Conception: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller (Perfectible Animals Book 1)

by Thomas Norwood

  “Thank you,” I say, when we return to the small room off the side of the court again.

  “Don’t get too excited,” Barnaby says. “We’ve still got a long way to go yet, and it’s going to be an uphill battle.”

  “It’s going to come down to whether or not the jury considers your actions terrorism,” James says. “It’s a very good thing you didn’t talk to the government more than you did while you were locked up, or they might have tried to mount a different case against you.”

  That night, back in prison, I am taken to an interrogation room where Don is waiting for me with a cappuccino and a slice of what he tells me is his wife’s best chocolate cake, although for all I know he could have bought it at the staff cafeteria. James is there with me.

  “How can I help you?” I say to Don, stuffing my mouth with cake.

  “We were wondering if you’ve reconsidered?” Don says. “And want to offer you one last chance to do so.”

  “Reconsidered what?” I say, although I know exactly what he’s talking about.

  “Reconsidered disclosing everything you know about Gendigm. They’re the ones really behind this, and we’re pretty sure that even with you locked away they’ll continue on with their plans. They’re hardly going to care about one scientist, are they?”

  “I’m really not sure.”

  “What is it you think they’re trying to achieve, Michael? Why is it that you’re so interested in protecting them? Do you really think they’re doing the best thing for humanity, for purely altruistic purposes? Don’t you think they might have a hidden agenda of their own?”

  This is an option I’ve considered, and now Don makes me consider it again. “Such as?” I say.

  “Such as controlling the world once everyone else on it has been modified to be more cooperative. You don’t think that’s a dangerous situation? One that will give whoever is in charge an unfair advantage, if they’re not actually modified themselves?”

  “And why would they want to do that?”

  “Don’t be naive, Michael. That’s what humans have always wanted: power. You think something like this wouldn’t give someone an almost unlimited amount of power?”

  “I don’t think you understand the way our modifications work. Those who are modified aren’t just going to follow anyone. Just because they’re more cooperative, doesn’t make them stupid. It just means that instead of trying to take for themselves all the time they’re just as concerned about the welfare of others. The welfare of the group, and of other groups.”

  “So you’re prepared to sacrifice everything for these people, are you? Not only your own life but Dylan’s life, the lives of the people in the New Church, and the lives of the children you’ve already modified?”

  “I’m not the one threatening them.”

  “You leave us no choice, Michael.”

  “We always have a choice. And you’re making yours.”

  “Listen, Michael, I know you’re angry. I know some pretty bad things have happened to you, and that you think this government is responsible for them. But that doesn’t mean you should give up on us. That doesn’t mean you should become worse than the people you’re trying to destroy. If you let that happen, you’ll never forgive yourself.”

  “I’m never going to forgive myself for what I’ve done as it is.” I think about all those people in the de-reg zone who were wiped out by the virus I helped create.

  “Well think about those children then. Harvey and Shy, is it? The ones you wanted to adopt?”

  “How do you know about them?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to protect them and all the other children? Wouldn’t you like to protect your friend Dylan, and the New Church? The people who have done so much for you? Are you really prepared to give everything up? Because you know we’ll go after them, don’t you? If we can’t get at Gendigm, we’ll have no other option but to destroy the New Church. Someone has to pay, Michael. It’s the way things work. You understand that, don’t you?”

  I nod.

  “Well, have another think about it,” Don says, and he leaves the room.

  “What do you think?” I say to James.

  “Let’s hope he’s bluffing,” James says. “I’m sure the government has probably got a lot more important things on their plate than attacking the New Church just to kill a hundred children. Especially seeing as the code for the modifications is out there already anyway.”

  I breathe a sigh of relief. It’s hard to think straight when you’re locked up in a cell every day, and I depend on James for support.

  The court room comes to life again at 10am the next morning.

  Anthony Simons, my old nemesis from Geneus, is on the stand, and Mr Brown runs him through his history with me and our project.

  “Did Dr Khan ever mention that his wife had HIV-4?” Danny says smugly.

  “No, he didn’t.”

  “Was it his duty to disclose this information to the company?”

  “He wasn’t required to, but it certainly would have made a difference in how we viewed the project. We believed that Dr Khan was carrying it out because he truly believed he could make it work, and not just because he was interested in finding a cure for his wife.”

  “And he kept this information hidden from everyone at Geneus the whole time?”

  “Yes, as far as I know.”

  “Why do you think he did this?”

  “Objection,” Barnaby calls again. “This witness can’t possibly know what was in the mind of my client.”

  “Overruled,” the judge says. “I’ll allow it.”

  I am starting to get the impression that the judge is on the side of the prosecution. I wonder how many strings have been pulled, although I am actually a little surprised that I am getting a trial at all. With the country as it is at the moment, nobody would really care too much if an obscure geneticist went missing. Then I wonder if all this isn’t just an elaborate ploy to get me to disclose my knowledge of Gendigm, and to tell them everything I know. Surely torture would be more efficient. But maybe they’re worried I’ve got contacts — and that torture of their own citizens would turn people against them. The whole thing is starting to feel like a farce.

