CLONER : a Sci-Fi Novel about Human Cloning (A Captivating Story about Reproduction Outside the Womb and Identical Humans) (37 page)

Her Jiminy, her sweet little boy, had gone. He’d been too good to be true; he wasn’t destined for a long life. She’d lost him. Bitterly she remembered how she’d wished for twins; and twins is what she now had.

‘I see,’ she croaked. Her throat felt parched and cracked. Life without her Jiminy; two children who looked like him but were not him. How could she survive that? Her tears had stopped. She seemed to be dried up, looked at the young doctor hopelessly. He wouldn’t be able to help her.

‘Could I possibly have some tea?’

‘Of course, Mrs Wildmore.’ He turned to a nurse. ‘And your husband, as I said, will be with you in a short time. We’ve been in touch with him, told him you were awake at last.’

‘You had me committed? Actually committed under a section of the Mental Health Act?’ She stared at her husband. ‘You actually did that, Alec?’

‘An emergency admission, darling. You were completely beside yourself; honestly. You shrieked that Flaxton had sent someone to get Janus, that he’d killed Jiminy, that you’d make sure they couldn’t do anything like that again. All kinds of crazy things. I really had no choice in the matter. There were the other children to think of, you know. And it was only for seventy-two hours.’

‘So how long have I been here?’

‘Two days. Dr Pleadling is perfectly happy for you to leave with me if you wish.’

‘I can go any time I like?’

‘A couple of small formalities...’

‘I see.’ She looked coldly at Alec; he’d betrayed her. ‘What about phone calls? Am I allowed to make one now?’

‘You want to phone someone?’ He shrugged. ‘Trevor, you mean?’

‘Yes.’

‘Of course, darling. This isn’t a prison; I wish you’d understand my position. I had to think about the boys.’

‘Jiminy is dead.’

He put his arm around her, drew her to him. She pushed him away. ‘Our little son is dead, I know.’ She saw tears gathering in his eyes. ‘I know how much he meant to you. I loved him too.’

She let him hold her hands. Her eyes, now dry, looked beyond him to the high windows. ‘They told me he had some sort of heart failure.’

He leaned towards her, held her to him. This time she let him, felt a shudder through her body, an ache, a wrenching pain. The blessed relief of tears came again.

‘Something like that - sudden death syndrome, they said. That’s why he needed so much rest. And poor old Jansy’s hurt; he has a badly broken leg.’

She looked at Alec. ‘Splintered, they told me.’

‘He’ll be okay, Lisa. He’s very strong. Honestly, you needn’t worry.’

‘I wasn’t,’ she said, realising that he hadn’t believed, didn’t even remember, anything of what she’d told him about Janus. He’d absolutely no idea of the significance of the splinter. He thought her deluded. Not mad, exactly, but definitely deluded.

‘What about Seb and Jeffers?’

He smiled for the first time. ‘Seb really is absolutely wonderful. My mother’s come to stay, and he is helping her. She’s coping very well. Betsy comes every day to help her out, and Anne does her bit at school.’ He looked at Lisa. ‘She seemed to think you didn’t want the boys drinking the goat’s milk, is that right?’

‘That’s quite right,’ Lisa agreed, ‘but it’s not really earth-shattering one way or another. It’s Jansy who shouldn’t be drinking it. I think he may be allergic to that.’ The drugs, the relaxation of her terror, were making her feel exhausted. ‘Perhaps I’d better try to get some rest.’

Jiminy was dead. Somehow she had to believe that, accept it. Or try to. And Janus was safe for the moment. She would ring Trevor to find out about her rights.

‘Of course, darling. That’s the whole thing. You’re simply exhausted. The exhibition on top of the children…’

Lisa ignored the glaring omission of the cloning. ‘Earlier on; were you implying that my leaving here depends on what Pleadling reports?’ she asked. ‘The small formalities?’

‘It’s not quite like that.’ Alec looked distinctly uneasy. ‘I’m sorry, Lisa. I had to act; for your sake as well as the rest of us.’

‘So tell me what is going on.’

‘Your case comes up before what they call a Mental Health Review Tribunal. That’s within seventy-two hours of admission. They have a duty to discharge you if it is not necessary to keep you in the interests of your health or safety, or for the protection of other people.’

‘And you think I qualify to leave?’

‘The fact that you may hold peculiar beliefs as far as others are concerned is neither here nor there, apparently.’

‘That’s okay, then. I can believe in cloning if I want to!’

