Paterson, New Jersey, Tuesday & Wednesday…

Kalidas knew that she was privileged. Her parents had been immigrants, so while they had to struggle to make ends meet while tolerating the bigotry and prejudice of polite American society, she was second generation. She had reaped the benefits of their endeavors, from upbringing to education. The first had instilled in her the work ethic of her parents. The second had given her the tools to hone and develop the ideas of a free mind to the point where she was tops in her field, although, more importantly, making significant contributions to the human race's knowledge base. She knew that her children would not have had her work ethic. She also knew that they would have been children spoiled by the fruits of her success.

Most likely, anyway. Like most third generation children. But now I'll never know. She had debated sending off the preprint for two days. It certainly wouldn't buy her any kudos from the upstairs crowd in the company. The manager and marketing types at Dalton Biomedicine Inc were looking for more immediately marketable items. But that wasn't the reason for the hesitation. It was more fundamental.

Did she want to be remembered as the scientist who made human cloning easy? It was only a corollary of her work, a mere byproduct, still she had seen it immediately. Of course, I didn't spell it out specifically. Maybe others won't see it. She knew she was kidding herself. Like most scientists at the cutting edge of their specialty, she moved in a small circle of individuals, people she saw at conferences and congresses year after year. Research was so specialized now that it was hard to even get graduate students to come to work with you. Many of them thought they were more employable as generalists. The truth of the matter was that Dalton didn't really need her either. In 2053 she was a vanishing breed, someone who's scientific curiosity gave more weight to the 'why?' and the 'how?', rather than to the 'is it marketable?' During the maglev ride and the car ride home that followed, she thought mostly of Jose. A sweet woman, Jose had loved children. She was always a gentle person with everyone, though, not just kids, rarely using a four-letter word, in contrast to Kalidas, who often used a much more colorful vocabulary to express herself. Jose often called Kalidas her beautiful Greek goddess with the foul mouth. It would have been fun to have grown old with her. Kalidas' townhouse in Upper Montclair was small, yet comfortable. Except for the stairs up from the garage, it was all one level. It had two bedrooms, one serving as her study. She hadn't spent much time there lately. A cot at the lab was often her bed.