Disem-Bahdee-d

For those who dream the impossible

***

Doctor Genene Evans watched the bio printer buzz to life. The metallic arms began the delicate work of assembling raw organic materials into the world’s first 3D-printed human limb. In this case: a human hand. A left hand. The left hand of Grayson Bahdee, her lover. More than a simple organ, this experiment had the potential to help countless people and launch the name Genene Evans into the history—Nobel history—books.

If it worked.

“It will,” Genene said aloud, as was her custom when working in the lab alone. She adjusted her thick glasses and smoothed out her skirt with excited strokes. “It has to.”

The accident had left Grayson feeling depressed and inadequate. When they made love, he’d forget his fingers were no longer there, bringing him out of the moment, unable to touch her—love her—like he once had. His confidence had shattered. Passionate evenings of unrestrained physical bliss were now a thing of the past. Touch was few and far between, although the love was there. No matter how often Genene told him the physical change made no difference in her mind, no matter how often she kissed the stump of his wrist, she could find no antidote to his melancholy.

Now it was different. Three years later she had the knowledge, the funding, and the equipment in her own private facility. Most important of all, she had Grayson’s stem cells and tissue samples, donated at her request, in case somehow,...