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Stardate: 2276.21
Vulcans are incredibly noisy people if you know how to listen.
At any given time, the average untrained psi-null being is able to parse less than 30% of inter-Vulcan communication activity. The questioning arch of the eyebrow and ever-present sarcasm are easy to catch. But only after years of living in close contact with Vulcans do most humans become aware of the nearly imperceptible physical tics, alterations in breathing, and movement of the eyes that carry just as much meaning as any information conveyed verbally, if not more.
In the air there is a constant buzz that is the result of an entire planet’s worth of telepathic communication happening at once. It’s a sound that’s easy to ignore on Earth, where it is crowded out by the overwhelming volume of 8 billion voices. But on the still sparsely-populated Vulcan colony, a low hum of psychic energy follows Uhura around like the hum of the Enterprise’s engines.
..:::..
Spock, Uhura, and their second wife Saiehnn are among the first to actually take part in the Teslau project outside of the testing phase. A massive undertaking involving multiple governments and nearly a decade of research, Teslau aims to prevent the eventual extinction of the Vulcan people through genetic manipulation that will increase the tendency of females to have multiple births--something of a rarity in beings that evolved on such a resource-starved planet. Some call it a miracle of science, others sacrilege.
For their triad, it means that they are locked into a band of outsiders, looked at with a combination of suspicion and fascination by the rest of the populace.
..:::..
Saiehnn went into labor early this morning, just as the sun was cresting over the horizon. She didn’t wake anyone until all her bags were packed and ready to go, then roused both of her spouses with a gentle nudge to the shoulder. Eleven hours later, Uhura has become intimately familiar with the reception area of the obstetrics unit at the New Vulcan Medical Institute, and is fighting off encroaching sleep. Spock, of course, shows no signs of fatigue at all.
Uhura sneaks a look at her husband from the corner of her eye, although after 17 years of marriage, it’s pretty much unnecessary. He’s telegraphing anxiety all over the place, an intensity echoed by an elderly woman buried in layers of traditional garb and a pale young man who looks about the same age Spock was when he and Uhura first met. In any other situation, Uhura would go thumbing through her PADD for some music to drown out all that mental white noise. But today she simply places her hand atop his, halting the motion of his fingers as they pick at the fine weave of his trousers, and lets her shoulder brush against his own.
Together, they wait.
..:::..
Uhura finds the “Teslau babies”, as she’s begun to think of them, fascinating. Never has any one group of children been placed under so much scrutiny. They are continually subjected to batteries of tests, the results of which Spock spends hours analyzing.
Uhura’s first introduction to them was through the arrival of a woman named Vesko on her doorstep when Saiehnn was about two months along. She was similar to Uhura in height and build, and accompanied by three identical children approximately two years of age. One of the scientists involved with the project herself, Vesko was the first woman to volunteer for hormone therapy.
Both Spock and Saiehnn were out, but Uhura insisted that they all come inside for tea.
Vesko's children were neat and studious-looking, just like any other Vulcan children, with the exception of the tiny gloves they wore.
“If you don’t mind my asking, Vesko—why are their hands covered like that?”
Vesko’s mouth twitched at the corners. The hint of a smile or a frown, Uhura couldn’t tell which.
“The triplets are unable to touch anyone without initiating a mind meld. Until they are old enough to control their physical behavior, I thought it the best course of action. When they are of age, they will attend school like any other children. We simply take extra precautions.”
The triplets sit quietly in a corner, playing a puzzle that Uhura brought out for their amusement.
“I’m sorry,” is the only response she can come up with.
“Do not apologize for something that is not your fault, Commander,” says Vesko. “We always knew it was a possibility.”
..:::..
Vulcan births are a very private affair. Newborns are kept away from most interference for the first month as their shields develop and strengthen against the interferences from the outside world. Recent threats received by the Institute mean that Teslau mothers are even more closely guarded. Today is the first time Uhura has been in the vicinity of a new mother, and she’s more than a little excited. Scared, too.
What if the twins hate her because she’s human?
What if they won’t stop crying or her…smell or something makes them ill and she has to move out of the house until they are strong enough to withstand her contamination?
What if Saiehnn doesn’t make it?
What if something is wrong with them?
What if….
..:::..
Four cups of tea later, the nurse comes to fetch them. The quickness of her steps betrays her excitement.
Spock rises slowly, his body stiff from the long wait. “They are healthy? And Saiehnn?”
The nurse opens her mouth, shuts it again. “They are in perfect physical health. Please, follow me.” She turns and makes her way back down the corridor, her cream-colored skirt fluttering around her ankles.
Saiehnn looks perfectly healthy, just as the nurse said. She has one little bundle balanced on each arm, and is carrying on a conversation with the physician, who is gesturing calmly to the output on his tricorder.
“You are sure about this?” she asks. Her dark hair is stuck to her forehead with dried sweat, but other than that, she looks entirely composed. “Your tricorder is correctly calibrated? Everything is in working order?”
The doctor looks up, noticing the two new people in the room. Uhura hovers behind Spock, who displays an uncharacteristic lack of ability to take action in this moment. She places a hand at his back and pushes him further into the room, so that they can get a better look.
The twins are, to be honest, a little funny looking in the way that all babies are. Their ears aren’t quite unfurled yet, and their faces are an unattractive pale green that makes them look ill to Uhura’s human eyes. But all their legs are there, and all their tiny fingers and toes, and their chests rise and fall with reassuring regularity. Uhura is ready to call it a win.
It’s not until Spock narrows his eyes and reaches to draw a finger across the forehead of the infant closest to him that Uhura realizes there’s a silence in the air that doesn’t quite belong. A blank space where there is the comforting buzz of just one new mind, instead of two.
“What’s wrong?” Uhura asks, her hands clenching into fists. “Something’s not right, I can tell."
Saiehnn swallows, and her eyes dart quickly to the physician before meeting Spock’s gaze.
“We have two daughters…and one of them is psi-null.”