“Warren, can you come over here and help us put this up?” Priya said.

“What crazy idea have you cooked up now?”

“It’s our sign. You know, ‘Genomaly.’ We’re officially in business starting today, so we should put our sign up.”

“I’m not sure, I’m busy and—”

Priya smiled at Sophie, who sat nearby.

“Get over here, now.”

Warren helped to put up the sign, right next to Ian’s lab, where he continued perfecting his strains of cancer destroying bacteria. Many of their friends rented spaces in the start-up factory building near the Stanford campus. Pablo worked out of his law offices there. Raven ran JavaNation from the office suites above the garage style warehouses below.

“What are you going to do now?” Warren said.

“It’s time to find the cause of autism,” Priya said. “It has something to do with dendrite formation combined with a virus. But I’m not sure.”

“We’re going to JavaNation to meet our first employees, Akna and Jamilla to plan our next move. Come along,” Sophie said.

They walked down University Avenue, past the increasingly vocal protesters who milled about on the sidewalk, yelling abuse at them. The protesters also focused their ranting on places like Twitter where the modified kids interacted with the real world.

They walked in, sat down with Akna and Jamilla and ordered their favorite drinks.

“It’s amazing to think you guys were in 10th grade and abducted only three years ago,” Akna said. “Now you have PhDs and are starting this company.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Priya said. “But my perception of time is skewed.”

“What do you mean?” Jamilla said.

“Time seems to stand still compared to how fast we progressed through school,” Priya said. “It’s flying by compared to how slowly we’re growing up. I mean, we’re 19 but we still feel 16 or younger, as though three years has passed in the blink of an eye. Based on the data we get from the social network, all of us are maturing slowly if at all Like we’re 12 in some ways. I guess this makes no sense. It’s hard to explain.”

“Speaking of maturing slowly, did you hear the first full term IVF baby with our genetics was born in China?” Warren said.

“No,” Priya said. “I remember the baby a year ago who was born 12 months after conception. That baby nearly died due to a low birth weight. I haven’t heard about the full-term birth.”

“The birth happened yesterday after 24 months gestation.” Warren said. “It’s a perfectly normal looking baby girl. Normal if it was born after 9 months gestation, that it.”

“This group of a million babies will be born and grow up differently than us,” Priya said.

“Everyone is talking about it today,” Jamilla said.

“They’re talking about that baby?” Priya said.

“Oh yeah, the story is everywhere,” Akna said. “People didn’t make a big deal about the premature births because somehow, those small babies weren’t a threat. Photos of this healthy and normal looking baby combined with a 24-month gestation period is making everyone freak out.”

“What are they saying online?” Priya said.

“Everything,” Akna replied. “People are talking about the mutant baby being born. Other derogatory terms include the usual stuff like freak, monster, alien, G-Mo, etc. On the other hand, some people are welcoming them into the world. Some people use the term ‘new species’ which is okay, right?”

“New species. Yeah. I guess this will be a lifelong battle,” Priya said. “Hi Raven. I hear you’re opening some new JavaNation cafes in other parts of the country. That’s great.”

“Thanks. This will make a total of 30 of them. I’ll have the money I need so I can focus on my new preoccupation.”

“What’s that?” Priya said.

“Someone in the Nevada desert discovered one of those Omanji hovering drones that had somehow become disabled. It’s a drone like the one that follows your mom and Mr. Roe of RoeBots. Anyway, I bought the drone from him for, well a lot of money. I’m going to examine the drone to find out if we can reproduce the design or learn from it. It’s the only one that’s ever been caught intact. That’s amazing because thousands of them are flying around. We’re starting a new company called OmaDrones.”

“I want in on the action.” Warren said.

“You’re mister moneybags,” Priya said. “What do you need with more money?”

Warren smiled.

“You’re a spicy one Pree. I don’t need the money personally, but I want to help all of us. Yes, $250 billion is a lot of money, but if the world turns against us, it’s nothing. We’ll need every cent.”

“Oh,” Priya said.

“He’s right,” Raven said. “I’ve been overhearing lots of conversations in my stores lately and there’s a lot of resentment and suspicion about us. There’s some support too.”

