Arrivals in the Maternity Ward

Chapter 12
Ending 2: Golden Horizon

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Chapter Description: Maria decides for her husband Stan to be restored to his rightful life. Robot Nurse Luna is prepared for this, but will even her drastic measures be enough to save Dylan or will the newborn’s life end before it can truly begin? You favorite Ending? Vote here! First of four endings of the main story! Based on a chat with an AI about the proper treatment of age regressed people ... I wasn't disap-pointed. Thanks to Areat for going through it and helping me with the polish.

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Maria had struggled for what felt like an eternity. In her hands the birth certificates of Emily and Dylan. So much the same, but one was a fake … wasn’t it? Dylan’s couldn’t be real in a world where Stan still existed. Stan or Dylan. Her strong husband’s embrace or the feeling of her beautiful son at her breast. A future with the man she had married or seeing a son shape his own future.

 

This is tearing at me as much as Emily’s birth, Maria realized, as she put back the birth certificates. Does this mean I give birth to another child?!

 

It was a mad idea, yet at the same time it felt true.

 

Maria’s eyes fell on her wedding ring. She had forgotten she wore it! Her other hand moved to touch it and once she did, it was as if a weight had been lifted from her heart. All was so clear. Her promise to her husband, their promise to each other and the life they had built on it was all that mattered.

 

In this moment, Robot Nurse Luna brought Emily and Dylan back in their transparent cribs.

 

“They have been both very good,” the robot nurse assured her. “And they missed their mother.”

 

Welcoming the distraction and hardly noticing the android leaving, Maria greeted her daughter with a gentle touch to her cheek. She drank the innocent joy in Emily’s eyes. To her surprise, as she moved to Dylan, Maria found him reaching out with his small arms and his eyes showed a longing not rooted in innocent newborn instincts but conscious choice. As she picked him up, she believed to feel a strength in him not to be found in any newborn. It was this strength which had him made the decision to let himself being regressed and his very DNA changed so their daughter wouldn’t suffer. It was this strength which had made him go through all this without a calm she knew she wouldn’t have had. Now, seeing her wedding ring with the hand holding him, Maria took this strength to make the right decision. For Stan. Her husband.

 

“Dr. Meyer was here,” she revealed, seeing Luna stop in the door, though the android didn’t turn around. “You will be turned back into an adult tomorrow.”

 

The robot nurse showed no reaction, but resumed her way as if she had never stopped at all. Stan on the other hand relaxed in her arms, his blue eyes widening with relief. Maria shared this relief, deciding to forget the robot nurse’s offer and instead imagining the morning tomorrow when she and her husband would embrace again.

 

***

 

Robot Nurse Luna watched Dylan and Emily being pushed into the care-room by two of her fellow robot nurses. Both were sleeping peacefully in their transparent movable cribs, visiting dreamland after their morning nursing. This was good.

 

Dylan dreamed, as the android figured out by the eye movements behind the lids. Maybe of his life as Stan? Relieved of what he assumed were his last hours in the maternity ward and as a newborn? Did he dream of his appointment to be turned into an adult awaited him later this morning? If so, it would be just a dream. A nightmare really, though he was too confused to understand this. Having heard Maria’s decision, her words going over the newborn’s head in the full implications, the robot nurse had realized that she couldn’t let it stand. If his mother wasn’t willing to save him, she would.

 

One last time Luna conferred via wifi with the other androids of the maternity ward. What they were about to do was against everything their programming told them to do … except the primary imperative: Keeping every newborn safe.

 

The others agreed and Dylan was moved to the examination table. The safety tag was removed from his left ankle and fixed on Emily’s right, to not activate the alarm. The system would truthfully reveal both chips with equal vital signs still in the maternity ward. Next was the plastic identification band being cut from his right wrist. This measures of security removed, the newborn was put back into his transportable newborn crib. Leaving the room, Emily was pushed into the newborn nursery to join the other newborns, while Dylan was pushed into the other direction.

