Reid loosened his cuffs, turned away, and waited to see if she’d heed his final warning.
***
BEWARE OF DOG
Clara stared at the sign, reading it, and reading it again.
She glanced around her, over the nearly empty parking lot and its steaming asphalt, to the triple-gated fences, along the entrance and exit, but saw no dog, nor any sign that there had ever been one.
She shrugged it off.
She had examined everything within the vicinity of her vehicle, buying her time. Now that she didn’t have any more check stops between her and her destination, she no longer had any reason to turn around.
The decision to contract with CBF would have been infinitely easier if it had been taken out of her hands.
Raising her glasses onto her head, she twisted and glared at her car, half expecting to see her sadistic ex leaning up against it, but it sat alone in all its old glory. It hadn’t broken down like she’d hoped on the way. Instead, tt betrayed her and forced her to push through her nervousness. The only obstacle between her and the door was the haze of heat that bathed everything in its path.
That and her own cowardice.
Clara adjusted the shoulder strap of her purse, righted her composure, and walked toward the door. It opened as she neared. The sign vanished behind her.
A blast of air hit her dead in the face, making her cringe. Her skin chilled and in one instant she went from being on the verge of heatstroke to being in danger of frostbite. She rubbed her palms up and down the goosebumps on her arms.
She knew two things: that she was being watched, and that the first step through that door would be the step that turned her life around.
Clara took in the empty reception room.
The interior was white with black metal paneling and floor-to-ceiling glass walls to partition the space. There were two painfully white plastic chairs facing a reception desk that was manned by no one. Behind it and throughout the room were screens displaying fertility information interspersed with moving images of exotic alien locales.
She approached the desk, unsettled that the only sound in the air was the slaps of her shoes. Everything gleamed, polished to perfection. It was beautiful and stark and... she was completely out of place. Nothing about the entrance room of the facility elicited comfort.
It was utterly dissimilar to the worn cement and barbed wires of the outside; the swirling dust and the scorching heat, where rain hadn’t fallen in over a hundred years.
“Hello?”
Her heart pounded as her question echoed. She looked around, hoping to find an android or another living being rushing to assist her, but it remained silent.
“Hello?” she said louder.
Again, no one answered, but a screen raised from the desk. Clara swallowed as she came upon a questionnaire. There was no tablet to take back to a seat for her to answer in comfort. She straightened her back and refused to be deterred and began answering the dozen or so questions with her fingertip.
Have you had surgery anytime the last twelve months? Specify when and for what purpose. If yes, was the procedure medically necessary, medically advised, elective or cosmetic?She answered each of them with a hint of boredom. She had done it all before, dozens of times over the past ten years or so, ever since Santino hurt her.
But as she continued, the questions became more direct, more personal. Clara shifted on her feet, now relieved that the room remained empty.
Have you had any miscarriages? If so how many?
Have you ever had cybernetic surgery? If so, when was it? And for what purpose?
Is this your first time at a breeding facility? If not, where else have you gone?
Clara frowned and stared at the question.There are other breeding facilities?
Are you allergic to sperm?
Have you had sexual relations with an alien?
No. No. No.
