The Streets

Arcturus unexpectedly bought a lot more necessities than he had expected. He had to carry two bags while Constance and Murphy carried two bags each. He did manage to exchange his goggles for some of the items while Murphy had to step in with the rest. Constance hadn't said a word about Hilbert, so they still needed to wait.

"Should we return home for the time being?" Murphy asked. "We do have a lot of luggage and Hilbert hasn't called."

"Yes. We should." Arcturus responded. He wanted to check up on Nova and Souhait as well.

Constance refused. "I don't want to go back home."

This again? Her stubbornness started to annoy him. He knew that he should butt into family affairs, but he didn't want to be stuck following her whims. They had a lot of luggage and they needed to unload. He was doing his absolute best to suppress his temper. He didn't want to lash out at her–he mustn't.

"Constance, let me ask you something. Do you really want Sophia to apologize to you or is it that you're afraid of apologizing to her?"

She had a reaction when he had mentioned the latter. Arcturus always had an inkling of a hunch that this was the case. She was afraid of being wronged. She knew she said something horrible, which was why she was trying to avoid it. Having free will did not mean she knew how to comprehend it, hence why she mainly blamed it on Sophia rather than herself.

"How…do I apologize for something I cannot comprehend? I truly don't understand what it's like being a parent nor do I understand the parent-child bond. The person inside of me doesn't understand it either; she grew up without her parents in her life."

Arcturus recalled when he had remembered how big his own mother's stomach was when she was pregnant with Ariel. He couldn't understand what was going on, but whenever he was told he was going to be a big brother, he just accepted it without thought. When Ariel was born and she had existed in his life, there was an uneasiness that he felt. He had to get used to a new presence, but he made a promise to his father to be able to love Ariel. Realization came to him.

It's not that Constance doesn't understand because she's an artificial creation, she doesn't understand because her mindset is still juvenile. Her words and actions from before stemmed from child-like intelligence. That makes sense now…

"If only there was a way for you to witness childbirth, maybe you'd understand…"

"Childbirth?" Arcturus heard a woman's voice from behind him, startling him as he took a few steps forward and turned around to see who had approached him; it was Belinda's daughter; he couldn't recall what her name was, but he remembered her face.

"You surprised me…"

"Sorry about that. But what's this about childbirth?" Her voice was rather monotonous, almost as if she was robotic.

Murphy explained what had happened to her. The daughter nodded and hummed once she listened to the full story. "I see. Well, you're in luck. I was running an errand for my mom who is now attending to a pregnant patient in labor. Do you want to look?"

Arcturus rejected her offer, "We shouldn't. It feels like we'd be imposing. Besides, who would want to be greeted by strangers after a long and arduous labor?"

Constance abruptly intercepted. "I want to go! I want to see a woman give birth!" She looked rather eager like a curious child.

Arcturus and Murphy glanced at each other. Since Hilbert had yet to call them and Constance was reluctant to return home, they decided it would be best to spend time wherever she wanted to go.

"Let's go, then." Murphy remarked.

As they were heading towards the clinic, Arcturus grabbed Belinda's daughter's attention in order to ask her an important question. "Excuse me, can I get your name?"

"It's Miranda. Miranda Mathis."

"Miranda, if you don't mind, could you call me Percival when we're out on the streets? Dr. Mathis is the only other person who knows my actual name and I gave out an alias to conceal my identity."

"Sure."

Arcturus sighed with relief as he continued following Miranda until they reached the clinic. It was a large two-story brick building that had a 'CLINIC' sign dangling from a pole. Unlike Hilbert's rather lavish area, there wasn't anything of note in the front porch. He could tell the second story was used as a living space while the first floor was the doctor's office itself.

When Miranda opened the door, a loud scream greeted the guests. Constance's long ears started twitching. "Her screams are around 150 decibels. She is Arcturus then heard Belinda trying to reassure the patient. He then noticed a little boy waiting outside the lobby with a worried countenance. He approached the boy and knelt down so he was at eye level.

"What's wrong?" He asked in a gentle tone.

"My mom is trying to pop the baby out. She sounds like she's in pain…"

He placed a hand on his shoulder, reassuring him that everything would be fine and that his mother would come out fine. Miranda went further in to check up on her mother and the patient, but stopped when she noticed Constance following her.

"What are you doing?"

"I want to see the birthing process."

"People cannot enter." Miranda suddenly realized something. "That doesn't apply to Shifties, I guess. You aren't "people". That means I wouldn't be violating privacy policies." After muttering to herself, she allowed it, but refused to let Murphy and Arcturus enter.

