The Hyperboreans (working title) chapter 6 rough draft

The machine that fulfills destiny

Downstairs, Hylonome burst through the temple doors. “Call everyone back! The project team, the rowers, everybody! We this machine up and running, and we need it now!”

A lone acolyte rubbed his eyes. “Why”?

“Why?” She cantered right up to him and grabbed him by the front of his robes.

“Ah! What I say, what I say?”

“You said some stupid shit, that’s what you did, son! You ask me why, I tell you why! Because Choine’s dying up there! Because we need the machine to save her! Because I motherfuckin’ said so! Now go!”

It took about half an hour send runners to the inns and dwellings of everyone involved. Meanwhile, up on the roof, Choine asked the midwife team to move her back to the cushions where she could rest on her side, and when the contractions came, she lifted a leg and grunted, but not at full power. Only to satisfy the urge to do it. She decided to save the energy she had left, so see what Hylonome had in mind. She rested, grunted, strained, the rested again.

When all were together in the workshop and Hylonome told them what she had in mind, the Cretan machinist protested. “We haven’t replaced the plungers yet! We’re still working with wood! If you run the machine at stress levels, they could break again!”

“We got no time for that!” Hylonome shot back. “Our patron needs our help now! If all goes well, we’ll only need it to run for a little while!”

“It wouldn’t even run for 5 minutes without breaking!”

“That was only one chamber! We have 8! We got to make it work somehow, and if something breaks, we figure something out on the fly!”

“Madness...we’re going to run this heap into the ground.” grumbled the Cretan.

“I’ve had 5 children back home,” the Corinthian woman said suddenly. “I buried 3 of them before they were 5 years old. One of them nearly killed me as I gave birth to him. I hear the Mother cry out above us, and I hear myself. If this machine can help a woman with her labors, I want it to.”

That put a swift and sobering stop to any further argument. The rowers took their positions. Hylonome thanked the stars that none of them decided to take the first boat out of there after the demonstration, then attached the hose to the suction nozzle. She ordered a maiden to take the hose and run it up the ladder, while she galloped up the ramp outside.

Hylonome thanked the stars again that she was generous when making the hose length. It made it all the way up the ladder through the trap door, where Choine was eyeing it while breathing heavily. She had just finished with another round of fruitless pushing, and was out of breath.

“If…I understand you right…” she breathed, “you want to try and suck my babies out of me?”

“Exactly! With the power of suction! Hate to make you move, but I think getting back in the chair might be easiest to make it work.”

“...fine. Get me back in that cursed chair.”

“Hey! I made that for you! Sheesh! Some people don’t know how to be thankful…just kidding, just kidding!” she said in response to her glare.

They heaved Choine back in the chair, and used the sling to get her giant belly out of the way. They leaned her back, so her bottom was bared to all.

“Can we get this up in there?” Hynolome, holding the hose nozzle, asked the midwife.

“Yes. Bring it here.” She took it, and stuck it inside Choine, who yelped.

“AAII! Cold! Cold!”

“It will warm up in a moment I’m sure. Yes, it will reach the head.”

“Ooh—” said Choine, “I feel another one coming—”

“ROWERS!” Hylonome yelled down. “START!”

8 men began to pull their oars down below, and faint hissing sound came through the hose.

“Is it sticking?” asked Hylonome the midwife.

“I think so.”

“Can I push now?” Choine panted.

“Yes, go my lady, push!”

Her face flushed and her belly flexed, bearing down for what felt like the thousandth time.

“Now give it a pull!” ordered Hylonome.

The midwife gave a light tug on the hose as Choine pushed. It stayed on for a moment, then popped right off the head. “Bother!” the midwife groused, as she tried to affix the nozzle again. She did, and gave a more steady, gentle pull.

Choine go of the push, panted, and strained again hard. She thought...she felt the mass in her waist move!

“Keep that pressure down, my lady...bother again!” she exclaimed as the hose came off again. Choine shook and strained for a moment longer, then fell back in the chair.

“I...felt it come down a bit!” Choine gasped.

“STOP!” Hylonome called down.

“It keeps coming off,” grumbled the midwife. “It won’t stick properly. Maybe your rowers need to make more wind.”

“I don’t think it’s that,” frowned Hylonome. “It’s just the hose nozzle wasn’t meant to stick to something like that. We need something on the end that would grab on better…”

The Corinthian called up from below. “How did it go?”

“Won’t stick!” replied the centaurine, “Needs something on the end!”

The materials specialist thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers.

“I think I have it! I have some dandelion rubber left, give me just a moment!”

