Prologue

Natalie groaned when the alarm on her phone went off. It shouldn’t be time to get up. The weekend shouldn’t be over. It was too short, especially with her having wasted the bulk of her Saturday at the registration center, she thought as she dragged herself out of bed and towards the bathroom.

What a birthday present that had been. Hours of sitting around with the other girls who had just turned 14, the prize being a 20-minute physical and having her nude pictures sent off to some government facility for strangers to casually examine. It was a waste of time; she wouldn’t be chosen anyway. Everyone knew only the pretty girls got called in, and she was not a pretty girl. She sighed at the developing figure in the mirror, her pillow hair and Monday-morning discontent adding charm to what she saw as her ugly face, its ears oddly placed and nose not quite right. But what if she were selected? How would she feel about that? She wasn’t sure.

Two years earlier, a strange disease had swept over the population, causing the vast majority of men and boys to become infertile. By the time officials noticed the declining birth rate, the damage had been done. Treating the disease would not restore fertility. After heated debate, the government instituted a massive breeding program, in order to have the few virile males impregnate as many females as possible. All males 14-25 had to be tested for viable sperm, and the lucky few would do the breeding. All females of the same ages had to register for possible selection as mates.

Government leaders had stressed that this program was a temporary measure, to be used only until birth rates recovered naturally. While they acknowledged selection was a hardship to some women, it was a necessary sacrifice. At least the lottery system, in which birthday drawings determined the female candidate pool, gave everyone a fair chance to avoid service.

In this case, temporary meant a long time. It would be many years before large numbers of fertile males came of age. And even with the lottery system, the devil was in the details. In order to maximize virility, the breeding males would select their own mates from the candidate pool. For the good-looking women and girls, beauty was not necessarily a blessing. For the plainer ones, motherhood might seem out of reach.

Among the girls, there were a variety of feelings on the matter. Some were eager to have an excuse to be sexually active, some were anxious about an unfamiliar experience, and some dreaded the prospect of being forced to have sex with some stranger they might not find attractive. And that was only the beginning. To carry a child for nine months and to give birth are not easy tasks, not to mention either raising the child or giving it up for adoption. Only some girls wanted to be mothers, and fewer still would embrace the role when it became reality.

Natalie recalled the silence in the waiting room at the registration center. There was no discussion of the fate that might await the girls. The girls had already hashed and rehashed the subject with friends, boyfriends, sisters, and mothers. Instead they sat quietly, each wallowing in her own thoughts.

After relieving herself, Natalie placed her finger into the reader until she heard it beep. The reader issued at registration had three functions. First, it checked her fingerprint to confirm identity. Second, it tested the hormone levels in her blood. Third, it reported the readings to government computers. A young woman would only be only called in for breeding during her most fertile time. In truth, the reader had a fourth, unintended function. It was a daily reminder that the path of insemination, pregnancy, and motherhood could be chosen for her.

Natalie showered methodically. This morning she was too distracted to sneak in a bit of self-pleasure, as she often did. When she finished scrubbing, she paused for a moment to enjoy the hot water running down her back as she took a deep breath. At school, today as on every day, the girls would notice who was absent and wonder if they were sick or if they were called in for service.