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several of my eggs, fertilized them with my husband's sperm, and then cloned the ones we chose. There were four that we cloned, six copies of each. Two girls and two boys. So far, we have implanted only the one. He was such a -- such a special boy, we did not want to dilute our attention. Now that his education is out of our hands, however, we have been thinking of bearing one of the girls. It's time." She reached over and took Julian's hand and smiled. He smiled back.
Such a contrast to Volescu. Hard to believe there was any genetic material in common.
"You said six copies of each of the four fertilized eggs," said Sister Carlotta.
"Six including the original," said Julian. "That way we have the best chance of implanting each of the four and carrying them through a full pregnancy."
"A total of twenty-four fertilized eggs. And only one of them was implanted?" "Yes, we were very fortunate, the first one worked perfectly."
"Leaving twenty-three."
"Yes. Exactly."
"Mr. Delphiki, all twenty-three of those fertilized eggs remain in storage, waiting for implantation?"
"Of course."
Sister Carlotta thought for a moment. "How recently have you checked?"
"Just last week," said Julian. "As we began talking about having another child. The doctor assured us that nothing has happened to the eggs and they can be implanted with only a few hours' notice."
"But did the doctor actually check?"
"I don't know," said Julian.
Elena was starting to tense up a little. "What have you heard?" she asked.
"Nothing," said Sister Carlotta. "What I am looking for is the source of a particular child's genetic material. I simply need to make sure that your fertilized eggs were not the source."
"But of course they were not. Except for our son."
"Please don't be alarmed. But I would like to know the name of your doctor and the facility where the eggs are stored. And then I would be glad if you would call your doctor and have him go, in person, to the facility and insist upon seeing the eggs himself."