by Eliza Green
‘We know you’re not used to being crammed into such a small space,’ said Stephen. ‘Up until now we’ve conducted our affairs in the central core, a more public space, I think you’ll agree. But the rogue groups on both sides are making trouble and we must claw back control before things get out of hand. We would like your input on the direction this is taking.’
‘What about the genetically superior humans, aren’t they a bigger threat than a few rogue elements?’ asked one human.
‘The one hundred GS are still committed to honouring the peace treaty,’ said Bill. ‘We don't believe they’re responsible for the splinter groups.’
‘That’s not what I meant. You must have seen their new environ, a few miles out from the caves they live in? What’s it for?’
‘The GS are a concern but one problem at a time. The rogue groups are attempting to disrupt the peace treaty—’
‘Serena said earlier to say what bothered each of us,’ said the human. ‘Right now, the GS group concern me.’
The room agreed.
Bill removed a device from his pocket that Stephen recognised to be a 3D image recorder. He’d used a similar one to perfect his humanisms before meeting with Ben Watson eight years ago. Bill placed the recorder in the middle of the table and activated it. A large 3D image displayed above the recorder showed the mountain range where the GS “nested”.
He said, ‘We all know they’ve lived at this location for the last three years, right around the time their genetic experiments began to yield results. The numbers whittled down from two hundred to just half that. We never recovered their bodies. Their diet is blood-based, similar to the Indigenes. But what you don’t know is that we have a list of missing people who were last seen in the area. We have reason to believe their diet may have evolved beyond animals.’
Stephen assessed the humans’ reaction to Bill’s news. He sensed some were disgusted by the idea of cannibalism, while others were not surprised. The Indigene representatives remained unsure what to make of this new being—a distant cousin.
Bill continued. ‘We took this image three months ago. And this one last week—’ He flicked from an image of an empty plot of flat land to a dome covered in white material. ‘I’m not sure when this went up, but it’s been erected for a reason.’
‘Why don’t we send in recon to check it out?’ suggested one human.
‘It’s impossible to get close without detection,’ said Bill. ‘I was inside their caves once. Just inside the entrance they have an entire wall covered in screens that monitor several miles around the caves.’
‘What about one of us?’ suggested an Indigene.
‘They aren’t fussy about who they kill,’ said Stephen. ‘Human or Indigene, it means nothing to them. They are neither.’
‘Previous to last week, they continue to live like hermits,’ said Bill. ‘We paid them no attention because the treaty was our main concern. Then we discovered this.’
Bill flicked over to a grainy image that showed an exposed cable running from the GS environ to a point outside of the solar power base station, where the main feed ran from it to the city.
‘What is it?’
Bill gestured at the image. ‘The GS connected this power cable to the main feed for New London. For the last few days they’ve been drawing amounts of power so small we didn’t notice it. Then yesterday, the power drain doubled. Engineers checked on the base station this morning and tracked the issue to the buried main feed. That’s when they discovered the extra cable.’
‘What are they using it for?’ said one of the Indigenes.
‘To power their environ. Beyond that, we have no idea,’ said Stephen.
‘So we just sit here and wait for them to tell us?’
‘No, we discuss a plan,’ said Stephen. ‘These new photos show we’ve been too passive where the GS are concerned. The room agrees they must become our primary focus.’
‘So do we walk up to the caves and ask them?’ said another human.
‘And get killed in the process? Great plan, human,’ said the brawny Indigene.
Maybe they could obtain the information in a safer way.
‘We came here to discuss the rogue groups on both human and Indigene sides,’ said Stephen. ‘Their actions concern us as much as this new development in GS land does. Just because they’ve maintained a separation from the GS humans doesn’t mean they haven’t been watching them.’
‘What do you suggest, Stephen?’ said Bill.
‘The rogue groups on both sides oppose the treaty. They’ve already come to blows a few times but recently they’ve been quiet. Can we offer them anything in exchange for what they might know about the GS humans?’
‘What about asking the human doctors?’ said Serena. ‘The ones who carried out the genetic mutations on the GS?’
‘I tried but they’ve been sworn to secrecy,’ said Bill. ‘The GS still have influence here, even if they don’t actively participate in politics. The experiments and tests were all done in secret. It’s likely the GS threatened the doctors to keep their mouths shut. It’s a dead end.’
‘How do we know the doctors aren’t siding with the splinter groups?’ said Laura. ‘We should sound out groups on both sides, keep our options open and get as much information as we can.’
Stephen sensed the representatives had no issues with approaching the splinter groups comprised of humans. But engaging with the GS intensified the fear in the room. Neither side was ready to deal with the genetically altered race yet.
The humans chattered nervously while the Indigenes’ telepathic conversations sounded like a rush of words in his mind. Stephen still believed that Indigenes from District Three had not joined any of the splinter groups. Although the other Indigenes in the room did not agree.
He clapped his hands to bring order to the chaos in the room. ‘Anton and Arianna, you two ask around, find out how many rogue elements operate out of the other districts. Serena and I will speak to the elders there, to see if they know anything about where their rogues meet.’
