Adam: The last man

Chapter 1: Honeycomb

"Just as the male in the bee colony is a mere bug that dies after fulfilling its function with the queen, our males have gone the same way ..."

Teresa was getting out of class —her last year of the university. The young black-haired girl sneaked towards the closed library; objective: borrow a book. The university and the school combined, making the process more dynamic; most students finished at nineteen and twenty-one.

Her blonde friend followed her. She had to get the book because they would soon visit the city's icon, Eden's sanctuary of fertility. After visiting Eden, the professor advised them they had to take a test. Teresa clearly remembered that the professor had told them about that place. Even though she fell asleep for a few seconds, she could hear those words echoing in her ears.

"Although, not everything was terrible. With the diminishing of men, we soon realized that humanity's problems also decreased. The new feminist movement strengthened and celebrated. They created the Alternative Eden to clone ourselves to have a baby girl. Something that wasn't possible back then, we made it possible."

Her friend Kariba took her by the hand to walk. Above all, many girls formed couples, especially those with a best friend, and to Teresa, to be honest, it didn't matter. Since their childhood, most women got together, but Kariba accompanied her almost all of her adolescence. However, no one had asked Teresa if she wanted to be her girlfriend. She wouldn't say no, but for the moment, she had more important things to worry about. Now that she was soon finishing her studies, she wanted to take part in the PW organization.

"We didn't have enough time to save a good genetic code of a man, of one that was ages ago. Nowadays, we have Eden, an exclusive place where only women with lots of money can access the sperm of only a few 'males' that we keep there. Those men aren't what they used to be; they are tiny atrophied beings without intelligence and exist only by instinct."

"If an impregnated woman with that sperm gives birth to a male, something that would rarely happen, she is obligated to return him into the association. She would be given another chance to be impregnated again."

Many were surprised, they had heard something like that, but not the whole story; most women prefer not to tell their daughters. It wasn't an important matter for them. It's been ages since anyone has given importance to that lost generation.

The girls heard a scream, and they stopped, alarmed. A woman ran after the guards of the PW (Power to Women). One carried a small bundle wrapped in a blanket while the other detained the mother. Two drones from Eden imprisoned her with magnetic cuffs; she was twisting and turning on the floor, and the guards left her crying in a fetal position. That only happened if one tried to hide the baby. As the professor said, it should be turned in if it was a male. They would take him to Eden to use his sperm until his reproductive cycle finished and he died.

Teresa felt bad for the woman but not for the baby; all in all, they lacked meaning and consciousness, at least that's what the professor said... at least, so it seemed.

They have shown them an ancient image of a man without 3D effect and movement. It was someone like them, but with shorter hair and what seemed to be a flat chest. It looked like a woman, tall and weird; wow, he was ugly. He was standing next to a lake, and they saw that it wasn't a big deal. Since only their sperm were required to reproduce, many didn't need to exist. So Teresa thought that whatever happened to men's fall was logical and inevitable.

The young women hide behind some containers from the back of the faculty. Kariba took out a magnet and re-configured the particular lock, opening it during the process. They quickly went to the library and found the book in the antique and classics section. Teresa stood on the tips of her toes to reach for the book as soon as she saw it on the shelves, but when pulling it out, another book fell and struck her head. She had to stay silent and hold it in; her friend warned her to be careful even though it was already too late.