“But we don’t mean to harm anyone,” Priya said.

“Yeah, we want to live normal lives,” Sophie said.

“That may be true, but to the outside world, we have an intellectual advantage,” Warren said. “The world likes level playing fields with no advantage for any race, religion, or social group. We live in the era of everyone being equal.”

Priya glanced over at Akna and Jamilla.

“What do you guys think?”

“Well now that I know you Pree,” Jamilla said. “I think you’re a normal person with a good memory and a lot of drive. However, you do have a big advantage. I got a near perfect score on the SAT, and yet I could never go through four years of undergrad work in a year and breeze through and get my PHD the way you guys did, but you guys act as though you’re average.”

“Well, I think I’m average,” Priya said. “I know a friend back home named Amy. She helped us with our network and is going to Stanford in the fall. She’s the smartest person I know. She’s smarter than me.”

“Me too,” Sophie said. “She’s like you Jamilla, and you too Akna. Come to think of it, I think of you guys as being smarter than me. I’m not sure if I could have qualified to get into Stanford if I were not abducted by the Omanji. My IQ was 130 or something. Top 3%? That’s why I get upset whenever anyone shows me pity for being abducted and modified. The abduction terrified me, but the genetic modification was the best thing to ever happen to me.”

“Weren’t you scared?” Akna said.

“Yeah, I felt scared when they paralyzed me,” Sophie replied. “But I can’t imagine going back to the way I was before the abduction. I’m me now. I like who I am.”

“I guess that’s how life is,” Priya said. “I remember telling my brother I wanted to fix his autism. He got upset with me because he liked being who he was.”

“Okay, here’s a problem,” Warren said. “A few of us want to get married. Many of us are from cultures where you get married when you’re young. News about this got out and now some people are calling for the county of Santa Clara to refuse to issue them a marriage certificate.”

“Why do they refuse to do that?” Priya said.

“They claim only real humans can be married.”

“We’re not human?”

“Not according to them,” Warren said. “Pablo and his new law firm are working on it right now.”

“C’mon. They can’t be serious.”

“They’re serious Pree,” Warren said. “Their ultimate goal is to stop us from reproducing.”

“Really?” Priya said. “They’re that threatened by us?”

“Yes,” Warren said. “They’re calling us an existential threat to the human species because we’re not human. They’re citing existing laws banning the modification of the human genome for purposes beyond the curing of disease. Under these laws, we were created illegally by the Omanji.”

“I can’t believe this,” Sophie said.

“Believe it,” Warren said. “In sports you should take your opponent seriously. In tennis for example, if you sit back and admire your shot, you’ll end up with a mouth full of fuzz.”

“I thought we ended all this racist stuff a generation ago,” Priya said.

“Human nature is still unchanged,” Warren said. “A frightened or ignorant human is still the most dangerous animal on the planet.”

Okay,” Priya said. “Now I’m taking it seriously.”

“Good, you should be.”

“I want to focus on my genome project to find the cause of autism. We’re getting a data set tomorrow and we’re going to begin our genetic study of 5,000 autistic children. I hope we find something.”

Warren blinked to activate his eyepiece again.

“100 more babies with our DNA were born in the past hour. It’s happening. Everyone is talking about it.”

Warren spotted something out of the corner of his eye.

“Duck.”

The brick came crashing through the window and came to rest at Priya’s feet.

Priya picked it up and ran outside, chasing the car up the street. Everyone followed her outside as the car got stuck behind some other cars at a stop light. Priya caught up to the car and threw the brick through the car’s back window. A guy in the back seat leaned out and spit at her face. The light turned green, and the car sped off. Warren caught up to her and pulled her out of the street.

Priya screamed.

“Jerks. Why did they do that?”

He held her close.

“They’re afraid. They hate those who are different from themselves. C’mon, let’s go back inside and clean up the mess. Raven is on her way.”

She grabbed his hand tightly and held on as they walked back.

“Thanks Warren. I wanted to kick their— Raven you’re here. They did a lot of damage. I got their license plate with my eyepiece and stuck a tracking device on their car. Yeah, I had one handy. I got a few good photos. The police already know the address and they’re looking for them now. The address is out of state though.”

