[Photograph of the surface of Eden]
MISTY: RECOLLECTION:
When we came off board, I was only just starting to show signs of pregnancy. I saw Carson off in the distance behind Ava and he terrified me. When I realized that it was Ava’s child, well s[…] I couldn’t stand.
Sorry, you told me I couldn't cuss anymore. I’ll do my best.
Well, anyway. Carson was the most horrifying and beautiful thing I’d ever seen. My mind raced with thousands of questions, and I remember looking at my stomach in awe. There was a literal alien inside me and I couldn’t believe it.
Bonnie was standing next to me and became frantic. I later learned that she had undergone sterilization early in our training process, but I guess that didn’t matter. The IC was going to come anyway. I could tell that she was going to snap at any second.
We asked Ava thousands of questions.
Carson waited outside the ship while she came in and told us everything. We ate some of the food we had left and some fruit that Carson had gathered by a stream, just outside of our ship.
Ava looked concerned, she knew Anita could go into labour at any moment. She began to explain the events of Carson’s birth. We all listened mortified – realizing this was going to happen to us.
We explained to Ava that Anita had attempted everything she could to abort the baby. But that every attempt was unsuccessful, given that her skin had become hard as rock.
We told of how we had to secure Anita in the quarantine chamber, like we did with her, because Anita started to try and kill herself. She tried tons of different ways, but none of it worked.
It was hard to watch.
But nothing she tried worked, the IC had changed her body. The IC had transformed her into exactly what it needed to develop safely and fully.
They made us into what we needed to be for them to survive: incredible when you think about it.
There were so many things like this, incredible things, that only now I really take in. At the time we just had to roll with it all – we were surviving.
Anita’s baby was growing extremely fast, and we all started to panic. We let Anita out of quarantine when we realized it was impossible for her to harm herself. This was going to happen no matter what.
When we recieved Ava’s transmission, the rest of us had started testing pregnant as well.
It didn’t take long to decide to come down to Eden.
While we were catching up with Ava, telling her everything about Anita, Anita just listened. She was numb and didn’t say a word — but she was listening.
Towards the end of that evening she went into labour.
We prepared the medical bay.
WHEN BROOKLYN BEGAN WASHING things down with water, Ava got all panicky and quickly ran outside to Carson. She came sprinting back into the room and frantically explained that, water being poured on the IC too early would kill it.
Anita, hearing this, summoned all her strength and began walking. We tried to help her down, but she grabbed a scapple and threatened us.
She started throwing things everywhere and eventually grabbed a hatch door and opened it to the outside. She fell out of the hatch about 10 feet.
The fall definitely would have broken something, but because of the IC and what it had done to her body – she got right back up. It’s like she was invincible.
We watched as she walked towards the stream. We realized she was going to try and kill the baby by delivering it in the water.
We ran through the ship to the front ramp. When we lowered the ramp, we could see that Carson had become aware of what was happening. To our surprise he was just standing there. Ava frantically yelled at Carson to stop Anita. Carson looked back at Ava, he seemed calm and sad.
Anita sat in the stream and began screaming as contractions really began to set in.
Ava ran down the ramp to try and pull her out of the water. Carson put out his large arm towards Ava to stop her. Ava took his hand. He held her close as she began to weep.
Anita’s screams became unbearable. They weren’t just for the pain anymore — she was terrified.
Leaving Ava, Carson walked to Anita.
Anita cried out to Carson to, “stay away!” She had lost it completely.
Carson continued towards her and simply held her down — then calmly sliced open her stomach with his talon. We all gasped and ran towards them. We stopped when we realized what he was doing. We watched as he safely removed the IC out of the cut, like a c-section.
The thing was small and black. It looked reptilian. The IC laid in Carson’s hand calmly, just breathing.
Carson placed his other hand over Anita’s stomach and healed it.
He then did something I’ll never forget. He took the small child coiled in his large hand, and after taking one last sad look at Ava, placed it in Anita’s arms.
Ava cried out in distress, “no!”
Without hesitation, when the creature landed in Anita’s arms — she took it and thrust it under the water.
The creature writhed and twisted in pain — its skin began to burn and shed. I could hear it's horrible screeches gargling under the water. It wrestled against Anita — scratching her arms with its long black talons. Eventually, it stopped moving.
Anita let go of the IC and it floated downstream a few feet.