  “There were many times in the life of the project when we were about to shut it down,” Anthony continues. “The project almost sent the company bankrupt, and it was only because Michael kept convincing our CEO, Klaus Hofferman, that he was so close to finding a solution, that we continued. On many of these occasions, it turned out Michael was no closer to finding a solution than he’d ever been. He was stringing us along, risking the entire company and the jobs of all its employees in the meantime. If we’d known that his wife had HIV-4, and that was his true motivation for wanting to keep the project alive, we would almost certainly have shut it down.”

  “Okay, thank you, Mr Simons. That’s all for now,” Mr Brown says.

  “Mr Savoir, do you have anything you would like to ask Mr Simons?” The judge looks over at Barnaby without raising his head.

  “Yes indeed, your honor, I have plenty of things I’d like to ask the witness.”

  “Well, get on with it, then.” The judge motions impatiently to the floor.

  Barnaby takes his time, checking some last minute notes, and then just before it seems the judge might explode in anger, he glides on over to the stand.

  “Mr Simons, thank you for taking the time to come in today,” Barnaby says. Anthony nods, his face slightly twisted — whether out of displeasure or fear I’m not quite sure. “Well, first up, I’d like to ask you a bit more about why you think it was necessary for Michael to disclose that his wife had HIV-4 to Geneus.”

  “As I said, if he had told us that, we probably wouldn’t have continued with the research.”

  “But what if Michael truly did believe he could make this project work? In fact, hasn’t time proven that he could? Doesn’t he now have a fully functional immune system modification that makes its bearers resistant to man
y diseases ordinary people aren’t resistant to? Hasn’t he cured his wife of HIV-4, and isn’t that same treatment now being used on others?”

  “Yes, but that’s not the point. The point is, at what cost to the company? And how was that achieved?”

  “Was Michael under any sort of legal obligation to disclose this information to the company?”

  “No.”

  “Did you disclose to the company every detail of your life at the time?”

  “Anything which might have been relevant to company decisions I would have.”

  “So did you disclose the fact that your father-in-law had a fairly sizable investment in Geneus, no doubt at your suggestion, and that if the company went bankrupt due to Michael’s immune-system project he would have lost a lot of money?”

  Anthony looks worried and glances around the room for a moment. “I never suggested that he make that investment, and none of my dealings within the company had anything to do with it. Plenty of board members had shares in the company. I did myself. So did Michael.”

  “Not a fifteen percent share, though? Around two hundred million dollars at the time.”

  “Not that big a share, no. But again, that did not affect my behavior in the company in any way.”

  “But you think the fact that Michael’s wife had HIV-4 did affect his behavior?”

  “He was putting the whole company at risk.”

  “Yes or no please, Mr Simons.”

  “Yes.”

  “So, what you’re saying, then, is that the only reason Michael was involved in this project was to save his wife?”

  “Maybe not the only reason. But certainly one of the main reasons.”

  “So it wasn’t, then, as the prosecution is suggesting, to wipe out humanity?”

  Anthony is caught. He looks over towards the prosecution then turns back to Barnaby.

  “Answer the question please, Mr Simons,” the judge says, in what appears to be his first swing to my side.

  “Well I don’t know—”

  “Yes or no please, Mr Simons,” Barnaby says.

  “No.”

  “Thank you, Mr Simons. That will be all.”

  Barnaby smiles as he comes back to our bench and I can’t help smiling with him. No doubt Mr Brown was trying to use Anthony to shed doubt on the morality of my character, but Barnaby skillfully turned this against them. I wait to see if Danny will get up again to question Anthony further, but he doesn’t.

  Next up on the stand is Richard. I am not exactly sure why Richard has decided to turn against me. Maybe ASIO threatened him as well. Or maybe he was the one who turned me in in the first place.

  Richard is sworn in and after going through the questions of how we met, Mr Brown says, “Mr Grant, can you please tell us about the first experiment you conducted using Mr Khan’s immune system modifications?”

  Richard tells them how the mothers of our first batch of modified embryos were attacked by the fetuses growing inside them, and how two of the fetuses died. Danny pulls some images up on the screen of the dead babies.

  “Are these the babies in question?” Danny says.

  “Yes,” Richard replies.

  “So what did you do when these problems started? Did you give them abortions?”

  “No. We tried to keep the mothers alive.”

  “And were you risking the women’s lives by doing so?”

  “Yes, we were.”

  “So why didn’t you give them abortions?”

  “Michael said they were his instructions. I believe they came from Klaus Hofferman, the CEO of Geneus.”

  “But at the time Michael was in charge over there?”

  “Yes.”

  “So he could have ordered them to be aborted?”

  “He may have lost his job, but yes, he could have.”

  “Was there anything else that could have been done to better protect those women?” Danny says.

  “Yes, I believe there was. I believe that we started the human trials too quickly. I think we should have conducted at least another year of animal trials first. In the animal trials that we did there were a number of deaths. I think this should have been investigated further.”

