugged her shoulders and settled against him.

"John, darling, can you speak to Bob, let him know I am fine. Ask him to monitor me from home."

"Stop asking me, Helena, the answer is a resounding, no." Just then, Alan walked in and saw them in bed.

"Hello, Chief, I heard about the bun in the oven," Alan grinned.

"Who told you, Alan?" John asked sternly. He did not want any gossip about the baby.

"I ran into the professor earlier. How far along are you, Helena?"

"Oh, Alan, I am five weeks along. I feel like spring has sprung," she laughed and Alan laughed too, because it was contagious. Her voice was merry and cheerful.

Helena felt a slight discomfort as she sat back in John's arms. She had become very animated with Alan and had waved her arms about. Neither men noticed any change in Helena she had shown no sign. She did not notice when her monitor bleeped.

Helena was beginning to wonder if all was OK with this child. She felt moisture on her bed sheets. She smiled at John and Alan as they continued to talk about his upcoming date with Alibe. The discomfort was getting worst and she could feel the liquid spreading under the sheets.

Helena did not want to alarm John nor Alan. John looked down at her. "Are you OK, you suddenly got quiet?"

Helena looked up at him and smiled. It did not quite reach her eyes. Her discomfort was getting worst. "I think you should call Bob, John." The monitor bleeped again. The nurse looked up from her post. Dr. Koenig did not look OK to her, so she went over to room.

"How are you doing, doctor?" Marie the nurse practitioner asked.

"I think I am spotting again," she said to the nurse.

Both men looked with alarm at her and John got up from the bed. Alan felt a little awkward and decided to leave in case he got in the way.

As Alan exited the room Helena's discomfort became more severe. John turned to her and took her hand. The monitor bleeped again and the nurse came over to Helena to try to help in some way.

"Call, Bob," Helena's hand went out and she clutched him as the discomfort turned to pain.

Dr. Bob Mathias entered the lab and walked over to Victor Bergman and his assistant. William was on the far side of the room working with another group of people. They had been at it now for three hours. Victor looked up at Mathias. Victor laid hands on him in an attempt to smooth things over with him. Bob, accepted it as an apology.

"Anything new?" he asked. Victor turned and gestured to Maya who came over.

"We have discovered something quite interesting, Bob. There is another substance in Helena's blood that is not in Milly's. This substance seems to be fighting the unknown chemical in Helena's body. Her blood seemed to be changing in composition. In fact, there is a second unknown substance in her blood. I need you to draw some amniotic fluid, do an Amniosynthesis, Bob. I need to see what is happening to the fetus"

"Do you think the fetus might be producing some of these substances?" Bob asked.

"Yes, it's possible. The child might be fighting the invasion," Maya stated.

Bob Mathias looked through the microscope at the varying substances. He watched as Prof. Bergman separated the substances. The dyes showed that the substances were warring with each other.

"Bob, as far as I can see, Helena will abort this child, it is inevitable given the circumstances," Victor pronounced.

"Are any of the substances defeating this unknown substance?" Bob asked. Maya showed him the smear on her microscope slide, Bob looked with interest as he saw the unknown substance being absorbing by the second unknown substance in Helena's blood. Bob was fascinated with what he was seeing. Helena's blood had become a battleground.

Bob wondered how Helena was still pregnant with all that was going on. He looked at the slides as Maya added them one by one. The technicians had done a good job in setting them up. Victor reproduced them onscreen and they were able to look at them more closely.

Victor was puzzled, where was this second substance coming from. If from the fetus, why hadn't it aborted? He asked the technicians to set up more slides. This time he was going to look at the amniotic fluid. Bob would draw it as soon as he got back to Helena.

Bob looked at the various slides again. Something was nagging at him. He called Ed Spencer and had him look at Milly's blood them Helena's blood. Spencer noticed it right away. The nucleus on Milly's white blood cells were normal; the ones on Helena's had gone sickle shaped.

Ed told Bob. Bob called Victor and Maya. They both looked at it.

"Why didn't I see that before now," Victor chided himself. He raced over to the technicians and asked them for isolations on both nuclei.

The technicians set to work. Bob hovered over them. A fresh pair of eyes was always good.

William left his workstation and went to Victor. Victor called over Maya, Ed and Bob.

"Tell them what you just told me, William," Victor said.

"Well, as far as I can see. This is not a chemical."

"Then what is it? We have been working on the premise that it is," Maya said.

"From what I can see it is an organic matter. It's blood."

"What!?" Ed Spencer exclaimed.

"Yup, it is some sort of blood. It functions as such. I think they gave both women transfusions of their blood," William said.

Victor nodded his head. It made sense to him. "What we need to find out is if this blood is somehow a deadly poison to the fetus?" Bob said.

