MizTiffanyBlossom
Larry Madison prides himself on being practical. When an offhand comment about pregnancy and productivity triggers an HR complaint, he's less concerned about the impact than the paper trail. Offered a way to keep his record clean, Larry enrolls in his company's Empathy Simulation Initiative - a state of the art program that uses a seamless torso device, nano nerve interfaces, and a growing synthetic gel mass to replicate the physical reality of pregnancy.
At first, it's damage control. He treats nausea, brain fog, and weight shifts like a temporary inconvenience. But as the faux fetus grows, responds to food, and begins to move, Larry's body becomes a schedule he can't manage with strategy. Contractions derail meetings. Maternity clothes become necessary. The "delivery" leaves him neurologically wrecked - and while he sleeps, he misses the opt out window.
The program rolls automatically into a year long lactation phase. Pump schedules, saline production, and public invisibility reshape his work life just as a promotion slips away. Bonnie, his steady and quietly perceptive partner, supports him without letting him off the hook. The empathy she hoped he would learn arrives in full - and then some.
When the 21 month simulation finally powers down, Larry believes it's over. Instead, a new notification appears: auto enrollment in the Menstruation Empathy Awareness Program. As the suit hums back to life and a new cycle begins, Larry faces a final realization - empathy, once initiated, may not have an off switch.