“Let’s clean up this mess,” Akna said.

After they cleaned it up, Warren walked Priya and Sophie back to the apartment. They said good night.

“Pree, you were holding hands on the street,” Sophie said. “You can’t ignore the facts anymore.”

“I was upset. He wanted to be nice. I’m not ready for a boyfriend.”

“You’re 19.”

“Yeah, but I feel 16 or maybe 13. It’s too soon for Warren too. And for you.”

“You like each other though.”

Priya smiled.

“Maybe a little.”

A few weeks later, Priya and Sophie stood in front of 25 employees in their new space in the startup factory building.

“Welcome everyone,” Priya said. “I’m excited. Genomaly is now a reality. Our first goal is to identify the causal links between 25,000 genome locations and parental exposures on our 5,000 autistic children. We need to interview the parents. Afterwards, we need to compare the DNA from our children to a control sample of 5,000 similar children’s DNA without autism. Then we need to devise genetic reprogramming corrections which can be done with a fertilized single cell zygote and possibly gene therapy. Here’s Sophie.”

Priya stepped to the side for Sophie to speak.

“Another one of our goals is to develop a new programming language which will allow an AI to modify DNA in the same way a programmer can modify the source code of an application. This isn’t new and DNA is not like programming language code, but you don’t have to be first to the market to succeed. We want to be able to program a cell via genome and epigenetic modifications. Here’s Warren.”

“I’m happy to be a part of Genomaly as an investor. The successful blending of discovery and genetic programming is our goal. We need to master genetics on all levels so we can control our future.”

They spoke for a while longer. It was the first of many weekly meetings. Soon they went to work. Priya, Sophie, and Warren met in Priya’s office.

“We’re going to need lawyers,” Priya said. “I’m getting inquiries asking about the nature of our business. When I tell them we’re doing research into genetic diseases, they don’t believe me. They mention conspiracy theories.”

“What are they saying?” Warren said.

“You name it, they’re saying it. We’re working for the Omanji to help them take over the world. We’re modifying ourselves so we can take over the world. We’re going to create new diseases which won’t affect us so we can take over the world. It’s always about us being evil and taking over the world. I want to find the causes of autism and other diseases. I want to improve the world.”

“Me too. I’ll talk things over with Pablo and his team,” Warren said. “I think every company we start will face problems like this. The leading coffee house is saying Raven and JavaNation are putting the equivalent of genetically engineered human catnip into the coffee drinks to get people addicted.”

“HumanNip.” Sophie said. “I love it.”

Warren smiled.

“Yeah. Ian’s new company is getting closer to a strain of bacteria that will destroy cancer cells and leave normal cells alone. They attach to magnetic nanoparticles so they can be extracted easily when the tumor is destroyed. People are saying Ian has a plan to infect humanity to destroy it. And Raven is getting threatening messages about her OmaDrones project and her self-replicating robots project.”

“It never ends. What else is happening?” Sophie said.

“Oyuun from Mongolia is starting a high energy physics company. He calls the company Emc2. He’s devised a way to create extremely hot temperatures and pressures to get a fusion reaction going. He gets much more energy out than he puts in. Though many have tried, this is the first time ever anyone reached this commercially viable level of net-positive energy production. He built a successful prototype. My point is the energy companies are trying to shut him down by saying nuclear fusion is dangerous. They’re winning the debate in the public eye with no scientific evidence to back them up. They’re comparing his reactor design to Chernobyl even though fusion is so different than traditional fission.”

“We all need lawyers against the ignorant,” Priya said.

“Yeah. Fortunately, Pablo’s team has over 300 lawyers now. They can handle anything.”

“That’s too many lawyers.” Sophie said. “That can’t be good for the planet.”

Pablo shook his finger and pointed at Sophie.

“Very funny. You’ll thank us someday.”

“You guys will find this interesting,” Warren said. “99% of us who recently graduated are now working in a company, still in school for other degrees, or in their own startup. Out of the 20,000 of us who came here for school, about 16,500 work here in the Bay Area, but some of us are still in every country.”

“I think everyone wants us,” Priya said. “At least the companies want us for the money.”