As they waited, the midwife applied some olive oil to Choine’s vagina, inside and out. It would help it say supple when the baby begins to crown. The midwife had abandoned hope of that many hours ago, and now a spark of it had been restored.

A maiden passed up a small curved disk, whittled out of dandelion rubber, with a bit of adhesive on the convex side and grease on the concave side.

“The Corinthian said to affix the rounded side to the end of the hose, and perhaps it will make a seal when the machine runs again.”

“Brilliant! I bet that’ll do the trick!”

Hylonome stuck the disk on the hose, and Choine began to breathe heavily again, and grip the handles. 

“OK, ram it home and stick it on!” barked Hylonome.

“Don’t be so vulgar!” griped the midwife, but she did as she was told. 

“START!” Hylonome called down again. 

“Whenever you’re ready, my lady.”

Choine took another deep breath, and pushed the pressure down yet again. And as she did so the midwife pulled the hose. Gently at first. Then harder.

“Now it’s staying on!” grunted the midwife.

For the first time since last sunset, pushing felt amazing. It still hurt, and it was still incredibly intense, but finally she felt the humongous hard weight inside her slide down, little by little. Progress gave her courage, and she forced the contents of her belly down with fervor. Outside, the team could see the hose slooooowly come out. And then Choine let go, and it went back in.

“You’re doing it, sister!” encouraged Hylonome. “Keep doing it! Push again!”

Choine panted, then curled in her arms and legs around her great belly and strained again. The midwife strained with her, beginning to put her body weight into it. Choine felt in her birth canal waves of numbness, tingling, burning as her giant child came down...down...down…

Down below, a plunger snapped, dumping a rower down on the floor.

“1 CHAMBER DOWN!” the Cretan bellowed up.

“WE STILL HAVE SUCTION!” Hylonome yelled back.

With the huge baby sinking down into her lower birth canal, the heaviness and fullness in Choine’s bottom felt even more gargantuan, and the urge to push it down felt more overwhelming than ever. The pressure so was so incredible…! Choine gasped in a breath of air, bared her teeth, and heaved down against it as hard as she could.

“mmmmmNNNNNNGGGGGGGRRRRRRRR—”

As the midwife pulled hard as well, and as the nozzle came out farther and farther, the area around Choine’s vagina began to bulge out hugely. Everyone could see the shape of the head under her skin. Its diameter was tremendous. Hylonome let out a gasp. By the stars, she thought, it really is big!

Another plunger snapped, and the chamber came loose from its housing.

“2 CHAMBERS DOWN, 6 LEFT!”

Choine’s eyes were shut, her teeth clenched, her head craned backward to the sky as the suction cup on the hose began to peak out between her folds--

“—GAAAAAH!” Her belly sagged, and she relaxed, gasping once more in the chair. The suction cup went back in. When the machine came to a rest again, it popped off and the midwife withdrew the hose.

“Your machine is really working!” admitted the midwife. “But it seems to be breaking down rather quickly. Will it last?”

“It’s called ‘redundancy’, ma’am,” replied Hylonome, “and it works. We knew that 8 chambers was probably overkill, but we needed to make it impressive for the demonstration. If we lose chambers, we just need those boys downstairs to row faster to compensate. As long as we still have suction, it’ll work.”

The midwife nodded, but she looked a bit uncertain.

Hylonome turned to Choine, still catching her breath in the chair. “I’ll bet you’re, uh, feeling that one, huh? How do you feel? What’s it like?”

“How,” gasped Choine, “do you think I’m feeling? It’s like...like forcing an amphora full of rocks...out between your legs...that has been dipped in grease...and is freshly hot out of the kiln! Is it coming out already?”

“Yes my lady!” piped up the midwife. “The head is right behind the outer folds. If you let me, you can feel it with your hand.”

Choine let the midwife guide her hand down to her privates. Her fingers brushed the folds of her labia aside...and she felt a hairy, slimy wall of flesh that wasn’t there before.

“There! That’s your son!”

“That’s my son…!” Choine found a wet lock of hair, and twirled it around her finger. Tears formed in her eyes. “That’s my son!”

“That’s right, my lady. You’ll see him very soon. Courage, now.”

The rest of the midwife team, and Hylonome, looked on. It would be a touching moment...if the bulge between her legs wasn’t so terrifyingly huge. After a few moments savoring the feel of her son’s hair, she felt her womb cramp and the pressure build yet again. Hearing her breath quicken, the team sprang into action, reinserting the hose, starting up the machine again, and waiting for Choine’s next move.

