With Sadness Comes Happiness

With Sadness Comes Happiness

     “The saddest thing that could happen to a family is the loss of a child. It’s even harder when it’s a parents fault that child was dead.” Chaddim couldn’t hold back the tears.

     Chaddim knelt down in front of an empty Survival Box. A Health Assistant had just removed her hands from the built-in plastic gloves attached to it. She left without saying a word. As she left she dropped some bloody cloths into a slot in a red box, with a tube under it, next to the door.

     “I killed my baby.” Chaddim kept saying that over. But he had a hard time saying it. “My baby girl is dead thanks to me.”

<<<<<>>>>>

     Griace screamed. She grabbed her stomach. “It’s too early. I can’t have my baby now.”

     Chaddim looked over at Griace for only a second in response to her screaming. When he did he lost control of his Transport. He quickly returned to the Control. And he tried to regain control.

     Nummon, thirteen, and Yilia, ten, got bounced back and forth in the back chairs of that Transport just like their parents in the front. “What’s going on?” Nummon shouted.

     Yilia started to panic. “We are all going to die.”

     “No, we aren’t.” Griace checked her Protective Belt across her upper legs, lower legs and around her chest. Once she made sure she was secured she checked her children. The Transport bounced up and down a few inches above the deserted road. It skidded off one pair of trees. And scraped three more on the other side before centered itself on the road again.

     Chaddim gripped the Control Square so tight his hands started turning a pale black. In front of them a small clearing could be seen ahead. Chaddim aimed his Transport toward it. He had regained control of that Transport. But just before entering that clearing Chaddim lost control again. The nose of the Transport dipped down. And hit a fallen tree across a small, barely large enough for a Transport, opening leading into the clearing.

     When they hit that tree the Transport flipped over. And the top became the bottom. As it hit, the Transport bounced twice before it returned upright. It did that flipping three more times until it hit a large tree front first.

     Within that Transport the family got tossed around. Their Protective Belts protected them from flying out the windows. Both Chaddim and Griace were looking out the front window when it happened. Chaddim had his hands and upper arms up trying to protect his face. Griace grabbed her stomach. Nummon ended up bumping his head on the back of Chaddim’s chair. And Yilia was stretched out with her head against the side window. All of them looked banged up. But there didn’t appear to be any blood loss.

<<<<<>>>>>

     As soon as that Transport started flipping, and the damage caused as a result of it, an automated Help Signal went out. Within an hour the Rescue Team arrived. It took another hour before they got everyone out safely.

     “Get my three children out first.” All four had come around by then. A little groggy. And very shaky. But other than that okay.

     Nummon seemed the easiest one to get first. He wasn’t trapped. And that part of the Transport happened to be still intact. Yilia also seemed fairly easy to rescue. But her side of the Transport did have her trapped. It took some time but they got her out - alive.

     The front chairs smashed into the Control Panel when the Transport hit that tree. As a result, the Rescue Team didn’t know Griace was about to have a baby. They would have gotten them out first. By the time they got her out the Rescue Transports had gotten there. The Rescue Transport took off just as soon as all four, five, of them got strapped in.

<<<<<>>>>>

     Rescue got them to the nearest Health Center only a few minutes later. They wanted to land on the roof. But one look at it told them they couldn’t because it happened to be full. So they landed in the Parking Area – by landing on two other Transports. Then using Floating Exams, they rushed all four into the Health Center.

     By the time they got them into Health the Floating Exams knew what their health happened to be in. Chaddim, Nummon and Yilia got sent immediately to Minimum Care. But Griace went directly to Birth Control. She screamed all the way there. “It’s too soon. I’m only six months long. I have another three months before I have this baby.”

     Six hours later baby Polei came into that world. They tried to let Griace have her baby the normal way. But after six hours they had to do it the hard way. Baby Polei got sent to the Survival Box admittedly. And for the next ten hours she lived hooked up to that machine that kept her alive. But she was too young to survive. Her whole family stayed with her until the end.

     After she died one after another her family left that room. Only Chaddim stayed behind until the body got taken away – and the clean-up began.

<<<<<>>>>>

     The family stayed in the Grieving Room after the commotion started outside. It got so loud Chaddim had to find out what had happened. He came back a few minutes later. “I have some great news. Polei is still alive.

     “What are you talking about. We all saw her die.” Griace looked shocked. So did Nummon and Yilia.

     “It was some kind of baby stealing operation. And the Assistant who removed Polei, pronounced her dead, and then clean-up after her death was behind it. The Locals have been watching her for months. Polei should be joining us soon.” Just then baby Polei got returned to her family.