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The Mechanised Baby
They were waiting hand in hand in the maternity ward, smiles on their faces and that look in their eye. The nurse has seen it a thousand times or more, the "what if" look beneath the fake grin. She'd barely given birth more than a few hours ago, but she had that radiance about her. Despite the tiredness, the telltale signs of stress that a traditional pregnancy causes on the body, she seemed positively vibrant. As the nurse approached the slight mechanical hum of her movements broke their reverie.
"Were you successful?" they asked, and the question hung in the air like that hospital smell that never seems to go away.
"Yes," came the reply, and the nurse's facial features smoothed in recognition as she saw their relieved looks. They kissed in front of her, the human interaction registering in her circuitry. There was a time a couple of decades ago that she too was human. She might kiss now, but no matter what they tell you on the adverts, robotic bodies don't feel the same sensations in the same way.
"Your baby took to the host body just fine. We saw on your preference records you'd had acceptance for it to be a boy, so he's in an anatomically suitable unit, ward 33c booth 3c. You may go up and see him now."
The adoring parents left the ward arm in arm. She with the fresh hospital robe flapping about her bare knees and he still in his work gear. Apparently he'd had the message late his wife had gone into labour. It was rare for human parents to have no augmentations whatsoever, usually they liked to get a flavour for what they were possibly in for. As they passed by rooms and busy corridors both saw many robotic humans. They were used to it, and it wasn't they were opposed to the concept of longevity in a pristine body. They just both wanted a baby, a natural birth and not a genetically engineered one grown from their reproductive produce. They didn't want to catalogue browse; choosing hair colour, gender and skin tone, eye colour or intelligence. They wanted to give their baby the best fighting chance at a normal life, then leave it to decide. But upon screening it seemed the foetus was found to be inferior. They'd been told it would be born with severe abnormalities, so they had decided to have it and then have the "Ascendance" early.
Of course it was the year 2068 so things were more advanced and conservative attitudes had changed. Men...
"Were you successful?" they asked, and the question hung in the air like that hospital smell that never seems to go away.
"Yes," came the reply, and the nurse's facial features smoothed in recognition as she saw their relieved looks. They kissed in front of her, the human interaction registering in her circuitry. There was a time a couple of decades ago that she too was human. She might kiss now, but no matter what they tell you on the adverts, robotic bodies don't feel the same sensations in the same way.
"Your baby took to the host body just fine. We saw on your preference records you'd had acceptance for it to be a boy, so he's in an anatomically suitable unit, ward 33c booth 3c. You may go up and see him now."
The adoring parents left the ward arm in arm. She with the fresh hospital robe flapping about her bare knees and he still in his work gear. Apparently he'd had the message late his wife had gone into labour. It was rare for human parents to have no augmentations whatsoever, usually they liked to get a flavour for what they were possibly in for. As they passed by rooms and busy corridors both saw many robotic humans. They were used to it, and it wasn't they were opposed to the concept of longevity in a pristine body. They just both wanted a baby, a natural birth and not a genetically engineered one grown from their reproductive produce. They didn't want to catalogue browse; choosing hair colour, gender and skin tone, eye colour or intelligence. They wanted to give their baby the best fighting chance at a normal life, then leave it to decide. But upon screening it seemed the foetus was found to be inferior. They'd been told it would be born with severe abnormalities, so they had decided to have it and then have the "Ascendance" early.
Of course it was the year 2068 so things were more advanced and conservative attitudes had changed. Men...
