The Ties That Bind

by T. Starnes

  "Thanks to the scans we had of Vicki, Angela, Tami, and myself before and after our change, we have seen some differences, in some cases pretty stark changes. Keep in mind, everything I am about to say is science's best guess. There is so much we don't know about the brain, but the attributes I am about to assign to areas of our brain come from MRI scans on hundreds, and in some studies, thousands of people to try and narrow down areas of control."

  "The temporal lobe of the brain controls long-term memory, smell, and hearing and apparently affects our ability to pick up new languages. The processing in these areas seems marginally better in all of us; but, in Caspian, this area has significantly more activity. I am not sure why that is, or what effect that will have, but we need to keep an eye on that. In all of us, the Parietal Lobe is significantly increased. This area affects spatial awareness, comprehension, logic and reasoning. My guess is this is why everyone, myself included, has felt ... smarter for lack of a better word ... after the change."

  "The other area that has an increase in activity is the frontal lobe, which controls voluntary movement, motor integration, and short term memory. However, this is part of the brain which also controls emotions and social functioning, and that is where this gets interesting. In everyone for whom we have before and after scans, the map of activity has changed."

  I broke in to ask, "What does that mean?"

  "In the other areas I discussed, the amount of activity was increased in all of us, but the physical areas of those parts of the brain that had more activity, didn't change. It was like there were more synapses firing to and from the same spots. In the frontal lobe, the actual places that were firing were different."

  I was looking at my hands, trying to avoid eye contact when I asked the next question, "So you are saying the only area of the brain actually altered, not just enhanced but actually changed, was the part of the brain that controls your personality?"

  "I wouldn't say 'personality, ' since that is something Science has not nailed down, but social functioning and emotions, yes. We knew there was a change, so this isn't that surprising. I have run tests on myself and Angela every week since her attack, and I am pretty comfortable in saying the changes all happen at the beginning, and don't change again. So, any personality changes that happen have already happened. We won't change any more."

  Megan broke in and asked, "Is there a way to know what part of your personality or social functioning or whatever is changed?"

  Alex thought for a moment and then she said, "Not really, at least not just using us as a test sample. I can say I feel very little has changed, except for my feelings towards Caspian. The problem is, personality isn't something you can directly tell on a scan of any kind. We could put together some kind of questionnaire or test, and administer it before and after the change; or perhaps we should put together a battery of psychological and personality tests. Again, we would need to run it on several subjects to have at least some kind of sample beyond one person."

  I spoke up again, asking, "What about the apparent differences between the two types of change."

  "We would have to track the two groups, separately, but would need to do the same procedure on both," she replied.

  I shook my head, "I don't know if I am comfortable altering more people, just so we can get the data to work with, and that's just on the blood transfer. On the other method, I don't think I want to add any more girls. I am happy with what we have."

  I noticed a look pass between all three of my girls, and then Zoe said, "You never know."

  I groaned, "I imagine you three are already plotting something. I want to say, now, I am against adding any more girls for the sole purpose of testing these theories."

  I moved a finger to point at each of the girls, "If you three feel like you have to add someone, please talk to me first. I know you springing Tami on me worked out, and I am very happy she is with us ... but, it could have gone another way."

  Alex looked hopeful, "So you would be open to testing the theory on the blood transfer method?"

  "I am not thrilled about that, either. We only did it on Mom to save her life, and yours wasn't our choice. But, I don't know any other way to do to find out what actually happens. Eventually, we do need to find a way to move forward. So yes, I am open to it, but I have conditions.

  "One, we don't just start doing this, willy-nilly. We find someone who this would actually help. I don't want to start altering perfectly healthy people, just to get our answers. There are those, who even if the side effects are worse than we think, the change would still be a net benefit to them. Like it was with Mom. Those are the people I want to go after."

  "Two, we don't have to go into detail, but I do want them to be aware that this isn't any kind of official medicine, and that there are potential dangers involved, and tell them what we currently think will change in their personality. I want them on board, upfront."

  "Aren't you worried about getting exposed by someone who says no?" Mom asked.

  "Yes, but we can mitigate it. There are those who are desperate for a cure that the blood transfusion can provide. We also get them to sign an NDA before we talk to them, and keep an eye on them. That's about the best we can do."

  "Is it possible for people who aren't sick, but already know everything and want to do it, to sign up?" Megan asked, looking sheepish.

  "I can only think of one person who falls into that category. I don't know, because if the risks are greater than we think, we would be putting you into danger."

  "Everything in life involves risk, Cas. If I go into this with open eyes, that is on me," she replied, now looking determined rather than sheepish.

  "Let's talk about my other findings before we get into that," Alex interjected.

  "Ok, so we are done talking about the mental changes by blood transfusion. What about people altered the other way?" I asked.

  "As I said, we don't know. We know there are more changes. There are differences in the scans between the girls and Angela and myself. But, as to what those are, besides your previous conjecture, there is no way to really know without doing the same before and after questionnaire."

