CLONER : a Sci-Fi Novel about Human Cloning (A Captivating Story about Reproduction Outside the Womb and Identical Humans) (10 page)

‘Sit on the sheepskin rug, Sebbie. Play with your helicopter book, there’s a good boy.’

Lisa walked towards the guestroom clutching the new baby to herself. She’d mentioned to Alec that she might go and lie down in there after the early morning feed so as not to deprive him of that last precious half hour or more of sleep.

Seb had seen the third infant, Seb had understood that there were three. And he knew the one in her arms wasn’t Janus, he knew he was ‘another one’. She wasn’t clear how he could spot the difference, but he seemed quite sure. He’d confirmed what she instinctively felt. Whatever the actual case, the infant on her arm was the one she’d call James.

“More bother”, Seb had said. Of course that’s what he’d been trying to tell her before. He’d already seen the new child, had come to fetch her. How had it happened? It was simply crazy. How
could
it have happened? Babies didn’t appear out of nowhere.

Had
she given birth to a third infant? Sleepwalking, unaware? Was she so tired she’d done it all in a sort of trance? Cleaned up after herself? That was the only possible sane explanation, the only thing that
could
have happened. She’d tell Alec the simple truth: this was her child -
their
child.

Quaking, shivering in spite of the hot humid weather, Lisa took the new baby and lay back, exhausted, on the guestroom bed. She pulled the covers over them both and waited for Alec to get up.

CHAPTER 9

‘Lisa?’

She could hear Alec’s slippers sliding into the twins’ room and out again; up early and looking for her. The thudding in her chest threatened to choke her. Her mind, gone numb, refused to function. She waited, tense, unprepared, hoping love for her children would inspire the right words to say to Alec. Would he accept that James was his latest son,
his
flesh and blood? Because, in fact, that’s what he was, whatever the circumstances of his birth.

It all depended on her; her grit, her character, what sort of mother she really was. Fail in her motherhood, and she’d fail her whole family, stand to lose all three babies, perhaps all four children. Who’d believe
her
that Jeffrey didn’t have the same powers as Janus, wasn’t involved?

‘I’m in here,’ she called unsteadily, but raising her voice enough to carry into the hall from the guestroom.

She heard his footsteps, already halfway down the stairs, stop and return, his tread now firm and decisive.

‘You don’t have to go to quite such lengths on my account,’ he began as he swung the door open and stood, his eyes adjusting to the curtained room, looking towards her.

‘Hello, darling,’ she greeted him, a determined smile wreathing her face.

He’d gone to pull back the curtains. Turned against the light his expression was hidden from Lisa, but the thrown back head and shoulders showed Alec’s distinct doubt that all was well.

‘Is something wrong?’ he asked, eyes fastening on the bed, seeing she was in rather than on it. Lisa watched, the roots of her hair rising, as he focused. She saw him take in the baby’s head beside her on the pillow, tasted salt on her parched lips.

Alec’s jaw fell open as he came nearer, peering at the infant cradled in Lisa’s arms. He stopped, looking from Lisa to the child and back again. ‘Which one of them is that? I just checked their room. I could have sworn I just saw both of them!’

He turned on his heel, crashed out of the room and back into the nursery, reappeared at once.

‘My God!’ Alec stared, disconcerted, at the baby, then back at Lisa. ‘Is that really what I think it is?’

‘We have another son,’ Lisa said, partly uncovering the baby wrapped in her nursing apron.

‘So you
did
have another one.’ Alec gulped, his eyes round goggles closing to slits, almost, she felt, accusing her of causing another child by mentioning the possibility. ‘It’s simply unbelievable.’

‘Darling – ’

‘How could you possibly have produced another baby? Didn’t Witherton examine you?’

He was assuming she’d given birth to another baby. If she hadn’t panicked in the first place she would have known that that would be his reaction. What else
could
he think?

‘There was one unexpected birth already, Alec.’ Her voice sounded husky. She cleared her throat, forcing her voice into a calm low throb. ‘Witherton didn’t even examine the afterbirth. You remember, he said there was no need.’

‘Why on earth didn’t you call me? Have you rung the midwife?’

‘I only just had time to get on the bed,’ Lisa explained.

‘What I can see of him looks
exactly
like the other two,’ Alec announced, switching on the overhead light and bending over the new baby, examining him. ‘Well, exactly like
Janus
, actually.’ He looked again, intently. ‘Same head shape. Bit thinner, of course.’

He fingered the gaudy apron round the baby and pulled it back, examining the infant. ‘You simply had him, just like that?’

‘Giving birth is a perfectly natural activity.’

Alec frowned at her. ‘Not all that natural stuff again, Lisa. In our society women have medical attendants.’

‘He arrived before I even knew it.’

