Created: 8-23-09IN DISTRICT 9
Nouche stumbled on a brick and almost fell face first onto the rubble if it weren’t for her good reflexes. Quickly she gained composure and walked on. She cursed inwardly. This place has really gone to the dogs, or in this case, the prawns. She wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the fact that she needed money.
And she needed it bad, because she was starving her head off.
She fingered the disposable camera she was given to by one of the frat boys. She was told to take some pictures of the prawns behaving in any way that was unacceptable so that they can post it up in their blogs and further spread their propaganda of urging the government to get rid of these prawns once and for all. She was not one to take sides. She was going to do this for the food money. Nothing else. Whatever those frat boys want to do with the pictures was up to them. They could send it to the president or to the head of MNU themselves if they want to. It was none of her concern.
All she wanted was enough cash to feed her to get by.
She snapped her first picture of the prawns fighting over a motorcycle tire. The tire tore with their superhuman strength and both of them ran away with their half, although she saw that one of the half was more than the other. She had heard of them enjoying eating tires like humans would with marshmallows, but she didn’t think she would see one up close and personal.
She was confident no one could see her. Her small stature and nimble limbs despite her being a 15-year-old teenager served her well in moving around unnoticed. It worked pretty well when she skulked around in restaurants and cafes to grab a morsel. This shouldn’t be too hard.
She was on a roll. She took more pictures of the prawns, like them peeing on some else’s shack, betting on their version of chicken fights, arguing with the locals over food, grabbing any random stray dogs or cats that wandered into the district and chowing them down like they were the pick of the day and much more. Maybe after this was all over, she could ask the frat boys to let her have a copy set for keepsakes.
“What do we have here?”
Nouche froze as she heard the clicking and monotone growls behind her. She turned around warily to see a huge prawn glowering at her. Its exoskeleton was painted in orange, and it was wearing a very torn-up trench-coat, and, as all prawns did, the back of its head was labeled with the familiar white brand of MNU.
“What are you doing here?” the prawn rumbled as it reached over to thread its claws through her almond locks.“Don’t you know it’s not safe here for small females like you?”
“G…Get away from me, prawn!” Nouche shouted as she picked up a random rock and threw it at its face. “Don’t touch me!”
“You will learn your place, little female!”
So saying, it lunged forward towards her. Nouche let out a scream and made a run for it, its claws barely nicking her. Her scream attracted the other prawns, and soon it was an all-out predatory chase. Before she knew it, there were about 5 prawns chasing after her, eager for blood. She knew she had made the biggest mistake of her life whenever she was faced with a prawn: attacking it. She shouldn’t have thrown the rock at it. To do so was no different than behaving like MNU pointing guns at them and showing hostility to them. Of course, for those big boys, they’ve got the guns to protect themselves, but for her who was an unarmed teenage civilian, attacking a prawn was suicide.
Suddenly something leapt over her head and landed behind her. She turned around, tripping as she went, to see that it was another prawn, with body features slightly bigger than the others. It was not painted like the most of the prawns, but it wore a sort of clothing all the same. It had earth-coloured exoskeleton and yellow eyes, and wore a red vest fastened with duct tape in place and a pair of yellow torn pants that looked more like it was wrapped in strips around its pelvic and thighs rather than worn properly. It let out something that sounded like a mixed between a high-pitched shriek and a hiss, making the other prawns back away a little.
“Get away from her! You know the rules! No harming the women and children!”
“She attacked first!” the orange prawn hissed. “She should be taught a lesson!”
“And bring the MNU over to investigate us? We have enough troubles from them as it is! Now go, before you stir up anymore chaos!”
The orange prawn and its companions hissed at him in contempt before leaving. Making sure that they were out of sight, the prawn that rescued her turned around and held out a claw at her, offering to help her up.
“Are you alright?”
Nouche responded by kicking sand at its feet before high-tailing out of District 9.
--:--
Nouche and the big prawn stared at each other for a moment at the dumpster heap. She could tell from the surprised look in its eyes that it had not expected her to return. She didn’t even expect she would either, but she had to.
She owed him a favour.
“Here.”
The prawn widened its eyes delightfully at the sight of the can she held out to it. The delicacy of all delicacies and she was there, holding it out to it at its face like it was the most invaluable thing in the world. It looked at the can and back up at her again, not sure whether there was a catch behind accepting this.
