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"Ken Helm called?"
"You wouldn't have crossed the threshold if he hadn't."
"The clinic doesn't look highly guarded."
"Stare cross-eyed at a surveillance camera and see what happens."
"Did she suffer any permanent brain damage?"
Bell shook his head vigorously. "One hundred percent after a few weeks. Incredible constitution. She's not built like most women who come through these doors."
"She it very attractive," said Pitt.
"No, no, I'm not talking about looks. This woman is a remarkable physical specimen, as is, or should I say was, the body of her cousin you shipped from the Antarctic."
"According to the FBI, they're cousins."
"Nonetheless, a perfect genetic match," said Bell seriously. "Too perfect."
"How so?"
"I attended the postmortem examination, then took the findings and compared the physical characteristics with the lady lying in a bed down the hall. There's more going on here than mere family similarities."
"Helm told me Heidi's body is here at the clinic."
"Yes, on a table in the basement morgue."
"Can't family members with the same genes, especially cousins, have a mirror image?" asked Pitt.
"Not impossible, but extremely rare," replied Bell.
"It's said that we all have an identical look-alike wandering somewhere in the world."
Bell smiled. "God help the guy who looks like me."
Pitt asked, "So where is this leading?"
"I can't prove it without months of examination and tests, and I'm going out on a limb with an opinion, but I'm willing to stake my reputation on the possibility that those two young ladies, one living, one dead, were developed and manufactured."
Pitt looked at him. "You can't be suggesting androids."
"No, no." Bell waved his hands. "Nothing so ridiculous."
"Cloning?"
"Not at all."
"Then what?"
"I believe they were genetically engineered."
"Is that possible?" asked Pitt, unbelieving. "Does the science and technology exist for such an achievement?"
"There are labs full of scientists working on perfecting the human body through genetics, but to my knowledge they're still in the mice-testing stage. All I can tell you is that if Elsie doesn't die in the same manner as Heidi, or fall under a truck, or get murdered by a jealous lover, she'll probably live to celebrate her hundred and twentieth birthday."
"I'm not at all sure I'd want to live that long," said Pitt thoughtfully. "Nor I," said Bell, laughing.
"Certainly not in this old bod."
