‘This is hidden at the back of a bakery,’ Charlie said. ‘So the gear may be legal, but I guess what you’re doing with it isn’t …’

Mango smiled as she propped her bulk against a counter. ‘I originally trained as a physician,’ she began. ‘I drifted into genetic medicine, working on trials of skin cancer therapies in Boston and London. But at the same time the technology that enabled same-sex couples to produce viable embryos was starting to become reliable. So, instead of lesbian partners having to use a male sperm donor, or gay men having to use a woman’s egg, I could fertilise one of Veryan’s eggs using my own DNA.’

‘Pseudo sperm and hijacked eggs,’ Charlie said. ‘I’ve heard about them in the news, but it’s still illegal, right?’

Mango nodded. ‘It remains illegal in the United States, much to the chagrin of same-sex couples who feel it’s their right to mix their genes and produce true offspring the same as everyone else. After Veryan gave birth to our older son, I repeated the procedure for a couple of close friends.

‘Over a couple of years, that developed into a successful, if illegal, business. Besides producing offspring for single-sex couples, I’ve diversified into other genetic modifications. For instance, embryos can be given additional traits, so that children have a certain eye or hair colour, or you can determine a child’s sex, or eliminate single-gene defects that cause serious illness.

‘There’s also gene therapy, which modifies genes in the cells of living humans. Some gene therapies, such as regenerating macular cells to cure some types of blindness, are now routinely performed in hospitals. But less essential treatments, such as those that alter melanin production to give someone a permanent tan, reduce strong body odour, or increase muscular strength or lung capacity in athletes are still illegal.’

‘So you do all that stuff?’ Charlie asked. ‘Super athletes, designer babies …’

‘I started doing extra projects to finance expansion of the Cake Collective,’ Mango admitted. ‘We’ve created a lot of jobs in the community. Veryan and I are proud of Radical Cakes, but it has never made huge profits. We’d never have expanded to premises this size, or moved to our nice house, without the extra income.

‘I have a small, affluent client base. All my patients come through personal recommendation. An actress who wants a permanent perfect tan, or a teen basketball player who wants to be three inches taller and thirty per cent stronger will happily pay twenty to thirty thousand dollars for a personalised course of gene therapy.

‘There are labs in India and China that charge a tenth of what I do, but I have a reputation for excellent work. Botched gene therapy runs a high risk of tumours and other complications, and I’m sure you’ve seen online pictures of designer babies gone wrong.’