Choine summoned her will once again. For Boreas, for her children. She felt an enormous building pressure in her bottom that could not go unanswered. She took in yet another breath...waited for the pressure to peak...then PUSHED. Her belly flexed, toes curled, teeth ground, eyes shut, handles on the chair creaked under her grip, as the suction cup, then the top of the head, began to peak out of her bottom. Tears and sweat ran down her face as her vagina opened into slit, and widened into a teardrop. Then an oval--

“—AAIIII! Oh, it’s burning! Oh gods!” The head slid back in.

“Push through it! The harder you push, the faster it ends! Another! PUSH!”

And she did, in silent, quivering agony. A slit...a teardrop...an oval...out to a circle...then a bigger circle...then an even bigger circle…

Hylonome was awestruck and revolted at how wide Choine was spreading. This settled it in her mind: this woman could not be entirely human. No one normal could push out something this big, even with mechanical help. If that vagina belonged to a normal girl, it would have been tearing to shreds by now. But Choine kept pushing, and every moment it looked like it might be fully crowning, she just stretched wider...and wider...until--

“—AAAIIIIII!” she shrieked again. The head sank back in a bit, but Hylonome saw, Choine was right: it looked like the bottom of an amphora, dipped in grease, and covered in blood and hair. And not one of those table-sized ones either. Like one of those prized palace amphorae half the height of a man, that needed two people to carry it.

“You have time for another! One more, again!”

“—nnnnnnnGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEE--!”

Downstairs the rowers were pulling like mad to make up for the lost chambers, and in doing so, were wearing it out faster. More things began to splinter and break.

“3 CHAMBERS DOWN!  5 LEFT—oh balls, MAKE THAT 4 LEFT!”

To Hylonome’s dismay, the suction began to fail. The suction cup popped off, dumping the poor midwife on her behind.

“—EEEEEEUUUGH!” scream-grunted Choine. “OW...oh OW! Is it out yet?”

Hylonome looked anxiously at the midwife, who, surprisingly, seemed to show no despair.

“Only a few small pushes and the head will be out, my lady. This part we will need to slow down for anyway, so Hylonome, tell your helpers to start fixing that machine. Choine and I will do the rest, won’t we my lady?”

“Slow down!? I need him out! It burns!” The head was bulging hugely out of her like the bottom of a cooking pot, her skin stretched around it a shiny and smoldering red. It was at a circumference that Hylonome did not care to measure.

“Slow your breathing, match it to mine now…”

Poor Choine spent a few very uncomfortable minutes panting and moaning as the giant head sat there, her whole bottom full to bursting and burning, her pelvis aching, her legs numb, her head hurting from the strain. At the midwife’s suggestion, they tilted the chair into a fully upright position, for gravity to do its work. The midwife put her hands under her.

“Alright, my lady, for this next part I ask that you restrain yourself a bit. Light pushes, just to get the head past its widest part.”

“I’ll...do my best...ha, ha, ha, ha—nnnnnnnnnnnn...GUH!”

“Yes more, like that, it’s coming!”

“nnnnnnnnn...GUH! NnnnnnnnnnNNNNNNN…GUH!” The midwife supported the huge head with both hands, and as she predicted, the forehead began to show face up.

“nnnnnnnnn...GAHH! NNNNNN...GAHHH! NNNNNNNNNNN...GAAHH!” More forehead was pushed out, and as the eyebrows began to emerge--

 “NNNNGAH! HA! HA! HA! nnnnNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--!”

With a piercing scream, the rest of the big, blubbery face gushed out of her. It was greyish purple, covered in blood and slime, and squished up into a fat scowl. 

“You did it, my lady! Head’s out! Take a rest, and feel it if you want!”

Choine, gasping, reached a trembling hand down to her crotch, and touched the wet, slippery ball dangling between her legs. She ran her hand around the tremendous globe of her baby’s head and was amazed, and quite a bit unsettled. She did that? She pushed this huge shape out of herself? How did she do that?

Before long, the midwife put her hands under Choine again. “Just the shoulders now, my lady. You can go back to big pushes now, just a few and you’ll have your son!”

Choine nodded breathlessly, and prepared for another go of it. 

“Ready? I’ll help draw him out. Deep breath in, focus down, everything you have, PUSH!”

And, knowing that the end was near, Choine summoned her will, and did. She bore down with all her power, all her body, all her soul. And nothing seemed to happen.

“Again!”

Another breath, another humongous push. The great face of the baby slowly turned 90 degrees left. Choine’s vagina burned again, yet she held that push with tears in her eyes. A shoulder began to peak out.

