The next morning, Dylan is on the witness stand.
Danny Brown stands in front of the jury after Dylan has been sworn in. Dylan has avoided looking at me, but now he glances over at me, giving a tiny shake of his head as he does so, pleading me with his eyes to understand him.
Mr Brown leads Dylan through a range of questions, establishing his identity and his relationship to me. In just over two hours they cover the entire extent of our past, and every one of our conversations about my immune system project.
Finally Danny gets to the damaging part. “Mr Hume, can you describe for the court exactly what it was that Michael said to you on November the eleventh of last year, the last time you saw each other?”
“He asked me if he could use the New Church islands to put his modified children on.”
“And did he tell you why he wanted to do this?”
“He said they posed a threat to society. That they had been responsible for a viral outbreak at the compound they were being kept at, and that they shouldn’t be so close to each other. He said if they were separated, then they’d be safe.”
“Did he explain to you what his purpose was in bringing up these children?”
“He told me that as the world descended into barbarism over the next fifty or so years, following the total collapse of the eco-system, these children and their descendants would be better able to survive than unmodified humans.”
“Did he tell you that it was his plan to try to spread the code for this modification around the world, so that others would be born with it too?”
I wonder where they got this piece of information from. Was Gendigm already spreading the modifications? They must be — or there is no way they could have found out about this. But why are they doing it now, while I’m on trial? Surely they must realize that it will threaten my chances?
Maybe they don’t trust me to keep quiet. Or maybe they have to do it now. Once the trial is done, if the government doesn’t manage to get the information they need here, every government and corporate run state in the world will be after them. If they start releasing the modifications now, while they’ve still got time, there’s a chance they’ll succeed.
“Yes,” Dylan says.
“And did he mention what he thought might happen once these modified children reached a critical mass?”
“No, he didn’t.”
“Can you tell me what you think might happen? You’re a trained biologist, are you not?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Then?”
“There is a chance that they would start to breed new viruses.”
“That are deadly to unmodified humans?”
“Yes.”
“So do you think it was Michael’s plan for this to happen? That this wasn’t just an accident caused by his work?”
“It wasn’t his plan, no. That is why he wanted to separate and quarantine them — so that they wouldn’t put anyone else at risk. Not only that, but Michael was working on a somatic modification that would protect Homo sapiens from any diseases that these children might breed.”
“But what about as the children grow older? Won’t they present an even greater threat? And how was he going to make sure that everyone on the planet received his somatic modification?”
“I’m really not sure.”
Danny continues to grill Dylan even further about his knowledge of Gendigm, but Dylan doesn’t know any more and gives nothing away.
By the time he is finished, Dylan looks exhausted.
And then it is Barnaby’s turn.
“How long have you been one of the leaders of the New Church for?” Barnaby asks him.
“Approximately two years.”
“And when you were agreeing to testify for the prosecution, were you under any duress?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, were you being threatened with any criminal charges involving this case?”
“I was told that I could be prosecuted as the leader of a terrorist organization, and that because I was involved with Michael, I was just as liable for everything that he was doing as he was.”
“Were any other forms of coercion used?”
Dylan hesitates for a moment, and looks over at his lawyer. “What do you mean by coercion?”
“I mean apart from threatening to prosecute you for Michael’s crimes, did they do anything else to force your testimony?”
Dylan hesitates again, and then looks directly at me. We stare at each other for a long time and I can feel something pass between us through the court room. I shake my head at him, but he answers anyway: “I was locked up for months in solitary confinement. I was told I had to cooperate or I would never get out. That they would charge both of us. They told me that Michael was giving evidence against me, that he was trying to claim the whole thing was funded by the New Church, and that he was willing to testify against me.”
“Objection, your honor,” Brown says. “This wasn’t in the witness statement. This is completely new information.”
“I’ll allow it,” the judge says.
I sit there shocked. An outpouring of love for Dylan pervades me. I know that Dylan is risking his own freedom, that if they think he is trying to sabotage their case they will go after him with everything they’ve got.
“Thank you very much, Mr Hume. That’s all, your honor.” Barnaby walks back to the desk.
“Mr Brown, have you got any further questions?” the judge says.
“Yes, I do, your honor.”
“Go ahead, then.”
