A People's Plight

Chapter 11

Susan

Susan made her way to the final woman to wake up, things had gone well so far.  No-one was panicking too much and everyone had listened to her calmly when she explained their current situation.  Must appeared resigned to the fact, that they had no options at the moment.

She had watched the exchange between Jace and the medical officer with interest and wondered what had been said, especially as the confident and commanding Captain now looked dejected and uncertain.  He was still lent against the wall, his shoulders hunched and his hands in his pockets.  He hadn’t looked up from his feet for the last 10 minutes or so.

Finishing comforting the woman next her, Susan rose and head towards Jace to tell him the good news.  Whilst talking to the women, she had found out that they included an emergency doctor, a gynaecologist, three nurses and a lab technician.  Hopefully they would be able to help the ship’s doctor to research the population problems.

She stopped right in front of Jace, but he didn’t look up, despite the fact that he could definitely see her feet.  Placing her hand on his arm, she asked “Is everything okay?”

He took a couple of deep breaths, before looking up.  His face was full of sorrow and he wouldn’t look her in the eye. “The Doc’s given me some bad news.”

She raised her eyebrows, “And?” she urged.

“He said that we,” removing one hand from his pocket he pointed at himself and then at Susan, “we have bonded.”

Susan felt confused, “Huh!  How?”

“Apparently, there’s enough Ancient DNA floating around for it to happen!”

“How can we be certain?  It hasn’t happened for a long time, right?”

“Have you experienced the electric shock and tingling sensation when we have touched?”

Susan nodded, slowly, “and a warmth down there.”  She said pointing towards her groin, her cheeks reddening slightly.

“The Doc didn’t mention that one in his summary, but he seems certain that we have bonded.”

Susan dropped her forehead onto Jace’s chest, “what happens now?” she asked.

She felt Jace’s arms wrap around her shoulders and squeezing her tight, as he rested his chin on the top of her head, “Now, we make this work.  We solve the problem, because I’m not going to let them take you away from me and that’s a promise.”

She felt a tear fall from her eye, “but I can’t go home either, can I?”

Jace’s arms tensed around her, “I’m so sorry I took you from your home.  I should have let you walk on by, but Kade had already…..”

She pushed herself away from Jace, so that she could look him in the eyes.  His arms shifted, so he now held waist.  “It’s okay, Jace.  Really, it’s okay because I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He murmured as he bent his head down to kiss her soundly on the lips.

A throat clearing beside them made them break their embrace, “We are definitely in trouble!” came the Doc’s exclamation.  This caused Jace to make a loud chuckle.  That’s when Susan noticed that a quietness had settled around the room.  She turned round and found the all the women staring at them shocked expressions on a majority of their faces.

She felt Jace’s hands rest on her shoulders as he whispered into her ear, “now you have to convince them to help us.”

Lift her hand to her chest, she replied “Me?”

With a soft chuckle, Jace said, “well they can’t understand what the rest of us are saying!”

With a long courage building sigh, she patted his hands and stepped forward to take a position in front of the crowd of women.  Scanning the crowd, she pinpointed the medical professionals that she had spoken to earlier, before launching into her speech.

“As you all know, we are on a Spaceship travelling to a strange new world.  All of us are here against our wishes, but Captain Apollo and his crew were acting under orders from their government.  You see, their planet is facing a population crisis as the men outnumber the women 10 to 1 and each generation the gap increases.  They are in a desperate need of more women, hence the reason we are on this ship heading towards their planet. However, I believe we can help in another way that may mean that we can return home, to our loved ones.”

She heard the women start murmuring to one another, so she continued.  “I’m no scientist, but Captain Apollo and his medical officer agree with me that their government’s plan for kidnapping women will not solve their planets problems.  If we could help them to discover what is causing the issue and find the solution, Captain Apollo assures me that he will do everything in his power to take us back home.  I know there are some medical professionals among you, would you be willing to assist the ship’s doctor with his research so that we can all go home?”

The Gynaecologist stepped forward, “I took an oath to preserve life, in any form.  Although I am angry at those bastards that have kidnapped us,” she looked pointedly at Jace, who was still stood behind Susan, “if it gets us home, I will help to the best of my ability.  It’s not my area of speciality, but what you describe makes me think that something is affecting sperm cells.”

Susan caught Doctor Wallis nodding enthusiastically out of the corner of her eye.  “Thank you, it’s Lucille, isn’t it?” The gynaecologist nodded.  “Please come and join me.”

Facing the crowd again, Susan asked, “Is anyone else willing to help?”