Carson lifted it from the water and placed it on the red dirt. It was clearly dead.
Ava ran to them both. The small IC had transformed into something soft and more harmless looking. It was now covered in tiny white feathers and looked more like a dog.
Anita laid down on her back in the shallow stream and wailed. She was covered in a black oily substance that had gushed from the creature as it transformed.
Carson went over to her. He lifted her from the water and brought her back to the ship. Anita at this point was so tired and disturbed she didn’t fight him.
Ava stayed by the small dead creature. Gently picking up the sopping IC — she held it tightly in her arms and wept.
THE NEXT FEW DAYS consisted of the women preparing for more births.
An individual seemed to be pregnant with an IC for about 5-7 days before delivery. Shawna, Bonnie, Sarah, and Brooklyn showed signs of near delivery (4-6 days), all with largely protruding bellies. Misty appeared to be at the beginning of the rapid pregnancy (1-2 days), showing only a small bump. Donna and Megan were not showing any signs of pregnancy.
After Anita’s delivery and Carson’s reaction, each woman knew they had the choice of whether or not they would let their IC live. Carson or Ava would not intervene.
— Editing Team
AVA: JOURNAL: PRESTORM 136, 3609
I don’t know what to do.
This isn’t the time to catch up about everything that’s happened — but I survived giving birth to Carson. And he’s incredible.
Carson has saved my life.
I can’t believe she killed hers.
I have so much anger and hate in my heart towards Anita, and I don’t know what to do.
Anita has been nothing but selfish since the day I met her. She’s a coward. What she did was unforgivable.
Carson had everything under control. We would’ve taken care of it. There was no reason that child had to die.
I understand why Carson let her make that choice, it’s completely not in his nature to force anyone anymore — but we both felt how wrong it was. These IC’s are all coming for a reason. We can feel it. None of this was by accident.
I can’t believe she just killed him!
[Ava paused 00:00:15]
I’ve been wondering about having Carson make a mental bridge for Anita and I. I asked him if he could just help me understand her on my own, and how she could do that — so that I didn’t have to talk to her. Like he did with my dad.
He explained that he could only do that for people who had passed away. To understand Anita, both of us needed to voluntarily participate.
Part of me really wants to be free from this anger and just ask her — but I doubt she would even do it. She doesn’t care what I think.
She also refuses to be around Carson.
I didn’t even try asking her if she wanted to bury the child with the rest of us. She's locked herself away and doesn’t speak to anyone other than Shawna.
I don’t know what to do.
The others told me after they saw what she did, that they couldn’t do that. Except for Bonnie; but she hasn’t been saying anything lately.
I don’t think I could just stand by and watch that happen again — even if Carson asked me to not intervene.
[End of entry]
SHAWNA DELIVERED HER CHILD shortly after Ava recorded the above entry. To her word, Shawna decided to keep it.
Bonnie got injured assisting in the birth, the IC’s talons, in the process of being removed, cut Bonnie’s right arm and severed two of her fingers from her hand. Immediately after assisting with the delivery, Carson healed Shawna’s stomach like he did Anita. The IC newborn stirred shortly after and became aggressive.
Carson contained the IC, chased it away into the woods and then followed after it. Brooklyn assisted Bonnie with her injuries. Bonnie had become catatonic.
Bonnie, despite her psychiatric training, was not mentally prepared for this. It was apparent to much of the crew that since Anita’s delivery that she was abnormally unwell — but her injury during Shawna’s delivery seemed to be what finally pushed her into the catatonic state.
– Editing Team
RECOLLECTION: MEGAN:
This isn’t going to be easy for me to talk about. And I’d really rather not.
But I do think what you kids are doing is important.
Okay […]
AFTER BONNIE GOT INJURED during Shawna’s delivery, she stopped communicating. She already had been very quiet, but I think everything had just become too traumatizing for her to be able to handle.
She shut down. She would stare past you and drool; she seemed to not register anything you tried to say to her. She wouldn’t eat when we tried feeding her.
A couple nights into this, I was woken by Anita. She explained to me that Bonnie had gone missing.
After everyone woke up, we also realized that Misty was gone too. Misty was the one who had woke Anita, she roomed with Bonnie. Anita guessed that she had already gone out on her own to try and find Bonnie.
