BECCA HAD GREEN EYES
and Charlie had brown, but
their daughter was born
with an exquisite blend of
both. When Sam asked if
they’d specially requested
hazel, the couple was coy.
“We told the techs to let
the embryo just do its thing,”
Charlie said. “I figure we’d
meddled enough, having
sperm spun out of my skin’s
stem cells so we wouldn’t
need a donor. Of course, the
clinic offered to let us make
a few tweaks by introducing
an engineered virus to edit
her DNA, but—”
“—but you know no one
has ever managed to upsell
me on anything,” Becca said
with a snort. “Anyway, I knew
we didn’t need it. She was
bound to be a gorgeous kid.”
Sam mm-hmmed in agree-
ment but thought to herself
that maybe their fertility
specialist had been a little
too heavy-handed. Still, it
was hard to argue with the
results: Pictures of all those
cherubic CRISPR kids made
for damn good advertising
when she and her partner,
Dana, made their own visit
to the clinic, a few months
after Becca and Charlie
announced their pregnancy.
“By signing here you’re
giving us permission to fix
any genetic anomalies we find
in the course of creating your
embryo,” the nurse explained
at the appointment.Dana nibbled her lip. “How
do you define that though?”
“Oh, it’s all a bunch of tech-
nical jargon,” the nurse said.
“Obviously you don’t want
us keeping a gene associated
with high cancer risk?”
“I guess that’s reasonable,”
Dana muttered, still scanning
the dense document. “And
what is it you were saying
about the special offer?”
“Ah, yes,” the nurse said.
“With our standard package
for same-sex parents, we’re
throwing in two bonus boost-
ers that swap in DNA with
tested improvements. Our
most popular enhancements
are intelligence and beauty,
but we have athletic and
artistic options too.”
Sam could see her wife
gearing up for a retort, so she
grabbed her hand.
“Dana,” she pleaded.
“Don’t you want to have a
baby? Our perfect baby?”
“OK, but what if some
of these supposed edits go
wrong? What if we’re set-
ting our great-grandchildren
up for some catastrophic
genetic plague?”
“All procedures come with
a 20-year warranty for free re-
pairs,” the nurse interjected.
“See?” Sam squeezed her
hand. “They’ve got it covered.”
Besides, it was clear that
everyone else was giving
their embryos a head start.
She wouldn’t want their
W child to get left behind.H
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BY RACHEL FELTMANBIG QS22
In October 2018, a rogue Chinese scientist reportedly used the
editing tool CRISPR on the DNA of twin embryos to make them
resistant to HIV. The following work of fiction imagines a future
where parents could access the same technology and Build-a-Baby.