"I wonder what would happen if...," Mary's train of thought led her to drinking the same vial once again. She picked up the Female Human vial and gulped it all down.
She had to wait even longer for the effects this time. As the minutes ticked by, Mary tested her air-filled belly. She smooshed her hands into it and almost passed out from the pressure. When she pulled her hands back, her stomach snapped back into shape in the most unreal feeling Mary had ever experienced. She jiggled her hips around and watched her belly wobble along with it.
Finally, she felt something deep inside her body. It was like a little marble had been plunked into her gut. Then she felt her stomach getting heavier. No, it wasn't her stomach. Something was growing inside her belly's air pocket. She watched as her flesh shifted and sank a little. The air was being completely replaced by something large and warm.
"Oof," Mary gasped. Her baby had just kicked her. She hated when it did that. If only it would give her a little warning.
"Well, I guess that's what I get for trying to use these silly things," Mary said to her baby. She patted her large bulge. "I'd better not use them until you're born. If these things turn out to really work, who knows what they would do to you while you're inside me?"
She thought back to eight months ago, when she first realized she was pregnant. According to the tests, the baby didn't belong to her boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend, that is. He left her shortly after finding out the baby wasn't his. But Mary had never slept with anyone else in years. She couldn't understand how all the tests could have come up negative. Unless it was a virgin birth, but how crazy would that be?
She sighed as she started to get dressed for work. The baby was due in just a few weeks, and even though she had already arranged the maternity leave, Mary had a lot of doubts. How could she raise this child on her own?