"From what I can see, Dr. Koenig's blood accepted this blood. She is a universal donor type O+. This blood seems to be of that nature. It is a universal donor in more than one way. These aliens can somehow give blood to almost any other species of alien life forms."

"Why do you say that?" Victor asked.

"The composition is pure sunlight, oxygen, hydrogen, and other inert gases. In addition, some substances I have never seen before. It is all living matter. Some I cannot analyze. Some of it is some sort of plasma."

The group was left speechless. This changed everything. William had shed light on a completely new ball game.

Mathias' comlock went off. He answered it to see an alarmed John on screen. Mathias headed out the door before John could speak. He was running as he spoke to Koenig.

"Bob, get over here, Helena is having complications!"

"I'm on my way," Bob said closing communications. He entered medical at a run. Helena was doubled over on the bed. John was beside himself with panic. He could do nothing but watch as she suffered.

"What's happening, Bob?" he asked.

"I do not know, John!" Bob beckoned to a nurse and they both eased Helena back onto the bed. Bob closed the curtains and looked at her monitors.

Helena with batted breath told them she was losing fluid. Bob examined the bed sheets and saw a clear almost yellow liquid. He guessed this was the fluid itself being rejected by Helena and the fetus

Bob picked up a syringe and injected 40 mg of Butalibital into Helena's blood stream. He gave her another injection and she relaxed.

"What's happening to me, Bob?" Bob had no idea. What William said left him baffled. There were just too many variables.

"Helena, we are still checking on the samples. What we know so far is that the yellow substance is blood."

"Blood?" Helena asked. John Koenig entered the room. He told John their findings.

"Blood?" John Koenig asked, "Why didn't it occur to us?"

"We are working at two angles here. One, is the shape of the nucleus and the other is the fact that is thing is pure energy," Mathias said.

"Energy?!" They both exclaimed.

"Yes, energy in its purest form I believe."

"So, what's next?" Helena asked.

"We do a Amniosynthesis. You should be feeling sleepy by now, Helena. We will check on the fetus"

Bob exited the room and spoke to the nurse.

John looked at Helena. He wanted to ask her a vital question, but he was not sure how she would respond. Helena's eyes closed. He would ask her later. He watched her fall asleep. What's in store for us now? Is this child a blessing or a new dilemma?

Bob came in and John left. He went to Main Mission and entered his office. Even now, he was not much of a praying man, but John prayed. He needed to let Helena know he was not going to stand by and watch her die for the sake of the child.

He was in anguish. A buzz came to the door and Alan Carter walked in. He looked down in the dumps. He slouched in the chair before John's desk.

"What's up? I thought you were on a date with Alibe?"

Alan sighed. He sat up and John waited for him to reply. After a while he did.

"John, I think I made a bad mistake. I think Alibe realizes it too. I got baptized, John, because ... well ... because she gave me that ultimatum. She says she shouldn't have told me what she did. She said Monica told her it was a good idea not to date a non-Christian man but she should not force me to do it for her."

"Alan, you are not a child. You need to grow up, man. Alibe just wanted you to straighten out your life. Yes, she went about it the wrong way but in the end it is your relationship with God that counts the most, not Alibe." John could not believe what he was saying to Alan and it actually made sense.

Alan looked sadly over at John. He could see that John had his own problems to deal with. Alan realized that John was not pacing and he looked calm. Alan wished he could remain hopeful in his situation. Alibe was about to dump him again. He had strong feelings for her and he was in a daze about what to do.

Alan stood. "John, you are right. I need to face this. I will talk to David about this and Alibe as well. I cannot remain in limbo." Alan sighed he was at the end of the rope, it was now time to sink or swim. He cuffed John on the shoulder as he left.

John turned to his desk and decided to do the urgent paper work piled on his desk since yesterday morning. In an hour, he was done and heading back to medical.

Helena was sleeping when John got back there. It was almost midnight. He stretched out on a lounge chair one of the orderlies must have placed there for him. John watched her as she slept.. His mind went back to that day in the shower. If he had known that would have brought this he would have not touched her that day.

John fell asleep.

Ben Vincent took the samples to Victor and the others for analysis. He handed it to Maya as he entered. He could see they were at it for hours and would be at it for much more. The place was strewn with coffee cups and discarded food containers.

There were samples everywhere. Ben went over to the Professor, he looked out of sorts.

He was looking at slide after slide. It did not help him that this thing was blood. He was even more baffled. He had it isolated now and was looking at it. From what he could see on the third sample of blood from Helena, taken just before the Amniosynthesis, she had more of this blood in her system than before.

Something or someone was producing this fluid. Her system was trying to flush it out. If his guess was right, something odd was going on with this fetus Ben joined him as Ed entered. Ed had gone home to take a shower and change. Ben was supposed to be minding the store. Ed nodded to him and joined Victor looking on the slides.