‘And here, Stephen,’ said Serena. ‘We can’t assume the problem hasn’t extended to District Three.’
‘Fine, and here.’
‘I think we should attempt to speak with the GS,’ said Bill. ‘I had direct access once.’
Stephen shook his head. ‘It’s too dangerous. We don’t know what drives them in their current form.’
But Bill was persistent. ‘And we won’t know unless we ask them. Simon Shaw used to be an ally before the board members included him in their test group. Let me reach out, see how this new species differs from yours.’
‘What about ITF privileges?’ said Serena. ‘Have you any special clearance on information the doctors might have?’
Bill shook his head. ‘Our remit doesn’t extend to anything involving the GS, human or otherwise. That means no access to their medical data.’
One human said, ‘How can we help? Maybe we could get close to members of the splinter groups on the human side?’
‘No, we can’t risk revealing the identity of this group,’ said Bill. ‘We must keep all interactions at the highest level. I’m already known to be a rogue operator and Laura is devious most of the time, so our enquiries won’t be suspicious.’
Laura swatted his arm and he grinned.
‘He’s right,’ she said. ‘This group works best when you operate freely. Your covert findings will be crucial to this process. Let Bill and I meet with the groups and the GS.’
Stephen detected a growing confidence from Bill that he could get through to Simon Shaw.
While the group continued their independent discussions, he pulled him aside. ‘It’s a risky plan, Bill. Your former boss may no longer recognise you.’
‘And then again he might. We should still talk to the splinter groups and you to the elders. The more information we have, the better.’
Stephen nodded. ‘One thing’s for sure, the Indigenes and humans who oppose the chan
ges on Exilon 5 are working together. We must convince both sides the treaty is good for everyone and we are not the enemy.’
‘Agreed. If the treaty falls apart, who knows who or what might fill that void.’
9
Simon Shaw checked the machine inside the purpose-built environ powered by the electricity supply from the solar power plant for New London. A few days ago, he’d attached an insulated cable to the main feed to the city to siphon off its power. He checked a screen displaying data for the supply. It fed a contained ball of energy no bigger than his fist inside the machine.
He searched through the Elites’ whispers for a clue as to when they might use the machine but found only voices similar to his. It had been that way for three months now. The Elite ten, former board members of the World Government, had been silenced by the extensive tests carried out on them. The remaining one hundred who’d survived the brutal experiments could once hear the Elite’s thoughts. People like Simon with no family, no official title on Exilon 5 and nothing to lose.
Initially, Simon had hoped the changes would preserve his individuality, but the experiments on his body had changed more than his cellular structure. They had changed the way he thought.
The transformation of the original two hundred GS made up of board members, ITF directors and supervisors at the now defunct World Government and Earth Security Centre was supposed to happen at an equal pace.
The geneticists from Earth had used rapid genetic sequencing to map out the genes of the two hundred. Then they tailored changes to the unique code in each person. But the early extensive testing had been too much for some genetic structures to handle, including the Elite board members. The Elite had pulled out of the early testing, choosing instead to work with the geneticists to weed out the problems. Alteration from human to Indigene had already been done. The Elite hunted for the next step in evolution.
It soon became clear to Simon that the Elite’s goals differed from the remaining one hundred. The new changes to his code gave Simon a longer life. But that wasn’t enough for the Elite. They wanted everlasting life. New tests changed their appearance to make them paler and leaner than the remaining one hundred. A hierarchy followed that Simon should have expected, which began with the Elite referring to the remaining one hundred as the “Conditioned”.
The Conditioned resembled humans more than the Elite, who looked closer to Indigenes in appearance. Simon had endured five years of experiments as a human, and three more in the changed body of a Conditioned.
Why? Because Tanya Li had promised him a better life and Simon had fallen for her lies.
He checked the display on the machine and recorded on his DPad how much power the cable siphoned from the grid versus what the machine stored. A slight loss in power occurred during transfer. They could have stolen sixty gigawatts—over half of the daily collection—but that would have alerted the ITF to their plans. Tanya Li, Elite One and former chair of the World Government, had requested Simon to gradually drain the power to minimise disruption to the city’s supply.
Simon had never worked with electricity before. He’d been a paper pusher in his former role as ITF Director of the London office on Earth. But thanks to a process called memory mapping, he’d become a temporary expert. The machine he’d built with his genetically superior mind allowed him to map any experience to his mind—in this case, an electrician’s. Once he’d completed work on the mind mapping machine, he mapped the skill of a geotechnical engineer on to his brain so he could build the environ.
Mind mapping had been fun at the start. For a time he spoke ten languages, but the new knowledge forced Simon’s brain to work harder. The headaches had started a few months ago to match his increase in knowledge. It felt as though his brain outgrew his skull, even though brains didn’t grow because they contained more information. They just worked harder.
Inside the environ, a blissful silence filled his head, except for trace thoughts of the Indigenes hunting close by and the two Conditioned posted outside.
