Sowing Season

by Brian Patrick Edwards

  “How’s work been going?”

  “Made some breakthroughs. It’s been wonderful.” He remembered to lie.

  “That’s awesome, honey!” She sat next to him on the bed, petting his golden bed head. She pulled her hand away once she felt how sweaty he had gotten in his sleep. “You should probably shower and get dressed.”

  “What for? We going somewhere?” He sat up against the headboard.

  “Yes,” She replied, looking at her freshly polished red nails.

  “Where?”

  “Seems we’ve made a baby of our own,” Susan explained, her voice flat, showing no emotion and not a shred of excitement.

  “What? For real? What do you want to do?” The possibility of STORK having no part in delivering them a designer child crashed into his consciousness. Wave upon wave of options flowed into his mind, unsettling his devotion for being an obedient citizen.

  “What do I want to do?” Her face clearly puzzled by his reaction, as she eyed him and his still lethargic face. “I have to go to the facility to get it taken care of and you need to come with me.”

  “What a shame. I mean, it’s ridiculous that we have to wait for someone to make our own baby, isn’t it? I mean, we have one…in you, apparently.”

  “Are you kidding?” She laughed wickedly, “I don’t want this thing. It's probably diseased and hideous. I want it out now before it does anything crazy to my body." She literally shuddered at the thought of it. The image of her becoming fat and swollen deeply bothered her. She imagined she could already feel the stretch marks splitting her smooth, creamy skin, sullying her flat abdomen and full, round breasts.

  “Take her, Isaac. I will provide your child. A child like no other. Trust in me.”

  “Okay, okay, okay. We’ll go,” he reassured her, trying to silence the voice that he alone heard.

  “Um, what’s wrong with you? Did you actually want to keep this thing?”

  “No, you’re right. I’m still waking up.” He laughed nervously, and added, “Don’t mind me.” This is unbelievable. In all the world and with all the things happening across its surface, the ruler of all is sharing in a conversation between my wife and I. It almost seems as if he’s manipulating me, influencing my every decision.

  Emerging from his private and hazy pondering, he spoke with more energy, “I’m going to take that shower you suggested real quick and then we’ll get a taxi.”

  “Awesome, honey. Don’t take too long.”

  …

  Isaac stepped out of the bed and made his way into the bathroom down the hall from their room. He and Susan did have an ensuite master bath, but she exiled him from it. It was a mess anyway, so he didn’t mind. His bathroom was smaller, much tidier, without the long red hairs and piles of makeup laying around. He selected a lavender colored towel from the top of the stack in the linen closet and locked the door behind him. Once the steaming water sprayed out of the large round shower head, he flipped on the bathroom fan to mute the conversation he wanted to have, once he stood completely underneath the water.

  “I know you’re listening.” Silence followed his accusation. “Unity, lord,” he said, trying to please the being, “why me? Why have you selected me?” More silence followed, “Why in all the world have you decided to work in my life?”

  “Does it seem that I am limited to you?” the voice came clearly, much like his father’s. The words rang out deeply like an organ’s heavy notes, “Do you believe that I’ve stretched myself too thin? Have you no idea how infinite I am? You are but a grain of salt in the fathomless sea that I turn.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just been unbelievable this past week. I don’t understand what you want from me.”

  “How much clearer could my words be? I want you to destroy them.”

  “Yes, you’ve said that. But, that’s what we’re already trying to do at the department.”

  “Don’t, for even a second, lean unto your own understanding.” the unpleasant tone that resonated in the voice made Isaac shiver under the warm shower water. “I’m damn well aware of the department’s pathetic attempt at destroying those savages. I want you to act beyond the law I’ve set for men.”

  “You want me to murder them?” Isaac whispered the word murder, for he still didn’t have a clear idea about how frankly he could converse with Unity.

  “Yes,” he answered swiftly, without the slightest influx in his tone. “I don’t care if you set their beds on fire as they sleep. Wouldn’t mind if you raped their women and slaughtered their pets. I only want your obedience to me; that is all I ask.” Isaac found himself devoid of an appropriate response as he stood motionless in the shower; all this time and he hadn’t even begun to actually clean himself.

