Story of Marsh: Prologue

Prologue
I never did figure out if the silence caused the tension or if the tension caused the silence. Only if I thought about it would I be able to hear the discordant static of monitors down the hall muffled by my office window.

My office sat at the “T” of two halls. Through my office window, I could see down the long hall where ten doors could be seen as dark patches against the unlit wall. At the end of the hall stood a desk that, had this been a normal birthing facility, would have been the guest check in. Rather the desk served as a security station, currently deserted.

The brisk footsteps of a woman sounded somewhere from that darkness. As I exited my office, the ceiling omnilight overhead flickered feebly until it maintained a soft glow. Looking towards the footsteps I could see the nurse walking towards me, the ceiling’s glow following with difficulty. After concentrating on under lit paperwork for the last quarter cycle, her bright green skirt, white shirt, and matching jacket were a little overpowering.

She was carrying a small paper cup in her left hand. As she neared, I could see the deep bags of fatigue under her eyes despite all the makeup covering them. Even her steps, normally as bright as her skirt, were tainted with sleeplessness. Through all this, she still carried her cheery atmosphere.

“You’ll need these,” she said as she handed me the cup. “You’re doing well Doctor,” she continued as she reached for something inside the jackets inner pocket. “The Ericson lasted only four cycles before passing out. What are you at? Six?”

“Seven,” I grunted as she proceeded to hand me the anti-sleep pills. “I’ll be glad when I can return to my normal schedule.”

“Only three more cycles. You can make it,” she said as I downed the pills.

“What makes you say that? A cycle is supposed to be the same as, what, a day on Iath?” In reality a cycle was a bit more, but it didn’t matter. “And the lights here don’t provide a very good simulation of day and night. My internal clock is really off right now.”

“You’re doing great. You aren’t showing any of the usual signs of lassitude. I think you should be fine. There’s only a handful of deliveries left. Then you get to go back planetside for a couple decacycles.”

“I don’t want to come back. I hate this wretched experiment, and I don’t think there will be enough time to fully recover.”

“I know.”

She said it in a way that I knew she had meant to cheer me up. I have to admit, I did smile a bit but it vanished quickly.

“I didn’t go into this profession to deliver the devil spawn that were never meant to be. I wouldn’t mind if I was delivering children of normal families where the children would go home to be loved,” I was rambling now. “These will be sent to cages where they will be treated no better than lab rats. In reality isn’t that the only reason that they are to live?”

“James. Just—”

“Don’t ‘Just’ me! This is all because some stupid rich guy in government wants to scare everybody into doing what he wants! And here we are stu—“

“James. Just shut up.”

She said it so sternly I thought she was actually going to yell.

“We’ve been through this. Please don’t do anything stupid. Please. Maybe you are here for some reason. Have you ever thought that you may be the only one to ever show these children the love and kindness every living thing deserves?”

Her voice was so hopeful I gave in.

“For you. That’s it. No other reason. Understand?”

“Do you promise?”

“Why do you do that? It’s so annoying.”

“You know perfectly well.” Her face was stern but I could tell she was just having fun. She was right; I did know the answer, but it was nice to hear it from her.

“Fine. Have it your way. I promise.”

I made sure to exaggerate every syllable just so I could see the little smile that followed.

“In that case, I suggest you return to your work and throw that away.” She pointed at the crumpled cup in my hand.

“As you wish m’Lady.”

There it was: a short giggle. It was the one thing that could wake me up better than those anti-sleep pills.