Chapter 3 ~ Brave Warrior
She went through the door into a white room with a chair in the middle and bright lights in the ceiling. Along one wall there was a countertop with cabinets underneath.
“Sit down, please. You can call me Dr. Larson.”
Anna didn’t see anywhere else to sit but the prominent chair, so she took a seat there. Dr. Larson moved around her, doing things Anna was familiar with from the couple of times she’d visited the Nampa Clinic. Doctor things, like taking her pulse, blood pressure, listening to her heart and lungs, and temperature. Anna had rarely seen a doctor, much less one this efficient, so everything including the stethoscope held against her chest and back was a novelty. With the clinic doctor, she might have asked to listen to her heart, but somehow that didn’t seem appropriate in this setting.
Or with this woman, who has a bit of a tough streak in her.
“This is your portal test, the basic qualification you need to move further into the selection process. Now, Anna, you know that the program you’re applying for requires that you bear four children inside the dome,” Dr. Larson said. “Four babies that are not yours to keep. Do you have any questions about that?”
Anna nodded. Ok, out with it.
She looked down at her lap. “I’ve never . . . been with a man. Does that mean I have to be with four men—strangers—in the program?”
“Not at all. You’ll have a small tube full of sperm inserted at the right time of your monthly cycle by a female doctor like me. You never see the man, the donor.”
“That’s what my mother told me, but some of the other girls, well, they talked about rape.”
“What we use is called artificial insemination. It’s high-tech. Rape is a terrible crime.”
Anna sighed. “Okay. That’s a relief.”
Dr. Larson patted her arm. “Most of the Burban girls who come through here have heard those awful rumors. You can put them out of mind. Now, we do have to make sure you can have babies. That your body is set up correctly. Otherwise, the program can’t accept you.”
Dr. Larson asked Anna to change into a gown and get back in the chair. There was a partition at the end of the room, and the doctor indicated Anna should go there. Behind the wall, which was short enough for Anna to see over, were a bench and a stack of gowns with a flowery scent. Anna slipped out of her Candidate’s uniform, thought for a second, and then took off her underwear too. Her mother had warned her that the doctor would want to check her insides to see if she could get pregnant and give birth. Her cheeks warmed with a flush of embarrassment as she looked over at the doctor, who was busy with a machine on a rolling cart.
Thank the Spirits I have a female doctor!
Anna rounded the corner of the partition and stood barefoot and naked under the thin gown. She could swear that there was an upward draft from the floor she hadn’t noticed before. The feelings she was getting from Dr. Larson had no malice in them, so that reassured Anna a bit.
Dr. Larson smiled. “This will be over in a minute. Get in the chair and lean back.”
As she did so, Anna’s legs elevated. The doctor placed her feet in padded cradles and asked Anna to scoot down to the edge of the chair. She did so, feeling very vulnerable. Bright lights were focused on an area normally private.
“You’re going to feel a touch. Try to relax.”
The doctor’s gloved hand, colder than Anna’s inner warmth, touched her softly. Anna’s pelvic muscles tightened in spite of the admonition to relax.
“Now I’m going to insert this,” Dr. Larson said. “See, a little tube with a light.” She shined the light in Anna’s eyes, making her smile.
Okay, Brave Warrior, you can handle this. Anna called herself Brave Warrior when she needed to summon courage. Her body relaxed.
“Good, good. I see you’re right about being a virgin. Just a little longer. Good, good, all done. You can sit up now.”
Anna did so, to find the doctor looking intently at a monitor. The doctor swiveled the monitor around so Anna could see it.
“See, here are your uterus and ovaries,” she pointed to vague green outlines on the screen. “Your pelvis is wide enough. You’re perfect, mechanically. A great baby-making machine.”
“Thanks, I guess,” Anna said. I’d prefer something like warrior or explorer or even huntress, but I suppose baby-making machine will have to do. For now. Wait a minute! Did she just say I had big hips?
“Change back into your uniform. I’m passing you through for more testing.”
Anna wondered just what Logan had to do to pass his portal test.
