Priya and Warren walked down the street to go to get their favorite coffee drinks, avoiding the always-present protesters. A hole opened up in the clouds, casting a glow onto the trees lining the wet street. The winter rainy season was starting.
“I think they’re trying to get us together.” Priya said.
“Yeah, I noticed how they suddenly had things to do.” Warren said. “But I’m not ready for anything serious. Is something wrong with me?”
“No, I feel the same way. We’re 19 but I don’t feel a need to be with someone. I feel like when I was a kid. Know what I mean?”
“Same here,” Warren said. “I feel like I did when I was 12. I liked girls but I didn’t want to date them. I do like you though. I’m confused.”
“I think our genetics are beginning to have an effect on our physical development. I noticed that now Amy seems older than me and Sophie. She likes guys. Well, some guys. She’s picky. I talked to my mom about it. She said that we can’t compare ourselves to unmodified people our own age. We’re going to develop differently. Physically, everything is slowed down.”
They sat down in JavaNation and ordered their drinks. It was a quiet evening, though they could hear the protesters chanting something across the street. The chants were growing louder.
“Do you think we’ll live to be 300 years old?” Warren said.
“Mom thinks so. I’m starting to agree,” Priya said. “I feel like Amy and other unmodified people my age are maturing so quickly, and we’re being left behind.”
“Intellectually, we’re leaving them behind,” he said. “I feel out of sync with people. It’s getting more severe every day. I feel alone in a way. I mean, we have each other and the other 25,000 of us, but I feel alone in the world society. Soon there will be a million more of us born, but they may be different than us. Even a million is a drop in the bucket compared to over 9 billion humans on Earth today.”
Priya glanced out the window as people walked by, oblivious to the changes happening inside. She wondered how they could go about their lives, eyes down to the pavement and their devices.”
“I feel alone too,” she said. “Like we’ve been cut off and set afloat with no sail on an endless sea. We have no operator’s manual for us. There’s no guidance. I used to have an idea about how my life would turn out. I’d grow up, get married, have kids, raise them, have a career, be a grandma, and retire. Like what Mom wants. Live my 100 years and then, I’m out. Now I have no idea what to do.”
Warren took her hand across the table.
“We’ve got to stick together.”
Priya raised an eyebrow. Warren smiled and let go.
“I mean all of us. It seems quiet out there, but this won’t last long. I think we need to plan our next moves. I bet at this very moment, the government is devising some plan to eliminate us as a threat and sterilize us. At least we have the frozen eggs. And we all have samples at the bank.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” she said “I’m sure they’ll close all the holes we exploited. Last time I checked, the running polls show that 40% of US voters favor us being sterilized. The minute that goes back over 50%, the president will make her move. Do you think we’re a threat to the human species?”
Warren stared out the window at the protesters milling about on the other side of the street in the park. The crowd grew slightly bigger each day.
“Yeah, we’re a threat,” he thought silently. “I agree with Senator MacArthur. I don’t want to marry a human. Um, I mean an unmodified human.”
“A Freudian slip.” Priya thought back silently. “Are you saying we’re not human?”
“I don’t think we’re human anymore. Let’s face it. Few of us will marry regular humans. Once interbreeding stops between groups, a new species forms. It’s just a matter of time.”
Tears fell down Priya’s face.
“Don’t be sad Pree, this can be a good thing,” Warren thought.
“What’s good about this? The extinction of the human species? Or our species? This planet won’t be big enough for the two of us. You saw what they tried to do to us. They’ll try again. We have no choice but to fight or go extinct. No agreement we make with them will matter. They’re fighting for their own survival. That means they’ll do anything they feel is necessary to survive. Does that mean that we should do everything in our power to survive too?”
“It may come to that,” Warren thought. “Don’t look now, but people are watching us. I have a remote camera drone set up in the corner of the room. I can’t tell what they’re thinking, but I feel a lot of suspicion and anxiety in the room. Have you checked Twitter-chat lately?”
“No.”
“Everyone is talking extinction now. People aren’t stupid. They know we’re smarter. They know I’m worth $300 billion and many of us are on the way to hundreds of billions more. Your discoveries may revolutionize genetics and make you worth the $300 billion limit. We live in a knowledge-based economy. We’ll have the knowledge. Companies are nice to us now because we make them money, but we’re becoming competitors. Once we’re regarded as an economic threat, the war will begin. We’re getting close.”
“Okay then,” she thought. “We need to not be perceived as a threat.”
“We can do our best, but I think it’s too late. For now, I think we should do both. We should work on our image and defending ourselves.”