  “And why wasn’t it?”

  “I’m not sure. It was Michael’s decision. He wanted to push ahead with the human trials as quickly as possible.”

  “Any idea why?”

  “There could have been a number of reasons. Scientists like to make decisions based on the greater good, though. What will serve the greater good. And in this case maybe that’s what Michael was doing — risking a few to save the many.”

  “Couldn’t it have been to save his wife? Or for the financial state of the company?”

  “Objection,” cries Barnaby.

  “Sustained,” says the judge, but the question still hangs ominously in the air, and Danny leaves it there for a few moments.

  “Well, on to more recent events,” Danny says eventually. “Can you please describe to us in detail the events surrounding the recent problems at the EidoGenesis compound?”

  Richard goes on to tell the court everything that happened.

  “So, was this something which you think could have been prevented?”

  “We never believed it would be a risk,” Richard says, referring to the viral outbreak and the need to quarantine the children.

  “And how big a threat do you believe these children might pose — to the general population?”

  “The virus that attacked Michael’s wife was fairly benign, but given that it evolved so quickly in such a small group of modified children, I’d say the risk that they’ll create something much more serious is quite high. Especially if there are more of them.”

  “If you had been in charge, what would have you done in the situation?”

  “I would have alerted the authorities.”

  “Thank you. Your honor, that’s all from me.”

  “Mr Savoir. Any questions?” the judge says, a weariness in his tone as if he is no longer happy with Barnaby and his choice of client.

  “Yes, just a couple, your honor.”

  Barnaby goes and stands in front of Richard. “Wasn’t it actually Michael who decided to inject the mothers with immuno-suppressants, defying his orders and helping to save both the mothers and the children?”

  “Two of the children died,” Richard says. “So he didn’t save them all. And our instructions were to try to save the mothers using somatic modification. Something we might have been able to do, had we been given a chance. Due to Michael’s intervention, we weren’t given that chance.”

  “So it’s your opinion that had Michael not done that, the women would have had just as high a chance of survival?”

  “Yes. It is.”

  I look at Richard with anger. He knows as well as I do that injecting those mothers with immuno-suppressants was a much safer course of action, and probably stopped almost all of the mothers, and the fetuses, from dying. Why is he saying this? Maybe he really does believe I sabotaged the company for the sake of saving Annie. Not knowing about what really happened with the military — how could he possibly understand me?

  “That’s all, your honor.” Barnaby has lost the playful demeanor he had with Anthony. I am not sure if he really is shocked, or if this is simply a display for the jury — remorse on his client’s behalf.

  “Aren’t you going to ask him anything else?” I say to Barnaby as he comes back to the table. “He’s lying through his teeth.”

  “No,” Barnaby whispers. “The jury’s sympathy is with those women and those babies right at the moment. If we go too hard on him, we’ll get them offside. We have to admit this for the mistake it was and move on.”

  That night I go back to my cell despondent. Barnaby explained to me trials are more about manipulating emotions, provoking compassion and identification for the defendant in the hearts and minds of the jury, than who is right or wrong. In this case especially.

  It is hard to identify
with and have compassion for someone whose reckless actions could easily have caused the deaths of twenty women and their babies, and did actually kill two babies. However good a job I did, however much my work might help to save people, the jury will want to see me punished. And if the only way they can punish me is by calling me guilty for the crimes the government is laying on me, they will do just that.

  That night, I am led once again into the interrogation room.

  “Okay,” Don says, “this is your last chance, Michael. We know you didn’t mean for that flu to break out, and that you probably didn’t create those children as a threat to the human race, but if you don’t help us now we can only assume that you do mean for people to die.”

  “Why is it okay for the government to wipe out millions for their own suspect purposes, but not for me to do something for the greater good?”

  “Governments are elected to make decisions for the greater good, Michael, you have not been. Have you gone completely mad? I hope you don’t think you’re going to get off on an insanity plea.” Don starts to get angry, but then changes track and continues in a softer tone. “Look, Michael, I can understand your anger, I really can. But think about those people you love. Who have helped you. Do you really want them to suffer?”

  I take a deep breath. Of course I don’t want them to suffer. I don’t want Dylan or Sophie or indeed anyone else to have to pay for this.

  “Michael, think clearly. Think about what you’re doing. You’ve had a difficult time, but do you really want to blame the world for that? Do you really want to take all your anger at this government out on the entire species?”

  “And what if I do tell you what you want to know? What will happen then?”

  Don smiles, and his body relaxes into the chair with exhaustion. “Then everything gets easier. Easier for you, for your wife, for Dylan, for Sophie, for your modified children, for the New Church populations, for everybody involved. Nobody has to get hurt. We can come to an arrangement. The children can be quarantined on the havens, where you put them so they can’t do any harm. You and Dylan will be free to go and live there too if you like. You won’t be able to stay in this country, but we won’t stop you from living somewhere else. You can live a free life, Michael. You can put all of this behind you and enjoy your life a little. Spend time with your wife. Know what it’s like not to live in fear all the time. Be at peace. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”