Victor made a few notations and gave them to Ed. Ed looked them over. He made a few notes himself and looked at the slides. Victor left to take a shower and come back.

"Why don't you take a look at this we need a fresh pair of eyes." He handed the notes to Ben. Ben looked at them. Ed stopped the slide. He had seen something on one of them he flipped the switch and it went back. He freeze-frame the picture. He went closer to the screen.

Is that a smear on the screen or is that a clot of some sort? Ed magnified it. It was tiny but it looked like a blood clot. He looked around on the shot for more. His now trained eyes saw several. This must be what is causing Helena to lose blood.

Spencer magnified it even more, and he saw also some orange clots. The alien blood. There is indeed a war going on here. He saw more orange clots than red. He knew who was winning this fight too.

Ed paged Victor and William. He explained his theory to Ben. Ben agreed with his findings. A while later Ben left for medical as Victor and William entered.

"I think I found the cause of Helena's blood loss," Ed said. He magnified the frames and ran them by Victor and William. Victor went closer to the screen as Ed pointed out the areas of clots.

"Good job, Ed. If we can isolate this thing, we can stop the rejection processes," Victor analyzed.

"What is this area here?" William asked pointing to an golden area. It was strange but it blended into the background and Ed had not seen.

"Hold everything here. Victor, this looks like a blending of the two. Their blood and Helena's fused together as one. This is the breakthrough we have been waiting for," he turned to Victor and said, "Can we replicate this?"

"Are you sure that is Helena's blood? Look again." Victor pointed to the areas.

Ed looked at the smears. Victor turned to the technicians and had them set up the sample from the fetus. He told William to do an analysis. Someone called dietary and ordered a pot of coffee every hour on the hour. That area never closed because Alpha never slept.

Ben Vincent headed into medical and decided to check on Helena first thing. He checked the monitors then entered the room. John was not stretched out on the chair as before, the Commander was in bed with his wife. She laid her head on his shoulders and he had his arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders.

Ben picked up the tray and went on the opposite side of John. He drew some blood from Helena's arm. She did not awaken. Only Koenig stirred and opened him eyes. Ben smiled at him and he looked to see what Ben was doing. Koenig closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

Ben sent the vials to the lab but he could tell things had escalated. He did his rounds.

Helena stirred an hour after that. Then she had the most vivid of dreams. She dreamed she was walking in a meadow. She looked down and she knew she was pregnant but she was not showing.

The running water before her sent the fragrance of summer rain. She looked down and stooped to pick a morning glory from the bunch of flowers before her.

Helena held it to her face and smelled. It had a slight fragrance. She glanced to her right as a movement caught her eyes. She knew, somehow it, was John. Helena could feel the pebbles under her feet as she turned towards him. She saw him over the expanse of space between them. He moved towards her and they embraced as they touched. Helena closed her eyes as his lips touched hers.

John's grip on her tightened as the kiss took them into a realm of love and devotion to each other. He lifted her off her feet and walked with her a short distance. He approached the fruit tree and sat on its roots cradling Helena safely in his arms as he did so.

He rested her squarely on his lap. His lips never left hers in all this time. Helena had to come up for air. She smiled at him.

"The only thing I enjoy more than kissing you, is making love to you. I adore you, Helena," he whispered.

"I love you, you are my life," she said. John kissed her again. Helena, a little above him, cradled his face in her palm. She caressed his face as her tongue left her mouth and went into his. John's heart raced and his mouth gripped her tongue like a drowning man clutching at a straw. Helena moaned as she felt the pressure on her tongue.

Is he giving me a tongue transplant? I swear he does not know his own strength sometimes, she thought.

Helena came awake, the same time as John did. They looked at each other, had they both been having the same dream. "John, where you dreaming we were in a field kissing?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied.

Helena could still feel the pressure on her tongue from that powerful kiss in the field. Was it a dream? Why are we experiencing the same dream? They sat up together baffled. Helena described the field, as did John. Helena brought her hand to her face and she could smell the fragrance of the flowers she had picked.

They did not know what to make of this. "Something strange is happening, John, I feel strangely calm and serene."

"I do too. I feel a sense of well being," he said, "Is the pain gone?"

"No, I have a dull ache, a few pins and needles at intervals, but nothing as severe as before."

"I was thinking about when you got pregnant," he said.

"In the shower," they both said together and laughed.

"That means we are having the baby in December," she said. John grimaced when she said that. He was not sure she could carry the baby to term. He smiled at her. He said nothing. Helena sensed him uncertainty. She said nothing. It was 3.00 A.M.

They decided to get some more sleep. Helena tried to fall asleep. John noticed she was restless and guessed she was in more pain. He pressed the self-medication button at her fingertips. Helena felt the relief a few minutes later. She slept through the night.

