Coming of Age: Volume 1: Eternal Life (31 page)
Read Coming of Age: Volume 1: Eternal Life Online
Authors: Thomas T. Thomas
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #science fiction, #High Tech, #Hard Science Fiction
“It’s very pretty,” she said. “I love it.”
“It might not look like it, but the heart actually opens,” he said, “although you need the right tools. Inside, in digital notation, there’s a chip holding our two genomes, twenty-three pairs each, all ninety-two chromosomes, fully reprogrammed and cleaned up. Essentially, they’re the complete instructions for making any children we might ever want in the future from synthesized strands of our DNA.”
“That’s um … unusual.”
“It’s the secret of life.”
Appendix 1:
Praxis Family Tree
Circa 2030,
and Other Characters
in the Story
Praxis Family Tree
Circa 2030
Characters Other Than Family
Part 1 – 2018: First You Die …
Carolyn Boggs, one of Antigone’s associates in Bryant Bridger & Wells, LLC
Suleiman “Sully” Mkubwa, the other associate in the BB&W law firm
Ted Bridger, partner in the BB&W law firm
Prabhjot Bajwa, Antigone’s doctor at UCSF Medical Center, Mission Bay
Peterson and Jamison, John’s doctors at UCSF Medical Center
Anderson and Adamson, stem cell researchers at Stanford Medical Center
Tina Gonzales, clinical technologist at Stanford Medical Center
Gary and Jocelyn, Antigone’s therapists at UCSF Medical Center
Elpidia Hartzog, reporter from the
San Francisco Chronicle
Part 2 – 2019: Run for Your Life
Jeanne Hale, Antigone’s in-home nursing attendant
Maritsa, Antigone’s housekeeper
Pamela Sheldon, PE&C receptionist on the thirty-eighth floor
Ivy Blake, John’s former executive assistant
Kay Sheffield, John’s new executive assistant
Madeline Bauer, Antigone’s administrative assistant
Judy, green belt instructor in Okinawan karate
Miranda, John’s and Adele’s cook
Alison Crowder, PE&C head of Human Resources
Daniel and Eric, black belt instructors in Okinawan karate
Meyer, staff physician at California Pacific Medical Center
Harold Cromwell, project liaison at the Denver Arts Commission
Julia Schottlander, PE&C accounting analyst
Roxbrough, U.S. Army recruiting sergeant, Menlo Park
Anthony Ruysdael, major, U.S. Army Ordnance Corps
Darrell Young, lieutenant colonel, Arizona Army National Guard
Valone, John’s and Adele’s family physician
Winston Burke, PE&C vice president and chief counsel
Herb Longacre, PE&C executive vice president for international marketing
Kevin Lowe, marketing vice president, Intelligeneering Systems Inc.
Father Demetrios, priest at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in San Francisco
Ramsay, captain, 1/22nd Combat Infantry Group, California Army National Guard
Beemis, general, U.S. Army, coordinator of the attack on Kansas City
Part 3 – 2028: Plumbing Work
Nora, Tommy, and Joey Graham, John’s neighbors on Balboa Street
Helen Wells Carter, Antigone’s younger sister in Oklahoma
Bernie Gutierrez, head of purchasing at PlumbKit
Peter Greenwood, Antigone’s
sensei
in Isshinryu karate
Count Francesco di Rienzi, Callista’s late husband
Janet Bormann, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Matteo di Rienzi, Francesco’s uncle in Torino, Italy
Carlo di Rienzi, Matteo’s son in Torino, Italy
Philip Sawyer, chairman and chief executive of Tallyman Systems, Inc.
Elise Paterson, Antigone’s urologist in Oklahoma City
Frieda Hammond, major, G1 Manpower and Personnel, in Brandon’s unit
Stephen Swarovski, major, G3 Operations, in Brandon’s unit
Kendal, John’s doctor at Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno
Axel Brod, engineer with the resurrected Praxis Engineering & Construction
Will Chapple, project manager on rebuilding the War Memorial Opera House
Sonny Deeths, construction superintendent on rebuilding of the opera house
Mariene Kunstler, former policewoman from Germany, among other places
Potiphar Jackson, software designer at Tallyman Systems, Inc.
Bill Pitt, former master sergeant in Brandon’s unit
Sally Hungerford, former first lieutenant in Brandon’s unit
Bernardo Gorgoni, head of Construction Workers International Local 320
Robert Rudolph, judge, F.R. District Court, Eastern District of California
Melissa Willbrot, attorney, City of Los Angeles Board of Public Works
Ashley Benedict, medical technician with Parthenotics, Inc.
About the Author
Thomas T. Thomas is a writer with a career spanning forty years in book editing, technical writing, public relations, and popular fiction writing. Among his various careers, he has worked at a university press, a tradebook publisher, an engineering and construction company, a public utility, an oil refinery, a pharmaceutical company, and a supplier of biotechnology instruments and reagents. He published eight novels and collaborations in science fiction with Baen Books and is now working on more general and speculative fiction. When he’s not working and writing, he may be out riding his motorcycle, practicing karate, or wargaming with friends. Catch up with him at www.thomastthomas.com.
Photo by Robert L. Thomas
Books by Thomas T. Thomas
eBooks:
The Professor’s Mistress
The Children of Possibility
The Judge’s Daughter
Sunflowers
Trojan Horse
Baen Books and eBooks:
The Doomsday Effect (as by “Thomas Wren”)
First Citizen
ME: A Novel of Self-Discovery
Crygender
Baen Books in Collaboration:
An Honorable Defense (with David Drake)
The Mask of Loki (with Roger Zelazny)
Flare (with Roger Zelazny)
Mars Plus (with Frederik Pohl)
