by Mikael Aizen
Where are your rights now? To live without the fear of primitive and primal instincts.
Sterilization is not enough, not nearly enough. Not for me. Not for Justice.
I say, let them feast on their own fates, let them die to their own Natures.
Self-Genocide is the word. Raise your arms and hold them high. Let the carriers of The Code shiver in fear from their own kind. This is and always has been their predestined fates.
-The Society for the Conservation of Humanity, Keynote Speaker, Ann Taylin, during the Annual Meeting of Scholarly Activists, 2022.
The News came. Reports asked him questions. About Mom, about murder. Kyle was on TV and in the audiowaves and on every computer website that mattered after he'd been found carrying Mom's corpse. Ten year old Kyle Alexander, Codeless, four homicides, more investigation to follow. A mystery of genetics, a monster of genetics. Kyle's birth father had The Code and had been taken to Morir a year and a half ago. Kyle's paperwork said he didn't have The Code, yet he'd murdered several people.
But his records didn't match the DNA expression for his current age, so they were retesting The Code in him. To be certain they had the right person.
That was when Tim showed up in Kyle's jail and told the policemen and News that Mom had lied about the paperwork and that Kyle was the killer.
And Kyle, when he met Tim's eyes he saw the real tears. The anger and bitterness. The rage he had for Kyle. Tim screamed at him and blamed him and hated him.
It felt good to know that Tim wasn't part of the experiment, either. He thanked Tim and even called him Dad before the police guards dragged Tim away, kicking and screaming from the jail.
The local News people became News people from all over the world. They'd stand outside Kyle's cell and ask him questions with weird accents. They made it seem like it was certain that he'd killed his mother. They asked why he'd done it, if he could've helped himself, what he felt when killing her. If he was scared to go to Murderer City.
They refused to believe him when he first said he hadn't killed Mom or the cowboy man. Kyle'd left cowboy man for dead, but hadn't actually killed him. They didn't believe him when he said he hadn't killed Ryant who's body they never found, Jess had done the actual deed. When they asked him about El, he told them. Yes, he'd killed El.
That got them quiet for some time.
He didn't tell them about the other kids he killed. Or the sticky-notes. Or the experiment because they wouldn't have believed him. They didn't believe what he did say, anyway.
But when they searched Mom's house, they found a single blood sample hidden away. It was marked 'Tim' and when they tested it, it showed that Tim had The Code. They did the test on Tim again and re-took his blood and reconfirmed it. Tim had The Code. When Kyle's blood came back, his didn't.
Kyle didn't have The Code but Tim did.
Del had been protecting Tim from the start. That was why she cared so much, and why she argued so hard. She cared about Kyle, but she'd been protecting Kyle AND Tim. Tim hadn't even known. What Kyle didn't understand was why she kept Tim's blood around at all.
He'd probably never find out.
They let Kyle go, said that El had been an accident, and put Tim in Kyle's jail cell. They began asking Tim the questions instead, the same kind of questions, questions about going to Murderer City. Kyle told them that Tim didn't do it and that killing El hadn't been an accident. No one seemed to care--like it wasn't even possible and that El's death had to be an accident.
And Tim, Tim still blamed Kyle.
The media said that Tim had killed Ryant, Del and cowboy man. Even if it didn't make any sense. Even though Kyle knew it was a lie. Tim went to Murderer City, and Kyle couldn't do anything about it.
He got the message.
Someone was controlling the News. It didn't matter what Kyle said. Callie's father wanted him to know that he couldn't escape the experiment, and that whatever Callie's father wanted, he could make it happen. Del and Tim were the consequence for trying to run and he had better not try to run anymore.
The world turned around and apologized to him for their 'mistake.' On the News, in audiowaves, on the computers, and by important people who shook his hand. They made it seem like Del and Tim had been horrible people and dangerous criminals. They made it seem like Kyle had been a prisoner, like he'd been abused and threatened daily. Kyle didn't tell them that Del had been a better mother than he could imagine and Tim had been OK as a father. If he said anything, he might end up doing exactly what Callie's father wanted. And Kyle didn't want to do anything that Callie's father wanted. He wouldn't anymore.