  He realized Unity had given him a brief look behind the curtain and that the electronic colossus stooped to lift him from his daily strain and anxieties. Even beyond that, he was still reeling from Unity’s suggestions about the lengths to which he could go to accomplish the task.

  “And I’ll be compensated?”

  “All that you ask of me will be granted.”

  Isaac finally started to wash up, covering his skin in thick suds that rinsed a week’s worth of dried sweat from his weary body. Hot water washed over him, rinsing away the soap, leaving his skin fragranced and freshened. As he watched the suds vanish into the shower drain beneath his feet, he imagined them as the Zealots he would scrub from the face of the earth. His mind’s eye saw his skin as the earth, finally clean of the dirt and grime of the savages that sullied it.

  …

  Susan waited for her husband on the couch, engrossed in reading about stem cell rejuvenation. She smiled as she looked over the options STORK offered for those undergoing the early pregnancy terminations. Finally, she heard footsteps from above and, in seconds, and Isaac stood before her dressed and ready to go.

  “You ready? Cab’s here.”

  “Yes, just reading. Think I’m going to get some stem cells injected,” she mentioned, almost in passing, while standing to join him. “It’s a super nice anti-aging thing. Might start having it done routinely.”

  “How expensive is that?”

  “You get a few sessions on the house if you terminate your pregnancy early enough, but the premium prices might drop anyway with all that’s happening. And it’s really not too expensive. They cultivate plenty of embryos, of course, along with their accompanying placental tissue, in their labs. They use stem cells harvested from these for tons of the treatments they offer -- including stem-cell rejuvenation procedures. It’s pretty awesome because it’ll allow me to look as good as I do now for at least another twenty years, maybe more.”

  “Alright, yeah, we can look over the options maybe, or Unity could just answer a prayer and provide it for us.”

  “Huh?”

  “Yeah, apparently, Unity answers people wishes every now and then.”

  “I’ve never heard of that. Sounds pretty kooky to me. What conspiracy theories have you been getting yourself into?”

  “Careful, Isaac.”

  “Ah, I’m kidding. Just something the boys at work were dronin’ about.” He laughed it off and held the door open for her. The two of them climbed into the vehicle and whisked away to the nearest facility.

  Their neighborhood STORK facility was high end -- designed to appeal to all the doctors, lawyers, and old wealth living in the area. The staff kept it running like precision clockwork with no waiting lines anywhere in the building. People came and went quickly, receiving the best of care. This contrasted greatly with many of the other facilities located in less desirable areas and which were jam-packed with people the powers-that-be looked upon as degenerate. Even worse, were the clinics strategically located near sexually-oriented businesses and the like. These clinics provided services geared towards treating sexually transmitted diseases, rather than the lab-grown spawn and stem cell rejuvenation.

  Susan walked in the beautifully designed buildi
ng with her typical confident stride, catching the eyes of everyone, male or female, in the room. She informed the kiosk clerk of their arrival and within fewer than five minutes, a nurse called them back to begin their session.

  “Hello, Mrs. Lewis. So, is this handsome man the culprit?” The older female doctor teased and even giggled a bit. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you taken care of in no time at all. Have you had a test yet?”

  “Yes ma’am, I did one at work. Some nurses came by with testing sticks and passed them out to all the women.”

  The same pictures of storks and happy women that adorned the walls in the STORK tower also decorated the walls in the spotless and cheerfully bright examination room.

  Isaac looked around to find something to hold his interest as he tried, unsuccessfully to suppress a yawn. Obviously, he needed a longer nap to fully recharge for the work ahead of him.

  "Yeah, they're really trying to nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand,” the doctor prattled on as she prepared to use the ultrasound wand to detect Susan’s stage of pregnancy. “You’ll have to start using some type of birth control until STORK works out a more permanent solution.”

  “How did all of this happen?” Isaac inquired, between yawns, “I thought there was already a permanent solution?”

