Her

Chapter five: Sperm (Edited)

Chapter five: Sperm

"This is the breeders library," Dianne tells me as she shows me yet, through another door into yet another room. Dianne had suggested she give me a tour of the Breeder's Wing after Abigail's meltdown. She said that it was because she wanted to show me around, but I knew it was because she just wanted to escape the others in the cafeteria who were staring at us. Both Marge and Christina decided to tag along as Dianne showed me around to places in the Breeders Wing they had probably been a thousand times. So far they had shown me the pool, the gym, the game room and now the library. Dianne didn't say much about each space, only what it was called and where it was in location to everything else. She didn't really say anything in between spaces either, instead she and everyone else kept silence as we walked between rooms, obviously still taking in what had happened in the cafeteria today. It was only when the tour of the Breeder's Wing was pretty much over did Dianne start speaking to me and the first thing she said was; "So how did your first insemination go?" I look up from the place on the floor I had been looking at, to look at Dianne in surprise.

"How did you know?" I ask her.

"New graduates get inseminated on their first day," Dianne explains with a shrug. "It's just how it goes." I nod in understanding.

"I went well I think."

"Did you get assigned a nurse?" Christina asks from beside Dianne and I nod.

"Her name's Patricia," I say and Christina nods as she continues walking. "Do you all get nurses too?" Dianne, Christina and even Marge, nod.

"You get the same one for the rest of your life," Dianne explains.

"So you better make friends with Patricia," Christina says with a laugh.

"Do you like her?" Dianne asks.

I shrug. "She's very... excitable."

"Most nurses are," Dianne agrees. "Excited about doing their career." I nod. "But Christina's right, it's good if you can make friends with your nurse, it will really help you as a Breeder." I nod in understanding. "And she might teach you things you don't already know."

"Like what?" I ask her.

"I don't know," Dianne says but then idea seems to strike her. "Like you can still get spotting when you're pregnant. I didn't know that." I nod in understanding and for a moment we walk in silence until a memory strikes me.

"I did have one question for Patricia, but she couldn't answer me."

Dianne stops and Christina and Marge stop with her. "What was it?" she asks. "Maybe we can help." I look at the girls who are smiling at me warmly, waiting willingly for my question.

"Do you know what the sample is?" I ask them.

"The sample?" Dianne asks and the other girls look confused.

"The thing they inseminate us with," I clarify.

"Oh... right," Dianne says.

"Do you know what it is?" Dianne looks at the other girls and they shrug.

"It's the sample," Dianne says with a little laugh. "It doesn't have another name."

"But what is the sample? It has to be something and how does it make a baby grow –"

"Well that's easy," Christina says stepping forward. "Once the sample is inserted into you it becomes like a little tiny fish. Imagine a tadpole."

"Okay," I say, unsure.

"Well inside your uterus already," Christina continues explaining. "Is an egg."

"An egg?" I ask.