All Kyle really wanted was revenge for Mom, and to never think about the experiment again.
When the important people asked him if he wanted anything. He told them he wanted to be left alone by everyone.
Those same important people made a special law to keep the News and public away from him so that if they bothered him, he could have them arrested. They also promised to give him a loving home. With new parents.
The woman who came to pick him up had long blond hair and soft skin with kind eyes and a timid smile.
Kyle didn't like her.
She introduced herself as Leena and told Kyle that he'd have two sisters and a brother and a father in his new home. Like everyone else, she kept saying how horrible Kyle's experiences and life must've been living with Del and Tim. Except that she said it in a way that made it seem like she took it personally. Like Del and Tim had been hurting her and had been evil to her.
The way she said it made Kyle hate her.
The house they arrived at was a house on top of a mountain. It had a hundred steps to an elevator that lifted them another thousand steps to the top where the house was. The house looked like an old Japanese style home with gardens to one side and a stream running beside it. He'd seen pictures of Japan when he'd used computers a lot, when Pa and him had been together and left alone by the world. He'd had always wanted to go to Japan.
The home had a fresh, clean air and a serene silence around it because it was too high for the traffic of the city to be heard.
And it was familiar. All of it. Even though he'd been blindfolded at the time.
He knew the sound of the stream and he remembered how it felt when Jess had blindfolded him and took him out of the pretend forest, across the long stone walkway that smelled like flowers, through the place that smelled like clouds in the sky, on an elevator with a breeze like it'd had windows all around, down the stairs and into a car that took them to his home with Del.
Deep inside he knew, somewhere here was where he'd been forced to kill and fight other boys.
And it was too late for him to escape.
From the Japanese looking house walked out Callie's father. Trailing not far behind was Jess. Callie. And...
Ryant. Alive.
Callie's father wasn't wearing any sunglasses so that Kyle could see his small, gray-blue eyes. He opened his arms and smiled big. "Welcome home, Kyle."
"Sit down," Callie's father said.
Kyle looked at Jess, then Callie, then Ryant. Jess had a cold smile on her face. Cold and still. Callie just dropped her head. Ryant smirked like he was mocking Kyle.
Kyle didn't sit and he didn't move.
On a table where the floor was your seat was a bowl of soup whisping steamy air from its top. Leena knelt beside the table and scooped the soup into smaller bowls. She'd changed and was wearing an Asian looking outfit with a sash around her waist and flowers printed on it.
"Sit, Kyle. We won't hurt you," Callie's father said again.
It was such an absurd thing to say that Kyle let out an involuntary hiccup. Then he was laughing. It'd been so long since he'd laughed. He laughed until everyone else was sitting down, cross-legged.
No one else laughed.
"As you know, my name is Andre. You also know my children. Callie, Ryant, and Jess."
Ryant and Jess were siblings then. Same with Callie. And they had been wo
rking together from the beginning. He knew this because Callie still wouldn't look at him because she was guilty with her head down. Guilty because she'd betrayed him and tricked him and hadn't been honest from the beginning. If she had been honest ever, she'd be looking at him and showing him she cared for him, not hiding like she was. "Was everything a lie...Everything?" Kyle asked her in front of everybody. He needed to know, he didn't care if it got her in trouble because if she cared, she'd let him know. Right now.
Her head popped up and she shook her head before dropping it back down.
She'd shaken her head.
Relief washed over Kyle. Maybe she did try to help him, maybe she did care. "Who's she," Kyle pointed at Leena. "And why are you doing this stuff to me?" Kyle asked. It'd been the question he'd wanted to ask Callie's father before getting revenge, that and if Del had really loved Kyle.
