Previously…

When I awoke, I was in a strange room. It wasn’t my bedroom at the school or the one that I rarely saw at home. It was a different room. It was a girl’s bedroom; done out in pink, but not a shocking pink–but pale and muted. The bed that I was laying in was soft and comfortable. The room looked old. The ceilings were high and the huge ceiling to floor windows had heavy drapes covering them.

I was wearing a cream satin nightshirt with long sleeves and it felt very nice and comfortable to just lie there, wallowing in comfort, still sleepy and relaxed–

Then I remembered and sat bolt upright in bed.

‘Hello, awake at last are you?’

My head snapped over to the left and that hurt as I felt a stab of pain at the base of my neck.

‘Ouch,’ I said as my hand flew to the point of pain. There was a dressing on the back of my neck. Looking up, there was a woman sat in an armchair with a book, a real life paper book on her lap.

The woman stood up and came to me. I started suddenly, thinking I was seeing my mother, but it wasn’t her.

‘Hello, Rebecca, I’m your Auntie Connie; I think we have a lot to talk about, don’t you?’

‘I—I don’t underst––’

‘–You will, love,’ she said sitting beside me and holding my hand. ‘You’re okay here at the moment, in a safe house. We will have to move you soon though.’

‘What’s going on? I don’t understand!’

She looked at me with an expression that reminded me so much of Mummy; kind, compassionate and full of love.

‘Oh, I’ve missed you growing up, but it was necessary. Look, I won’t sweet talk you because we just haven’t got time. You need to know as much as we can tell you. I was driving the car that picked you up and for your safety, I used knock out gas so you didn’t know where you were going. What you don’t know, you can’t tell. You were brought here, but prior to that one of the doctors removed the GPS homing device that had been planted in your neck. As soon as possible, we did some tests on you. They’re very sophisticated and state of the art. You may be surprised to learn that you’re pregnant and it looks about 60 to 40 percent likely that you will give birth to a baby daughter.’

And now the story continues…

I looked at her and almost fainted.

‘P—p—pregnant––?’

‘Yes, you heard right, no need to wash out your ears. You are one hundred percent certifiably pregnant.’

‘I can’t be.’

‘Why not?’

‘B—b—b—because I’m too young.’

‘No you’re not.’

‘I haven’t had erm–sex.’ I whispered, knowing that I was going as red a as a beetroot.

‘So, haven’t you heard of artificial insemination?’

‘Why?’

‘Full of questions; aren’t you? Look, honey, I know it’s a shock and the last thing I want to do is to cause you pain, but the fact of the matter is that you have been used–brain-washed, if you like–like most of the kids in your school. They tried to make you feel special. They wanted you to believe in the ideology and be part of the system. They wanted good little baby factories so that they could sell you to the highest bidder. It was about money, power and egotism. Your parents knew that you were in danger and wanted to take you with them, but they couldn’t. They knew what the world was like out there with all the dangers that could and would befall you if you went to the hotbeds of unrest that a lot of the world was and still is experiencing. At least at school you were relatively safe–or so they thought.’

‘Safe?’ I exclaimed incredulously.

‘I know; but they were going by the information that they had been given. Fact one, girls were not being born. Fact two, England and the other British Alliance countries were at the forefront of research. Fact three, they thought that you might be chosen but even if you were and were changed into a girl, that would be preferable to the huge risks and chances of being killed in one or other of the hell holes that your parents were being sent to.

‘Why were they sent to India?’

My aunt looked at me for a moment and then answered my question. ‘Both your parents were good diplomats, with years of experience behind them. But they started questioning the system and motives behind what the government were doing. That marked them down as potential troublemakers. They realised early on, through friendly contacts in government that they were no longer considered “safe” so they had to try to protect you as much as possible. They sent you away to your school in the hope that you would be afforded some level of protection as the head master was a friend and confidant.’

‘The Head never liked me though.’

‘He couldn’t be seen to have favourites. Anyway, he did protect you as much as he could, but could not stop the selection process for The Chosen. Look, I can see you’re tired, and we must get you moved to a safe house very soon. You have to get some rest and then, when we have moved, I will answer more questions.’

‘C—can I ask just one more?’