“C’mon, you want it or not? It’s Friskies, for Christ’s sake,” Nouche grumbled as she opened the can to let it smell the contents within. “I know you prawns love this particular brand. I haven’t got all day.”
With that, the prawn quickly snatched the can from her hand and poured the whole cat food into its mouth, gobbling up the whole lot. Nouche grimaced. How could they like cat food so much? It’s just a bunch of manufactured raw meat that smells like it had been kept in a larder for three weeks. She heard rumours from the locals of the prawns describing cat food as bitter, salty and “oh, so good”, but to see one up close eating it like it was caviar was just so…bizarre.
“Have you got anymore?” the prawn asked.
“Nope,” Nouche shook her head. “I could only get one. It’s not easy shoplifting from a supermarket nowadays, you know.”
“You…You stole this…for me?”
“Yeah, well, it’s not like I’m the richest lady in the world. I mean, look at me.”
“Why? Why would you do this for me?”
“Coz…” Nouche hesitated for a while before blushing and looked away, “Coz you saved me from those other prawns. I’m not good at keeping people in debt, therefore we owe each other nothing now.”
The prawn stared at her in silence for a while before nodding.
“Thank you, young female.”
“Yeah, whatever. Don’t mention it.”
They both exchanged looks for a while, not sure what else to say. Finally, Nouche had enough of this staring contest. She got up, patted her pants off the grime from the dumpster heap and waved wordlessly at the prawn before turning her back at him and walked down the heap towards the slightly torn fence that got her into District 9
--:--
Nouche knocked at the door of the rundown shack. It wasn’t exactly any better than the other shacks, but at least it looked bigger and more or less livable. She could hear a bit of clattering before footsteps slowly approached the door. She took a step back just in case the door opened the other way.
“Who is it?” she heard the familiar voice of the big prawn. It was deeper, richer and more mature than all the other prawns around, and it sounded almost sophisticated, in a prawn-ish sort of way. She cleared her throat and made a clattering sound from the plastic bag she was carrying.
“I got more cat food for you.”
The door opened almost immediately, revealing the prawn in his usual attire of red vest with duct tape and yellow pants strips. She could’ve sworn those eyes were smiling as it approached her in an almost gleeful way.
“It’s not much, but I managed to swipe these from some of those local guys who were selling meat to your other prawn friends, and some of them I swiped them from supermarkets and convenient stores. I know how much you like Friskies.”
She handed the plastic bag to the prawn, in which it took it from her almost immediately. It wanted to shove one whole can into its mouth and chomp it down but she stopped him.
“Hey, hey, hey, easy there, tiger. I didn’t go through all that trouble getting cat food for you so that you can swallow it all in one gulp. Leave some room for the rest, OK?”
It considered for a while before taking the can out of its mouth and handed it to her. She took it from it, wiped its drool off on its vest before opening the can and returned it to it again.
“There. Take it easy. Savour the food. Eat it one by one and let the taste linger in your mouth. You’ll enjoy it more, trust me.”
The prawn looked at her skeptically before doing as she advised. It fished out one claw-ful of cat food and put it in its mouth, chewing it slowly. Sure enough, its eyes were ecstatic at the taste and she could swear she heard the prawn letting out trills of pleasure as it sat down and continued to eat. At least now, instead of gobbling it up in seconds, it took the prawn roughly 10 minutes to finish the cat food and was aiming for seconds.
“How can you guys eat this stuff?” Nouche asked, grimacing as she sat opposite the prawn. “This stuff is for cats, you know that, right?”
“Then you humans must treat felines very well here.”
“Well, those who can afford it, yeah, they do. But for people like me, we can barely feed ourselves, let alone a cat.”
The prawn finished his second can and Nouche thought it was going for thirds, but surprisingly, it picked up the plastic bag of cat food and took it inside its shack. She heard shuffling about, like it was trying to put away something before coming out again and sat at the same spot opposite her.
“I’m saving those for later. I’m taking your advice on savouring things.”
“Good, at least someone’s paying attention.”
“Why do you help me so? Why risk yourself to the authorities just to get me those?”
Nouche had been asking herself the same question as well.
“I dunno,” she shrugged. “I guess…I guess I just wanted to see you, is all.”
