Michael and Jane were making babies. It was taking a long time. In fact, Jane was struggling to stay awake. She took another sip of coffee and stared at the selection form on the desk in front of her. Making babies is quick and easy! the form said. Just tick your selections from list (a) and list (b) below. That's all there is to it! The options swam before her eyes, refusing to make sense.

"Height?" Michael suggested.

"We're both quite tall, Michael. What if we scrap splice-in intelligence and cut-out low intelligence instead? That would free up ten-thousand for..."

"Jane. We've been through this. By the time she grows up anyone without a masters degree will be..."

"...cleaning toilets for a living. Yes, I know." Okay, intelligence was definitely in. What about nose? She and Michael both had terrible noses. It wasn't that she was hung up on looks. They were just giving Janet or Joanna the tools to underline her self confidence. Self sonfidence wasn't on either list. If straight nose was in, something had to go. They had saved and borrowed and gone without to get together £110,000 for their daughter. That had been decided for them randomly. While it was true that most couples would pick one of each sex, they were also hooked up on the big-brother little-sister syndrome, and many ran out of cash after one child. Several medical cut-outs; diabetes, Down's, MS, came free. If you had the ten grand for IVF to get started, that is.

"I think we should go for something medical again."

"Like what?" Cancer drugs were improving all the time. An anti-cancer gene could easily be wasted. At least having a girl meant they didn't have to worry about baldness. Or did they? "We need to cut stuff out, Michael, not put more in. We're over budget already!" Wasn't it ridiculous that a lifetime's protection from heart disease cost less than blue eyes? Cut-outs cost ten thousand but most splice-ins were patented. Calvin-Klyne Biotech's share price had octupled over night when they copyrighted blonde hair. On the other hand, Splices were buy two, get one half-price!

"Do we really need the nose?"

"If it's so easy, you do it!" She was getting angry now. Was even temper on the list? Why wasn't it on the list? It should be on the list! She thought about Joanna or Jenny, now just a few cells. Soon benign viruses would... Yuck, the technobabble that Michale gobbled up so readily made her cringe.

"Do we have to spend all of it?"

That was the final straw. "Yes! Yes! We have to spend all of it. This is our daughter, Michael. We have a responsibility to do the best for her. To die for her." She tore the form in half, screwed it into a ball and threw it at the father of her child. It bounced harmlessly on his bald head and came to rest at his feet.

"I'm sorry," he said.

And he was. She could tell. Janet's anger was gone. Why spend the money at all? Why not do it the natural way? Take their chances with natural selection. For a moment, she almost doubted. Instead, she visuallised her Other Self. This Janet was calm and calculating, like Michael. The Other Self would never have to die for their daughter because it would kill for her first and was able to crush the doubt like a rotten, maggotty apple and disgard it. "I'm sorry too. It's just that..."

"I know. Let's try to do it scientifically. Pick out what we want. Arrange them in order of priority. Take the top five or six. Perhaps that will work?"

"Perhaps." Okay, what did Jenny or Janet absolutely have to have. Heart disease, obviously. Then intelligence, blonde hair, good nose...