Free IN NATURA: a science fiction novel (ARZAT SERIES Book 2) by David Samuel Frazier Page B

dig or cut their way through the four-inch-steel door.
      While Tom the Pilot was thinking, Mot used the opportunity to light a new torch from one that was almost spent.
      “What about the com-pu-ter ?” Ara finally asked, aware from Tom’s thoughts that the human’s strange and baffling electrical power was the problem. “I saw lights there. Perhaps . . .”
      Tom and Alex looked at her, astonished.
      “Now, why in the hell didn’t I think of that?” Tom said, and gave Alex a look. “Come on Mot. Let’s go see if we can steal a battery from the cryo lab that still has some life left in it.” He grabbed one of the unlit torches, touched it to Mot’s, and handed it to Alex so she and Ara wouldn’t be left in the dark. “Ladies, we’ll be right back.”
      Tom began to head back to the cryogenic unit with Mot, but he suddenly turned and stopped. “And Alex . . . for Christ’s sake, please don’t wander off anywhere.”
    * * *
    “He needs to eat,” Ara said to Alex, referring to Mot, as they watched the light from Tom’s torch fade.
      “I know, I know—we all do Ara,” Alex replied, suddenly feeling hungry herself.
      Alex was fully aware of the Arzat’s almost insatiable appetites when active. If food was scarce, they could apparently place themselves into a kind of cold-blooded semi-hibernation and go for long periods without eating. When they were moving, however, the situation was reversed. She recalled again that Mot had even considered eating her when they had first encountered each other—so strong was his appetite when he had awoken from his original sixty-five-million-year nap.
      Yes, Mot was surely ravenous, Alex thought, but it might be even worse for Ara now that she was about to bear a child.
      “How are you doing Ara?”
      “It is not so bad for me,” the female Arzat said, trying to ignore the rather delicious smell coming from the human female who had asked the question.
      “What about your child? Can you tell if . . . ?”
      Alex was suddenly worried the cryo might have had some adverse effect on Ara’s pregnancy. She also thought she had become pregnant herself just before they had entered the cryogenic units—so she was asking as much for herself as Ara.
      “The child is still with me, Alex,” Ara said. “And yours is with you as well. Can you not hear it?”
      You’re reading my mind again Ara, thought Alex.
      “Yes,” Ara said, her eyes dilating more open in the light of the failing torch. Ara bent down and picked up another fresh torch and lit it from the one Alex had been holding. “There . . . better . . . yes?”
      “Yes,” Alex replied—yes, yes, yes! Alex was really no longer bothered about Ara’s ability to read her own thoughts. At the moment, she was so delighted with Ara’s proclamation that she could barely think. Besides, the Arzat had taught her how to very effectively block if she chose to—so it was Alex’s problem now if Ara was trespassing in her head.
      “So, you can actually hear it, Ara?”
      “My child? Well, it is certainly not speaking yet, but yes, I am now aware of its mind becoming whole.”
      “That’s amazing,” Alex said. “How can you tell with me? Can you hear mine as well?”
      “That is a connection that only happens between the child and its mother until birth, Alex. With you, it is simply a matter of your scent. You smell . . . how can I say this? Very much with child.”
      “Huh,” Alex said, even more astonished, and wishing she could have the same sort of connection.
      “It is early, Alex. Perhaps you will.”
      Ara looked up. She sensed Tom and Mot returning.
      Tom flashed a smile at Alex and held up a battery pack and some tools.
      “Mot, can you hold the torch for me?” Tom asked, as he approached the exit.
      They all watched as he used a screwdriver to deftly remove the cover from the locking mechanism. He attached two wires to the battery and then connected them