a blond haired woman somewhere in her fifties, her face perennially stern, her eyes equally warm.
“Nine and one-half, Herr Doctor. And she is better than ninety-five percent effaced.”
John Rourke nodded, telling Martha, “You hear that? You’ll be delivering in a very little while now. How’s your breathing?”
“I’m trying. I’m-” She screamed and grasped John Rourke’s hand. The American nurse, from Mid-Wake, who was acting as her labor coach, was panting in unison with her.
Tm going to wash up-it won’t take long at all-and then 111 be back and well help you to deliver your baby, okay?”
“Ohh-Hurry!”
John Rourke nodded, checked the echo sound digital display again. Despite being premature, the baby was well formed, large. And she was small. This would not be the easiest birth, and as he looked at the German nurse, he wrote on the pad at the top of Lt. Larrimore’s chart that she should be given a very mild sedative, nothing that would put her to sleep, but just enough to relax her so that she could aid in the delivery process, something to take the edge off her near-hysteria …
Jason Darkwood brushed an imaginary speck from the spit-shined brim of his hat, then looked below them at the ground. Here, there was nothing but radioactive desert, he knew, and should the German J7-V in which he, Maggie Barrow, Sam Aldridge and Sebastian now flew crashed, even if they survived the impact, they would never survive the exposure.
Parts of the earth, the scientists said, would be uninhabitable for generations.
That thought chilled him and he reached out and took Maggie’s hand.
“What’s the matter, Jase?” “Just thinking about something.” “What?”
Darkwood shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “Well, with what’s happened, there’s already talk about our people returning to the land, at least in part; but, in a way, haven’t we been lucky living under the sea?”
Her pretty eyes looked back at him strangely. He felt the pressure of the engagement ring he’d placed on her finger weeks before beneath his hand. “I mean,” he told her, “the sea is clean and fresh and we could go anywhere except for worrying about the Russians, and
now we dont have to worry about them anymore. Every Island Classer and every missile in their inventory is under our control now. They couldn’t hurt us if they tried. But here, I don’t know, too many memories of what happened, what went before.” “Not looking forward to Hawaii?”
He laughed. “You’ve never had to deal with snow, Maggie. It looks great in old videos and at first it’s a novelty. But when you have to work in it day after day, it loses its charm. The Oceano-graphic and Atmospheric specialists are saying that it snows at least once a day in the islands.”
“Maybe we can learn how to ski?”
Darkwood just shook his head, then held her hand more tightly. When he looked around the J-7 Vs cockpit, he could still see Sebastian, sitting in the co-pilofs seat, learning how to fly the aircraft.
Clearly, some of Mid-Wake’s citizens would adjust better to the new world than would others …
The head crowned, Rourke astonished really at just how well formed the child was.
The edge he’d had taken off Martha Larrimore with the mild sedative did the trick. She was holding her own with the breathing, controlling her pain so well that, if he hadn’t known better, he would have thought she were having a second or third child rather than a first.
“How-how-“
“He’s healthy looking, Martha,” Rourke answered her, easing the first shoulder out, then telling her, “I need another good push and well have him. Talk about shoulders! You’ll have to send this boy down to Mid-Wake so he can play football!”
She pushed, and suddenly the child filled John Rourke’s hands.
He raised the baby by its heels and it wasn’t even necessary to slap it on the behind to start it crying. The German nurse helped and John Rourke placed the little
“Nine and one-half, Herr Doctor. And she is better than ninety-five percent effaced.”
John Rourke nodded, telling Martha, “You hear that? You’ll be delivering in a very little while now. How’s your breathing?”
“I’m trying. I’m-” She screamed and grasped John Rourke’s hand. The American nurse, from Mid-Wake, who was acting as her labor coach, was panting in unison with her.
Tm going to wash up-it won’t take long at all-and then 111 be back and well help you to deliver your baby, okay?”
“Ohh-Hurry!”
John Rourke nodded, checked the echo sound digital display again. Despite being premature, the baby was well formed, large. And she was small. This would not be the easiest birth, and as he looked at the German nurse, he wrote on the pad at the top of Lt. Larrimore’s chart that she should be given a very mild sedative, nothing that would put her to sleep, but just enough to relax her so that she could aid in the delivery process, something to take the edge off her near-hysteria …
Jason Darkwood brushed an imaginary speck from the spit-shined brim of his hat, then looked below them at the ground. Here, there was nothing but radioactive desert, he knew, and should the German J7-V in which he, Maggie Barrow, Sam Aldridge and Sebastian now flew crashed, even if they survived the impact, they would never survive the exposure.
Parts of the earth, the scientists said, would be uninhabitable for generations.
That thought chilled him and he reached out and took Maggie’s hand.
“What’s the matter, Jase?” “Just thinking about something.” “What?”
Darkwood shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “Well, with what’s happened, there’s already talk about our people returning to the land, at least in part; but, in a way, haven’t we been lucky living under the sea?”
Her pretty eyes looked back at him strangely. He felt the pressure of the engagement ring he’d placed on her finger weeks before beneath his hand. “I mean,” he told her, “the sea is clean and fresh and we could go anywhere except for worrying about the Russians, and
now we dont have to worry about them anymore. Every Island Classer and every missile in their inventory is under our control now. They couldn’t hurt us if they tried. But here, I don’t know, too many memories of what happened, what went before.” “Not looking forward to Hawaii?”
He laughed. “You’ve never had to deal with snow, Maggie. It looks great in old videos and at first it’s a novelty. But when you have to work in it day after day, it loses its charm. The Oceano-graphic and Atmospheric specialists are saying that it snows at least once a day in the islands.”
“Maybe we can learn how to ski?”
Darkwood just shook his head, then held her hand more tightly. When he looked around the J-7 Vs cockpit, he could still see Sebastian, sitting in the co-pilofs seat, learning how to fly the aircraft.
Clearly, some of Mid-Wake’s citizens would adjust better to the new world than would others …
The head crowned, Rourke astonished really at just how well formed the child was.
The edge he’d had taken off Martha Larrimore with the mild sedative did the trick. She was holding her own with the breathing, controlling her pain so well that, if he hadn’t known better, he would have thought she were having a second or third child rather than a first.
“How-how-“
“He’s healthy looking, Martha,” Rourke answered her, easing the first shoulder out, then telling her, “I need another good push and well have him. Talk about shoulders! You’ll have to send this boy down to Mid-Wake so he can play football!”
She pushed, and suddenly the child filled John Rourke’s hands.
He raised the baby by its heels and it wasn’t even necessary to slap it on the behind to start it crying. The German nurse helped and John Rourke placed the little
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