NEXUS POINTS : Chapter 27-28

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Chapter 27

A spotlight appeared over Kora's forehead. There was a soothing quality to it. The light seemed to penetrate down to the very core of her being.

A sense of well-being washed over her. As she continued to bask in the light, she felt revitalized and energized, even euphoric. A low humming started at her navel. It gradually became louder and more intense. The vibration began to spread outward. Soon her whole body was humming. It was as if every molecule in every cell were infused with that vibration, becoming it. 

Kora had the feeling that her body was turning from a solid mass into vibrational energy, its density decreasing to the point that gravity had trouble holding it down. It was then she began to lift off of the seat surface she was lying on. 

Kora became vaguely aware of the gap that now existed between her and the seat of the transport. She looked down and saw that she was now floating in mid-air. Then, suddenly and without warning, the humming stopped. She fell back onto the cushioned surface of her seat. 

It was pitch dark inside the transport. Now fully awake, Kora climbed to the front of her transport. Sensing her movement, the instrument panel came to life. The clock read 01:09 a.m. She felt rested after the short nap. Thank heavens for auto-drive! 

Kora looked outside the transport. A full moon hung high in the sky, a giant silver disc with patches of grey blemishes. The crossways were deserted. Street lights zoomed by like tracers.

“How long until we reach the State Central Hospital?” Kora asked.

“We will reach the State Central Hospital in 54 minutes plus or minus 2 minutes,” the AI answered.

Kora stretched her limbs. What a dream that was, she thought, trying to remember the details. 

“That was not a dream,” a woman’s voice inside her said, startling her.

It was the same voice that she had been hearing for the past few weeks, only it wasn’t so small this time. She looked around to see if she was alone, feeling silly. She really needed to sleep more.

“I agree. You need to take better care of yourself,” said the voice.

Kora almost jumped out of her seat. 

“Oscar, is there a call in progress?” she asked.

“No, Kora. There is not,” Oscar answered.

“Are you streaming any live audio programming? In fact, any incoming signals at all?” 

“No, Kora. There is no incoming signal or streamed programming in progress.”

“I am in your head, Kora,” the voice said. 

Kora could hear the voice smile. “Who are you?”

“I suggest you don’t talk to me out loud or you may form a habit of it.”

“What?”

“I can read your thoughts before they are fully formed. There’s no need for you to repeat them. It’s quite annoying.”

“What? Who... who are you?” 

“I am your watcher, Kora. I’m here to ensure the fulfillment of your life plan. Just remember, don’t talk to me out loud when there are people around you.”

“What?” 

“I know you have questions. The answers will come soon enough. Right now we need to talk about your research.”

“My what?”

“Your research, the gene cascades.”

“How... how do you know about my research?”

“I know your thoughts. In fact, I know all of your thoughts, even those you have long forgotten. I am the consciousness that conceived you, Kora. I have been with you since the time you were in your mother’s womb. Whenever you feel a nudge or have an inspiration, that’s me prompting you. I have been silent all your life, observing, until recently. I am pure consciousness, and I am part of you…in a manner of speaking. Because pure consciousness is instantaneous, I know your thoughts the instant they’re formed.”

Kora was speechless. She sat in the dark, not knowing how to respond to what she’d just heard.

“That’s better,” the voice said.

She really can read my thoughts. 

“Yes, I really can. Now about your research, what do you plan to do?”

“I... I...” Kora tried to gather her wits. “I’m... I’m going to use...” 

This is crazy! Why am I talking to voices in my head about my research? 

The voice laughed. “Other than your misgiving about talking to the voices in your head, your plan appears to be sound – using the method Rene Bartlett gave you to look for the presence of the LYN120 gene cascade. What if you do find the cascade?”

Kora hadn’t gotten that far, but the question got her thinking. “I could trace the molecular pathways to see if I could short-circuit the process that leads to atrophy in the brain.”

“Good decision. You’re a talented geneticist, Kora. May I suggest you focus on the amygdala?”

“Uh... Okay... Thanks?”

“You’re welcome. Your research has far-reaching implications for the population of this planet. There are powerful people who would stop at nothing to keep you from finding a counter-measure to the genetic manipulations they have forced upon the populace.”

“Genetic manipulations? Why?”

“The limbic brain, particularly the amygdala, is the seat of emotions for your species, and emotions are the forces that drive human behavior.”

“These powerful people you refer to, do you mean Derin Serpius and whoever he may be working with?”

“Yes, Derin Serpius and the people who framed Dr. Yong Liu. There are also others. Speaking of Dr. Liu, I suggest you go pay him a visit.”

“Why? Did something happen to him?”

“He could help you with your research.”

Kora fell silent. “What... just happened when I was sleeping?”

“Do you mean the spontaneous levitation?”

“Yes...”

“Call it a side effect from your DNA activation. More of your codons have just been activated.” 

“The genetic panels Sage just ran on me…”

“The codons she found active in you are not junk. They never were. They just weren’t important for your species until now. Your body is changing.”

“In what ways?”

“That’s a different conversation for another time. Truthfully, I used the DNA activation to get your attention.”

You certainly succeeded, Kora thought.

“I thought I would.”

As strange as it seemed to her, Kora could actually see a smile from the voice. She frowned. 

