And Down Will Come Baby, Madmen And All
By Damien Walters Grintalis
Ellie stared down at the catalog on her desk and grimaced. Blue eyes? No, Seth’s were brown; hers, although enhanced for vibrance, were naturally green. Blue, although possible in nature, might appear strange. She flipped to the temperament section. Who in their right mind would choose willful? She’d prefer a quiet, biddable child.
The Newsfeed (Always On Because You Deserve to Know Now!) droned on in the background, a steady hum of voices and flickering images.
Apex Corporation unveiled its new East–West Coast Monorail design. The new monorail will run entirely on echofuel, allowing it to make the coast-to-coast express trips in half the time and less than a quarter of the cost. Echofuel, with its regenerative properties, was developed by Apex’s lead scientist, Algimantas Vilkas.
“Are you and Seth going to be parents?” her assistant, Marian, asked from the doorway.
Ellie closed the catalog. “We’re thinking about it. Not now, of course, but maybe in a few years. I was just going over the options.”
It wasn’t a total lie. Seth wanted to be a parent; she was . . . undecided. He’d even mentioned adopting a defective from one of the state-run facilities, an idea she’d vetoed straightaway.
“Which breeder are you going to use? My sister used Lifeline. Expensive, but worth it. Colin is a gem. They have top-of-the-line surrogates, too.”
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