Asterion

• Title Page
  
• PROLOGUE
  
• CHAPTER 1 - GOOD INTENTIONS
  
• CHAPTER 2 - BEGINNINGS
  
• CHAPTER 3 - BREACH
  
• CHAPTER 4 - GETTING TO KNOW YOU
  
• CHAPTER 5 - COWARDLY NEW WORLD
  
• CHAPTER 6 - SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY
  
• CHAPTER 7 - HEADLONG INTO THE UNKNOWN
  
• CHAPTER 8 - EXPERIMENT GONE WRONG
  
• CHAPTER 9 - PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
  
• CHAPTER 10 - WAITING
  
• CHAPTER 11 - NEAR MISS
  
• CHAPTER 12 - STATE OF THE MONOCRACY
  
• CHAPTER 13 - MISSING
  
• CHAPTER 14 - BIRTHDAY
  
• CHAPTER 15 - RELUCTANT FATHER
  
• CHAPTER 16 - VIEW FROM THE OUTSIDE
  
• CHAPTER 17 - REVELATIONS
  
• CHAPTER 18 - A DIFFERENT VIEW
  
• CHAPTER 19 - MEET AND GREET
  
• CHAPTER 20 - FAMILY REUNION
  
• CHAPTER 21 - CAUGHT
  
• CHAPTER 22 - ESCAPE AND EVASION
  
• CHAPTER 23 - CLOSE QUARTERS
  
• CHAPTER 24 - HEART OF A MOVEMENT
  
• CHAPTER 25 - GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS
  
• CHAPTER 26 - TIPPING POINT
  
• CHAPTER 27 - EXODUS
  
• CHAPTER 28 - RESCUE AND RETREAT
  
• CHAPTER 29 - ON THE ATTACK
  
• CHAPTER 30 - FINAL PREPARATION
  
• CHAPTER 31 - TOE-TO-TOE
  
• CHAPTER 32 - LOSING GROUND
  
• CHAPTER 33 - APPLYING PRESSURE
  
• CHAPTER 34 - DECEPTIVE INTENTIONS
  
• CHAPTER 35 - ALL FALLS DOWN
  
• CHAPTER 36 - MAKE A BREAK FOR IT
  
• EPILOGUE
  

KENNETH MORVANT

Text copyright © 2013 Kenneth Morvant

All Rights Reserved

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TO SHARON, BRITNEY, TREVOR AND WHATEVER PETS ARE ALIVE WHEN YOU READ THIS (BRONSON, LIAM AND KIKIT CURRENTLY)

PROLOGUE

The unlit building complex hugs the ground, silhouetted against the last light of dusk. Several long grey clouds hang overhead. Silent sentinels hovering over a foreboding site. Like an iceberg, its unassuming visage conceals the perils deep within its walls that could destroy societal norms and bring the world to its knees. Horizontal windows reinforce the linearity of the structure. It is just an anonymous location with no name and no clue of its true purpose. Taylor Scott, geneticist walks down the wide sanitized halls lit only by the dim lights that follow his motion down the hallway. His footsteps echo off the undecorated walls. The lighting is the result of the austerity measures instituted by the central government to reduce dependence on energy usage across the homeland. With no sun to energize the solar cells and dead calm stills the windmills, the facility is on battery power. Brushing against the potted plants generates small dust clouds revealing the cold attempt to bring warmness to the stark realities of the research facility isolated from the prying eyes of the populace. The plastic plants are as lifeless as the building and the hearts of those who commissioned its purpose. A significant facility obvious to everyone on the Midwest plains, but seemingly innocuous, it is overlooked by all, like some long-standing landmark that is of little interest or consequence to the passerby.

Still breathing heavy from his workout, Taylor is not the typical pale emaciated scientist one is used to seeing in the facility. Reaching his lab, he submits to a retinal scan, handprint, key and code challenges to his access to the lab. He enters and the bright surgical lights assault his eyes. He shields his eyes until they adjust to the harsh lighting. The equipment inside, advanced beyond any on the planet hums away driven by multiple super computers. However, that is not his focus tonight as he proceeds through the lab to a door labeled with nuclear and biohazard labels. Those warning signs did not reveal the whole truth about the dangers that are about to be revealed.

Taylor goes through the same security screen that confronted him at the entrance to the laboratory. The door locks retract with a cold, crisp click and the voice announces, “You have ten seconds to enter the bio-lock.” Entering and closing the door, he waits for the security system to acknowledge him. The security system scans his body and compares the information gathered to the information in the database. Anyone who may have defeated the numerous challenges to their entrance faces discovery and the wrath of the central security forces. The trespasser, never heard from again becomes just another missing person to those who knew them. The danger of intellectual property theft is an ever-present concern and this project presents its own special hazards.

Entering the maturation chamber where experiments grow and develop after the genetic engineering and incubation processes are completed, he stares into the open crib. Looking at the occupant, he ponders what went wrong. How could this have happened? All the prior experiments had worked out the problems and multiple successes had led him to believe that they are ready for the final iteration of the experiment. What would he do with the result? What would the result do to him?

