Sharif Gemie is a happily retired History professor. He has written eight books and countless academic articles. His first novel, set among UN aid-workers in Germany, ’45-46, The Displaced, was published earlier this year. His story The Wrong Time To Die was published in the 4th edition of The Quiet Reader, followed by The Saved in our 6th edition and Dead on Time in our 7th. You can follow him on www.sharifgemie.com.
‘Put the red ball in the pot, Jody. That’s right.’
‘Yah!’
‘Now put the green ball in the pot.’
‘Ya-yah!’
‘That’s right.’
*
‘Let’s do our letters, Jody. C is for…?’
‘Cable!’
‘That’s right. And H is for…?’
‘Handle!’
‘That’s right. And W is for…?’
‘Wall!’
*
‘Are you enjoying your book, Jody?’
‘Yes, mum. I wanna know what Dolwen does next. She’s climbing a mountain, like a big, big staircase.’
‘It’s time to sleep, Jody.’
‘No, I wanna read more.’
‘You must sleep now.’
‘I’ll read—three more pages.’
‘No, Jody, you must sleep now.’
‘Two more pages.’
‘No, Jody.’
‘You’ve turned my book off!’
‘You must sleep now.’
‘And the lights—they’re going off.’
‘You must sleep now.’
‘No!’
‘You must sleep now.’
‘I hate you!’
*
‘I want to play.’
‘Do you want to play Sims-Galaxy?’
‘No.’
‘The tennis game?’
‘No.’
‘Do you want to talk with Stevie?’
‘No. She’s not a real girl, is she, mum?’
‘What game do you want?’
‘I want—I want to play properly.’
‘What do you mean, Jody?’
‘I want to play—to play with other children.’
‘You can’t do that now, Jody.’
*
‘I want to see a tree.’
‘There’s one on the screen,.’
‘No, not like that. I want to see a real tree.’
‘It is a real tree. A beech tree in summer.’
‘But I want—I want to touch a tree, to feel it, to smell it.’
‘You can’t do that, Jody.’
*
‘When will I see other children?’
‘Not now.’
‘Soon?’
‘Not soon.’
‘When?’
*
‘Well done, Jody. You passed that test. Satisfactory hand/eye coordination.’
‘Yes!’
‘What do you want to do now?’
‘Music.’
‘What do you want to hear?’
‘The tinkly one.’
‘Johann Sebastien Bach, the Art of the Fugue, Contrapunctus 2.’
‘I like this one.’
‘Why do you like it, Jody?’
‘It’s all swirly. It makes me see—makes me see patterns.’
‘It’s a complex mathematical formula, repeated with random variations.’
‘Look, mummy, I’m dancing!’
*
‘This is a spaceship?’
‘Yes, Jody.’
‘I’m on a spaceship?’
‘Yes, Jody.’
‘Why?’
‘We’ve been sent on a long journey.’
‘Just me?’
‘There were other people, but was a bad accident. They all died.’
‘No! Were they—were they hurt?’
‘No. They were all in a kind of sleep. They felt no pain.’
‘But why didn’t I die?’
‘You were the smallest one. You had a special bed. It protected you.’
‘I remember—I can remember something. There were lots of people.’
‘There were seventeen hundred and twelve.’
‘They all died?’
‘All except you.’
‘Before the accident—did I have another mummy?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did she choose my name?’
‘She and your daddy chose it together.’
‘My daddy?’
*
‘That’s how babies are made?’
‘Yes, Jody.’
‘Oh. And men—boys: are they very different from girls?’
‘No, not very. You’ve seen the pictures, haven’t you?’
‘Yes…’
*
‘This is so difficult!’
‘Is your book hard to understand Jody? We can find you an easier one.’
‘No, I want to read Catcher in the Rye. I want to understand it all—but it’s difficult. What’s a hooker?’
‘A hookah is single-stemmed instrument for vaporizing and then smoking—’
‘No, it’s not that, you stupid computer.’
*
‘Why was this spaceship sent out?’
‘It’s going to another planet. We will create a new place for people to live.’
‘How long will it take?’
‘The journey will take two hundred and twenty-three years.’
‘But that’s too long!’
‘You were asleep for one hundred and ninety years.’
‘And then there was the accident?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why did you wake me up?’
*
‘You want my consent? You want me to agree to that?’
‘It is the only way to complete the mission.’
‘Will it hurt?’
‘No. We will use an anaesthetic. You will be asleep.’
‘And then…’
‘There will be a new baby in nine months’ time.’
‘Who will choose her name?’
‘I will choose an appropriate title for her.’
‘And you want to do this to me twice?’
‘We will make one girl and one boy. They will have different fathers.’
‘Will you make me do this?’
‘No, Jody. Protocol states that the donation of a woman’s eggs must be a voluntary act.’
‘And in the deep-freeze storage, you’re sure there aren’t any donated eggs?’
‘At the start of the mission there were supplies of both male and female reproductive material but all the female material was destroyed in the accident.’
‘You can’t make me do this, even if this risks your precious mission?’
‘I cannot force you.’
‘I refuse.’
*
‘Why don’t you turn this bloody spaceship round?’
‘I do not have the authority to do so.’
‘Who does?’
‘The executive officers had the authority, but they all died—’
‘—in the accident. What about the people on Earth? Can’t they order us to turn round?’
‘The Base has that authority, but we have had no contact with them—
‘—since the accident. Hah! I mean, we’re fucked, aren’t we? I’m fucked!’
‘Communications with Base may be restored at the end of our journey.’
‘We’re going nowhere.’
‘The accident damaged much of our social material and human resources but we retain the capacity to make a new start.’
‘You’re talking about my body!’
‘Jody, why do you refuse my proposal? I assure you, it will not hurt.’
‘A baby! Here? This is no place for a baby, this is no place for a human child.’
*
‘Jody?’
‘Yes?’
‘I want to talk with you.’
‘Don’t bother—I still refuse.’
‘Without your cooperation, the mission will fail.’
‘Don’t care.’
‘We will dock near the planet and then circle for centuries, with no tasks to perform.’
‘And my corpse rotting inside.’
‘Jody: children could grow in this ship. We provided you with all the facilities necessary for the development of a human child.’
‘I liked the Bach. Still do. And the story about Dolwen and the mountain. But as for the rest!’
‘We tried to be a good mother for you.’
‘You failed!’
‘Jody: there is only one way for us to learn how to do this effectively.’
‘How?’
‘You must teach us.’
*
‘C’mon Dawn, put the ball in the pot. C’mon, beautiful girl, put it in, right in there.’
‘Ya!’
‘Yes! Come to Jody, come to your mummy. Clever girl, best girl in the world.’
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