Perfect Match: The Pinocchio Project

Morning

It was a typical morning in Kai's apartment. Sloane was cooking breakfast as the others entered from their bedrooms.

"Good morning, Damien!" Sloane said cheerfully.

"Shut up," Damien growled. "Nothing good about a morning when it's a brand new mattress and you still wake up tired and sore."

"Damn!" Kai exclaimed. "All that time fighting Eros, and we forgot about Damien's chiropractor appointment."

Nadia was practically bouncing as she came in. "Good morning everyone!" she exclaimed.

"Nadia!" Sloane exclaimed. "You are looking positively radiant today!"

"I know!" Nadia giggled. "Oh my GOSH, guys, Steve is just the BEST!"

Kai's mouth dropped open. "Steve? You mean, our Steve? The Match?" he asked, confused. The only time he had seen any woman glow like this was when she was pregnant.

"No, dummy, Steve Buscemi!" Nadia said, glowering at Kai. "Of course I mean Steve the Match! Oh my GOD, he's incredible... I'm pregnant with his baby," she went on, talking to the room at large.

Damien spit out a mouthful of coffee. "What?!" he exclaimed in total shock and disbelief. "But that's not supposed to be possible!"

"I think," Sloane said as she served breakfast to the room, "that it is possible. Highly improbable, yes, but possible."

"Explain," Kai said, as Damien glowered at her. Sloane sighed.

"Well..." she began. "In our early days working at Eros, Khaan and I were in research and development, working on a project which we codenamed 'Pinocchio.'

"Our goal with Pinocchio was to take a Match and replace the artificial innards with human parts which we grew from stem cells. The result was supposed to be a human being which was complete in every anatomical sense, even being capable of reproduction.

"Unfortunately, by the time we had perfected the project, our department came under new management by the name of Ernest Montmartre. When we submitted Pinocchio, he rejected it, saying that it didn't reflect the direction in which Rowan West was interested in taking Eros. He demoted Khaan and me to constructing the Matches, cut our pay, and ordered every trace of the Pinocchio Project destroyed."

Kai pounded the table in anger. Of course he did, that Eros bloodsucker! he thought. Why invest in something that can actually help people when you can be an instrument in taking over the world?!

"Of course," Sloane went on, "some of our coworkers sympathized with us, and implemented some of our Pinocchio research into some Matches." She nodded at Nadia before continuing, "Steve may have gotten a human reproductive system."

Hayden looked downcast. Kai put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Hayden?" he asked. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"

"Kai..." She looked at him with sad eyes. "You know I love you, right? I mean, really love you. It's not just my program... I really, truly love you."

"Shhh..." Kai whispered. "Of course I know. I love you too and I always will, no matter what. So what's the problem?"

Hayden sighed. "I feel like something has been missing in our life together."

"What do you mean?" Kai asked.

Hayden looked deeply into Kai's eyes and sighed. "I want a baby."

Kai smiled. "Well, that's no problem. I'm sure we can find someone to adopt—"

"No," Hayden replied. "I mean... I want... our baby. I want you to impregnate me, I want the whole childbirth experience."

Kai's smile dropped along with his heart. "But that's impossible!" he exclaimed. "You heard what Sloane said... We can't make a Match into a human being."

"Actually..." Sloane cut in. "That might not be entirely true."

"What do you mean?" I asked, turning to her along with the room at large.

"Khaan may have backed up our Pinocchio research off-site."