Asterion, page 1
Asterion
Title Page
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1 - GOOD INTENTIONS
CHAPTER 2 - BEGINNINGS
CHAPTER 3 - BREACH
CHAPTER 4 - GETTING TO KNOW YOU
CHAPTER 5 - COWARDLY NEW WORLD
CHAPTER 6 - SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY
CHAPTER 7 - HEADLONG INTO THE UNKNOWN
CHAPTER 8 - EXPERIMENT GONE WRONG
CHAPTER 9 - PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
CHAPTER 10 - WAITING
CHAPTER 11 - NEAR MISS
CHAPTER 12 - STATE OF THE MONOCRACY
CHAPTER 13 - MISSING
CHAPTER 14 - BIRTHDAY
CHAPTER 15 - RELUCTANT FATHER
CHAPTER 16 - VIEW FROM THE OUTSIDE
CHAPTER 17 - REVELATIONS
CHAPTER 18 - A DIFFERENT VIEW
CHAPTER 19 - MEET AND GREET
CHAPTER 20 - FAMILY REUNION
CHAPTER 21 - CAUGHT
CHAPTER 22 - ESCAPE AND EVASION
CHAPTER 23 - CLOSE QUARTERS
CHAPTER 24 - HEART OF A MOVEMENT
CHAPTER 25 - GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS
CHAPTER 26 - TIPPING POINT
CHAPTER 27 - EXODUS
CHAPTER 28 - RESCUE AND RETREAT
CHAPTER 29 - ON THE ATTACK
CHAPTER 30 - FINAL PREPARATION
CHAPTER 31 - TOE-TO-TOE
CHAPTER 32 - LOSING GROUND
CHAPTER 33 - APPLYING PRESSURE
CHAPTER 34 - DECEPTIVE INTENTIONS
CHAPTER 35 - ALL FALLS DOWN
CHAPTER 36 - MAKE A BREAK FOR IT
EPILOGUE
ASTERION
KENNETH MORVANT
Text copyright © 2013 Kenneth Morvant
All Rights Reserved
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TO SHARON, BRITNEY, TREVOR AND WHATEVER PETS ARE ALIVE WHEN YOU READ THIS (BRONSON, LIAM AND KIKIT CURRENTLY)
PROLOGUE
The unlit building complex hugs the ground, silhouetted against the last light of dusk. Several long grey clouds hang overhead. Silent sentinels hovering over a foreboding site. Like an iceberg, its unassuming visage conceals the perils deep within its walls that could destroy societal norms and bring the world to its knees. Horizontal windows reinforce the linearity of the structure. It is just an anonymous location with no name and no clue of its true purpose. Taylor Scott, geneticist walks down the wide sanitized halls lit only by the dim lights that follow his motion down the hallway. His footsteps echo off the undecorated walls. The lighting is the result of the austerity measures instituted by the central government to reduce dependence on energy usage across the homeland. With no sun to energize the solar cells and dead calm stills the windmills, the facility is on battery power. Brushing against the potted plants generates small dust clouds revealing the cold attempt to bring warmness to the stark realities of the research facility isolated from the prying eyes of the populace. The plastic plants are as lifeless as the building and the hearts of those who commissioned its purpose. A significant facility obvious to everyone on the Midwest plains, but seemingly innocuous, it is overlooked by all, like some longstanding landmark that is of little interest or consequence to the passerby.
Still breathing heavy from his workout, Taylor is not the typical pale emaciated scientist one is used to seeing in the facility. Reaching his lab, he submits to a retinal scan, handprint, key and code challenges to his access to the lab. He enters and the bright surgical lights assault his eyes. He shields his eyes until they adjust to the harsh lighting. The equipment inside, advanced beyond any on the planet hums away driven by multiple super computers. However, that is not his focus tonight as he proceeds through the lab to a door labeled with nuclear and biohazard labels. Those warning signs did not reveal the whole truth about the dangers that are about to be revealed.
Taylor goes through the same security screen that confronted him at the entrance to the laboratory. The door locks retract with a cold, crisp click and the voice announces, “You have ten seconds to enter the bio-lock.” Entering and closing the door, he waits for the security system to acknowledge him. The security system scans his body and compares the information gathered to the information in the database. Anyone who may have defeated the numerous challenges to their entrance faces discovery and the wrath of the central security forces. The trespasser, never heard from again becomes just another missing person to those who knew them. The danger of intellectual property theft is an ever-present concern and this project presents its own special hazards.
Entering the maturation chamber where experiments grow and develop after the genetic engineering and incubation processes are completed, he stares into the open crib. Looking at the occupant, he ponders what went wrong. How could this have happened? All the prior experiments had worked out the problems and multiple successes had led him to believe that they are ready for the final iteration of the experiment. What would he do with the result? What would the result do to him?