‘The birth canal’s still wide, I suppose.’ He nodded, mystified but trying to come to grips with the situation. A deep crease of concentration concertinaed his forehead as he looked again. ‘His face looks the same as the other two
now
; not crumpled up, or highly coloured, or anything.’

Lisa shivered involuntarily. Alec was pretty sharp, after all. Perhaps he’d work it out.

‘I’m sorry, darling.’ He put his arms around her, kissing her. ‘I shouldn’t tire you with all these stupid questions. You must be cold and exhausted. I’d better make a hot drink before we do anything else.’ He took off his dressing gown and wrapped it round her shoulders. ‘It does just seem so incredible -
another
baby.’

‘Grown on, I suppose,’ Lisa reasoned as much for herself as for Alec. ‘He’s had more time.’

‘Identical triplets. That’s quite remarkable.’ Alec stared again at the new arrival. ‘How are we going to tell them apart?’

‘Bracelets,’ Lisa said instantly. ‘I’d like to put silver identification bracelets on their left wrists or ankles.’

The words slipped out as though rehearsed. She’d absolutely no idea why she was saying this. It was just an instinctive answer. The moment she’d voiced the idea she felt a sense of calm, as though the bracelets would solve any problems that might arise. The vision of something strong, securely strapped to each child’s wrist, was oddly comforting. In her enthusiasm she was raising herself up in bed, hoisting the infant on to her lap.

‘You really shouldn’t move like that, I’m sure,’ Alec said, leaning towards her. ‘I’ll do that for you. And I’d better get a nappy on him.’ He bent to scoop up the infant wrapped in his unusual swaddling clothes.

‘Better not wake him,’ Lisa said hurriedly. Her arms curled protectively around her child. ‘Perhaps if you could fetch one for me?’

As he went out Lisa lay back, a feeling of serenity overpowering her, an almost heady feeling of bliss replacing her previous tense anxiety. Alec had simply assumed that she’d given birth again. He hadn’t really questioned it. And James was Alec’s flesh and blood as much as he was hers.

By the time Alec came back into the room, holding a packet of Pampers and a towel, Lisa had closed her eyes and drifted into a sort of dream.

‘Are you all right, darling?’ He sounded anxious. ‘You look all in. I’ll ring the doctor right away.’

Lisa opened her eyes and smiled a full beatific smile. ‘Just taking a catnap,’ she reassured him easily. ‘Plenty of time for all that later.’

‘We ought to get someone,’ he said, reaching for his mobile.

Lisa put her hand on his. ‘I’m fine, darling, honestly. Nothing to worry about. I know the drill by now. There’s no rush about the baby, either. He’s sleeping soundly; as you can see.’

‘But...’

Her obviously placid acceptance of the new baby seemed to get through to him at last. He grinned assent and sat down by her. ‘You must have known,’ he said slowly, a wondering admiration in his eyes. ‘You must have known right from the start.’

‘Only about the twins,’ Lisa said softly.

‘Hold on; I’ll get the kitchen scales.’

When Alec returned Lisa didn’t stop him from taking the baby and weighing him: five pounds eleven ounces. ‘That really beats everything.’ Alec laughed, delighted now. ‘Exactly four ounces less than Jeffrey weighed in yesterday. He must have gained at almost the same rate, even if he couldn’t quite keep up with Janus.’

The new child looked identical to Janus, not Jeffrey. After only two weeks Jeffrey and Janus were already easier to tell apart. Lisa realised that James would soon develop along his own lines as well, though he looked exactly like Janus now. Except that he was lighter than the Janus of yesterday. Extra fluid - Janus must have been retaining fluid. That’s why he’d looked so bloated yesterday. Rita had mentioned something about his looking really puffy.

Lisa smiled uncertainly. ‘And he may lose a bit of weight at first,’ she reminded Alec, although she guessed he was unlikely to. Neither Janus nor Jeffrey had lost a single ounce.

‘Not if he’s like his brothers,’ Alec boasted, looking quite proud, even sounding enthusiastic. ‘Rita said she’d never seen anything like it.’ He paused. ‘When, exactly, was this one born?’

‘I fed the babies,’ Lisa said. ‘And changed them and everything. Then I felt a bit overdone, so I came in here to lie down.’

‘That’s when it happened? Just like that?’

‘He’d arrived before I even knew what had happened.’

Alec stared around the room, then at his wife. ‘He’ll need a name,’ he said at last.

‘Seb wants to call him James.’

‘Seb?’ There was shock in Alec’s voice. ‘
Seb
’s seen him?’

Adrenaline surged through Lisa. How was she going to explain that Seb already knew? ‘I expect he was awake and heard me feeding the twins,’ she smiled, freezing cheek muscles tight. ‘He likes to come and help.’

Alec looked at her searchingly. ‘So he already knows?’

‘Yes.’

‘And you didn’t send him to fetch me?’

