A World Too Far (Terran Trilogy Book 1) by Sheron Wood McCartha

Author:Sheron Wood McCartha [McCartha, Sheron Wood]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science fiction space exploration
Publisher: Digital Imagination Publishing
Published: 2016-09-10T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

New Life

As John guided her into a back section of the Medlab, she heard a strange cheeping noise.

“What’s that sound?”

His face held a wide, annoying grin. “You’ll see.”

He took her to a large cabinet with a five-foot-wide drawer that was four feet deep and opened it with a flourish. She peered in and observed a mound of yellow fluff that sorted itself out to be a crop of baby chicks.

Reaching in, he placed one in the palm of her hands.

“Baby chicks! How in the world?” She raised her head to give him a quizzical look.

His fingers brushed the sturdy incubator. “The magic of science. Already, I have trained half the fleet’s medical personnel in the cloning procedure.” He waved a hand at two nearby incubators. “In there, I’ve got pygmy goats. They will be decanted four shifts from now. Andy Hawthorne is over the moon…well, not actually the moon...too far away. Let’s just say that he’s ecstatic about the possibilities.”

“They’re absolutely amazing.”

The soft down tickled her hand. A squawk of protest erupted from the small bird at the indignity of its capture. “I knew you were busy, but I never dreamed you were thawing out embryos.”

“These are not thawed. They were created from stem cells from our two healthy chickens.” His hand tightened on her arm. Then he took the chick and placed it back with its noisy siblings, gazing after it with a proud expression on his face.

“You haven’t seen the best part.” He took her to a heavy metal door and placed his hand over a plate. He leaned in and placed his eye in front of a camera. The door clicked open.

She pulled back a bit, but he tugged her forward as excited as a kid at Christmas.

They entered a small room that felt warm and moist. Five large incubators lined the back wall. Through glass observation panes, she saw curled fetuses of some sort of animal.

“What’s that?” She moved closer to get a clearer view.

He tapped the nearest incubator. “This one is you.”

It took her a few minutes to process his words. What in the world has he done now?

“Or rather your clone.”

She felt him study her reaction.

Shocked at the invasion of her privacy, yet amazed at the science that could accomplish such a deed, she stood speechless, trying to sort out her feelings.

She’d heard of cloned animals on Earth before they’d left in the ship, but she hadn’t been aware of any successful attempts at cloned humans.

“The second tank is me.” His eyes twinkled. “I know, I know…the horror of more than one John Luttrell in the universe is hard to fathom, but this way we can replenish the ships and provide colonists for the future. You and I will eventually grow old and die. After reviewing medical records, I suspect that our current crew and settlers have become sterile. This provides a solution. We will need a larger population if we want to survive on an alien planet.” He gazed down. “Not a perfect solution, but until I perfect the process, or reverse our sterility, it’ll have to do.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.