I found River sitting in the living room.
"You took a long time. Having a good time with that redhead?" said River. I though I detected a hint of jealousy.
"Her name's Sara," I said.
"Oooh, first-name basis. Did you find anything useful?" River asked.
"A Midwife was acting a bit strange. And she knew your name," I said.
"I see," River said. She frowned. "Don't trust anyone here."
"You know, this place isn't that bad," I said. "Free food, free massages...maybe we're overreacting-"
"Shut up."
"What?" I said, shocked.
"I said to shut up," River gravely said. She turned around, and for once she wasn't joking or smiling.
"The woman in charge of this ward is one of the most malevolent individuals I've ever met," River stated. I tried to butt in, but she kept on talking: "No matter how sweet this place looks, there is almost certainly a veneer of corruption underneath. Nothing good is happening here."
I looked into her eyes, and saw something ferocious behind them. She wasn't pulling my leg here.
"Okay, I believe you."
"I need to do more research first. Talk to the people here. See if you can find anything interesting," said River.
"Okay," I said.
"And if you need massages, I can give you one," River said.
Was this some sort of trick? Her expression was unreadable.
"Fine, give me one," I said. I certainly could use it.
She put her hands above my belly, pushing and prodding. It felt odd, but relaxing.
"Stop resisting, sweetie," River said softly, her hair brushing into my face (though for some reason, I didn't mind). "I'm not going to hurt you. Relax."
I closed my eyes. Her hands were rather soft, and I began to relax into them. I breathed in and out slowly, and my aching muscles stopped aching as much. I opened my eyes again, and I was staring into River's beautiful greyish-green eyes. Her face had somehow drawn inches from my own, and I could feel her hot breath near my cheeks. I wanted to say something, but found I didn't have any words. Then River's face began drawing closer...
And outside the hall, a loud clattering rang out. River got up to check it.
"Just a clumsy pregnant women," she said. River sat on her bed instead of finishing the massage, and for some reason I was annoyed.
"Goodnight" said River. "Tommorow, we continue researching this ward."
"Okay, then. Goodnight," I said. I wasn't quite sure what had just happened between River and I, and decided not to think about it.
"Don't worry," said River after a few minutes.
"About what?" I asked, annoyed she was interrupting my efforts to fall asleep.
"We'll get a chance to finish that massage another day," said River.
I spent several more days at the Ward. Each day I would be treated with the best food, massages, and anything else a girl could ask for. River told me to try to figure out my way around the place, so I asked Sara to give me a tour. Sara, for her part, was ecstatic at the chance to show me around.
"A lot of the women here don't like to talk," Sara explained while we were walking around. "So if I seem to talk a lot, or too much, it's just because, well, you're the first person who-"
I put my finger up to her lips to stop her rambling. "Your talking is not an issue. Trust me, if I don't want to hear someone speak, I don't hesitate to tell them to be quiet," I said.
"Thanks," she said.
I noticed a black door up ahead. I gestured toward it.
"No one is allowed in there," Sara said.
"Why?" I said.
"No one knows," Sara said.
I decided to make a note of this door.
"So, what's your plans after conceiving?" asked Sara, after a short silence.
"Hmm, I'm looking for a new job after this," I said. It wasn't technically a lie—I just neglected to mention my "old job" was as a thief.
"Right now, my mom is supporting me," said Sara sheepishly. "But wen my baby's old enough to not take all my attention, I'm gonna continue my training, and become a programmer."
"Best of luck," I replied. It was weird, having such a normal conversation after years of being on the run.
"You too!" Sara said.
When I found River, the first thing I mentioned was the door.
"Then that's where we go. Come on," said River.
"Now?" I asked.
"Why not?" asked River. "Scared?"
"Never!" I said.
We slipped through the door that the escort walked through. Making sure we were unseen, we snuck down the large hallways. I could hear the sounds of babies and woman in labor farther down the halls.
"What are we looking for?" I whispered to River, while we hid behind a group of potted plants to evade a passing guard.
"Anything that seems important," said River, "or looks like they don't want anyone under any circumstances to see."
Just then, a guard emerged from a room with a red door. The door must have had at least 4 locks, and she checked every single one twice. As she walked away, River and I looked at each other and nodded.
We had found something important.
River went to open the lock
"Leave that to me," I said. I picked the lock in 5 seconds flat. The room was dark, and looked like some form of medical lab. There were big glass tubes on the side of the doors, and black wooden tables lined up int middle of the room.
"This doesn't look like your average maternity ward," I said. I peered into the glass tubes, but they were murky.
Examining some documents on the table, River frowned. "Most of this stuff is just financial statements, patient records, oooh, a forgotten letter from a loved one...ahh," she said.
"What?" I asked, peering over her shoulder.
"It's a folder labeled the "Surrogate Program," she said.
It had diagrams of DNA, baby embryos, as well as what looked suspiciously like brainwashing techniques.
"So this is what this place is for?" I asked.
River slammed the folder down on the table. "It's as I feared: Kovarian is't bringing these women to just conceive babies; she's using them to birth super-soldiers!" she snarled.
"Well of course! I wouldn't put my name on a ward that wasn't creating babies that weren't the absolute best!" said a mysterious voice. It sounded familiar. I looked up and saw it was coming from a ceiling microphone.
"Damn you! You've been listening this whole time!" shouted River to the ceiling. A dark laugh was all that came in response.
"Time-out. What is going on, and who is that?" I asked, bewildered.
"She's-" started River, but she was cut off by the woman in the speakerphone. I realized this was the voice of the Midwife who had done my examination.
"I can speak for myself, River," said the woman, and continued , "My name is Madame Kovarian, and welcome to my Ward.