Incubation (The Incubation Trilogy Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Halla’s floor, and moments later I’m tapping gently on her door. It opens immediately and then Halla is hugging me. I catch a whiff of body odor under her natural cinnamony scent. She hasn’t washed or changed.
    “You came,” she breathes. The fruitiness of ketosis tells me it’s been a long time since she ate.
    I hug her back hard. “Of course I came,” I say, as if there was never any doubt. I’m glad I did. In the dim light from the table lamp her eyes are red and swollen. A pile of sodden tissues on the bed testifies to quarts of tears; she should be dehydrated by now. “Did you eat anything?”
    She shakes her head and blinks back more tears, trying to speak. Pulling a vegeprote bar out of my bag, I hand it to her. “Eat first,” I insist, whispering. We can’t afford to be heard and informed on. I can’t afford it.
    She sags onto the bed and bites through the edible wrapper. I fetch a glass of water and hand it to her. It chatters against her teeth as she drinks. I take it, place it on the nightstand next to her open Bible, and sit beside her. She takes another bite of the energy bar, and says something unintelligible.
    “What?”
    She swallows hard.
    “I’m pregnant.”
    “What!” I jerk and my elbow smacks the water glass. It falls to the tile floor and smashes.
    We freeze, listening for any indication that someone heard us. There’s no sound from the next rooms. Glass slivers glitter on the floor, but neither of us makes a move to sweep them up.
    I relax slightly, ashamed that my first reaction is hurt that Halla didn’t tell me that she and Loudon were even having sex. What do I say now? “How pregnant?” Stupid question. Pregnant is totally pregnant, no gradations.
    “Six months.”
    “Oh, Halla.” I’m sad that she’s kept this secret alone for so long. I’d noticed she was getting a bit plumper, but she’s always been on the round side, so I hadn’t thought much of it. “Does Loudon know?”
    She shakes her head and the tears stream again. Last time I saw her this upset was the day Loudon left to start his IPF training. Coincidentally, that was six months ago.
    Handing her more tissues, I say, “It isn’t the end of the world. You’ll have the baby, it’ll be sent to another Kube, and you can—”
    “I want to keep my baby.” She puts a protective hand on her belly. “Our baby—mine and Loudon’s.”
    Oh. Different story. No way is that possible. She doesn’t have a husband or a procreation license, and hasn’t contributed the mandatory nation service that would earn her the right to have a baby and keep it. This baby was conceived without a license: the law says it belongs to the state. I don’t bother telling Halla that—she knows it.
    “This baby is God’s gift to me, me and Loudon. The government shouldn’t be able to take him away because we don’t have a license and haven’t done our service yet.” Her lower lip sticks out. “I’m not going to let them. I’ll die first.”
    Normally a gentle person, Halla has a stubborn streak and I know she means it.
    “What are you . . . how do you plan to—?”
    She looks me in the eyes, her own red-rimmed, but determined. “I’m running away.”
    “You can’t!”
    “I have to.”
    The difficulties that will confront her swirl in my mind. How will she find food? What about shelter? She’ll be an enemy of the state—hunted. Her family is dead, so they can’t help. Her parents died when she was one and her grandmother took her in; she lived not far from the coast in the Delta Canton, a land of swamps, drawling speech, hurricanes and religious enclaves that were among the last hold-outs against the Pragmatist government. When her grandmother disappeared and was presumed dead, Halla came here. She’s soft and gentle, not a fighter. She’ll fall prey to one of the roving bands of outlaws. Horrible images hold me silent. “Where will you go?” I finally ask.
    “To Loudon.” Her soft mouth sets mulishly.