It must be the machine. Maybe its contained power could disrupt thought processes.
Whatever the reason, he felt human again with only his thoughts for company.
It had been too long since he’d felt any peace. The soundproofing omicron rock that the caves were built from worked well to mask the thoughts of the Conditioned he could hear. But the second he crossed that threshold, the same rock irritated his mind like buzzing bees.
Simon studied the black shell of the machine. It held a circular containment field at its core that stored the stolen power. This power would not help the Elite to achieve everlasting life, but heal their bodies enough so they could reach transcendence, or a superior state. The Elite’s bodies would be discarded, but transcendence required a viable body that could withstand the rigours of that final stage. Rigorous testing had aged the Elite to the extreme and Earth geneticists had tried and failed to reverse the effects. But there was one thing they hadn’t tried: using the stored power to attract the healing power of the Nexus.
When Simon had arrived on Exilon 5, he’d still been human and in touch with Bill Taggart. The Indigene called Stephen had given him a tour of District Three. Stephen had explained the Nexus to him in detail, detail he’d relayed back to the Elite at the right time.
Simon finished his work and pressed his thumb to a biometric scanner by the door to unlock it. His two Conditioned escorts flanked him as he walked back to the caves located two miles away. The pair conversed to each other telepathically. Simon didn’t join in. Even after three years as a Conditioned, he still felt like an imposter—neither comfortable with the changes made to him nor the silent intrusion of others.
If Tanya Li pressed him for an answer, he’d say life as a Conditioned was no different to how he’d been treated in his old job on Earth. Daphne Gilchrist, the CEO of the Earth Security Centre, who had been murdered by Charles Deighton, had always favoured the stronger males in meetings—a point she made with him often. Just because Simon didn’t cut people down before he’d heard all sides of the story didn’t make him weak.
His escorts were necessary. The trek back to the caves carried risks and Simon kept a lookout for trouble. Few dared to get close to the heavily monitored, three-mile radius around the caves. Humans or Indigenes, it didn’t matter. The Elite considered everyone to be a threat. An unaccompanied Conditioned was a target. One with backup was less appealing. Tanya had wanted to build the environ closer to the caves, but Simon had argued for a new location, one where the amplification recording of the gamma rock was most intense. He knew from his tour of District Three that the Nexus thrived in gamma.
While Simon kept a steady pace, he thought back to his earliest conversation with Tanya Li about the genetic testing that, in her words, “will blow your mind”.
‘This is an exclusive group and I want you to be a part of it,’ Tanya had said. ‘Charles Deighton spoke highly of you and I need strong-minded people. If this new genetic testing works, it will open up your world to unimaginable possibilities.’
The offer had tempted him even though Simon knew Deighton thought as little of him as Gilchrist.
‘What if I change my mind?’ he’d asked.
Tanya smiled. ‘You won’t. Trust me on that.’
Tanya had been right. The early tests had blown his mind. Set a few months apart, each trial had made him stronger for a while. Soon he had craved more. Simon had felt the changes drag him further from what made him human. His greed, his desire for more, increased with every change. Then one day, the doctors under Tanya Li’s command announced their discovery of the code that would give their minds everlasting life.
‘Live forever?’ Simon had said when Tanya called him in to discuss the next phase in the testing.
Tanya smiled. ‘Isn’t that what our former colleagues—God rest their souls—worked towards? We can become something special. The Indigenes are superior to humans but still primitive. Our predecessors started these trials to cre
ate a better version of ourselves.’
‘Everlasting life is not all it’s cracked up to be.’
A life with no end to it? His life hadn’t been all that great to begin with.
Tanya laughed. ‘Are you speaking from experience?’
‘Of course not. What I mean is if there’s no end to life, how do we battle the urge to stop growing, learning, exploring? These are things we do because life is short.’
But Tanya didn’t agree. ‘Why must we grow, learn or explore at all if there’s no end to life? We can just live it however we please.’
Simon hadn’t signed up for this. A better mind in a hardier body? Yes. But that change came with a price attached: the ability to hear others’ thoughts. He endured that torture daily.
The sight of an approaching figure broke Simon out of his thoughts. He stopped and watched the hunched-over figure shuffle across the land between the caves and the environ with an accompaniment of ten Conditioned behind her. Two assistants pushed a hover chair behind her. Tanya Li, Elite One, wore a white cloak with a hood that covered her thinning hair and her frail body, worn from all the changes. In human years, one hundred and eight wasn’t old. Just three years ago she’d had a head full of jet-black hair and walked tall. A set of sharp eyes staring out from a withered, skin bag were all that remained of the old Tanya Li.
She met him halfway between the caves and the environ.
‘Show me the energy figures,’ she said.
‘I can do that from inside the caves.’ Simon glanced around. ‘It’s not safe for you to be out here.’
Tanya waved him off. ‘My sharp mind will outwit my opponent. I need to see the machine. I need to feel its power for myself.’
Simon turned back and walked alongside Elite One. The environ was just a mile away, but halfway there Tanya gave up walking and slumped into the hover chair.