Scientific war
Chapter 10: Resolution
Mark organized a meeting with Joey and his friends at a bar located in a rural town. Joey and his friends stepped out of their cars. Joey gave Mark a quick hug. Joey’s friend Simon then shook Mark’s hand.
This group of people got down to the business at hand over a round of drinks in the bar. Joey and his friends began recounting for Mark the events that had transpired in the underground dome. Suppressing a shocked expression, Mark listened in silence.
Joey and his friends found out about the information controls put in place by Mark’s boss and got the sense that something was about to happen. The military men wanted Mark, with his media influence, to go abroad and arrange to have the appropriate individuals learn of these extraordinary circumstances at the required time.
As Mark had already decided to seek refuge in China with Kate and his entire family, these talks went smoothly.
Chapter 11: Class Program
Scientists sequestered in an isolated research laboratory built within a fusion facility situated in Virginia were ordered to build a Class Program based on genome data. This program was designed to allocate persons by class and other factors based on an analysis of human DNA extracted from their body hair, saliva and other organic systems. President Hamilton had become quite irritated at the delays that were encountered in completing this program. Percy urged the scientists to speed things up, while trying to placate President Hamilton.
Accounting for these delays was the very meaning behind this program. The scientists were well aware that the world would become a gruesome place if people could be divided by class as a result of the work they were doing. Thus, they had agreed to impede its progress as much as possible.
Realizing that the program was being deliberately held back, the Secretary of Defense took action after determining what measures could be taken to ensure prompt completion.
The Secretary of Defense summoned one of the scientists from the isolated research laboratory and began to speak, “It’s been decided that you will all serve as guinea pigs once this program is completed. However, I intend to save you from the human experimentation that will be conducted if you choose to cooperate with me and do what you can to complete this program. What do you say to this offer?”
This scientist responded, “I accept. I will do whatever I can toward this end.”
In order to avoid being captured by surveillance cameras, the scientists at the laboratory communicated the words of the Secretary of Defense to one another using bits of paper. In this way, they understood that they were being set up to be used as guinea pigs once the program was completed.
Chapter 12: Relocation
The Fusion Facility was transplanted to an American military base in Shikoku, Japan, several months later and the Neo Project was put into effect. The rulers of Japan and the United States organized a grand banquet attended by the clones of famous actresses to celebrate the fact that everything was going precisely according to plan.
The Neo Project was a project for testing a model of a class society applicable to humanity. As part of this project, prototype subjects and clones created by the Fusion Facility were confined inside the Neo Project Facility. This society was characterized by the allocation of human jobs according to the DNA Class Program, but even a measure of freedom existed at least within the Neo Project Facility.
From the moment they were created, prototype subjects and clones were educated to ensure that they would reside at this location. They were thoroughly taught that they could not live in the outside world beyond the walls of the facility and that death awaited all those who might attempt to depart. In order to build a sound society where peace and order were utterly maintained, residents were subject to DNA screening and divided by class.
Acting as overseers, human beings reigned supreme and were regarded in a special light by prototype subjects and clones.
Chapter 13: Exile
As Joey was a colonel, he was prohibited from taking his family outside the country and was constantly monitored. Mark, however, was able to leave the country before this monitoring became too strict to overcome.
When leaving the country, Mark was able to speak to Joey, who had a few words to say to his brother.
“I’m going to send Martha and Lily at a later date. I’m asking you to look after them when they arrive. I’ve got to stay behind to take care of a few things with Simon and the others. Let’s meet again when my task is done.”
“You can count on me.”
Given the prominence of his name, Mark was willingly accepted by the Chinese and given a job as a journalist.
Chapter 14: Mystery
Rather than become guinea pigs after the completion of the DNA Class Program, the scientists and other participants were organically disposed of in order to ensure that they remained muzzled.
Cylindrical tubes measuring about five meters in diameter protruded from a steep cliff wall by the edge of the sea. Inside was enough space to easily hold fifty adults. At the end of these tubes was a durable mesh too fine to allow people to pass through. Creatures were crammed into this section of the tube.
