This Side of Paradise - Part 1

“You're right captain,” said Holts looking at the holoscreen. “It is beautiful.” The star maps they traded for was certainly worth the trouble they went through.

“And after all that we've been through, it's down right perfect,” said Captain Jonathan Hunt smiling. It had been tough, and with as many as twenty crew members dead and scores wounded from the Cintay attack, the crew needed a break. Hunt was glad that the T'aal technology was not seriously impaired and the repairs were smoothly. H'loor had reported that they should be at full operational efficiency in less than a week.

“Send an away party commander, and if everything checks out, we may even be able to have a little shore leave for the crew,” Hunt got up from his command chair and walked to the control panels. He punched up the data from the passive scans and the readings were encouraging.

The planet that Starlight now orbit glowed like a jewel in the dark. From the readouts Hunt was looking at, Julan, as the star maps called it, had breathable air and a warm climate, what more could he ask for? From the corner of his eye Hunt saw his first officer rush off to get the landing barge manned. He knew that if he asked Holts, the commander would say that his haste was from the want to get back to their mission of finding a new home for humanity, but he knew there was more to it. Behind that calm and collected exterior, Hunt knew that Holts wanted, as he did, some time off the ship.

…

Sweat covered David Sparr's body as he tossed and turned in bed. In his dream he saw chaos, destruction and pain. In his dream he was on the walkway and everyone who passed him was grimacing and groaning. In his dream, he could see only pain.

And then the pain took form. It walked up to him like a ghost that had just regained corporeal form. It grabbed him by his arms and shook him. His entire body seized up and he felt a burning sensation that spread all over him.

Sparr opened his eyes and realized that the pain had followed him from his nightmare. He screamed, but he knew no one could hear him. He tried to sit up but he was too weak. He used all his strength to reach for the scarab on his nightstand and set off the medical emergency alarm. He fell back to bed scared and cried out in pain. He grabbed the corners of his sheets and pulled them close, hoping that by covering himself the pain would go away until help arrived. It didn't work of course. As he pulled on the fabric he smelt a faint iron smell. Sure enough, when he looked down, he found that his sheets was stained with blood.

And then he howled.
…

“How is he?” asked B'loor, his voice lowered. Although his facial expression didn't show it, Doctor DeSalle knew that the T'aal was feeling worried, and maybe even a little guilty.

“He's stable. My medic is giving him a scan right now,” said DeSalle and called up a holoscreen. “The eggs that were attached to his intestines have burrowed themselves deeper into the tissue. And from what I gathered from T'aal physiology, this is the second phase of your gestation period.”

B'loor glanced at the holoscreen only for a moment and he looked away. DeSalle reached out and held the alien's hand. “Look, this is not the time to blame yourself, the priority is to make sure that Lieutenant Sparr is alright.”

Even when he said it, DeSalle knew that it was not going to be an easy task. The human body was not made for this form of reproduction. The lippa, or T'aal eggs, would now drain more from its host to get the nutrients they need to grow. And there were twenty two eggs inside Sparr, much more than they had initially thought, and they were all, literally eating him alive, from inside out.

DeSalle had tried several methods to extract the lippa and even considered removing the section of the intestine that the eggs had latched themselves onto, but with no success. And the recent attack didn't help, his gastroenterological research was disrupted and he feared that it might be too late to help Sparr.

“May I see him?” asked B'loor walking towards the bed but DeSalle caught up with him and stopped him.

“I think we should let him rest. He was in a lot of pain when we got him in, so we had to sedate him. I will call you when he's awake,” DeSalle said managing a comforting smile.

The T'aal said nothing and turned to leave but something caught his attention and he stopped at a console.

“Doctor, are these the biological scans of the surface?”

DeSalle walked up behind him and saw the readouts B'loor was studying. “Yes, we have some very preliminary water and air compound readings. We do that so that we know a little about the planet before we...”

DeSalle didn't get to finish before B'loor turned and walked out of sickbay.