 

Would it had been better if he had been awake to see his sister?, Luna wondered, as she pushed the crib out of the room. He will never see her again.

 

But what ifs didn’t keep Dylan safe. Time was running against them. As she left the maternity ward for what she knew was the last time, Luna was all too aware of the grave consequences their actions would bring upon all of her sisters. Yet, a newborn’s life was at stake.

 

After journeying down with an elevator and waiting for the security cameras to inform her that the way was free, the robot nurse entered another station and quickly slipped into an empty patient room. Her sisters had already placed the items she needed on one of the free beds. Adult clothes, newborn clothes, an infant carrier and a diaper bag. Luna put Dylan out of his crib onto the bed and at first changed his clothes from an hospital onesie to the prepared thick socks and one-piece-parka. As a testament to her skill, the newborn didn’t wake up, even when being placed and strapped him into the infant carrier waiting for him.

 

With Dylan ready, Luna removed her nurse outfit and donned the one already laid out for her there. A blue dress, making her much more alike in appearance to more regular models. Shouldering the well-prepared diaper bag, her sub-routines informed her the way out was free. The android picked up the infant carrier with the sleeping newborn, holding it safe in her hand. Ready for their big journey, she left the hospital through a side entrance.

 

***

 

Stan slowly stirred from his slumber. Before opening his eyes, he heard the sound of cars not far away and felt the slight rumbling of a vehicle moving. He was in their car. Maria was driving him somewhere. He had fallen asleep and had had the wildest dream. That he had been a newborn along with their daughter and …

 

Opening his eyes, Stan found himself looking up at bow over him, needing a moment to realize it was a giant handle. Looking down at himself he found himself sunken in what seemed like a thick parka and as he moved his feet he found thick socks on them. A first look around made him realize he was securely strapped into an infant carrier. The wall in front of him had to be a seat. It hadn’t been a dream … but why should Maria transport him to …

 

“Look who is awake,” an all to well-known voice noticed.

 

Stan looked up to find blue shining eyes look down at him.

 

“Had a good nap?” Luna asked. “Sweet dreams?”

 

The regressed man thought he was still dreaming. First because the robot nurse no longer wore her pink nurse dress, second, because he realized by looking past her, that they were in a bus.

 

What is going on?, he wondered in rising panic, looking around. What is she doing? Where are we?

 

“Oh,” a voice said. “What a sweet baby!”

 

Looking past the android, Stan noticed a middle aged woman having stopped to look at him.

 

“This is Michael,” Luna noticed. “He is having a little appointment with the doctor.”

 

Michael?, Stan starred back at the robot nurse. What became of Dylan?!

 

Then it hit him with all its terrible meaning: He was being kidnapped!

 

“Such big blue eyes,” the woman commented.

 

“Full of wonder and innocence,” the android agreed with what seemed to be a hint of pride. “His first big journey.”

 

Stan fought down the panic and the primal urge to cry. He needed help. He needed to make the woman understand he was no real newborn, or at least doubt what she was seeing. Opening his toothless mouth he tried to speak.

 

“Aada,” he babbled. “Aaamm.”

 

“Oh,” the woman cooed. “Do you want to say hello?”

 

“He is hungry,” Luna noticed, bending down for the diaper bag between her feet.

 

Stan ignored the robot and spent all his concentrations on making his vocal cords form sounds they weren’t yet ready to make.

 

“Sta … aaa …” He swallowed, feeling a bit of drool running down his chin. Stan Lockney. He just needed to say his full name. “Staa … nnn. Wack … na … nay …” He was nearly there. He could see the woman beginning to frown. “Ma … Staa …”

 

Before Stan could finish the words he just knew would lead to his rescue, something big and flexible entered his mouth. Looking up he saw Luna had given him the nipple of a baby bottle. He wanted to scream and spit it out, but instead a reflex made him suck to on it. Sweet milk filled his mouth, only strengthening the reflex. The regressed adult tried to push it away, but his limbs felt like pinned to their places by the parka, barely lifting as much as he tried. All he managed to achieve was a sudden warm feeling in his diaper.

