Orazio (Vol. 1) Orazio and the Isis hormone.

Happy Birthday Orazio!

The year is 2167. The world is dominated by the female gender. Years ago a hormone was discovered and given the name Isis. The Isis hormone, once introduced into the human body, endowed the user with a wide range of powers.

Some users developed psychic powers, others great intelligence, superior strength, magical abilities, and so on.

The only drawback is that the Isis hormone was only effective in people with the XX chromosome, i.e. women.

As time went by, fewer and fewer couples decided to have male children. Being male meant being at a serious disadvantage, and males became a rarity.

This posed a long-term problem. With fewer and fewer males, more and more women had to resort to artificial insemination if they wanted to become mothers. There were enough sperm in storage to ensure human reproduction for a long time, but there was less and less genetic variety.

And there was another problem. The Y chromosome was becoming weaker and human sperm of poorer quality.

The solution found by the various governments was to "create" male individuals. Nobody wanted to condemn their offspring to live as inferior beings, so the State began to buy male embryos and breed them in State orphanages to maintain a minimum male population.

This is how our protagonist was born, in an orphanage, incubated in an artificial incubator, cared for by androids and educated by an Artificial Intelligence. He never knew his parents and had hardly any contact with the outside world.

His story begins on his eighteenth birthday.

Orazio went to the appointment scheduled by the AI. It was an appointment with the Director of the Orphanage. Orazio was standing in front of the office door with a clenched fist about to bang on the door. He was in a bad mood and nervous. Very nervous. More nervous than he had ever been in his life. In fact, he was about to have a panic attack.

So he had to take a deep breath and then he knocked on the door.

- Come in - said a woman's voice.

Orazio opened the door and entered the principal's office.

The headmistress was a skinny woman, dyed blonde. Despite being one of the few people Orazio had met at the Meatspace, he rather disliked her. She was somewhat dry and her smiles and kindness had always seemed to Orazio fake and forced, as if she was playing a role: the role of the Director of the Benson Orphanage.

- Sit down - said the Director, pulling Orazio out of his thoughts - I have something very important to tell you.

Orazio thought he knew what she had to tell him. He reluctantly sat down on the chair in front of the Director's desk.

- What is it about? - he asked even though he knew the answer.

- It's about the future - she said emphasizing the word future - Your future.

Orazio was about to snort grumpily, instead he asked:
- What about my future?

For him the future had always been something related to old Science Fiction movies. He had never thought of himself in relation to the FUTURE.

- You may have a future. But only if you prove yourself today. Only if you earn it. - Said the Director without taking her eyes off him.

Now he really snorted. He didn't even feel like thinking about the FUTURE or having to earn anything.

The director looked at him disapprovingly, sat back in her chair and sorted through some virtual papers she had open on her desk.

- You see. The quality of human sperm has reached negligible quality limits. Good quality sperm is now a very valuable commodity - said the director, staring at him - I'll be frank. You males are almost irrelevant in today's society. It's a shame, but that's the reality.