The man in the next testing room introduced himself as Dr. Huett. While his face was neutral, he managed to convey disdain with his voice and body language. His feelings were guarded, which put Anna on alert.
Be careful with this guy.
He verified Anna’s name, made some entries on his computer, and then put Anna in front of a screen for psychological testing. Questions flowed by in elementary-level language that Domers thought Burbans could understand; to Anna, who was a fluent reader of both fiction and reference books, the simplistic level almost made her laugh. She took it all seriously, though. Cameras were recording her reactions, and Dr. Huett sat, unblinking, watching her from behind his desk.
Anna answered all the questions honestly, even admitting that she’d once taken her mother’s favorite necklace and worn it under her clothing for a week before sneaking it back into the drawer, and that she’d punched her brother and given him a black eye because he’d broken her favorite dart. Dr. Huett didn’t react to any of these childhood revelations, but he took notice when she revealed that a casual boyfriend had tried to talk her into having sex with him. She’d said no once, twice; then the third time with a dart held an inch from his genitals.
“Do you think there’s something wrong with sex?” Dr. Huett said.
“No. I think there should be love involved.”
“You’re a romantic, then? Old-fashioned, want to be courted like a hard-to-win lady?”
“I didn’t say that. I just don’t want to share my body with anybody who asks. Why does it matter, Dr. Huett? I didn’t think the program had much to do with romance, or having sex either. Just tubes of sperm, or so I’ve been told.”
She was trying to get under his skin, release some of those emotions for her to examine, but wasn’t successful.
“You’re right, of course,” he said. “But we’re also concerned about the adaptations the girls make when they’re finished with the program and become Citizens 3rd Class, permanent residents of Seever Dome. You have to be prepared for the cultural clash between what you’re used to in the . . . outlying areas versus appropriate behavior in the Dome.”
Culture clash? Meaning I’m backward or something? “I see. What is appropriate behavior in the Dome?”
“Sometimes marriages are for social or political reasons, not romantic ones. Plus, it can be difficult to mingle with others who are not of your social class. Love is not always freely sought across class and station. Does this bother you?”
Anna hesitated. Did it really matter? So many girls in the Burbs ended up marrying the boy next door, or almost next door. Social climbing wasn’t a feature of her life.
“No.”
“What about giving up babies you’ve carried for nine months? Your hormones are going to give you a rough time about that. You have to be dedicated to the Program. Is it worth it to give up your babies with the goal of Dome citizenship?”
“Well, I guess the babies will have good homes.”
“Oh, yes. Our adoptive parents are carefully screened. You understand we have to keep a watch on our population. There’s only so much space to live under a Dome. When Domer parents have their first baby, they sometimes try to adopt the opposite sex so they can have one of each. You can be assured that your children will be wanted and loved.”
“That makes sense.” Anna had a vision of the Dome filling with babie
s until it burst, releasing the excess population like seeds on the wind. Too many babies would mean too many mouths sharing the resources of the Dome, making less for everyone. She patted the silky sleeve of her uniform.
Dr. Huett pressed her on the question. “Is it worth everything you’d be giving up for Dome citizenship?”
Anna decided on a sincere answer. “I don’t know much about being a Dome citizen because that information is mostly kept from us Burbans. I do know some big, important things, though. I’d like to live in a place where most people don’t die early of cancer or some other Aftermath disease. I’d like to raise my family, when it’s time to fall in love and keep my children, in a place that’s safe to live, where people have a future to look forward to. Look around, Dr. Huett. Do you see any other place like that around here except Seever Dome?”
Or any other place I can find a way to really learn and see new things, to leave my mark on the world somehow? I love my parents but there just aren’t opportunities to do anything in Nampa. If I stay there, eventually I’ll have that streak of sadness my mother has.
“So your main concern is for the safety and happiness of your future family?”
Honestly there is that too.
“Yes.”
Dr. Huett nodded. “Please finish your test.”
When she wrapped up the last of the questions, she was told to move on to the next testing station. She was happy to leave Dr. Huett behind. There had been something more disturbing about his questions than about Dr. Larson’s probe.
I guess I’m fit to live among the Domers. I hope they’re fit to live with me.
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