Perfectible Animals: A Post Apocalyptic Technothriller (EidoGenesis Book 1) (31 page)

“Now, my client here, understanding what is going on probably better than almost anybody else in the world, decided, along with a number of other scientists, to do something about this. They decided to genetically modify humans not to be smarter, or stronger, or better at sports as many other companies are doing, but to modify humanity to be more cooperative and empathetic and resistant to diseases. Does this sound like the work of an evil genius to you, ladies and gentlemen? Would any of you, upon meeting a person like this on the street, say “Oh my God, who in God’s name created this terrible abomination?” If you were to meet a person who no longer got sick from AIDS, or cancer, or the flu, or malaria, or HIV-4, or almost any other disease, would you want them destroyed?”

“Over the next few weeks, we will introduce a wide range of scientific experts who will back up almost every aspect of Michael’s world view, and we will prove how Michael’s plan, to create a more cooperative, more disease-resistant species, far from being part of a plan for world domination by a race of super-soldiers, is actually part of a very well thought-out scientific plan to save humanity from themselves and their very self-destructive habits, and to save what’s left of the rest of this planet at the same time. Now, if that sounds like a good idea to you — then watch out. The government will probably try to lock you up too.”

Some chuckles emanate from the jury and all of a sudden, far from living in fear as I have for last six months, my heart glimpses the tiniest possibility of hope.
 

“Now, the prosecution will try to convince you that everything Michael has been working on over the last ten years was guided by his over-riding desire to destroy humanity. Why, ladies and gentleman, would a man who wanted to destroy humanity, an extremely intelligent and capable man like Michael Khan, go about trying to destroy humanity by creating a cure for many known diseases? And why would he then try to bring up children from birth to use in fifteen or twenty years as biological agents? Wouldn’t a man with the skills and knowledge that Michael obviously possesses, find it far quicker and more economical to simply develop one or two highly contagious diseases and create a vaccine for those diseases that could easily be applied to a select group of “soldiers”, who Michael wished to keep alive, including, presumably, himself and his family members?”
 

We were warned before giving our case that any mention of the work I did for the military would land us all in prison without a trial. Barnaby wants to stretch that ruling as far as absolutely possible, but hopefully not to overstep it.
 

Barnaby continues: “It is my duty here to prove to you over the next few weeks that there are far easier ways to achieve what the government is accusing Michael of, and, that if someone like Michael wanted to do this, he could easily have done so in a much more efficient manner. Now, either Michael is stupid, which evidence will show he is clearly not, or he is not guilty of the crimes that he is being charged for.”

Barnaby goes on for another fifteen minutes, and by the time he’s finished Mr Brown’s brow is furrowed and he is whispering urgently to one of his assistants.
 

“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 many 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?”