Two of the nurses looked at one another and then stepped forward together, “We are both nurses and will assist however we can.” One of them said, the other nodding in agreement.

The Lab assistant cam forward next, “I think I can be off help, if you need to experiment or anything like that.”

Looking at them each in turn, Susan thanked them and ushered them forward to stand with Lucille.  She then looked towards the emergency doctor, who was shaking her head. “Anyone else?” Susan asked.

The emergency doctor, still shaking her head, spoke “I cannot help people who would take women away from their homes, husbands, parents and children to be used as god knows what!  What I will do is use my skills here, helping these women deal with this ordeal.  That’s the best I can do.”

Nodding, Susan responded, “I understand how you feel, we all have been ripped from our homes and agree that we need someone to look after our own well-being.  I thank you for stepping up and taking that responsibility.”  Susan then looked towards the remaining nurse.

The nurse, looked towards the group of medical professionals congregating at the front of the room, looked at Susan and then at the emergency doctor, before scanning the rest of the women.  “I will help out in here.” She stated.

“Thank you, ladies.  Please bear with me, whilst I liaise with these volunteers, I will then speak to the Captain regarding any requests you might have.”  Susan finished, turning towards the doctors, nurses and lab assistant. “Please follow me.” And with that she made her way to Doctor Wallis and his assistant.

When they had all congregated together, Susan spoke again.  “Ladies, this is Doctor Wallis, the ships medical officer.  He has some devices, translators, that go in your ear.  It will help you communicate with the crew.  I have one, so I know it works.  However, speaking from experience, its not the most pleasant or painless of procedures, so I suggest you take it in turns and support one another.”

The women murmured their assent and followed Doctor Wallis and his assistant over to the corner of the hold.  Before they all left, she caught hold of the last nurse’s arm. “Um,  Linda, isn’t it?”

The nurse turned to face Susan, nodding in assent.  Susan spoke again, “could you come with me for a minute, I would like you to help one of the women with a personal problem?”

Nodding Linda held out her hand gesturing for Susan to lead the way.  Whilst they walked towards a woman who was sat against opposite wall of the hold, Susan spoke softly to Linda, “The woman over there, sat against the wall, she has left behind a two month old baby that she was breast feeding.  Her name is Michelle and she isn’t coping very well.  Would you be able to help her?”

Linda looked over at the woman, who was holding her hands across her breasts with tears dampening her cheeks, “Of course, I will!!  I originally trained as a midwife, so I should be able to help her.  How long have we been on board this ship?”

“I’m not sure, I lost my phone when I got taken so have no way to tell for certain, but I would wager it is at least 8 hours probably more.” Susan answered.  They finally reached the new mother sat on the floor. “Hi Michelle, this is Linda.  She’s a nurse with midwifery training, she’s going to look after you.”

Michelle looked up at them, her eyes red with tears.  Linda immediately sat down beside and putting her arm around the grief-stricken woman, nodded towards Susan, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her.”

“Thank you.  Let me know if you need anything.” And with that she headed back towards Jace.

She had only taken a few steps in his direction and stopped dumbfounded.  A scantily clad woman was sidling up to Jace, her breasts pressed up against his side, her arm on his chest.  She seemed to be rubbing him with her body!  Jace just stood there looking straight ahead, hands down by his sides.

A hot wave of jealousy swept through Susan.  She was about to march up to the woman and yank the w***e away from him, when someone grabbed hold of her upper arm.  Instead, she swung herself round to face this person, rage boiling within her.

Lucille stood before her, a look of sympathy on her face. “Let him deal with it.” She said jerking her head towards the couple. “The worst thing you could do is charging over there and claiming ownership.  I know her type, that would just encourage her and make it a challenge.  If he deals with it, she will move onto easier prey.”

Susan felt the rage calm inside of her, Lucille was right, she had to trust Jace.  “Did you like getting your translator?” she asked instead.

Grimacing, Lucille replied, “You’re were not wrong, that was a horrible experience!  Now, why don’t you introduce me to this Captain of yours?”

Looking back at Jace, she noticed that the woman had moved in front of him, her breasts pressing into his chest, her arms around his waist.  But suddenly and without warning Jace took hold of the woman’s hands and removed them from his waist, pushing her away from him, he turned and walked away from her, heading towards Doctor Wallis.

The woman gave his a back a sulky look, but then wandered back to the other women milling throughout the hold.

“Told you.” Lucille said nudging her.  “Come on, I want to meet your handsome young captain.” Striding off towards Jace who was now deep in conversation with Doctor Wallis.

Susan couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Jace being her handsome young captain, as she followed.