Forbidden Knowledge by Stephen R. Donaldson

Author:Stephen R. Donaldson [Donaldson, Stephen R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, General, Thermopyle; Angus (Fictitious character), Hyland; Morn (Fictitious character), Fiction
ISBN: 9780553297607
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 1992-06-30T23:00:00+00:00

Unnecessarily gentle, since she was in no condition to know what anyone did, the Amnioni kept her asleep while it worked. It stretched her out in the crèche; with its deft secondary arms, it removed her shipsuit and set it beside her.

Blood was drawn. Electrodes were attached to her skull, to the major muscle groups in her arms and legs.

Then an alien serum was injected into her veins, and a biological cataclysm came over her.

In minutes her belly swelled hugely. A short time later, water burst between her legs; her cervix dilated; contractions writhed through her.

As careful as any human physician, the Amnioni accepted Davies Hyland from her body. The doctor bound and cut the umbilical cord, cleaned the struggling little boy—struggling for human air—with monstrous tenderness, then set the child in the second crèche, attached electrodes corresponding exactly to the ones which held Morn, inserted IVs, and closed the crèche.

At once a normal O/CO2 mix surrounded the baby, and new respiration turned him a healthy pink.

At the same time more chemicals were injected into Morn to smooth her recovery. Plasma replaced lost blood; coagulants and neural soothers enriched her body’s responses to damage.

In the second crèche, a form of biological time-compression began. A potent amino soup, full of recombinant endocrine secretions and hormones, fed every cell in Davies’ small form, triggering in seconds DNA-programmed developments which should have taken months to complete; sustaining a massive demand for nutrients and calories; enabling his tissues to process growth and waste with an efficiency at once ineffable and grotesque—as wondrously vital and consuming as cancer.

Under the subtle distortions of the crèche’s cover, his body elongated itself, took on weight and muscle; his features reshaped themselves as baby fat spread across them and then melted away, and their underlying bones solidified; his hair and nails grew impossibly long, until the doctor trimmed them. At the same time, the electrodes copied Morn’s life and replicated it in him: the neural learning which provided muscle tone, control, skill; the experience which gave language and reason reality; the mix of endocrine stimulation and memory which formed personality, made decision possible.

As Nick had promised, the process was finished in an hour.

In effect, Morn Hyland gave birth to a sixteen-year-old son.

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