What do you mean, Mom?
I took part in the BioTech Corporation tests. My genetic code was changed.
Andrew could scarcely believe his ears. For several years, he had been searching for criminals using BioTech technologies while his mother had participated in the corporation program! That was impossible!
As if reading his thoughts, she whispered, I did it before I met your father. I was young and silly. They promised that when I got married and delivered a baby, it would be better fitted to life And they paid good money for that. The harm of BioTech products was not well known then. The Corporation boasted its charity. It helped orphans, built schools, hospitals I didnt know it would lead to problems or that GMO people would be shunned, marked as outcasts!
She stopped talking as she stared at the roses again. He was keeping silence, too, trying to digest the information. Nellie gave a deep sigh and continued even quieter so that he could barely make out the words with difficulty. Son, I am a GMO. A genetically modified organism. You are a GMO, too. Later on, I thought that Id made a mistake. So when your DNA was tested, I swapped the results. But now Im not sure that it was a mistake. It has kept you safe all these years as a policeman.
Barkov was shocked with her confession more than with the news about the next end of the world. He had always considered himself to be an ordinary guy a Normal. There seemed to be nothing special in his good reaction it was like an ability of other people to waggle their ears or to reach the tip of their nose with their tongue. Hed just been grateful to be fast enough to evade harm in a job that was dangerous every day. Hed thought it was luck and training, but now Is my mother a criminal?Does this mean I should not have children? That I cant work in the police? That Im a Deviant and a criminal myself? No! She has to be wrong.
Its not possible to swap the test results. Every lab has a protection system.
It was not so good then. I was lucky.
Why didnt you tell me before?
I wanted you to lead a normal life, not in a reservation for freaks. Will you forgive me?
Nellie looked at her son with pleading eyes. His heart withered.
Yes, she was a criminal. She delivered a son knowing about her genetic deviations. For that, she could be sentenced to 20-year imprisonment. And substitution of the test results could yield imprisonment for life.
I must not allow that.
Andrew embraced her, trying to look calm. Mom, dont worry. I dont blame you.
Thank God! Prison is not the worst thing. I was afraid that you wouldnt forgive me. Let others condemn me, but not you! Dont tell anybody anything, son. If the disaster doesnt happen, you can keep working in the police just as before.
Andrew still didnt believe in the near doomsday, but his career was already finished. How could he catch lawbreakers knowing that he was an offender himself? Its high time for me to change professions anyway. Suddenly a thought crossed his mind, even though it seemed far-fetched: Ill try to get a job as a singer at a restaurant!
Barkov had loved music from his childhood. He remembered from his mothers stories that he had inherited it from his father. George used to sing Russian folk songs often, especially in a local group that played at festivities. But that was just a hobby. Neither he nor his son had outstanding voice qualities.
Ill quit anyway. And Ill find another job.
At that moment, Barkov realized hed pronounced the last phrase too loudly. But it was too late.
Another job? Emily asked. So, am I right? Youve got modified genes?
Andrew turned to the girl. She was looking at him with a provocative smile, her head up. Of course, he was not obliged to answer her. She was under arrest and he was still a policeman. But what if Emily started to ask the same questions during the court proceedings? What if the judge scheduled an expert examination?
Its none of your business, he gave a brusque answer.
The smile disappeared from her face. Really? The charge against my father has been put forward based on your words. There are no more witnesses. Maybe it was not him who fired a shot at you from the grenade launcher but someone else who you failed to catch!
Nellie Barkov moaned in terror. Grenade launcher?
Emily continued. Our attorney will claim that you accused an innocent man! Your oath will be void because you are a GMO.
There was nothing to say against that. As soon as the court had the expert results, Andrew would turn from a policeman to a suspect himself and a criminal as well. Besides, expert examination of his mothers DNA would be scheduled for sure, which he could never allow.
What do you want? he asked gloomily.
You must free my father immediately, Emily answered quickly.
Thats impossible. Hes already at the pre-trial prison. I dont have a right to take him out of there.
To the devil with the right! You have speed!
