[TFWC] Chimeras

The old man sat patiently in the waiting room at the fertility clinic. The other patients stared awkwardly, hiding behind magazines they were pretending to read. The unspoken question on their minds was why he was there. He was alone and obviously too old to be thinking of having children. Perhaps he had a young trophy wife and he wanted to have a child to be his heir? Whatever the reason for his being there he was soon called and ushered in to see the doctor.

Even the doctor looked surprised, although the nurse had given him a heads up. He shook the old man’s hand and directed him to take a seat. “Sir, what brings you to our clinic today,” he asked. The old man opened a leather portfolio and pulled out a thick pile of bound papers and handed them to the doctor. He quickly perused the cover of the papers and saw that they were scientific in nature and alluded to a study of human chimeras.

It had been a while since he was in college but he remembered the word from Greek mythology. It pertained to a horrible monster made up of different animals. What could this old man possibly mean by presenting this material to him? He looked at the date of publication and saw that it was a date in the future. “What are you trying to pull here?” he asked.

The old man looked up at him and with sad eyes began to explain. “I know you will have a difficult time believing me but I am from the future,” he replied. “What you have in your hands is the research that verifies that humans can absorb their twins while developing in the womb. They can intermix their DNA and be two different people in the same body.”

“That is absurd!” the doctor stuttered. “No medical professional believes that.” “Then why is your name on the research?” the old man pointed out. The doctor looked back at the manuscript and there it was, his name as the researcher and author. “How can this be? he asked out loud. “I told you, I am from the future,” the old man stated quietly.

“The reason I am here is because my twin and I are tired of sharing and battling over this body,’” he exclaimed. I became aware of my twin sister while I was still quite young. He went on to say, “I have been hospitalized several times and diagnosed with multiple personalities and also as Tran gendered. We have been battling all our lives and we are tired of it.”

“So what do you want me to do about it,” asked the doctor. “Our mother will be seeking your help in a few weeks and you are going to harvest her eggs and fertilize them in vitro. Even though one of us may perish because of this, we want you to only implant one egg.” “If you call your self a doctor then please do this,” he pleaded. Please do this my friend before we die, that we may die in peace.”

reply to post by grayeagle
..Hi greyeagle, Hope your doing well. I liked the story. The time traveller trying to change the future. When it started off i thought there was going to be some trouble in that clinic!

....Good Luck in the competition Star n Flag from me

reply to post by TheDoctor46

Thanks Doc! I have been fascinated by this possibility because of a report of a mother that delivered a baby and Health and Welfare made her do a maternity test to prove the baby was actually hers. When she and the baby were tested to see if they would be a match the baby didn't indicate a genetic relationship with the mother. It turns out that when a twin is absorbed by the other, the host twin may contained different DNA depending on where the sample was taken from the body. Which to me begs the question if some of the people getting out of jail based on a DNA sample are truly innocent or just appear to be because of where and how the sample was taken. My how busy my mind gets!

I flagged this a while back and just realized I hadn't commented!

I thought it was a very unique idea and, while tragic, posed some very interesting questions!
Good science fiction is always food for thought. Well done!

- AB

reply to post by AboveBoard

Thank you for reading and I just finished reading yours. I do believe you got a winner there.

reply to post by grayeagle


Thank you! Most appreciated!!

I thought the sacrifice in your story was beautiful, by the way, how one of the twins knew they were going to die in favor of just one being born, yet that death would give peace to the other.

Very strong and emotionally meaningful moment.

peace to you,
AB

It is interesting to note that very recently a small boy had his dead twin brother removed from his stomach. They initially thought it was a tumor but discovered it was his twin that had a backbone and developed hands and feet. There have been other cases as well. All very amazing.