Author's Note: District A1 is an anthology series. Each Week will usually focus on a different character, but in the same setting: District A1.
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"Jamie!" Trish called out.
She watched as Jamie Lambert got up from her seat next to a chubby, brown-haired girl. Jamie walked across the waiting room to the doorway where Trish was standing with her clipboard in hand. Jamie smiled politely as she met Trish's gaze.
"Hi...Tricia, right?" Jamie asked as she stepped through the doorway past Trish.
"Yeah, you can call me Trish though," Trish corrected her as she let the door swing shut behind them and started to lead Jamie down the long hospital hallway. Trish had been Jamie's nurse a week ago when Jamie had come in for her first impregnation appointment. "Good to see you again, how have you been?" Trish asked with a slight air of indifference, having posed a similar question to every other woman who she had assisted that day.
"Pretty good," Jamie answered cheerfully. "Not pregnant, I think."
Trish smiled kindly as they came to a stop in front of one of many examination room doors. Trish opened it for Jamie and let her enter first before stepping into the small room herself and shutting the door behind them. There was a large reclinable exam chair in the center of the floor and a long counter with a sink on the end set into the right wall of the room. Medical equipment was placed all along the top of the counter and underneath it in various drawers and cupboards. On the other side of the room sat a small desk holding a computer, with a wheeled office chair pulled up in front of it.
"Well, have a seat right here and we'll find out," Trish said, gesturing to the exam chair, which was currently in the upright position.
Jamie hesitated and asked, "I need to take my pants off, right?"
"Not yet. First I have to check to see if you've conceived," Tricia explained as she moved about the room, gathering the necessary equipment. "Just take a seat on the chair for now, please."
"Oh, right," Jamie said as she sat down in the exam chair. "How are you going to know if I'm pregnant? I mean, it's only been a week."
"I just need to perform a quick test and we'll be able to tell right away," Trish explained as she put on a pair of latex gloves. She proceeded to pick up a container filled with a yellow solution, which she then squirted carefully into a small plastic test tube. She placed the full test tube into a metal rack to hold it in place as she continued, "I'll just need to take a very small blood sample."
The medical technology of the Valantsian Empire was extremely advanced, as it had to be when the entire female population were consistently undergoing a cycle of being impregnated and giving birth. Medical research and innovation were considered a top priority by the Valantsian High Council, and new discoveries and advancements were made on a regular basis. Some of the most important medical capabilities pertaining to pregnancy were a powerful sedative that made labor completely safe and painless, the ability to increase the potency or concentration of sperm in semen to increase the likelihood of conception or conceiving multiples, and a series of chemical tests that could determine, if necessary, such specifics as the date of conception, number of babies, and whether or not a woman was pregnant, all mere seconds after conception occurred.
Noticing that Jamie had started anxiously fidgeting in the exam chair at the mention of a blood sample, Trish tried to relax her by saying, "Don't worry, you'll barely feel anything. It'll be over in a second." She pulled open a drawer, picked up a syringe, and removed the protective plastic cover from the needle. "If you could just lift your shirt above your belly button for me..."
Jamie obliged, lifting her striped blue and white tank top up to reveal her stomach.
"And hold still..." Trish said calmly as she delicately stuck the needle into Jamie's stomach just to the right of her belly button. A small amount of blood filled the syringe quickly, and in less than a second Trish had finished, removing the syringe and handing Jamie a small circular bandage to cover the miniscule puncture wound. "Here, you can cover that up now if you want," Trish said.
Jamie dabbed off the small drop of blood that had pooled up from the wound with her finger. Looking satisfied, she lowered her shirt back down without applying the bandage. "I think it's fine," she said cheerfully. "I hardly even felt it, anyway."
"Great," Trish forced a smile. She turned her back to Jamie and squirted a single drop of blood from the syringe into the test tube, then stirred the now orange solution for a couple of seconds with the syringe needle. "In just a few seconds, if this turns blue, we'll know you're pregnant, and if it stays orange we'll know you're not."
"Wow, that's all it takes?" Jamie asked, surprised.
"That's it," Trish answered. "To be honest, when they trained us they never taught us the science behind it, but it works." By the time she had finished talking, the solution had already turned a deep shade of blue. Trish held up the test tube so Jamie could see. "Congrats, you're pregnant."
Jamie was stunned, and for a moment didn't say anything. Regaining her composure, she finally stammered, "Wow, I...I guess I just didn't expect it to happen so quick. It only took one try."
Regular inseminations were usually conducted once a week for a month or so to ensure that women conceived. Since women only ovulate roughly once a month and have the capacity to conceive for about a week following ovulation, it was usually the case that conception wouldn't occur after the first insemination, although it was, of course, possible. Trish explained all of this to Jamie, and finished by asking, "So, do you have any questions?"
"Oh, is that it?" Jamie still seemed to be somewhat in a state of shock and disbelief. "What do I do now?"