F R O B I E S

The cesarian went well until they left her wide open. 

The midwife spoke to the orderly.

Here. Take it downstairs. Quickly.

Pat Stran came to and tried to rise. Her stomach was slit from top to bottom, blood welling up and brimming in her belly.

My baby. Where's my baby?

Pat, I'm so sorry to have to  tell you this. Your baby died during the procedure. The umbilical had strangled him and we opened you up too late.

Where is my baby you fucking bitch!

Now, now Pat. Ive just explained to you. Your son was dead. Stillborn. You're bound to feel guilty but it's not your fault. Just lie there and a nurse will be along to stitch you up.

The midwife walked out leaving Pat to flail on the gurney like a gutted carp.

The next day Pat was released from hospital back into the sprawling city of Suck.

Her sutures had been roughly done and the wound already seeped. The pain was unbearable but she staggered to the AI mine, where Zal her husband worked keeping the towers cool for the rich folks in Cedar City.

Pat shambled into the office and begged the grizzled supervisor to fetch Zal.

Just this once. He's busy! 

Zal rushed from the sweat caves to find his wife gasping in the floor.

Zal, oh Zal! Our son! He's dead! Our baby died! They told me our baby had died!

The man shouted to the supervisor to get a doctor quick but his slow coasting would ensure none came in time. This was the lot of those unfortunate enough to live in the vast slums of Suck and Zal felt helpless as he clutched the hand of his dying wife on what should have been the happiest day of their miserable lives. 

No one lived long in Suck. No one lived well. Everyone was starving and precious babies died.

Not like Cedar City across the river, where the children were fat with excess food and their brains swilling with the latest lessons from super exclusive AI schooling.

Everything was peachy in the Cedars.

Everything sucked elsewhere.

Zal was bereft. His beautiful girl lying cold on the office floor. No room for love, no money for funerals. He knew Pat would be tossed into the river without so much as a thank you for your shit short life.

She's dead. Get back to work Stran. Those banks won't fan themselves! 

The brutal boss man shoved Zal hard. It knocked him off balance and he fell head first over Pat's setting body.

Why you mean fuc....!

Seeing red, Zal was about give the supervisor what he deserved, a damn good hiding, even though he knew it would most certainly end up in his own death sentence. 

Suddenly, as he rose, he saw something on his wife's wristband. 

Something strange. 

One single word. 

FROBY.

He stared at it and for a second wondered if he and Pat had come up with it as a name but he knew they hadn't. There'd been no real time but they'd half-settled on Apple.

He would be the apple of their eyes in a world of dire consequences. Life in Suck saw to that, the twin evils of penury and starvation trapping them in Hell on Earth.

What does FROBY mean?

The supervisor ignored the flaming anger in the worker's voice.

Get up and get back to work!

Zal lunged upwards and grabbed the middling boss by the scruff of his coat and screamed in his face.

What the fuck does FROBY mean you heartless bastard!

I ... I ... Think it's something to do with Cedar City. 

What! The fuckin Cedars! How?

I dunno. Honest. I dunno! I heard the top gaffer saying he'd be getting a FROBY soon and he lives in the Cedars. He's a rich guy. 

Zal let go of the collar and threw the man to the ground.

He loomed over him, fists clenched.

What's his fucking name? The big boss?

Tsardom Ro.

Zal stormed out of the building whispering a tearful farewell to his wife.

Goodbye Pat my love. I promise you that I will find out what happened to our son. I promise you on my life.

The vengeful husband crept gingerly into the execs' car port and avoiding the sleeping guard, he found the vast, pristine and neon- illuminated spot for VP Ro.

Zal shook his head. The sheer luxury of the AI-clouded sports car sat there was overwhelming, it's value no doubt more than the whole of Suck's million rickety wrecks put together.

You flash entitled twat Ro!

Used to tight spaces in the AI caves, the embittered man slid under the car and bundled himself in the air cavity below the mainframe.

He didn't need to wait long before Tsardom Ro rushed to his bay and opened the gull-wing. He was chatting excitedly on his comms.

Darling Darling, out wait is over! I'm on my way. Meet me at Frobies at three. 

Zal heard that word again. Froby. This time the plural. What the fuck does it mean? He grasped the suspension and the sportster glided out of the car park and onto the freeway to Cedar City across the river.

The bridge across the waters was made of glass, the super wealthy wishing to see the detritus of the world float by as they entered the salubrious grandeur of their gated existence. 

Zal saw too.

He saw bodies. 

Countless female bodies drifting downstream to the far Ocean's empties and among them his own beloved Pat, hurled into the drink like a kitten sack along with all the rest of Suck's dead mothers.

What the fuck is going on?

Zal grimaced. He wretched and knew instinctively that some heinous fuckery was happening in the City of the rich. He just didn't know what but he'd vowed to find out no matter what.

