birth.
When Malines found out he was only going to be observing and not assisting in the brain cell procedure he confronted Ernest just before the surgery. “They’re MY patients and I want to assist in the operation!” he said testily.
Ernest’s brow furrowed as he looked up at Malines in the mirror’s reflection as he scrubbed his arms in preparation for the operation on Rex. “Okay but since you have never done this procedure on anything, let alone a person, you have a huge chance of screwing this up and maybe even killing your patient. But if you’re okay with that then I’ll inform Theodore of the change… and the increased risks.”
Malines started his own scrub down and simply replied “If I’m only observing I still want you to tell me everything you’re doing while we’re in there.”
Ernest made sure it was the team that had done the cell extraction and insertions during research that assisted him now. He wanted no mistakes during this and wanted the team to get as much experience with the procedure as possible.
Two days after Rex underwent the procedure it was Theodore’s turn. As both men lay recuperating in the hospital Ernest was asked by the family lawyer “Is this really going to work, doctor? They both had me draw up wills leaving everything to the two…” he hesitated, at a loss for words what to call the clones.
“…the two children?” Ernest finished for him.
“Yes. They’re cutting the rest of their family out of everything and that will mean a legal battle when both men are gone. I just want to make sure this is going to work.”
“They both understand the risk and accept it so why should anything beyond that matter?”
#
Ernest lay on the table as Mendez, his most trusted and experienced assistant went over the procedure with him since Ernest would be unconscious for it. “As soon as we have the cells we’ll start the embryos development with them. Like you wanted, we’re making the extraction point at a place so it’ll be covered by your hair. And I’ll say it one last time: I’m not happy with not shaving a larger area of your scalp. Or all of it. And I think you really should be hospitalized longer than two days.”
Ernest smiled slightly. “Duly noted. But it has to be small and the stay short for the reasons we talked about. It’ll all be fine. Okay, let’s get this over with.”
The cell extraction procedures, all six of them, were easier for the Corke brothers to go through than they were for Ernest to endure. They had the benefit of lengthy hospital stays and recoveries whereas he had to make his recoveries brief and un-noticeable by others. Worse, he had to be functioning well when it was time to do the extractions on Rex and Theodore. After the last was done thirty weeks into the pregnancies he could breathe easier and took a week off to recover. He told Malines and the Corkes there was nothing he could do but monitor the two pregnant women at this point and that Malines would be better suited for that anyway.
During that week Ernest was recuperating but he wasn’t quite resting. He went over his personal notes to make sure he hadn’t missed anything that would need attention or cause complications later on. During the cell insertions on the fetuses he had been able to keep Malines out of it by claiming the Corkes were in more critical condition after the extractions than they really were. This way he made the argument that Malines couldn’t assist with the fetuses when he might potentially need to be with the Corkes during the lengthy insertions of brain cells. That made it possible to use his own brain cells in the fetuses instead of the ones for the Corkes since they were stored in the same place of the procedure room but labeled differently.
Two clones of himself seemed excessive at first but to hide his deception it was necessary. Besides, after he thought about it awhile, he realized it could be an enormous boon. He couldn’t even begin to imagine the scientific accomplishments he could achieve if there were two of himself each working exactly towards common goals.
#
The children were three years old now. Rex had finally dies the previous year from a third heart attack. Theodore was dying from what Malines could only call grief over Rex’s death. On Theodore’s death the two children would inherit some four billion dollars, all that was left of the Corke family fortune. Ernest thought it was providential because now the children – his children actually – would have not just the intelligence to continue all his research but the financial ability as well.
He was sitting in his office, doing the long process of collating and organizing almost twenty years of research done over six separate groups when he got a message that Dr Malines needed to see him as soon as possible.
He took the flight out to Florida that afternoon and met Malines in the latter’s office that was set up at the Corke estate.
They talked lightly for a few minutes exchanging pleasantries. Then Malines got down to the reason for his message which Ernest assumed was Theodore’s failing health.
Malines handed Ernest two folders and said “It’s been noticed the children have been having problems lately. Their cognitive functions seem to be regressing rather than progressing. Did you notice anything similar in the chimpanzee that went through the procedure?”
Ernest stopped scanning the files and looked up. “No. It developed normally. Its cognitive functions continued from the advanced point they started.”
“I see. I also did a full spectrum of tests to check for any abnormality between Theodore and his… child.” Malines still thought in the terms of it being a clone and not a real person.
Ernest suddenly got a chill down his spine but said nothing.
“One of the tests was an enzyme study. It showed,” Malines continued, unaware of the change in Ernest’s demeanor, “that the child, both children in fact, are suffering from Alzheimers. But Theodore so far isn’t showing any signs of it. I can only assume it’s advancing more rapidly in the children because of their brains’ rapid development. Paul? Are you listening to me? Paul? Are you okay?”
End
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