This cylindrical tubes were pressed like injection pumps, thereby causing the creatures inside to be extruded like ground meat into the sea for consumption by fish and other marine animals. Numerous such cylinders dotted the sea cliff, the sight of which was the very essence of hell on earth.
Around the time the DNA Class Program was completed, a scientist from the fusion research laboratory handed a certain drug to the scientists working at that location. This drug, which was prepared and divided up for distribution using drugs held by scientists pretending to be engaged in development work for the program, was a synthetic DNA drug formulated to confer a regenerative effect several hundred times greater than the effect seen in the regeneration of lizard tails, as well as highly potent environmental adaptability.
All of the scientists ingested this drug and arranged to recheck the effects at a time in the future when another delivery by truck was scheduled to be made.
The scientist that handed over this drug explained, “As you might be aware, I can’t claim that the efficacy of this drug is one hundred percent. Nevertheless, if all goes well, you will regenerate and survive even if you are ground up. If you survive, you are to head to China and expose the truth.”
Everyone silently nodded their assent.
Flesh spattered from Cylinder Number One into the ocean. This process was repeated in each of the first five cylinders. One by one, the scientists were ground into meat to essentially become pureed fish food.
The numerous lumps of scientist flesh floating about in the water began moving like jellyfish. After a few days, gill-based aspiration commenced and fins emerged, at which point these organisms started swimming like fish. Their brains also regenerated, allowing for the recovery of memories. By swimming in shallow waters, each of these organisms soon lost its dorsal fin, which was replaced by a gaping hole formed to permit pulmonary respiration. These malformed, mysterious creatures (the scientists) perceived the magnetic field of the earth and set a destination toward which they swam, muttering to themselves the entire way.
We can’t die. We mustn’t die, for if we do, humanity will be subject to the whims of certain powerful people.
Chapter 15: Distortions
At the Neo Project Facility in Shikoku, executive director Maverick felt fortunate to be engaged in a self-indulgent daily routine while surrounded by clones. Most of the administrators with whom he worked were government officials from Japan and the United States.
From his personal safe, Maverick pulled out his own file as produced by the DNA Class Program and perused its content. He was broadly classified as Rank D ? a ranking that corresponded to general civilians rather than persons engaged in governmental or political functions. Upon hearing a knock at his door, Maverick immediately returned this file to his safe.
This scene represented the very epitome of a world distorted by certain powerful people.
Chapter 16: Escape
Joey and his friends climbed aboard Sakura units in the isolated underground dome and engaged in practical training. They were forced to undergo a strict training regimen as if they were rookie soldiers.
Simon, Joey’s oldest friend in the military since joining the forces; Morgan and Joseph, subordinates and friends; Tyler, also a colonel; and a few others were genuinely devoted to Joey on a personal level. In order to send their families to China, Joey and his friends plotted an admittedly reckless course of action to escape from the facility with one another.
They made a show of engaging in practical training according to their regular routine and waited for the right timing while sitting aboard Sakura units that were parked in the coliseum. As the door to the entrance of the coliseum was closing, they all slipped out at once.
As the five of them proceeded down a long corridor, security alarms immediately started buzzing while ominous creatures assumed positions at points where the conspirators could be intercepted. These creatures were prototype soldiers created based on improved genetic breeding techniques. Tens of them attempted to pounce on the conspirators with the fervor of ravenous beasts.
Leading the charge, Joey and Tyler confronted the approaching enemy forces with their Gatling guns and flamethrowers. At the same time, two soldiers clung to Morgan’s unit, which was unceremoniously silenced in a huge explosion. It was then that everyone realized that these soldiers were carrying suicide bombs.
Joey yelled to everyone over the radio, “Don’t get near them! Just fire away, boys!”
After reducing their opponents to smoldering spattered remains too hideous to even look at, the four remaining conspirators barely escaped with their lives, while regretfully leaving Morgan where he had fallen.