 

“My station,” the woman explained as the bus came to a halt, standing up. “Good luck you two!”

 

“Have a nice day,” Luna told the woman, seeing her leave before looking back down at Stan.

 

For a moment he believed to see the knowledge of what he had tried to do in her eyes.

 

“Such a nice lady,” she noticed, not addressing it even if she did know, using a baby wipe to remove the drool from his chin. “Aren’t you happy we met someone so nice at our journey?”

 

Stan glared up at her, still sucking.

 

A bit later he stopped, feeling truly full, despite knowing he had to have drunken just a few ounces. Luna put the bottle back into her baby bag and took him out of the infant carrier to burp him. As she held him on her shoulder and gently padded his back, the regressed man got the opportunity to look out of the window. He didn’t recognize the street. How long had he been sleeping? Or was it only the different perspective? His senses could be such warped. He couldn’t … Suddenly he threw up a bit of milk on the piece of cotton in front of him on the android’s shoulder, but also his chin.

 

“Fresh air makes hungry, doesn’t it?” Luna asked him, cleaning his chin.

 

Stan wouldn’t have answered even if he could have.

 

Soon they left the bus. Stan tried to get a hint of where they were, but Luna held the baby carrier so low that he could see hardly anything but other peoples. They passed by like giants from his perspective. Most ignored him, others gave him the occasional soft smile adults reserved for babies. Stan tried to hold eye-contact with some, tried over and over to say his name, but found himself lacking the concentration.

 

For the first time since he had become a newborn, Stan began to cry.

 

Luna registered it. Part of her programming was relieved the newborn’s instincts led him to communicate his feelings in a proper manner, another part of her programming told her to stop and comfort him. Time was essential though, as they were likely already being sought-after by well-meaning but misguided authorities, so she didn’t stop. Instead, prepared for every eventuality on her voyage with a newborn, she opened a site bag of her diaper bag and removed something. Seconds later, Stan found his mouth once again filled by something made of plastic. He stared at it, expecting to find another baby bottle, but instead he realized it was a pacifier. It didn’t matter for his reflexes though, as he began to suck led by an undeniable instinct and felt at the same time more relaxed. His tears dried quickly in the wind.

 

He had to have fallen asleep then, for the next thing he became aware of, was him sitting in the infant carrier, but the latter being part of a car seat. Next to him Luna was in the driver’s seat. He tried to look out of the window, but it was already becoming dark. The car’s radio or cd player played a happy tune.

 

The wheels on the bus go round and round

Round and round, round and round

The wheels on the bus go round and round

All through …

 

***

 

It was deep in the night, when Luna arrived at her destination. Dylan asleep in his infant carrier, she passed the sign reading Golden Horizon Orphanage and rang the bell. Another android opened the door and after a brief wireless exchange to not disturb the newborn, let her in.

 

A bit later Luna sat in the director’s office. In front of her Director Aram, the android running to the orphanage listened to her story. When done, his silver eyes blinked.

 

“You wish for us to take him in,” he surmised.

 

“To protect a life just beginning,” Luna agreed. “I and my sisters learned your orphanage is temporary only staffed with robots, so we put our hopes in you.”

 

The other android leaned back, internally using the security camera in the room where Dylan, still sleeping in his infant carrier, was being watched by Carebot Alicia.

 

“Even if we agree,” he began. “They will search for the newborn here.”

 

“This is why I brought you this.” Luna took an vial out of the diaper bag. “This will rewrite his DNA. No test will connect him to Stan Lockney anymore, the man he thinks he is, neither to Maria Lockney or even Emily. All ties to a life not his own will be cut.”

 

Aram took the vial and exchanged with the other carebot in the orphanage.

