Just doing my job

“Am I the only one who’s worried by this?” Ren asked for the tenth time as the small privet jet made it’s way southeast over central Asia, heading for the distant Himalayas, “We don’t even know who this guy is or who he works for!”

“Relax.” I smiled, reclining my seat as far back as it would go and closed my eyes; “Everything in under control…”

*********************************************************************

“Man, it’s cold enough to freeze the balls off a bullfrog!” Jackson protested, rubbing his arms as he stepped out of the plane and onto the windswept valley, “Where the hell are we anyway?”

“The arse-end of the world!” Ren protested, pulling her coat tighter, “Where are we meant to go anyway?” The valley was deserted, apart from a small hut set against a the hillside several hundred meters away, “The ball is in your court Nathan.”

“You know, I’m not sure if it’s the altitude, but I’m getting the funny feeling that you don’t trust me.” I looked at my three companions, “I know exactly were we are: we are in the safest place on the face of the planet.”

“Where?” Ren asked, rubbing her hands together to try and get them warm as we started to walk towards the hut.

“Tibet.” I smiled.

“You are joking?” Jackson stopped dead in his tracks, “We all know the Chinese didn’t leave here due to international pressure: word is there is a powerful and dangerous superhuman around here who told them to get out or else.”

“Yes, I know.” I nodded.

“People call her Kali, after the Hindu goddess of death!” Ren pointed out, “I’ve heard about her through the underground: they say she’s over 100-years old.”

“She’s 28, same as me.” I laughed, “But I’m sure she does her best to keep the roomers circulating.”

“I hear she’s capable of killing you with a single look.” Jackson was beginning to sound worried.

“Yeah, that’s true.” I nodded as we reached the hut.

“How do you know so much about her?” Artemus asked, picking up on what I had been saying.

“That would be telling.” I grinned like a Cheshire cat as I opened the hut door and started down the steps inside.

*********************************************************************

To say that the office was opulent was an understatement: it looked like it was lifted from the set of a Merchant Ivory production. A crimson red carpet covered the floor, leading all the way to the huge oak desk at the far end. Paintings covered the walls, and a series of back-projection screens had been set up to look like windows, offering realistic views of the valley outside.

I was probably the only one who noticed: the others had their eyes fixed on the young woman sitting behind the desk, her hands resting on its highly polished surface.

“Nathan, it’s been too long” She smiled, making the others flinch involuntarily, “Would you like a cup of tea?”

“Cheers luv.” I stood before her, calm as can be “I’ve not had a descent cuppa’ since Oz, and that was over a month ago.”

“Same old Nathan.” She walked around the desk, “You’ll never change.”

“Looks can be deceiving.” I put my arms around her; “It’s good to see you again Kay.”

“It’s good to be seen.” She returned the gesture, “Especially since I wasn’t invited to the wedding.”

“You know how Charlotte feels about our friendship.” I looked at her, “She’s always been threatened by it.”

“And if she knew the truth?” Kay asked.

“She’d have killed me.” I laughed.

“Um, excuse me.” Ren interrupted, “I take it you know each other?”

“Yeah, Kay and I go way back.” I put my arm around my friend; “She was at the academy the same time I was: she’s probably the best friend I’ve ever had.”

“Yeah, we go way back.” Kay smiled, slipping her arm round mine, “Come, I need to show you something.”

She led us through the same doors we had entered through and deeper into the mountainside. The décor changed from opulent to stark, the rich wall coverings giving way to bare concrete and florescent tubes.

“The Chinese army built this place to direct World War Three from.” Kay explained, “The Tibetan government gave it to me as thanks when I convinced the occupiers to leave. It is entirely self-contained, and is far enough off the beaten track that I can continue my work without unwanted interruptions.”

“And just what do you do?” Ren asked, sounding strangely hostile.

“I’m a biologist by training, and I specialise in genetics.” Key opened a door that led into an extensive laboratory, “I’ve been trying to find the gene that activates meta-human abilities, and why it has become active.”

“People have been trying to do that for decades.” Jackson shrugged, feeling a little out of place, “What makes your work so different?”

“Because I’ve cracked the secret.” Kay turned on a computer linked to a huge screen on one wall. She typed in a series of commands and a 3D representation of a strand of human DNA appeared, “Deoxyribonucleic acid, the very building blocks of life. This is my own DNA.” She hit a few more keys, and another Double Helix apperad next to it on the scren, “And the DHA of a normal human.” Arrows apperd next to the origonal image, pointing out several diferances, “On the right we have Homo Sapien, on the left, Homo Superior.” Key leaned back in her chair, “Welcome to the wonderful world of evolution.”

