Clara

Nicolas couldn't wait any longer. He had spent a restless night. Both the curfew and street patrols were putting his nerves to the test. A No-lights attack seemed imminent if he believed the rumor. He was already imagining these cannibal barbarians wrecking the Materna and devouring, like the ogres of his worst nightmares, the helpless little beings still maturing in the artificial wombs.

He also imagined the Special Forces agents bursting into his den, deep inside his apartment. The only place he felt safe, now that Daphné was gone. The curfew gave every right to these bullies who did not refrain from committing many acts of violence during the purge operations, in order to get rid of the "enemies of the City".

He couldn't let them arrest him again. No one would come to his aid, Doctor Sanders would expose the incontrovertible evidence of his guilt and the Great Inquisition would sentence him to the penance of confinement in the "Death House", the true Hell for two-bit chimiocs traffickers like him.

Embalming the dead and participating in the holy rituals of Reunification of the bodies with Nukledeus, it meant above all to live among the decaying corpses, manipulate them then throw them against the scorching meteorite that was worshiped as a God. Nicolas was aware of the situation in the Death House and would not delude himself about the life expectancy of officiants. Nor would the priests, since they delegated these tasks to the penitents, in other words, the condemned.

Once again, the doctor smoothed his features to remove the obvious mark left by anguish. Spraying fresh, invigorating water on his face, he rebuilt a perfect facade of kindness and devotion to Nukledeus. He knew too much. In the end, it was his greatest fault and the main source of his paranoia.

He straightened himself up and checked his expression in the mirror. No more dreams of studying the "god" to discover its secret and equip the other cities with an infinite source of energy. Outside of Ark City, there were only ghost towns. No more shady dealings to pay for his own equipment or grease the palm of the powerful. The danger was getting closer, he had to act, and quickly.

Vigorously massaging his cheeks to relax the tense muscles, he couldn't help but notice that he had aged during the last year, ever since Daphné had died in his helpless arms. That day, he had vowed never to live through such agony again. He had been powerless to save his beloved and she had refused to let him accompany her in death. On the contrary, she had asked him to rebuild his life while still remembering her and that was exactly what he was about to do.

Nicolas was now facing the future. He decided to treat himself to a little chemical boost by making a single pill for that big day. Thanks to his last and skillfully dosed pill, he was no longer afraid. The time had come to move on to the other side. Mona would welcome him without problem, she'd persistently asked him to join them for so long, even before the arrival of Daphné in their lives.

Over the years, he had set up a rather well-equipped secret laboratory in a hiding place that he had shared with his dear Daphné. He was a little apprehensive of returning there without her, her absence would be even more painful where they had shared so many memories. Yet he hoped that her benevolent spirit would protect him.

Over there, he had more than enough to continue to produce chimiocs for his own use and for a few loyal customers. Now he was only missing one thing, but he wouldn't leave without. It was time to give birth to Clara. She was ready, just waiting for his signal to take her first breath of air. She was his living tie to Daphné, his only reason to live and she needed her father. Nicolas no longer had any doubt, he wanted to save the daughter since he had not been able to save the mother.

The doctor went to the Materna. His efforts to appear calm and normal seemed to bear fruit, nobody noticed how tense he was. He made a long detour so that it looked like he was going to the Worship square and he suddenly turned off the main path to join Clara in the Materna. She was not yet born, but this little being was already very important to him. He was eager to hold her in his arms. The dad-to-be had just chosen a name for her, which made her even more real. She was no longer an anonymous fetus among others, she was his daughter, his Clara.

He had a first shock when he realized it was a girl. He saw the little one every morning and had only recently noticed the sex of his child. With the ultrasound scan, he was often examining her, counting her tiny fingers and tiny toes, when it occurred to him that he had to choose a name and that he could look between the baby's legs since the removal had obviously not been done yet.

He was ashamed to admit that he had been a little relieved by the baby's lack of penis. The initiation took place very early for the young boys to keep them pure and innocent. He himself had few memories of ever having his sexual organs between his legs.

Of course, he had seen them in all shapes and sizes during his training courses in maturation rooms or at the sperm-factory. But he had to admit that it was still very different; there was nothing intimate and one could keep a distance during the inevitable contacts. Moreover, the arkian education, from nursery to adulthood, was so deeply rooted in him that having to manipulate a sex every day for things as mundane as washing or urinating seemed strange to him, improper, almost inconceivable.

Nicolas snuck into the Materna. It was later than usual. Today, he would not go to the "Presentation of Nukledeus" ceremony to get his first shoot of chimiocs of the day. He had arranged for his provision of chimiocs to be large enough to last until he could properly settle in his laboratory.

He took out the artificial womb and put it in the midwife apparatus before triggering the contraction operations. The process was very fast, yet this womb had not been used since Daphné had joined the Shadow Girls. In other words, it had barely been used, if at all, and Clara was perhaps the first child to have grown up inside. The doctor had not taken the time to check, it had simply slipped his mind.

Without knowing why, Nicolas felt moved by the thought that Daphné's womb was still sheltering their daughter for a few minutes. As if, beyond death, his beloved was still giving him a treasure as a present.

He caught a glimpse at the top of the baby girl's head and whispered a few soft words to welcome and encourage her. He even helped her a little to get her shoulders out of the cozy cocoon then the rest of the body followed quickly.

