The Power of Three
Part Two
The Angel of Islington Clinic looked busy. John again sat down, looking idly at the walls of glass and stained window decorations. They seemed to consist mainly of long necked storks and angels with feathered wings. The wait seemed longer this time and he idly imagined the person he'd come with transformed into such a creature, floating down gothic arches holding a stork, carrying a child for him. His reverie was intruded upon as the clinic door opened and Angela emerged from her office.
She smiled welcomingly "Come in the both of you! Nice to see you again John. This is to be the donor?"
John nodded as they entered and sank into the expensive leather seats in the consulting room. He looked at his companion. " Angela, this is Sherlock Holmes and he has kindly agreed to be the third person in this .. this "
"More than the third, John, from what you have told me." Sherlock sat forward, looking interested, his long fingers tapping Johns knee remonstratively. "Your wife, as I understand, is merely the 'wrapping' for a child from both of our genetic material." He looked into John's eyes and smiled. "I have agreed to be the other father."
As John looked away, slightly embarrassed, Sherlock turned to Angela.
" Dr Mengel, is this correct? You can take the nucleus out of a sperm cell and introduce it into an egg thus making it essentially an egg itself ? What about the Y chromosome? "
Angela leant forward on her marble desktop and clasped her hands together.
" Your friend has a point John. When fertilization takes place, the chromosomes in the egg and sperm, which both contain half the number each, combine. You see, the only actual difference between the nucleus of an egg cell and a sperm cell with regard to the chromosomes, is that sperms contain either an X or Y chromosome. The Y chromosome can only be produced from males."
So much for basic high school biology, thought John. Sherlock looked bored.
"Human eggs however," she continued, "contain only X chromosomes, gender being dependant on if you are XX or XY. You cannot have YY which could potentially happen this way."
"Exactly" Said Sherlock.
Don't you mean egg sactly?" Joked John.
If Mary had been there she would have groaned. As it was no one said anything. John shut up.
Angela gave him a brief smile. "We can spin the male spermatozoa to stop that happening to some extent, but there is still a small risk."
" We will take it of course, won't we John? I am quite reconciled to having a child with you. I never conceived of the notion before, but circumstances have lead us to this and I would be honoured to have a child this way. What a fantastic experiment!."
John groaned. Angela looked at them both.
" John, your wife, is she ok with this?"
John shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "She said she didn't want to know. That I have to choose." He looked at Sherlock and took a deep breath.
" I have chosen Sherlock and I'm happy with my choice. I can't believe this is actually possible so even with a small risk I want this. Sherlock is right. This is fantastic."
He looked piercingly at his friend and tried to make his point clear." But it's not an experiment, we are talking about a real baby. A real human being that can be produced from three people, and I for one can't think of anyone in the world I would rather that other person be."
He looked at Sherlock, who looked back at him. Their eyes met for a minute. Then John smiled. Sherlock widened his eyes. The air in the room seemed to suddenly loose all oxygen.
Angela cleared her throat. "Right, well its all pretty exciting for us here at the clinic. Your baby, if successful, could be the first of its kind in the world."
Sherlock's eyes took on that look he had when he was in the middle of some grisly experiment, probably involving human body parts. John grew alarmed. Suddenly Sherlock's motivation became clear to him.
" I hope you realise the seriousness of this, Sherlock, this.. this is not just another weird experiment, Sherlock. "
Sherlock sighed. "It is an experimental technique John, perhaps you can publish in the lancet?"
For a minute John thought of his name - him, John Watson , among a string of distinguished authors in an article. If it was a trial, perhaps they would want to publish. Then another kind of article hit his brain.
"Yes, and I can see the Daily Mail headline now. Holmes and Watson create baby together! People will talk."
There was a minute of silence then as Sherlock didn't react. John firmly shook his head. "No way, this is between the three of us".
He laughed darkly. "And my wife is going to kill me when she finds out!"
Ha! please review, and if anyone scientific is out there, I wonder, is this theorectically possible with this new 3 people thing?