REVELATION: Book One of THE RECARN CHRONICLES by Gregory N. Taylor Page B

required in advance. Once payment
had been made, obstacles miraculously fell away and surgery could
often be performed within a matter of days.
    “There is an alternative to
medical termination, of course. For a sum, we can organise a kidney
transplant for your little girl to take place within a matter of
days.”
    Maurice looked directly at
the doctor. He had been expecting this.
    “What kind of sum are we
looking at, doctor?”
    “You may want to sit down,
Mr. Boone.”
    “I’ll stay standing thank
you very much.”
    “The cost of the surgery
would be seven hundred and eighty-three thousand pounds. It’s a
fair price considering the risk that I would be taking, defying the
government health policy.”
    The risk that Dr. Stefansson
would be taking was, in reality, non-existent. Blind eyes were
turned all over the world to this corruption. It was accepted both
by those who held positions of political power and those in
corresponding positions in the medical fraternity. They all ate
from the same trough. Maurice almost wished that he had been
sitting down to hear the price. Karen slumped back in her chair.
They had expected the price to be steep but seven hundred and
eighty-three thousand pounds was far more than they could lay their
hands on.
    The doctor preferred that
families agree to this not-so-clandestine surgery as he would
receive a lot more money this way than if compulsory termination
was enforced. The obligatory organ harvesting would provide some
money, but this had to be split 50/50 with the team who did the
actual organ removal; his time was far too valuable to spend it on
such a mundane task as removing viable organs from the dead. The
organs of this unfortunate child would garner a good price on the
black market (children’s organs were always in demand) but this was
nothing when compared to the income that was to be earned from
performing a kidney transplant.
    “Seven hundred and
eighty-three thousand pounds. Seven hundred and eighty-three
thousand pounds. Seven hundred and eighty-three thousand
pounds.”
    Maurice kept repeating the
figure to himself, as if doing so would decrease the
price.
    “Where are we going to find
seven hundred and eighty-three thousand pounds?”
    Karen’s eyes welled up with
tears again. She looked pleadingly at her husband. She knew in her
heart that it would be nigh on impossible for them to raise that
kind of money. They needed a miracle.
    “I don’t want to lose my
little girl,” she wailed. “I can’t lose another one.”
    Two years before the birth
of Caitlin, the Boones had suffered another tragedy. Karen had been
almost nine months pregnant when she was involved in a traffic
accident. The doctors had found no signs of life in her womb and
had had to induce labour. She had given birth to a stillborn baby
boy and so Caitlin had become even more valuable to the couple when
she was born. Maurice looked at his sobbing wife and then at the
doctor.
    “How long have we got to
decide?”
    “ I can give you one week,
that’s one working week. Don’t forget that your daughter’s
condition could worsen during that time. Today is a Wednesday, so I
can give you until 8pm on Tuesday 31 st . After that, it’s compulsory termination I’m
afraid.”
    Maurice walked over to where
Karen was sitting, her shoulders rising and falling rhythmically as
she silently sobbed. He took her hand and helped her to her
feet.
    “Come on honey. Let’s go
home. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
    He turned once more to the
doctor.
    “We’ll be in touch. I
promise.”

Chapter 10
8 p.m. Wednesday, 25th January,
2051
     
    Maurice and Karen Boone sat
facing each other across the kitchen table. Their eldest daughter,
Michelle, was staying the night at her friend Sarah’s house. The
Boones thought it best to discuss their options without having to
worry about being distracted by Michelle. They were both looking at
the forty centimeter computer screens projected vertically before
them.