---Simone’s perspective---
---Monday, 9th of July, 2683 Terran Calendar---
---Southern England---
My heart swells with pride as I look at the sea of graduates dressed in their service uniforms.
“Ladies and gentlemen, as of today, your trainin’ is complete!… I could not be happier with the transformation I see in front of me!… Gone are the whinin’, whingin’, snot nosed brats, fresh from schoolyards across the Isles, and, in their place, I see Soldiers!… You may relax for today and tomorrow… Then on Friday, after you have reported for your final medical screenin’… you will be ridin’ to the top of that…” I point to the space elevator, visible in the middle distance “…to board a transport to the front lines of our coreward push!… Some of you will not return… and I deeply regret that this will be the last time I see many of your faces…”
Mildly in danger of choking up at this point, I shift to the inspiring part “But… in your noble sacrifice, lives the hope for Terra’s future!… Trillions of people, yet to be born, will live by your deeds!… The people of Earth… and of every planet in the United Terran Coalition will know your names as those of Heroes! Go forth bravely, you gods among men! Look into the face of that goodnight and burn and rage against it! Do not sell your lives cheaply! Make the enemy pay dearly for them! Rip and tear until this War is done… LONG LIVE TERRA!!!”
A cheer erupts as berets are tossed in the air.
---Esme’s perspective---
---Thursday, 12th of July, 2683 Terran Calendar---
“Come in, sit down…” smiles the army nurse as he gestures to an examination stool.
I enter and take the seat.
“Could I get your name…?”
“Pvt Reid… Esme Reid…” I answer, politely.
“Alright, Pvt Reid… you’re deploying tomorrow, right?… Just here for a clean bill of health?” he smiles.
“That’s right…”
“Do you know where you’re going?”
I know I’m going to ‘Krwndw’, the cradleworld of a weird tapirlike species that sits on what has been identified as a strategically valuable spacelane crossroads but “Loose lips sink ships, Sir… I can’t tell you that…”
He smiles “No, I suppose not!… Alright, Private… could I just get you to tell me… how have you been feeling lately?”
“Fine… I guess…?”
He gives a very slight frown “Why do you have to guess, Private?… Have you been having symptoms of some kind?…”
I shake my head “No… well, yes… but just silly little things that I’m almost certain don’t actually mean anything!”
He narrows his eyes and gives a mirthful puff “Private… how about you let me decide whether they ‘mean’ anything? You know… the medical professional? Tell me what’s ailing you, Soldier… You might be a liability if you go to the front with, as it turns out, a serious ailment!”
My mouth twists “OK… like I said, it’s nothing big… just some little things… I’ve been feeling tired these last few weeks…”
“In a way that’s different from the normal fatigue of initial training?” he asks, curiously.
“Yeah… like, I’ve been feeling sort of like I did when I first came here, or when I first started in durasteel, recently… but I can’t think why…”
“Interesting… are there any other symptoms…?” he queries, leaning back in his chair.
“I’ve been having a bit of nausea… some dizzy spells, brain fog… Oh! And, the other day, they were serving hot curry and samosas in the mess and I found it absolutely repulsive!”
“Not everyone likes spicy food…?” he offers “…and the military isn’t exactly known for the quality of its cuisine!
“Yeah, but I’ve had that meal here before and loved it!… I’m a spice nut!… Nobody else could taste the difference…!” I insist.
He thinks about that for a few moments before saying “Alright, Private… may I run a blood scan quickly?… That will let me know if there’s anything obvious in your body that shouldn’t be there.”
“Sure! Go ahead!” I say, willingly proffering him my wrist.
“Thank you…” he smiles, picking up a medical holo and bringing its sensor to my skin.
His brow creases at whatever information is being displayed on his screen.
That’s not encouraging!
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“What is it…?” I ask, concerned
“Sorry… I’m just going to scan you again…” he says as he does so.
His alarmed expression remains in place.
“Damnit man! Tell me what’s up!” I demand, panicking slightly.
“Sorry… Private… Could I just ask you to wait here a minute?… I need to… check something…”
“Dude, seriously?! You’re gonna make that face about whatever the scan said and then you’re just gonna fucking bounce without even telling me what you think it might be…?!”
“I just need to check it first… don’t go anywhere…” says the man, leaving me alone with my roiling anxiety.
Well fuck… guess I’m dying!
Guess I’m going to spend the rest of my short life withering away in a hospital bed while everyone else goes off to die in glorious battle!
For a moment, my mind tortures me by showing me a battle mutilated Oskar and a cancer ravaged Esme meeting in a nonexistent afterlife… each of us so disgusted by the sight of the other that we can’t even look at eachother!
My stewing anxiety is interrupted by the door opening.
The nurse is back but the man and woman with him aren’t, as I expected, more senior Medical Officers… he’s flanked by burly Military Police!
“What’s…?”
“That’s her! She’s the one!” shouts the nurse, pointing at me, alarmingly.
The pair advance on me.
