“Porting,of course.”
“Exactly—sohow come no one noticed when they ported there?”
“Theyported separately. Some Humans were needed on that planet for certain physicalwork, so a few hundred Zema4 Humans ported there and back every few years. Shejoined one of those groups.”
“Howdid she manage to do that? Wasn’t there proper control of the portation?”
“Sheswapped places with another woman.”
“Oh.Was she already pregnant then?”
“Yes.”
“Howwas that possible?”
“Whatdo you mean? Why wouldn’t it be possible?”
“Well,the love-making… what we did,” he said, smiling, “is how babies are made,normally. And you said your folks—your parents—did it like that,right? No tubes and stuff.”
“Yes.”I smiled, remembering the experience we’d shared.
“So,they would have needed space, time, and privacy. How was that possible beforethey got to the sabbatical world?”
“Theyhad that on Zema4.”
“Didn’tyour father need a reason to teleport there so often?”
“Hedidn’t have to port there. He was stationed on Zema4 for several years to do ongoingsurveillance.”
“Whatabout the privacy? How could he meet your mom without anyone noticing?”
“Bybeing undercover,” I said and smiled, remembering my newly learned word.
“Hedisguised himself?”
“Yes.And it wasn’t so difficult. The clothes that Zema4 Humans wear don’t revealmuch. It was easy for him to hide who he really was.”
“Ha,interesting…. All right, and you were born on this sabbatical world, then?”
“Yes.”
“Andthat was… a real birth?”
“Ido not understand.”
“Like,a vaginal birth? A normal Human birth?”
Iwrinkled my eyebrows. “I cannot tell you. I don’t remember.”
“No,you wouldn’t. No one does. I just thought you might have asked.”
Ishook my head. “No. It never… really crossed my mind.”
“Well,I would assume that was the case. Even if there were automated medicaltreatments available there, they wouldn’t be set up for normal Human birth,would they?”
“Iwould assume so too.”
Aftera few passes, J asked, “Tell me again, how do Uni babies come into the world? Howare Descendants born?”
“I don’t know much about the process. Themajority of that information is available only to the Anas.”
“Themedic Descendants?”
“Yes.They control the Office of Progeny. They keep track of how many Descendantsstop their rejuvenation processes and how many new individuals are needed.”
“Sowhen Descendants decide to stop their rejuvenation processes, they die?”
“Theycontinue aging from that moment on.”
“Howmany years do they still live?”
“Iknow of some individuals who lived more than two hundred years after their lastrejuvenation.”
“Twohundred years? That’s a lot. People don’t normally live that long.”
“Thatis correct, but in Uni, there are no diseases. And all our cells have beenreprogrammed during previous rejuvenation treatments to remain at a very youngstage.”
“So…if you never get another rejuvenation treatment, you would live another twohundred years?”
“Yes,that’s what I would expect.”
“Huh.”He looked sideways, thinking about it. “That’s… different. You’d outliveeveryone here, even… uh, never mind!”
Itilted my head to one side. “Outlive who?”
“Nevermind, I’m just rambling, pay no attention. So, let’s go back again. These Unibabies—we don’t know how they are born, right?”
“No,this information is not available as public knowledge.”
“Allright. So, they are born, somehow, and then what?”
Ifrowned. “Then they continue living.” I wasn’t sure what was he getting at.
“No,I mean, who takes care of the babies? I certainly hope that’s not automated!”
“Ah,I see. No, it’s not automated. Most new individuals—”
“Babies?”
“—yes, babies, are raised in dedicated centers, called EruLocs,with caretakers until they reach the age of their first rejuvenation. They are raisedand educated based on the Descendant species they belong to.”
“Andthey never meet their biological parents?”
“No.Only in rare cases is there a need for a personal meeting between the germ celldonor and the new individual.”
“Ifind that sad, don’t you?”
“That’sthe Descendant way. They don’t know anything else.”
“Butyou were not raised like that, right?”
Ihad to smile at the look on his face when he said that. “No. For the first sixyears, I was raised by my mother and father.”
“Andafter that?”
“Afterhis sabbatical was finished, my father needed to return to Senthia, and… they bothdecided that I would go with him.”
“Whatabout your mom?”
“Mymother joined a group returning to Zema4. I never saw her again.”
Therewas a moment of silence.
“Thatmust have been very difficult for you.”
“Myrecollection is that it was difficult for the next several years after. Butthat was a long time ago, and I only have a few memories of that family time.”
“Iam sorry.”
“Itis all right. I do have many optic nerve cam recordings of her as well.”
Jnodded and lowered his gaze. “Still, it must be difficult to grow up without a mom.But you had your dad with you. How did he manage to smuggle you back toSenthia?”
“I…”
Hefrowned. “What?”
“Itook the place of an official Office of Progeny individual that originated frommy father’s germ cell.”
“Youtook her place?”
Ilooked at the ground. I didn’t want to look at him. “Yes.”
“Andwhere did that girl end up?” he continued.
“Shedidn’t.”
“Oh,I see…”
“Idon’t want to talk about it anymore.” I stood up to leave, but J quickly caughtme by my elbow.
“Hey,it’s okay. This wasn’t your decision. There is nothing you need to feel guiltyabout.”
Ilooked down.
Heput his hands on my shoulders and stroked them as he spoke. “It wasn’t yourfault. And… I understand your father’s decision if that was the only way to protectyou. A parent will do anything, and I mean anything, to save his own child.”
Which is exactly what my father saidwhen he first told me about it.
Iswallowed. “Even preventing another one from being?”
Jtook a moment before responding. “Yes. Even that.”
Myfather had told me about this after my first rejuvenation. And I turned awayfrom him and left. I ported from one world to another without any contact with himfor a very long time. In the end, I realized he was the only person who knew mefor who I really was. And I made peace with his mistake.
Butright now, looking at J, I wondered if it was a mistake at all. If he even hada choice. If I had… a child… of my own,in the same situation, would I act differently?
“Hey!”J snapped me out of my deep thoughts. “Let’s change the topic. All of thismakes me gloomy.”
Ismiled. “Yes, you’re right. What would you like to talk about?”
“Well,I was wondering: you told me before that when you have your rejuvenation thingygoing on—”
“Youmean the treatment?”
“No,I mean, you said it was called… uh, Interactive Coupling or something. The eleven-secondone.”
“Yes.What about
