Page 106 of The Deer and the Dragon
Liam, 25
University: Brown, M.S. Engineering
IQ score: 157
Family heritage: Polish, French
Sperm count and motility: 50,000,000 / 60%
Family medical issues: None
Special mention: Proposal for hydroelectric power plant has been accepted on the borders of Argentina and Uruguay
Theodore, 28
University: Princeton, Ph.D. Economics
IQ score: 162
Family Heritage: Dominican, Kenyan
Sperm count and motility: 45,000,000 / 55%
Family medical issues: None
Special mention: Pioneered developmental model for precise evaluation of political expenses and their effects on the public
Ji-Hoon, 23
University: Columbia, M.A. Architecture
IQ score: 165
Family Heritage: Korean
Sperm count and motility: 60,000,000 / 70%
Family medical issues: None
Special mention: Youngest architect to design a national art gallery
She had given me a shopping menu. I leafed through the meat market of men, pretending to imagine what my offspring would look like if I bred with any of them. They were all gorgeous, educated, healthy, and accomplished. I wondered what most others had to do to qualify for access to the elite binder of men. I continued to page through the book as I considered what the mid-tier and lower-tier book of men looked like.
Even without the money and the reputation, I knew thatif Doctor Ayona had stayed after five o’clock for me, it was because she was booked out too far to discuss an appointment. I hadn’t looked at the costs of her services or inquired as to the price of anything from consultation to in vitro fertilization. I left the book open to the laughing face of a bright-eyed actor from Spain as I looked at her. Caliban had told me to come in and gather intelligence, nothing more.
Despite what Fauna loved to shout from the mountaintops, I wasn’t a simpleton. I understood that he knew more about the immortal realms than I did and wasn’t about to take my chances with her Soul Eater just because I wanted to prove a point on independence.
“What are our next steps?” I asked.
“That depends entirely on your budget, comfort level, and desire to start a family.” She smiled easily. “Here at the Venus Clinic, we’re not focused solely on traditional methods of hormonal injection and artificial insemination, but instead, we pioneer research in human fertility. If you’d like, we can begin with the methods that have been preached and carried out throughout North America and most of the Global West at a twenty to thirty percent success rate. Or, you can partake in the unique and often unorthodox combinations of scientific breakthroughs, holistic medicine, elements of Western convention, and the natural procreation process, and I can guarantee nine in ten odds of impregnation.”
Nine in ten.
I worked hard to control my face.
She was Josh. Josh was telling me about his job, thinking too highly of himself, obsessed with his own importance. Picturing the man at the omakase restaurant helped once more as I said, “Well, numbers like that don’t lie. It’s hard to argue for conventional medicine when they fail more often than not.”
Her smiled widened. For the first time, she reminded me of the Cheshire cat.
