She awoke in the throes of a mind numbing panic.
Her eardrums sympathetically vibrated with the subliminal hum of an
unseen, unheard yet very palpable force just below the threshold of
audible frequencies. Her heartbeat sloshed in her ears as though she
were under water, desperately trying to escape a powerful predator.
The adrenaline in her veins and the irrational fear that paralyzed
her made every joint in her body ache and yielded spasmodic pains as
though her muscles were tightly coiling around themselves. Her mouth dry
and vocal cords frozen from fear, Lisa lacked the power to give voice
to a scream that was born, grew and died in her throat without
expression. Unable to move and still unaware of the cause of her
discomfort, Lisa could detect a barely perceptible blue-green aura
through the partially closed Venetian blinds and drawn drapes in her
bedroom. The air was charged; she could sense it though the prickly
itch of her hair standing on end. It smelled like a summer thunderstorm
had just passed though, despite a cloudless sky.
After long, silent moments of languishing transfixed in irrational
terror, satin sheets clinging coldly to her naked body as she lay in a
perspiration-soaked bed, a painful flash of white light inundated her
bedroom, leaving Lisa temporarily blind, with multiple circular black
afterimages receding slowly through her repetitive blinking, eventually
fading to gray and melding into a humanoid form standing some six feet
from the foot of her bed. The form, a hairless, androgynous ashen
skinned humanoid with large, seal-like black eyes, button nosed, with
thin, small lips, approximately five feet tall and weighing perhaps
ninety-five pounds, finally spoke to her. More accurately, it
transmitted words and fragmentary, vivid images into her mind
accompanied by a soft, musical sound that might be speech and was as
beautiful as it was unintelligible.
“Please, please don’t hurt me,” she thought, still unable to utter a sound.
“No need to fear; we will not do you harm. Be calm,” the creature
replied in visual words and images that were fragmented but quite clear.
“Please go away. Oh. God, help me, please.” Lisa would have cried
and screamed and run had she the power to do any of those things. Since
she did not, she lay still, mentally pleading with the seemingly
innocuous creature whose presence, despite its attempts at reassurance,
had done little to ameliorate her dread.
“Do not fear. We bring you a gift with which to bargain for your
help.” The creature’s facial expression and body language did not
change, but the visual messages it transmitted clearly tried to show its
good will. Warmth, happiness, contentment emanated from the creature as
does the sweet scent of a flower carried by a slight summer’s breeze.
“You won’t hurt me?” Lisa half asked, half pleaded, somewhat
reassured by the creature’s communication, yet certainly not yet
disposed to accept its alleged good will at face value.
“We come only to offer a gift, in exchange for your assistance.”
“What kind of gift? And what type of help do you want?” Lisa’s fear
seemed to dissolve rather quickly with each reference by the creature to
a gift.
“We offer a great gift, the ability to communicate without words as
we now do, in exchange for your service” The creature retorted,
seemingly encouraged into more negotiation by Lisa’s growing
receptiveness.
“Are you offering me the gift of telepathy?” Lisa’s heart, no longer
beating fast in response to fear, was beginning to speed up in response
to a new growing emotion.”
“You may call it that, yes.”
“What do you want in exchange?” Lisa asked, furrowing her brow
slightly, and beginning to ask herself what in her power she would not
be willing to do for that ability.
“You must incubate one of us and nurture it until it is strong enough to part from you.”
“I don’t understand. Do you want me to care for you or one of your kind? To be a baby sitter?”
“Much more,” the creature replied, sending Lisa a clear image of a human body, her body, in the last stages of pregnancy.
“No!” replied Lisa, tried instinctively to close her legs and gather
her sheets about her, aware for the first time of her nakedness and
vulnerable position with great revulsion. She also remembered the
unpleasant reports of alien encounters with horrific medical exams and
intrusive probes wielded by intergalactic perverts apparently intent on
molesting humans for their own gratification. But her body would not
obey her commands; whether she was paralyzed by some sort of stasis
field of by the creature’s mental powers, she did not know.
“It is not copulation we seek,” the creature immediately offered,
seemingly amused and sending a clear visual image of its honorable
intentions. “Our anatomy is unlike yours and would not permit it, but
your womb is compatible for our purposes. We would plant an embryo in
your uterus that would grow, protected and nourished through your normal
biological means” With this, the creature sent an image of a sesame
seed-sized embryo being implanted into a human host, and later emerging
in the usual means less than a fifth the size of a human baby.
“No pain?” Lisa asked, relived but cautious.
“Both the implantation and the subsequent birth are completely free of discomfort.”
“How long for the procedure and how long is the period of gestation?”
“Two of your minutes for the implantation and six of your weeks for the gestation to be completed.”
“A two minute implant and painless delivery six weeks later buys me the gift of telepathy, huh. Is that your deal?”
“Yes.”
“Wait a minute. My mother raised no fools. How long does my telepathy last?”
“Throughout the entire period of your life.”
“Not bad. A lifetime of telepathy for six weeks of work.” Lisa
replied, more to herself than to the creature, who perhaps sensing that
fact made no reply.
Then, her brow furrowing again, she continued, “If this is such an
easy deal, why do you need me? Why can’t your own kind do so
themselves.”
“All of those capable of breeding on our world are dead.” The
creature’s thoughts and mental images conveyed great sadness. We will
cease to exist as a species unless we have outworlders such as yourself
help us.”
“Sorry to hear that. “ She thought back at the creature, which again
made no reply. “Is there any risk to me from the pregnancy or birth?
Will you return for the birth? And how long need I care for the thing
afterwards?”
“There is no risk to you. We will give you medications to strengthen
your immune system and eradicate any illness you may currently have.
The medication will also prevent your antibodies from attacking the
embryo. We can guarantee your health and vitality for the rest of your
life as a byproduct of the procedure. As to our return, it is
unnecessary. Our infants are self sufficient and require only the most
basic type of sustenance for a period that never exceeds two of your
weeks after their birth. The infant would then move on without need of
any additional assistance from you.”
“Sounds like a deal to me. The little bugger will pop out like a
slice of toast when its time comes, care for itself immediately, leaving
me with telepathy and good health for life, and I don’t even have to
undergo morning sickness or stretch marks. What more could a girl
want?” She smiled, thinking about the possibilities that telepathy would
provide for her. To know what others thought, and to be able to plant
messages in their minds. The possibilities were intoxicatingly endless.
**** END OF FREE PREVIEW ****
Earth Mother is one of the ten short stories in Mindscapes: Ten
Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction Short Stories. The book is
available as an audiobook, in paperback and in every major eBook format
from a wide range of book sellers.
Mindscapes short story collection –
Audiobook version. Click on any of the following vendors for additional
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