Surrogate fourteen's screams ripped through the air to join the others. She clutched at her stomach, blood pooling between her feet.

    "Magnificent."

    "You think it's magnificent that by morning all of our surrogates will be dead?"

    "You know what I meant."

    "Do I? Since this project began you've lost yourself to it."

    "How could I not? How have you not? Look what we've created."

    "To what end? The death of a hundred women."

    "To ensure the survival of the human race."

    "We're not even sure there will ever be a need for them."

    "It's better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them."

    "The children will be monsters."

    "They'll be gods."

    "They have no place in the natural world."

    One by one the cacophony of screams died and was replaced by slurping.