As the creature looks back at him from the cage-like crib, studying his face its eyes open wide as if in recognition. Taylor scans the creature from head to toe. Already a week old and weighing one hundred and eighty pounds the creature’s head resembled the head of a bull, but had the snout and teeth of an omnivore that is more bear-like than bovine. Stretching from its nap, the creature revealed its muscular arms that ended with large hands that are feline-like with extra knuckles that retracted razor sharp claws. Devoid of fur, the fingertips looked like “Z’s” and the arrangement left the creature with very dexterous fingertips like a human. Scanning down he observed that its torso is very human, but its legs are bovine. The end of the creature is from the same species as the head. Ending with hoofs on its feet, the creature is a composite of several species. More than he intended.
Taylor wondered about the unexpected results from months of experimentation. What errors contaminated the AutoDNA instrumentation? Is it some sort of corruption? Is it software, hardware or something else? Did the nanotechnology not function as directed? What do you do with the results staring back at you from its bed?
The creature incredulously seems to smile at Taylor and utters the word, “daddy.”
Taylor looks on in shock. You can see the outside for yourself, but it is revealing what is inside.
Has man finally reached the summit of the tower of Babble described in the Bible? Has man finally answered the question God posed to Job about who is able to create? In his search to discover the mysteries of the universe and creation, has man achieved power that rivals what was at one time, only God’s? In reaching the pinnacle, has man opened the door to his own downfall? Is this the beginning of the end, or just the end of a terrifying beginning?
CHAPTER 1 - GOOD INTENTIONS
Taylor Scott, born into a world that while not yet here, is visible on the horizons of time. The government discovered his talents early. Cultivated by the so-called benevolent society, his talents and abilities are stellar. Encouraged to excel he did not disappoint his masters. Now, as lead scientist on the key agricultural engineering project of his time, he will transform the mechanisms and processes of growing and harvesting food for the Great Society and beyond. Through genetic engineering and mass replication of the results, this project stands on the precipice of fruition. Not through plant engineering, not through animal production, but through animal engineering that replaces mechanical methods with organic solutions for the betterment of a hungry world.
The world’s condition had deteriorated over the years. A combination of overpopulation and diminishing resources caused fear and panic among the world’s populace. Overtaxed land and water resources become priceless. Economic turmoil howls outside everyone’s door. A concerned world is restless for answers and ready to take matters into their own hands. With the threat of famine, come the actions of desperation. History has shown that wars start over limited, precious resources and the war drums are beginning to beat. In order to prevent the coming conflagration, the haves are working to meet some of the basic needs of the have-nots, lest they seek to take it by force. This is not out of benevolence, but out of a desire for self-preservation. This option is less costly than war and favored by those in the developed world.
However, the harvesting of food sources has created a burden on the industrialized states. The consumption of hydrocarbon fuels threatens the longevity of even the vast resources in the world and remaining sources are expensive to exploit. Depletion of water aquifers and lakes resulted in the creation of desalination plants and a network of pumping stations to distribute the precious resource. However, these solutions came with a great cost. The last gasp of a hungry world is absolute anarchy that will not solve the problems, but only exacerbate them. Leader Burnsom had created a society that is used to a world with little tragedy or disaster. His life in politics began at the state level and quickly he became a national figure. A striking character of great enthusiasm and greater plans, he looked and played the part of benevolent leader to the people. His greying temples and patrician good looks enhanced his authoritative presence. Stern without being oppressive, calming without seeming p
Sitting in his office, Taylor stares out the large picture window looks out over the waving crops growing in the fields with the rural farm workers apartment complex just beyond it and he pondered the long road that had led him to this day. His presentation before the central authority bureaucrats that controlled all businesses would set in motion the project of a lifetime. The culmination of all he worked for all his life. He thought of his time at the university getting double doctorate degrees in both electrical and genetic engineering and all the projects he had a hand in creating. Taylor thought of his time in the military as the lead on bioelectrical control systems for the military’s unmanned weapons that replaced implants with proximity and wearable controls. His office, filled with the memories of his experiences and artifacts of the last century. A time he thought was better in many ways to today. Modernist furnishing from a time gone by seemed a terminological oxymoron as he runs his hand across the back of his chair and for a moment, he loses his train of thought. Just occasional random musings that pop into one’s head at odd times in the course of reflecting on one’s past. Back to taking stock, he scans the pictures of the men and women he worked with on the military projects. They represented the experiences and friends he made in the many places he traveled to test the technology he developed. The bonds they formed defending themselves when the forward command center was in danger of capture by an enemy’s last best effort are still fresh in his mind after all these years. Saving lives with this technology is the reward and now he is going to make life better for many, if the project is a success. Pictures of his youth with his mother and father reminded him that he was lucky to be among the last not to spend most of his life in government learning institutions like most children today. He started later but excelled beyond his classmates. The central authority thought it best that children started learning early about how to be a good and productive citizen. Moms and dads worked their mandatory jobs for society. That left little time to bond as a family. He felt fortunate that he was born when he was and wondered if children today even knew what they are missing. Regaining his focus, he thought again, about how the project would benefit a world that desperately needed food to feed the hungry and prevent a war that might destroy everything. He just needed to convince the bureaucratic structure of its implications and chance of success. That would require he point out the benefits for each of them. Nothing was ever done out of pure benevolence with bureaucrats. It just did not work that way. By serving the greater purpose, it first had to serve their selfish desires.
