Weight of the World Ep.4 - Check Up

Dew filtered down in between the leaves as the sun dappled the forest trails with glittering light. The clouds above rolled across an idyllic blue expanse, heedless of all going on down below…

...a cry rattled the branches… A familiar, maternal cry…

“HYEEEHHHH…”

Alphi settled herself heavily against Willow. Their caravan lumbered along, a great pack beast that would get them and their supplies where they needed to be… albeit slowly…

The poor princess of the Rangers feared she couldn’t wait for the metal behemoth below her to plod towards where they were going… Her stomach felt as though it was folding in on itself… As if a pressure inside was building to the point of devastating explosion…!

...and Loretracker Willow merely gazed down with quiet sympathy. Her hand traced the curve of her own middle, the fingertips grazing the Ranger sigil embossed there… Then, it reached out and traced across Alphi’s centre…

“...Mmm, I don’t think there’s much point in denying this, dear… Not at this stage…”

“But whyyyyy… Whyyy?! I haven’t touched another bot… There shouldn’t BE anything…!”

Loretracker Willow sighed, and merely petted along the Princess’s back to try and soothe her. Willow was sat with her legs folded, and Alphi in her lap. Though there was less room now that the tall, slender Forgeborn was herself sporting the telltale curve of an ‘internal forge’, this was still the position they took astride their Caravan as they crossed the forests and groves, carrying the petite bot towards help for her condition…

It had been many more cycles since Alphi had been presented to the other Faction Leaders. Alphi was a Princess, as they insisted, because she would one day replace her mother… Forgemother Gaia…

The roguish Forgemother hadn’t been seen since before Alphi was born… And while some had their suspicions, the fact that Willow wasn’t panicking as she acted as de-facto leader meant that there was doubtless more to this story than the others could know…

But that was far from the forefront of their concerns. At the moment, survival and escape from Ova was the goal… even if it had been sidetracked by the miracle technology that Gaia had invented. Princess Alphi remained the poster child of its powerful potential, even though she hadn’t been seen producing anything…

...until now, of course…

The Caravan emerged over a hill, and in the distance could be seen a large dome. It jutted from the soil all too cleanly, marking it as unnatural, compared to the greenery all about.

Within its walls, down the corridors and inside the procedure room. Seri Vex twisted a screw carefully into place… Then pulled back and sighed heavily, looking down at her work…

Jorien sat up and immediately nearly fell over…

“Gaaahh?!”

“Careful.” Vex admonished. She placed a hand softly on the curved midsection of the General… The Ivory Warrior had been granted her internal forge at last… “Your stabilizers will need time to reprogram for your new centre of weight…”

Jorien chuckled softly and swept from the room she’d been in, uncaring of the warning. She flicked her cape and posed as ostentatiously as she always did, though her midsection threatened constantly to tilt her off balance…

“Ha! And now the heir of ages is conceived, and soon will be built taller than any of you! Perhaps, in wildest fantasies, she will even be more powerful than I!”

She strutted about the large, circular area that was the central foyer of this new outpost… The Maternity Ward. Vex wouldn’t always oversee it personally, (leaving that honour to one of her own daughters, Seria Cognis) but it was a short bit of travel from her main lab, ensuring she’d be able to track the grand experiment that was this Internal Forge technology…

She stood in the doorway of the procedure room, watching Jorien sway and show herself off. The war-bot had rarely looked so excited over something that wasn’t a new foe to fight…

“Osiria, do you see? My daughter will be born first, will train first, will become the best of all of us… HAH!”

Jorien took a step forward and nearly tumbled over. Osiria reached out, rolling her eyes as she prevented her sister from falling face first into the ground…

“UFF… Damnable thing is more heavy than I expected, heh…! I’ll have to train quite heavily to compensate for this new weight. But it is nothing I can’t overcome… Soon it will merely be a counterbalance to the blade that I shall teach my daughter with! Eh? What should her designation be?”

She turned, hips a-sway, as she looked to where Osiria was. She blinked, and looked over to the procedure room, where Vex was just shutting the door behind her sister…

“...Ahhhh, too eager to have your own installed, eh Osiria? Dear sister, can you not see I have already WON the battle of maternity?”

