Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 3

Unintentional Suggestion

Krill had seen everything.

He knew he had said that before, and by this point he was sure he was going to say it again, but this time he was reasonably sure it was true. He was an attending physician on a world primarily comprised of humans, and the entire culture of Arcadia heavily revolved around war and combat sports: war, combat sports, and newly forming interspecies couples.

These combined facts led him to a lot of interesting cases and diagnosis , and more than a few headaches. When he had worked for the Omen crew exclusively, he had seen plenty of stupid things, but generally speaking there was a sort of intelligence hurtle one had to cross to become part of the crew. This was not so when it came to regular immigration, and he had met some people who were either completely daft in the head, or they just never paid attention to anything.

He wasn't entirely sure which it was.

And then there was his own offspring to think about. Through their rapid development, he and Riss had become well aware that Vrul were, apparently, just as curious as humans when not conditioned otherwise, and more than a little prone to getting themselves into dangerous situations. The sheer amount of times he had almost had an aneurysm on behalf of his own offspring was..... well

They might as well be human.

He was in between major medical incidents right now, and so headed down the hall towards the nurse's station where he could hear voices.

"I can't force you to do anything, but I feel it is my duty to say that I think you should consider a human course of prenatal checkups for your health and the health of the baby, but that's it, Ive spoken my peace"

Krill came around the corner to find Dr. katie and Sunny standing just outside the nurse's station, or more accurately, Katie was sitting on the counter and Sunny was standing next to her. From what he could see of the Drev there were no physical indicators of the creature that was growing inside her, but Drev didn't present as obviously as humans. Their skin and muscle wasn't nearly as stretchable, so the body compensated by pressing the organs upward into the chest cavity and thinning out the connective tissue that held the armor ins place.

This fact was the primary reason that Female Drev became less aggressive during their gestation period. Their armor was weaker, and more brittle, their lungs were compressed causing them to get out of breath easier, and compressed digestive organs led to common digestive discomfort .There were other possible side effects of course, but those were the most common.

"I appreciate your concern." Sunny was saying, "But I have given up my entire life and culture to be more like you humans. I have used your technology, I live the way you do, I have given up leadership of my clan, and I am not as much of a saint to them as I ought to be, so I think I will keep the traditions of my ancestors in this one.

"And if you lose the baby..... and it could have been preventable?"

"Then I lose it. You of all people should know that sometimes that can happen. Sometimes the child is not compatible with life ."

"What about preventable diseases, or.... Deformities."

"I am not a believer in genetically altering the child in the womb. That seems a bit too much like playing the Architect for my liking, and if the child is to be born with an illness or disability than so be it. Drev society has become far more accepting of such things, and with Dzara I think I can manage."

Katie closed her mouth then, clearly wanting to say more but knowing that anything more could strain their friendship.

Sunny had refused all prenatal care. There were plenty of other members of the staff that thought she was crazy, deluded or even stupid to refuse. Some saw it as withholding medical intervention from her child, though Krill had talked to her and learned that she had no issue with medical intervention after the child was born, but in her own words, she was going to do it the way of her ancestors and not so distant family, and if they didn't like it they could keep their damn mouths shut.