Original Fiction and Poetry

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Original Fiction & Poetry
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Chesleyan Chestnuts

You can read more original fiction from Emily Chesley in the Meanderings of the Emily Chesley Reading Circle<

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"You know I trust you . . . " Lars said to her one evening, in a tone of abject embarrassment, "but the company's adamant I'm to use this latest detector on my sexual partners, to be sure their de-ovulators are working." As he spoke he apologetically produced in his palm a cylindrical electronic device, evidently meant to be pleasantly phallic in appearance, but in fact looking risibly childlike in his huge, abashed hand. "You mean," she responded with a knowing arch of her eyebrows, "to be sure their de-ovulators aren't fakes."

His immense shoulders slumped in shame at having been caught out in his well-meant little lie. "Well, yes," he sighed unhappily, the small device dangling limply from his hand in his chagrin. And then, suddenly animated, "Damn them! I wish they'd just let me use a fertility inhibitor! But you know . . ."

". . .Yes, yes," she interrupted wearily, "one must never tamper with the goose that lays the golden eggs. Just on the one-in-a-billion chance of doing something irreversible. Mind you," she added, her tone still primly scathing, but the corners of her lips bending into a narrow, ironic smile, "I suppose you could always use a condom."

Lars burst at once into hearty laughter, his mind greatly relieved by her suddenly turning it all into a joke. He had heard about those absurd ancient devices, and the thought of himself sporting a tremendous party balloon at his groin was too funny for words.

Bellinda, meanwhile, allowed herself a broader smile at hearing his grateful guffaw. "Come on, then," she conceded -- but in a tone that did not relinquish her established authority -- "I don't suppose I've anything to fear from that little thing."

And indeed she hadn't. For contrary to her secret employer's belief, her de-ovulators were not merely faking the tiny electronic signatures that Lars's device would construe as signs of insusceptibility to conception.

Maintaining this double deception had been decidedly difficult. The firm, MorphicsCom, that had hired her to conceive by Lars, had of course grown suspicious of her failure to become pregnant, since Lars's fertility was beyond doubt, and hers their covert reprogramming had actually enhanced beyond its natural level. Only by turning against them the top-end technology of deception on which their own scheme depended had she kept them in the dark so far -- and that had only been possible, thanks to her contact with Dr. Vial.