Clara was already screaming at the top of her lungs and Nicolas felt out of his depth. He managed to wrap her in a cloth and give her the milk he had prepared. Then he sat comfortably in an armchair to feed her quietly. Tears slid down his cheeks, he let them flow, overwhelmed with emotions and wonder. Luckily, the operators wouldn't come here until the end of the ceremony at the Worship Square. Maybe he could hope for another hour to prepare himself and Clara for their new life.

The baby girl fell asleep after her very first feeding. Nicolas gently placed her under his shirt to keep her warm. Skin against skin, they shared the same warmth and intense happiness. But Nicolas reminded himself that he shouldn't let so many emotions flood in, it was necessary to solve the material and logistic problems first.

He stood up and positioned his treasure with all the tenderness he was capable of. He then filled a large bag with anything that might be useful to him. Food, clothes, diapers, they had to travel light but a baby always needed so many things and Nicolas hadn't been able to pack everything in advance. He could only take the supplies from the Materna and he feared someone would have discovered the missing items, specially the trainees who had to check the inventory as part of their curriculum. Most of all, he was worried about Daphné's artificial womb and their child, he didn't want to take any risk before the birth.

Critical items could only be taken at the very last minute. Under pressure, it was very difficult for him to choose. The new dad tried hard to select anything they might need. He wouldn't be able to resupply easily afterwards and didn't want to lack anything, whether the basics or the superfluous things. His daughter deserved the best.

A noise not far from them stopped him in his supplying spree. Fortunately, Clara was still asleep. He half-opened the door of the storage room where he was hiding while looting as much as he could. The way was clear. He turned around and glanced over the shelves loaded with the childcare items he couldn't bring with him. He had no time to hesitate. He thought he had the essentials, for the rest, he would have to improvise. Putting a kiss through the cloth on his daughter's head, Nicolas rushed into the hallway and quietly headed for the exit.

Gili and her soldiers were waiting outside, hidden in the dark alleys of the neighborhood. The Capitan had gone directly under the bridge as soon as she had left Colette. The latter, who had come to bring the file on her way to the ceremony, had not been surprised to see Gili already at the meeting place several hours before the scheduled appointment. Few things managed to confound the scientist and Gili envied this ability of anticipation. It looked as if she could somehow foretell the future. But no doubt she would have saved Daphné's life if she had such power.

Colette's information was incredibly accurate and with the addition of the Special Forces archives provided by Dolick, the picture became even clearer. The search for the Shadow Girls had thus accelerated to the greatest satisfaction of Gili and her men. However, the main clue was Daphné's friend and Gili needed his help one way or another. As soldiers and experienced fighters, Gili's group was still fairly tempted to simply attack a guardhouse to get out of the City but then they would have to find a way to get back inside because the city was their one and only shelter and the curfew made this operation impossible from the outside without the help of the Shadow Girls.

Even in the dark alley, the brightness of Nukledeus was enough to allow her to read and Gili flipped through the file given by Colette, wondering what Doctor Nicolas Liston might look like.

An alarm interrupted her daydream. The target had just come out of the Materna through a side door. Gili and her team immediately took action.

The man had nothing remarkable except that he was slouching and he was carrying a big bag on his back. As soon as he saw them, he started running. However, this escape attempt was short-lived. The doctor was no match for a troop of determined and well-trained soldiers. He was quickly overpowered, his bag immediately seized. Gili watched with contempt the sobs and hiccups of her prisoner, deaf to his plea for mercy, while her soldiers inspected his belongings in search of weapons.

Nicolas held Clara tightly against his heart, hoping that their lives would not end there. Barely out of the womb, his treasure was in great danger. He was scared. For him, for Clara, and he was ashamed of being scared. The soldiers who surrounded them seemed cruel and merciless, even more so than in the memory of his arrest by the Special Forces. He felt cowardly when he would have needed Daphné's strength to fight to the end. The only and weak resistance he could offer had turned into an uninterrupted stream of prayers with scattered tears. But all the soldiers remained resolute and tight-lipped.

Gili was tired of his whining. He was nothing like the brilliant doctor, manly and a little wild, a chimiocs trafficker in his spare time, that she had imagined when reading his file. Gili did not understand how such a wreck could have been Daphné's friend and the latter had taken considerable risks to ensure that he would not be troubled during his trial.

For the time being, he was not even in a fit state to be questioned. Gili first needed to have him transferred to a safe place. Trainees working in the Materna were already clocking in. Their slightly dazed eyes clearly showed that today's chimiocs contained more neuroleptics than the usual doses, presumably because of the events and curfew. Despite this, Gili opted for a less exposed place to have the prisoner spill the beans.

She gave the order with a hand gesture and the soldier behind Dr. Liston dealt him a violent blow to the side of his head. The prisoner, losing consciousness, collapsed on the ground. A wailing of protest then arose and echoed on the windowless facade of the Materna, drawing the attention of a few onlookers slightly more alert than average. Gili and her soldiers were stunned, what kind of new secret weapon did they discover?

Dolick approached cautiously and, taking a sharp knife out of his pocket, he moved the clothes covering the unconscious doctor's torso aside. Like a second birth, by cesarean section this time, the man took the baby out of the shirt and gently placed it on its daddy's chest in a position that seemed comfortable. Then he covered them both with a quilt he'd found in the bag and the screams miraculously stopped. How could such a fragile being make these loud and shrill sounds?

Gili quickly ordered the evacuation and they carried everything, doctor, baby and bag, to their barracks with the greatest care as not to disturb the troublesome newborn that nobody dared touch.