She looked into her eyepiece.

“On our social network, I’m reading lots of complaints about discomfort around coworkers. Nothing violent yet. They’re getting big salaries and good projects.”

They talked for a while longer and went back to work. At the end of the day, they ended up at JavaNation as usual.

“Hey Pree,” Sophie said. “I set a news filter on the word ‘species.’ I’m seeing a bunch of stories about the babies with our DNA. A well-known genetics expert did some analysis and is calling them a new human subspecies. She calls them Homo sapiens altasapiens. She also said we may be an entirely new species if we can’t or don’t want to interbreed with unmodified humans. Homo altasapiens.”

“That’s what Pablo predicted a while back,”

Sophie smiled.

“Even he can be right. They’re saying this is the first new subspecies of human since Homo sapiens sapiens replaced Homo sapiens neanderthalensis starting about 60,000 years ago and ending about 30,000 years ago. Or an entire new species.”

“Oh great, this is going to freak everyone out,” Priya said.

“What?” Akna said as she and Jamilla walked into the café.

“Oh, a genetics expert is saying the babies with our DNA represents a new human species.”

Silence.

“The genie is out of the bottle,” Jamilla said.

“Yeah, it’s out,” Priya said.

Akna looked into her eyepiece.

“The word ‘species’ is already trending on Twitter. And here’s a story which implies the old human species, us, is doomed to extinction.”

“Check out the comments under that story,” Jamilla said. “Some people are saying extinction can be avoided if they kill the babies now. One guy says the mutants should be sterilized. Others agree with him.”

“Well, how kind of him,” Priya said. “I’d like to take his-”

“Pree, that’s not going to solve the problem.” Sophie said.

“I know but I’d still like to, well never mind. Oh, hi Pablo. Have you been watching the latest events?”

“Yeah, and you know it’s the beginning. I’m glad many of us decided to practice law. We’re going to need all the legal help we can get. I mean, across the street more protesters are walking around with signs.”

Priya stood up and walked out the front door of the café. “I’m gonna give them a piece of my mind.”

“No.” Sophie said.

They followed Priya to the other side of the street. She walked up to the first protester. An older woman holding a big sign.

“Sterilize whom?” Priya said to the protester.

“Them. We need to sterilize the bloody mutants before they reproduce and take over the world. They’re a curse on this Earth. They’re not as God intended.”

“Oh? And how did God intend them to be?”

“You know, human. Like normal people. We don’t want thousands of Frankensteins running around.”

“You think they’re monsters?”

“Yeah. Weird implants are in their brains that can read your mind. Alien infectious microbes are in their blood. They’re already taking over the banking and financial system. They’ll take over the government. They want us to go the way of the Neanderthal.”

Priya glanced at Sophie, Warren, Akna and Jamilla in silence.

“Would you be able to identify a mutant if you saw one?” Priya said.

“Yes miss. They aren’t cute like you. They appear as normal humans, but they have a slightly different skin color to them, no matter what their race. they’re not attractive. Almost android. And they can read minds. I know there’s a bunch of them here in Palo Alto. We came here from across the country to chase them off the street. Join us and help us save the world.

She handed Priya a printed pamphlet and a similar notification instantly appeared in her eyepiece due to their proximity. Priya blocked the sender immediately.

“Okay, I’ll think about it. Good luck finding them,” Priya said as they turned and walked away.

 “I decided fighting them isn’t the best idea, but I wanted to punch her in the face. I’m surprised she didn’t recognize me since others have thrown tomatoes and bricks at me.”

“Yeah, I stood next to you to stop you in case there was trouble,” Warren said. “The last thing we need is bad publicity.”

“Thanks, Warren, for being supportive,” Priya said as she put her hand on his shoulder.

Sophie turned to Akna and Jamilla and smiled

They all giggled.

Priya thought silently to Sophie, “I heard that.”

“Oops.” Sophie thought back as she smiled.

“I think they’re communicating silently,” Akna whispered to Jamilla.

“I heard that too.” Priya said to them as she smiled. “Yes, we were.”

They walked back to their apartments and said good night. For the next few weeks, they worked hard and stayed out of sight. The protests continued to grow.

