by Aaron Pery
"Absolutely, Marty. I wouldn't have been that sure had I not tested your blood and urine, which I compared against Nina's, one of my nurses, who isn't. And then my assumption that you were was confirmed when Paula came over with my contract papers two days ago and complained that her breasts and udder were swollen so I asked her to give me blood and urine samples. She did it willingly, and when I looked at it under the microscope hers looked just like your, which gave me an important heads-up knowledge of your physique."
"Mine also feels a bit swollen but I paid it no mind." Marty burst out. "Is that why you sent Nina over to draw my blood and take a urine sample yesterday?"
"That's right, Marty, and it not only confirmed my opinion that you're pregnant but it kind of shocked me because the number of enzymes that both contained indicated, comparative to my experience with humans and horses, that your fetus is much further developed than the normal elapsed time would indicate."
"That's amazing. But how come you figured that I'm six weeks pregnant when even I have no idea when I'd conceived?"
"Easily, Marty, because you're fifty percent further along than Paula, who was sure that it had happened during her first night with Stan, exactly one month ago. So I called her and asked if she'd be willing to undergo a closer exam, and when she came in used one of the ultra-sound machine I'd inherited from the Gogians, which didn't give too clear a picture. So I inserted a electronic camera-tipped tube into her vagina until I reached her uterus and found a small but well-developed fetus clinging to its wall, which I took a few very clear pictures of. Nearly drove Paula nuts when I showed them to her."
"How well developed is it?"
"Twice as further as a human baby is at this time frame. I could easily see two hands, four legs, a human head, a pounding heart, and eyes."
"Then mine should be twice as developed as Paula's considering the speed at which our babies are growing?"
"Exactly my thought, Marty. So I'd like you to come in tomorrow to examine the stage of your pregnancy."
"I will, of course. But right now, just like Paula, I think I'm about to go nuts at the idea of bearing a child."
Nick took her hand and kissed Marty emotionally. "Nuts good, or nuts bad?"
Marty kissed him back just as emotionally. "Nuts very delightfully so, my Darling." She suddenly burst into giggles. "How about you, finally having yourself a baby without having to carry and bear it, you son of a bitch."
"Elated on both points, Lady." Nick turned to Victor. "Would you say that the reason for the unusually short gestation period has to do with the baby's size by time of birth so it's weight won't harm the mother carrying it?"
"That was my first thought but I was proven wrong when I looked into all the Gogian records and found that they didn't give a damn about harming the women. All that they wanted was to shorten the growing period for the babies in their test tubes, which was why they'd engineered both males and females of the original group so the gestation period would be cut by two-thirds. And that's also why you all mature so quickly as well."
"Shit," Marty exclaimed. "So in reality I'm only eighteen months old and am already pregnant."
"But how could I have been so wrong about the gestation period?" Nick asked.
"Because, Nikki, you're a terrific researcher but you ain't no doctor."
"Okay, I'll accept that. But we know it as a fact that all the children born on the farm were carried for twelve months and were singles rather than quad embryos that I know we produced whenever we conceived."
"That's because the murdering bastards gave them an injection to increase the gestation period. Hence the twelve months' period, as to the quads, part of the estrus producing drug was to release four eggs--three of which they scraped off whenever they allowed a female to bear a child."
"God almighty, what a filthy, cruel bunch they were."
"Hey, they ate their own progenies so why not manipulate the breeding stock to fit their needs?"
"I guess so. What else did you discover, Vic, in addition to these facts, which is a lot considering the short time since you got here."
"Thanks, Marty. My first concern was to discover what exactly they did to the original group that had turned them into hybrids. I won't go into the gory details of splicing centaurs and humans together, and only tell you what they did to both of them generally. Their first phase was to remove the centaur torso and install the human one from right above the genitals in its stead, fusing both spinal cords and connecting both vital organs to one another."
"Awful. Didn't they worry about either segment rejecting the other since they were so totally incompatible?"
"Not only that but they also needed to equalize both blood systems. They'd solved the problem by injecting them with a compatibility serum to prevent that from happening. And a week later, once the joined being survived the operation, they went into phase two--linking hearts, lungs, and all secondarily vital organs together through a series of operations. The third and final phase was to connect all of the human and centaur reproductive organs to one another, from their beginning in the torso all the way down to the penis in the male and the vulva in the female."
"So without their monster drugs we now ovulate just one human eggs which drops into our centaur uterus, where they're fertilized by a human male sperm?"
"Very good, Marty. So the zygote is in essence human until it attaches itself to the centaur uterus where it receives half of its genes and gains its characteristics--ergo, half man half centaur. And you know the rest of it quite well by now."
"You're right, Vic," Nick said after a moment. "Which is why I'm not shocked by any of it by now. The only thing that I'm concerned about is Marty's well being during her pregnancy and afterward. And all the others as well, of course."
