After warm goodbyes to his patient, Waller motioned Raymond to follow him. He led down a long corridor that gave access to the examining rooms. At the end he preceded Raymond into his private office, then closed the door after them.

Waller introduced himself cordially but with obvious reserve. He took Raymond’s hat and coat, which he carefully hung in a small closet.

“Coffee?” Waller asked.

“By all means,” Raymond said.

A few minutes later, both with coffee, and with Waller behind his desk and Raymond sitting in a chair in front, Raymond began his pitch.

“These are tough times to be practicing medicine,” Raymond said.

Waller made a sound that was akin to a laugh, but it was bereft of humor. Obviously he wasn’t amused.

“We can offer you an opportunity to significantly augment your income as well as provide a state-of-the-art service to select patients,” Raymond said. For the most part Raymond’s presentation was a practiced speech that he’d perfected over the years.

“Is there anything illegal about this?” Waller interjected. His tone was serious, almost irritable. “If there is, I’m not interested.”

“Nothing illegal,” Raymond assured him. “Just extremely confidential. From our phone call, you said you would be willing to keep this conversation just among you, me, and Dr. Daniel Levitz.”

“As long as my silence is not felonious in and of itself,” Waller said. “I will not be duped into being an accessory.”

“No need to worry,” Raymond said. He smiled. “But if you do decide to join our group, you will be asked to sign an affidavit concerning confidentiality. Only then will you be told the specific details.”

“I don’t have any trouble with signing an affidavit,” Waller said. “As long as I’m not breaking any law.”

“Well, then,” Raymond said. He put his coffee cup on the edge of Waller’s desk to free up his hands. He fervently believed that hand gestures were important for impact. He started by telling about his chance meeting seven years previously with Kevin Marshall who’d given a poorly attended presentation at a national meeting that dealt with homologous transposition of chromosome parts between cells.

“Homologous transposition?” Waller questioned. “What the devil is that?” Having been through medical school prior to the revolution in molecular biology, he was unfamiliar with the terms.

Raymond patiently explained and used for his example the short arms of chromosome 6.

“So this Kevin Marshall developed a way to take a piece of chromosome from one cell and exchange it for the same piece in the same location of another cell,” Waller said.

“Exactly,” Raymond said. “And for me it was like an epiphany. I immediately saw the clinical application. Suddenly it was potentially possible to create an immunological double of an individual. As I’m sure you are aware, the short arm of chromosome six contains the major histocompatibility complex.”

“Like an identical twin,” Waller said with growing interest.

“Even better than an identical twin,” Raymond said. “The immunological double is created in an appropriately sized animal species that can be sacrificed on demand. Few people would be able to have an identical twin sacrificed.”