Well Bred

By johnnedwill

Doctor Meng had tried to think of an argument that would persuade the ruling council of Perfekteco to accept her findings. As the head of one of GalMedCon's medical crisis teams, she was used to dealing with the byzantine idiosyncrasies of bureaucracies and explaining complex biomedical matters to laymen. If anything, GalMedCon valued her more for her communications skills than her biomedical knowledge. However, all of Doctor Meng's abilities were proving to be inadequate against what was essentially religious dogma.

The GalMedCon team had been working on Perfekteco for the last six standard months to combat the outbreak of a new strain of respiratory virus. Under the leadership of Doctor Meng, the team had isolated the virus, analysed it and come up with a treatment. However, the planet's ruling council had refused to countenance the course of action that Doctor Meng was recommending. She had wasted a lot of time and effort to try overcome the councillors' intransigence. This was her last attempt.

"Please," Doctor Meng said to the six almost-identical individuals sitting before her. "You are rational human beings. Surely you must understand what the facts are telling you."

Six pairs of almost-identical eyes stared at her.

In the six months that Doctor Meng and her team had been on Perfekteco, she had come to appreciate that cloned beings were not identical. At first she had had difficulty in distinguishing one individual from another; but, as she had become used to the inhabitants of the world, she had learnt to look for the small but important differences between them.

Perfekteco had been settled by a sect of extreme Purists. The Purist philosophy varied between sects, but could be summed up as humanocentric. The sect that had settled Perfekteco believed that only a single human genotype could be tolerated. They had used the world as a laboratory to develop their version of the perfect genetic template and to build a society based upon it. However, the vagaries of genetic variation were still evident within the population - or at least those that were allowed to exist. But the differences that existed in height, skin tone and facial structure were still enough for the practiced eye to distinguish between individual Perfekteci.

The individual that was identified by the batch number 6-521-32 shook its head and glared at Doctor Meng. "No! what you propose is impossible! It is unconscionable! We will not allow our sacred form to be tampered with. You said there were other methods to deal with this virus?"

"Yes," Doctor Meng agreed. "There are. But their effects are only temporary."

"We do not believe you. We called on GalMedCon's help because they - because you - are supposed to be competent in the medical sciences. Surely what we have asked for cannot be beyond you or your colleagues' abilities?"

5-786-99, a clone whose template had been derived from an earlier generation, joined in. "As we have told you, doctor, vaccinations are acceptable to our belief system. Antivirals and phages would also be allowed. But not ... Not this!" The clone almost spat out the words, their face contorted in disgust.

"We can employ those treatments," Doctor Meng said. "And we have been using them as part of our initial containment measures for this outbreak. But, in the end, they are only stopgap measures. Ultimately, while there is a reserve of infection within your population, there is a risk that this disease will return. And it will have adapted and mutated. Even you Purists should know what this could mean."

"Evolution." 5-786-99's tone was contemptuous. "It is for the lower orders of life. We have taken control of our evolution."

Doctor Meng took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. "Yes. You have. But this virus will also have evolved to take advantage of its hosts. We cannot predict how it will change. It could result in a more deadly strain than the one we are dealing with."

"Or it could result in a neutered version. As you said, it cannot be predicted how this virus will change."

"Mortality rate is just one factor that would be affected!" Doctor Meng snapped. "There are dozens of factors that could change, resulting in a new strain with unknown characteristics. But there is a simple solution to this - one that would be trivial for your society to implement, given your superior knowledge of genetics." Maybe flattery will do it, she thought. "If you were to alter your genetic template, then future generations could be made immune to this virus. The issue is that your current genetic diversity is low. If you were to have more individuality then you would be simultaneously introducing resistant traits as well making it harder for the virus to exploit your descendants." Please let this work.

"Evolution." The clones looked at each other.

"Diversity." They spat the word out.

"Individuality." Their brows furrowed in anger.

6-521-32 slammed their fist onto the conference table. The sudden outburst of violence seemed to take the others by surprise. "We will not be lectured on our genetics by you! Not by an Individualist! Not by one of the inperfekteci! Our genetic identity is a fundamental aspect of our existence! If you cannot - or will not give us help, then there is no point in further discussions. We shall inform your board of our decision."

The members of the Perfekteco ruling council stood up and left the conference room. 5-786-99 was the last to go. They paused at the door, and glanced back at Doctor Meng. "Please understand," they said. "This is a matter of doctrine."

Doctor Meng sighed in resignation. "No," she said. "I do not understand it, but I will accept it." She waited for 5-786-99 to leave before gather up her papers.