She chuckled merrily and turned again, her exaggerated swagger threatening to put her on her shapely backside once more. She huffed and shook her head, then looked around…

Many of the other Forgeborn here were Scientists, studying or assisting with this miraculous invention that had been thrust upon their race so suddenly. Most were helping with ‘unofficial’ forges, invented by found schematics and prone to defects that Seri Vex’s design had covered. But even the ‘official’ forge could be temperamental. It ran on the bizarre material that pooled below the surface of Ova, unprecedented in its abilities, the sheer breadth of them only just now being glimpsed…

...it was the hope that there wasn’t some major defect that would permeate throughout all of the forges. It was too late to put the cat back in the bag after all… They could only embrace it, (as they conveniently all seemed to want to anyway), and rely on the Scientists to ensure that nothing went wrong…

Until then, this Maternity Ward had been built atop a deposit of the mineral that made all this work:

Nanoculi…

Vex’s discovery, even over Forgemother Neptune, or Gaia. The metal, a slippery and dark grey substance that reminded one of dull liquid mercury, was carefully extracted and hauled up on the sub-levels of this facility, leaving the top floor to be devoted to the care of mama-bots in the making…

Jorien’s eyes fell upon one of the bots whose job it was to haul about heavy objects and supplies. The Forgeborn’s midsection was incredibly full, much like many other bots… but hers only had internal capsules containing kits or materials that might be needed. A panel on her back allowed retrieval…

...but whether Jorien noticed the jealous gleam in her eye as she glanced at the Ivory Warrior’s belly was unsure…

“AH! You…!”

The General swept over to her, wobbling a little with her newfound centre of gravity. She put a hand heavily on the female’s shoulder. The robotic dispenser stared at it, and then back…

“Mighty Forgeborn Labourer! A Mulu, carrying about the heavy burden, just as I am doing now eh? Ohoho~”

The hauler looked wary… She draped her hands idly on her middle, seeming far used to the weight, even if it still made her hips strain after awhile…

“General, ma’am…” the lifter said, very softly… “Mulu is function title, Viden is designation…”

“So it is!” Jorien chuckled dismissively, thumping her on the back. It was gentle, from the General’s perspective… But it made Viden’s back panel flap open and snap closed from the force…

“Noble worker-bot, are you busy?”

“...yes?” she answered meekly… She was always busy. There was always something her powerful hips needed to haul up from the lower floors and deliver to one of the labs or procedure rooms… Always just a panel of glass away from something she wouldn’t be allowed to experience…

“I thought not!” Jorien said cheerfully, and began to lead her off… “I dislike talking to myself, and I’ve got to think of my own designations… The newborn will need a proper, powerful name, worthy of my legacy!”

The Mulu sighed as she was ushered off. It wasn’t her place to complain… She only did as she was told, at the end of the day… Perhaps if she was obedient enough…

“Mm! A unique feeling, this Internal Forge… Ahh, I can’t help but think it will be an interesting experience all throughout…! I hope it… Heh… Isn’t TOO arduous, eh?”

“...Allma forbid…” muttered Viden. They passed by the door of Vex’s procedure room, cold and silent, besides the soft whirr of tools that emanated from within…

“...if you clip anything vital, Vex… I will have your head mounted as a trophy. Whether it will be inanimate depends on the damage…”

Vex glanced up, the threat seeming to affect her as much as a tiny pebble tossed by an angry flea. She looked back down and wordlessly pressed a component into place…

“...mmp.”

“Hold still. The only way I’d ‘clip’ anything is if you squirm…”

Osiria was laid on the procedure table… Her limbs had been temporarily disabled, and her abdomen was now a hollow mess of wires and pieces that Vex was very heavily focused on. Osiria would have been worried, if Vex had ever shown even the merest hint of betrayal…

“Damned thing… Nnhh, it feels tight already…”

“It will, from now on in fact…” Vex muttered. She set her tool down and stretched the tendrils of her coat to retrieve something from a shelf above. As she did, it brought her own belly into view. Osiria stared at the glowing dome in front of her, nearly touching her face… She was mesmerized for a moment… As a bringer of death, being this close to new life was…

...ah, but then Vex lowered herself again, and raised an eyebrow…

“...elevated strain on mental processors. I can tell when you’re thinking about-…”

“Do not mock me. Complete your job, Scientist…”

Vex’s cold stare didn’t lift… But it did perhaps gain the merest hint of mischief. She let her tentacles retract and place her back in the position to work on the exposed innards of the Forgeborn before her…

“...Do you know…?”