Early in the morning, Commander Koenig came awake with a start. He had a sharp severe pain in his abdomen. He also felt sick to his stomach. John made a race to the bathroom awakening Helena in the processes. She heard him retching in the bathroom and was puzzle. She heard him groan.

"John," she called.

John stuck his head out the bathroom door. He looked sick. "What's wrong?" before he could answer, he was back in the bathroom retching again.

Ben Vincent heard the retching and came in. He entered the bathroom and checked John over. He could see nothing and his instruments showed him nothing. Ben took him to the examination room. Helena felt oddly better this morning. The pain was less severe and her morning sickness had left her.

An hour later, John came in with Ben and Mathias in toe. Both men were grinning like idiots.

They obviously find something funny.

John plopped down in a chair and popped some pills in his mouth. Helena sat up looking on them. "Will someone say what is so funny." John was not laughing so the joke must be on him. Helena looked at him. He still did not look so good.

Helena finally gave up. "Well, what's so funny?"

"John, is experiencing pregnancy symptoms. Helena balked at that. No wonder she was feeling better today. Things are getting stranger and stranger, she thought.

Two days later, everyone gathered around the table and sat down as Professor Bergman entered and sat. The slides were set up and Bergman handed out the files with what they knew so far. He decided to fill them in. Maya, William, Ed and Bob, who was summoned at 3.15 A.M. for this meeting, all looked apprehensive.

"What we have here, lady and gents, is a mutation of great magnitude. From all we have discovered it seems to me this is no ordinary baby. While what is happening has happened in some mothers, this is impossible."

"We have a maternal mirror syndrome going on here," Ed took over, "The fetus is producing an antigen that is incorporating the alien blood into its own. Helena is doing the same. Apparently, the fetus used the blood in its first stage of development. The blood type of this child is O-unknown. This O-unknown blood type is absorbing the rest of the alien blood found in Helena. Since it is now the child's blood it's overcompensating for the mother's rejection. It is trying to cure her rejection. The fetus is releasing this new blood into its mother's blood stream."

"In other words the fetus is trying to cure Helena," Victor chimed in, "It's extraordinary, but it's trying to replace Helena's blood with its own blood."

"The baby is adapting itself?" Maya asked, "Mutating? How? Why?"

"Survival, Maya, survival," Victor answered. "The fetus is trying to save itself by changing Helena. Helena is mirroring this and trying to save the child, hence the eclampsia. My guess is the child is part alien. The amnio show a lot of abnormalities. Plus this blood is like nothing we have ever seen before. The three substances in her blood is, hers, mutated, his and the original bloods from the transfusion they gave her."

"She's having a boy?" Maya asked. Victor nodded his head.

"The yellow spotting is Helena rejecting this new blood also. The bleeding from Helena was the fetus' attempt to change the composition of Helena's blood. Helena's body produced antigens, the antigen produced antibodies and the fight was on," Ed continued.

Victor added, "The fetus' blood is golden, the two unknown substances were yellow and orange aparently. Now Helena's blood turning golden. I believe the golden color is a combination of both the yellow and orange mixing. What triggered this, we do not know."

"So, Helena is still in danger. How did she get pregnant in the first place?" Maya asked.

William took over there, "The alien blood knocked it out. The thing is pure energy. It disabled the release mechanism and dissolved the medication somehow. Our blood is complex. We have in our blood stream red blood cells (erythrocytes), white blood cells (leukocytes), and platelets. All this carried by the plasma. Plasma is a straw-colored liquid consisting of water and dissolved solutes. Sodium ions (Na+) are the major solute of the plasma in terms of concentration. In addition to sodium, plasma contains many other salts and ions, as well as organic molecules such as metabolites, hormones, enzymes, antibodies, and other proteins. Plasma proteins are albumins, globulins and fibrinogen. The alien blood's composition is a thousand times more complex. I can't chart it."

"Is Helena in any immediate danger?" Maya asked.

"Yes; the nucleus on her white blood cells are mutating. She won't be able to fight this invasion much longer. Her body is being poisoned slowly. The white blood cells cannot help her fight this invasion. Her red cells are being engulfed," Ed answered.

Everyone sat silently around the room. This was a lot of information, impossible information. They tried to absorb it. Victor looked around the room. Bob had been unusually quiet. Victor could see his mind was working overtime on this one. Since the brain tumor, he had had an extra spring in his step.

During the last couple of days Helena had been in pain and medicating herself quite often. John hadn't eaten in the two days. He watched her suffer and he suffered. A strange thing was happening there too. John Koenig had taken on some of Helena's pain. She was feeling half the excruciating pain and John had the rest. He was on medication as well, taking it with nutritious liquids.