“Why? I thought you hate our kind.”
“I thought that as well, but…I guess I thought wrong.”
They sat facing each other in comfortable silence for about 15 minutes or so before the prawn finally spoke.
“What is your name?”
“Huh?” Nouche broke out of her reverie before replying, “Oh, uh, my name’s Nouche. It means ‘Night’ in Spanish. Don’t ask me why I have that name. It’s been part of me forever.”
“I cannot pronounce your name, unfortunately, but is it OK if I call you Night?”
“Same difference,” Nouche shrugged. “What’s your name?”
“It’s something you cannot pronounce either,” the prawn said sadly, “but MNU gave me a human name.”
She looked as it scrawled with its claws its name on the dirt. It wasn’t in the best of writings, but it still amazed her that it can write in human language.
“Christopher Johnson? That’s your name they gave you? Christopher Johnson? I would expect that name for an Englishman or something, but for you?”
“I don’t like it either, but this is the only way you humans can identify with me.”
She could tell from the tone of his—no longer an ‘it’, since she knew he had a name—voice that he really didn’t like being given a human name. She could more or less relate to that. Being forced to live in a place so foreign to your kind is bad enough. To adopt a name that wasn’t even yours to begin with was just literally stripping you off your own identity.
“I guess I could learn to like it…if you would, Christopher.”
Christopher looked at her in mild surprise, but then his eyes softened into a prawn-like smile, making her feel surprisingly comfortable.
This was the first prawn friend she had ever made in District 9.
--:--
Nouche sat on a flat tire, watching as Christopher went about the dumpster heap all crouched and bent, looking through the pile of scraps and metal as if searching for something important.
“What exactly is it are you looking for, Christopher?” she asked, the question nagging at her mind since she first saw him do that.
“Just things,” Christopher replied, picking up a mangled up cassette tape and shook his head, throwing it away.
“I doubt someone who comes to the dumpster heap everyday would be looking for ‘just things’.”
Christopher ignored her. He continued to look around the area, picking things up and examining them before shaking his head and throwing them aside. Nouche noticed that he was looking for things of metallic nature, or anything that looked like some sort of electronic gadget or gizmos. Her eyes scanned around the heap and caught sight of something that didn’t look like any regular household or electrical appliance anyone had ever seen. She got off the tire and walked towards it, bending down to pick it up. She saw that it looked slightly opaque in shape, yet a little longish and slim in size, like it was something you would put inside a battery case. She smirked and picked up a scrunched up chocolate wrapper and threw it at Christopher’s head.
“Hey, Christopher,” she giggled as she caught the prawn’s attention. “Looking for this?”
“How did you…?” Christopher was genuinely surprised at her beginner’s luck. “Give it to me!”
“Not until you tell me what you are going to do with it.”
“This does not concern you, Night. Give it to me!”
“No.”
Christopher let out an angered hiss and jumped up at her, making her fall back to the ground and knocking the wind out of her. He pinned her arms down and almost sat on her, his face very close to hers as he made a sound that was like a mixture of a growl and a series of clicking, seemingly demanding to be given the item that she found. Time seemed to stand still for a moment as their eyes met, yellow against crystal blue, none of them making a move as they stared at each other with mixed emotions. Christopher didn’t even try to take the gadget from Nouche’s hand, which was just inches away from his claw that pinned down her arm. They just stayed there, staring at each other as if they had just met for the first time.
“You’re planning to leave, aren’t you?”
Christopher was brought back from his reverie, but he didn’t reply her question.
“This gadget here,” Nouche gripped tight at the thing she found, “is your key to going home…isn’t it?”
“Don’t ask what does not concern you, Night.”
Christopher finally reached over and snatched the gadget from her hand. Nouche could feel the tentacles on his mouth brushing against her face and back again as he leaned forward and back to take it from her. He finally got onto his feet and stashed the gadget under his armpit, but he didn’t leave with it immediately. He just stood there, watching as Nouche herself tried to get back on her feet.
“What are you going to do with that thing?” Nouche asked as she pat herself off the dirt and grime.
“I cannot tell you,” Christopher replied, looking away slightly.
“Why not?”
“Because…”
“Because…?” Nouche probed, moving a little closer to him.
“Because I still…don’t trust you.”
Nouche frowned at that remark.
