Immortal by Kelvin Kelley Page B

towards her. Gabrielle had known Sarah
for a number of years, even before Sarah had become linked to her
husband. When Sarah’s first child had come, she and Gabrielle had
talked for hours about what to name the little boy. He was such a
cute bundle of joy, with his little fat arms and legs, and chubby
little cheeks, and that shock of black hair that sat on the very
top of his head. Gabrielle had come up with every variation of
Jericho that she could, but Sarah continued to shoot down her
ideas. Sarah and James, her husband, wanted something simple. A one
syllable name that was easy to say and remember. James’s favorite
had been Tog, but Sarah refused to allow that.
    “My son is not going to be named Tog.” She
had adamantly said. Her favorite name had been Bit, but James was
dead set against it.
    “No way! Bit! That’s crazy.” He had said.
    “But he’s just a Bit of a thing.” She had
said lovingly. But, as so often happens in these types of
negotiations, they had named their son, Lucas. Gabrielle still did
not understand it, but they liked it, and that’s what mattered.
    “Gabby, you’re not going to believe it!”
Sarah said, as she sat her tray down and took the seat across from
Gabrielle.
    “Sarah, have you seen Jericho or Rebecca?”
She asked.
    “No. Not yet.” She replied.
    “I really need to talk to them, or one of
them, or both of them.” Gabrielle was getting flustered.
    “Gabby! What’s up?” Sarah asked.
    “Jericho was controlled.” She blurted out.
“Didn’t you hear?”
    “Wow. I heard someone at the factory was,
yesterday, but I didn’t know it was Jericho.” She said concerned.
“Is he okay?” She asked.
    “I don’t know Sarah.” She dropped her eyes to
her tray. “I haven’t been able to find out anything yet. I hope
he’s okay.” She said sadly.
    “Look!” Sarah exclaimed. “There’s Rebecca!”
She waived across the room to Rebecca who had just entered
building. Rebecca waived back, and continued ahead in line. It
would be a few more minutes before she would be able to make her
way to the table.
    “I’m sorry, Sarah. What were you going to
tell me when you first sat down?” Gabrielle asked.
    “It’s nothing. I’ll tell you later. You’ve
got enough on your mind.” She said.
    “No, it’s okay Sarah. I could use something
to keep my mind off this for a bit.”
    “Bit. Very funny.” Sarah laughed. “That’s
what I wanted to tell you.” She said excitedly.
    “What? Something new with Lucas?” Gabrielle
asked, as she smiled slightly.
    “Kind of.” Sarah replied. “He is going to
have a sister!” She exclaimed, as she beamed at the idea.
    “You received the notice?” Gabrielle asked,
astonished.
    “Yep. Just yesterday.” Sarah said as she
nodded her head.
    “Wow. When do you go in? For the implant?”
Gabrielle asked.
    “Next week. The notice said the embryo is
ready to go.”
    “I didn’t even know that you had applied?”
Gabrielle asked.
    “We didn’t. It wasn’t like it was with Lucas,
where we applied and waited for the notice. Come on Gabby, you know
how it is, the rule says you have to have the second child before
the first turns two years old, and Lucas just turned one you know.”
She giggled, “So what do you think we should name her?” Sarah
asked.
    Sarah was right, Gabrielle thought. She was
quite aware of how it worked. She and Jericho had talked about it
many times. Under law, every unlinked individual must link by the
age 25, or they would be notified of their selected mate, and
immediately the linking would take place. Every newly linked couple
must apply for their first child within the first year of marriage.
Once approved they would then receive notice of the scheduled
implant, and the viable embryo would be implanted and carried to
term. Parents knew that the first child would always be male, and
the second child would always be female. If the parents did not
apply for the second child on their own within the