"I'd considered that and came up with a cocktail of vitamins and minerals that the women should take, which is readily available in pill form on Earth, for which you don't need a prescription."
"Then call Stan tomorrow and have him buy a large quantity and have it shipped to the hospital. What else do we need?"
"A bunch of midwives to help in normal delivery of babies once it starts, while I and my nurses will be on hand for any complicated one. Oh, and I'll ask Paula to run a front page article on pregnancy and suggest that any woman who suspect that she might be come to the hospital and get tested, and start taking the vitamin pills if they are. I think that's about it."
"So what do really think about becoming pregnant, Marty?" Nick asked her as soon as Victor left.
"Very conflicting thoughts and emotions. On one hand, influenced by my feminine glands and hormones, I'm emotionally elated to be fulfilling my destiny as a woman. Conversely, though, the vestiges of seventy years of life as a man are screaming in my head about the indignity foisted on me by becoming not only a female but a pregnant one as well."
"Does that mean that you resent being made love to by me?"
"I did at first, particularly when I went into estrus and was fucked by so many men with cocks as long as a broomstick and thick as my arms who spilled tons of semen into my body. But only occasionally by now because of how much I love you. The truth is that making love with you gives me a truly incredible delight not just because my love for you but because of the pleasure of feeling you so deep in my body, and then when it spills its hot cum in me."
"I'm glad to hear that because that's how I feel as well. But now you're torn emotionally between conceiving and having been a man once upon a time?"
"Very well put. But the more I express my feelings right now, the stronger my amazing maternal instincts are becoming, making me suddenly realize how much I like being pregnant--and by you, Nikki."
"So, in essence, you're slowly coming to fully accept being a woman?"
"Yeah. And a pregnant one at that, which helps chase away the old mindset."
"That's good. But I sense that something's still bothering you."
"True, which is the fact that with everything I alre
ady know about the female physique, I should've realized what was happening to me."
"What exactly didn't you realize?"
"That my breasts suddenly became tender and that my udder started to grow larger. But most of all, that my belly's swelled and was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable."
"Is that why you'd been sleeping standing up in the last few days?"
"That's right. Which shouldn't have happened at this early stage yet, now that I know the reason for it, makes sense."
"Very true. In the meantime, d'you think we should abstain from love-making for a while so as not to add more stress to your body?"
"Like hell we shouldn't." Marty exclaimed and burst into loud giggles. "In fact, I suddenly remembered that pregnant women's sexual desires grow considerably at such times. Besides, I'm not exactly a little delicate flower, you know."
Nick responded by getting up and Marty was pleased by the sight of his extended erection as he approached and lifted her out of the bean bag.
They went to the clinic early the next morning, intending to have breakfast in one of the harbor coffee shop afterwards since Victor instructed Marty to come with an empty stomach to prevent possible discomfort. He hugged her warmly when they arrived, and directed her into one of the examination rooms.
"Should I lie down on that strange contraption you have here?" She asked.
"No, standing up will do just fine. Now, the tube I'm going to insert into your vagina will be covered with gel so you won't feel any discomfort other than the sensation of it sliding through."
"Are you going to stick the whole length of it into me?" Marty asked when she saw him pick it up from the instrument table.
"Most of it since I estimate that your uterus is positioned at least four feet from the entry."
"Makes sense but I'd never thought about my innards it terms of how far they are from my butt."
"Like hell you didn't." Victor said with a chuckle. "Probably every time your beloved inserts his probe into you."
"Heck, Vic, there you go with your lousy bedside manner."
"That's right, girl." He smiled as he patted her belly. "Okay, let's get serious. Now, look at the monitor as it traverses your body while the camera records all it sees." Victor inserted the tube and Marty was amazed by the picture clarity that the camera was showing. She gasped loudly when the tube entered her uterus and she saw her fetus, which was wrapped in a clear membrane that vibrated as blood circulated through it and the small body. Then when Victor took close-up shots of it, she saw that it was a male.
"God, Nikki, I can't believe what I'm seeing."
"Nor do I because its amazing since our boy is almost puppy-size and fully formed."
"Which is nothing I'd ever seen before at this stage of any pregnancy."
As Victor removed the camera, Marty asked. "What stage am I in, Vic?"
"The middle of the second month. No, actually it'll be more accurate to call it your second trimester since you'll reach term in forty-five days."
"What does that mean to me physically?"
"That it'll put a great strain on your body from here on because of the weight, which doesn't exceed the apparent norm around here."
"How d'you know that?"
"Because Paula talked to her mother last night and told her of her pregnancy, about which she wasn't surprised, telling her that she's in a similar state. Jenny then called Sue and was told that she suspects that she's also pregnant. They came in earlier and from their timeline it seems that both had conceived a week earlier than you, and when I examined both I found that their babies are larger than yours. Which told me that your gestation period is indeed normal at a hundred and twenty days."
"So back to my case, Vic, what should I do to enhance my body to bear the physical strain that it'll have to bear from now until term?"
