EXTRACT FOR
Trainingverse 2
(Faye Valentine)

The BSA's internal intercom crackled to life. "Attention! This is Master Lars Price, Minister of Slave Affairs. I need to see Master Logan Thorne and Nicole Dawson ??" slave number nine-nine-three-epsilon-seven-four-delta in my office in fifteen minutes' time. That is all."

Knowing better than to keep the Minister waiting despite having never met him in this new reality, Nicole gobbled up her food and washed it down with water from the other bowl as quickly as she could muster without making a huge mess of herself or the mat she occupied. When she was finished, she crawled back out to the lobby where she was just about to reach up to press the elevator button when a larger hand came out of nowhere and beat her to it. Looking up, she saw the father of her unborn children. "Hello again, master."

"Slave."

"Do you know what this is about, Master?"

"Well, I assume it has to do with the bomb you dropped on me shortly ago."

"Right. I'm sorry I broke the news to you that way but I thought you deserved to know and I was excited to tell you."

"It's okay, slave. I appreciate you telling me."

The elevator doors slid open. Master Logan walked in and Nicole crawled in behind him. "Of course, Master. May I ask if you're upset that I'm sending them to live with my mother in our universe?"

"That is your right as a participant of the Slave Exchange Program."

"I know, Master, but you're their father and deserve to be part of their lives. Unless you have no interest in doing so."

As you know, here in this universe parents do not have the same level of emotional attachment to their children as those of yours. Don't get me wrong, I love all of my children, but while I might be their father they're the property of the government and seeing them once or twice a year isn't conducive to strong familial ties. As for our children and your offer, I appreciate the sentiment but even if I did spend those few months with you and then every few years, I'll eventually grow old and die while the four of you will age all of two days. I'll never actually get to see them grow up. I'll never hear their first word, watch them crawl or take their first steps. It might sound heartless to you, but I see no point in spending my life in such a manner."

"I honestly never thought of it that way, Master. I'm sorry if I upset you in any way as that was never my intention. But back to my original question, why would the minister need to see us about my pregnancy?"

"Have you forgotten your first day of orientation already, slave? Though you've already made your intentions known to me and everyone in class, your plans for your children must be made official with the BSA's offspring registration."

"Right, of course Master. Sorry, this whole pregnancy thing has thrown me for a loop. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy, but I just thought it'd be a couple hundred years before I had children." In truth, she was remembering and sorting through two different versions of her first six months in the Trainingverse and with both fresh in her mind it was at times hard to tell which was the current and correct one.