The Year 2706

"Ariana Seven, I've called you here today to tell you that your progress has been noted favorably." The Matron sat straight and stiff in her chair, her iron gray hair pulled back in a severe bun, and her large knuckled hands folded primly on the plasti-wood desk in front of her. The wall behind her was a large glass window that looked out onto the production floor, where hundreds of coders labored under her watchful eye.

Ari took a deep breath and tried to let it out silently as relief flooded through her. She was careful to sit up straight in her chair and keep her eyes on her lap while the Matron spoke. The Matron didn't like too much eye contact--it made her think you were challenging her authority. And that was something Ari would never dream of doing.

"Yes, Matron B," she said, nodding meekly. A strand of her long silver-blond hair slipped in front of her eyes and she was quick to smooth it back in place behind her right ear. It wouldn't do to look unkempt during the interview. She was glad that her plain clear plastic dress, exactly like the one every other girl in the Ministry wore, was a freshly recycled one and that the modesty bands that covered her breasts and sex were crisp and white against her tanned skin. What a mercy that today just happened to be the day she collected her weekly clothing allotment at the commissary! Even her stiff white paper-board boots were clean and spotless and her plain pale blue sash--the mark of the Coding Department--was neatly pressed.

Ari had been scared to death when her summons to the Matron's office had scrolled across the magno-view glasses she wore while coding genetic material at the Ministry of Reproduction. Her yearly review had been completed only a month before. What in the name of the Goddess could the Matron want to see her about?

"A position has opened in the Fertility Banks," the Matron said, answering her question. "It is the highest level of security, as I'm sure you know. So it will carry a great deal of responsibility."

"Yes, Matron B." Ari bit her lip, her cheeks warming with repressed excitement. Finally she would get to move up--and leave behind the dreary, monotonous work of genetic coding! Best of all, her new job was located in the most mysterious and hush-hush department of the Ministry of Reproduction.

Everyone knew the girls that worked in the Fertility Banks were the most desired and sought-after in the entire Ministry. They walked tall, wearing their scarlet Fertility sashes and modesty bands, looking beautiful and aloof. Ari could already imagine herself in such a sash--it would go brilliantly with her silver hair and black eyes. Every girl in the Ministry would want her. And it was nice to be wanted, even if she didn't particularly want any of them back. Maybe the new job and greater status in the Ministry was exactly what she needed--that elusive something for which she'd been searching. Maybe it would fill the void inside her nothing else seemed to fill.

"I told the supervisor of Fertility you are the girl for the job," the Matron continued, interrupting her thoughts. "You'll report to her immediately. Do you understand?"

"Oh, yes." Ari finally dared look up, and then looked hastily back at her lap. "I mean, I understand completely, Matron B. Thank you for this chance at advancement. I won't fail to make you proud."

"That's my girl." The Matron smiled, a sign that the interview was at an end. "Go to the fourteenth floor at once. Your new supervisor's name is Matron N."