"Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Results" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

Their parents’ decision to bring them into the world will make them Burdens that no one else can
measure.

What you don't understand, honey, her father said when she told him of the test, is that there is more
to children that statistics.

I remember your first real smile, her mother added. Whenever I'm sad, I think of that.

Sometimes, her father said, the best accomplishments are small ones.

Bryan takes the palmtop from her hand. He puts a finger under her chin, looks into her eyes. His are
brown, just like hers. They both have blue-eyed great-grandparents, hence the small percentage chance
 of a blue-eyed child.

“Maybe we should just go home,” she says. “Forget the museums and the parks. Our parents will love a
grandchild, any grandchild—"

He puts his finger over her lips. His skin smells of lemon polish and garlic.

“It won't work,” he says softly. “We aren't the right choices for each other. You need someone who'll
add to your scores. So do I."

She inclines her head back so that his finger no longer touches her mouth. “Let's think about it."

“No. I want a child I can be proud of. I don't want—” he grimaces at the baby in the stroller beyond, the
baby with ears too big for his tiny face “—something I'll always regret."

Besides, her father said. Statistics are just that, statistics. They're not proof. What if they're wrong?

They can't be wrong, Daddy.

All right, he says, but sometimes people beat the odds.

“Maybe we should try,” she says.

He puts the palmtop in his pocket. “I was afraid of this. I was worried that you wouldn't believe the
results. We can't afford a lot of enhancements, Jess. We have to go with our combinations. Maybe if we
were rich—"

“We can wait,” she says. “You'll get a better job. So will I. Then we can try."

He shakes his head. “Don't you remember what the doctor said? Your eggs will deteriorate with time.
We'll have to have more enhancements rather than less."

Her eggs and his sperm. Deterioration isn't just a female thing. But she doesn't say that. She knows him
too well. He has made up his mind, and has done it without her.

“You can do what you've always wanted,” he says. “You can act now instead of work box office. You
can become someone."