Confusion

First, off-topic stuff.

There's going to be a huge music fest in Indio, CA, Coachella(?) (I think it's an annual event) and it features just about everybody any altie music geek from the '80s or '90s would recognize, including acts I thought had long since packed it in. I mean, The Cocteau Twins??? My God! My other favorite ethereal 4AD band from back in the day was Dead Can Dance and although they're not at Coachella, I did hear they did reunite and will be touring again. (If you have no clue what DCD is, their stuff ranged from Renaissance/medieval fare to world music. One of the duo, Lisa Gerrard, sang on both the Gladiator and The Insider soundtracks.) Kate Bush is putting out a new album this summer, her first in 11 years. Then there's one of my all-time favorites, New Order. They're at this music fest AND they've put out a new album. In fact, NO is on the verge of becoming kewl again. The tribute albums are trickling out and Moby did a cover of "Temptation" on his new album. I see though that some dude has replaced Gillian Gilbert. What the heck happened to her? Any of you know?

I think I know what's going on. You see, unlike other geeks who ran to other fandoms in the post-OT era, I got into "college radio." That was my substitute. So all of these bands that broke up in the '90s are saying to themselves, "Look, there's one last SW movie! Here's our chance to compete for lazypadawan's bucks again! Yay!" Actually, I've been listening more and more to that old stuff recently. Maybe it's because a lot of it provides angsty Anakin fan fic inspiration. Maybe it's because a lot of that music is still good 15-20 years hence. Not too long ago, I was listening Siouxsie and the Banshees and I reflected on how today's rock/alternative/whatever bands would never do songs about dead starlets or the destruction of Pompeii.

Okay, back to SW. Apparently there is confusion over whether Hayden will be physically present at C3. The same author of an Indianapolis Star article told two different people slightly different things. One person got the impression he'll be there, the other person was told he's going to answer questions via satellite from Italy, where he's shooting The Decameron. The one thing I can say for certain is that he's at least making an effort to be part of the convention any way he can. So be happy with that, fangirls ;).

The books I re-ordered from Amazon arrived today. Wow, that's service!

Seeds of the Future Part Five

Padmé gets the big news...

"Good morning, Mistress Padmé," Threepio greeted as he walked into the darkened bedchamber. "It's time to get up."

Groggily, the young senator sat up with a groan. She felt worse than ever. Her stomach felt like it was doing backflips. "Oh Gods," she muttered, realizing what was about to happen. Padmé raced out of bed, nearly knocking over the startled Threepio, and ran as fast as she could into the 'fresher. She made it to the toilet just in time before she started wretching. Threepio stood around and fretted for several minutes as Padmé threw up. Even after it seemed as though there was nothing left in her to expel, she continued to wretch until her sides hurt. Finally, it stopped.

Sniffling, she flushed the toilet and went over to the sink to splash some water on her face and rinse out her mouth.

"Oh my, you truly are ill, Mistress Padmé. I recommend you lie down immediately and take your temperature." Padmé went back to her bed with a thermometer. After five minutes, the holographic display showed her temperature as normal.

"I don't understand," Padmé moaned. "If there's no fever, it can't be the flu. I think I need to see a medic."

Her handmaidens arranged changes to her schedule and secured an appointment with a med droid in the Senate's medical center. Despite protests from Captain Typho, Padmé insisted on going alone. Once the nausea passed, she felt better, well enough to go the medical center on her own.

Padmé wore a cloak that concealed all but the lower half of her face. She did not want to attract too much attention going to the medical center. The last thing she wanted were wild, unfounded rumors about her health in the galactic media.

Inside the examination room alone with the med droid, she lay on a pallet, dressed in a thin paper-like garment. The droid listened dispassionately as she described her symptoms, including the feelings of nausea and that morning's bout of vomiting.

"I assumed it was stress and then maybe I thought I had an illness, but there's no fever. The feelings of nausea and dizziness went away, for now. A few days ago, I almost felt like fainting."

"When was your last monthly cycle?" the droid asked.

"It was..." Padmé hesitated. She couldn't quite remember the last time it happened. She had been so focused on other things, she never noticed that particular irregularity. "I'm not sure. Not recently," she admitted. Padmé's eyes grew wide at the implications of the medical droid's question. "Wait, you don't think I could be...pregnant?"

"Your symptoms are consistent with the early stages of human pregnancy," the droid said. "However, what you are experiencing can also be symptoms of other conditions that are not as benign. I suggest we test for pregnancy immediately."

Padmé's heart started pounding and her mouth went dry. She never considered the possibility she was pregnant. Not that it was an impossibility; Anakin never took any precautions and she was not exactly consistent about using them either. Long separations made hormone regulating medications impractical and using more immediate measures tended to interfere with the passion and spontaneity.

With a deep sigh, she said, "All right." The droid took samples and then ran a scanner over her body. He left the examination room to run the diagnostics.

Alone, Padmé tried to sort through her thoughts and feelings. Was this what her vision in the submersion tank tried to tell her, that her subconscious knew what was happening? Was relying on stress really a way of denying the truth? A baby right now would complicate things greatly for herself and for Anakin...

The medical droid returned and said in his flat tone, "I have the results, Senator. I can confirm with 100% certainty that you are two months pregnant."

For several moments, Padmé did not speak as she absorbed the reality of her situation. When she finally regained her composure she asked, "You must maintain absolute confidentiality, correct?"

"It is in my programming, Senator. Even if someone were to attempt to retrieve the data forcibly, the data would automatically erase itself."

"Good. I must keep this situation quiet. No one is to know besides you. Not even the other droids or medics here. The father of this child does not know yet and I would rather that this not become common knowledge before he finds out."

"Of course, Senator. Shall we discuss a regimen of pre-natal care?"

Padmé nodded. "Yes, absolutely."