Alec got up from the bed and walked towards the window, then back again. He put his arms around her. ‘You can believe anything you want, my darling. I’m sorry, my dearest; I really wasn’t trying to make things worse. It was just such an awful terrible shock. For me as well, you know.’ He kissed her eyes, her hair, her mouth. ‘They’re
our
children. I know I’ve left you to cope with too much of it. I should be there far more to help you out.’

‘I thought maybe you wanted to leave, run away with Geraldine.’

‘That girl means nothing to me, Lisa. I never for a moment considered going off with her. She makes eyes at everyone. She’s very pretty, I enjoyed driving her home. A little light relief. Pressures of work, that’s all.’

‘And an unresponsive wife, I know. I do understand about that.’

‘Another visitor for you, Mrs Wildmore.’ There had been no knock. The nurse who had looked in on Lisa earlier on was ushering Meg into the room.

Alec, his arm around his wife, looked startled, but recovered himself quickly. ‘Meg! How nice of you to come. Lisa is leaving later today. I’m just off to make sure they get the red tape sorted out all right.’ He leaned down and kissed Lisa on the forehead, then the lips. ‘Got to go now, darling. You cosset yourself. I’ve brought you some chocolates and a glossy mag.’ He got up and moved towards his briefcase, opened it and returned with an enormous box of Bendick’s Bitter Mints and a copy of Vogue. ‘Back around four. Try to get some rest before then.’

‘Be yer going to the office, Alec?’ Meg stood aside as he was making for the door.

‘Meetings, you know.’

‘Us means the office here. If them sort the paperwork now, us can take Lisa back of me.’

‘Really? You’ve got time to wait? That would be great!’

‘So how be things really?’ Meg asked softly, as soon as the door was closed again. ‘Best keep us voices down. Didn’t much take to the way that creature barged in on you.’

‘You noticed that.’

‘Us do notice quite a bit, Lisa. Don’t always pay to let on. Somehow us hoped as it would all go away. But it be different when yer lose one. Knows only too well about that.’

‘You’ve lost a child? Oh, Meg, I’d no idea.’

‘Baint quite the same. Her be stillborn. But her were still my flesh and blood.’

‘That’s why you came?’

‘Baint only that.’ Meg took a deep breath in. ‘Us knows about they triplets. Us knows acause that did happen to us, too. Reckoned yer’d been trying to tell Alec, and that be the reason yer landed in here.’

‘Happened to you?’

‘Phyllis. Same as happened with Janus happened with she. That scan showed two babies, boy and girl. When Phyllis be born, ten minutes after Paul, her turned out to be two. Exactly the same. Identical.’

‘You mean – ’ So Phyllis was a cloner, too. T
hat
’s why Frank insisted on that clubfoot operation right away. And that’s why he’d been so insistent on the brace.

‘What us be saying is it happened, same way as with the animals. Her split in two just afore the birth. Only difference be t’other one were born dead. Just minutes after Phyllie.’

‘
Born
dead?’

Lisa had worked it out. The clone was always weaker than the cloner; Phyllis already had a defect. Perhaps that was why her clone hadn’t survived.

‘That’s right, stillbirth. Horrible, really, and us never even knew un. But her be still be a part on me. us grieved for she.’ Meg smiled sadly at Lisa. ‘Can yer credit that?’

‘Of course I can,’ Lisa hastened to assure her, putting out her hand. ‘Of course. And now I know why you haven’t had any more. I thought it odd, what with you being so involved with motherhood and everything. After all, you and Frank can afford any number of children!’

‘Only Frank do know. And Susan, o’course. Us did tell yer as Susan delivered they twins - they triplets.’

‘She didn’t tell anyone?’ So she’d been right; Susan had worked it out, and paid for that knowledge with her life.

‘Us asked she not to. Only grief for we, and no good for the baby.’

‘And Frank disposed of the body.’

‘Him did, my duck. Susan done wrapped everything up, and him buried un.’

‘And Don always knew.’

‘That be quite right, my love. Don knew from the start that there be something wrong.’

‘And he’s dead.’

Meg looked at her full face. ‘And so be Susan.’

So she wasn’t crazy at all, and she wasn’t the only one who suspected Flaxton’s produce. Meg knew about human clonings in the womb, but she didn’t know about Janus. As Lisa was about to speak she saw Meg place a finger over her lips.

‘Pays to say nothing,’ she whispered. ‘That’s what us come ter talk to yer about.’

‘Not telling anyone?’

‘Get away from here. Fast as yer can. Get away from all they terrible memories.’

Meg was warning her off, telling her to take her family away from Lodsham, away from Somerset. Was there anything else she was warning her about? Her head began to burn, to ache.

‘We cut the elders down,’ Lisa said sadly. ‘Rex Smollett told us not to.’

