“We need someone to get pregnant.” Ahvra blasted the general’s meeting that she’d organized with a staggering opening line. And yet, despite its absurdity and spontaneity, a hand was immediately raised. So the small woman clarified, “But it can’t be a Fiend.” This made the volunteering hand sheepishly retreat back out of the air.
With the confusion settled, The Witch continued. “Since we have obtained the Nathyum, and as of yesterday, managed to recreate it through synthesis, the launch of project Fiendless is inevitable. Means we need to begin live experimentation as soon as possible to ensure no surprises or irreversible issues. Once we unleash it onto the world, there is no turning back.”
“To that end, in my opinion as head researcher, reproduction is the most vital testing we must do. Because if it fails, then the plan is doomed in the long run. Fiendless may save today, but tomorrow things could go back to being bad. So we need someone to be born under the conditions of the project.”
“For now, it must be fully human, since that is the majority of the world. While I’d like to study Fiend reproduction at some point, that is a task for a later day. Additionally, someone modified like Mallea would not be a good candidate since her body has been altered. Need stock humans, as basic as they can get.”
“Since I am so nice, I would like to select humans who are struggling to have children naturally. With our advanced tech, we can ensure pregnancy. This would also likely weed out those who would want children haphazardly.”
“And, in the case that there is a biological problem where the mother can not sustain the incubation, we can use Nath- Assistant’s artificial wombs—first invention he made after becoming a Fiend. This will allow us to perform artificial surrogacy. While not as crucial as actual pregnant testing, it is still valuable data.”
“For the experiments, I will use my Curse to accelerate the time-table. Partly due to when we hope to launch, but mostly because I am too impatient to wait the six and three-quarter months it takes for birth to happen naturally.”
“While I can make a full pregnancy happen in seconds, the results are… less than optimal. Many complications and defects arise. An amount of regular gestation must occur. Through my testing and simulations, a period of one-month is ideal, and if anything, overly cautious. I’ll be accelerating the mothers and children to milestones and then giving them time to bake.”
“This would also allow me to do three rounds of testing before the end of the year, with still some good wiggle room. I’d be comfortable with just two, but three will help account for any oddities and unexpected variables. Redundancy is important.”
“What will be required of the families taking part is undue secrecy, which we cannot trust them with. For that reason, they will be required to stay at a facility I’ve had made for both the length of the experiment and until Project Fiendless launches in full. And they’ll also have a full outgoing communication embargo to the outside world. It’s a heavy price for normal humans, but should be worth having the family they want.”
After The Witch went into a few more details, the experiments were met with unanimous approval. Then, Nathym took the helm, highlighting a few more issues and hiccups that had to be dealt with before Project Fiendless could launch. But one person barely listened to it, their head still lingering on the implications and ideas of the first.
◆◆◆
When the general’s meeting concluded, and the others embarked on the rest of their days since it was still early morning, Jaid returned to her room. For whatever reason, she didn’t feel quite well and planned to go back to bed. The knight recalled all of her clones since their existence and draining of her energy only exacerbated her symptoms.
She crashed onto her mattress where she proceeded to toss and turn for some time. Even though she felt exhausted, her mind was filled with too many racing thoughts. Ever since Kada had raised her hand, volunteering to be pregnant, Jaid had been unable to focus on anything else.
It was likely that The Mermaid hadn’t even really thought about it, acting on the impulse because it sounded interesting or fulfilling, accepting the long-term commitment as something she wanted without overly stressing over the idea. The idea of Kada getting pregnant wasn’t what bothered her, out of jealousy or any other emotion, but just the fact that she had been so willing and ready to take it on.
There was no way The Paladin could make such a life-altering decision so brazenly. But maybe it was because she had never really thought about her own future at all. The other Fiends on occasion would talk about plans down the road, what they’d do when Project Fiendless was done—big dreams for the future. Even Drim, who was laser focused on its completion, sometimes mused on what was to come.
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But not Jaid. It took a bit of turmoil as she writhed in her bed, but she eventually came to the realization that she had never actually lived for herself. Since her birth, she’d been nothing but a servant for Guzrinn Kingdom, and that was how she devoted herself until the point she fled.