When they both entered another room, Arcturus couldn't help but to have a sour taste lingering in his mouth. The way Miranda disregarded her existence left an unfavorable impression. He knew that it was the norm, but he didn't like it.

Murphy sighed. "It sucks that Constance doesn't think much of this."

Arcturus, annoyed, barked, "She should! She's someone with free will. She should fight back."

"It begs the question of whether Shifties are capable of doing so even with free will…"

Arcturus just sighed as he decided to pace back and forth in order to kill time. When he reached the empty reception counter, he became startled when some files fell out of the table. He panicked as he went over to the other side and started cleaning the mess; it consisted of folders and stray paper. The desk was very cluttered, so he wasn't sure if there was room to place the fallen items anywhere. He decided to put it near the old computer monitor. When his hand brushed against the mouse, the black screen was no more. Whoever had used this computer had forgotten to put a password.

What he noticed on the screen caused his eyes to widen. It was someone's email account and one of the subjects in the inbox had 'RE: THE CHARLATAN'S LOCATION' on it; it was the very top and unread. He took a few steps back and then walked away from the counter to sit down on one of the lobby's chairs.

The cushioned seat could not ease the anxious feelings welling up within him. He had recalled Jennifer's words about not trusting anyone here in the Outskirts. Was the receptionist a spy? Was there even a receptionist? Was it Belinda and Miranda he cannot trust? It wouldn't make sense as they had helped him out plenty of times.

However, he then remembered something vital. When he had regained consciousness after passing out from his fever, Sophia, Murphy and Constance had been out grocery shopping. That meant during the time that he was unconscious to when he woke up, Belinda could've easily figured out who Nova was from examining his unconscious body and when she left their house, she could've easily reported it. However, it wouldn't make sense as the news outlets reported that they have yet to deduce his location.

It could be a farce. News outlets can easily put out fake or delay vital news. However, he couldn't tell what sort of motive Belinda would have for reporting Nova.

Murphy said that people who opposed the government were sent and trapped here. That was twenty years ago–plenty of time. Maybe there are some people who want to return to the main city? Maybe there are those who got falsely accused of being an opposer and had to live their lives out here? Because of the uproar Nova caused back then, there could be people who resent him for causing this separation to happen. Could Belinda be one of those people?

"Are you okay?" The little boy asked.

Arcturus looked up to see both the boy and Murphy looking at him with worry. "Is something the matter?" Murphy handed him a cup of water. He quickly took a sip, hoping it would alleviate his worries; it didn't work.

"I'm fine. I was just in deep thought…"

He was quickly cut off when he heard the boy's mother screaming loudly once again. The boy grabbed Arcturus's coat sleeve tightly. While Arcturus had his own worries, he knew that they were miniscule compared to the boy's. He placed a hand on his head. "It's okay."

The mother screamed once more and then a baby's wailing resonated across the hall. Miranda and Constance left the room and returned to the lobby. Constance had a rather dazed expression on her face.

"The baby is born!" Miranda yelled out; the voice she let out was the loudest and most expressive he had heard from her.

The boy got out of his seat. "Can I go see Mom?"

Miranda responded, "Yes! I'll take you to her!"

As she escorted the boy to his mom, Constance sat down on one of the lobby's chairs, still dazed about what she had witnessed. Arcturus noticed she looked rather happy, which scared him because he knew labor came with a lot of blood.

"What was witnessing childbirth like?"

"Other than Belinda scolding Miranda for bringing me to the labor room, it was a fascinating process. The mother screams high decibels due to pain. She is trying to push the baby out of her va–"

"Too much information!"

Murphy chuckled. "What Arcturus wanted to know was whether or not you understand what the process is like."

"I do…. I guess it's not easy producing a child and trying to get it out. But, the way the mother looked at her child despite her pain…it was sweet."

"I still remember Virgo's screams when she was in the labor process. She was in pain and we couldn't really do anything to help her until the baby was out. The recovery process took a while as it was her first time and her body was rather weak from all that blood loss. She was so haggard when we came to visit her. It broke my heart as her father."

Arcturus joined in the conversation. "I know that lots of women don't want to go through the labor process because of the pain and we should respect those who choose not to and those who do so. That's why saying things like getting a new baby shouldn't be said."

"I understand now…" She then glanced at Arcturus. "You're right. I was afraid of apologizing to Sophia because I didn't know. I'll go back home and apologize…"

"Good." Murphy was happy.

Arcturus noticed Constance's earring flashing and told this to her. She had received a message from Hilbert about how he finished fixing Arcturus's bangle. He was excited to finally leave the clinic, but he still couldn't help but to feel uneasy after what he saw on the computer.

Are Belinda and Miranda really not to be trusted?