“Is it because I’m human? That’s why you don’t trust me?”
Christopher didn’t reply, but she could tell from his eyes that he had confirmed her questions.
“Fine, be that way, you stupid prawn! And I thought you were my friend!”
She turned around and stomped away, vowing never again to return to District 9.
--:--
Nouche crept into the shack as quietly as she could. She took off her torn up shoes and held onto them as she walked barefoot along the dusty floor, being careful not to step on anything that might cause her to have a bloody Tetanus shot that she couldn’t afford.
She stepped on something that felt like fabric. She looked down and saw that it was an old piece of cloth that looked like it used to be one of those leather camping tent scouts use during outings. It was slightly strewn aside, revealing a huge trapdoor underneath. She was tempted to open it, to see what was down there, to see what secrets Christopher was hiding.
So she did.
The trapdoor hissed as she opened it, almost like it was under airtight lock. As she slid it open, she could see that there were stairs leading down to it. It was almost exciting just to see it. She felt almost like Nancy Drew cracking a case no other, not even the police, can. Cautiously, she turned around and started moving her way downwards, her heart thumped in anticipation at what she would find down there.
That was when she felt a tight grip at her ankle and being pulled down harshly onto the concrete floor. She let out a yell, feeling as if her bones had been broken by the hard fall. Before she could get up to see if anything was really fractured, she was harshly turned around onto her back and a foot rammed onto her middle, making her choke in her breath.
“Night?!”
“Chr…Christopher?! What the hell…get your foot off me, prawn!!”
Christopher quickly lifted his foot of Nouche’s middle, putting down the huge spanner he was holding to his side. Nouche saw that as she coughed and got back up on her feet.
“Were you going to hit me with that?!”
“I…I thought you were MNU.”
“That’ll be the day,” Nouche rolled her eyes, then looked around the place that had a rather eerily glow of blue around it. “Wh…What is this place?”
“It’s nothing,” Christopher huffed as he turned his back at her, picking back the spanner and started tightening some screws on the side.
“You call this nothing?? This looks like a bloody spaceship to me! Were you hiding this under here all along?!”
“You’ve seen too much. Go back to wherever you came from.”
“No friggin’ way! Not after I’ve seen all this! I was right, wasn’t I? You are planning to leave this place, aren’t you? That’s what the dumpster heap hunt is all about: you want to look for spare parts to fix your ship so that you can just go home and dump all the other prawns here for us to clean up, is that what this is all about?!”
Christopher continued to work in silence for a while, ignoring Nouche’s glare that felt like she was shooting invisible darts onto his back to make him look at her. Finally, he let out a sigh and turned around to face her.
“Why did you come here? I thought you had gone for good.”
Nouche felt like the cat got her tongue for a moment there before scratching a non-existent itch on her shoulder, a blush rushing across her face.
“I just…wanted to see you again…I dunno why but…I just keep having the urge to…Even though I made up my mind not to, I still…”
Christopher walked up to her and knelt at her eye-level.
“Can I trust you with this then?”
“Well…it’s not like I’ve got anybody to tell…”
“We’ll talk over cat food.”
Nouche laughed as she waited for Christopher to come back down with two cans of cat food, Friskies brand, of course.
This was the first and only secret she had ever kept in District 9.
--:--
Nouche sat in the spaceship, helping Christopher to pass him his tools as he fixed his ship. Christopher had told her everything and even revealed her his friend, a prawn painted in yellow, who had also been helping him out to look for alien spare parts to gather the fuel to power this underground ship. Initially the friend—Thomas Tyrone was his name—did not trust her and had vehemently urged Christopher to take her out and throw her to Obesandjo, the famous Nigerian warlord of the district, but Christopher defended her, proving to him that she had not brought any MNU personnel or the army troops guarding outside the district to raid their place. She and Thomas soon made a sort of grudging friendship, in which they were more or less civilized to each other, and every day, Nouche would come in to help them look for alien spare parts to gather their much needed fuel and witnessed how they extracted it into their little alien canister.
Although today, something was a quite different.
“Where is Thomas? I haven’t seen him all day,” Nouche asked.
Christopher didn’t reply as he clicked onto a virtual keyboard on the screen to detect any faults of the spaceship.