"Leena is...nobody. Our maid. And I did this to you because I needed to help the world," Andre answered. "I'm sorry we've had to do this to you, but it's for the betterment of all."
"How? How is anything better by hurting me and making me hurt others?" And by killing Mom?
Andre picked up the soup, and slurped at it, loudly. He shook his head. "I know it's hard for you to understand, but like you, I had no choice in what I've done."
You always have a choice. That's what Mom would've said. Maybe Mom was wrong because the other adults kept saying different.
"In science, we have Scientific Laws. Scientific Laws are rules about nature that can never be broken. If they are broken, even once, then the stated Law cannot be true." Andre put his bowl down and stared at it. "Fifteen years ago the scientists transitioned Behavioral Genetics from predispositionistic to deterministic. In other words, Kyle, they decided that the way you were born was the way you would stay. They discarded the epigenetic model of DNA for this deterministic model, simplifying epigenes as mere expressions of your core DNA structure. They used Natural Science as their flagship to prove Behavioral Genetics as deterministic time and time again. It didn't take long for the public to believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that your genes determined your behavior, your successes, and your future. Four years ago, after worldwide propaganda, faking and changing News, using fear tactics, they started building Morir, the murderer city."
Kyle didn't get much of what Andre had said. But he kept listening because he needed to listen. He needed to know why Mom had died.
"My wife is named Mara. She was one of the earlier ones sent to Morir." Andre rubbed his eyes. "I loved her dearly, we all did. When she was taken, I turned my research towards proving that The Code was not deterministic. I broke a hundred laws and hid from a hundred governments and spent millions of my own dollars into the research. But I couldn't prove anything because I didn't have a study that showed someone with the murderer gene going through life without killing anyone. Anyone with The Code had already been put into Morir. Even if I could prove that in sufficient time, any number of excuses could be made. Other scientists could argue that someone with The Code may fail to murder, but it was their intent to murder that was dangerous. Intent is difficult to prove in evidence. Even more difficult to prove the lack of intent.
"I realized that the only way to prove The Code wrong was to prove the reverse. That someone without The Code could be a murderer too. I realized that this was the quickest way to stop the madness of Morir, I'd prove to the world that the Laws behind Behavioral Genetics was wrong altogether."
It sounded like he and Mom believed in the same things. It sounded like Mom could've been his friend.
"I prayed that I would be quick enough to save my wife," Andre continued. "Now however, I do not think Mara is still alive, though I hope that she is. More importantly, I dream that my research will change the world and stop the persecution of those with The Code in future generations. That is why today is a day of celebration." Leena had brought in a tray with wine glasses and bottles. She poured sparkling cider in the kid's glasses and red wine in Andre's.
It was too strange. Andre inviting Kyle into the family. Andre telling Kyle that he wouldn't hurt him. All of them sitting together like friends. The way that Andre got wine and the kids didn't, like he was a good parent. How good Andre saw himself, regardless of the fact that he'd killed Del and many more.
Kyle took the cider and poured it behind him onto the floor. He held out the cup again and gave Leena a meaningful look. She hesitated and when Andre gave a consenting nod, she poured the wine into Kyle's cup.
"Drink, because today is the day we have PROOF that Behavioral Genetics is not a Scientific Law." Andre raised his glass and everybody but Callie and Kyle raised it back.
Andre's face was flushed and he didn't seem to care. He just kept talking. "We have the evidence that shows you killed El, we have the video proof that you chose to kill him. That you intended and were not forced to kill him. We have proof that you don't have The Code, verified by the government's latest test publicized while you were under investigation, reinforced by our own studies. We have proof and video of every step in our experiment, under the regulations of the Natural Science Methods. Documented and stored with the regulating bodies. You, Kyle, are going to save millions of lives." Andre gestured with his glass again. "Raise your glass, Kyle. The world has you to thank."
