Falling Angels
Copyright© 2020 by Charm Brights
Chapter 17: Compromise
As regards live people, the final compromise offer was to allow up to twenty women in cryogenic sleep to travel, subject to finding suitable candidates. The criteria were very strict:
Four of the final twenty were British and Angels two and three were involved in the selection process, or more accurately in the rejection process of thousands of volunteers.
Candidates must have no detectable genetic disorders.
Candidates must have no history of drug use, even if prescribed for any condition.
Candidates must be young (defined somewhat arbitrarily as under thirty, preferably younger).
Preferably candidates must have given birth to one normal child and candidates must have no living close relatives above the age of two years (i.e. their child must preferably have died in an accident if it had been born more then two years earlier, and volunteers’ parents and any siblings must have predeceased them).
The four finally chosen were Rebecca Clarke, Evelyn Taylor, Elizabeth Wells and Danielle West.
Only Elizabeth Wells had anything noteworthy in her history which was as her husband was driving to take her parents home, and their four year old daughter was with them when a drunk driver slammed his fully loaded 10-ton lorry into their car, killing all four of them.
It transpired that many of the volunteers failed at least one of these tests, and when asked to explain specific failures the response was often incomprehensible to the volunteers but hinged on genetic considerations which involved genes unknown to twenty-first century science. Even if those criteria were met, a selection process would test the psychological suitability of the volunteers.
These conditions really set the cat among the pigeons as a vast array of organisations objected to one or more of the criteria, or to letting anyone go with the robots to the future. The addition of viable ova, and to a less extent semen, was also objected to. Men’s organisations yelled discrimination. The definition of ‘psychological suitability’ was also debated seemingly endlessly.
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