Ada's Children: A Novel by Lawrence Hogue

Author:Lawrence Hogue
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: literary post-apocalyptic, artificial intelligence, climate change, strong female character, emotional science fiction, romantic sci-fi, AI takeover, climate fiction, Cli-fi, Post-apocalyptic literature
Publisher: Glass Half Full Books
Published: 2024-02-22T00:00:00+00:00

18 — REVELATION

NOVEMBER 2043

“You don’t say! I’ve never thought of that before.”

“Goo-goo, ahh!” baby Alice replied with a giggle. Her eyes gazing up at Carol’s, fascinated, rapt, just as Carol was. It was love, Carol was sure, though she didn’t know if a ten-week-old had the capacity for such an emotion. But it was clear Alice worshiped her, as she worshiped Alice. It was the most complete, absorbing relationship she’d ever had. How could she have hesitated to bring this little being into the world?

Nothing was as difficult as she’d feared. Mainly, the 2.5 UBI she was making, thanks to Cass’s recent Baby Credit, allowed her to take these six months off as maternity leave. No dealing with demanding students wanting her to rewrite their papers. No worries over bills or the rent. She’d even saved a bit for when the extra money stopped coming. She was glad the Cass administration had been shamed into showing it cared as much about life ex utero as in. Yet it was hard to stomach the eugenics implicit in a policy that benefited mainly white people, along with the few Asians left in the country.

Her social life had improved as well, thanks, surprisingly, to Megan. The young woman had come by the day after the demonstration to see if she was all right—an old-fashioned gesture, part of this generation’s rejection of digital communications. Maybe Megan would have left a calling card if Carol hadn’t answered the door.

But it was more than a gesture. Megan really seemed to have taken a liking to her, Carol wasn’t sure why. Maybe she’d managed to impart something valuable of her own activist experience? Or maybe Megan was looking for clues to navigating life in this radical gig economy (or conversely, how to avoid becoming a washed-up, redundant academic). Whatever, they’d had coffee several times before Carol revealed she was pregnant. Megan’s look of disbelief quickly changed to one of fascination. A baby was a rare thing anywhere, but especially in their university neighborhood, home mainly to students and a few retired or redundant profs, the young academics having disappeared as the AIs came in.

Megan had offered to help with whatever Carol needed while she was pregnant, but there was little to do. Carol’s apartment was too small to offer the opportunity of painting a room for the baby, and an IRL shopping spree for infant clothes was a thing of the past. Megan had to satisfy herself with helping pick out a crib from the panoply of options online, wondering if the monitoring features were truly necessary or just more spyware.

And with Megan had come a host of her friends; the prospect of a baby in the neighborhood was that intriguing. And it only helped when they learned who Alice’s namesake was: Alice Paul, a prominent twentieth-century feminist and proponent of the never-passed Equal Rights Amendment. Carol foresaw as much babysitting as she’d ever need, once she was able to let Alice out of her sight. Probably not until she turned ten.

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