  “Well, the first sterilization is a mystery. No one knows what, exactly, occurred to cause it.”

  “Huh? I thought STORK did it?”

  “No sir, that’s a common misconception. The government founded STORK as an answer to infertility. The original reason people became so remains a mystery.”

  “Hm, like they say, you learn something new every day,” Isaac quipped. “And,” he continued, “why do we want to remain infertile? I mean, if we’ve somehow regained fertility, what’s the harm?”

  “Isaac…” Susan’s beautiful green eyes became fierce.

  “No, it’s fine, sweetie,” the doctor reassured her patient as she responded. “Natural pregnancy and childbirth has been deemed too dangerous for humans in that it poses significant health risks. Subsequently, Unity banned natural pregnancy once STORK scientists developed the technology to create babies in the lab environment.

  Of course, this baffled and angered many when spokespeople first announced the law. No one knew why child bearing had become illegal, but in Unity’s wisdom, he saw it fit to safeguard the possibility of further problems caused by pregnancy. You know -- in case sterilization no longer threatened humanity, he saw the danger in sudden population booms, filled with disease and deformities. This protects us all and creates a safer world, free of overpopulation and the serious illnesses associated with too much humanity.”

  “Does that answer all of your questions, honey?” Isaac sensed the agitation in Susan’s tone. Her patience with him began draining away the moment they were seated in the waiting room, bleeding out of her as through an open vein.

  “Just one more. I’m sorry Doctor, I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Go ahead sweetie, what is it?” The doctor applied lubricating jelly to Susan’s pale and toned abdomen.

  “What do all these facilities do, exactly? I mean, I understand the labs and the tower, but what exactly does a facility like this do?”

  “We do everything here. In more remote locations, where people aren’t able to visit the tower, we’re the STORK Child Consultants. As I mentioned before, we also offer the stem cell rejuvenation procedures that your wife opted for, including a variety of other health services exclusively for women and other genders on the feminine spectrum.”

  “Yeah, but today you all are busy saving the world,” Susan jumped in, smiling. She became giddy as the doctor placed the handheld device against her skin and searched for the gestational sac.

  “There it is.” The heartbeat came through the speakers on the machine, rapidly in tiny taps.

  “It’s hideous, what’s wrong with it?” Susan asked, looking at the sharpened image of the embryo that resembled a tadpole. The thought of it living inside of her made her sick.

  “Nothing’s wrong with it, just that it’s still in early development. Only has eyes and nubs where the arms and legs will grow; or, I should say, ‘would grow.’”

  “What do you think? How far along?”

  “Definitely under nine weeks,” she affirmed, nodding her head, “just as all the others. I haven’t seen anyone that needed surgical extraction yet.”

  “Well, what’s the plan then? I get some kind of pill, if I’m not mistaken, right?”

  “Yes, we’ll give you a hormone pill today and tomorrow you’ll come back and we’ll insert some vaginal tablets and supervise you until it’s completed.”

  “So, it’ll be all gone tomorrow?”

  “Yes, it should be,” the doctor smiled briefly, before continuing, “but it’s going to be very physically taxing on you. You’ll feel exhausted afterward, so make sure to take off work if you can. Oh, and have your husband around to wait on you.”

  “You hear that Isaac? You’ll have to treat me like royalty tomorrow.” Susan laughed, knowing he always treated as such, even when she was well.

  “Sounds fine to me, but what’s the pill today for? Is there any risk of it coming out tonight?”

  “No, that’s what tomorrow’s tablets are for. Today, as I’ve said, she’ll receive a hormone pill, which stops the heartbeat of the embryo.”

  The doctor’s explanation made Isaac slightly uncomfortable. It’s a strange thing, he thought, I’ve never had occasion to spend time meditating on this before. Obviously, Susan doesn’t mind it at all and maybe I shouldn’t either, but I just don’t know what I really think about it. The fact that the law forbids women to bear children the natural way made it a little easier for him to stomach, obedience being his only option. He quickly stepped over his conscience and squelched his thoughts.