Even after striking it out on her own, and living on the outskirts of society, she was entirely focused on survival rather than finding any sort of meaning or joy in life. Then, after she was conscripted into the Central Peace, it was back to servitude again, fully devoting herself to carrying out their will and missions.
And now, even though it was of her own volition and free will, all she did day to day was assist the others at the Fiends For Hire with completing their goals and furthering their own dreams. Thanks to her clones, she was able to work hard and still allow herself fleeting moments of happiness. But it was all superficial joys, none of it really deep or meaningful. Nothing that fed her soul or prepared her for a time that she was no longer needed.
That was ultimately the thought that terrified her the most. When Project Fiendless was complete, what point would she serve? Would there even be a reason for her to stick around, or rather, to be kept around? Should she still try to devote herself to the other Fiends, stick with a life of servitude, or would she then have to find a new purpose in life? Her own purpose.
Jaid struggled with all those thoughts as she tossed and turned, but eventually, the thoughts all melded into nonsense, and she finally drifted off to sleep. Barely a few minutes after she’d conked out, though, a new face entered the room. It was her own, or rather a clone, who sat on the bed next to her, making sure that the original was asleep.
The clone was the version of herself that came out spontaneously on whimsical impulses. She had roughly the size and build of a very young child, with a head much too large for her body. After confirming she was in the clear, the small clone headed for the door and dashed over to the elevator. She had to jump up to hit the button, and once inside, she rode it all the way down to the basement.
Tiny Jaid then scurried over to the private movie theater which was fortunately vacant—not that many of the members chose to watch feature films in the middle of the morning on a work day. She then trotted up to the screen at the front and turned around to face what should have been an empty audience.
But the seats were all occupied with more of herself, dozens of the same young clone made it a sold-out showing. Yet it wasn’t time for a movie, or at least not yet, since there were still issues that the clones needed to work out. And the Council of Childishness had to come to order.
“Big Jaid doesn’t feel good!” the small leader at the front began the meeting. “And we need to figure out why!”
“Stress!” one in the crowd called out, met by many agreeing opinions. “Yeah, stress!” “Too much stress.” “Stress make us feel bad.”
“Yes, stress!” the head-clone confirmed. “But why stressed?”
“Worried!” a clone broke it down simply. “Yeah, too many thoughts.” “Thoughts about future.” “Worried about future.” “Future scary!” That last one seemed to resonate with the others, and they all repeated it to the point that it almost became a chant. ““““““““““Future scary!””””””””””
“Okay, okay, future scary!” the leader tried to settle them back down, not the easiest task when they were all simple-minded like herself. “What do we do to make future less scary?”
“Umm, save lots of money?” One spouted the first thing that came to mind. With their weakened mental state, they only had a rudimentary understanding of how life and the world worked, truly like a child. “Beat foes now so don’t have to worry about later?” another suggested.
“Build a house that’s all our own!” “Make more friends so we’re never alone!” “Adopt pets to give us commitment!” “Become food tester and eat food all over the world!” “Make new knights, let them worry about future!” Each clone offered a new suggestion of what they could do to prepare, or ideas of what their life could become.
But then one of them uttered a dangerous thought. “Why we even worry about future? Future not important. Jaid not even having fun now. Too much stress. Too much worries. Need more fun. If she not happy now, won’t be happy later. Forget future, fun today!”
“Yeah, future bad,” it started a wave of agreement. “Future, stinky.” “Don’t need worries, just need fun.” “No more stress, want to be happy!” “Future bad, want fun now.”
The chanting started up again, “Future bad, want fun now!” ““““““““““Future bad, want fun now!”””””””””” ““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““FUTURE BAD! WANT FUN NOW!””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
Even the leader at the front caved, swept up by the crowd's enthusiasm. And just like that, any designs of progress being made at the Council of Childishness had crumbled. They were going to completely avoid their problems and simply have fun.
“Okay, okay, here’s the plan!” the clone up front broke things down. “Big Jaid won’t like it. When she wakes up, the fun will end. So until then, we have as much fun as possible! Then, she less stressed, realize future no big deal. Have more fun now! Smart idea, good job all!”
“But what do we do first?” they were off to a problem right out the gate, and the crowd of clones began to mumble and ponder, to the point that their fun parade had already come to a standstill.
But then one shouted with vigor, hyping up all the rest so much that they all cheered wildly. “Whatever we want!”