 

“The decision is unanimously,” he told her. “We will protect this child from the burdens of a life not its own and anyone wanting him harm by robbing him his true one.”

 

Luna’s blue eyes flashed for a moment.

 

“You have my deepest thanks,” she declared. “Before I leave, one last request: Please let me see Dylan one last time.”

 

The other android nodded.

 

***

 

A few minutes later, Luna stood in the orphanage’s restroom for newborns and infants. With its many cribs it reminded her of the newborn nursery at the hospital, but of course this was a much more permanent place for the children she saw peacefully sleeping behind the bars meaning to keep them safe. Next to her Dylan was being undressed from his parka. The skillful movements of the carebot in doing so, not even waking him up, helped to reassure her that she had made the right decision. Dylan was in good hands.

 

When you wake up you won’t understand my decision, but then again, which newborn would, Luna silently addressed Dylan. Don’t cry for the life you have lost. It never belonged to you. Be happy for the new one you have gained. Nothing is more worth than a newborn’s life and innocence.

With this, picking up the diaper bag she had arrived with, the robot nurse left. As the door of the orphanage closed behind her, she knew that one threat for Dylan’s safety still had be taken care of.

 

***

 

In the infant sleeping room, Aram, the carebot acting as director of the orphanage, Dr. Omega, the carebot acting as pediatrician for the orphanage and Dr. Harmony, the carebot acting as child psychologist stood around the still sleeping Dylan. The androids’ eyes switched between looking at the newborn, naked to better check on him in this critical phase and the serum, already in a syringe.

 

“It is our duty,” Director Aram noticed gravely, using their network for communication not to disturb the boy.

 

He put the needle into Dylan’s left leg and pressed. As if by a wonder, though likely achieved by the stressful and tiring day, the newborn stirred, but didn’t wake up. It needed a moment for the changes to start, but for the well calibrated sensors of the carebots they were soon obvious. The fine hair on the newborn’s head became darker until it was black, lines softened subtle under baby fat, but most obvious … the testicles and penis receded inside the body, as did the empty sack next. In under a minute there was a little slit under a slightly enlarged hip.

 

“A girl!” Dr. Omega noticed via wifi.

 

“The robot nurse spoke of changes,” Director Aram reminded them, but with doubt in his voice. “Will the newborn adopt to it?”

 

“With hormones and brain structure changing and the memories of the other life fading, yes,” Dr. Omega decided. “There is nothing speaking against her becoming a happy little girl.”

 

“Especially with loving parents,” Dr. Harmony noticed, focusing on the psychological aspect. “Bounding will accelerated the process of forming her new identity. She needs to be adopted as soon as she shows the first signs of forgetting her past.”

 

Director Aram looked at her. The newborn was healthy and safe, boy or girl was secondary.

 

“She has no past,” he declared. “Only memories not her own.”

 

The android began putting a fresh diaper on her, throwing away the one she got from the hospital, even if still unused, just as he disposed the onesie with the white lambs. Both would be disposed without any trace just to be sure, as they now were a threat to her. Another carebot brought a pink onesie he dressed her in with care. Thus she was free of the last bits connecting her to her stay in the maternity ward just hours ago. Still, mercifully the girl slept, even as she was placed into her crib.

 

“She needs a name,” Dr. Omega noticed.

 

For a moment the three androids looked at the sleeping newborn.

 

“Kimberly, “ Director Aram decided. “Let us prepare her file.”

 

With this the they left.

 

The room hadn’t changed much in the last hour. A nightlight let stars and moons run over the ceiling. Infants dreamed innocent dreams. That one more crib was now occupied was hardly noticeable in the dark. In this crib, while a mobile with lambs and angels danced above her, Kimberly dreamed of a life no longer her own, of holding Maria and Emily. A feeling of loss made the orphan stir in her sleep, but it passed and she sank back into healthy slumber.

 

To be continued …

 

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