The communications device vibrated, and Charles stepped away from the Premier’s side to view the message. He quickly read that another of the Guardians had been incapacitated in the ward. Exasperated, He angrily typed out a response and sent the message. He looked up, and watched as Roger conversed with some of the honorees. He watched as Roger nodded and winked at some of the ladies, as if oblivious to the dire circumstances that unfolded in the ward. Charles had been skeptical from the beginning when the Omega Alpha series concept had been introduced. Even as it was explained to him that this series could allow for better memory enhancements and dexterity upgrades, the mere thought of such a creature on the loose gave him the chills. Though not a single specimen had ever escaped from the farm, Charles knew what havoc it would create in their society if anyone ever knew the truth. All those years ago, even before the great floods that had wiped out all civilization, even the good Doctor Sebastian had known how delicate the balance would be in a society such as this. The theories had been eye opening at the time, Charles remembered his father had said to him.
Even as normal ambient temperatures continued to rise due to the sun’s eonic cycle, and the ice caps continued to melt which raised the water levels, population overload had reached its extreme. As the water levels rose, it left less and less land for people to live on, the cities became even more and more crowded, and tension between the many cohabitating cultures became more intense. In those ancient days, terrorism had reached grandiose levels, with no point of civilization safe from attacks both small and large. It was the biological viral attacks in that part of what was America, in a then coastal area called Nevada, that had caused the final pandemics. Referred to as the Deathshead Plague, the virus that was released would cause symptoms that often went unrecognized for days, all the while the carrier host became increasingly contagious. And thanks to the high speed system of air travel prevalent at the time, the airborne contagion had spread worldwide within a matter of days. When the first symptoms began to appear, eighty percent of the world’s population had already been infected. Symptoms were said to seem mild at first. With just a small rash, and a slight cough. But once they presented, the fatality rate was one hundred percent. The World Health Organization seized immediate world wide control, backed by the peace keepers of the United Nations which had taken over the defense system referred to as NATO some years previous, and travel was stopped in its entirety. The cities where people remained alive, were immediately quarantined, and had to become self sufficient over night. The cities that had been infected, died, to the last person.
It was for almost twenty years that research continued on an inoculation against the virus. But it was Doctor Emelda Parkinson’s team that had finally made a breakthrough on the vaccine. She had modeled their research after a successful study of the previously eradicated AIDS virus from some hundred years previous. They were able to develop a strain of the virus that continually mutated and yet would consume itself, to the point that it would totally eradicate itself from the host. The first to be inoculated was her own team of researchers, and though at first the plague symptoms presented, they quickly subsided. After extensive tests, it became clear that inoculation was not even needed in order to administer the vaccine. The vaccine itself would transmit from host to host in the same viral that way the plague had moved. As an airborne contagion. The World Health Organization acted quickly and weaponized the vaccine, and distributed it through aerial bursts throughout the areas of the population that remained. The cure had been found. Over the next year, every living soul that remained had been inoculated, and it appeared that Doctor Parkinson had indeed saved mankind.
What was not known then was that there were side affects of the vaccine. Some of which were issues with normal cellular regeneration. Though not specifically pinpointed, it was learned that the virus interfered with the cellular division at the molecular level, which left the host to age faster than normal. However the most notable of side affect was an actual genetic modification to the host. The inoculation virus strain would rewrite a portion of the DNA of the host to better replicate itself. They determined that the specific location on the double helix which was rewritten, directly affected a specific chromosome. Though this DNA transcription and resulting chromosomal change were of great concern, there were no symptoms to the host. And neither were there any birth defects that were caused by it. There simply were no births. The virus had rewritten the code for the X chromosome. Through saving humanity, Doctor Parkinson and her team had also condemned humanity to extinction.
In any birth, the mother provides the egg, which contains a copy of one half of her DNA, and a copy of one gene of each of the chromosomal or gene pairs. Specifically she provides the X chromosome to her offspring. The male provides a copy of one half of his DNA, and a copy of one gene of his own for each of the chromosomal pairs. He specifically provides the Y chromosome, in the case of a male offspring, or the X chromosome in the case of a female offspring. All males have the XY chromosomal pair. All females have the XX chromosomal pair. Every human has an X chromosome. The change in the X chromosome left it defective, so that it would not recombine and pair successfully during natural fertilization. Attempts were made at in vitro fertilization, however the results were the same. Without the X chromosome functioning properly, once again humanity was at the brink of destruction. Without births, no civilization could continue. Without births, and with a population that now aged faster than normal, humanity was once again doomed. That was, until Doctor Sebastian hit upon a solution.