Right outside the exit was parked the favorite transport plane of the Secretary of Defense. The conspirators decided to try and hijack it for their getaway. It was then that the transport plane suddenly exploded. The Secretary of Defense spoke directly to the conspirators by radio and chuckled aloud while stating, “I thought something like this might happen. It looks like I was right to believe that it would be necessary to take care of trouble makers like you right off the bat. You’re mistaken if you thought you’d be facing a court-martial.”
Joey and his friends thus failed in their escape attempt and were promptly imprisoned.
Chapter 17: Ignition
Mark had been feeling anxious ever since he lost contact with Joey. While Kate was aware of this, both husband and wife spent their days with nothing to do to address their worries.
Refusing to touch his breakfast, Mark picked up only his coffee mug and proceeded to log onto the Internet to read news articles. At that moment, he received a phone call from his boss at the company where he was now working.
“Turn on your television set, Mark.”
When he did as he was told, Mark saw that a news broadcast was being shown. Next to the newscaster on the screen was a photograph of a beast that was so ugly that he could hardly believe what he was seeing. Nobody at the time realized that this beast was in fact a scientist.
Upon seeing this beast, a shocked Kate threw up her hands to cover her mouth.
The subtitles at the bottom of the screen read, “Genetically enhanced humans!?”
While the details were unexplained, it was being reported that local police along the coast had come across the mysterious visitor.
After being asked by his boss four or five times over the phone whether he was paying attention to the news, Mark collected himself and replied. In the back of his mind, Mark recalled the reference made to an underground dome in a conversation he had with Joey.
Mark’s boss spoke, “Don’t be shocked by what I’m about to tell you. Everyone is saying that you are the right man to interview this monster. Apparently, he can speak and he’s been asking if there’s anyone who is familiar with American affairs. The police are also curious and are asking to borrow someone for the interrogation.”
Mark responded, “Let me call you right back.”
He then hung up and lightly embraced Kate before he slipped a piece of breakfast toast in his mouth, grabbed his jacket and jumped in his car. He drove straight to the scene in question.
Chapter 18: Ripples
Despite being a rare government official for his habit of supporting the President without engaging in behind-the-scenes maneuvering, Percy once again began harboring a sense of uncertainty about the movements of President Hamilton since the completion of the Neo Project Facility. Why was former chief of staff Maverick installed as the executive director of the Neo Project Facility? Percy was familiar with the various scandals in which Maverick had previously been embroiled.
Some powerful people like to raise awareness of the power of new science and comfortably harness the specter of such power for evil purposes. Over time, this worldly truth came to be vividly clear to Percy. Would he keep his doubts in check or would he simply engage in his duties? These impulses began to lead Percy astray.
Percy then received a message that seemingly served to bolster his feelings in this respect. “A failed subject that had been disposed of has drifted ashore in China.”
This piece of information was also communicated to the President, who was visiting the Neo Project Facility in Shikoku. Since most failed subjects possessed only rudimentary language skills equivalent to those of a two-year-old child, the possibility that the project could be threatened by disclosure was regarded as minimal.
Nevertheless, the Chinese government ? which had obtained reliable information through the interview conducted by Mark ? conveyed top-secret information pertaining to Japan and the United States to various heads of state in confidence, securing promises to ensure that the information would not be publicly disclosed and otherwise calling for vigilance.
Chapter 19: Nightmare
Several days later, new research results attained by the Japanese DNA development division were announced. Japan had been famous in the past as a country boasting one of the world’s longest average life expectancies. It was here that synthetic DNA for enabling longevity was developed by Japanese researchers.
While Prime Minister Noda was reporting these results directly to President Hamilton, two nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan at virtually the exact same moment, give or take a few seconds.
As this catastrophe was the result of an attack launched by a new type of unmanned, stealth warplane outfitted with an anti-missile defense system, there was not much that could have been done to prevent it.
One of the bombs targeted an urban center, while the other landed in Shikoku. The leaders of both Japan and the United States became engulfed in the ensuing inferno and perished.
Media outlets throughout the world immediately cut to live broadcasts of this earth-shattering event to report on the current situation.