“Well, aren’t you articulate today?” Nouche sneered sarcastically. When Christopher didn’t reply her again, she picked up a screw and threw it at his head. It always worked to get his attention, although his way of showing it varies.
“Why do you insist on throwing things at my head?”
“Because you’re a knucklehead?”
“Just go home. Go back to wherever you came from and leave me alone to my thoughts.”
“Fine!” Nouche snapped as she stood up abruptly. “Just so you know, I don’t have a home to go to and wherever I came from is in the streets, so yeah, thanks a lot!”
She was about to stomp off and climb up the stairs out of the trapdoor when she felt a claw holding her back.
“You mean…you’re homeless?”
“Yeah,” Nouche replied, jerking his claw away from her and not looking at him. “Is that a crime?”
“But…why? I thought…”
“You thought only you prawns live in the slums?” Nouche turned to face him. “You think you’re the only one who has to scrounge for food and sleep in the cold, in the rain or in the heat? You think you’re the only one who has to starve for days at end and have to beg, borrow and steal your way for a living? Well, think again, prawn, coz you’re not the only sorry ass around this neighbourhood!”
Nouche huffed as she leaned against the wall, slumping to the floor and laid her head on her knees. Christopher looked at her awkwardly for a minute or two before kneeling beside her, putting a claw on her shoulder.
“Don’t cry, Night.”
“I’m not crying, so bugger off.”
“Why are you on the streets? Why do you not have a house with a family?”
“Long story,” Nouche replied. “But the gist of it was that I didn’t want to be married to someone I’ve never met. My parents were not ones to believe in marrying someone you truly love, so I took whatever I had and ran off. I avoided them long enough to forget about me and I’ve been living in the streets ever since. You’d think that being not exactly a native here, you would follow your own set of culture and your own set of rules, but no~! You had to have a family who wanted to fit in so much that they are willing to adopt this country’s culture of arranged marriages, like we’re still in the friggin’ ‘30s!”
“You humans have strange customs,” Christopher sounded like he was chuckling, in which Nouche rolled her eyes.
“Tell me about it.”
They sat again side by side in comfortable silence before Christopher finally broke the ice.
“I told my friend not to come.”
“You…You did?” Nouche looked up at him, surprised. “Why?”
“When…When was the last time you had your menstruation cycle?”
“You don’t ask a girl that, you ass!” Nouche almost screamed as she punched Christopher on the shoulder.
“Sorry, but…it’s just that…”
“Why do you ask anyway?”
“Well…it’s just…your…your pheromones…”
“My what?”
“Your scent. You are in human heat. If I hadn’t told my friend not to come, he would’ve…attacked you.”
“O…Oh,” Nouche blushed as she scooted a little further away from Christopher. “Is…that why you didn’t talk to me all day?”
Christopher nodded, “I was afraid if I talked to you I might…lose control of myself.”
Again, a long silence ensued before Nouche slowly inched her hand closer to Christopher until it touched his elbow.
“I’m…OK if you…lost control…”
Christopher turned to her in surprise, only to see Nouche blushing like she just had chili for dinner.
“Are you…sure about it?”
“I know it sounds sick and wrong, but…if it is you…I guess I’m…OK with it.”
“You know that if you let this happen, there is no turning back,” Christopher said as he crawled closer towards her. She could hear soft trills coming out of his throat and his eyes were looking at her in a gentle manner, as if giving her a chance to have second thoughts. She stood her ground, allowing him to push her down gently to the cold concrete floor.
“Yes, Christopher, I know.”
That night, she had lost her virginity to a prawn in District 9.
--:--
Nouche stared wide-eyed in disbelief at both Christopher and Thomas as they told her the news. She knew the chance of it happening was possible, but she didn’t think it would actually happen in one shot. She was having the tell-tale signs but she didn’t want to believe it until the two prawns had the answer screaming at her face.
She was pregnant.
“How could you be so foolish to have done it with a human? Have you completely lost your mind?!” Thomas scolded Christopher, shoving him harshly. Christopher retaliated.
“It was in the heat of the moment! She was in heat, and she accepted my advances!”
“Is that why you shunned me that time? Because you wanted to get down and dirty with a filthy human?!”
“She is not filthy! Don’t you dare say something like that to my mate!”
“Your mate?! Since when was she your mate?!”
