On Baldur

The seal of the transportation capsule hissed open and the re-animation drugs were shot into Jenna’s body. She awakened from the six-Earth-year-long sleep, stretched and rubbed her eyes. It felt just like waking up at home even though, from now on, she’d be waking up on Baldur. Jenna sat up and started her revival-exercise routine, pausing occasionally to wave at others who were doing the same. They all knew to wait until their vocal cords were stretched before trying to talk, never mind call out greetings. The air hummed with “ohm’s” and “mi, mi, mi’s”.

Gradually they all finished and migrated into the central chamber, which now overlooked their new planet. It was a beautiful world, looking not unlike Terra, as well as having the other essential Earth-like requirements for human life. Although everyone knew exactly what part had been allocated to each, it was a different thing actually to look at the land that they would have to walk on in order for it to sustain them.

“It’s not like the map!” said the young woman standing beside her.

“No, it’s not,” agreed Jenna, and then introduced herself.

Her new friend’s name was Denise and, when they finally got their fill of looking out of the spaceport, they moved with the general herd to the dining area where food was being dispensed.

“Are you nervous about the ceremony?” Denise asked through hastily chewed mouthfuls.

Jenna laughed. “It’s not so much the ceremony as what comes after!” Both of them glanced around at the equal number of men and women in the group. “Do you know your husband-to-be’s name?”

“It’s Adam, which is about right for starting in a new Eden. Except I should be called Eve!” Denise giggled. Jenna laughed with her, hoping their homesteads would be near one another so they could keep in touch.

A man named Paul was to be Jenna’s spouse in the soon-to-be-performed ceremony that would send legally-married couples forth to be fruitful and populate the planet. It was all a bit like one of the reality shows that used to be on the entertainment transmissions. They were all certainly being, “Married at First Sight”, with a touch of “The Farmer Wants a Wife” thrown in!

A few hours later all the newly-married couples mounted their planet-buggies and rode off in a shower of spaceship-generated confetti to the new homes that had been robotically constructed prior to their arrival.

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Several Baldur-months had passed and Paul had successfully harvested one crop of his allotted requirement. Jenna had a more specialised garden, cultivating plants for healing purposes. Many of these then needed extra handling to be fit for use on various ailments.

All went well until the day Paul staggered in from the fields, sweating and racked with repeated spasms. After putting him to bed, Jenna opened the communicator to broadcast to all the others. Gradually they found that all the men had been affected and nothing they’d tried to help them seemed to work.

Jenna applied each of her herbal remedies in turn and none made a difference to Paul’s suffering. Finally all she was left with one that they had almost not brought since it was so poisonous—deadly nightshade. Jenna had extracted crude belladonna but she knew that an overdose would kill Paul. Since the continuing spasms seemed liable to kill him if she did nothing, she tried one drop in a spoonful of water. Hour after painful hour, she increased the dose until Paul’s spasms stopped.

After he gradually recovered his strength, he lay his hand on Jenna’s swollen belly and said, “If it’s a girl, I think we should name her Bella Donna.”

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Belladonna, as seen in the title image. Photo: Agnieszka Kwiecień. License: CC-BY 4.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

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