Danny stands up and walks towards Dylan like a bull. “Mr Hume, are you suggesting that your statement was falsely given? That everything you said was said only because you were being forced to?”
“I only said it because I was forced to, yes.”
“Does that mean it’s not true?”
Dylan looks across at me. I know this is the moment. If Dylan tells them that it wasn’t true, there is a good chance that I will get off. Unable to prove their case, they will lose. If Dylan says that, though, there is a good chance that he himself will be convicted. The government will not take lightly to their key witness committing perjury. Dylan and I lock eyes once again, and I shake my head at him.
“Mr Hume, will you answer the question, please?”
“No,” Dylan says.
“No what?”
“No, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t true.”
“So, despite the way this information was extracted, you are still admitting that everything you told us was the truth?”
“Yes,” Dylan says.
“Thank you, your honor.” Mr Brown turns back to his desk and sits down as if he’s just won the trial.
I feel my body collapsing under me.
Finally, it comes time for us to make our case.
“Michael, would you mind telling the court exactly what you were planning on doing with these modified children of yours?” Barnaby says.
“As you have heard, I have been involved in a project to modify the human immune system to make people more resistant to disease. Having seen my wife suffer from HIV-4, I know how terrifying and debilitating it can be for both the sufferer and the families of someone who has a life-threatening illness. Given that governments are now involved in bio-warfare, and that there are only going to be more diseases than ever in the future, I wanted to create an immune system which would protect future generations against this suffering.”
“And have you succeeded in doing this?”
“Yes, I have.”
“There have been some problems, though, haven’t there?”
“Yes. The modified children have started to breed viruses that are a potential threat to normal, unmodified human beings. Because their tolerance levels to viruses are much higher, the viruses have a chance to mutate when the modified children are in close proximity to one another.”
“Is this something you anticipated might happen?”
“No, it’s not.”
“Nobody could have. There are always more precautions you can take in experimentation like this, but at some point you have to take a risk. If we didn’t take that risk, cures for many of the world’s diseases would never be found. Cures which save millions of lives.”
“Now that you know it is a risk, why is it that the code for this modification has been made freely available to the public?”
James informed me last night that pills containing our modifications had been discovered on the black market. They were starting to be spread around the world. There was also information available on the net as to exactly what those modifications would do for both you and your children, and the likely consequences of not taking them.
“I have no idea,” I say. “I was arrested before that happened.”
“So who is in charge in your organization, EidoGenesis?”
“I was, along with a number of others.”
“Did you give the order for this modification to be released?”
“It was always our intention to release it once it was finished, but if I had had a choice I would not have released it so soon.”
“And what did you imagine would happen once it was released?”
“The modification we were working on was designed to protect Homo sapiens as much as it was to protect their offspring. We imagined that eventually our new species, Homo novus, would begin to take over from Homo sapiens.”
“So you imagined that Homo novus would wipe Homo sapiens out?”
“No. I believe that Homo sapiens are taking care of that themselves.”
There is silence in the courtroom.
“Would you care to elaborate, Michael?”
“Science has proven that global warming has reached the point where, within the next fifty years, eighty percent of Homo sapiens on the planet will be wiped out. To stop themselves being part of that eighty percent, governments and corporate leaders around the world are resorting to bio-warfare, wiping each other out in the millions but protecting themselves. The problem is, this is a zero-sum game. We’re all going to lose. So what I imagined happening was a slow replacement of the surviving Homo sapiens with Homo novus, much in the same way Homo sapiens took over from Neanderthals. Homo novus is not only better adapted for disease, but they are also, thanks to their augmented cooperation, much more likely to establish a fair and just society.”
“So you did want Homo novus to take over from Homo sapiens?”
“Let’s not talk about them as if they are two completely separate species. They are identical to humans, in fact they are humans. The only difference is, they are better adapted for the future. A future that we’re creating.”
After lunch, Danny Brown gets up to cross examine me. This has always been the risk with putting me on the stand, but it is one we thought was necessary to take.
“Michael, can you please explain to us why you didn’t hand the modified children over to the government as soon as you realized they were a potential threat to the population?”
Without being able to say anything about the government’s role in the mass-murder of those people once living in the de-reg zone, explaining this is going to be hard.