‘He wanted to stay with me, Alec. Yet another baby brother. It must be as much of a shock for him as it is for us. I wanted to play it down, not make too big thing of it.’

‘An extra baby brother, another son, that’s nothing to make a fuss about!’ He looked at her quizzically. ‘I quite see that.’

‘Really, Alec. I’d only just had time to wrap the baby up and pull the sheets over us – ’

‘I thought you said Seb watched you feeding the twins?’

‘I sent him back to bed, but of course he was still awake. I expect he heard me come in here. You know I encourage him to have some time on his own with me, between feeds. It’s the best I can do for him at the moment.’

‘And where is he now?’

‘I asked him to go back to his room and play.’

‘And he wanted him called James?’

‘“More bother”, he said.’

‘He’s got that right!’

‘And when I said he needed a name he said “Yames”’.

‘All right, darling. If that’s what you want, we’ll call him James.’ He clearly intended to soothe her, keep her calm. ‘I can’t help thinking, you know. Perhaps those pills that chap in Bristol insisted on you taking right at the start - fertility drugs have side effects.’

‘They were vitamin pills, organic vitamin pills. I took the same ones when I was carrying Seb.’

‘It still doesn’t make any sense. He said there was just the one.’

‘It doesn’t really matter now, does it, darling?’

‘As long as there aren’t any more surprises.’

‘I rather think that’s it,’ she said, patting her flat abdomen. ‘What’s really bothering me is how we’re going to be sure we can tell the three of them apart before we get the bracelets in place.’

A stirring in her unconscious, a conviction that she needed the children labelled.

‘Perhaps we’d better put a piece of sticky plaster on his wrist right away,’ she said brightly. ‘Just to make sure. Even if we can tell which is which ourselves, supposing something happened to us? No one else would know.’

‘If you insist.’ He brought a plaster over and Lisa placed it on the baby’s wrist. ‘He’s much more like Janus than Jeffrey,’ Alec repeated, awed. ‘I wouldn’t have believed it possible; I can’t see
any
difference.’

Lisa wrapped the shawl Alec had brought tightly around the child. She didn’t want Alec to look too closely, or to realise that if he looked the image of Janus, it was because Janus had lost significant weight.

‘I suppose it’s because he also had to do all the work for himself,’ Alec said, frowning. ‘So his head would be affected in the same way.’

Lisa kissed the top of her new son’s head tenderly. She drank in the same intense baby smell as that of the other two infants.

‘I suppose that’s what it must be.’ Alec sounded glum. The smile, now lukewarm, reminded Lisa that he’d originally wanted a family of two. Now there were four.

Lisa looked down at her latest son and silently agreed with Alec that that was enough. ‘Perhaps you should ring the midwife now,’ she suggested. The strain of the last little while had exhausted her, the thought of possible battles ahead made her feel drained. ‘Just so that she can check out that everything’s OK.’

He looked at her sharply. ‘You feeling off?’

‘Just tired.’ Lisa had no intention of letting the woman examine
her
, but she did want a professional to visit, to acknowledge the new child, to give him, so to speak, the necessary credentials. Fortunately Rita Connolly would still be on duty. Her brusque manner, her constant assumption that her time was more precious than her patients’ - these would now become welcome traits.

What about the physical evidence of a birth? Insist that Alec had thrown the afterbirth away. Identical multiples sometimes had several afterbirths, sometimes a single one. In this case, clearly, Janus and Jeffrey had shared an afterbirth, while James had had one to himself.

Was that, medically speaking, feasible? No need to talk about it; just say Alec had helped her clear up, and it had gone. The navel was a trickier proposition. She’d find a rubber band to twist round it, the way Rita had after the twins were born.

‘I’ll give the surgery a ring,’ Alec agreed, making for the door.

‘And could you bring me a couple of gauze nappies and some clothes,’ Lisa called after him. ‘And the cot from the airing cupboard.’

‘You’ve got
another
cot in the airing cupboard?’

‘Meg gave me both of hers.’

‘I’m going to put them side by side to see,’ Alec said, coming back into the room with Janus. ‘They really
are
indistinguishable.’

Janus, on Alec’s arm, opened his eyes. It seemed to Lisa that the child understood exactly what was going on. He looked at her and - grinned. She could swear it wasn’t wind.

‘Don’t wake them up,’ Lisa whispered at Alec. ‘It’s the last thing we need. And we don’t want to mix them up, either.’

Janus, as though he understood her, closed his eyes. Freed from their penetrating look, a sudden inspiration came to Lisa. ‘Let’s put a bit of sticky plaster on Janus, too, now that you’ve brought him. A transparent one, so we can be sure to tell one from the other.’

She wanted something fastened to Janus which he could not take off, something tight on his body, clamped to it. A tag - she wanted Janus tagged. Just like Don’s lambs, she realised. That’s what she had in mind.