"I understand that you do a lot of running, so double it. I also recommend you take a daily swim, which will make you even more limber."
"Swim, with this kind of body and hooves instead of feet?"
"Give it a try, Marty. And no smoking or alcohol from now until your kid's weaned."
"Shit." Marty exclaimed. "But I guess you're right. What else?"
"I'll put together a special diet for you and all the pregnant girls, and the supplemental vitamins that Stan has already ordered and should be here in a day or two."
"Oh my God. Does he know about Paula?"
"She decided to tell him when he comes over for the weekend rather than on the phone."
"Smart girl. Okay, Doc, we better get out of your hair."
"Jenny and Sue asked that you meet them about now at your favorite place for breakfast."
"We'll go there right now because I'm dying to talk to them."
Chapter 31
The women rushed over and hugged Marty with tears running down their cheeks when she and Nick arrived. "Funny, don't you think," She said when all of them sat back down. "That the three of us, and Paula as well, are all pregnant?"
"Well, not just us but almost all the original ladies are in family way from what we were able to determine when we called them before you'd arrived." Sue said. "But it looks like few of the farm-born girls are pregnant because, as we found out, most of them decided to continue taking the pill since they want to devote their time to taking care of their adopted children until they mature. And all of the compound kids have no desire to interrupt their utterly carefree life for the time being."
"Very smart of them to think this way. So my concerns about thousands of us becoming pregnant all at once and bearing quads were flawed?"
"Not really, Marty, because you had no idea how freedom and the adoptions would affect everyone's mindset. And, just as important to your mind, was the fact that from what you knew about us and the horses you were certain that we'll all carry quads once we got pregnant. Which I still don't understand why none of us conceived quads." Jenny said.
"I had a suspicion that we won't." Sue interjected. "Since none of the mature mares who stayed behind and became pregnant bore more than one foal. It was quite a puzzle to me for a while but after finding out about my own pregnancy and being shown by Vic that I'll be bearing only one baby, I now understand why."
"Because we were all given a drug by the fucking Gogians that made us drop four eggs when we ovulated--us and the horses alike." Marty stated vehemently. "Us so we'd supply them with bodies, and the horses with food."
"So it seems, Marty, but let's forget the past and enjoy being real women who got themselves properly pregnant by the men we love." Jenny stated.
"I agree that we should, but it's easy for you to say because you'd both conceived before, here and in the past, and had gone through the entire process. But for me, being pregnant for the first time ever it's kind of scary."
"Which is normal to be, Marty. But consider that unlike we did, you have the best possible medical care. Besides, all it'll take for you is just another month and a half while we went through a whole year of it here and nine months in the past."
"Yeah, that's what Vic said, and recommended that it'll be easier for me to bear if I continue doing my regular daily running to stay limber physically."
"Makes sense so maybe I'll try to join your running every morning."
"I agree that we should." Sue added. "So I'll start doing it on the farm."
"Vic also suggested that I try swimming in the bay as well, which I'd love to do but I doubt that I can with my kind of body."
"That's silly, Marty," Nick said. "Because most animals are natural swimmers even though they lack human hands and feet, and horses particularly so."
"I never thought about that, so I'll give it a try tomorrow."
"And if you're successful let Paula know so she can put it in the newspaper for all the girls to try swimming."
"I will, of course."
When they arrived at home they found Swifty waiting for them on the porch, which he had been doing almost weekly for the pleasure of their company an
d to report all the goings on at the farm, particularly concerning the horses' life.
"Any new and interesting stuff going on, Swifty?" Nick asked him as he munched on a few tasty apples.
"Yes, very much so, Nikki. It seems that all the paired yearlings, particularly the pregnant ones, would like to join the people that you took to Turkey and have their new-born live in their own country."
"It'll be my pleasure to arrange for it." Marty responded. "So take a survey and let me know how many of them would like to move. How about unattached foals, you think they'd like to go, too?"
"Probably, so I'll check with everyone. There are a bunch, though, that want to stay, particularly the milking mares who love their mentors. The problem, though, is that there aren't enough stallions left to bond with other than us geldings which kind of saddens them."
"I see." Marty looked at Nick, who nodded. "What would you say, Swifty, if I told you that Nick and I can remedy the situation for everyone concerned?"
"How, Marty? How can you do that when the cruel ones had cut our balls off and with it our ability to copulate and impregnate the mares?"
"The way Nikki and I had finally figured to do it is to reverse your physical timeframe to before you were gelded, Swifty."
"You mean you can bring me back to being whole again? Really?"
"I wouldn't tell you that otherwise. In fact, why don't we do it to you right now?"
"Just like that? Gosh, I can't believe it."
"Yes. Then tell us when you were gelded so we can use it as reference point."
"That would be six month's ago when they did it to me, and later decided to put me into field work instead of the fattening pens because I was too strong and smart to waste as food."