TAI — Fall 23, Sector Annum 102, 13h45 —
I rest my head in my palm and try not to nod off as the afternoon sun crawls across my desk. At the center of the classroom, Professor Hawthorne spins a 3D hologram demonstrating how a genome folds and wraps to form a chromosome. I’ve seen it a hundred times.
“Artificial DNA synthesis, such as that used to create the seeds upon which the Sector depends for agriculture, has been in existence for some time. Recently, however, I’ve begun to investigate some of the potential data storage properties of artificial DNA. As you well know, DNA is the most powerful and compact form of data storage in existence….” I look around at my fellow students, who are staring, enraptured, at Hawthorne, scribbling feverishly on their desk screens. I bask in my ability to tune out this entire lecture. They’re not all like that—sometimes I’m the one frantically scribbling, trying to keep up with Hawthorne’s frenetic lecture pace. But protein folding is my mom’s area of research, and I’ve practically grown up on it.
I rub my eyes and shift in my seat. It’s warm in here, and I’m waging war with my eyelids, trying to keep them at half-mast. I’m about to fall asleep when I notice a red light blinks in the corner of my tablet. Hoping Hawthorne won’t notice my distraction, I tap my finger lightly against the plasma screen where the red dot is pulsating. A few scrawled lines pop up:
Hey, pretty lady. Still breathing? I’ve practically lost my pulse. Dinner tonight? Assuming we both survive this lecture, that is. – E
I fight the grin that threatens to overrun my whole face and instead swivel in my chair so I can see Elijah Tawfiq, Hawthorne’s research assistant, out of the corner of my eye. Sitting at the back of the room, he’s doing a good job of pretending to pay attention. I shoot him a sly smile in response, and he flashes me that crooked grin of his that always sends a delicious pulse of warmth through me, triggering a swarm of butterflies that begin flapping their anxious, happy little wings in my belly. His dark brown eyes are set deeply into his olive-toned face, and his lashes are so long they almost look like feathers. He runs his hand casually through his thick, brown hair as he leans back, stretching, arms above his head. I turn back to my desk in an effort to suppress the temptation to jump him here and now. I jot off a quick reply.
Passing messages in class? Why, Eli! I would have thought better of the Sector’s most promising young scientist. – Tai
After weeks of flirting, Eli and I have been “officially” dating for almost a months now, but I still haven’t gotten over the thrill of seeing that insane smile aimed at me, the eagerness in his voice and step when he’s headed my way, and the magically soft kisses he presses into my skin as often as he possibly can. I’ve never been in love before, but I’m sure this is what it feels like. Filled up to overflowing, giddy. Ridiculous. I want to spend every passing moment together—and even that probably wouldn’t be enough.
The red dot blinks again in the corner, and I bring up his message.
I’ll pick you up at seven.
I can’t help but grin outright this time, and I hide my smile behind my hand. What a cocky bastard. He didn’t even wait for me to say yes. Of course, it’s not like I would turn him down. Still, this time I don’t turn around. I’m afraid I might actually giggle, and I don’t think Hawthorne would appreciate that.
Reflecting happily on the possibilities for the evening, I doodle on my screen, drawing stupid hearts like a little girl. Like Remy does when she’s daydreaming about Vale.
“By imposing a simple coding sequence—bits of data for base pairs, for example—it would be theoretically possible to use synthetic DNA to store enormous quantities of data. We could insert the entire population database for the Okarian Sector into less than a gram of artificially-synthesized DNA.” I roll my eyes—I’ve heard this excited speech ten times already from Eli. I zone out again and return to doodling.
Behind me, I hear Eli’s chair scraping as he gets up, probably to escape the boredom of this lecture. He knows this material backward and forward—after all, he’s two years ahead of me, and has been working as a research assistant with Hawthorne for the last year and a half. With any luck, soon I’ll be done with my introductory classes at the SRI and I’ll be able to devote my time to research as well. I contemplate following Eli out, ditching the lecture for a quick make-out session in the bathroom, but I realize that would look way too suspicious. So I sigh and turn back to the discussion of artificial base pairs and drift off into thoughts of our dinner date and the possibilities that await after.