“Quarantining the children on the islands was the safest and quickest way of dealing with the situation.”
“Do you really think you had the right to make that decision? To potentially put at risk the population of this country?”
“As I said, I believed it was the best thing we could do to protect the population, and to protect those children.”
“And you didn’t think it was necessary to report this incident?”
“We didn’t have time. I was arrested before we’d even had time to finish dealing with it.”
“Were you yourself not about to flee the country at the time of your arrest?”
“I wasn’t fleeing the country. I was going where I was most needed — to help the modified children and their mothers settle on the New Church islands.”
“Can you tell us exactly who was behind this project, Michael? Who was funding and supporting it?”
“You mean apart from the government? We did receive a fairly large grant from them.”
“Yes. Apart from the government.”
“The name of the company was HGM Industries. My original company, Geneus, was also involved, but they pulled out about two years ago for financial reasons.”
“You said before that governments and corporations are resorting to bio-warfare, and that you did what you did to protect people from that, but weren’t you yourself resorting to bio-warfare to help your new species survive?”
“That was never my intention. As I said, our modifications were also designed to help existing Homo sapiens survive. What would be the point of modifying children if they killed their own parents with diseases before they were even old enough to look after themselves?”
Barnaby and Danny give their closing statements and then for nearly three days, the jury deliberates. On the fourth morning, I once again sit in the courtroom. Once everyone is seated, the jury files slowly in.
“Has the jury made their decision?” the judge asks the foreman.
“Yes your honor, we have.”
“And how find you?”
The woman stands up and looks across at me. “On the count of intent to release a bio-weapon on Australian soil, we find the defendant not guilty. On the count of organization of terrorist activities, we find the defendant not guilty. On the count of conspiracy against the Australian people, we find the defendant not guilty. On the count of reckless endangerment of human life, we find the defendant guilty. On the count of attempt to avoid prosecution, we find the defendant guilty. On the count of withholding information of terrorist activities, we find the defendant guilty. On the count of conspiring with a terrorist organization, we find the defendant guilty.”
Two days later, I sit before the judge for sentencing.
“Michael Khan, given that you still refuse to disclose the names of the other members of the organization for whom you were working, I hereby sentence you to fifteen years in prison without parole.”
EPILOGUE
I SPEND MOST of my time reading these days. Not many books are being written any more, as most people are just struggling to survive, so I read all the old classics.
It's taken me a good six months to adjust. Before I came here I was a scientist, a husband, a friend. Someone who was trying to do the best for the world in the only way I knew how. And now what am I? A prison inmate. No better or worse than the guy who killed three women who's locked up in the cell next to mine. It takes a while for one's ego to get used to that kind of change.
Now I have, though, I almost feel free. Funny that I should feel freer in here than I ever did outside, when I had all the freedom in the world. It’s a freedom from myself. I’ve come to terms with my incarceration. And although I don’t think I should be locked up for the things the government has locked me up for, I do think I should be locked up — for my part in what happened to the people in the de-reg zone.
I guess they call that karma.
Annie comes and visits me regularly and tells me about the lives of little Shy and Harvey, who she adopted out to two different families but keeps a close eye on. She never tells me who the families are, but I presume they’re nice. She occasionally gets a call from Dylan, who managed to avoid prosecution, and apparently all the other children are growing up healthily as well.
Even Justin comes in to visit me occasionally and tells me about a new job he’s working on: genetic modification of the digestive system so people can eat all the crap they want without ever getting fat. It’s the best job he could find. At least he’s happy with Shung, and they have two children of their own — both Homo novus.
Most importantly, though, our genetic modifications have gone viral. Now they’re open source, people all around the world are taking them. For a while they were outlawed by governments and corporate st
ates, but given that everyone else was using them even those laws were soon overturned.
We weren’t the first species in this line of evolution, and we certainly won’t be the last. We’re nothing, after all, but perfectible animals.
DEAR READER,
THANK you for reading Conception: Perfectible Animals Book 0 and I hope you enjoyed it.
If you did, Part I of Connection: Perfectible Animals Book 1 (the sequel) is now available!
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Thomas Norwood.
Conception: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller (Perfectible Animals Book 1) Page 23