Its easier to kill you, he growled. When theres no person, theres no problem.
The girl turned pale and stepped back.
Suddenly Andrew realized that her blackmail threat had really been a great risk on Emilys part. If he was a bad man at heart, he could send her into eternity without a second thought. It was a convenient moment; with so many people killed by the current disasters there would be no thorough investigation, if any at all.
Dont be scared, Im joking. Lets sit down and talk.
The girl headed to the sofa glancing at Andrew with caution.
Her footsteps made the floor shake. Barkov was surprised. She seemed to be a slender girl. How could she tramp like a hippopotamus?
She stopped. The floor began to shake even harder. Hollow rumbles came from everywhere. Finally Andrew guessed what was happening.
Earthquake! he exclaimed. Out, quickly!
Emily turned around and rushed to the door. Taking his mothers arm, Barkov followed the girl.
They crossed the front yard and stopped in the middle of the empty road. The rumble turned into a roar as though freight trains were coming from all quarters. Crowns of trees growing along the road were tossed about. Window glasses vibrated. A young woman holding the hands of two small kids ran out of the adjacent house. Some more people poured out of distant buildings.
Andrew felt the asphalt under his feet flex like an inflatable mattress and begin to wave. Womens and childrens screams supplemented with car alarms split the air.
A crack appeared in the road a few steps away. Snaking and widening, it spread to the house opposite his mothers. A fountain of water rushed out of the crack probably the pipeline laid along the road underground had broken.
All of that continued for a few seconds. Then the shaking and rattling stopped as suddenly as they had started. The crack stopped widening, but water kept gushing out of it flooding the road and the green lawn before the nearest house.
Barkov looked at Nellie and Emily. His mother was standing, her teeth clenched, and looking around while Emilys mouth was wide open.
He tugged at her arm. Stop shouting!
She closed her mouth and looked at Barkov in bewilderment as if he had just dropped from the moon. It became quieter at once. Gradually, neighbors yells subsided, too.
He tugged at her arm. Stop shouting!
She closed her mouth and looked at Barkov in bewilderment as if he had just dropped from the moon. It became quieter at once. Gradually, neighbors yells subsided, too.
Barkov looked over at his mothers house. It seemed to have no damages. There was not a single crack on the façade. That was luck!
Andrew knew from school that earthquakes could be caused by movement of tectonic plates at their joints or by eruption of volcanoes. But neither had ever happened in Miami. Why was it the case now?
Nellie Barkov answered his unvoiced question, If the Earth core has slowed down, and the crust continues to spin with its own speed, friction arises between them. That part of what President Cheng said was true. Ive worked as a land surveyor at construction sites and know about subsoil, and the geologic changes were seeing now are consistent with what Ive learned. Earthquakes will happen everywhere. Even where they have never been.
You see, I was right! Emily blurted out with untimely joy. The world is collapsing!
Andrew recognized her outburst hed seen it before in victims who are so traumatized that they laughed at something that had no humor.
Yes, Nellie confirmed. Most probably, yes.
Emily turned her attention to Nellie. Bring your son to reason then. Let him release my father! Dont you understand that otherwise Ill never see him again? Show compassion!
Nellie stared at the girl and replied after a pause, Im sorry that your father is an offender. Im sorry for you, too. And for all other people. However, most of all Im worried about my sons fate. Do you understand that, Emily?
The girl lowered her head and said in a dismal voice, Sure.
Nellie continued. Therefore, Im going to ask him to act not for you, your father or someone else but for himself, she turned her eyes to her son. Andrew, free her father, please!
Andrew thought he misheard her. What?
Nellie looked around her. Neighbors didnt pay any attention to them. The young womans children were crying and she was trying to calm them as she took them back to their house. The others were so far that they would not be able to catch her words.