“Since…”
“Hey, hey, hey, HEY!!” Nouche shouted as she threw cat food cans at both their heads to stop them bickering. “Will you please stop talking as if I’m not here?!”
“Sorry, Night,” Christopher held her close. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“Is it possible for an abortion?” Nouche asked, although she hated that term. She had always found people stupid and cruel to kill an unborn child, but now that she was in their shoes, she didn’t think that thought actually crossed her mind. She felt very hypocritical right now.
“You are with egg, and that means you will have foreign body fluids within your womb than a regular human pregnancy,” Thomas replied. “It’s not exactly a fetus you can simply remove, female. You let them remove the egg from you and they will recognize it straight away it is not a human child. They will give you a one-way ticket to MNU, that’s for sure.”
“But…But don’t you guys have, like, alien machinery to help me get rid of it?”
“We abhor the thought of killing little ones,” Christopher replied with a hint of contempt. “They are the continuation of our genes, our bloodline, our legacy. We will not terminate our own flesh and blood.”
“Then why aren’t you stopping me?”
“Because as joyous as this occasion may be to me, you are the one carrying the child and I am a little fearful of the outcome. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, Night, especially with this uncertain pregnancy of yours. If you really wish to be rid of it, I will support you through this.”
Nouche sat down, her hand unconsciously placed onto her middle. This was serious. She was carrying a prawn’s egg. She had to get rid of it. But if she did, what if Thomas was right? What if the doctors scanned her and find out that it wasn’t a human child, but a prawn child? She would probably end up being taken away into MNU and kept in a holding cell and being experimented on until the day she gives birth. They would probably take the child away and arrest Christopher, and that would make the prawns’ reputation even worse than it already was. And maybe they would either make her go through it again or have her killed to silence her.
But if she kept the child, what if it goes wrong? What if something rubs off and makes her worse for wear? What if she gets killed in the gestation process, like all those creepy alien movies do where people who get impregnated by aliens met a gruesome end? Even if she survived the gestation process, how would she even get it out? She had stolen a peek once at the breeding shack where they kept all the prawn eggs—and it stank like hell—and she had seen the size of the eggs. When they did it that fateful night, she had witnessed the size of Christopher’s well endowed member, but that could not compare to the eggs which looked like they were probably descended from dinosaur eggs. How was she ever going to get it out through her human-sized…Nouche shook her head slightly at the thought of it.
“Well, female?” Thomas looked at her questioningly. “What is your decision?”
Nouche turned to Christopher. She could tell that he didn’t want her to abort it, but still respected her decision and cared for her wellbeing in this matter, and looked almost resigned to whatever choice Nouche decided to make on what to do with the child she was carrying.
Maybe…Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. After all, it is Christopher’s child…
“Night?” Christopher’s voice brought her back to reality. His voice was all she needed.
That day, she decided the rest of her life in District 9.
--:--
Nouche grimaced as she looked into the can of cat food Christopher offered her. Christopher nudged the can and patted her head.
“Go on,” Christopher encouraged. “You need to satisfy your craving, and the child needs to eat.”
Nouche thought back of the 5 months she had stayed in this hut while she was pregnant with Christopher’s little prawn. She was urged not to stray out of the shack for fear of people, especially the MNU and the warlord gang, seeing her in that condition. Whenever the MNU helicopter passed by, she was told to stay inside. Whenever the army troops were about the area, she was told to hide in the spaceship and stay out of sight. Whenever her clothes got too tight, Christopher would search through the dumpster or raided the trash to find anything that could be patched together into a maternity dress for her. Whenever she was hungry or craved for something, which was quite often, Christopher would steal food for her by skulking around at night at restaurant and café kitchens or their trash for anything still edible. Whenever she felt the cramps on her belly as she felt it grow, Christopher would hold her close and trilled at her ear, rocking her to and fro to ease her discomfort. And now, when she suddenly had a craving for cat food, Christopher spent his last human dollars to buy a dozen of them, even though he could’ve spent that on feeding himself.
“I still don’t get how you can eat this,” Nouche said as she fished out a piece of cat food from the can, looking at it incredulously.
“Trust me, you might like it. C’mon, our child awaits your feeding.”