  "Ok, let's table that for a while. If ... and I really mean if ... at some point the girls want to add someone new to the relationship, over my strong objections, we can talk about that."

  All three girls smiled, and I knew I was a going to have problems with this in the future. I wasn't sure why they all seemed to be so into the idea of adding more women to our group.

  I sighed and ask, "What's next?"

  Alex flipped a page in her notes and replied, "Next is what we learned from Rachel."

  That made me perk up, "We learned why she had such weird behavior?"

  "Maybe. Let me ask you a question, did you ever kiss Rachel?" Alex asked while looking over at the girls.

  "No ... wait, yes. At Zoe's birthday party," I answered after recalling the truth or dare game.

  Alex made a note saying, "Good, that supports my evidence. I have to say, the more we study you, Cas, the more amazed I am. Your body is perfectly designed to propagate your genetics. It hadn't occurred to me to test your saliva, until after we tested Rachel and found some interesting enzymes ... or, pieces of them, since they had already started to degrade pretty severely by the time we tested them."

  I turned to Mom, "Is that why you took a throat culture from me?"

  She smiled and said, "I said it was for a test we wanted to run."

  Alex kept on rolling, "It seems you produce an enzyme that acts like a targeted aphrodisiac."

  Something about that statement made me worry, "How do you know that?"

  "I know you don't want me testing on other people until we know the full extent of how your biology works, but since we knew that the enzyme breaks down over time, and seemed to leave no lasting effects, I expanded the trial that we did with Rachel and paid a couple of students to test out what they thought was a female version of Viagra."

  I kept my eyes lo
cked on her while she was talking, and she refused to meet my eyes.

  "Alex, we talked about this..."

  I started to build up steam to another lecture when Mom cut me off, "In this case, Cas, I agreed with her. The enzyme looked to be more or less harmless, and only lasted a limited time. We studied our tests on Rachel pretty thoroughly, before we agreed to expand the test."

  I shook my head, sighed, and said, "Tell me how it works."

  "It is somewhat subtle, and I don't think the person feeling it would notice that the feelings, but it seems the enzyme makes the person highly attracted to you."

  "I can say that sounds about right. After our kiss on the practice date, I thought about it all the time. I know I made a lot of jokes about getting a second helping, but they weren't really jokes, I was totally serious," Tami interjected.

  "So kissing someone acts like a me-only aphrodisiac," I asked?

  "Close enough. It is the first step your biology takes, to lock down mates and ensure the continuation of your genes," Alex replied.

  "Is there a second step?" I asked.

  "That is more conjecture at this point, and brings us back to the earlier conversation. All of our anecdotal evidence says that yes, once you have sex with a partner, you are somehow locking them in to just you ... and, apparently, your other mates. Meanwhile, their body changes to the point of being able to procreate."

  I was starting to get the sinking feeling again, "Okay. Well, we have covered that ground already and I am going to add 'no kissing of anyone new' to my list of stuff to avoid. Anything else?"

  "Yes, there is one more thing. We did tests on Megan and her boyfriend, to try and figure out why some people have a positive bias and others have a negative bias towards you," she replied.

  "There isn't anything overt, not like with some of the other stuff, and it will be hard to be sure without being able to test more negatively biased people, but there are suggestions. We found some genetic markers in Megan, Angela, Zoe and Tina that they all share. This was missing in myself and Vicki and Megan's boyfriend had what I guess you could call the opposite markers, although that isn't really how it works."

  "Until we can study some more people, we won't know for sure, but my working hypothesis is that some people are genetically pre-disposed toward you and others have almost a genetic allergy to you."

  "So what can we do about that," I asked, hoping we could find a way to fix my relationship with Margret.

  "I don't think there is anything we can do about it. It is just something we are going to have to deal with," she said.

  I just sighed but nodded my head in understanding. I had already pretty much given up hope of fixing things with Margret, but it still hurt to hear the final nail go in.

  "Do you have anything else Alex?"

  She shook her head no, so I opened my notebook to where I had been keeping notes. I was interrupted by Megan before speaking.

  "I have something."

  We all turned and looked at her.

  "I want to be the first one to take the new personality test thing, and do a blood transfer."

  I looked skeptically at her, "Why?"

  "Because you need to do 'before and after' testing to learn the full effects of the change. Anyone you get to do it, no matter how drastic the circumstances, you will still feel guilty about any change that might happen to them. You will start thinking that you somehow tricked them or took advantage of them."

  "I don't think..."

  Vicki interrupted me, saying, "The hell you wouldn't, Cas. Megan is absolutely right. Even though we keep reassuring you, deep in your heart, you still kind of feel that way about us."

  "Anyone else you get, while you are going to try and give them enough information to make an informed choice, there is only so much they can be told," Megan continued. "I, on the other hand, know about everything. I am as fully informed as I can be, and I still want to do it."

