Hypothetical Ethics

Okay. Let's posit it's The Future. It's now possible to take any of your cells and make it think it's a stem cell, stick it in an egg shell, and get it to quick-grow into an organ of your own for transplants. But the best way to get it to grow and support it is to get it to grow a body, without a brain.

Creepy, immoral, or cool?

What if it was only part of a body, just the essential bits, no limbs or anything?

What if the rest of the body could be set up to grow parts based on other people's genes, so most everything was used?

Wizard Enough

To the right eyes, he is wizard. He walks in search of enlightenment unknown, carrying a staff of wood from an unknown tree. In a small pouch he carries a pair of demons. One sings to him secrets of the living and the dead, the other waits to reach out and call to others through the air.

A hound hears him walking and brays. Another joins the chorus. As they run toward him he pauses, raises a hand and utters a word. The hounds stop in their tracks.

The word is simply "Stay!" but it worked, which is magic enough.

A Reminder

New Orleans is still a festering wreck of what was once a great city.