"So how do we combat this thing?" Ed asked.

Everyone looked up when he spoke. The room fell silent again. This was baffling.

"Is Helena going to die?" asked Maya after a while.

"Not yet. I think the fetus will try to compensate for anything like that. Its main purpose as it develops is to protect its mother. It will not allow her to die. We need to let the fetus know the mother cannot handle the new blood. If we can get the little guy to stop the transfusion we have a chance," Victor said.

"What about the white blood cells. They will soon all be sickle shaped and that is usually a red blood cells disease. She will lose her ability to fight the invasion. We should be making synthetic antibodies," Bob said.

"Don't need to. Millicent's blood has a lot. Her blood has been fighting it for quite some time. We can give Helena a dose of her antibodies every six hours and that should help considerably," William stated, "I should also say there is no way to get rid of this blood from her system. It never wears out."

"But the fetus got rid of it. It's now a part of its blood system," Maya said.

"Yes, indeed it has," Victor said, "but the blood is still there. We are still at square one, people. John and Helena are expecting a miracle here. They are praying for one. We need to find the trigger that will stop this wonderful gift from God turning into a heartache." They all nodded in acquiescence.

The meeting broke up and Victor headed to Main Mission. He needed to have a chat with John. Victor had a lot on his mind. John Koenig had a lot on his mind. They almost passed each other in the corridor. John was leaving Main Mission.

"Victor, were you coming to see me?" John stopped and asked.

"Yes. Are you going to see Helena?" he asked.

"Yes. Do you want to talk while we walk? Did you find any answers?"

"We found out a lot but there are too many variables. Your son has a mind of his own, John."

"Son, I'm having a boy?" John smiled for the first time in two days.

"Yes, a boy." Victor looked at his friend. John looked as though he had not slept in two days. He was also growing a beard. Victor could see though that he was not in despair.

They entered the travel tube and went down to medical. John walked briskly and Victor had to struggle to keep up.

"When will you know more, Victor?"

"Soon, John, soon just hang in there." Victor patted him on the shoulder as they entered medical. They both headed to Helena's room and entered unannounced.

Helena's bed was empty but there was blood on the sheets. Victor was alarmed as well as John. John reached for the comlock at his side.

"Bob," he called.

"Yes, John," Mathias' weary face appeared onscreen.

"Where is Helena?" he asked.

Bob left his desk and hurried into the room. He pushed pass John and Victor. He saw the blood and called hurriedly to the nurses. They came in.

"Dr. Koenig, did you see her leave?"

They all nodded no. Mathias looked from the blood on the bed to the floor.

"There is no way she walked out of here with all this blood. Someone must have carried her off."

John called Main Mission. "Paul, Red Alert. Computer, locate Dr. Koenig." The Commander waited for a response.

DR. KOEING IS IN MEDICAL CENTER.

Koenig and the rest baulked at that. John looked around and they all fanned out looking all over medical. The orderly went in to change the sheets in Helena's room. As he approached the bed, a forcefield electrocuted him off his feet and flung him out the door.

John and the rest entered the room as a Bob attended the orderly. John saw the rippling before him over the bed. Helena was indeed here. He could see her outline on the bed. She was encased in some sort of electrical cocoon.

"No one touch it," Professor Bergman ordered.

Helena was strolling along on the beach. The wind was in her hair and she could feel the tide grab at her feet as it ebbed and flowed. It was so wonderfully peaceful here. She wished John were here with her. She also found herself wondering how she got here. Somehow, she had been transported from Alpha and placed here. She remembered the severe pain and reaching to medicate herself when the blood started flowing fast. Then in the blink of an eye, she was here walking, far away from the pain and Alpha. Helena was not perturbed. She thought of the child and somehow knew it was he.

John Koenig was upset to say the least. It was now an hour and they still could do nothing about the forcefield. Suddenly the shield dropped. Koenig rushed to her side. Mathias ordered an IV with saline and the transfusion of Millicent's blood.

Bob slapped her cheeks and Helena's eyes opened. He could see she was safe and unafraid. The IV and transfusion came and Bob set it up. Helena began to feel a little relief from the transfusion in a while.

The orderlies rolled her from side to side and changed her sheets as the nurses cleaned her and changed her gown. John stood in the room and Victor outside the door.

When they left, Victor came in. "What happened, Helena?" he asked.

"I had another experience of not being here but I was wide awake this time."

"You had one before?" Victor asked.

"We both did. We were in a field, both of us," Koenig answered.

"This is extraordinary. The child has the ability to teleport. If it does soon it will not have to set up a forcefield he will just take her there when it is stronger, amazing. It must be the Titan bloodline. The energy in that blood is untapped and unharnessed." Victor was very excited about this new development.