  I threw up my hands and said, "Fine. I can't argue your logic, but this gets to the next thing we need to talk about. Before, I said if we were going to make this work, we had to make the world ready for us. I still believe that, and I have a plan. It is going to take several years, but I know what we need to do to make this work."

  Everyone scooted to the edge of their seats, eager to hear what the plan for our new life would be.

  Chapter 8

  I pulled my notebook closer towards me, to glance over my notes one more time. I didn't really need them, but I wanted to wait a second to gather my thoughts before diving in.

  "The last time we all sat down together, I said I wanted to get the world ready for us. It is going to take time for our genetic line to propagate, and if we are going to be the next stage of evolution, we have to make sure the world is ready for us. As I said before, the world is a screwed up place. If it takes five hundred or even a thousand years until our genetic line makes up the bulk of humanity, we have to make sure that there is still a humanity left. The big question is, how do we do that?"

  "The biggest problem I see with the world is everyone is out to get the most they can without care for what others, or even the planet itself, wants or needs. That is true, both here and abroad. We humans, on the whole, are incredibly short sighted."

  "The way to fix this is to get enough people on the same page all working together. Of course, that is a huge challenge. That was one of the goals when the UN was formed, and we see how well that worked."

  I paused to looked around and see if they were still with me.

  "This means getting integrated into politics, into the military, into other countries social hierarchy, and keeping everyone focused and together. I don't mean us in this room, I mean our followers."

  Zoe gave me a strange look and said, "Our followers?"

  "Yep. Looking at the problem we face, there is no way we can do this ourselves. It just isn't possible. We need to start adding people to our ranks, people who have the same goals that we have."

  Mom put up her hand slightly and asked, "And what are those goals?"

  I gave her a smile and said, "To make the world a better place. To make this a place where people think of the welfare of others, as much as the welfare of themselves."

  I stopped to see if there were more questions and then continued, "This isn't going to happen overnight. What we need to do is start getting people to follow our cause. We will need a banner for people to gather around, and that can't be a person."

  "My thought was that we create a charitable organization, and use that as our rallying point, the thing that people gather around. Keep in mind that this is a long term plan. We need to get the resources to make this work. I am trying to do some of that through the company I started with Marcus and Ted, but we need to look for other ways to get together the resources to build something like this. That is something I want everyone to think about."

  "Have you thought about what you want to call this organization?" Vicki asked.

  "I have, in fact. I wanted to call our organization, 'Evolve, '" I replied, smiling at her. "I will start having Jonathan put it together now, but it will be a shell until we get real resources to put into it."

  "There have to be a couple of ground rules for this though. The biggest one is we can't alter everyone we bring on board. In fact, nearly everyone who joins should not be altered."

  "Why?" Alex asked, almost shocked.

  "A couple of reasons. People altered through blood transfusion don't actually move the genes forward, since we don't think it passes through offspring. So that means there isn't a pressing reason to actually do it. More than that is, some point in the future, the population at large is going to find out about us. The change caused by blood transfusion is something you can test for. Considering the personality changes that we think are happening, we will be accused of brainwashing our supporters."

  "No, we want nearly all of our followers to be normal. They need to support us because they believe in doing what's right. They believe in helping t
heir fellow man."

  I saw several heads nodding around the room, although Alex still looked skeptical.

  "Alex, we need to build this on the right foundation. Spiking the blood supply to make everyone loyal to me, and I know that thought crossed your mind, would set us up on a foundation of mistrust and lies. People would fear us, and our whole effort would be wasted."

  "The next question is, how do we go about building followers. For now, we do that retail. We start going out and trying to help people. Right now, it will be local, people that we see that need help. Eventually, when we have the resources, we can expand. We'll go beyond that and help people elsewhere, and then help people wholesale."

  "Again, I am not talking about helping people by altering them, although I am sure that will sometimes be what is needed. There are lots of ways to help: money, support, even physical labor. Everyone we find that needs help will have a different situation. What we need to do is keep our eyes open to find people that need help, and step in when they do."

  "And of course, we need marketing," Tami said, smiling.

  "Huh?" I asked cleverly.

  "If we are building followers for this new thing, we can't just help them and disappear into the night. They have to know who helped them. We have to give out cards, or flyers, or ... I don't know, something."

  "Hmm, that is a good point. I guess now we are at the point where we can start assigning jobs. You take that one."

  Tami's smile faded, "Wait, I didn't mean..."

  "No, you're right; someone needs to take the lead on that. It is a great idea. We all need to be finding ways we can support our efforts. Everyone needs keep their eyes out, looking for people that need our help. I will talk to Jonathan, today, about setting up Evolve."

  "I think that about covers it. Anyone have something else?"

  Zoe raised her hand and said, "I have something, actually. Last time we talked, you said we should start considering what we wanted to do with our lives. I think we should go beyond that and think what our place in Evolve will be, since I know I want to be involved with it and I bet everyone else will too. I know we need college to really learn what we need to know, but I think we can start mapping out our place in the organization, now, and start to focus our studies around what we want Evolve to do."