Page 37 of The Champion
“Will cloning work on all species?” I asked.
Shelly answered, “That depends on what you’re going for. I’ve read pre-war studies where they tried to clone brilliant people, but it didn’t work.”
“Why not?”
“Because you can clone the body, but not the personality or intelligence. There’s a component to it that wasn’t possible to recreate.”
Victor agreed. “That’s right. One of the scientists concluded that it’s possible to duplicate the body but not the soul. We have the blueprint for artificial wombs that are used to save premature babies in the Motherlands. My goal is for us to expand on that and start an effective breeding program that doesn’t rely on a female host.”
Tilting her head, Shelly asked, “You want to breed baby animals without their mothers?”
“Yes.”
“Where will you get the semen and eggs?”
“From nature of course. Instead of a female being pregnant two or three times in her lifetime, she could literally have hundreds of babies if we grow the children outside her womb.”
“But what about the quality of life for these animals? Who is going to show them what it’s like to be a monkey, a deer, a wolf, or something else?”
“We’re fighting for their survival here, Freya. We can’t afford to let them die out because we wanted them to have the highest quality of life. My people didn’t have a high quality of life while we lived underground for four hundred years.”
After that argument from Victor, I didn’t say more.
We worked for another few hours, had a lunch break, and then we went back to Victor’s place around six that night.
“So tell me, what do you think of Shelly Summers?” I asked him as we entered his living room.
“She’s as brilliant and quirky as I had imagined.”
“And beautiful.”
Victor went to the fridge in his kitchen and pulled out fruit bubbles for us to drink. “Yes, she’s pretty for her age, but the part I’m excited about is her idea about using fungi fuel to energize cities. It’s phenomenal. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself.”
“Her age? She’s forty-five. That’s not that old, you know.”
Victor looked up with his thinking expression. “I’m wondering about the amount of time and money it will take to research and develop the technology to harvest the fungi. I don’t know where we would find the resources to take that project on.”
“Maybe I could help you with that part.”
“How?”
“I could find investors. Thor offered that the Northlands could take ownership of some of the southern areas of Europe. My father might be willing to invest in a new type of energy if it has the potential to clean the land faster and provide energy for the area.”
Victor offered me the bowl of fruit bubbles before he plunked down on the sofa and sat deep in thought for a long while.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“Oh, my mind is spinning with ideas for the fungi project. Give me time to work on some details and I’ll let you know.” Changing the subject, Victor suddenly asked, “Why are we still dressed?”
I broke into a huge smile. “Because you reached your quota of sex with the same person, remember?”
Like a lion on the hunt, Victor got up and moved closer with his head down and his gaze fixed on me. “I told you. That rule doesn’t apply to you. I’ll have you as many times as I can before you leave.”
Before he got close, I squealed and ran from him. Victor was quick to chase me around the apartment and when he caught me, he picked me up on his shoulder and carried me to his bedroom. “Let’s go, Northlander.”
CHAPTER 10
Visiting Madame Claire