"I was walking on a beach, John. I could feel the sand beneath my feet."

"He is poisoning your system, Helena," Victor said quietly.

Helena was alarmed at this. "He is trying to replace your blood with his. Your body is rejecting it. Hence the blood and yellow liquid you keep loosing."

"He, did you say he?" she asked.

"Yes, honey we are having a boy," John said gently.

Koenig sat on the bed beside her and took her hand in his. Helena could see that he was not eating she noticed too that he seemed to be in a lot more pain than before.

"Helena, did you hear what Victor just said. He said the child is poisoning you. We have to stop it," John said.

Helena became alarmed at this. "I won't lose this child, John," she affirmed.

"Helena, we might have to abort it for your own safety. Its attempt a while ago, was to do just that. The fact that he took you out of the pain of the situation makes no difference. He might try a total transfusion, you would literally bleed to death," Victor warned.

Helena leaned her head to one side and looked at Victor. He could see the veins begin to rise on her neck.

"Victor," she said, "No one is touching this child. Whatever he is, he is John's and mine. I love him, I want him and nothing you say will stop me from carrying this child to term. I have a feeling, call it divine, but I will have this child."

Victor pursed his lips. This was a difficult situation. All he could think of was an abortion. He knew neither Helena nor John would agree. As Christians, they would not even consider it. Victor was left with a dilemma.

"Helena, John, what other options do you see before you?" Victor went into details about their findings. The Koenigs sat in awe of what he said. This was going to be no ordinary child indeed. When Victor was through, they sat there in silence. It was like the hand of Dr. Soufa had reached from beyond the grave to rob them of their very lives.

"The option I see, Victor, is to trust God for a miracle. It is beyond human hands now," Helena sighed.

"Helena, you are being foolish. John, tell her this is an impossible situation and she has to consider the option?" Victor pleaded.

John did not respond. Victor looked at Helena and tried another approach. "Helena, if you are not thinking about yourself then think about John and what you are putting him through,"

Helena shot Victor a look. Victor had never seen that look directed at him before now. He opened his mouth to speak and Helena stopped him with a hand raised abruptly in the air.

Victor shook his head and looked at John. John looked tired. Victor decided to leave them alone; they both must be tired. Victor walked out of the room feeling a little defeated.

"John, you look wretched. How are you doing?" she asked.

"Oh, I'll live. Our son is very clever. This thing only occurs in a man's mind according to Bob, but our son, in some way, has projected your symptoms unto me."

"Are you eating?"

"I can't eat. I keep bringing it up?"

Helena reached for him and was never so, grateful for him than in that moment. John snuggled in her arms and slept a little. He was battle wary.

Victor found himself pacing outside of medical. After a while, he went in. It was midnight and they were both still sleep. Victor watched them for a while he could see that John was restless.

He must be in pain, thought Victor.

He had gone over the entire aspect of this phenomenon. The child was now over six weeks old.

The Amniosynthesis proves that John and Helena are the parents of this child. Yet, this child has the nature of the Titans. How could it absorb only the blood of the Titans and not that of its mother?

Victor was puzzled. He watched as a nurse passed and went into the room. She medicated both of them. The transfusions from Milly had staved off Helena's attacks somewhat, but John somehow seemed to be withstanding the worst of the pain.

Both monitors went off and the nurse rushed into the room. Monitors were going wild and the nurse called in Dr. Ben Vincent. He was responding to another emergency call on Alpha. Dr. Vincent paged Ed Spencer and they both rushed into medical three minutes later.

They both looked at the monitors. They were confused. They did not know what to do. Both doctors checked each pulse. They were rapid. John and Helena's temperature had elevated beyond normal human conditions.

"This is impossible. They are both 120 degrees Fahrenheit," Ed said. They felt them. They were warm to the touch but not hot.

Victor stood there mesmerized. He could not understand what was happening. Their temperature continued to rise and Ed ordered a drop in temperature in Helena's room. They sent the nurses and orderly to bring ice and lots of it. Ed ordered a further drop in temperature and retrieved a jacket for himself and Dr. Vincent. Victor already had one on.

The nurses checked Helena for any haemorrhaging. They were no sign of any. Ben and Ed were baffled. They called Bob Mathias. Victor stood helplessly by and watched the proceedings.

Bob Mathias came in minutes later. He checked their temperate.

"Are they showing any signs of going into a coma?" He looked at Ed.

"No, no signs. I think the child is up to something. Something dangerous," Ed said.

The nurses and orderlies arrived with ice and packed it around John and Helena. The doctors, nurses and professors watched as their temperature started to drop.

"Their must be a way to get through to this child," Victor said. "It seems to be intelligent beyond its years. How can we communicate with it? Can't it see it's killing them?" As the last words left Victor's mouth, the child's forcefield went up. Victor and the rest watched as the ice melted around them.