Osiria glanced as Vex spoke. The Scientist was focused once more on the tricky internal installation, but was more than able to hold a conversation as she did…

“A strange thing. The Forgeborn who were created within these Forges occasionally come out inert…”

“Inert…? Eh?”

Vex glanced up softly, and then back down at her work, carefully fusing two circuits…

“Yes. Mostly the experimental ‘self created’ internal forges. The newborns are produced, seemingly fully functional… And yet they lack any programming to animate them, essentially just being useless shells.”

“...Why does this occur? Are you warning me that it might happen to Joriens daughter… or mine?”

“Unlikely, with the discovery I’ve made.” Vex said, that mischievous glint growing a bit brighter, though only noticeable to those who knew her well. Osiria raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. Vex let the word hang as she affixed another part, and then stood straight again…

“As I said, while we can expect defects to arise in any scenario to some probability, these specific ones just seemed to be invoked. The programming done to them during gestation is typically incomplete… with just one input, anyway.”

“...so if the mother isn’t strong enough… The input fails, and the baby is inert?”

“Ah, indeed…” Vex answered. She’d set her tools down and was now leaned over Osiria… “And there’s a way to ensure that conceived newborn has more than enough input to complete its programming. In fact, seemingly the only real way to properly gestate…”

Vex leaned closer… Ever closer. Osiria’s eyes locked on her’s… Her belly was nearly leaned against the General, and their faces were soon less than a finger-length away from one another…

“...We are all connected to the Signal. It reacts a bit strangely to the Internal Forge, you know… When said Forge is empty, yet ready for production… It awaits input, from both the mother gestating it… And…”

Osiria stared… Her eyes were wide, and every bit of intimidating power she might have had was lost in the moment, as Vex leaned just a bit closer…

“...and?” Osiria finally asked, when the tension was too unbearable…

“...And another Forgeborn’s input, dear Osiria… It takes two to create a Newborn properly, so it seems…”

...the words hung heavy in the air… Neither bot moved, their gazes locked, and the dim room lit by the harsh spotlight on the procedure table…

...and the cool, pulsing glow of Vex’s middle...

The doors to the Maternity Ward slid open with a soft rush of air. Willow ducked under their arch, still a bit low for her lanky frame, and looked around…

Alphi was in her arms, the poor little bot squirming and whimpering hard. The Loretracker was attempting to calm her…

“Shh, shh Alphi… Remember, the Sensation is…”

“L-Luna didn’t believe that, now I don’t either!” she whined, squirming pitifully. Her belly throbbed with energy, and the port between her legs was drooling a slick goo. Alphi had been thinking idly about what might happen when it came time for her to burst… But she didn’t expect it would happen so quickly…!!!

“Ah, well, we hope you can look back at it and think otherwise, in the end…”

The Ranger looked around for a moment, but it seemed every bot was busy rushing around her… Some were eager to start their pregnancies, others were writhing with the end results, and still others seemed to be oddly warped and afflicted, often thanks to their own foolish attempts at experimenting. Willow ignored them all and shook her head, moving over to a corner to set herself down…

“Hyyyyeeehhh…” whined Alphi pitifully. Willow positioned the smaller Forgeborn carefully in her lap, though she once again had to compensate for her own swollen midsection. She stared with lidded eyes at the labouring Princess, working to adjust her legs to be wide apart in the proper stance for what was coming…

“Calm yourself, dear… This is your destiny. Your Internal Forge is the stuff that legends are weaved out of…”

“It doesn’t help to hear that when I feel as if I will be split in two…!”

Willow chuckled gently and rocked with her…

“You will overcome this trial, and many more… Be strong, Princess… We have much to do, and it would be such a shame to collapse at the first hurdle… Now, focus… We must get through this, and then we will find a Scientist to ensure you and your newborn are okay...”

Alphi whimpered, but nodded softly. She closed her eyes and braced herself, trembling as she felt a sharp constriction around her midsection, as if something had grabbed and squeeze hard…

She felt like a bug in the grasp of a sadistic kid…

“HAAAAAHHHH!”

