CLONER : a Sci-Fi Novel about Human Cloning (A Captivating Story about Reproduction Outside the Womb and Identical Humans) Read Online Free PDF

first.’
    ‘I’m not an idiot, Alec. I know fertility drugs often lead to multiple births, and I didn’t need to take them again.’ She paused, and looked at Alec. ‘But twins can just happen, too, you know!’
    He released her, stood up, and walked towards the bottom of the bed. He heaved the duvet on to it, pulling it over her.
    ‘I see you’ve done your homework.’
    She had. The time when the Hammersmith Hospital in London had kept her waiting. That’s when she’d decided to do a little research of her own. She couldn’t stop herself from feeling annoyed, even now.
    ‘I can still read, Alec. Motherhood doesn’t deprive one of one’s wits.’
    It rankled, the memory of the way the doctors had brushed off her first efforts at enlisting their help in becoming pregnant.
    ‘Come back in a year,’ they’d told her, brusquely and dismissively. ‘That’s the time we allow for infertility. If you’re still worried then we’ll run some tests.’
    ‘I’m worried now,’ she’d told them, keeping her voice steady and flat. ‘We’ve been trying to have a baby for two years.’
    Obviously they hadn’t heard her. ‘You’ve taken the contraceptive pill for a long time,’ the specialist had told her judgmentally. ‘Twelve years altogether, I think you said.’
    Practised birth control - of course, she only had herself to blame!
    ‘It would have been different if you’d had a baby right away, when you first married.’ A shrug. ‘You need to give your body time to adjust before assuming you’re infertile,’ the Hammersmith consultant had insisted.
    Lisa was then thirty-six and worried that time for having babies was running out for her. Many agencies set a time limit as low as thirty-five.
    She’d had no option but to play along with the doctors. No other fertility clinic would look at her if her notes told them she’d already been to the Hammersmith.
    Lisa settled back on to her pillows. They had eventually given her the fertility drugs, but she still hadn’t conceived - until they’d moved to Somerset. In the end that’s all it took. Not their stupid pills, but good country air and wholesome food. That’s what had done the trick. The doctors could keep their dangerous chemicals. Lisa intended to live a purely natural life.
    ‘Let’s not worry about all that history now. Just leads to nightmares,’ Alec insisted. He put his arms back around her shoulders, drawing her to him, nuzzling her neck. ‘You’re pregnant again, and everything is fine. I’ll soon relax you!’
    An almost irresistible feeling of aversion came over Lisa. She held her breath, at first allowing her husband to fondle her without withdrawing, just holding herself back, unresponsive, but forcing her body out of rigidity. In some way she could not quite understand she felt Alec would be threatening her unborn child - children - if she allowed him to go inside her. She’d discussed this point at length with the medical profession at the time she’d finally conceived Seb. According to them intercourse caused no danger to a foetus.
    According to them. For this second pregnancy Lisa preferred not to take any chances. She’d decided to sound Meg out as well, as delicately as she could. ‘Any special problems about carrying more than the one?’ she’d asked her, diffident, insisting on carting the tea things out to the scullery after Seb’s party.
    ‘Problems? Before the birth? Not then. Didn’t even know I be carrying twins until the seventh month!’ Meg had said, her voice unusually high.
    ‘You mean there were problems later?’
    Meg’s eyes had slid away. ‘Susan did notice I be bigger than afore. Her be the midwife in charge, so her organised a scan. That did show they, right enough.’
    ‘That’s when it became harder? In the last few weeks?’
    ‘Not as yer’d notice.’ Meg’s dishes had been clattered into her cupboards, the doors shut tight.
    ‘And what about - well, you know. Frank.’
    Meg had looked