A strange thing started happening the forcefield began to grow. It forced them out the room. They watched helplessly as the forcefield pulsated and turned red. Bob watched the monitor and saw they were no longer blinking crazily.

"I think the child is stabilizing them," Bob cried.

They all watched as Helena and John both disappeared from sight.

John and Helena found themselves by a fireplace in a house in the middle of the woods. They were not dressed in the hospital issue nor the uniform. They were seated on an old couch that was very familiar to them. The were in lounge clothes. They could see a hot cup of steaming cocoa before them. Helena looked at John and smiled. They thought they were dreaming or the child had transported them to some distant planet or future. They were not sure which.

Helena got up and stretched. She felt the pain in her abdomen as she stood. John stood and held her in his arms as the pain subsided. This was the first time Helena felt any pain in this realm. John was feeling pain too. He felt that either they were in serious trouble or they were dying back on Alpha.

He looked at her, "Do you think this child wants us to feel secure here while it takes what it wants from you and then let you die?"

"John, I do not sense that this child is evil. I sense that it has gotten into something it cannot handle. There is a struggle and it wants to live and wants us to live too," she said.

The pain left her then. John felt it too, as his pain subsided. "I am going to look around, do you want to come with me?" she asked. John nodded his head.

They both looked around the room they were in. It was rustic, with wood furniture of a crude nature scattered throughout. It looked cozy and lived-in. It was also so familiar to them, somehow.

They looked into the hall closet. They had crude heavy winter clothes hanging in it. John and Helena were still puzzled. They walked into the room again and headed to the kitchen. John and Helena stopped as they approached the pictures on the wall. They were two small boys smiling back at them. The one on the right looked older by three years it looked to John. One looked ten years old the other seven.

The older of the two was fair with curly platinum blonde hair and freckles. The other was dark with dark brown hair. Helena took the picture from the wall and looked at it. The children also looked familiar.

Helena and John headed in to the kitchen carrying the picture. They looked around the quaint room. The same familiarity greeted them. Helena walked around the kitchen. The utensils, pots and pans too looked to be made of unfinished and unpolished material.

John walked over to a table and took up a piece of cloth. He held it up into the light. Helena gasped as she recognized the fabric as Alpha's uniform. It was old and worn and was being used as a cleaning cloth. Things were looking even more puzzling for them.

They felt the atmosphere change and fade as they too faded.

Ben, Bob, Ed and Victor increased the temperature in medical to below freezing. The forcefield dropped and John and Helena reappeared. They approached them cautiously. Bob checked the instruments and there was no reading from them.

Bob thought they were dead, the instruments were broken or John and Helena were in some kind of stasis. He preferred to think it was the last one. He had seen stasis before so had Ben and Ed. They had even had a chance to study it some when the Kaldorians had Helena in stasis. In addition, the Archanon's had used it.

The fetus was not successful in shielding them this time John and Helena were in a deep sleep. Ed checked the instruments and they were working fine.

Victor's hand went to his lips as he realized something. The forcefield went up as soon as he said it was killing them. The child, he believed responded to his concern. If the child understood what was happening around him maybe science was not the answer in solving this mystery.

Victor left for Alpha's archives to do a little research while the doctors tried to awaken John and Helena.

John was upstairs in the bedroom. He found himself riffling through a desk draw. He was puzzled. He was no longer downstairs with Helena. Where was Helena? John looked at the draws contents. Alpha paperwork, his comlock, stun gun and some items that were on his desk in Main Mission were the contents. Why were his things here instead of on Alpha, he wondered.

He heard the door open and turned to see Helena coming out of the bathroom. She had a robe wrapped around her. Her hair was wet. She smiled at him through her pain. He could see she was suffering as silently as he was.

She sat on the bed and removed the towel from around her waist. John saw a little stomach before her. She was pregnant.

He approached her and took the towel from her hand, and started drying her hair. "Helena, your stomach is showing."

"Yes, I seem to be at least six months pregnant here," she said touching her stomach. John ran his hand along her shoulders and down her back; her hair extended beyond her waist.

"Your hair has grown. It is beautiful." John was caressing her breast from behind as he spoke. "You look so beautiful wet, pregnant and your long hair cascading down your back. I want to make love to you."

"John, I don't think I am pregnant with the baby I am pregnant with on Alpha. I think this is a different child."

"What?" He removed his hand from her breast and turned her around to face him. "How could you be?"

"John, we should not even be here. I do not know how I know. I just know I am not pregnant with our first child."

John looked at her she looked the same as ever. If she was not pregnant with their first child, which one was this? Helena had not aged through the years and neither had he if this was their future. Helena looked at him in earnest. Her beauty and the fact that he could feel the child moving in Helena's stomach distracted John.

