Today, I am taking part in the short story writing contest by @calluna. I hope you like it!

This is the prompt to the story contest: This week, I am looking for a story inspiring by the concept of a world where children are designed, and both genders are no longer required for reproduction. I am really hoping to hear the imagined impact of how this would affect the overall society. I am looking for a science fiction story set in a world where babies are normally designed in labs, and both parties are no longer needed for reproduction.

Here it is, my entry:

Carol had to pee.

"Not now", she thought to herself and decided to hold it back a little longer.

The tour in the facility would go on for at least another 30 minutes. Too long for her, she knew that already.

They were walking through a large and bright corridor with a slight curve to the right. The corridor was the central axis of the facility, which was arranged as a huge ring and they were walking the entire distance.

All the rooms to their left and right had large windows and behind them, the breeding took place. All the rooms were filled with rows of incubators and in between was personnel checking the values of the incubators.

Every room was in a different stage. The normal insemination frequency was once per week and so the embryos in every next room were one week older.

While walking along the rooms full of breeding embryos, the guide explained the different stages in which the embryos were and what was important to look after.

Carol didn't listen too much. She was busy holding her pee back. They had to put a special cover over their shoes which made the walking a bit different than normal. Not the best if you have to press your legs together and avoid an embarrassing accident.

Then, at week 34 she finally decided to ask. Her class consisted of 12 students and one teacher. Normally, there are two teachers, but the second one was absent due to a civic defence exercise. She went over to her teacher, touched him on his arm and told him about her issue.

She expected him to be angry, because of the interruption and because earlier they had the chance to go to the toilet. But he just smiled and asked the guide where the the toilet is. The guide interrupted his explanations and gave her directions.

Carol was relieved.

You can't expect such a reaction. Not in all cases and especially not for alphas like her. If you were a beta - not to speak of a gamma - things were a bit less strict given their limited capabilities. But alphas are seen as the future. They are supposed to run the system and not to the toilet all the time.

Her group went on with the tour while she turned around as explained and followed the blue line on the floor. There were lines with different colors on the floor to guide workers and robots to the correct room and luckily for her, someone thought about adding one to guide you to the next toilet.

In a few minutes, she will be back relieved and relaxed.

The blue line went around a corner away from the main corridor into a passage inside the ring. Behind the windows there were no more rooms with breeding embryos, but the most beautiful garden she ever saw. Trees, bushes, grass, pathways and benches in all colors. Like in a painting.

She would have loved enjoying the scene, but there was also her bladder. She increased her steps and was almost there.

Far away there was a blue door. That must be it.

She increased her speed and almost running now she came closer to the door.

Ten steps to go, five, two, one - there!

"That was close", she thought while pushing down the handle.

The door was locked!

She tried again. Still locked!

Panic started creeping up. She looked hastily to the left and right.

There is no way out.

"Oh my god!" She has perhaps 30 seconds left for a solution.

In her desperation she turned around and shouted for help. No responses, but there: another door!

It looks like it leads outside into the park.

She ran to the door pushed down the handle... open!

The door is open!

Her push against the door was so strong that she almost fell over but she didn't care and ran to the next bush.

There, she ripped down her pants, squatted down and released herself.

She didn't even bother looking if there was anything or anyone around who could see her. It was literally the last second!

"Phew, that was close," she thought to herself.

Slowly, she calmed herself down again. "Stay cool, stay cool. It's alright, nothing happened. Nobody will suspect anything."

Then she realized that her shoe cover was dirty.

"Dammit!"

She tried to rub off the dirt, but that made things worse. Now, her t-shirt had a stain as well.

"Oh no, why now, why here?" she said to herself completely ignoring the park.

Suddenly somebody spoke to her in a calm voice: "Do you need help, my dear?"

The voice of a woman. It came from behind the bush a few yards away next to a tree.

"Hello?" Carol replied to the voice not sure what to do.

"Oh, why is this happening," she thought to herself.

Who is this and how will she explain herself? What will happen, will she get punished?

"I'm here a bit behind you. Just come over," the voice said.

Carol tried to look through the bushes and came to the conclusion that she has nothing to loose.

She decided to walk over to the woman.

Not seeing her yet she started telling her the truth about what just happened hoping it would simply end like her asking to go to the toilet in the first place.

"Oh, don't worry my dear. Sometimes, these things happen in life."

Relieved about the reaction, Carol asked her if she can help her getting the shoe cover clean and... What is this woman doing there??

She could see her now.

Carol froze in the middle of the sentence and just stared at the woman.

Sitting on a bench with her blouse open, the woman was holding an unfinished embryo in her arms.

It was sucking on one of her nipples.

"Is she having sex with the embryo?" Carol asked herself.

It is normal to start having sex when you are 14, but with an embryo? Is the embryo capable of living at all? It looks so small and fragile.

While looking at it she felt deep inside herself that she wanted to have sex with the embryo too.

Although, not really sex. She wanted to hold it like the woman held it and be intimate with the embryo.

No sex, just plain platonic intimacy. A feeling like petting a cat, just one million times stronger.

Strange. Very strange.

"What is this?" she asked.

"I'm feeding my baby," the woman answered.

"You mean, the embryo?" Carol gave back confused.

"Oh yes, the embryo. Here take my shoe covers and give me yours. Don't worry about it."

"Thank you a lot."

Carol was still completely baffled about what she saw there.

"Are you working here at the facility?" Carol asked.

"No, I am a mother," the woman replied.

Carol didn't understand. Breeding facilities were only accessible for alphas and she never heard about mothers.

"What function has... what is this.. a mother?"

"You should leave now again, my dear. Don't worry about it," the woman said with a smile.

Gaining back her control, Carol responded: "Thank you very much."

Then she turned around and went back to where she came from.

Not a single time in her life Carol heard or saw anything like that before and after again. But these deep and empathic feelings this baby embryo triggered inside her, she never forgot this moment.

In fact, she dreamed about it every single night for the rest of her life.

The end.

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