Steriles

1 - Doctors

"Did you hear about the space study?" Fernanda asked one day as we were sitting on the couch after dinner. I told her I hadn't as she pulled up the news article on her wristband. "'New space program launches to see how well humans can survive in new space stations.' Basically, they want to send Steriles first to see if the colonies work, and if so they'll send some Fertiles up there too. I think they said if it goes well... oh, yeah, 'If these systems prove livable and sustainable, sterilization policies may be gradually lowered or made on a country-by-country basis.' Isn't that great?"
I involuntarily raised my eyebrows. "Yeah, I love being used as lab rats so they don't have to risk any human lives."
"That's not what I meant," she groaned. "I think it's cool that they're trying to find better ways to limit population growth!"
"Maybe we should just eat the rich," I joked, and she chuckled a little and softly kissed my neck. "But in all seriousness, I think we'd be able to hold this many people if everyone was treated equally."
"Yeah... I think they use it as an excuse, though." Fernanda put her band to sleep and cuddled up to me. "As long as the population crisis is out there, they'll just say that we NEED capitalism, or everyone would live long lives with lots of kids and the population would grow even more."
I scoffed and shook my head. "Yeah, they just want to make sure only the poor are dying." Fernanda was silent, with a pensive look on her face. "What are you thinking about?" I asked.
Slowly, almost creepily, she turned to me and smiled. Her emerald eyes shone like a chemical fire. "We could change that."
"What?" I giggled. "Are you planning on murdering Charlie Bezos or something?"
"Maybe." She smirked, and rolled her leg over me. "We should burn down the Amazon headquarters together."
"Hot," I replied, wiggling my eyebrows. She rolled her eyes at the wordplay. I kissed her, softly at first and then with rising passion, my hand eventually lowering to her chest. She held the nape of my neck and finished rolling on top of me.
"Have you started your period?" she asked, starting to unbutton my shirt. I shook my head, and she smiled.
"I should be starting really soon, though, so you might not want to put your mouth down there." I chuckled. "You know, just in case."
Fernanda suddenly stopped pulling up my binder. "Babe, you've been saying that for weeks." Still straddling me, she tapped my wristband to turn the screen on so I could unlock it. "When exactly is it due?"
"August 1st," I answered from memory, pulling up my calendar to double check.
"What???" She swiped to the time and date screen on her own band and showed me. "It's the 27th. You should be almost due for another one by now!"
I shrugged, pulling my shirt off my shoulders at the same time. "It doesn't matter. I used to have irregular periods all the time."
"Yeah, when you were thirteen!" To my dismay, she started buttoning my shirt back up. "We're going to the doctor's."
"What, it's not like I'm pregnant," I groaned, and kissed her neck to distract her. She whimpered, but didn't stop.
"There's a dozen of health problems that could stop your periods. A lot of them need to be caught early. You're not on testosterone or period control, so I just want to be sure it's nothing to worry about. Please?" She gave me her famous puppy dog eyes, not quite the ones she used to ask for a blowjob but more urgent than those she'd use at the store. I groaned and finished putting my shirt on.
~~~~~☆~~~~~
The waiting room was stuffed, even at 7 something in the evening. Most health care has been getting more and more expensive, using social Darwinism as an excuse, but Planned Parenthood has been the most federally funded health program since 2050, so anyone who can spin their issue as a gynecological one does so to receive free or cheap care. Fortunately for me, they didn't check birth certificates, so all they knew was that I had a problem with my periods. They would probably start soon, though. I heard that someone somewhere was trying to pass a law to prevent Steriles from getting health care at places like Planned Parenthood. We didn't need abortions, and we didn't need prenatal care. They were trying to shrink the population anyway, so why would they care if a few of us died from cervical cancer?
"Jody?" called a nurse from the other side of the room. Fernanda and I crossed the sea of bored sick people, who would probably all wait at least an hour just like we did. The nurse let her come in with me, which I was grateful for. She was the one making me do this, anyway; why should I have to go in alone?
The nurse took my vitals--all normal, Fernanda!--and let us into an exam room literally seconds after another patient left. She told us it would probably be fifteen minutes or so until the doctor came in.
"Babe?" I asked. Fernanda looked up from her wristband and gave me what I hoped was her full attention. "I want to start a clinic someday. A free one, but one where people make appointments so maybe it's less crowded."
"That would probably require a degree," she pointed out. Neither of us was in college yet. We had taken a gap year--or two, or three. College was expensive, and someone without a college degree (love the irony) needed approximately 10 full time jobs to pay for it. Apparently a president way before I was born tried to make it free--I want to say Bill Sanders?--but he got assassinated two years into his presidency, and his plan was quickly reversed.
"Not if we made recruited a bunch of doctors and we only did the finances!"
"Then it would take money, which usually requires a degree."
I sighed and lay back on the table, and soon after there was a knock on the door. "Come in," I said, unsure. It had been way less than 15 minutes.
The nurse came back into the room with a sample cup. "I guess I was supposed to get a urine sample. Follow me, I'll show you to a bathroom."

When I got back to my room, Fernanda was still just waiting there, playing a game on her band. The doctor hadn't been in yet--of course. We waited for another 20 minutes, talking a lot about nothing, when there was another knock on the door. "Come in!" I sat up quickly, over-excited that they were (presumably) finally here. A woman in a lab coat opened the door, reading a file.
"So, Jody, I hear your period is overdue." I nodded. "Of course, every time someone comes in for that we take a pregnancy test--"
I snickered, accidentally interrupting her. She stopped, confused. "Sorry, it's just--you didn't need to do that. I'm sterile."
She rose her eyebrows and looked at my file again. "Not according to this, you're not."