Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I just borrow

Summary: In vague terms, it's a story using the characters of Andromeda and the setting of the Andromeda and about the people on the Andromeda and saying anymore would give too much away. So please read on.

She couldn't believe this had happened. He had seemed like such a nice guy and the time they'd spent together had been wonderful. They had so many similar interests, they had talked and laughed and had so many really deep conversations. And that night... it had been nice and normal and he was normal and it was all great.

It wasn't unheard of, it happened frequently throughout the history of mankind. Girl meets guy, girl and guy like each other. Girl and guy get intimate. Guy leaves girl.

She just never thought it would happen to her.

Well, the guy leaving part, she knew that would happen but the situation in which he left her in, she wasn't expecting that. And now what was she going to do? In her position what was one supposed to do?

How could she have let this happen? Or to put the blame where it belonged, how could he do this to her? How was she supposed to cope? She wasn't ready or prepared for this, how could she be? She never thought one night of passion could lead to this. Hell, a week ago she didn't even think AI's could get pregnant!

. . .

Lets go back a week or so...

They had met Cole on a small backwater colony somewhere in the Adreas system. They had been delivering medical supplies to a colony suffering a serious outbreak of a disease that had been brought there by a supply ship.

While they were delivering the supplies Dylan and Beka had met Cole and he had asked them for passage off the planet and they, being the kind souls they were, agreed.

When they realised he was a AI they dutifully introduced him to Rommie and left him in her care. They got to know each other.

He had been originally programmed as a surgeon in a hospital on some other backwater drift. He'd been working there for a while when there was a scare of AI's going insane and murdering patients so he'd moved on.

He had learned a lot about engineering so that he could learn to fix and modify himself but this didn't always work and he liked to live near people so help was always at hand.

He had been working as an emergency doctor on the colony but the people tended to prefer humans to AI. He was sentient, like Rommie, but people were still very distrustful and he understood.

During the two weeks he stayed, he and Rommie became very close and one night after a romantic dinner, they interfaced. It wasn't like anything she had ever done before, it was exciting and scary and so many other emotions all at the same time. But it was nice.

He left the next day, like he had said he would. Rommie would have liked him to stay but he didn't think that he would really be any use to such competent people.

And after he left things returned to normal, at least they appeared to in the beginning but then.......

"Harper, I think I've contracted a virus. It's in my AI and my avatar, even my holo-programming"

Harper looked up from where he was working in a conduit on deck six.

"Alright I'll take a look when I'm finished this."

He turned back to what he was doing.

"My avatar would like you to take a look now. She very insistent."

Harper sighed in exasperation. "Alright, I'm coming. Where is she?"

"Machine shop two"

And so she was. When Harper arrived she was sitting on a stool with her hands clutching her stomach.

"What seems to be the problem Rom-doll?"

She looked up and scowled at him but Harper could see from her face that something wasn't right. He grabbed some tools and pulled a stool up next to her.

"Well your matrix seems okay, no major problems, everything seems to be working but the virus or whatever it is is causing some changes. How do you feel Rommie?"

She looked up at him and seemed to relax slightly sitting back in the chair.

"Well, I have been feeling very nauseous but it seems to have passed"

Harper grinned at her. "Nauseous huh? Are you sure it wasn't something you ate?"

Rommie glared at him. "I'm an AI, Harper. I don't eat and I don't feel nauseous!"

Harper reasoned with her to try and keep her calm.

"Well, are you feeling nervous or anxious about anything? Those feelings would cause these symptoms in a human"

He didn't succeed. "Well it's not just me it's my AI mainframe and my holo-programming as well."

Harper sighed running his hand thorough his hair.

"Alright, why don't you go and lie down or something and I'll run your program through a detailed diagnostic program, okay? I'll tell you if I find anything"

Rommie went to do what Harper suggested and lie down and Harper went to see if he could find what was wrong with her. And when he did, his biggest problem was not what to tell Rommie but how to tell her.

. . .

Still a week ago...

"What do you mean I'm pregnant! Harper I'm an AI, an android, I can't be pregnant"

Harper vainly searched the room for an escape but he knew that there was no real way put of this.

"It's simple Rommie, the virus, which is apparently not a virus but a program is designed to create a kind of baby android. It is reprogramming different sections of your systems to create a replica using data from you and from some other unknown source. Kind like human reproduction only on a different level."

"Cole, it's using data from Cole"

Harper looked at Rommie questioningly.

"You and he... interfaced? Then the program must have originated from his programming cos it sure as hell wasn't in yours, I should know I built you and..."

Harper broke off suddenly.

"And what? Harper if you know something, tell me"

Harper looked suddenly guilty.

"When I was building you Rommie there were a couple of things I left out. One was the programming for self-replication. I didn't have the materials and anyway, it wasn't a vital part of the programming and it was untested. But I did leave you with the capacity for the programming to be added later. Which is good cos you have it now"

Rommie stared at Harper in disbelief and then a wave of nausea overcame her and she sank back into her chair.

"How exactly am I going to reproduce and what exactly am I going to produce?"

Rommie was confused to say the least but she needed to know what was happening to her.

"It seems to be happening on a number of levels. Your avatar is creating an actual android baby, it is using parts from you to create a mixture of yours and Cole's basic structure on a smaller scale. Presumably when it is born it will continue it's self-replication to enable it to grow. Like a human child.

"As for your mainframe, well it seems to be adding the babies own program as a sub-program to yours but as it grows it should become a separate entity to you.

"And your holo-programming is adjusting itself to the same parameters as your avatar and presumably it will carry a holo-baby or bump until the baby is born and becomes a separate hologram of it's own. And did I mention that most of this is theory and not actual practice?"

Rommie sat in stunned silence for a few seconds. It was too much, too much to take in. What was she going to do with a baby? How would she cope as a single mother? Did she even want the baby?

And more importantly, how exactly was she going to tell Dylan?

. . .

This could be the strangest story I've ever started writing. This comes from watching the Moonlighting episode "Womb with a view", playing The Sims and not getting enough sleep. So do you want to read more? If so please review and I'll get started on the next chapter. Homework be damned!