Page 2 of Olivia
Bingo.
With the database from this evening’s blood scans loaded, she searched her patient ID number.
Her hands stilled as her profile popped up.
Please,she prayed to Mother Stars.I will raise her to serve your honor and give her all I have. Please let me have a child to love.
She clicked and waited for the results to compile.
This is it. This has to be it. I’m going to be so happy I’ll sing.
NEGATIVE
Pain fellon her like a weight, and she collapsed onto her bed, curling up in a fetal position as waves of despair washed through her, making her feel like she didn’t even exist anymore, only the sorrow.
Why?
Must I always be alone?
She could feel the emptiness in her arms and her belly as if it were some kind of hateful creature, eating her alive.
Her friends were all mothers by now, with husbands who loved them and eased their burdens. Two of her old roommates were expecting their second children already.
But Olivia’s life was on hold as she tortured her body and emptied her bank account again and again, trying desperately to do what seemed to come so easily for everyone else.
She bit the inside of her cheek, willing herself not to howl like an animal in a trap. The walls were thin, and her neighbors might hear.
It seemed impossible that the pain could be worse and worse each time. Surely, anyone else would have come to terms with this failure after so many attempts, and learned to accept it with grace.
But Olivia never did.
And the cruelest part was what always came next.
As soon as the waves of agony began to recede, insidious hope instantly slipped its way into her heart through the cracks.
How soon can I try again? How much do I have left in my account? Four is an unlucky number. The fifth try will work for sure…
The hopeful voice in the back of her head continued its calculations, no matter how she tried to drown it out.
After a time, she sat up again, brushed a tangle of her pink hair out of her eyes, and wiped the tears from her cheeks.
Her holo-screen still displayed the result.
She backed out of it quickly and was preparing to exit the portal when she noticed a security cluster that was more protected than anything else on the site.
“What in the world?” she murmured, instinctively digging into it.
Protections like this didn’t come cheap. The thing was like a tangled ball of yarn. Any unskilled attempt to hack in would only tangle it further.
But Olivia was better than that.
A few minutes of work got her past the expensive but uninspired defenses, and she stared at the screen, unable to believe what she was seeing.
Last Resort Program:NDA Only, Need-based Only
She entered,wondering what she would find that was so much more secret than private patient data.
Off-site AI AssistedSurrogacy for Restored Fertility and Clinic Credits