Humans are Weird: Pregnancy
What if most alien species reproduce like avians or reptiles with large clutches of eggs which they don’t spend much time with, so the concept of raising a child inside of oneself is absolutely disgusting.
Y’xplc wandered the corridors of the ship in the middle of the night-not that it mattered in space. Most everyone was in their sleeping pods, but he heard shouts from the humans’ pod. He scuttled over as quickly as he could to investigate. There were clearly loud shouts and signs of aggression.
“I don’t want to have the baby here!” Human-Sarah cried, “In space! What if something goes wrong- what if the spaceship air hurts it. What if-”
“That won’t happen,” Jane interrupted her, “Nothing’s going to happen to the baby,” Jane soothed.
This outburst surprised Y’xplc, surely human-Sarah couldn’t be concerned. The air was kept at a stable oxygen level for most species. And there were incubators for all species, the eggs would be kept safe.
Human-Sarah had been absorbed into the crew for the most part. After a few words with Jane, the message about the shrieking had been conveyed and she had stayed quieter. Sarah even taught some of the crew-mates how to play chess. Many hours waiting in deep space were spent staring at a chess-board interspersed with some compulsory cursing as pieces were taken.
Human-Sarah had warmed up to the aliens and was friendly with everyone, though it wasn’t hard to notice how she shied away from direct contact with anyone, Jane.
However, in the recent weeks, Human-Sarah had been getting moodier. Y’xplc assumed it had something to do with the eggs. But when he went to the incubator there were not any eggs there. Perhaps the laying cycle was not going well.
Months passed and Y’xplc began to notice other things as well; human-Sarah was eating excessively and was gaining weight, a lot of weight. Progesterone levels were also increased to an unhealthy amount.
Eventually, Y’xplc contacted human-Jane about. She was under the belly of a generator fixing it with a sonic wrench.
“Human-Jane,” He asked, “Is human-Sarah ok?”
“What do you mean,” Jane looked up “Is she hurt?”
‘No, but she is gaining weight rapidly and it’s noticeable as well as increased progesterone level.”
“Oh,” Jane let out a rush of carbon-dioxide. “That’s just because of the baby,” She explained
“But there are no eggs in the incubator,” Y’xplc questioned, “Are you keeping them elsewhere,”
There were a few species who liked to keep the eggs safe with their own body-heat as part of their customs.
“Eggs? What does this have to do with eggs,” Jane asked confused. “The eggs-your offspring.” “Y’xplc,” she garbled, “Humans are mammals we carry are babies in us.” “What?” Y’xplc couldn’t hold back a sound of disgust. “That’s why she’s gaining weight and eating so much, she has to feed the baby/” “That’s like a parasite,” Y’xplc unconsciously scuttled backward.
Human Jane's eyes narrowed angrily, “Our baby is not a parasite.”
“No,” Y'xplc backtracked quickly, “Of course not."
In the coming weeks, human Sarah’s belly swelled to unimaginable sizes and she spent most of her days lying in bed. Jane too was preoccupied with the baby and Sarah. She was reading books on human child-care almost constantly whens he wasn’t fetching Sarah food.
Most of the other aliens kept a wide berth from the baby inside of Sarah. The idea of keeping one’s young inside of themselves was absolutely disgusting.
Then one day, Y'xplc her screams from their pod. "It’s starting,” Human-Sarah half screamed, half groaned. “the contractions." Many hours later a squirming ball of flesh popped out of human Sarah’s reproductory region. It was tiny and delicate. It’s smooth round head. Human-Jane carefully swaddled it into a soft blanket and handed it to human-Sarah.
"Your baby. It’s a she,” Jane smiled.
“Our baby,” Human-Sarah sighed in relief. “It has your genetic code."
The baby soon became a constant on the ship. Its wails punctuated the night and were subsequently followed by either Jane or Sarah cooing and shushing before providing it with sustenance.
Y'xplc documented the babies growth and wondered why humans would give birth in such a dangerous and painful manner. Well, humans were weird.