CONFUSED

‘Darn, not again’, Rose said after checking the time. This was the third time the alarm had failed to wake her up. Rose rush hurriedly into the bathroom, going as fast as she could to freshen up. “Bang Bang”, she heard the knock on the door. She wondered who could be so rudely interrupting her preparations this early in the day. She reluctantly went to the door, and before she could open, the knock came again. She made up her mind to give the person at the door a piece of her mind.

‘Hello, are you Miss Rose Mckinze?’ was the next thing she heard after opening the door. At her door was Dr. Max Stein, the owner of Stein Laboratories. Stein Laboratories was the biggest Laboratory in the country. The whole thought of “giving the person at the door a piece of her mind” was immediately replaced with a big smile. And then she heard the words again “Are you Miss Rose Mckinze?”, she replied “yes, that is me”, and before she could say anything, Dr. Max told her “follow me please”.

Before Rose could reply, a huge man was behind Dr. Max, and this man looked so scary. She heard herself saying “I need to get my glasses”. Dr. Max replied and said “Relax, you’ll get one at the lab”. And then she was escorted to this black SUV. She stepped into the black SUV, and the driver drove.

One hour later, Rose woke up. She discovered she was in a small square room with a small window at the top right side. She wondered if it was a scary dream, then she remembered meeting Dr. Max Stein, her biggest mentor, and the last thing she remembered was the sound of the engine of the Black SUV. Before she could say anything, she heard the door buzz open and Dr. Max walked in, saying “Miss Rose, I know you are confused as to where you are, but the truth is that the world needs your help”. Rose was taken aback. How can the world need her help? Yes she was just 23years old, graduated second in her class at the age of 21. “What do you mean”, Rose replied. Dr. Max then drew out a chair and sat.

“What do you mean?” was all Rose could say after listening to Dr. Max. Rose had just heard that the world was on the verge of ending. A group of rogue scientists had made something codenamed “Death Air”. Death Air was capable of turning women stereotype, meaning after inhaling this gas, women in the world wont be able to procreate. And the scientists had already exposed Death Air to the world 2weeks back. This means 25% of women in the World had already become stereotype, and in the coming months, that percentage would rise to 90%. There was no cure for this death air. And to ensure the survival of the human race, Rose’s invention was needed. Yes, Rose had created a machine that could make dogs without dogs mating. She had decided to make this machine for the military. The military had asked young graduates to come up with ideas that could stop the military from relying solely on offspring from pregnant dogs, the military wanted something that could be made without necessarily involving dogs mating. Rose had come up with a good idea, but the idea had a setback, the dog she produced died almost after 2 days. Rose had stopped looking for a solution to that problem. She ended up abandoning the project.

Dr. Max had found out about Rose’s project from a friend. He didn’t know how far the project had gone, but his friend had swore that if anyone could proffer a solution to the military’s problem of dogs, it was Rose. He had just finished telling Rose about Death Air and in his mind, he secretly hoped her idea of a dog producing machine could be applied to humans.

After much deliberations, Rose opened up and told Dr. Max about the problem she had, how the dogs were dying after living for just two days, and the real reason she abandoned the project.

Truth was, she had figured out the solution to the dogs dying after two days. It was that she brought the dogs out of the machine too early, and coupled with the fact that she didn’t infuse the machine with a balanced ratio of oxygen. But, she couldn’t let all that out, because she felt the dogs created from her machine would be nothing more than a computer without feelings. There would be no love showered on the dog, the dog would grow up without no family, and she remembered her grandma always telling her how family was so important. And now, here was her biggest mentor, Dr. Max telling her that her machine was needed to ensure the continuity of the human race. She thought of how this could change the world, this meant a child would grow up without love, grow up without feelings, do anything that was preprogrammed. This meant Humans would have no free will no more, they would just be like a computer with a specific purpose, either a policeman, a doctor or an engineer. No child would decide on whatever he/she wants to become in life, thereby erasing every form of love and freewill from the world.

Now, Rose was stuck between two choices. She felt the human immune system could fight Death Air in years to come, and women could indeed become fertile again, but was this a risk to take to ensure a world where freewill and feelings exist?

Rose realised that, with her machine, there would be a balance of human population. There won't be overpopulation. There won't be poverty, famine. However, once the world discovers that there is a probability that the human immune system could overcome the Death Air, would women use her machine or decide to take a risk and hope to give birth to their own children?

Rose felt she would be among those who decide to give birth naturally.

Well, eventually, she'll find out what the world decides.

This was a entry to @calluna contest. Check out the original post here