‘Of course, dear,’

‘Where are m—my parents?’

‘We can talk about this later––’

‘–Please, I need to know!’

She looked at me sadly.

‘They were last heard of in the embassy in India, prior to some explosions and fighting. Nothing has been heard since, as far as I am aware, but I’m not always in the loop, so to speak.’

‘S—so they could be dead and Helena and the school have been lying to me all this time?’

‘Yes, poppet. I dearly hope that they are alive, but I just don’t know.’

As I lay awake in the dark, all my thoughts were about my parents and the baby in my tummy. I loved Mummy and Dada more than anyone in the world. The thought of them gone and possibly killed, made me think that my whole world was falling apart. Then there was this new life growing inside me. I had no idea who the father might be. We had been indoctrinated, I suppose into the idea that we would get married, have wonderful husbands and create babies in the “natural” way, not via some sort of impersonal turkey-baster, without love or concern for my feelings. I just didn’t know what to think about anything anymore.

I must have fallen asleep, because I was jolted into wakefulness by a well remembered voice.

‘Rebecca, wake up, we have to go,’ said Bethany.

Still half asleep, I got up, had a quick wash and loo break and got dressed in a tracksuit that was lying on the bed. According to my finger watch it was half past three in the morning when I found myself back in the hover going to a place about which I knew nothing. Bethany knew as much or as little as me. The thinking must be that what we did not know, we could not divulge.

The windows were blacked out as we travelled so I had no idea where we were going. We changed hovers several times as well so we could not be tracked. Eventually, I fell asleep and time had no more meaning. When I wakened, the windows had been unshielded and I could see dawn come up in the distance behind us, so I knew that we were heading roughly westwards. The hover was, I suppose, travelling about ten feet above the ground on autopilot, as my Aunt was just sitting back in her seat, her feet on the control panel in front of her, a steaming styrene cup of something in her hand.

Bethany was still asleep, so I moved forward to the seat beside my aunt and sat down.

‘Had a good sleep?’ she asked.

‘I suppose so. Are we nearly there yet?’

‘Where?’

‘Wherever we’re going.’ I replied looking out of the window and seeing the coast ahead.

My aunt glanced at the console.

‘ETA is about twenty minutes.’

‘Can’t we be tracked?’

‘The hover is in stealth mode and travelling below monitoring height, just in case.’

‘Oh; can you tell me anything about where we’re going?’

‘No, sweetheart, it’s better that you don’t know. All I can say is that it’s one of the safest locations we have.’

The smell of her drink–coffee–was making me feel a bit sick or it could have been the dreaded morning sickness.

‘Feeling rough? Don’t worry; there are some doctors where we are going. You’ll be looked after. What do think about your pregnancy?’

‘I–I don’t know. I suppose; sick, apprehensive, surprised, but excited too. I only wish––’

‘–What?’

‘Well, I’m only twelve and I wanted to be a kid for a while longer. Being a mother is a grown-up thing. If you had told me a few months ago that I would be a girl, pregnant and possibly giving birth to a baby girl, I would have laughed, but this isn’t much of a laugh is it?’

‘No, love. There are things we have to discuss, but I want to ensure you’re in a safe place before we broach the subject.’

‘I’ve got loads of questions.’

‘I bet you have. Look. I’ve got to start making out that I know how to fly this thing, so go and sit next to Beth and wake her up. You both need to be strapped in properly.’

‘Okay, auntie.’ I said, getting up and looking out. We were over the sea now. I wondered once again, where we were and where–more importantly, we would end up.

She gave me a brief smile and then turned to her controls as I made my way back to the passenger seat next to the still sleeping Bethany.

She awoke as I sat down. ‘Nearly there?’ she asked, yawning and rubbing her eyes.

‘I think so, you need to have your belt on.’

‘Okay.’

‘D’you know where we are going?’

‘Haven’t a clue. I’m not important enough to be told stuff like that.’

‘I thought you said that you weren’t told so you couldn’t tell anyone if you were caught.’

‘That’s true.’

‘I don’t understand how you managed to be a mole or whatever it’s called. You were just about the most feminine girl in the school. You wanted to be changed into a girl so badly; I was sure that you were a hundred percent in favour of being assimilated.’