"What about the injections? You gave me injections before I killed El. You made me into a murderer, what does that prove?" Kyle spoke softly, ignoring the toast, staring at the blood-red drink that only adults drank. Like it was something evil that stopped being evil the instant you were over a certain age.
Andre shrugged. "No, I didn't make you anything. Remember, epigenetics are DNA expressers, not DNA changers--according to modern science." He gave himself a small smile. "All I injected into you, Kyle, were standard genetic accelerators. Genetic researchers use it to speed up their studies. It's been standardized and well-researched in the epigenetic movement for use in all Behavioral Genetic studies."
"So my strength, my speed, the way I'm thinking."
"Just you growing up faster than you should, Kyle. You'll be an adult in no time, though your height may suffer with all the energy your body is devoted to developing the other aspects of maturity."
"What about my eyes?"
"Sharper like an eagle? Yes, with enhanced growth and development of your epigenes, it is a common side effect."
"And El? They didn't discover my DNA."
"It is a theory that the epigene, when stimulated enough through harsh and powerful experiences, can actually change the makeup of your core DNA. It's not a theory anymore, is it? And since everyone has epigenes, I've not only proven one, but two things. That DNA can change and that murder can happen even without The Code through the right amount of stimulus to a child's epigene." There was an eagerness in his eyes as he said it. "The test would have been over then, if you'd been caught."
"The people I killed, they were part of the study?" Kyle said. And Del? Did you just use her to get me in jail? To get me in trouble? Why did you kill her Mr. Scientist?
"Yes, we drink to them, too," Andre said. "Many people were sacrificed for this, but not nearly as many as the people oppressed by government and the UN ...millions of lives, Kyle. And how else could I do a study on murder without death? And compared to the number of people that are dying in Morir or the ones who'd die if I led a violent revolution against The Code...I've saved so many lives at the cost of a few. We have. I want you to recognize the contribution you are for science."
He couldn't hold it back anymore. The real question, the only one that mattered. "Mom. Why'd you kill her?"
Andre looked away. "The experiences, they had to be harsh enough to do damage to certain areas of your brain, kill the parts that make you the kind kid that you were. Vicious experiences that no one should have to go through."
Kyle had already killed El by then. Andre had said it himself, the experiment had been over when he'd killed El. That had been enough. Killing Mom had changed nothing. So
why had Mom REALLY been killed? "And the man that killed her? The cowboy man?"
Andre's lips twitched. "The media tries to cover things up, but no matter what, it is impossible to have tracked down all those with The Code. Especially the kind that murdered and were in hiding before Morir was even built. He was a Murderer, one of many that are still at large that the media tries to hide."
"You hired him," Kyle said.
Andre nodded. "Yes."
"With money."
"Yes."
Kyle stared at the man. Hating him. Truly hating.
Andre put his glass down. His smile finally let down, the first time it had this whole time. "I'm sorry it had to be you, Kyle. I would have done it differently if I could. I did do it differently, at first. I started with my own family as my test subjects. Each one has played a part in the development of this study, taking injections and being manipulated for the purpose of the greater study. Each is willing because they love their mother and understood why we had to sacrifice to save people just like her. Like your birth father, Kyle." Andre paused, and his eyes dropped to the table. "My son Jeff, he was going to be THE test. Before he died."
"Before I killed him," Kyle said.
"Yes." Andre slid the drink away to the side. "Before you killed him."
Now, finally, Kyle knew. Now, finally, Kyle picked up the wine glass and took a sip. Mom had died because Andre wanted revenge on Kyle for Jeff's death. THAT was why Mom had been killed. And that, also, was why Kyle would kill Andre.
The wine tasted horrible. It felt great. He looked at Andre as he raised his glass. Cheers. "So you used me," Kyle said.
Andre nodded. "I used you because someday I knew you'd understand why I had to do what I did. You were the right age, too. My family, all except Jeff were under or overdeveloped already. You had to be just the right age, right after The Code would've expressed and been detected, the same time that your epigenetics would just begin to develop and begin maturing."