“I suppose it was the development of the uterine replicators that made it all possible,” Van Atta opined while Leo stowed his gear in his new quarters. More than a mere sleep cubicle, the chamber included private sanitary facilities and a comconsole as well as comfortable-looking sleep restraints—no morning back-ache on this job, Leo thought with minor satisfaction. Headache was another problem.
“I’d heard something about those things,” said Leo. “Another invention from Beta Colony, wasn’t it?” Van Atta nodded. The outer worlds are getting too damn clever these days. Earth’s going to lose its edge if it doesn’t shape up.”
Too true, Leo thought. Yet the history of innovation suggested this was an inevitable pattern. Management who had made huge capital investments in one system were naturally loathe to scrap it, and so the latecomers forged ahead—to the frustration of loyal engineers… “I’d thought the use of uterine replicators was limited to obstetrical emergencies.”
“Actually, the only limitation on their use is the feet that they’re hideously expensive,” said Van Atta. “It’s probably only a matter of time before rich women everywhere start ducking their biological duties and cooking up their kids in ‘em. But for GalacTech, it meant that human bioengineering experiments could at last be carried out without involving a lot of flaky foster-mothers to carry the implanted embryos. A neat, clean, controlled engineering approach. Better still, these quaddies are total constructs—that is, their genes are taken from so many sources, it’s impossible to identify their genetic parents either. Saves quantities of legal grief.” “I’ll bet,” said Leo faintly.