by Nya Rayne
Before Dr. Lobush could stop him, Donté was on his feet and striding confidently toward Phia. “I hate it when you cry.” His tone was soft, yet strong and endearing.
Phia turned to him, but she didn’t respond. Instead, she stepped back, glancing from right to left, no doubt looking for a way out of a bad situation.
Cornering his rabbit, Donté asked, “Why are you running from me?”
Dr. Lobush watched the two lovers with pride. She had done this. Against all odds, she had placed them together, and it seemed to be a near-perfect match. It was too bad their happiness would not last much longer.
Dr. Lobush shook her thoughts off as Phia asked, “You remember me?”
He chuckled seductively. “How could I ever forget? I’m your lover, and you’re my goddess.”
Phia gasped. “I’m your what?”
Dr. Lobush decided that now was as good as any time to pull the rug out from under them, though she hated to do it. To see two people so enthralled with one another that neither could see straight was a beautiful thing and something she would always remember and hold dear. Unfortunately, there was no way around tearing them apart.
A few moments passed before everyone was settled in the viewing area again. Taking a seat directly across from Phia and Donté, Dr. Lobush took a moment to watch the two of them.
Her plan hadn’t included Donté getting his memories back. She’d placed the memory inhibitor chip herself and had even tested him after the fact. However, as soon as she’d listened to the messages Phia had left her the night before and took in the things she’d said over the telelink, she’d known what the problem was. He had gotten, at the very least, a portion of his memories back and was suffering through putting them together.
Her plan wasn’t difficult to understand. She just needed certain things to happen in a particular order. First, she needed Phia to become pregnant without the help of artificial insemination. This would cause an uprising, as for decades the ruling class had led the entire population of women to believe procreation impossible without an approved application and a syringe filled with doctored sperm. Second, she needed the child to be a healthy baby boy as it was a well-known fact women could not give birth to males. If by chance they did, the child was a stillborn. At least, the elite ruling class wanted everyone to believe it was so.
When she had initially met and talked with Phia, she’d known she’d found the right woman to help her with this, even though the plan would never be known to her. Phia was not only soft-hearted and nostalgic for the old ways, but she was also predestined to become one of the Elite through her ascension to the title of baroness.
From the tests she had administered, Dr. Lobush knew Donté was one of the few males who had been medically altered to ensure he would have a considerably high level of testosterone as well as a high sperm count, making it likely any offspring he produced would be male. The Elite’s initial plan for Donté was that once he was used he would be placed in an incubation facility as a stud to create additional material for them to use and discard at will.
Had Dr. Lobush’s plan gone as intended, Phia’s pregnancy and subsequent delivery would have been the fault line that cracked through a lie which had spanned more than five decades. Unfortunately, with the revival of Donté’s memory, the chances of her plan coming to fruition were slim and the chances of Donté ending up in the nearest incubation facility were as strong as ever.
Refocusing, she gazed at Donté as he brushed a few errant strands of hair from Phia’s flushed face. Steeling herself, she asked, “Donté, what do you remember about your episode?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you were at a speech last night, right?”
“Yes, with Ice.”
“What caused you to leave?”
Donté released Phia’s hand and sat forward. “The woman who was talking…Lady LaDina…I had heard her voice before, but I couldn’t remember where I had heard it. Then I remembered. She was the one who interviewed me the night I found favor. I didn’t see her because she was behind a one-way mirror, but her voice, it was different than the others.” He shook his head, his fingers going to the neurotransmitters she’d placed on his temples. “The door was shutting again, like before, but this time I was able to pull some things out.”
“What door? What things?” asked Dr. Lobush.
“The door in my head. Sometimes I have these flashes. Like pictures, I guess, but I could never place them. Every time I tried, what felt like a door would close, shutting me out.”
Phia turned to him. “How long have you been having these flashes?”
“I don’t know, since I woke up. I wanted to believe they were dreams.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Phia went on, gripping his arm closest to her.
A blush rose over his cheeks. “I don’t think about anything but you when you’re around.”
Phia blushed then, too, and looked down.
“So, Donté, could you tell me what you remember from your past now?” Dr. Lobush cut in, drawing their attention back to her.
“Well, I remember this big room with a bunch of beds, and I remember Kail, Savior, and Jarvis. I think they were my friends. I remember Trinity and Cash, too, but I think they were my instructors.”
“What else do you remember?” Phia coaxed.
He shook his head like he didn’t want to go on, or as if the memory were too painful to revisit. Sensing his reluctance, Dr. Lobush pushed on, “Do you know where you were? Where these people, your friends and instructors, are located?”
His eyes dimmed and then brightened as if he’d just had a moment of enlightenment. “Is this Utopia?”
“Utopia?” Both women said simultaneously.
“Yes, Utopia. Where goddesses sleep in golden sheets and only the strong and just find favor and a lifetime of pleasure at their feet.” It rolled off his tongue like a child’s rhyme. He turned his attention to Phia, grasped her hand, and brought it to his lips. “Goddesses are unflawed, magnificent creatures, who are anointed by the heavenly mother. They live high above all others and control the country far below. You, Phia, are my goddess. I found favor with you.”