Nouche closed her eyes tight and stuffed the piece into her mouth. As she chewed it, she could really taste the bitter saltiness of the manufactured raw meat, but somehow, surprisingly even to her, it actually tasted kind of good. In fact, the more she ate, the more delicious it tasted. Soon she was gobbling down the whole lot and asking for seconds, in which Christopher laughed in his own prawn-ish way and gave it to her.
“Now who is the one not savouring their food?”
“Shut up,” Nouche scolded, but laughed at the same time as she ate slower this time. She felt Christopher’s huge claws on her belly and could hear him trill lovingly.
“Soon our little child will be born. He will be as beautiful as you are.”
“From what I learnt back in school about biology, it’s mostly likely to look like you. How do you know it is a he? It could be a she, you know.”
“Technically we are all hermaphrodites, but our anatomy are leaning more towards male. Why do you think we still can procreate?”
“Good point,” Nouche chuckled as she remembered not seeing any female prawns around. “So…when will the kid be born?”
“Our gestation period is about 5 and a half months, which is 3 and a half months less than you humans. But I’m not sure which side of the gestation you are leaning more to.”
“So it could mean either any day now or 3 and a half months later.”
“Yes.”
As Nouche finished her cat food, she leaned against Christopher and traced her finger along his exoskeleton, while Christopher stroke her almond hair, letting her hear his calming trills escaping his throat.
“Once you have the spaceship fixed…will you take me with you? To your home planet?”
“Yes, of course. I will take you and our child far away from here. And together, we will spend the rest of our lives together.”
“You promise?”
“Yes, I promise.”
Nouche smiled, knowing that she was truly loved in District 9.
--:--
Nouche breathed long and hard, tears flowing freely out of her crystal blue eyes as she held onto Christopher’s waist for support. She was told that giving birth in a kneeling position was the best way due to gravity, but she wasn’t told how painful it still would be.
“Oow~!! Fuck, fuck, FUCK~!!!” Nouche screamed as she tightened her hold on Christopher, leaning her head against his chest as she felt another contraction hitting her.
“I’m here, Night. I’m right here, don’t worry,” Christopher coaxed as he tried to adjust the rags on Nouche’s knees to prevent her from chafing them on the cold concrete floor.
“IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU DID THIS TO ME! I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU!!!”
“Hush, hush, Night. They will hear you. Please, Night, you don’t hate me. You can do this.”
Nouche sobbed as she pushed down as hard as she could along with the contractions. She could feel the egg coming down, but she had no time to worry about how it was going to come out. All she knew was to obey her motherly instincts to push it out.
“You’re doing good, Night. You’re doing very good.”
Nouche gripped harder as she pushed down with all her might. The egg was slowly inching its way out of her and it stung her a little. Before the birth pangs began, Christopher had used a blade to cut her a little to help ease the birth once it started. She was cursing and swearing at him at first, but now as she felt the egg starting to emerge bit by bit between her legs, she felt almost relieved that Christopher did that.
“It’s coming out nicely, Night. Keep going.”
Nouche shook her head, tossing it from side to side as she tried for the umpteenth time to push the egg out. She felt Christopher’s claws wiping her tears and sweat away, and the tentacles on his mouth brushing her forehead, his way of giving her a kiss.
“You can do it, Night. I’m right here.”
Nouche could feel more of the egg coming down, and it was excruciating. She let loose scream after scream as she continued to bear down.
“Just a little bit more, Night. It’s OK. You’re almost there.”
Suddenly Nouche felt as if her body was burning up, like there were invisible flames burning from within herself. She fell forward and started vomiting black stuff, more of them coming out of her nose and ears. Her whole body slumped against Christopher, convulsing and foaming more black stuff out of her mouth as if she was having an epileptic seizure.
“Night? Night! Stay with me, Night! Stay with me!”
Christopher lay Nouche down and pressed her belly to help her push the egg out. It wasn’t easy, what with her twitching in heavy spasms and black stuff coming out from her every facial orifice, including her eyes that made her look like she was crying black tears, but after a little maneuvering and pressing, the egg finally slid out of her along with the black birth fluid mixed with her blood. As soon as the egg was out, her body twisted and convulsed even worse, and she was bleeding profusely between her legs, black mixed with crimson red, staining the whole floor she was lying on with it.
“Night! Night, please stay with me! Night!”
After what felt like forever, she finally slowed down to a stop, but Christopher could tell from her shallow breathing that she was not going to last long.
