Retreat And Adapt (A Galaxy Unknown) by Thomas DePrima Read Free Book Online Page B

with the old formulas, the ones that were lost with Raider-One," Whitely said.
    "The individual in charge of the project, Mikel Arneu, has used the new formulas on himself to change his sex and return his body to age twenty-three. That certainly indicates his confidence in the procedures. He, or rather she, is as healthy as a person can be and damned attractive to boot. I propose a return to our original plan of producing sex slaves for our brothels for a one-year test period. If no complications arise, we could then offer the DNA Manipulation procedures to anyone who has the trillion credits to buy it, but I further recommend that we alter our original plan and not offer the Age Prolongation procedure to anyone outside of senior company personnel."
    "What's your reasoning behind that?" Gladsworth asked. "That procedure could make us an additional trillion on each sale."
    "If we offer the Age Regression procedure and the DNA Manipulation processes, we'll still make those trillions. Then the patients will begin to age normally again. In ten or twenty years they'll be back to undergo the procedure again. But if we sell the Age Prolongation procedure, we've lost those trillions for possibly thousands of years. I suggest we reserve that one for ourselves."
    "Good thinking, Strauss," Gladsworth said. "We can keep milking their vanity forever."
    "I question the price," Whitely said. "If we get too greedy, we'll be limiting our market to just a few dozen people. Instead of a trillion credits for the procedures, I think we should establish a price of say ten billion credits. That way we'll have tens of thousands of potential customers.
    "Yes, that makes sense," Gladsworth said. "All in favor of only charging ten billion for the two procedures, signal by raising your hand."
    Everyone at the table raised his or her hand except Strauss, who didn't have the right to vote at an Upper Council meeting.
    "The motion passes. Er, Strauss?"
    "Sir?"
    "You said that Arneu changed his sex?"
    "Yes, sir. He's now a twenty-three-year-old female. And since he's used the Age Prolongation procedure on himself, or rather herself, she should live for possibly another five thousand years. At least that was the original projection for Admiral Carver."
    "I didn't realize the DNA Manipulation procedure could be used just to alter sex ," Whitely said. "We could market that process alone and clean up. We wouldn't be adversely affecting the size of the general population if we didn't combine it with the other procedures. The sex change clinics are always busy these days and the final result is not a true gender change. It's more or less cosmetic. We could easily charge a hundred times the sex-change rate for a full genetic conversion."
    The other council members began talking among themselves about the merits of offering single-procedure packages until Gladsworth pounded the gavel.
    "There will be plenty of time to discuss alternate possibilities later. The issue nearest and dearest to any of us here should be the use of the procedures on ourselves. I would love to be twenty-three again and have the energy of a youthful body."
    "Uh, there's a small— glitch, sir," Strauss said. "Arneu says that the Age Regression procedure only works on women. That's why he changed his sex. It was necessary if he was to become twenty-three again."
    "And you can't change back to male afterwards?"
    "Yes, you can, but the process of changing sex is quite painful according to Arneu, and it takes a full year to complete just the basic changes. That's allegedly the reason she's procrastinated beginning the procedure to become a male again. Also, I think she likes her new form."
    "That doesn't mean that everyone would prefer to remain a woman. And we could charge outsiders for every change."
    "But if you are already female," Council member Paula Sorreto asked, "you wouldn't have to change to male first. Is that correct?"
    "Yes, ma'am. The process requires you be female when the Age