  “Honey, stop asking her so many questions,” his wife laughing as she spoke. “I’d like to be home before dark.”

  “Yes ma’am, we’ll get you going.” The doctor reached into her cabinet and unboxed the pill. She also poured some water into a cup for Susan. She handed them over and watched Susan take the dose, noting that she verified the patient swallowed it. “We’re all wrapped up here. Just make sure to come in early, 8:00 in the morning, if possible.”

  “That works for me. Thank you so much." Susan stood to leave with her husband, who waited for her with the door open. "I look forward to seeing you tomorrow."

  …

  Isaac and Susan departed together, chatting about the appointment and how smoothly it went. His wife critiqued him on his habit of interrogating strangers. Like so many other times, she urged him to avoid badgering people when off duty. He didn’t think his questions even approached the feel of an actual interrogation. In fact, they were honest questions and were nothing of the sort of questions and demands he made while in uniform.

  The talk about interrogations and the various techniques he used made him think of the Zealot getting treatment at the hospital. He was a little heavy-handed with that one. The young man refused to answer anything, even in the midst of intimidation and the physically brutal methods Isaac perpetrated upon him. That kid -- boy, man, whatever -- didn’t let a single word relating to Debra or this Jeremy character that they didn’t already know. So infuriating.

  “What are you thinking about?” Susan asked just as the taxi pulled up to their home.

  “Huh?”

  “Feel like I lost you. You went away, went silent, a few minutes after we started the ride home.”

  “I’m sorry, babe. Just work stuff. Have a few things I need to take care of.”

  “Well, I need you to forget about work for the next twenty-four hours, darling. I need you here with me, taking care of me.”

  “Yes, I know.” Just as he uttered those three words, he began to receive multiple pages rapid-firing within his Auris. He saw that they were coming from his captain and silenced the screeching calls immediately. Isaac sighed deeply a
s the door unlocked by reading his prints when he barely touched the knob. Susan, of course, walked through first. But before he could step over the threshold, he called to her, “Susan…”

  “What?”

  “I think I might be getting called in.” Another stream of urgent messages flooded in for him from the captain, this time across his Visum.

  “What? What for? You better not stand me up in the morning.”

  The lack of rest began to chew upon Isaac’s spirit. He hadn’t rested enough to begin with and now the thought of getting called in after-hours put a damper on his hopes of traveling to dreamland that night. Despair danced in his mind as he envisioned their luxuriously comfortable bed and Susan’s warm embrace. It was as if he could hear the bed calling out to him.

  He leaned against the wall, rubbing his eyes, yawning.

  “What for, Isaac? Huh? Do you hear me? What for?”

  “Baby, I’m sorry, I don’t know yet. Hopefully, whatever it is, it won’t take too long. Let me step out and give the captain a call back." Isaac walked into the kitchen, weary to the bone, grabbed one of the energy drinks from the fridge, and downed it in almost one gulp. His heart rate began to surge and his eyes locked open as the elixir awakened him and brought clarity to his mind. “I love you, babe,” he cooed, leaning in to kiss the top of her red-haired head. The artificial energy coursed through him, making his eyes bloodshot and unnaturally wide open.

  “Whatever. See you next week.” Her tone petulant and her face pouty as she turned her head away from him. She had draped herself on their gigantic sectional sofa.

  “Hey,” he gripped her knee, crouching beside her, “don’t be upset with me, love. I’ve been working really hard for the baby. You wanted me to get that promotion, remember?”

  “Yes, but I need you here for now, Isaac.”

  “It’s not something I can control.” He shook his head in dismay. “If the boss calls me in, I gotta go, you know that. Could be another lead on the case.”

  “I thought you said you made some kind of breakthrough already. Isn’t that enough? What’s it going to take for you to finish that case? And how much longer until you get the promotion?" Her questions came in abruptly, hitting him on every weakness she had collected, like precious stones, to use as leverage for control. "I haven't heard anything about it. They're just dangling a carrot in front of you. Doubt there's any truth behind any of it. You're no closer to promotion than the day you started.”