How is that even possible? The thought brought another smile from the voice. 

“Why are you in my head?” Kora asked.

“I am never not in your head.”

Why does she give these evasive answers?

“Because you’re not asking the right questions.”

“What’s your name?”

“I have a spiritual name, but it’s closer to a harmonic frequency than a name. For now, you may call me Alina.”

Chapter 28

Like a fish writhing and gasping for air on dry land, the young man’s body twitched and shook violently. White foam oozed out of the corner of his mouth. His emotionless face combined with the involuntary movements of his body only made him appear more ghastly. 

Nolan Zod watched as the contorted body finally stopped moving. 

Derin turned off the handheld holo projector. “The subject was a 19 year-old sanitation worker. Aside from elevated levels of adrenaline and increased vital signs, he didn’t show any significant emotional response even with increased dosage of the trigger. We then decided to give him double the highest amount we’ve ever used on any subject. Unfortunately, what you just saw was the outcome.”

“How did he die?” Zod asked.

“Cardiac arrest.”

“I have to report this to Draco.”

“As you wish.”

Derin watched as Nolan opened the bottle of vintage Merlot on the dining table. It had likely cost the equivalent of a month’s rent on a decent-sized apartment in the inner rings, now that wine grapes could no longer be produced on a large scale. 

This was only the second time he had ever been invited to Zod’s home. He looked around the lavishly furnished condo. Zod’s wife had expensive taste. The walls were covered with a pale green fabric wallpaper embossed with a fleur-de-lis pattern. From the smell of it, the oversized dark brown sofas were made of real leather. The wooden coffee table appeared to be an antique. There was a freeform marble sculpture on the table. Underneath, a white fur rug sat atop bamboo flooring.

Zod handed Derin a half-filled crystal wine goblet. 

Zod swirled the wine in his own glass, holding the stem of the goblet. “Andre told me the field trial is going well. Yong Liu is responding to the trigger exactly as expected.” He raised the glass to his nose, then sniffed briefly. “We’re waiting to see how the final stages manifest themselves.”

Derin breathed an inward sigh of relief. The trigger is working in a live setting! 

He smiled at Zod. “I’m glad to hear that.”

Zod took a zip of his wine. “Excellent!”

Derin raised the goblet to his lips. The wine tasted just like the imitation mix he could buy at any store. Frankly, he couldn’t understand the fuss about vintage wine at all. 

Since it costs a fortune... “This wine is extraordinary!”

“I heard you found something interesting from Kora Amelli’s brain biopsy.” Zod asked casually, but there was nothing casual about the question since Derin hadn’t told anyone about the test results. The bastard had to be watching him somehow.

“Yes, I was getting to that.” Derin set his goblet down carefully on the coffee table. “I found a new allele in her OXTR gene.”

Zod’s expression became serious. “A new variant?”

“Without getting too technical, her OXTR gene is an allele but it’s not the same one we found in the other aberrations. I’m not sure how she’ll react to the trigger. Interestingly, her brain tissue does show the same degeneration as in all the other subjects we’ve tested so far.” 

Derin paused to gather his thoughts. He hated explaining his work to laymen like Nolan Zod. 

Ah well, I’ll have to explain this to Draco de Leon at some point. 

“What’s interesting to me is the activity in her pineal and pituitary glands. The UfScans showed they’re 30% larger than the expected size in a normal adult. I also saw some interesting neural pathways developing across the left and right hemispheres of her brain.”

Zod frowned. “Are you saying...”

“That’s what I thought initially, but no. I tested the tissue myself and the assay came back negative for the PLD645 mobile markers.” 

“If she’s not infected with the PLD cascade, then how do you explain the brain scans?”

“I’m not sure. We need her in our lab to run more tests. It could be that she’s an evolutionary anomaly. Or maybe...” Derin paused.

Zod raised his eyebrows. “Maybe?”

An idea struck Derin. He laced his fingers together. “Maybe she’s a new breed of human. Maybe all the aberrations are. Before any mass deployment of the trigger, we need to consider the possibility that there are more of them in the population than we previously thought.” 

“This is troubling. I’ll need to report this to Draco.”

Soon you won’t be able to shit without reporting to Draco de Leon first. 

Derin nodded to Zod in agreement. “Of course.”

“There’s...something else you should know.”

“What would that be?” Derin asked.

“Amelli is working with Sage Sandberg at SCH. They’ve been testing patients’ brain tissue for signs of degeneration. She also went to see Rene Bartlett.”

Now you tell me. Derin frowned. “Are you having her followed?”

“We’re using satellite to track her transport activities. She was at Bartlett’s lab in the desert all day yesterday.”

Derin suddenly became alarmed. That could only mean one thing: she was asking Bartlett about the FS experiments. This could come back to him. “We should be cautious about this,” he said.

“It’s too risky to take drastic measures right now.”

“I agree. What do you propose?”

“We need to find out what she knows. Andre’s working on it. Do you think Yong Liu might have tipped her off?”

Derin thought for a moment, “Possibly. From what I've seen, Yong hasn’t made a clear connection between the atrophy in the brain and the FS trials. I’m not worried about him. Either way, he won’t be a threat for much longer.” He picked up his wine glass, raising it to Zod.

- End of Chapter 28 -