“Wh…What’s…ha…happening…to…to me…?” Nouche asked, her voice barely a whisper as it gurgled through the black stuff she was vomiting out.
“I…I don’t know,” Christopher replied in a choked voice. “I don’t understand…It’s like your body is rejecting itself…”
“C…Can I see him…? Can I…see our baby…?”
Christopher, with his long body, reached over to carry the egg and put it in Nouche’s arms. She instinctively cradled it like a mother would to a newborn. Christopher supported her and lay her head on his lap as he looked at the egg as well. It was a size smaller than the regular prawn eggs they kept in the breeding shack, but it still looked like the most beautiful thing in the world.
“Oh…how I wish…I could see him hatch…” Nouche lamented, coughing more black stuff and staining Christopher’s lap.
“I don’t understand this, you were fine throughout your gestation, why…? Why is this happening…?”
“I…I guess…it shouldn’t…come as a surprise…I…kinda expected that…”
“Please…” Christopher pleaded as he held her close. “Please don’t leave me…We were going to leave this planet together…Please don’t go without me…”
“There, there…” Nouche replied as she put a trembling hand on Christopher’s face, caressing it as tenderly as her strength would allow it. “It’s OK…It’s OK…”
“Please…This is not fair…”
“Oliver…”
“What?” Christopher looked into her crystal blue eyes, which was fading fast.
“Oliver…” Nouche repeated, her voice—and her breathing—getting fainter and fainter. “When…he is…hatched…I want you…to name him…Oliver…like…like my favourite…children’s book character…”
“Hush, Night. Don’t talk. Just rest. I’m sure once you rest, your body will realign itself and you’ll be all better…”
“Promise me, Christopher…Promise me…you’ll take our son…out of this place…”
“I promise, Night. I promise. Now, please rest…”
“I…love you…Chris…”
That night, as the rain drummed and wind howled at Christopher’s shack, Nouche died within the bowels of District 9.
--:--
Christopher laid flowers on the headstone of Nouche’s grave, cradling his son Oliver in his other arm. He knelt down to allow Oliver to imitate him, putting more flowers onto the headstone.
There was no proper burial for Nouche, not the way the humans usually do, anyway. She was taken out of District 9 as far as he could get to one of the many cemeteries of Johannesburg and, with his powerful arms and claws, and a little help from Thomas, he dug a hole big and deep enough to fit Nouche in. Of course, he made sure that she was buried somewhere away from the other graves where no one would see. He had carefully laid her into the hole, dressing her up nicely with clean clothes he stole from someone’s laundry and placed a can of cat food in her arms, symbolizing the item that started their relationship. After burying her and sang the Ancient Song of the Past, he and Thomas quickly left before they were discovered.
The next time he returned, he had with him a small headstone he had carved using his tools. It was written in prawn language, but in human language, it would be read as NIGHT, LOVING MATE AND MOTHER. Again, he had to sneak out of District 9 in the dead of the night to embed this headstone at the head of the grave. There, he wept for the first time in many years since he and his kind landed in this planet, pouring his heart and soul over her grave before reluctantly leaving at the break of dawn.
Christopher refused to use the breeding shack like everyone else. Throughout the incubation and hatching period, he had grounded all his work to a halt to tend solely on the egg. He never left it out of his sight unless he needed more cattle to feed the egg or whenever he went to work to earn enough human dollars to pay for the cattle for his son. After weeks of dedicated tender loving care, his son soon hatched out of the egg, squealing as he took in his first breath. He looked exactly like Christopher, but he had a darker shade of his mother’s eyes, a perfect memento of his mate that he loved so much. And when his son was registered into MNU, he insisted on giving his son the name Oliver instead of letting the MNU personnel assign him one, just as Nouche requested.
“Was Mother really human?” Oliver asked as he cuddled against his father, in which Christopher patted his head.
“Yes, little one. As much as you are of our kind, you are also part of them. Remember that.”
“Are we bringing Mother along to our home planet when we leave here, Father?”
“I will try if I can, but in truth, she belongs to her people. But I did promise her that I will take you away with me.”
“When will we go home, Father?”
“Patience, son. Soon we will be. Soon.”
After planting a kiss on the headstone, Christopher held his son Oliver close, making sure that no one was around before making their way back into District 9.
