Genesis: A science-fiction short story. Read Free Page A

fact that Sylvia had managed to become pr egnant by herself before him. It was a difficulty that many men now faced; a race against their own partner’s biology.
    At the time, the fact that Sylvia had refused to request termination of her firstborn child had hung like a shadow over their relationship. Now Sylvia wonders if she would have had her termination request accepted at all. She wonders if she could have kept the peace by going through the motions; if she could have kept their relationship together.
    Dorian had always commented that he was lucky, marrying a woman who had not been sterilized. Now, sometimes in her dark moments, she wonders if that was the only reason he had married her.
    Not every woman wa s allowed to remain reproductively intact any longer; only the women who were considered to be positive influences on the genetic pool. They were expected to avoid Genesis as much as they could, but it wasn’t always possible; not when reality intervened.
    “How did it go?” asks Caroline, tugging on her jet black hair. The children are playing in the living room, still in sight, and Caroline has picked up on Sylvia’s mood.
    “They wouldn’t let me terminate,” says Sylvia.
    Termination needed to be petitioned for, but it was yet another procedure almost entirely controlled by invisible and inconceivable algorithms, calculated for the betterment of society and the genetic pool.
    “Well, we knew it was a longshot, requesting it that late,” says Caroline, attempting to comfort her. “They almost never approve terminations after the first two weeks, it’s all that scheduling madness. We’ll get through it together. What’s the final verdict?”
    “31,” says Sylvia quietly, breaking open the seal on a coffee pod and slipping it into her mouth. She almost immediately feels her jittering falling away, though she knows that it’s just a placebo. In the living room, Kate is playing a virtual reality game.
    “What?” asks Caroline sharply, as she takes the canister from Sylvia’s hand. “31? That isn’t even possible. Did you say 31? Three and one?”
    “It’s new,” says Sylvia, numbly, as she turns and leans against the kitchen counter. She looks into the room at her children.
    “ What… What are you going to do?” asks Caroline. “Can you appeal? I’ve never heard of… 31?”
    “I can appeal,” says Sylvia , shaking her head. “But it doesn’t look good. I don’t think… I’m not sure what to do, Caroline.”
    “ Those appeals never go through,” says Caroline, leaning against the counter. She looks to the two girls in the living room and lowered her voice. “There are… I mean, I’ve heard there are options.”
    Sylvia has heard that, too. Underground drugs. Illegal operations. She knows that it is an option; a very real option. But she also knows that it’s not an option for her.
    “I’m not 19, Caroline,” says Sylvia. “If I’m caught, who will take care of the girls? What if I get sick? The last thing I need is more medical bills, or jail time, or to die.”
    “Why would they even approve the Genesis if they’re only going to certify it till 31?” asks Caroline, her voice displaying the frustration that Sylvia felt.
    “I don’t know. Who knows how they calculate these things,” says Sylvia. “Lord knows I tried enough to figure it out before I even went. Why did Maggie get 73 and Kate only 68? Why did I get 79? Why did you get 64? It’s all just a mess.”
    “Well, we have time,” says Caroline, putting her hand on Sylvia’s shoulder. “We’ll figure it out, in time. And you know what? Maybe they won’t even have the same certification process in 30 years. Who knows? Anything could happen.”
    Sylvia nods, to herself, but she’s no longer listening. It was everything that she had been telling herself on the way home through the metro, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly, awfully wrong.
     
    Kathleen Cardoff was forgotten