“You trying to say that we’re not human?” I asked, taken aback by what had just been said.

“Yes and no: you share 99.99% of the same DNA as a regular human.” Kay folded her arms; “It took me two years and a dozen supercomputers running in series across the globe to crack this: the emergence of a whole new species.”

“I’m having a hard time believing this.” Ren looked pale, “What does it all mean?”

“I’ll show you.” Kay typed in more commands, and the DNA strands disappeared to be replaced with a large grey circle, “This is a rough representation of humanity from the point of view of genetic diversity maybe 100-years ago: the people on the outer edges are more genetically diverse than those in the centre.” A keystroke and the image changed to show two overlapping circles, “This is a representation of the overlap between humanity and super-humanity: those people in the area where both circles overlap are capable of producing offspring with the genetic traits of both species. Sort of like a hybrid.” Another key stroke, and the two circles where separated, “But the genetic mutation that courses meta-human abilities will one day stabilise, and we will be left with two completely different and genetically incompatible species.”

“Welcome to the brave new world.” I muttered, “How long until this stabilization takes place?”

“That I can’t tell you.” Kay looked vexed, “There are too many factors to take into account: population density, the extent of mutation in each individual, environmental and social factors. Hell, even who you chose to have children with.”

“What will happen when the stabilization is complete?” Ren asked.

“War.” Artemus looked grim, “Survival of the fittest.”

“I am afraid that he is right.” Kay looked worried, “Every time you have two species in direct compaction, the one with the advantage wins, normally destroying the loser. And I think we can all agree that we all have advantages over the rest of humanity.”

“Is there any way to avoid this?” I asked, desperate to find a way out of the potential holocaust.

“Yes, and in a way, we’ve already taken the first steps.” Kay nodded, bring up a new file on her computer: an image of Mars appeared on the screen, “The only way to avoid the conflict is to separate humanity and super-humanity. The colony on Luna is a good first step, but we need to go further if it’s going to work.”

“You’re talking about terraforming an entire planet!” I sat down in a vacant chair, “The sort of power needed for that sort of project…”

“Would you rather see the death of six billion people?” Kay looked at me, “I may be known as ‘Kali the Destroyer’ in some circles, but I have no intention of seeing that.”

“This is just a little too much for me to take in right now.” I shook my head.

“I understand.” Kay stood, “I’ve had some rooms prepaired for you.”

*********************************************************************

“Do you trust Ren?” Kay asked me as we sat drinking tea.

“I have very little choice in the matter.” I admitted, “But I’d like to think of myself as a good judge of character.”

“Yes, but you have a blind spot for beautiful women: Charlotte being the main example.”

“Hey, I love her, even if things are getting a little out of hand…”

“I hear that she’s filed for divorce.”

“WHAT!” I dropped my teacup in surprise.

“Someone leaked to the press that you were on the run with Ren, and people started to say that the two of you were having an affair.” Kay shrugged, “We both know that she’s the jealous type: she wouldn’t let you invite me to your wedding because she suspected the truth about our relationship.”

“I don’t really think that one drunken night when we were 17 counts as an affair.” I sat back.

“What the hell?” Ren appeared from round the corner, “I knew there was something going on between the two of you!”

“I would hardly say that there was anything going on between the two of us.” Kay smiled serenely, “We had a few too many drinks one night after finishing some exams and started to play strip-chess.”

“Strip-chess?” Ren raised an eyebrow, looking at me intently, “And how do you play that?”

“Badly.” I winced, “We came up with it on the spot, if my rather hazy memory recalls correctly: every time you lose an piece on the bored you have to take off an item of clothing.”

“And neither of us are very good player when sober.” Kay laughed, “we kept drinking, and, well one thing led to another, and we ended up losing our virginity to each other. It wasn’t something that would have happened if we were sober, and neither of us wanted to risk our friendship by repeating it.”

“It’s just the way things happened.” I shrugged, feeling rather guilty now that the secret was out.

Ren looked like she was going to say something, but just turned around and walked off in a foul mood.

“I think I hurt her feelings.” Kay frowned, “Pity, I like her.”

“Ren is Ren: she’ll get over it.” I shrugged.

“She’s in love with you.”

“She’s in lust with me.”

“You have never been that good at reading people Nathan: that woman is deeply in love with you, and your apparent indifference is driving her mad.”

“I need to work out just how I feel about Charlotte before I contemplate how I feel for anyone else.”

“Don’t take too long.” Kay arched her fingers, “Who knows how long we have in this world…”

To Be Continued...