The Seeds of Fate

Prologue:

This hadn't been an ordinary Sunday. Jack had, as was his custom, gone home from work at the Ob/Gyn clinic where he worked and found a curious dapper gentleman in his suite of rooms. He was taken aback and indignantly demanded an expectation. He almost wished one had not been forthcoming.

When he was sixteen, Jack had first worked for an Ob/Gyn clinic. Dr Davinia Rothman had given him a job as a favour. He had had a hard and unhappy home life. She at any rate had been so compassionate and rescued him from it, not expecting anything in return… or rather not much in return. Her requirement had been that he regularly donate his sperm as part of his job. It had meant sticking to a rigid diet and exercise regime, but it had been no great hardship. Every 48 hours he had produced semen samples, but hadn't asked much about what was to be done with them. He understood that single ladies or lesbian couples needed sperm from anonymous donors and that at such a clinic they could pick whichever one they liked. He had been devastated when Dr Davinia died of cancer the previous winter. The same disease had been dormant in her for so long, but the invasive cure she had undergone long ago had only given her a respite. The brilliant surgeon whom he had loved almost like a mother was taken from him and the clinic had been sold. Fortunately he had been able to be reemployed as a technician at another Ob/Gyn clinic, having ten years relevant experience, although he had not donated sperm since Davinia had been gone.

If there had been anything strange about Davinia, he had not thought to question it. She still looked glamorous, even though she had been unwell. She had had a bold aquiline face and long silver hair, that had once been fiery red. But this lawyer who showed up told him that she had used his sperm to give to patients much more than was recommended. The upper limit was ten families per any single donor, but the lawyer made the mindboggling claim that over twelve years, from when he was sixteen, up until her death last year, Davinia had used his seed for every patient who required a donor – resulting in nine thousand babies, all sired by him, with very many different mothers. The children would be all ages from newborn to twelve years old. The lawyer told him that some had wished to know his identity and would now be able to due to a change in the law…! He did not think to question this turn of events. Numbly, he accepted the folder and saw countless photos of babies and young children. He was going to have to reconcile himself to the inevitable. He would have to begin to make contact with some, although it would take twenty-five years to visit them all at a rate of one every day!

The lawyer had told him that some of his older children had expressed their personal interest in getting to know him and there were even those who had made videos by themselves. Nine thousand children all his! The lawyer had called his relationship with Davinia "strange and unhealthy." Why had she been so preoccupied with spreading his seed? Still numb with shock, he thought dazedly that the videos could be a place to start to unravel this mystery.

He took up the first video and played it. A picture swam into focus, that of a young girl of about 12. He was struck immediately by how much she resembled him, with a pale, oval face, hazel eyes and thick, dark hair. She told him that her mother was originally Mexican, but nothing more about her circumstances. She was a cat owner evidently and her cats kept inquisitively poking their heads into the video. She earnestly entreated her anonymous biological father to make himself known to her. "It would be lovely if you would make yourself known to all of us…" she said, tears shining in her eyes. "I'm sure none of us want money or anything. I just want to know you." His heart ached for her. She was his daughter. He decided there and then, she was the first of his children whom he would meet.

Author's Note: Is this a good idea on his part? What consequences will his army of offspring visit upon him?