‘It be worse for yer, Lisa. Him were such a lovely little’un. Yer need to look after they specially.’ A tear was trickling down her face. ‘Us heard Jansy do have a broken leg. That it be bad.’

‘He’ll be all right,’ Lisa assured her. It was becoming clear to her that Janus was much stronger than Phyllis. He’d cloned Jeffrey in the womb, and Jeffrey was a sturdy lad. James, of course, was cloned outside the womb. That’s where the difference lay. Her poor little Jiminy hadn’t stood a chance.

But now even Jansy wasn’t in danger any more. He’d never clone again. Flaxton would know that, would know he was no longer a threat. Because he had a plastic pin inside his leg.

CHAPTER 33

‘Flaxton want me to go to Scotland,’ Alec explained to Lisa. His voice was eager, almost boyish. ‘They’ve offered me a pot of gold to do it.’

‘Flaxton? You mean you’d actually be part of the Flaxton set-up?’ Lisa stared at Alec in disbelief, examining his face to see if he was joking. He seemed to be quite serious.

‘Not really any different from what I’m doing now. Just better paid.’ He laughed, a genuine sound of delight. ‘It’s a wonderful chance, Lisa. Flaxton need their own accountancy department now that they’ve taken over Grammidge.’

‘Grammidge.’ Lisa had some vague memory of the mention of that name. ‘Who, or what, is that?’

‘A fine old company based in Glasgow. Haven’t kept up with modern methods, I’m afraid, so they were ripe for a takeover. That’s why Flaxton want me up there as soon as possible; to sort all that out for them. Remember, they’re going public.’

FLAXTON PLC. That’s what Janus had brought up on the computer screen. What else had he tried to show her? She had to stop this happening, had to stop Flaxton expanding. But how?

‘You mean you’d give up your partnership at Grew, Donsett and Wilder?’

He shrugged his partnership away as though it were of no account. ‘Don’t you see? It’s the perfect out.’ His eyes crinkled as he turned to her. ‘We can get right away from what happened here.’ His arms enveloped her, pressed her to him. ‘Better for all of us to try to leave the past behind us, try to forget.’

‘Jiminy’s dead,’ Lisa said, her voice flat. ‘My little Jiminy’s gone. How do I forget that?’

‘You have to go on, Lisa. For the sake of the others. You’ll be better off away from here; leave the sad memories behind.’

‘Leave them behind? And precisely how do we do that, if you go on working for Flaxton?’

‘It’s not what you think, pet. Flaxton are expanding, they’re changing out of all recognition. They don’t just manufacture fertilisers now, you know. They’re into drugs and plastics, as well.’

‘Oil derivatives, you mean?’

Alec was clearly finding it difficult to keep his temper. He swallowed hard, breathed deep. ‘You don’t approve of their organic fertilisers. Now, I suppose, you’re going to tell me that oil products pollute the planet.’

‘They do.’

‘We can’t live on the earnings from your watercolours,’ he said, his mouth thin and tight. ‘And your precious pigments are made by Flaxton as well.’

‘I don’t buy their paints.’

He brushed that away and tried to sound less harsh. Humouring her again, she sensed. Hands gentle, slow movements, a live incendiary to be diffused. ‘Unless you’re telling me we should go self-sufficient, crofting or something?’

Lisa’s eyes brightened. ‘Would you consider that?’

‘No,’ he said shortly. ‘I would not. We have three sons to educate.’ He smiled again, his eyes gentling into softness. ‘And the new little one. Perhaps a little girl this time. We’ll know that after the scan.’ He kissed her hair. ‘You always wanted a large family.’

The sun was beginning to slant into the living room. Now that the trees had lost their green the turkey oak outside the bay was letting in the sun. Lisa considered again how clever the nineteenth century builders had been. This room was carefully sited to get all the winter sun, but shaded in the summer. She looked at the familiar view spread wide in front of her. The dream which had started so well almost five years ago had turned into a nightmare. What were her hopes, her longings now?

Alec was doing all he could. He spent time with his family, he courted her, treated her as he used to do. And he’d agreed - even brought up the idea himself before she’d put it to him - that they should try for a new baby. The pregnancy test was positive. They were to be parents again. As Alec said, perhaps they’d have a daughter this time. She could lavish her overflowing maternal feelings on a new baby. Away from here she’d have the chance to heal old wounds, if not eliminate scar tissue.

‘Well?’ Alec was pressing her. ‘What d’you think?’

‘What do you want me to say? You’ve already made up your mind.’

‘I want to do what’s best for all of us, Lisa. I’m not shutting you out, or refusing to listen to you. The point is, d’you have any better ideas?’