His hand went to her face and he kissed her. Pulling her to him, he could feel her nakedness through his clothing. He became even more aroused. His kiss deepened. Helena could feel his urgent need for her pressing on her thigh. The towel dropped from his hand. His arms circled her around the waist. Helena melted against him.

She reached out and unbuttoned his shirt pulling it down and off. She caressed his chest as the shirt fell. All this time John's mouth never left her lips. The Koenigs felt the change as time shifted again.

This time they were in another bedroom. They saw a boy sleeping on a bed he looked at least seven years old. They both saw the movement in the shadows at the same time.

"Who is there?" John asked. Helena held on to his arm as the shadow moved forward. It was the little boy in the picture. The boy smiled at them.

"I knew you would come," the boy said.

"Who are you?" John asked.

"I am, Isaiah," he answered.

"Why were you expecting us?" Helena asked.

The boy came forward and reached his hand out to her. Helena took it. She felt her stomach lurch at his touch. Helena looked into eyes that were so familiar to her. "Who are you?" she asked.

The boy reached out his other hand and took John's hand too. He looked at the boy. He had Helena's eyes. The pain they were both feeling, subsided. The boy smiled at them. They felt the scene shimmer and change.

"Do you think we should try shock treatment?" Bob asked Ben.

Ben was uncertain. He did not want to mess with what he had no clue about. The monitor bleeped and they saw that they were going deeper in stasis.

Professor Bergman entered the room he was carrying some CD's with him along with a CD player.

"What's that for?" Ben asked as Victor passed and hooked it up to the outlet.

"This, my good fellow is my ace in the hole, I think," Victor worked while he hooked the thing up to Helena's stomach. "This child can hear us and understand at six weeks old. If he is anything like Aneleh, he is far advanced for his age. I think if he can make a moral judgment about saving Helena's life to save himself, then I think he can make another moral choice, to sacrifice his life for hers."

"What?" Bob asked. He thought the professor must have been losing his mind.

"In other words Bob, Ben, if this child knew the story of Jesus Christ and his love for mankind he would develop what is known as a conscience and maybe even religion."

"What! Are you serious? This child cannot think let alone make a decision like that. You are clutching at straws now. What about the blood that he keeps poisoning her with? Her body cannot take much more of that. Then you come in here with this mumbo jumbo about religion and a thinking child. Get a grip, professor, we are in peril here," Mathias was angry and a little confused at Victor's logic.

"Bob, trust me I know what I am talking about." Bob watched as Victor connected the listening device to Helena's stomach.

"Are you losing your mind? We need to stop this child from producing anymore of that blood and releasing it into Helena's system." Bob reached out and gripped Victor's arm. "This is getting out of hand, professor. You can't be serious about this?"

Victor looked at Bob's hand on his arm and Bob released him. "Bob, let me try this I have a hunch. This isn't the only hunch I have. I intend to counteract the reaction of the child's blood with Helena's. This is just the first measure to stall the child's attempts."

Bob sighed. Short of throwing him out and telling Tony to keep him away, Bob just let him set up his experiment. He shrugged, it couldn't hurt. Ben looked on and decided if that was the best they could do for now, he must head to the lab and help Ed who had left earlier to find an answer before it was too late. They must find a way to counteract this.

Victor turned on the New Testament tape of St. John's gospel he found in Helena and John's quarters. He had included also a recording of the book Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan as well. He looked on satisfied that this might help if the child was truly cognitive.

Bob shrugged his shoulders again and walked off. He was going to monitor any changes in brain waves on those two. Victor turned and left. Bob looked at the monitor then at the couple. Things are getting really bizarre.

Victor headed to the lab he had another idea. This time he called Millicent Fegel to meet him there.

Victor entered the lab and spoke to William. Millicent Fegel came in just then and Victor called her over. He spoke to her at length Millicent looked perturbed. She sat down on a chair while Victor had a technician draw some more of her blood.

He spoke to her some more then called Bob and spoke to him. They both left for medical.

Victor and Millicent entered medical and Victor spoke to them both.

"What I proposing is risky Milly, you could die," Victor said.

"I know Victor you said that before, but I am willing to try," she said.

"I cannot let you risk it, Milly," Bob said.

"It is my choice, Bob. This blood is increasing in my body and if I can help Helena maybe I can help myself later. Helena is not only my doctor, she is a very good friend," Milly said.

Bob threw up him hands in the air. Is Victor running medical now? I give up.

"OK, Milly, it is your choice. Victor strap her in," Bob went to set up the IV and monitors.

This had better work, Bob thought.

Millicent was afraid, but she would do all she could to try to save Helena and her baby. Victor was reticent. He figured the less they knew the better. Helena's life depended on this working. He was not sure however that Milly would survive.