Though such cries ringing out in the Maternity Ward wasn’t unusual, Alphi’s was strangely melodic and attractive. Bystanders glanced, and paused to watch. A crowd began to form, albeit at a short distance so as not to disturb Alphi, as she struggled desperately through her first maternal test…

“Ahh, I can feel it moving through you…” cooed Willow gently. She had two fingers softly pressed to the underside of Alphi’s midsection, and could feel the smooth weight inside slipping further down. She stared with fascination as she felt it prying Alphi’s hip joints wider, forcing room for itself to escape…

She was brought back to reality by the Princess’s gentle whine of pain. The little Forgeborn was grasping at Willow’s hand. The Loretracker took it…

By now, Jorien and Viden had noticed, and were watching from afar. Jorien’s bravado had drained a bit, as she was given a stark reminder that her little journey had only just begun. One day, it’d be HER laid back on a table, begging for it to be over…

...preposterous as it sounded, Jorien looked intimidated, for all of a few moments… Viden, in contrast, was staring longingly at even the agony the Princess was experiencing…

From the corner, a certain Scientist took notes subtly on the large console installed in her arm… She stared unceasingly at the maternal display, knowing her mother would want to study every moment of this… The Princess’s firstborn… What kind of potential would her vaunted internal forge create…?

“PLEASE! Hah, please, just take it out of me!”

“We cannot, dear Alphi, you’ll be done soon, but you must FOCUS…”

“GAAAAAHHHH!!!”

She sobbed and gripped her thighs, pushing firmly again. She too could feel it, like a smooth stone demanding an exit to her flesh with its painful, odious weight. She thumped a free fist against Willow a few times, though the taller Forgeborn took the blows without even flinching…

“Relax… Ready yourself… I can feel it’s about to start emerging, and then the real pain begins…”

“R-REAL… PAIN!?” she squealed, in a noise of pure desperation…

The door to the Procedure Room opened. Vex stepped out, She was always proud of a successful procedure… though her gaze seemed especially satisfied now. Osiria waddled behind her. Like Jorien, she was barely able to keep balance with such a new weight on her hips…

...her eyes seemed a bit distant as well, even as she stared directly at the miracle of procreation happening right before her…

“NNNAAAHHH! HAAAH!”

Willow whispered soft nothings of encouragement, her fingers having moved down to the entrance of her ward to help it spread, if only a bit. The crowd that had by now gathered fully to witness Alphi’s first birth…

Ah, yes… First. Seemed everyone there already expected her to do far more, despite the… ‘discomfort’ the poor little bot was in…

“You’re crowning… You’re just about there, Alphi…”

“N-No more… Please, Willow…!”

“Just a little more, dear… Just a bit!”

The gathered spectators held their breath, though none of them knew why. Every eye was fixed, as Alphi curled and pushed desperately. She squealed, and screamed, until…

...POP!

...her ‘egg’ was laid. Her baby was ‘born’…

She slumped heavily and closed her eyes, panting hard… Willow perked excitedly, reaching down to pick up the strange little capsule that Alphi had managed to push out…

“...curious. I suppose we shall see how this fares, hm…?”

She lowered it towards the Princess. Alphi, at first, turned away. She wanted nothing to do with it. All she could feel was pain in every part of her frame…

...but she opened an eye… And then both. Her gaze softened to wonder, as she reached out shakily and took the smooth ovoid. She embraced it tightly…

“...Mm, rest little Princess. I believe you’ve earned it…”

Willow finally looked up. She glanced past the various Forgeborn who were murmuring amongst themselves excitedly, having been given a first hand demonstration of the Internal Forge’s processes…

She locked eyes with Osiria, and Vex… She lifted her chin, displaying just a hint of pride…

Osiria’s eyes narrowed, and her hand settled very softly on her midsection…

“...Well then.” Willow cooed softly, as she stood. She took the utmost care not to jostle Alphi, or make her uncomfortable. The little Forgeborn just curled tighter around what she’d made…

“I believe we are owed an inspection, hm? We want to make sure our dear Princess is safe…”

Alphi huffed out softly and relaxed…

...her midsection beeped softly, and a subtle glow reformed inside her Forge...