A minute later, I hear footsteps out in the hallway and wonder if Eli is back already. Instead of his charming smile, though, the man standing at the entrance to the classroom is wearing an all-black uniform with a mask covering his face. The military-grade Bolt he has tucked into his shoulder, aimed right at Hawthorne’s head, tells me something is drastically, utterly, horribly wrong. For a half-heartbeat, a split second, the room seems to hold its breath as all eyes shift, afraid, to the man in black. There is a soundless flash of blue as the man pulls the trigger.
Then Hawthorne’s head disintegrates.
For another half-second, the world is still and frozen, as Hawthorne’s mutilated body drops, like a crumbling pillar, to the floor.
Panic consumes the room. Without thinking, I drop to the floor and curl up under my desk. Adrenalin surges through my body. Adrenalin, also known as epinephrine, is a catecholamine. By binding to adrenergic receptors, adrenaline stimulates glycogenolycic reaction in the liver … From my vantage point on the floor I peer up through the desks, see the man take aim at a student, fire. She drops to the floor, her eyes shuddering cold, her chest a mess of blood, organ tissue, bone. Two more blue flashes; two more students fall.
Is there an escape? Is there any way to stay alive? I look around for an out, but all I see is chaos. One of the students, Matthew, lunges at the man in black. In exchange he gets a knife in his back. He staggers, spits up blood. I squeeze my eyes shut and fight back tears, clinging to my desk, hoping against all hope to avoid detection.
In a matter of seconds, silence reigns. Sobs catch in my throat and I can no longer contain them as I look around at the lifeless bodies of those who were, moments before, classmates and friends. Cellular death and decomposition begins moments after the heart stops beating. After a minute of oxygen deprivation, brain damage begins. Life, beyond three minutes of oxygen deprivation, is irretrievable.
Every sound in the room seems amplified to ten times normal volume and I can hear the man’s breath echo as though in a cavern. The whole world must surely be able to hear my heartbeat. Everything slows to a murmur, a crawl, as I watch the man’s boots clunk, clunk in my direction. I shiver violently and look around for something, anything with which to fight him. There is nothing. Elijah, where are you? I want to scream, cry out for him, yet at the same time I hope he’s somewhere safe and that he will escape my fate.
The man crouches down to look at me and I stare my death in the eyes. I try to control my breathing, to choke back my sobs, and I wheeze with the effort of holding them in my chest. I dash my tears away on my shirtsleeves. I will be brave. Bravery is nothing more than a part of a threatened animal’s defensive reaction, consistent with the release of a combination of dopamine, adrenaline and oxytocin. The man reaches a hand up to pull his mask away from his face, revealing bloodshot eyes and a thin mouth, lips pressed together as he contemplates his prey. Then he turns his face slightly to the side and his eyes widen, his lips pull back in a maniacal grin.
“Come on now, don’t cry. You don’t want your family to remember you this way. Give them a smile for when they find you, hmm? Gimme a smile, will you?” He pulls his still-bloody knife from his belt and waves it in front of my face. As the blade grazes my chin I cringe and pull away. I squeeze my eyes shut to force his image out of my mind. I think instead of my parent’s faces—I love you, Mom & Dad. I’m sorry I didn’t get to tell you one last time. I think of Remy and her dreams of being an artist. You’re my best friend, Remy. Please be okay. Please be okay.
I taste the salt on my lips as tears roll down my cheeks. I take a shallow breath and whisper, “Just do it, you fucker. Just do it.”
His clothes rustle. His breathing is calm. Everything is quiet. I squeeze my eyes shut tighter, as though maybe they will shield me from his weapons, from this certain death. I love you, Eli.
As the brain experiences death and begins to shut down, dimethyltryptamine is synthesized in the pineal gland, triggering psychedelic experiences that often resemble visions of the afterlife. My eyes are closed and I’m enveloped in black, but somehow everything slowly fades to white—a bright, intensely brilliant light lingers and pools behind my eyes, spreading like ink soaking into cloth, staining, obliterating everything, every memory, emotion, and image until nothing remains.
End of Prologue. Did you like this chapter? If so, please share it with your friends, or write a review in the comments. Thank you!