They finished their drinks and walked down the street, avoiding the stares of the protesters on the other side. A tomato barely missed hitting Priya in the legs, splatting on the pavement in front of her.
“Don’t react,” he thought. “Let’s just get out of here.”
The next day, Warren called a virtual meeting for all 25,000 to attend. He thought it best to not allow people to see them meeting in person. Paranoia was growing.
“Hi,” Warren thought to everyone. “I called this meeting to develop a plan for our survival. Public opinion towards us is worsening. We had a little sympathy when they tried to sterilize us, but now paranoia is sinking into the mind of the public. Their paranoia is founded. They know we’re smarter and longer lived. We’ll gradually take over business around the world. Companies want to hire us so we can make them money, but the people working in the companies don’t want us there. Many parents want Mod children, but society doesn’t want them. The problems are getting worse.”
“I’ve been listening to the president in her meeting with her cabinet this morning,” Raven thought to everyone. “My drones are in her office. They can’t detect the drones because I’m using empty packets on their secure Wi-Fi to transmit back to us via their own accounts. The drone shares bandwidth with authorized accounts. They’re determined to sterilize us. We have no choice but to fight for our survival. We need the public on our side.”
“I don’t know if that’s possible,” Pablo thought. “We have a great PR team and we’re still losing the public’s trust. Most people think we’re an eventual threat to the human species. The president must know that. The only way to avoid sterilization is to have a way to defend ourselves, like we had in the prison camp. That’s the only way they’ll listen.”
“Speaking of listening,” Raven said. “Listen to what the President is saying now.” Raven connected everyone to the streaming voice of the President’s meeting.
“We have no choice,” the President said. “It’s them or us. I vote for us. You’ve seen what they’re capable of. I have this budget office report in front of me indicating that the 25,000 of them own 3% of the total market capitalization of all world stocks. That rate is increasing. In a year, it will be 8%. In two years, it will be 16%. In three years, it will be 25%. I know we can’t extrapolate like that indefinitely, but the point is, this is a problem we can’t ignore any longer. They grossly outsmarted us when we had them at the camp. We had to let them go. Remember that old saying about not letting AI out of the Box? Well, we let the mods out of the Box. We can’t afford to do that again. We have no choice but to sterilize them and face whatever consequences come our way. It’s our only choice. As soon as we can neutralize some of their biggest threats, we’ll have no choice but to sterilize them after modifying the Human Species Preservation Act. Dismissed.”
There you have it,” Priya thought to everyone. “We also have no choice but to defend ourselves. Does anyone wish to submit to sterilization and a modification of the HSPA?”
Silence.
“Okay then, we need to expand our influence. I don’t want to develop weapons, but we need to defend ourselves. Our last defense won’t work anymore because we’ll be taken and sterilized no matter what we do.”
“We need to stay one step ahead of them,” Raven thought. “As long as they feel we’re a threat, they’ll keep working to reduce the threat. That will buy us time. I might as well announce now that I’ve managed to hack into my Omanji drone’s defense system, and I’ve replicated a primitive energy shield. It uses a lot of power but if my team can make improvements, we may be able to use it to avoid physical capture.”
“That’s great.” Priya thought. “There’s hope for us yet. I don’t want to get Bok involved in this. It’s our fight, but I will as a last resort. If we can understand and develop Omanji technology, we may survive.”
“My team is analyzing the Human Species Preservation Act,” Pablo thought. “We’re going to use it every chance we get and try to block amendments against us. They can’t legally take us until they modify the HSPA.”
“Good idea,” Priya thought. “In the meantime, we need to act as though we know nothing. We need to be invisible and not make waves for as long as possible. Eventually they’ll flush us out of the brush, and we’ll have no choice but to fight. The longer we can delay that moment, the better it is for us.”
“I’ll set up a charity trust,” Oyuun thought. “And I’ll drop the price of my energy to help the economy. Also, publicize my Proxima Centauri probe. We need to get people on our side.”
“The polls still show about 40% of US voters want us sterilized,” Priya thought. “And another 30% are undecided. All it takes is one bad story about us and it may go back to 60% and we’ll be sterilized. Remember, the president said that any species has a right to protect itself. They’ll try it again unless we’re not seen as a threat.”
“I guess it doesn’t matter if I find cures for cancer,” Ian thought.
“No,” Priya thought. “They would rather take their chances with cancer than let us take over.”
“What should we do?” Sophie thought. “We’re doomed if we continue on as we are. And we’re doomed if we fight back. The answer lies in the middle.”
“Yeah,” Priya thought. “It should be a mix of public outreach, helping the less fortunate, standing up for our rights, and being able to defend ourselves like we just did.”
They spent the rest of the day formulating a plan for their survival.