As the creature looks back at him from the cage-like crib, studying his face its eyes open wide as if in recognition. Taylor scans the creature from head to toe. Already a week old and weighing one hundred and eighty pounds the creature’s head resembled the head of a bull, but had the snout and teeth of an omnivore that is more bear-like than bovine. Stretching from its nap, the creature revealed its muscular arms that ended with large hands that are feline-like with extra knuckles that retracted razor sharp claws. Devoid of fur, the fingertips looked like “Z’s” and the arrangement left the creature with very dexterous fingertips like a human. Scanning down he observed that its torso is very human, but its legs are bovine. The end of the creature is from the same species as the head. Ending with hoofs on its feet, the creature is a composite of several species. More than he intended.

Taylor wondered about the unexpected results from months of experimentation. What errors contaminated the AutoDNA instrumentation? Is it some sort of corruption? Is it software, hardware or something else? Did the nanotechnology not function as directed? What do you do with the results staring back at you from its bed?

The creature incredulously seems to smile at Taylor and utters the word, “daddy.”

Taylor looks on in shock. You can see the outside for yourself, but it is revealing what is inside.

Has man finally reached the summit of the tower of Babble described in the Bible? Has man finally answered the question God posed to Job about who is able to create? In his search to discover the mysteries of the universe and creation, has man achieved power that rivals what was at one time, only God’s? In reaching the pinnacle, has man opened the door to his own downfall? Is this the beginning of the end, or just the end of a terrifying beginning?

CHAPTER 1 - GOOD INTENTIONS

Taylor Scott, born into a world that while not yet here, is visible on the horizons of time. The government discovered his talents early. Cultivated by the so-called benevolent society, his talents and abilities are stellar. Encouraged to excel he did not disappoint his masters. Now, as lead scientist on the key agricultural engineering project of his time, he will transform the mechanisms and processes of growing and harvesting food for the Great Society and beyond. Through genetic engineering and mass replication of the results, this project stands on the precipice of fruition. Not through plant engineering, not through animal production, but through animal engineering that replaces mechanical methods with organic solutions for the betterment of a hungry world.

The world’s condition had deteriorated over the years. A combination of overpopulation and diminishing resources caused fear and panic among the world’s populace. Overtaxed land and water resources become priceless. Economic turmoil howls outside everyone’s door. A concerned world is restless for answers and ready to take matters into their own hands. With the threat of famine, come the actions of desperation. History has shown that wars start over limited, precious resources and the war drums are beginning to beat. In order to prevent the coming conflagration, the haves are working to meet some of the basic needs of the have-nots, lest they seek to take it by force. This is not out of benevolence, but out of a desire for self-preservation. This option is less costly than war and favored by those in the developed world.

However, the harvesting of food sources has created a burden on the industrialized states. The consumption of hydrocarbon fuels threatens the longevity of even the vast resources in the world and remaining sources are expensive to exploit. Depletion of water aquifers and lakes resulted in the creation of desalination plants and a network of pumping stations to distribute the precious resource. However, these solutions came with a great cost. The last gasp of a hungry world is absolute anarchy that will not solve the problems, but only exacerbate them. Leader Burnsom had created a society that is used to a world with little tragedy or disaster. His life in politics began at the state level and quickly he became a national figure. A striking character of great enthusiasm and greater plans, he looked and played the part of benevolent leader to the people. His greying temples and patrician good looks enhanced his authoritative presence. Stern without being oppressive, calming without seeming patronizing, people are drawn to him like a moth to a fire and for some the results are the same. The populace is worried about anything that would upset what everyone facetiously called paradise because of sporadic shortages and rationing. Burnsom turned to science to solve the problem quickly, before the world falls apart.

Sitting in his office, Taylor stares out the large picture window looks out over the waving crops growing in the fields with the rural farm workers apartment complex just beyond it and he pondered the long road that had led him to this day. His presentation before the central authority bureaucrats that controlled all businesses would set in motion the project of a lifetime. The culmination of all he worked for all his life. He thought of his time at the university getting double doctorate degrees in both electrical and genetic engineering and all the projects he had a hand in creating. Taylor thought of his time in the military as the lead on bioelectrical control systems for the military’s unmanned weapons that replaced implants with proximity and wearable controls. His office, filled with the memories of his experiences and artifacts of the last century. A time he thought was better in many ways to today. Modernist furnishing from a time gone by seemed a terminological oxymoron as he runs his hand across the back of his chair and for a moment, he loses his train of thought. Just occasional random musings that pop into one’s head at odd times in the course of reflecting on one’s past. Back to taking stock, he scans the pictures of the men and women he worked with on the military projects. They represented the experiences and friends he made in the many places he traveled to test the technology he developed. The bonds they formed defending themselves when the forward command center was in danger of capture by an enemy’s last best effort are still fresh in his mind after all these years. Saving lives with this technology is the reward and now he is going to make life better for many, if the project is a success. Pictures of his youth with his mother and father reminded him that he was lucky to be among the last not to spend most of his life in government learning institutions like most children today. He started later but excelled beyond his classmates. The central authority thought it best that children started learning early about how to be a good and productive citizen. Moms and dads worked their mandatory jobs for society. That left little time to bond as a family. He felt fortunate that he was born when he was and wondered if children today even knew what they are missing. Regaining his focus, he thought again, about how the project would benefit a world that desperately needed food to feed the hungry and prevent a war that might destroy everything. He just needed to convince the bureaucratic structure of its implications and chance of success. That would require he point out the benefits for each of them. Nothing was ever done out of pure benevolence with bureaucrats. It just did not work that way. By serving the greater purpose, it first had to serve their selfish desires.