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Unforgotten(99)



I cross my arms over my chest. “How does this explain why Trestin was in 2013?”

Maxxer nods anxiously. “I’m getting there.” She takes another breath. “This kind of manipulation has been happening since the early twenty-first century and it will go on for decades to come. But in about seventy-five years, there will be a small uprising among U.S. citizens. A naturalist movement, if you will. People who will, more or less, recognize what’s going on and will blame the government for it. Of course the government is a mere pawn in the Providence’s game. In reality, it’s powerless. The plot to use vaccines and the pharmaceutical companies as a way to keep tabs on people will be, for the most part, exposed and therefore no longer effective. And that’s when the Providence will turn to an even scarier method of grasping control. A method they’ve actually been planning for decades. In fact, the origins of it are being developed right now.” She jabs her finger toward the window three times, in syncopation with each of her next three words: “Right. Out. There.”

She shifts in her chair. “But the plan will not actually be put into effect until the year 2109. And that’s when the Providence will buy into a very small but very promising biotechnology start-up company.”

“Diotech,” I whisper.

“Exactly,” she replies. “Diotech will receive an insane amount of funding, be moved to a remote desert location, clearance and security measures will be maximized, and the most important research project in the Providence’s history will be initiated.” She looks pointedly at me.

A cold and hopeless gust of invisible wind blows over me.

“The one that created me.”

“Yes,” she states. “It will be called the Genesis Project. And it will be used to create the most perfect sequence of human DNA in existence.”

“But why?” I ask. “What do they hope to gain from creating me?”

“Aha,” Maxxer says. “That’s what I set out to discover. And fortunately, or unfortunately, I finally figured it out.”

I bite my lip in anticipation. This is what I’ve been waiting for. For I don’t know how long. The reason I’m here. The reason they made me.

“You,” Maxxer says, “and I imagine Kaelen as well, were intended to be used as promotional material.”

My brow furrows. “Promotional material?”

She nods. “For a series of genetic modifications that will be sold over-the-counter at virtually any store in the world. Perfection in a bottle. Do you want to be as beautiful or as handsome as this? We have a solution for that. Do you want to run fast, heal quickly, never wrinkle, outsmart everyone you know? We can do that, too.”

She watches my reaction carefully. “It’s a product line that plays to every human desire, every fear, every fragile ego. And everyone”—she pauses, allowing her next three words time to sink in—“will want it.”

“But just like the vaccine,” I deduce, “there will be something else in it.”

She smiles warmly at me. “Exactly.”

I shudder. “What?”

“Essentially the same thing they did to you when you unknowingly attempted to kill me. Highly complex stimulated-response systems. Nanotechnology that will nest inside your brain, remain completely dormant, completely undetectable, until it’s ready to be activated.”

“But what will they use it to do?”

Maxxer’s face goes rigid. “Anything. They. Want.”

I swallow hard, imagining the implications. The horror of having billions of bombs walking around, unaware that any moment they could explode. Just like I did.

“Wars, mass suicides, assassinations, comatose states, purchases of new products, runs on the bank. The possibilities are endless. All they have to do is broadcast a signal and people will do the rest.” She dramatically mimes pressing something with her finger. “The entire human race controlled by the touch of a button.”

Then she leans forward, meets my gaze, and holds it tightly. “And it all starts … with you.”





55

CONTENDERS



Suddenly it’s as though the sedative is back in my bloodstream and every molecule of me is useless again. Lips won’t move. Tongue won’t speak. Eyes won’t close. Forcing me to stare, unblinkingly, at the woman sitting before me.

“The most brilliant part of the Providence’s plan,” Maxxer goes on, “is that they’re going to successfully make people want it. They won’t have to force the product on anyone. Once consumers see you, they’ll be lined up around the block, willing to pay for it. That’s why Alixter has been fighting so hard to get you back. You are a key ingredient to pulling off this plan.”