Phia covered his hand and said very softly, “If that is who I need to be to be with you, Donté, then I’m your goddess, but this place and these women you have described do not exist.” She looked to Dr. Lobush for help before continuing, “All of my community sisters and myself are all flawed in some way. None of us are perfect.”
He smiled at her endearingly. “But this place, Phia, is beautiful. The colors are as vibrant as they promised. The trees reach high into blue endless skies. Winged animals track across them, flying to worlds unknown, while two- and four-legged animals scurry at my feet. The night sky twinkles with a billion diamonds, Phia. I’ve seen it. This has to be Utopia.”
“The things you saw are simply a part of nature and nothing more. It is special in that without it, our world would be unremarkable, but it holds no great purpose as far as labeling this Utopia.” Phia tried to explain. “We live in Charlotte, a small city in the State of the Carolinas. We’re no different and no more special than the other billions of people spread out around the world.”
“But they told us. They said if we did well on our tests, we’d find favor in Utopia. They said…” He fell silent for what seemed like an hour and came back to them a quieter, bewildered man. “I found favor with a goddess…with you. I was to be taken to her that night as I slept.” He turned to Phia and finished, “When I woke up, you were there. You…you are my…This place, even though you say it is nothing special, is so much better than the drab world I came from. We had no trees, no sun, and no moon. There were no birds, or squirrels. And there was no you, Phia. When I woke up and saw you, I knew I had arrived in Utopia.”
Phia reached out, stroking the side of his cheek. “I want so badly for this to be the Utopia you were promised, Donté, I really do, but there is no such thing as Utopia. This place we live
in has always been just a place. It is a wonderful place to live, but this is not a utopian society, though I will admit the idea doesn’t seem all that bad.” She smiled up at him uncertainly and glanced at Dr. Lobush for help. Donté looked away from Phia, his eyes focused on the doctor. “But they said if we were good and did what they told us to do, it would be our reward. They said that only the special were chosen. I was chosen. I was special. I…I had finally earned my freedom.” He shook his head, his hands going to his temples. “It can’t all be a lie. It can’t.”
Phia moved closer to him, grasped the sides of his face, and forced him to face her. “You said you trust me. Do you still trust me? Do you still believe me?”
Donté searched her face momentarily before he nodded.
“Then trust that I’m telling you the truth, Donté. There is no such thing as Utopia. There are only normal everyday women here. I just happen to be lucky enough to see you first.”
He shook his head, his mouth moving, yet finding no words. He glanced between Dr. Lobush and Phia, as though he was looking for answers he wasn’t getting. “All the others chosen before me. All of my friends. Where are they, where did they go?” He stood then, pacing the floor between them. “There has to be a Utopia. There has to be. If there isn’t, then what was the point of it all? Why did I let them humiliate me? All the tests…It can’t have all been lies! It can’t!” He turned to the window, stared down at the street, up at the sky, and glanced from building to building and tree to bush. “This…All of this was outside those walls all along. Is that what you’re telling me?”
“Donté, please have a seat,” Dr. Lobush ordered.
“Answer the damn question,” he growled, “Was all of this right outside those damn walls all along?”
“Yes. What Phia has told you is the truth. I’m sorry you had to find out like this. I know it’s not an easy thing to believe when the only world you know and everything you were taught tell you the opposite.”
“Doctor, what’s going on? Why would he think this is Utopia? Where has he been all his life?” Phia reached over, pulling Donté down so he was sitting right beside her, his shoulder pressed against hers in a show of solidarity. A regretful expression spread over her face as she finished, “Yesterday, he wanted to know why there aren’t any more men like him here. How is it he doesn’t know? Where did he come from? Where has he been?”
“Donté was born and raised in what I have termed the Zoo, but its official name is The Farm.” Lorraine stood up from her seat and strolled over to the window, then turned back to look earnestly at them. “These are secrets. Telling them could be seen as treason against the High Court of Elites. So, I am going to trust what is said here will not go any further than these walls.” Phia nodded and Donté stared at her, so she continued, “The Zoo came to be not long after the end of the Thirty-One-Year War, which began the official decline of the male species. The first Higher Highness of Serenity, with the help of a few of the higher bloods, now called Elites or the ruling class, came up with the idea that since we needed to replenish the male half of the race, we might as well remake them to be less like their deceitful ancestors. They wanted gentler, more attentive men, who would not stray, lie, cheat, kill, etc. The first round of nurturers came from boys ranging in age from infancy to fourteen.”
Dr. Lobush leaned back against the window, her hands behind her back, her eyes miles away. “These children were taken from their homes under the pretense they were being trained for military use. The Founding Mothers learned with this first batch, the older boys did not excel in their lessons as the younger boys did. So the Founding Mothers ordered their semen be harvested and reproduced, and their bodies donated to the first personomale manufacturer for reproduction when they reached an acceptable age.”
“This can’t be right,” Phia muttered in dismay. “No. It’s too inhumane.”
