BEATS PER LIFE

By Alice Kuo Shippee

Entry into Round 1 of the NYC Midnight 250-Word Microfiction Challenge

GENRE: SCI FI

PROMPT: Must include the action of taking heart rate and the word “tend”

Solis lay on the exam table as the midwife passed the scanner over her chest. The reading hovered in hologram between them: 69 bpm. Low but still normal for 34 weeks. Solis breathed slowly and deeply, willing her heart to stay calm, knowing she would have to make a decision now. 

The midwife hated this part of the final pre-birth exam. She had signed up to help bring life into the world, not deliver the news that five hundred years ago, only people’s gods would know. She swiped a few calculations into the air and then moved the transparent screen off to the side where Solis couldn’t see it. Before she pulled up the result, she asked, “Do you want to know your terminal numbers?”

Solis closed her eyes against the enormity of knowing. The doctor had told her the information wasn’t important–it was what she would do with it. 

The midwife waited patiently. She never pulled up the numbers unless a patient said they wanted to know. She hoped Solis would say no. Once, the computer had revealed a calculation of IX.1-6, nine months, one week, and six days left for a mother to live. Another time, only 0.3-2 (three weeks, 2 days). When mothers did the math and realized even XVIII.0-0 would only get them to their child’s academy graduation, no amount of time was ever enough. But mothers tend to want to know.

Solis opened her eyes. 

“Go ahead. Tell me.”

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