In New York, a male preacher dropped a shopping bag in front of a giant television screen set up in the downtown core, brought the fingertips of both of his shaking hands up to his forehead, and murmured, “It’s Armageddon…”
At a bar somewhere else, a drunken man sat down at the counter and watched a live television broadcast. This man formed a diamond by placing two triangles made from wire one above the other then turned to an older customer drinking in the seat next to him and began engaging in conversation.
“This upper triangle represents the pyramid of man’s own ecosystem. The peak here is the king, ruler over the masses. The bottom corresponds to common people. Well then, what do you suppose this here lower upside-down triangle represents?”
Drunk himself, the older customer was completely at a loss as to what the conversation was about. Undeterred, the younger man continued speaking, “These are the liars, the killers, the warmongers… The further down you go, the greater the degree of brutality. At the very bottom are the people who engage completely in utter malfeasance.”
Still drunk, the younger man piled these two triangles atop one another to form the Star of David (a six-pointed star) and explained, “This is the world as it was before we saw what we saw on television. In other words, the world was a place where good and evil coexisted in a motley state of reality. But, where do we stand now?”
The younger man pulled up the wire of the triangle with the peak pointed away from him to form a diamond and spoke while laughing, “This is what happens. Good and evil diverge from one another.”
Realizing that the older man, now asleep, was drunk, the younger man shook his head at the ridiculousness of his discourse.
In China, a Chinese person muttered to himself after watching television, “The sun has risen again.”
For people around the globe, this unfolding nightmare was being seared into their memory as they became aware of the sheer reality of what had transpired.
Chapter 20: Top-secret information
Joey and the three other remaining co-conspirators were confined to an isolated room. Percy heard that Joey and his friends had revolted before the commencement of the live broadcast.
Percy, who watched the live broadcast from the White House, was trying to figure out exactly what had happened when a thought popped into his head. Perhaps American plans had been leaked to a party outside of the Japanese-American alliance. Percy himself had thus become a party to a war that should never have been launched.
Still, some doubts surfaced. Neither the clone experiments nor the Neo Project alone should have provoked hostilities. While he was thinking about this and other matters, a video conference call came through from the Vice-President, who was speaking from the newly built Fusion Facility.
“As you know, this is an emergency situation. First, I’ve got to report a very important piece of news. The President is dead. In his place, I am hereby assuming the presidency.”
Percy asked, “Why… did this happen?”
The Vice-President had heard from President Hamilton that Percy was not the sort of person that could be bought by behind-the-scenes maneuvering or bribes. For this reason, he thought on the spur of the moment that it would be better to deceive and lie than to tell the truth and exacerbate the situation. “While we don’t yet know which country launched this attack, we believe it’s a terrorist plot of some sort.”
Unable to stifle his disappointment at this reply, Percy posed another question, “However, if that were the case, I could see how the principal perpetrator might be upset that Japan has been secretly cooperating with us but would this constitute sufficient grounds? Even if information on the Fusion Project or the Neo Project had been leaked, I can’t really imagine that the perpetrator could have been provoked on this basis. Moreover, I’m not willing to accept that the attack on Shikoku at a time when the President himself was there in person was not an attack on the American government.”
The Vice-President answered in a soothing manner, “Don’t worry. Top-secret information has not yet been leaked. In any case, we are fighting for justice. I’m asking for your cooperation, Percy. I’m about to return to the White House. It looks like it might take a while for me to get there. In the meantime, just wait for my arrival.”
When he heard the words “Top-secret information has not yet been leaked,” Percy grew pale as the blood drained from his face. This was because Percy wondered if perhaps there was top-secret information on some other project with which he was not familiar. He imagined that America would be affected by the same tragedy that had just befallen Japan if the country were to continue to insist on the correctness of its path.
After ending his conversation with the Vice-President, Percy murmured to himself, “I need to obtain information. What’s happening here at home and abroad? Could it be that Colonel Joey and his fellow conspirators, who were involved in that unexpected revolt, are in possession of crucial knowledge?”
Percy ordered a helicopter to be readied and departed immediately for the prison in which Joey was being held.
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