Gabby was 15 when she became mother to her first baby.
"Congratulations! You have had a baby boy. Do you wish to see your baby?"
"Yes, please!"
"Stand by."
And there he was, on the screen, a small wrinkled, red skinned baby.
"But he isn't cute!" Gabby said, disappointed.
"Cuteness comes as they grow," the voice said. "Do you wish to meet the father?"
"I guess so," Gabby said.
A man appeared on the screen. He was much older than Gabby, a little scruffy.
"Hi," he said. "I'm Seth. Like, this isn't awkward at all, is it?"
"The two of you, as parents, have naming rights of the child," the voice said. "I will give you one hour to decide."
"Any ideas?" Seth asked.
"I dunno, what do you think of Luke?"
"I guess that could do," Seth said. "I've run out of ideas."
"Have you other children?"
"I've fathered about fifty-two," Seth said. "Don't look shocked. They say I have good genetic material. And I've been around a long time. How old are you, anyway?"
"Fifteen."
"Shit," it was Seth's turn to look shocked, "you could be my own daughter."
"What was it like before?" Gabby asked.
"Before all humans had to go into quaranteen? Well, there was a lot of hurt back then, but a lot of love and happiness too. People could touch, back then. Hug, kiss, make love, make a baby the natural way. I didn't think I'd miss it so much. The virus came, and we couldn't touch any more. The few people that were uninfected, well, we had to go into isolation. Forever. We set up this system, artificial insemination, so the Human race would not die out."
He sighed. "We let the computers make the decisions for us now. We turn out perfect people, with no genetic defects. But we still can't move out of isolation. It's too dangerous."
"That's alright, I have my screen friends. I think my life is pretty good." Gabby smiled.
Seth smiled back. "You young people, you won't miss what you never had, I guess. Luke will be perfect. Thank-you for the baby. I hope you look in on him from time to time. He's your first, he's special."
Seth disappeared from the screen. Gabby regarded the baby for a little while, but really, all it did was sleep. Not very interesting.
It was class time. Gabby switched the screen to her tutor.
The baby would be O.K. with the robots.