His mother talked in a subdued voice looking him straight in the eye, Son, the situation couldnt be worse. The processes in the earths crust alone can kill the whole of humankind. Well also face problems with the air, oceans, solar radiation. We live on our planet like in a test tube, in very comfortable but delicate conditions. If theres a minor shake-up, our numbers up. If what Emily overheard is true, the government officials are trying to escape to a refuge. They wont let you or me in. But there is another way. Ive heard about her father. She cast a glance at Emily who was listening to her intently. Many years ago Housman worked at BioTech. He was a promising young scientist, wrote articles If you help him, he might help you. Tell your bosses that hes innocent!
What are you talking about, Mom? How could he help me?
Hell change your genome. Hell make you a superman.
Andrew laughed. Will he crossbreed me with a tarantula? Mom, its not time for jokes now!
She took his hand. Im serious. No crossbreeds thats too primitive. BioTech has been around for a long time, and underground laboratories exist, and they continue their work.
Andrew shook his head. Its not that simple to find them. You know quite well that a whole security department tries to find their location, but without much success.
Thats the point! Thats why you need Housman. He has relevant ties for sure, Nellie shot an inquiring glance at Emily. Doesnt he?
The girl nodded.
His mothers words boggled Andrews mind. They contradicted all his views of genetic engineering. This science was the cause of terrifying mutations that happened to people all over the world. It could lead humankind to destruction.
Mom, do you realize what you are saying? BioTech has already tried to create a superman. Dont you remember the results? Gills and chicken wings on newborns, wool at puberty, sterility in the second generation! Is that salvation?
They hurried too much at BioTech, Nellie objected. They needed profits. They committed a crime not by intention but by their experiments on people without calculating all the consequences. Hopefully science has made great advance since then. This is our only chance.
Yes, Emily interjected. They have continued their research, but slowly, carefully and made great strides. Im sure my father can help you. Help us all.
His mothers words seemed to be logical. Maybe Emily was right too, although he suspected shed say anything to be with her father again. Of course, it would be better to change than to die. But how real was the threat? President CHENG Wenming promised them all problems would be solved. Arrestee Emily Housman asserted that the President lied. Who to believe?
I must know exactly if the refuge for the government is being built. If yes, things are really in a bad way.
Mom, go back home, lock up and call me at once if a Cadillac with those guys shows up, okay?
Yes, my boy.
He kissed his mother and made for his vehicle. Emily, get in the car.
Where are we going?
Youll find out soon.
Chapter 5
There was more free space on Dixie Highway now. A portion of wrecked vehicles has been removed from the road, the rest stood on the right-hand shoulder. Driving at the maximum possible speed, Barkov passed the airplane crash location in just ten minutes. The fire had already been put out, but the plane hull and remains of the buildings it had struck were still smoking.
At the crossroads right after the metro station, he turned to Rickenbacker Causeway. To the right of the road, stood the stone fence of the Alice Wainwright Park; behind it stretched a solid wall of leaf-bearing trees. Residential skyscrapers dominated on the left. Ahead of them a bright shield with the inscription Welcome to Biscayne Key Island Paradise stood conspicuously on the green grass in front of the central mall.
Already to paradise? Isnt it too early? Emily said darkly.
Glancing at the rear-view mirror, Andrew realized that he had broken protocol by forgetting to raise the partition. But that was a mere trifle compared to what he was going to do on the island.
A smart aleck lives in this paradise. Its necessary that we convince him that we act on behalf of the World Government.
Why?
Hes able to procure any kind of information. If what you said about the asylum proves to be true, Ill try to help your father.
Hurrah! the girl yelled.
Giving a start of surprise, Andrew glanced at the mirror again. Emilys eyes were shining with joy.
This girl is very emotional. Its easier to understand such people, but its harder to control them.
They were approaching the Rickenbacker Causeway toll plaza. In fact, it was not one causeway but two, connected sequentially with bridges. The road led to a small island, Virginia Key. From there, one could get to Biscayne Key via another bridge.
No less than a hundred vehicles accumulated before the toll plaza. It had never happened within Andrews memory. It was not difficult to guess the reason. The automatic toll system was down because of the gravitation leap, so drivers had to pay the old-fashioned way with credit cards and cash. Andrew drove his car to booth number three between concrete guard rails as the queue was a bit smaller there.