The central government ran everything. Businesses are no longer private enterprises. For the good of all, Leader Burnsom decreed that if the government ran everything, the economic cycles of the past would remain a part of the past. The masses, insulated from the vicissitudes of employment, money, healthcare and other catastrophes felt comforted, but it took their freedom and choices away. Therefore, the latest crony of the bureaucrat up the food chain ran the businesses. You are lucky if they had a clue what was going on, other than how they could find the next step up the ladder of government overlordship they called success and the masses called maintained misery. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, slavery in Egypt seemed better than the unknowns waiting for them in the wilderness of life. Taylor had to be careful with those thoughts.
The intercom startles Taylor out of his musings. “They are ready for you sir.”
He briskly walks down the hall past the pictures of the past directors of the lab. They are a reminder of the fact that whether your projects are a success or failure, you would never be here long. He entered the lavishly furnished conference room. It greeted visitors with the best face the lab had to offer with cushioned high back chairs and a huge table constructed of the finest woods, forbidden to the masses but exploited by authority. It exuded warmth where the rest of the laboratory represented clinical asceticism. Real plants occupied this room. Devin Chambers, the laboratory director is making a few remarks. Devin, another government climber of dubious reputation and questionable intentions is tall, lean and highly-strung. He wore tailor-made suits, sported slick back jet-black hair, and smiled mostly at those he deemed important. A big wide cheesy grin that reminded one of the great chrome grilles cars had in the mid-twentieth century. Bureaucrats survived well when they exhibited the qualities of a good salesperson. Able to sell the sizzle of a frozen steak he managed to get what he wanted, but obsessed over the outcome he promised. After the obligatory greetings, Devin gives the floor over to Taylor.
Stepping to the head of the table, Taylor begins his presentation. “Ladies and gentlemen, I am excited to present to you Asterion, a project that will change everything.” Displaying the familiar DNA model on the screen he continues, “genetic engineering has always been plagued by the unintended characteristics introduced when engineering genes in the lab. Introduce a gene for one characteristic and additional, observable characteristics are in the result. Research has shown that sequencing alone is not the only factor at play here. There is a timing mechanism that turn attributes on and off. Some based upon proteins from other genes and environmental forces that are introduced into the gene group, but some of these processes still elude discovery”
A few yawns from the audience tell him he must move along quickly or lose them altogether. Jumping to the next slide, Taylor reveals to them the instrument that will change all the game. Taylor, points to the device, “The AutoDNA turns the process of splicing, timing and replication of the experiment into a consistent, repeatable process.” Revealing the instrument at least garners some attention from the assembled group. To them, a toy of sorts with dials and buttons that makes noises and blinks. Taylor observes their interest and knows the instrument is a shiny thing, capable of capturing their attention, like a fish drawn to a lure.
Taylor suppresses a smile. “The AutoDNA mimics the processes through different wavelengths of light, radiation and chemical processes and we can achieve greater precision in our results.”
One of the visitors interrupts, “So we could make designer pets! That would be very profitable.”
Taylor smiles, “Well, that could be a possibility, but one with unknown consequences if introduced into the pet world. Reproduction could result in unintended and uncontrollable results. We have a better use for this technology.”
An acerbic bureaucrat interrupts Taylor’s pitch in an attempt to appear concerned. “We see a lot of equipment with neat bells and whistles, what will this actually accomplish?”
“That’s not a bad question and the perfect opportunity to present the real purpose behind the project. The instrument is just a scientist’s toy without a real purpose. It makes possible a project of immense value to society that revolutionizes agricultural processes and further reduces our dependence on hydrocarbon-fueled machines to plant, nurture and harvest the food we desperately need. We can now engineer a creature that is smart and dexterous enough to perform many tasks and strong enough to take the place of the engines that drive the machines that prepare, plant, maintain and harvest crops of all kinds. This will also reduce our dependence on fossil and synthetic hydrocarbon based energy sources.”
For the first time Taylor has a wide-eyed attentive audience. Approval of this project would launch them up the government ladder like a rocket. With the prospect of answering two critical issues facing the populace as outlined by the Leader, they knew it would garner a lot of attention. Their consensus is that they must fund this project. It would have all the resources it needed to succeed in the shortest amount of time.