In his early research his team had been able to successfully stimulate a human egg so that it acted like it had been fertilized. Using a series of chemical baths, and low frequency alternating current, the egg would exhibit the characteristics of a normally fertilized zygote, yet it would not begin to divide as would be normal. Using a varied method of micro interferometry, they then inserted the nucleus extracted from a healthy human epithelial cell. Additional baths and stimulation triggered the egg to now divide as would a normal human zygote. After several unsuccessful attempts, they finally were then able to surgically plant a viably dividing zygote into a human womb. But regardless of the circumstances, no viable birth ever took place. The zygote would grow, as would a normal human fetus, but abort itself at the end of the first trimester.
Further research yielded that the damaged X chromosome of the host mother created an immune attack response to the fetus, and once it had begun, there was no way to stop it until ultimately the inoculation virus would travel through the placental barrier and kill the fetus. After repeated attempts to shut down the immune system of the host mother, there was finally a successful entry into the second trimester. However, the host mother died from complications of the immune system suppression. Doctor Sebastian then went to interspecies gestation, as he used one of the few female apes left in existence, but this too resulted in the death of the host mother. This time in the first trimester. With no other options available, his team then began to work to create an artificial womb. Using lab grown tissue for the substrate, and an artificial placenta filtration system, Doctor Sebastian was finally able after hundreds of failed tries, to at last coax a fetus through the complete term. A new birth. A human birth. The first in over thirty years. Even though it was genetically a perfect clone of himself, it was still a birth.
It was at this time that it became known that the good Doctor had been diagnosed with a diseased pancreas. He, like all other humans, had been affected by the inoculation virus, one of the side affects of which, was lack of cellular regeneration. This had caused the issue with his pancreas, and left untreated, he would die within a few months. He consulted with the powers of the World Health Organization about his findings and his results, and finally his condition. On a vote of five to two, the WHO authorized him to have a pancreas transplant on himself from the newly born fetus. In their findings, they had written that his work was too important to the surviva
l of humanity to allow him to die. They specifically stated that his life should be protected, “at all costs.”
Within twenty four hours of the ruling, the transplant took place, and due to that success, Doctor Sebastian was able to continue his work up until the final days of the great flood. In the years to come he was able to improve upon the artificial womb system, to the point that it became completely automated. The modification of robotic surgery systems allowed for automated zygote fertilization and creation. Within the last few years of his life, the entire process from start to finish could be housed in a single warehouse, and run completely autonomously. Worldwide, births ranged into the thousands on a daily basis. But as sea levels continued to rise, more and more land was swallowed to the point that those few cities left either migrated to the highest peeks left in the world to build new civilizations, or began to build giant floating contraptions in a last ditch effort to survive. Suddenly new births had become a problem, as there was no more room for population growth.
A four to three change in the prevailing power balance in the World Health Organization led to the ruling that new births must cease immediately, whether for population growth, or for organ replacement. They had decided to let the crush of humanity in its ever smaller space, fix itself through attrition. The birthing factories world wide were closed, and the practice was abolished through penalty of death. There had even been rumors of military strikes against those populations that continued the practice against the orders of the WHO. But the rumors ended abruptly when all communication was cut off from the outside world by the first Premier of New Sebastian. The first Premier, Roger’s father, and the first Chancellor, Charles’s own father, had been in complete agreement. The continuance of humanity rested upon their shoulders. The city that they had founded, was located at the top of a dormant volcano, far in what had been the south Pacific. And in their wise opinions, they had no further use of the outside world.
It was Sebastian himself that tweaked the final designs of the farm system. It was his psychological behavioral unit that had determined that the specimens on the farm would develop healthier if they were allowed to be active, to have purpose, hence the creation of the factory. That if they were allowed to pick mates, they would survive longer and make for better donors. And he finally overcame the host mother issue in the growth of the fetus, so that now any female at the farm could carry a fetus to term. And though he valiantly tried to finally solve the inoculation virus side affect of cellular regeneration, it was that side affect that finally killed him. At the age of one hundred and thirty five, his brain could no longer regenerate new cells, and though he could have undergone a transplant, his mind would have been lost. He opted, alone in his assigned apartment, the evening of the first Accession Ball, to take his own life. It was Charles’ father that found his body. He had stopped by after the ball to check on him, as he was concerned about his condition. That was when he found his note. His father never told him what the note said, not verbatim anyway. But Charles remembered distinctly what he had told him, as he lay on his own death bed, mere moments from the end of his long life.
“They must never know.” His father had gasped.
“Shh, father. Relax.” Charles had said.
“No-”
“Shh.” Charles said again.
“…never know.” His father gasped again. Charles remembered his bloodshot eyes as they stared up into his. They pleaded with him, then suddenly the focus was lost, and the stare was blank. His father was dead. And now, faced with this emergency, his father was still dead. His communications device vibrated in his hand. He looked down and read the message. Intruder alert in the warehouse, it read. This was not good. Not good at all.
“Excuse me, sir.” He said quietly to Roger. “May I have a moment?”
Chapter 20
Immortal Page 19