Maybe He's Pregnant 1

Munger and Satell were two preeminent scientists, both ranking in the top ten in biology and bioengineering respectively. They were also top candidates for the Seena Award, the greatest scientific honor in the world, and both were still under forty-five. Although being top candidates meant they only had to wait twenty years to receive the award, while others had to wait forty. 

But due to their status, they were treated like scientific royalty in the Gurang Province, and General Alexander had specifically requested their expertise, by name. This offer was a great honor and an opportunity that could only be stumbled upon, not sought after. Even a slight connection with such a renowned general would open doors that remained closed to many for their entire lives. 

Naturally, they accepted. 

They were placed in charge of a hundred other eminent scientists, some even older and more established than themselves, but lacking the same glamorous achievements. 

And so, here they were. Beneath an inconspicuous small mountain outside of Golden Dragon City, deep within its bowels and covered by a myriad of military installations, lay the facility where they were now stationed. 

The lab buzzed with activity, filled with the low hum of machinery and the occasional sharp beep of monitoring devices. Sleek robotic arms moved with precision, transferring delicate samples from one glass chamber to another. Nutrient-rich solutions bubbled softly, their colors shifting as sensors recorded data onto nearby screens. The antiseptic scent of the lab mingled with the metallic scent of the blood samples, continuously piling in a rack on one side. 

Watching the ceaseless stream of lab coats adding to the pile of samples, Munger felt a headache coming on. This would take days to sort and categorize based on parameters he didn't even know yet. The amount of work for one man was ridiculous, and he definitely wouldn't trust anyone else to do it. 

A young man carrying a tray of blood vials carelessly passed through the plastic curtains of the doorway. He stumbled, and Munger instantly jumped forward, catching him before the vials stained the lab's perfect track record. 

Munger's face turned cold as he grabbed the tray and pushed the young man back through the curtains. "Don't they teach you how to walk before they give you a degree? Or have they forgotten that as well?!" 

By the end, his voice was a scream, and the young scientist scurried out of the lab. 

A lazy voice suddenly filled the room. "Can you chill out? What's the point in rushing? We've already won the Seena Award." The tone shifted to a melancholic one. "All we have to do now is wait a tiny twenty years." 

Munger looked at his colleague, his lips forming a sneer before he quickly reverted to his cold demeanor. Satell was a brilliant man, but his spirit had been broken by the underwhelming response to his discovery. Ever since then, Munger could tell that pushing scientific boundaries was something Satell no longer had in him. 

Munger placed all the samples in their corresponding slots and went back to the computer. Sitting next to Satell, he watched him sifting through the various subjects like he was shifting beach sand. Munger's anger grew, realizing that precious subjects might pass screening because of Satell's lack of enthusiasm. 

He suddenly pressed a couple of buttons and brought up the folder of a specimen he'd been thoroughly enamored with. He thought that maybe sharing his thoughts and speculations with Satell would awaken something in the man. 

"Look here. This guy was the most interesting of the thousands we'd found." 

"Thousands?" sulked Satell. "How many are there in total?" 

Munger frowned but decided to humor him. "Around fifteen thousand. Subjects from all over the Golden Dragon Administrative Zone are being processed here." 

"God, that's a lot of work," sighed Satell. 

"If you hate it so much, why don't you just quit?" responded Munger. 

"I can't. My wife wants to run for a position in the Central Committee. She threatened divorce if I fail here." Satell seemed exasperated by the situation. He certainly didn't inspire confidence in Munger. 

"Your wife seems like an ambitious congresswoman, and certainly a connection to the general would be beneficial," agreed Munger. "So why don't you at least try?" 

Satell turned to look at Munger and, seeing his expectant expression, sighed and fixed his hunched posture. Munger could tell this was not a genuine effort, but he had no choice but to keep going and hopefully fix his attitude. 

"Look at this video." 

He played an attached video clip showing the young man in question jumping from a fifth-story window at his high school. 

Satell frowned when he saw the concrete crack as the young man landed, and not his legs as expected. "His parents are high up in the party, and they modified him genetically. And?" 

Munger frowned. "Think more." 

Satell clicked his tongue, visibly annoyed, but his face suddenly turned severe, recalling a piece of information only extremely well-connected members of the party like him and Munger would know. 

"That tensile strength in his bones is equivalent to a Level Two enhancement. Highly regulated by the military. How did they perform the procedure on him?" 

Munger shook his head. "They didn't. I've checked his blood already. There is no trace in his DNA of nanite tampering." 

"That's impossible," scoffed Satell. "It must be some new nanite technology that doesn't leave the usual markers." 

Munger pointed to himself. "Aren't I Munger? Wouldn't I know if something like that was invented? To begin with, if I don't invent such a thing, no one in the country can." 

"I bet that little girl can." 

"That's different," Munger screeched. The little girl in question had received brain augmentation since she was an embryo. Her parents wanted to create a super genius, and to some extent, they had succeeded. Though Munger didn't believe she was more intelligent than him, compared to the average individual, she was undoubtedly a savant. 

Munger's grin resumed and he pressed a button on the computer. Another folder came up on the screen, with an image of a crimson-haired little girl attached to it. 

Satell's eyes widened, and he jumped from his seat. "She's among the subjects?" 

Munger scoffed. "She is a subject." 

"But she's only a child. Is she even a teenager yet?" Looking at the picture, the girl couldn't be more than twelve. How could such a child survive a world that created the horror stories that returned from there? 

"She is ten," corrected Munger, "and that's exactly why this project requires our utmost attention. Something is happening in that world that's enhancing humans at a rate that shouldn't be possible, even with the best genetic procedures we can envision a hundred years from now." 

Munger went to the side and opened one of the freezer cabinets. He pulled out a sample of tissue and brought it under the microscope, waving to Satell to join him. Munger had arrived on site twelve hours earlier and had already gotten a chance to look at it. He planned to show it to Satell before they began triage, but by the time Satell arrived, the facility began to flood with subjects that desperately needed their immediate attention. 

But he needed to stoke his colleague's curiosity, so despite being pressed for time, delaying the triage slightly was a necessary sacrifice.