We quickly decided Ava and I were the only ones that could go and try to find her. Donna, Anita and Shawna were going to stay in case Sarah and Brooklyn went into labour. Sarah and Brooklyn, along with Bonnie, were due to deliver at any moment now.
Carson was still gone with the other infant IC. Ava and I packed enough supplies for four of us to survive for a few days.
Standing at the door, ready to leave, when Ava and Brooklyn embraced — Brooklyn’s water broke.
Brooklyn was taken back to the med bay by Donna and Anita.
Ava stood there utterly torn. I prepared myself to have to go out on my own. I was terrified at the thought — but I couldn’t beat the thought of Bonnie dealing with this by herself.
I grabbed Ava’s hand.
She looked at me. Immediately, I could see in her eyes that she was coming with me. That relaxed my heart a bit. We opened the door and left, as Ava unsuccessfully tried to stifle several sobs.
WE WALKED INTO THE forest line, following Bonnie’s tracks. The other planets in the sky reflected enough light for us to navigate. However, when we walked under the large red trees, it became very dark. Our flashlights shined just enough for us to be able to see where Bonnie had gone. Occasionally, bioluminescent vines that grew across the ground like morning glory, made it easier to notice where she had been stepping.
We called out her and Misty’s names. After walking for around an hour, we came upon Bonnie’s clothes strewn on the forest floor. They weren’t damaged in any way; they looked as if she had removed them. The pants were soaked though — she had begun labour.
Ava and I spread out from where her clothes had been tossed. I eventually found a trail of blood and called out for Ava.
That’s when I saw her.
Bonnie was leaning up against a tree not wearing anything. Her stomach had been sliced open, and she was covered in blood.
She wasn’t breathing.
She was cold.
It was unclear how long she had been lying there.
She was gone.
Sorry […]
We listened to the IC’s screeches echo through the trees as we cleaned her.
We closed and bandaged her wounds, and then dressed her.
Another very loud screech came from right behind us. I knew it was watching. I turned around and saw it standing there. It was about 5 feet tall. It was watching us from about 30 feet away. It had become quiet and looked sad. A few seconds after we turned to look at him, he screeched at us and swiftly climbed up a nearby tree.
I could tell in that moment, there was a kind of innocence in the creature.
Ava and I lifted Bonnie. We began carrying her back. The screeches continued.
I couldn’t leave.
I stopped dead in my tracks.
I felt called to that creature crying in the woods.
Something in me shifted. I felt as if a great burden had been placed on my shoulders, and that if I didn’t immediately shift all of my focus to carrying it — it would crush me.
Ava took one look at me and knew I wouldn’t be leaving with her. She shouldered Bonnie’s full weight. She stood there for a moment and just watched me as I froze, stunned by my feeling.
I felt horrible leaving Ava to carry Bonnie home by herself. But I knew I had to stay. No sooner had I thought this, then we heard Misty yell out to us. She had been searching for Bonnie, and the screeches from the IC drew her towards us.
She looked confused about why I was staying, but helped shoulder Bonnie’s weight.
I could tell Ava had so much she wanted to say to me. She settled for, “good luck.”
I watched them walk away and then turned around to go find the IC.
RECOLLECTION: BROOKLYN:
Yeah. That was rough.
After Ava left, my water broke. It actually broke while I was saying goodbye to her.
The rest was a bit of a blur. Sarah went into labour a few minutes after me.
After my child cut its way out of me, Donna carried it to the quarantine area, it was docile. I thought, ‘this is going well.’
Anita got to stapling me up, while Shawna was helping Sarah with hers. Sarah’s IC didn’t react well to being touched. Even though the creature was lethargic, it started to fight Shawna as she pulled it from the womb.
It slipped out of Shawna’s hands and fell on the floor. The thing scurried away. Shawna went after it, but she slipped and fell on Sarah’s blood and fluids.
Anita left me half-way stitched-up to go after it. Shawna, getting up, followed closely behind.
While I was laying there, I finished the rest of my own staples. Sarah had passed out from how much blood she was loosing. By the time Donna got back, I had begun closing Sarah’s wound.
Donna took over closing Sarah’s wound, and I was grateful for it — I could feel I was about to pass out.
I lowered myself gently to the floor. Laying there, I looked down the hallway. I could see Anita and Shawna.
