Page:World Without Men (HT osu.32435053364535).pdf/158

etes, of course—bearing twenty-three chromosomes. They were dead, but the chromosomes were transferable. It took a long time to perfect the technique: precision micro-cytology using scalpels invisible to the naked eye. We had to remove the chromosomes from a male gamete and transfer them to a living female ovum, matching them perfectly so that natural affinity would occur; so that the cell would live, and divide and grow, keeping its forty-seven chromosomes, growing and developing all the time . . ."

"I know; I know . . ."

"Well, the Arctic man was shared among eighteen cytological laboratories. I had an allocation of gametes along with the rest. Four days ago I performed my four hundred and sixty-fifth micro-cytological transfer."

"And . . . what happened?"

"I succeeded, Mistress. The cell is still alive. It has already divided and subdivided more than twenty times. Each new cell has forty-seven chromosomes. I've checked with the ultraviolet phase-contrast microscope. There's no mistake."

The Mistress of Applied Cytology pursed her lips and studied Cordelia as if she were a new virus strain. "In other words," she said, "you claim to have produced a living male embryo."

"Exactly."

"For the first time in five thousand years."

"Yes."

The Mistress stood up and wandered thoughtfully around the room, stroking her rectangular chin and frowning in mild perplexity, as if solving an obscure conundrum.

She said: "Which incubator are you using?"

"The Reissner thermostatic radiation chamber."

"I see. How long will it take for the embryo to develop beyond primary gestation?"

"With present parameters, temperature, and so on . . . about ten weeks . . ."