“As the years passed, the Founding Mothers were able to get their hands on baby boys who knew nothing of the world outside. They discovered it was like molding a beautiful vase out of ugly shapeless clay. The boys knew only what they were told. They were taught that to disobey any woman, regardless of what she asked of them, would bring severe repercussions. And they were taught from the age of three that if they were good, the end reward for them would be a goddess’ favor and a life of pleasure in Utopia.”
“Oh God,” Phia gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.
“That is the world Donté comes from,” Dr. Lobush stated.
She looked at Donté, expecting some kind of reaction. He was silent and motionless, his face stoic.
“In the beginning,” she continued, “The Founding Mothers said these Nurturers, or HAPs, would be available to anyone who could afford them. The money was supposed to be used to rebuild the countries destroyed by the war. However, as time went on, the HAPs have become the prerogative of the High Court of Elites and the Higher Highness, who automatically receives first pick of the best and the brightest.” She turned her full attention on Donté as she continued, “There has only been one Higher Highness I know of who has chosen a HAP and fallen in love with him. All the others who have access to the stock at the Zoo treat them like goods to be used and discarded. They have forgotten the purpose for creating such beings, I would like to believe.” She lowered her voice until Phia could hardly hear her. “But sometimes—sometimes I think this was their purpose all along.”
“When they discard them, us, what happens? Where do we go?” Donté asked.
“They are returned to the facility where their initial conversion took place. If they are still in good condition, they are made into PAPs. If not…what can be used is harvested to be used on the FAP models and the rest is destroyed,” she said after a small hesitation.
“Those machines, those FAPs…parts of them used to be my friends?” Donté breathed in incredulity.
The room was dead silent, neither woman wishing to answer his question for fear hearing the truth out loud would make this all too real.
“In the facility,” he started, his voice low, “they say if a Nurturer has not found favor by the age of thirty-five, he is made into a Mentor. Is this true?”
Dr. Lobush looked away from him as she answered, “No, it is not. If he is not labeled as a Stud, one last batch of semen is harvested from him and his body is shipped to a facility to be made into a PAP.”
“A Stud?” Phia asked.
“It is what they call a male who has been chosen to sire additional males for the Zoos.” Dr. Lobush glanced in Donté’s direction, but looked away in hopes she would not seem too obvious. “There is one Stud to each facility and one for each nationality.”
Donté stood to his feet, his fists clenched as he stared around the room, his eyes coming to rest on the doctor. “Why am I here? From what you’ve said, I shouldn’t be here, right?”
“Right.”
Phia stood then. “What are you talking about? You said he was mine if I wanted him. You said…”
“I know what I said. Unfortunately, Donté was not meant for you specifically. He was specially ordered.”
“I don’t understand,” said Phia.
Before Dr. Lobush could answer, Donté turned to the doctor, his broad chest blocking Phia from view. “What did you alter on me? What did you change? Are my emotions real? Are my thoughts my own?” He took a step toward her. She flinched. “What did you change?” he roared.
“Nothing! I didn’t change anything! I installed your memory inhibitor when you first arrived. That’s it.” Dr. Lobush moved away from the window and over to the chair, where she sat down, her hands knitted together, her head down. “When you came in, I knew you were meant for one of them. I just didn’t know which one until a few days later. Your specs were so astounding, I knew there was no way they’d let you be placed in the general public or made into a PAP. It would have truly been a waste.”
Phia pushed past Donté. “Are you saying you have to take him from me? Is she coming to take hi
m from me?”
Dr. Lobush started to speak, but Donté cut her off. “I’m not a piece of meat! Stop talking about me like I’m a damn piece of meat!”
Phia gasped, stepping away from him, her eyes wide as something akin to shock passed over her face. She turned and bolted from the room.
Donté froze, his head dropping for a brief second, before he looked up at Dr. Lobush, his eyes determined, his face set in a deep scowl. He settled down on the edge of the couch. “Who was I meant for?”
Dr. Lobush knew there could be no more secrets. “The Higher Highness of Serenity. She is the leader of the Uterlined States of America, and one of the most powerful women—”
“I know who she is,” Donté growled low as he stood to his feet again and began pacing the floor between them.
A gasp and a throaty sob floated to them from the hallway, and Dr. Lobush watched as Donté closed his eyes, his body going rigid as if he were struggling not to go to Phia. He closed his eyes and asked, “Will she come for me?”
“I don’t know. She might. I fabricated a look-alike of you and sent it home with her, but only time will tell if it works.”
“Why would you do that?”
She leaned back away from him, a soft smile on her face. “As a good friend of mine says often, ‘Some people deserve puppets, and some don’t.’”
Donté stared at her for a long moment, dissecting her answer, and then asked, “Why did you send me home with Phia? Why didn’t you do what you were supposed to do? I would’ve never known the truth.”
“Does knowing the truth now change anything, Donté?”
He stared at her for a long, uncomfortable moment before he bit out through clenched teeth, “I asked you a question.”
She sighed and glanced out the window as a flock of sapsuckers flew by. “I wanted a different future, or maybe I wanted a taste of the past. I don’t know.” She closed her eyes, resigned to the chain of events she’d begun. “Maybe I wanted a little bit of both.”