With the Cedar gates closed again, it was nearly three and Tsardom Ro revved to a standstill in the VIP space outside a huge store. 

His gull-wing door let him out and he greeted his beautiful enhanced girlfriend Zoos. 

This is it Zoosy. This is it! 

Ecstatic for some as yet unknown reason, Zal watched the bouncing couple hop into the enormous shop. 

Unfurling from under the chassis he stood in the shadows and stared at the stores name sign.

F R O B I E S

Entering the building through a unguarded side-door, the man from Suck scurried between empty plastic boxes, which he instantly recognized as incubators. Baby incubators from hospitals.

What the .....!

Zal clambered further in and held a door ajar. He could hear voices and recognized Ro's educated speech nearby. He crawled into the main store and his behind what felt like a refrigerator. It was long and he could see it was one of many stretching across the vastness of the shop floor. 

Good afternoon Mr. Ro and Miss. Zoos. We have been waiting for you. As you know from our communications this morning, a brand new opportunity has arisen in our mint stock. An opportunity I doubt you will want to miss and hence my enthusiasm in inviting you in.

The shopkeeper rubbed his hands together like a bluebottle. 

It is the unending woe of our safe Cedars life that exclusivity brought with it infertility and that fine residents like your good selves should endure its barren emptiness. 

But we at Frobies have decreed to reverse that woe and turn it into a lifetime of happiness for our gorgeous elite and a childhood of privilege for those less fortunate, the unwanted newborns of penniless mothers in Suck across the river, who remain forever-grateful to the kindness of Cedar's welcoming couples but also for those great citizens with more immediate and discerning tastes.

And so it is my great pleasure to offer you both this latest product, an infant of the subtlest texture, with AI- hints, from thankful and less-fortunate donors. Here he is, their, as yet, freshly frozen baby.

Oh my! Oh my!

Zoos swooned into her boyfriend's arms and tearing up burbled gleefully.

He's lovely, simply delectable! We'll take him! We'll take him home! He'll be perfect! Just perfect! 

Ah, splendid! He is indeed a wonderful Froby.

The storekeeper cooed and held the plump shrink-wrapped infant aloft. 

From his hidden position Zal could see contents of the long chest freezers traversing the store.

Jesus Christ! There's hundreds of them. All frozen babies taken from Suck! Those fuckin bastards!

And then in a moment of terrible realization he understood the shops name. Frobies. Frozen Babies! 

Bewildered by the sheer scale of the injustice he was witnessing, Zal looked up and caught  the label underneath the baby in The new mother's arms.

To his complete horror he read the name

STRAN!

Oh my dear God! Our son! Christ in heaven, it's our son Pat! 

Fuelled by a burgeoning outpouring rage Zal was about to spring from behind the freezer to rescue their child, when a posse of well-armed security guards wearing FROBIES jackets cornered him with a ring of Kalashnikovs. 

What do have we here? An intruder from Suck no less! 

That's my fucking son over there in that woman's arms! 

Be quiet Suck scum! Who the fuck cares about your shitty offspring!

The lead guard radioed the storekeeper for a destination for Zal.

He received one word.

FRODULTS.

Yes Sir!

Turning to Zal, he hit him squarely in the gut with his rifle butt.

Let's be having you Suck filth! We've a brand new store opening across the road! You'll look superb in the window!

Zal groaned in pain but still managed to overhear the salesman's final patter.

Shall I thaw the little tyke out for you to rear to infancy or are you entertaining and therefore keep him freshly wrapped?

Then Zal heard the real and truly horrific motivation of the couple pressing his son's hard face.

Tsardom Ro beamed at the shop assistant.

Oh, shrink-wrapped please! Yes, keep him frozen.

Oh Tsardom, what a fabulous dinner we'll put on for our friends. I can't wait to walk out of the kitchen with this prize frozen specimen roasted to total perfection. It's going to be spectacular! The best one yet!

Zal Stran's mind imploded. 

They were going to cook their son for their friends!

Thinking only of his beloved Pat and his earnest vow as she lay dying, Zal, with a Herculean leap, lurched past the guards towards the drooling couple, shouting out his son's name.

APPLE! WE WERE GOING TO CALL HIM APPLE YOU CANNIBALISTIC FUCKERS!

The pair looked across the store and saw the crazed man bounding towards them. The storekeeper quickly lead them away to his office but not before whispering into his radio.

Kill him!

Several shots rang out and then, total silence.

As the couple took possession of their new purchase in a large FROBIES carrier bag, Zoos looked through the sound-proofed office window.

Who was that?

Oh, just some vagrant from Suck determined to spoil your meal.

Oh, nothing could spoil our annual newborn dinner could it Zoos!

Tsardom smiled at his girlfriend.

It's a super idea though Zoosy. An apple! We'll stuff an apple in its mouth just before we wheel him out!

The shopkeeper clapped his hands.

Oh yes! How succulent! A wonderfully personal touch I agree!