The Midnight Stand (The Elysia Saga Book 1) by Louis A. Affortunato Read Free Book Online

wasn’t ready for that.
He started to stammer when he replied. “Are you sure?”
    “Yes, positive.”
    “Maybe there was an error,” he said hopefully.
“Why don’t you test again?”
    “The test has a 99.999 percent accuracy rate,
and I tested twice,” she said. “We have to face reality here. We’re having
another child.”
    Normally this wouldn’t be an issue. Yes, most
people weren’t lucky enough to have more than one child and the pre-natal exams
will still need to determine if this child is up to standard, but it wasn’t out
of the ordinary. The problem was they got pregnant outside of their window.
    Each couple is given a certain amount of windows
to attempt to conceive. The criteria is based on many different factors such as
age and the overall health of the couple, but normally the window is one month
every five years. It was a population control method put in effect in the early
days of the Project.
     All conceptions outside of the window are
illegal and the punishments are determined on a case by case basis. Punishments
can be anything from a sanction, to incarceration, to even cancellation of the
birth. Maxon hoped that since this was a first offense and given his standing
within the department, the Council would take it easy on him and only give him
a small sanction.
    “What should we do?” asked Erica.
    “We don’t do anything just yet. It’s still
early.”
    “But if we wait too long, that will only put us
in a worse position. They’d think we were trying to hide it from them or
something.”
    Maxon knew this, but he didn’t want to worry
her. “You only just found out this morning, right? We won’t have to do anything
for at least three to four weeks. We can say we just found out then if
anything. Besides, anything can happen between now and then. We shouldn’t jump
the gun needlessly on this.”
    Erica’s eyes squinted at him. “What do you mean
anything can happen?”
    He could tell she knew what he was implying, but
he didn’t want to come right out and say it. “I mean there are many reasons why
this could just turn out to be a scare”.
    “A scare?”
    “Erica, you know many births are miscarried in
the first month or two. It’s just the way it is. It’s nobody’s fault.”
    It was true. There was an abnormally high miscarriage
rate among first trimester babies. No one quite knew why. One theory had to do
with the radiation that was emitted from the AutoHomes electronics. Another had
to do with the geothermal core digging contaminating the water processing
plant. Whatever it was, no doctors or scientists knew what caused it or they
weren’t saying what caused it.
    “You’re hoping for that to happen?” Erica asked,
stunned.
    “No, of course not. It’s just...it’s a lot to
process right now and I have to worry about this wreck tonight. Can we talk
about this tomorrow?”
    “Fine, do whatever you want,” she said. “Don’t
wake me when you get home.” The signal went out before Maxon had a chance to respond,
or even apologize.
    He stood in the hall, still looking at his watch
which now showed the time. It was 10:25. He had to brief the crew in twenty-five
minutes and in that moment he didn’t know what to say to them. It was as if his
mind just went off and drifted somewhere else. The last place he wanted to be
was where he was. Maxon’s evening just got a whole lot more complicated.

Chapter 7
     
    An explosion erupted from the living room as tea
was served in the kitchen. The vibration shook the cups on the table, causing
some tea to spill on the stainless steel veneer.
    “Does it sound like that all the time?” Sara
asked her sister as she took a sip of tea. Another bomb rocked the living room
and was followed by high pitched laughter.
    “Only when he’s blowing up the globe,” Dana
said. She looked much like her younger sister, but she was taller with long
dark hair that came down to her lower back while Sara wore her blonde hair
short.  “Lucas,