“One more and we have him, my lady! Bear down deeply, now!”

Her face craned back to the sky as she strained her vast belly with all her might, and as both the baby’s shoulders began to stretch their way out of her, the midwife grabbed both of them and pulled. They stuck for a moment.

“Hard. Hard!” the midwife grunted.

“--eeeEEEEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH–!”

20 pounds of 5-month-overdue baby surged out of Choine’s bottom with a splash. A wave of euphoric release overwhelmed her, and her scream ended in a loud moan. The midwife caught the infant and staggered under its size and weight, almost dropping him to the ground. The baby coughed, then lustily howled.

“Look at that! It’s a boy alright! Here he is!” She raised him up for Choine to see. Choine saw the thrashing slimy giant in the midwife’s arms, and broke down sobbing.

“My baby! My baby boy! Hello, my love!” she cried out in tears. She reached out for him, and she received the loud, slimy child in her arms. She hugged him close as an assistant wiped the blood and vernix off of him. “Hello…hello…” she crooned to him over and over. She kissed his head, and felt his heartbeat on her skin. At noon on the third day of labor, after pushing her guts out all night and half a day, her first son was born.

The midwife rinsed off her hands in a basin, then promptly fell into the pile of cushions, exhausted. 

Meanwhile, Hylonome had gone downstairs to assess the damage to the machine. One chamber broke entirely out of its housing. One with the plunger plate splintered into pieces. 2 with the shafts broken. Most of them would have to be entirely dismantled and rebuilt. She cursed herself for dragging her hooves on going ahead with stability improvements. She didn’t see any point in hurrying at the time. Then she heard the cry of an infant, and she trotted back upstairs to see.

What she saw was an uncanny yet precious scene of Choine holding an oversized baby to her chest and beaming.

“I did it, Hylonome…this is my son. Say hello.” She took one of her fingers, which was being held by her baby, and shook it, making his arm wave. Hylonome bent down to look at him, amazed.

“By the stars…this boy was inside you a minute ago. Didn’t I tell you you must be part goddess? Girl, you are the strongest woman in the world!”

“I don’t think I could have gotten him out without you. Your machine saved us. Thank you. Thank you so much…”

“Aw, come on Choine, if you were any less a woman that hunk of junk down there wouldn’t have done you any good. You were amazing. Let me just talk to the midwife real quick, OK?”

The midwife was facedown in the cushions and snoring. Hylonome moved to wake her but the assistants stopped her. 

“Please, let her rest.” one of them said. “She hasn’t slept in about 2 days.”

“Well I had some important questions. Are any of you experienced? Which one of you is most senior?”

“I am,” said the one who spoke up.

“What’s your name?”

“Penelope.”

“Nice to meet you Penelope, can you and I head downstairs for a minute? If Choine doesn’t need you right this instant, that is?”

“Sure, I’ll do my best.”

Hylonome pulled her aside, and her tone turned serious.

“Has anyone had the heart to tell her that she has two more babies to deliver just like that one, and we have no working wind machine to help?”

Penelope thought for a moment. “The labor has paused. It happens sometimes when delivering twins, I hear. The midwife told us that when that happens, we usually give them medicine to try to restart it. Maybe we shouldn’t this time, to give us more time? But that’s for the midwife to decide.”

“How long until it restarts on its own?” 

“Could be minutes. Could be hours. Gods know.”

“Let’s hope it’s hours. We need hours at least to get everything back to full power. Damn it! It probably half killed her to have one with the machine, how is she supposed to have 2 more without it?”

“...with normal twins, the second baby tends to come out more easily than the first, the midwife told me once. I don’t know if it will work that way with big triplets, but maybe it will. Maybe we won’t need the machine for the next 2. But I don’t know. When the midwife wakes up, we’ll see if she can come up with something.”

“Well I’ll get cracking on the machine anyway. I’ll get as much done as I can, as fast as I can, and I hope it’ll be good for something. Thanks for everything so far, Penelope, you people are champions. Let me know if you need me up there.”

Upstairs, a period of merciful tranquility. The assistants washed the baby god and wrapped him in blankets. No one seemed in a hurry to speed things up again. Everyone, especially Choine and the midwife, rested while they could. Something in the back of Choine’s mind told her she should be worried about what happens next. But that mind was so fried with hormones that for the moment, she did not care. She had a son. He was beautiful. If only she knew that it was him in her belly all this time. How could she ever have thought that she hated him? And there were more of them inside? She prayed with all her heart that she would have the strength to see all three of her beautiful boys, if it was the last thing she did.