ANITA HAD FOUND THE creature lying on the floor in the dining area. She went to grab it — but it screeched at her and clawed at her hand. Anita recoiled in pain, holding her now bleeding hand, and called for Donna to come help.
By the time Donna got there, the creature had risen to its feet. Donna had brought a basin of water. Anita took it from her.
Shawna went to stop Anita from killing Sarah’s child. But to our surprise, Anita didn’t douse the IC, she deliberately spilled the water on the floor. Doing so created a barrier between them and the creature. The IC retreated back and hugged the opposite wall. It then contorted and grew several inches.
That’s when I heard Sarah yell, “watch out!” She had woken to find my IC trepidatiously turning the corner into the med bay. He had escaped the quarantine area. In a rush to get back — Donna must have not secured it all the way.
The IC looked directly at me and began moving towards me. He knew I was his mother.
I cried out for help. Donna had began running back towards us when she saw what was going on.
Donna darting away must have frightened Sarah’s IC, cornered in the dining area, because he leapt onto the wall and bounded directly at Anita. It took one good swipe at her, lacerating her four arms — before Shawna was able to kick it off.
It landed on the water puddle and writhed in pain. Shawna ran forward and picked it up.
With the creature still thrashing and clawing at Shawna, Anita ran and opened a hatch for her to throw it out of the ship.
Shawna ran forward to the hatch and attempted to throw it out. Just before Shawna let go — the IC hooked its claw into Shawna’s collar bone. That lurched them both out of the hatch — falling, 10 feet to the ground.
Anita looked down at Shawna’s motionless body. She cried out, “no!” and began lowering herself down out of the hatch.
My IC had managed to get on top of me before Donna got back to us. Without hesitation, it slowly pressed its tallon into my eyebrow.
It was stabbing my supraorbital nerve. It was trying to cause me pain, and it already somehow knew that was the most painful nerves in the human body.
That’s when I passed out.
I LATER LEARNED THAT Donna kicked him away from me after I passed out, but not without her leg getting wounded by his claws.
She managed to grab him by the wrists, preventing him from being able to claw at her. She threw him back into quarantine, and secured him in, for good this time.
Ava and Misty had arrived back at the camp. They laid Bonnie’s body at the edge of the valley and ran over to help.
With Anita, they managed to get Sarah’s IC away from Shawna for a moment. Shawna was alive still — but in addition to the incision in her collar bone, she had broken her leg in that fall. She laid there helpless on the verge of passing out.
Sarah’s IC had been wounded by the water. But instead of running away, the wounds had made him more fearocious.
Ava and Anita did their best to ward him off, but he was set on getting back at Shawna. The gashes on Anita’s arms, and Misty and Ava’s exhaustion from carrying back Bonnie — rendered them unable to keep the creature away.
Shawna kicked at the IC with her other leg, but the creature just swiped at her foot — cutting the bottom of her foot through the shoe. Just as the IC was about to pounce and kill Shawna — Carson and Shawna’s IC bounded into the valley.
Shawna’s son was now large and feathered like Carson. His feathers were different shades of red, and he blended into Eden’s environment perfectly.
With one powerful swift, yet restrained, swipe of his arm — Shawna’s son knocked the infant IC far away from Shawna. The infant took one look at the two massive creatures and bounded away towards the forest.
Carson took a few long quick strides over towards the creature, and pinned it under his foot before he could get away.
SEEING THIS, SHAWNA’S SON turned back to his mother. Shawna was shaking from the pain and adrenaline, but looked up at him with awe. When he got down to her level, she caressed his face gently. The large IC closed his eyes, relishing his mother’s affection.
He placed his open palm in front of her. Shawna too his hand and the two of them smiled. Tears formed and began to fall freely from their cheeks.
Ava knew the power they were using. It made her eyes water just thinking about what memory or feelings they may have just shared. She could see in Shawna that in an instant, he had just healed years of pain in her heart.
He then healed her body; placing bones and closing her wounds effortlessly and miraculously.
The two embraced.
Separating, Shawna then nodded, as if to give permission.
Her son walked over to Carson. Carson lifted his foot to let the little devil go. Immediately, the IC bolted off into the woods. Carson watched as Shawna’s son ran after the creature — just like he did with him a few days earlier.
Carson, Ava, Misty and Anita looked back at Shawna. With a smile on her face she said proudly, “his name is Donavan.”
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