“Perhaps we should go somewhere private,” Regina suggested.
The doctor shook her head, “There is nowhere else to go, and I have little time. These ladies won’t mind your questions.”
Regina wanted to challenge Dr. Hamblin for not knowing what questions she would ask, some of which might make these women quite uncomfortable, but that seemed foolhardy and unlikely to get her anywhere favorable.
“I have a question, too,” Tellez said, his hands making tight fists. “The patient who just delivered the baby must have been the one screaming – is she okay?”
Dr. Hamblin snapped her eyes on Tellez, as did the rest of the women in the waiting room. “I did not say I had time for your questions.” Her tone was liquid nitrogen.
Regina felt a keening horror that must have reflected in her eyes. Everything seemed so unreal that she wondered if she were in a dream. No, a nightmare.
Dr. Hamblin smiled at her. “I can see you have concerns about her well-being, too. I assure you she is as well as rainwater.
Regina wondered if the doctor’s mis-phrasing had been deliberate. Had she meant right as rainwater or had she meant what she said? Feeling the pressure of time and not thinking clearly enough to be artful in how she phrased it, Regina asked, “How did you all get pregnant?”
Laughter filled the room, but it sounded inhuman, like the laughter of hyenas. Dr. Hamblin smiled warmly, “Surely a scientist knows the answer to that question.”
“But, Chauncy Perez said none of you were showing until this past week.”
“Men!” Dr. Hamblin sighed. “They really only see what they want to see. Look around and see if you believe women this far along were not showing until this past week.” More laughter followed. “I apologize for not having more time, Regina, but as you can see, I have a long afternoon ahead of me. I will see you in the morning, if you’re still here. Do what you need to do to report to the Board that Phase One will complete fully and on time.”
She turned to the brown-haired Murian and said, “Give us a minute to clean up and we’ll be ready to see you.” Looking at the receptionist she said, “See Regina and the guard out and then come help me clean.”
“I’ll see them out,” Murian said. “My legs will go numb if I sit any longer,”
Murian led them into the dark hallway, and the lights popped on as they stepped onto the polished floor.
Regina wanted to sprint back to the office, grab Sam and get off the island immediately. Her skin crawled with fear. She forced her composure to hold even as her intestines felt like fighting eels. “Thank you, Murian. We know the way back just fine.”
“I want you to know the truth. You looked scared, but you needn’t be.”
Regina stopped. Tellez wisely said nothing.
“Walk with us and tell me everything.” They started at a slow pace and it took twenty seconds for the lights behind them to darken and the hall ahead to illumine.
“We are nearly all faithful women. Followers of God. Are you?” Murian asked hopefully, gazing upon Regina with her glassy, green eyes.
“I have faith.”
“I knew you did!” the pregnant woman said excitedly. “Then you must know the truth. That we carry children put in our bellies directly from heaven.”
Regina looked her in the eye, shivering inside despite the heat. The woman believed what she was saying. “How can you be so sure?”
“I have known no man, and there is no other explanation.” She was earnest. “Also, my baby has spoken to me, spoken to my mind and heart. He is so wise—he must have come from heaven.”
Regina wanted to vomit. “Thank you. I can see you have great faith,” she said, feeling like a coward and a hypocrite.
Murian excused herself and went back down the hall. Regina tried to keep herself from sprinting to the office.
Not sure which gave her more relief, the fact that she and Tellez made it safely back to the office or the fact that the rest of the team were there when she got back, Regina melted into one of the office chairs and faced the bank of monitors. She did not want to look into a sea of dolls’ eyes. She wanted to fly home and forget the place. She was relieved by one more thing— she had finally adjusted to the temperature.
Sonya and Kristine were talking excitedly nearby. Sonya said, “Yes, that was my first time using one, too. I couldn’t stop laughing when the nanobots started, you know.” She stopped, looking around at the men who were paying close attention to the conversation.
“I don’t know why they were so insistent that you two use the bathroom and didn’t care two whiskers about us guys going,” Carpenter complained.
“Women stick together,” Kristine responded. “Besides, the woman who showed us to the bathroom was pregnant. She probably has to go all of the time, and didn’t want us to get tied up in our work and be uncomfortable.”
“Guess we’ll just have to wait for Phase Two to have our nethers tickled by nanobots, guys,” Gullivan said. “None of us can afford a gold-handled toilet.”
“Stop whining and maybe Regina will let you use ours on the thirteenth floor in Houston.” Sonya drank from a water bottle like the one Chauncy had given Regina.
Sam and Braxton engaged in a serious conversation of their own in the back corner of the room at a desk. Sam was seated, but both were looking at the monitor associated with that computer. Regina was not able to see what they were looking at.
Chauncy stepped over to Regina’s group, nervously rubbing his hands. “Ms. Jenkins, did you learn anything useful at the medical office?”
Regina nodded. “Only a little.” A disgusting realization hit her, “You’re obviously using space toilets in this facility. The water you gave us,” she nodded at Sonya and Kristine drinking from chilled bottles, “was that from…”
Chauncy shifted uneasily. “You drink purified water that has passed every test.”
Kristine spat out what she had been drinking and made a gagging sound.
“Some of it comes from our groundwater, we can even desalinize ocean water through the toilets. There will be so many uses for the nano technology that we had not yet comprehended.”
Sam interrupted from the far side of the room. “First, we are going to have to clean the code. Carpenter, Velasquez, come over here please.”
Everyone moved to the back corner of the office. Regina saw the men and Kristine were sweating, but she was surprised to realize she still felt comfortable. Glancing back at the factory floor, Regina saw more than a dozen women standing around the bottom of the stairs that led up to the office. Staring up at her.
“I read some unsettling information on the flight out,” Sam said, sweat beading on his forehead, which he mopped with a silk Gucci handkerchief. “The representative of the Malcom estate – one of the astronauts from the 2040 Explorer space mission that ended tragically – provided info from journal recordings that belonged to the estate. I would have thought any such recordings would have been classified and sealed by the NASA investigation,” he said absently. “Regardless, the statements purport to say that the crew was divided and broke down almost completely in the nine weeks of the mission they were alive.”
Sam continued, “Apparently, Carmina Shultz had boarded the vessel expecting a child. She had not disclosed the pregnancy, and must have deceived the doctors in her pre-launch examinations. It was a point of heated contention after she began showing six weeks into the journey. Her health deteriorated and she ranted uncontrollably. She became so physically disruptive that they had to keep her secured with restraints for most of the last week she was alive. Complications in her pregnancy took her life, and destroyed the collective morale of the group. Her body and the unborn child’s were evacuated into space.