wouldn’t be activated except by genetic chance. Thus, only if the experiment proved successful, and the organism lived, would the activated intron, now an exon, be passed on to succeeding generations.
What Hamlin had decided to do was find a way to activate the introns artificially, determine their functions, and then learn to control them and use them.
And slowly, over the years, he had succeeded.
That was when he had begun experimenting on human beings.
That was when the secrecy had begun, and that was when the failures had begun.
And now, locked somewhere within the small, sturdy body of Randy Corliss, the final answer seemed to be emerging.
It was too soon to tell, but it was only a matter of a few months now.
All that had to happen was for Randy Corliss to survive.
The years of secrecy would be over, and George Hamlin would take his place in the ranks of preeminent genetic engineers.
He wished, as he had many times over the years, that he could carry out his experiments entirely in his lab. But that was impossible.
Extrauterine conception was no problem—combining a sperm with an egg outside the womb had been accomplished years ago.
The problem was that there were so many subjects, so many embryos to be brought to maturity, and not nearly enough women who would agree to bear those “test-tube babies,” particularly knowing full well that those babies would be far more the children of George Hamlin than the children of themselves and their husbands.
And so he had made the decision.
The DNA in the ovum would be altered in utero rather than in vitro.
If the experiments failed, the parents would never know exactly what had happened.
If they succeeded, the parents would raise, albeit unknowingly, a group of wonderfully healthy, if not quite human, children.
And success seemed imminent. If Randy Corliss lived.
The four of them sat stiffly in Lucy Corliss’s small living room: Lucy and Jim on the love seat, Sally Montgomery and Carl Bronski on the wing chairs.
It had not been easy for Sally to get there. After hearing what had happened that afternoon, both from Sally and her mother, Steve had suggested that Sally was overwrought. Sally, though she thought the word was ridiculous, had let it pass. Then, rather than argue with him, she had quietly agreed that a good night’s rest would be the best thing for her. A few minutes later, Lucy had called and asked if she would be willing to explain the computer data to Sergeant Bronski. She had agreed, and that was when the fight had started. And now, along with Steve, she had her mother to contend with. Phyllis had sat impassively at first, trying to ignore the argument. At last she had, in her infuriatingly rational voice, sided with Steve.
Sally, she declared, should not get involved with the problems of strangers. Certainly, she went on, Sally had enough to cope with right now, without taking on the problems of Lucy Corliss.
Finally, Sally had had enough. Barely retaining her civility, she told her husband and her mother where she was going and stormed out of the house.
Now, after explaining to Sergeant Bronski and Jim Corliss what she thought the computer printouts meant, she was beginning to wonder if she’d done the right thing.
All in all, she realized, there wasn’t really much of a parallel between Randy Corliss’s disappearance, and Julie’s death.
The only real link, indeed, seemed to be that both children had been under study by CHILD. And then, as a silence fell over them, Sally suddenly remembered a thought that had crossed her mind while she was working with the computer that morning. A notion that had been tugging at her mind since her lunch with Jan Ransom.
“Lucy,” she said, “I know this may sound like a strange question, but—well, did you want Randy? Before he was born, I mean. Did you get pregnant on purpose?”
Before Lucy could answer, Jim Corliss shook his head. “I was the one who didn’t want a baby,” he said. “In fact, it was Randy who put an end to our marriage. I guess Lucy thought he’d bring us closer together, but that’s not the way it happened.” His gaze shifted away from Sally, and he began talking directly to Lucy. “I know you meant well, but I … when you told me you were pregnant, I felt like a prison door was slamming on me. So I bolted.”
“But I wasn’t trying to get pregnant!” Lucy protested. “Randy wasn’t my idea. Just the opposite—I’d had a