“He appears to be sleeping,\u201d whispered one of the visiting scientists, a young man from Tel Aviv with something like awe in his voice. The twelve scientists grouped around the table represented the scientific elite from around the world. Prone upon the table was a normal appearing man who seemed to be about thirty years of age. His longish face was strong and untroubled, and was framed by a few weeks’ growth of beard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“He certainly does,” confirmed Processor Stone, one the twelve scientists who had been called together to witness the awakening of the man before them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe time has nearly come.\u201d a voice from somewhere above their heads began. They knew this gentle voice to be the artificially-produced speech of the Goldwin-Oknelhiemer Device — a vast intelligence which controlled nearly every aspect of life in the civilized world. The voice continued, \u201cFirst, I shall give you some brief background on the Jenetic Clone.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men in the room all smiled when the name was said, because they knew the story of how a somewhat ignorant newspaper reporter had mistaken \u2018genetic\u2019 for the proper name \u2018Jenetic\u2019. The name had stuck, and now appeared misspelled in every scientific journal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Jenetic Clone is really a phenomenal individual. He has 48 \u2018parents\u2019, one for each of the chromosomes in the human cell. Each individual parent was chosen for a single inheritable trait, and the corresponding gene was spliced into the first cell of the man before you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u0410 carefully chosen mother carried the fetus through gestation, and the Mosenkeld technique was used to bring him up to his present age — considered by some to be the physical prime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“He is a man, but much more than a man.\u201d There almost seemed to be pride in the voice of the artificial creator of the Jenetic Clone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe has been taught standard English, even though today will be the first time he will be awakened.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Gentlemen, I give you my son<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The room was silent, as the man opened his eyes, sat up, looked about calmly, and spoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeace be with you,\u201d he said to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is what happens when you’re raised religious, but are a bit nutty and creative.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I have two versions of this story: the one above, and a longer (less religious) one with more details. I’m not sure which I wrote first. I don’t know if I decided to make a religious version from the more-detailed version, or the other way around. My guess is that latter: that I was trying to genericize the story into something potentially more readable and interesting — but I like the weird direction and brevity of the version above.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “He appears to be sleeping,\u201d whispered one of the visiting scientists, a young man from Tel Aviv with something like awe in his voice. The twelve scientists grouped around the table represented the scientific elite from around the world. Prone upon the table was a normal appearing man who seemed to be about thirty years … <\/p>\n
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