‘Oh, I wanted to be a girl all right, but assimilation didn’t mean that, it meant being one of them; part of the system, a clone, almost a robot–a baby growing machine–with no will of your own and no way to make decisions for yourself.’

‘I see, I think. But how come I never knew about you?’

‘Well I didn’t know about you either, at first. Mummy and Daddy thought it best that we didn’t know about each other for safety’s sake. Evidently, relatives were normally kept apart from each other. Another security thing, I suppose, though I’m not sure how those nut cases really thought. I suppose divide and conquer–I don’t know. Anyway, when we were at the boys school, my parents told me about things and the fact that–look, do you remember in our first year, we all had that big medical when we were put out and then loads of tests were done?’

‘Yes, we were told that it was just a comprehensive health check.’

‘Yea, but it turns out that some of the tests included taking samples of DNA and other stuff and with those results, the authorities could tell who the prime candidates would be for assimilation, baby making and in particular, most likely to be girl baby making material. Our DNA is similar so we were going to be chosen anyway. Uncle and Auntie–your mum and dad–got wind of this through some contacts. On my last hols, my parents told me as much as they could, gave me a supply of pills to stop the brain washing and told me to look out for you.’

‘Why didn’t I get that help?’

‘Your parents were off in India and you were being watched closely. Evidently, you were one of the top five possibilities for successful insemination and you were therefore a marked boy–or girl as you now are. Even I was in the top ten, so I had to be careful, hence the over the top girliness and wild hairstyle and makeup. First, so I didn’t look like you and secondly so it would appear that I was the school pet.’

‘Well it worked, I never knew anyone more into femininity than you.’

She preened.

‘Still, it would have been good to know about things,’ I said.

‘Yes, but–oh never mind, look we’re landing!’

The hover came in over a cliff, barely missing some trees, then reduced height and tree hopped for about a mile I suppose. After cresting the brow of a hill, I saw we were now skimming the ground in what looked like parkland. Up ahead was a large house–well more a mansion really. The hover swiftly approached the house and went around the back and stopped in front of some doors.

‘All out kids, we’ve arrived!’

‘Coming in, Mum?’

‘Later. I need to put this baby to bed first.’

We got out as the hover settled on the gravel of the drive. A man and woman, about the same age as my parents were standing at the door smiling, as we approached.

‘Hello, Rebecca, Bethany, welcome,’ said the lady pleasantly.

‘You’ve had a tough time of it,’ said the man, ‘but you’re safe here. Come in and let’s get you settled.

I was aware of the sound of the hover motor rising as we entered the house. Glancing back, I saw it was being moved to some large outbuildings over to the side. I had wanted to speak with my Aunt, but she was obviously busy. Bethany took my arm and smiled at me.

‘This is sooo exciting!’ She said, putting her arm through mine and sounding more like the ultra fem, girly girl from school.

I had to smile. I kind of liked Bethany’s serious side but she was a lot of fun when she was all bubbly and feminine.

We found ourselves in corridor which led into a hall with several doors leading off. There were masses of people around, including kids our age–boys and girls–and younger ones also, but they were all boys, of course.

We were stared at by several of the kids and were given nods and smiles. Even a few of the adults approached and said, ‘hello’. One actually winked at me, so I wondered what that was about.

I wondered once again, where we were and what everyone was doing here.

We followed the man and woman to a door. It was an old fashioned type with real door handle which the man turned and then opened the door. We walked into a rather posh looking office that was also a library. Banks of vidi screens lined one wall while the other walls were covered in old fashioned, real paper type books. The old and modern sort of clashed a bit, but it wasn’t the room that took my attention more than a nanosecond.

There was a man sitting in a chair facing the window he was on a phone. There was something about him–

Then I sensed someone approaching me from behind. I jumped slightly as I was hugged from behind and suddenly smelled a familiar perfume––

The man turned round in his seat––

Sitting at the desk, with a wide smile on his handsome face was–my Dada!

‘Hello, honey–oh, how we’ve missed you,’ Mummy whispered in my ear as everything went blank––

My thanks go to the brilliant and lovely Gabi for editing, help with the plot-lines and pulling the story into shape.