The woman takes out a pair of handcuffs and says “Pvt Esme Reid, I am placing you under arrest on suspicion of malingering with the intent to render yourself unfit for service, you have the right to an advocate and against self incrimination.”
“What?!” I ask, aghast “What are you talking about!?… How have I made myself unfit for service!?!?!?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know you’re 9 weeks pregnant!” sneers the nurse.
I stand in stunned silence while my wrists are cuffed in front of me.
“I’m WHAT?!?!?!”
---Simone’s perspective---
“What is the fuckin’ MEANIN’ of this, Andrews!?” I snarl, as I storm into the man’s office, not particularly caring how much he outranks me.
“Ah… Warrant Officer Sands… just the woman I wanted!” smiles the man, coolly, as he turns to face me with his eyebrow raised.
“Answer the QUESTION, Andrews! Why did your men enter my billet halls to arrest my star pupil as a suspected accessory to malingery the day before he’s set to be deployed!?”
With infuriating calmness, the man retorts “It sort of sounds like you’ve answered your own question there, doesn’t it Sands?… We suspect him of being an accessory to a malinger!… His partner has rendered herself unfit to serve and we believe he had something to do with it.”
“Reid?! What’s she done to herself!?” I ask, horrified at the idea that I might not have noticed the signs of a subordinate in danger of injuring herself to skip out on deployment!
“She’s gone and got herself pregnant is what… Hence the need to detain her partner…” says the Provost Marshal, dryly.
I stand there, agog, while I absorb that.
“…Pause rejection!” I manage, eventually.
“Wouldn’t exonerate her, I’m afraid… She would have had to have five to six periods without ever once bringing it up… Does she strike you as the kind of dullwit who wouldn’t have understood that cycle pause serum is meant to pause your cycle?”
I struggle to come up with anything else…
The girl who walked in here 8 months ago and made a snarky comment about not wanting to go to classes… Her I would have easily believed a malinger, but… the Reid I’ve seen recently?
“Has she confessed to it?”
Andrews sighs “She has not… she’s still protesting that the reading must have been wrong and that there is simply no way she could be pregnant… That’s actually why I wanted you…”
“Oh…?”
“Yeees… if I remember from that case with the sexual assault perpetrated by Pvt Rupert Forest… you are certified as a Truth Wizard, aren’t you?…”
“I am…” I confirm, scowling at where this is going.
“Well… a Truth Wizard and the officer on base who knows the girl best… I was wondering if you might go and talk with her… just to confirm that she’s not telling us the truth… Then perhaps you could do the same with her partner to see if he knew…?”
I fold my arms “Reid should be a doddle for me to read!”
“Alright, start with her then…”
“And… if I say she ain’t lyin’?” I challenge.
“If you say so, Sands… I shall believe you… but, bear in mind, if I later find out that you lied to protect her, you will face disciplinary action!”
“Of course!”
---Esme’s perspective---
The door opens and a short, dark skinned woman with a single, natural mauve eye enters the room where I’m shackled to the table.
“Ma’am! I…”
“Shut up, Reid!” she snaps, seeming very irritated “I’m gonna ask you some questions, you are gonna answer ’em, that is the only time I permit you to speak! Am I clear?”
“Err… Yes, Ma’am!” I answer.
“If you lie to me, Reid… I’ll know! You aren’t the master deceiver that you clearly thought you were every time I let things slide with you because they weren’t worth my time!… I need to make clear that, every time you have ever lied to me and thought you got away with it, you didn’t! I knew, Reid!… I am not gonna nuke my career on your account! Am I clear?”
“Crystal clear, Ma’am!” I respond.
“If you tell me that you are innocent and I tell them you’re guilty, it’ll be the worse for you!… Believe me, you do not want to spend a day in a military prison!… Unlike in the civilian justice system, the military hasn’t quite outgrown the idea of prison’s bein’ a place of punishment as opposed to rehabilitation!… I say again, do NOT lie to me!”
I’m about to say ‘Yes, Ma’am’ when I realise that there was no question there.
Instead, I just nod.
Her resigned face softens as she says “Before we start… I just want to reassure you that, whatever happens, the military will not and cannot compel you to terminate your pregnancy against your wishes… So please don’t worry about that…”
That is a relief to anxiety I didn’t even realise I was holding!
“Now…” starts Sands, her tone once again businesslike, her natural and synth eyes both fixed on me in a penetrating, unblinking stare “…first question; Did you know you were pregnant?”
“No, Ma’am.” I answer, truthfully.
“Did you know you were able to become pregnant?”
“No, Ma’am.”
“Have you had your period since last November?”
“No, Ma’am.”
“Did you, by any means, intention’ly avoid gettin’ your cycle pause serum administered?”
“No, Ma’am.”
“Did you, by any means, intention’ly counteract the cycle pause, or allow it to be counteracted, after it was administered?”
“No, Ma’am.”
The muscles tighten over her flat cheeks as she narrows her eyes, scrutinising my face.
Raising her voice and speaking over her shoulder to the mirror behind her, she says “Call a biomedical boffin to come and have a look at her… She’s tellin’ the truth…”