“Pree, come here,” Sophie said. “I think we found something.”

“What?”

“We still need to finish the parental interviews, but here’s a list of anomalies present in about 50 genome locations which seem to contribute to autism. One of the autism anomalies is like a modification the Omanji did to us that might give us a better memory. The more I learn, the more I respect the accomplishments of the Omanji. It’s hard enough to discover elementary things about our own DNA. They took discovery to new levels by learning our alien DNA and making perfect changes to all 25,000 of us taking account for epigenetic factors in only a few weeks. In each of 40 trillion cells.”

“I agree,” Priya said as they walked into the conference room with Akna and Jamilla. “This autistic modification does what?”

“I’m not sure, but it affects neural development. It’s not responsible for the second axon extending from each neuron, but it enhances dendrite connectivity, which is affected in autism. Now, here is something even more interesting. There’s a series of modifications nearby which might be responsible for the second axon.”

“Let’s work on that,” Priya said.

Sophie looked outside.

“Hey, what’s all the commotion going on in the parking lot?”

They walked downstairs.

“Ian, what’s all this about?” Priya said.

“We’re celebrating! The latest trial of our bacteria was a success. The cancer was completely removed in 95% of rats with no spread of the cancer or the bacteria to other parts of the body. The bacteria release an antitoxin at the end of their life, and they die. That’s how the infection self-terminates.”

“Congratulations Ian.” Priya said. “What happens now?”

“Human trials are next. In a few months we begin. The approval process should proceed much faster than a New Drug Application because it’s not a drug. It’s a therapy according to the new rules. I disagree but, in this case, it will help our cause.”

“Guys?” Sophie said. “I think we better take the celebration inside. Those protesters are coming across the street towards us.”

“Ouch.” Priya said as a tomato hit her in the leg. She moved towards the protester who threw it.

“Pree, don’t,” Sophie said. “Let’s go inside.”

They quickly packed up the picnic items and walked inside as quickly as they could. Tomatoes hit the windows as they watched from inside.

Warren ran up the stairs, taking two stairs at a time.

“I think we need to get out of this complex.”

“It’s okay, we’re safe in here and the police are on the way,” Ian said.

“No, I mean we need to move to a more secure location. Big companies have security, but we don’t. Those protesters are getting angry. We’re going to get hurt.”

Priya walked over to the window and looked outside.

“I think moving would be a show of weakness to them. Let’s take a stand right here. We can hire security guards and do other things to make things safer. Why is it that the jerks have all the rights and—”

A brick came crashing through the window. They ducked for cover under a desk. Warren covered Priya’s head with his jacket and held her.

“What do you think now Pree?” he said.

Priya tried to get up, but Warren held her down.

“I’m going to go kick their—”

“Anger does us no good,” Warren said as he continued to hold her.

“He’s right,” Sophie said. “We can’t retaliate. That will make things worse.”

Soon, the police arrived and forced the protesters across the street.

“You can let go of me now Warren,” Priya said with a smile.

“Oh, okay,” he said. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’m calm now.”

They gazed into each other’s eyes for a long moment. He let go.

Sophie smiled only to Priya.

“Sophie Shhhh,” Priya thought back to only Sophie.

“What are you guys saying?” Warren said. “I can tell you’re thinking to each other, but I don’t know what. I was disconnected.”

Priya gave Sophie a long look.

“Nothing,” Priya said. “Sophie’s being a pest as usual. Okay the police are here, let’s clean up this mess.”

They walked outside. A protester threw another tomato which missed Priya and hit a parked car.

“Officer, what can we do to protect ourselves?” Priya said.

“There’s not much we can do,” the officer replied. “We can get them for vandalism and make them pay damages if you can record them doing it, but that’s all. They can rightfully protest on the sidewalk.”

“They can protest even if they’re throwing bricks?”

“That might be considered assault if you can identify them and prove it in court. Otherwise, it’s vandalism. My advice is to stay inside, out of harm’s way.”

They walked inside.

“You’re right Warren,” Priya said. “Let’s move to a more secure location.”

“It will take a few months, but I think it’ll be worth it,” Warren said.