Enhanced (first draft)

Chapter 1

AUHTOR'S NOTE: I just want to warn you beforehand that this story is highly unedited and rushed. I am ironing out the details of a revised edition so if you end up having any questions/suggestions/etc concerning either this version or the upcoming version, don't hesitate to let me know. I would love it if you had suggestions for the upcoming version so as to make it the best it can possibly be. Thanks for reading. ~Jay

Soren and I are sitting in front of the doctor. We are both looking at each other, our eyes beaming in happiness. We are going to be having our first child. It is something that everybody looks forward to, something that we haven't been able to experience yet. I am nervous.

"Nyx, can you stand up for a moment?" the doctor asks, addressing me. His tone is nonchalant. He must go through this nearly every day. It is no special event to him.

I obey him, not quite sure what to expect to happen. A small grey scanner goes up and down my body. I feel naked it front of it even though I am fully clothed. It stops right in front of my eyes. Although it is inanimate, I can almost imagine it as some sort of animal examining me, seeing if I am suitable for what it wants. I then am able to sit back down. As I adjust myself so that I am seated comfortably, my ultrasound appears on the screen next to the doctor.

"Congratulations on your baby girl."

A girl. I am both excited and disgusted. I attempt to hide my disgust as I lean into Soren. He gives me a kiss, something that I have not experienced in a while. His lips feel warm against my cheek. They remind me of the old times. The times that we will never be able to have again.

"Now I am going to show you the simulations, and you can start to discuss what you would like to change and what you want to keep." The doctor presses a few buttons on the screen, making an image of our daughter as a baby appear on the screen.

A baby with small, innocent eyes looks at us. Although I know that this is not how she will look, I am enchanted by her beauty already. I don't want to change anything, but society will prevent that.

The doctor first taps her face on the screen, zooming in on her eyes. "These need to be bigger. They are too small for her to be considered beautiful later in life. What color eyes do you want?"

I speak without thinking. "Keep them brown. They are beautiful." How can I be so stupid?

Soren interjects, looking at me with concern in his eyes. He tightens his grip on my hand. "Honey, that's no what we agreed on. Make them gold with bronze speckles in them."

The doctor taps the eyes and makes them larger. He then adjusts the color to the gold that Soren said. The eyes almost look alien on the child. I am nearly disgusted. I know that this has to continue, though, so I don't say anything. These changes are not final. Soren and I can discuss them later, although I doubt he will want to change them.

"Now for complexion," the doctor says. "You want her pale like you, right?"

I look at Soren as he nods, his expressionless face that he has been having more and more often unsettles me. He nods. I look to the doctor and nod also, albeit reluctantly.

The doctor changes the complexion and also makes a few adjustments to the nose, lips, and ears. There isn't really too much else that he can do with this simulation.

We then go to a simulation of her as a child. The doctor makes adjustments with proportions, but nothing too major because developments hadn't really occurred yet. Her hair is changed from a light brown to an almost white-blonde.

"Now for the most important part - the teenage years."

The teenage years was where you would find your spouse. Usually, you married around sixteen and had your first child within a year or two.

I was an exception. Although I married Soren at eighteen, which still was late, I convinced him to wait three years before having a child. At our age, people were usually done having children or at least on their last child.

I am astounded by the teenage version of my daughter. Even though her eyes and hair look alien, she still has a natural beauty. I don't want to change anything else but I know I have to. Without synthetic additions, my daughter will never find somebody.

The doctor zooms in on her face. He perfects the eyebrows and makes the eyelashes extremely long. He adds color to the cheeks and makes the chin small. Although the face is pale, he adds an unnatural radiance to it.

Then he goes to the height. "Make her tall. Almost six feet," Soren interjects quickly.

The doctor does so and adjusts the arm and leg proportions to fit.

Then he goes to the stomach area. He makes sure the upper chest is big enough, but he makes her stomach extremely flat. He makes the hips a little wider but flattens the backside. Then he turns towards us.

"That is it. She will not change much after her teenage years, but if she ends up wanting to, she can herself."

I look at her in wonder. She does not look like either Soren or I. I can see why she would have appeal to men, though, and I guess that is what counts.

The doctor clears his throat, and Soren and I both look at him, startled. "Now for her personality and such. Unfortunately, due to all if these synthetic additions, we had to spare some benefits in other areas. She will be below average intelligence, but she is a girl so that doesn't really matter."

Soren laughs. I clench my teeth, wanting to slap both of them with all of my might. Unfortunately, women now have a reputation for being much less intelligent than men. We have become mainly just needed for reproduction. We are sometimes given menial jobs, but most we just take care of our children. It is ridiculous that society has come to this. I remember reading that women were once treated like this hundreds of years ago, but it all changed. The women stood up for themselves and aserted themselves as equals. I don't know what happened between then and now.

I don't want a dumb daughter that will be taken advantage of. I want her to be like me. I have above average intelligence for my generation, not just for women, but both genders. I think that is why I don't agree with all of these heinous actions that are going on.

Soren also has above average intelligence, but that is not getting him anywhere anymore.

"What else do you want her to be like?" the doctor asks. "I cannot guarantee that she will turn out like this, but I can try."

"Make sure that she is not inquisitive. Also make her subservient, and try to give her a bubbly personality. Those are all qualities of Nyx that I adore." Soren grabs my hand and squeezes it. I just let him hold it. I feign a smile, hating every second of it. Everything that Soren just said about me is a lie, and he knows that. It must be how he dreams me to be.

The doctor puts that on the simulation, and then he checks to make sure that there is no possibility of any major disease.

Afterwards, he says, "There are only two things left. Her life expectancy is around fourty, which is about average. And finally, her name?"

"Aphrodite," Soren says. We had not agreed on this. We said that we would name her Celine after my grandmother, although that was long ago, before Soren had changed. Back when we actually loved each other.

"Ahh, wonderful choice, and suitable, too."

Soren and I get up to leave when the doctor says, "Your next appointment is next Friday. We will apply our decisions then."

~~~~

I am currently working on a revised edition of this story that is attached to the external link. Check it out!