“It’s great to know our social network is back up and running,” Sophie said.

“Yeah. Now we need to ask everyone developmental questions,” Priya said. “Remember when my mom finally told me about how Amy is developing faster than us?”

“Yeah, I’ve been measuring myself ever since.”

“We only know of anecdotal evidence of our slow development. We should ask all 25,000 of us on the social network to input their current height and other vital statistics information. We can compare that information with their historical hospital records. For privacy, the results can be de-identified for HIPAA compliance.”

“Let’s do this now,” Sophie said.

After a few hours, they distributed a questionnaire and members entered their personal data.

A few hours after that, Pablo knocked on their door.

“Did you hear the news?”

“No, we’ve been studying so we disconnected,” Sophie said as Pablo walked in and paced back and forth. “You’re more hyper than normal, what’s wrong?”

“Several countries are considering banning the artificial creation of babies using DNA from modified humans. Also, protests are popping up everywhere to stop DNA modified babies in this country.”

“Well, I’m not surprised,” Priya said. “How many samples were used?”

Pablo blinked to activate his eyepiece. “Hmm, let’s see. Over a half million parents around the world ordered the procedure in the past week.”

“That’s a lot,” Sophie said. “Let’s calculate this. In the world during the past year, 300,000 babies were born on average each day. In the past week, around two million babies were born. Therefore, nine months from now, one quarter of all babies being born on a given day will have our DNA.”

“That’s astounding.” Pablo said. “I took your survey. Did the information people link the current data with past data to discern developmental trends?”

“Hmm, let me see,” Priya said. “Yes. Here are some early numbers.”

Silence.

“What?” Sophie said.

“Um. Well.”

“Priya, spit it out.”

“We’re not maturing Sophie, okay?

“What do you mean? We’re not growing?”

“We’re not developing physically, as in becoming adults. Get it?”

“Oh.”

“How tall were you last year?” Priya said.

“Exactly five foot four inches.”

“And what are you now?”

“Let me see, I haven’t measured myself in a year. We’ve been a little busy. Hmm. I’m still exactly five foot four inches and I weigh two pounds more than last year. According to this estimate, I should be over an inch taller and weigh eight pounds more. Well, that’s me. Maybe I’ve stopped growing naturally. I’m 17 now.”

“When I analyze the data, we’ve all stopped maturing,” Priya said. “Even the boys, who often grow until they’re 20 years old, have almost stopped growing. We’re growing at 10% the rate we should be for our age.

“What does that mean?” Pablo said.

“Well, Bok told my mom we might live to be over 300 years old. Our life lifespan might be stretched out. We’ll find out what happens to the babies who will be born in nine months.”

“That’s assuming gestation will be the usual nine months,” Sophie said. “We don’t know. If we’re developing slowly and our life span is long, gestation may be longer as well.”

“Good point,” Priya said. “We really are a new species.”

The stared at each other in silence.

Pablo glanced at the open door.

“Well, I think I’ll be go—”

“You can’t go now,” Priya said. “You’re a member of the new species too. Well, at least a new subspecies.”

“Yeah, watch out for those fuzzy species boundaries,” Sophie said. “I guess we’ll know when the first babies are born, or not born. If we can’t or don’t want to reproduce with humans, we’re a new species if you go with the classic definition of a higher-level species.”

“As a future lawyer, I think we better get our definitions straight,” Pablo said. “People are saying we’re not human. However, if we can interbreed and the offspring can too, then we’re at least a new subspecies of the human species. Modern humans are called, Homo sapiens subspecies sapiens. The Neanderthals were Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. Therefore, would we be Homo sapiens altasapiens?”

“For our sake, I hope we can interbreed,” Priya said. “Otherwise, when people say we’re not human, they’ll be right. With 25,000 in our age group, a few may get pregnant soon. We’ll be oppressed even worse than now.”

“That makes sense,” Sophie said. “However, they won’t be logical. They’ll say we’re not human regardless of whether we can interbreed or not.”

“Hey,” Priya said. “Do you notice we’ve stopped using our telepathy as much lately?”

Sophie silently thought to Priya, “We interact with humans so much, we’ve reverted back to our old way of talking.”

“You’re right,” Priya thought back. “I can still think to you perfectly well, but I’m talking out loud.”

“Me too,” Pablo thought back. Then, he spoke out loud. “But it’s best to speak audibly unless we need privacy. We need to act normal.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Sophie said out loud. “Okay we need to study now more than ever. The big tests are tomorrow.”

The tests came and went.

“I’m glad we studied, but those tests were still easy,” Priya said to Sophie as they walked out of their last class of the day.

“Yeah, I hoped. Oh, hi Pablo.”

“Hi guys, did you hear what’s happening?”

“What now?” Sophie said.

“An emergency vote in Congress took place while you were taking the tests. It will be illegal to artificially create babies from human DNA which has been genetically modified.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Priya said.

“I watched some video of evangelists testifying in front of Congress,” Pablo said. “They said the resulting babies would be demonic hybrids that are abominations of God just as their genetic parents are abominations.”

“I’m looking at the video now,” Priya said. “That’s disgusting. I like the part at the end where one guy says they should pray for the unfortunates who became mutants against their will. Only then will they find salvation in heaven.”

“I love it,” Sophie said. “So, in other words only humans with untouched DNA can go to heaven? I didn’t realize heaven has a DNA filter. I can imagine seeing a line of people on clouds entering heaven. One by one they go through the membrane like an Omanji sphere. Suddenly, one of us tries to go through, but we get our nose squashed because the heavenly membrane isn’t permeable for us.”

“Yeah, you walk up to the edge of heaven. Boink. Sorry but we don’t want your kind here,” Pablo said. “Please leave now before we call heavenly security. Well, animals aren’t supposed to go to heaven, so I guess they wouldn’t pass through the DNA filter either. Only unmodified humans can pass through into heaven because only unmodified humans are made in God’s likeness according to the Bible.”

They laughed, but only for a moment.

“What can we do about this?” Priya said. “People are afraid of us.”

“We need a public relations person,” Pablo said. “Most special interest groups and well-known people employ PR people. I’ll talk to Warren about this.”

“How many babies with our DNA will eventually be born in the world as of now?” Priya said.

“About 600,000 as of this morning,” Pablo replied. “Remember, even if most countries ban the procedure, other countries will permit it. I heard some people are planning on continuing to use the procedure underground if there’s still demand for modified babies. Some countries think it’s an advantage to have modified babies.”

Priya got an alert in her eyepiece.

“Hey guys guess what? I got an offer from Genentech for an apprenticeship.”

“Congratulations,” Pablo said.

“I’m not going to take it. I want to focus on getting my degrees so I can start my own genetics company with Sophie. We decided on a name, Genomaly, which is short for ‘genetic anomalies.’ We want to discover the causes of them.”

“Yeah,” Sophie said. “We figure we can get our BS in genetic engineering in a year and a PHD specialty in another year or two. Then they’ll take us seriously.”

“That’s a good plan,” Pablo said. “Okay, I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”

They walked back to their apartment and past an open door.

Priya peeked in and smiled.

“Ian, are you still working on your cure for cancer?”

“I sure am, check this out.”

They walked in. Test tubes were scattered around in his apartment. They saw Petri dishes, wires, and all sorts of things they had never seen before. Ian sat at a table looking at one Petri dish under a bright light.

Priya glanced at the dish Ian was examining.

“That looks weird. Two spots appear to be meat, but one has all this goop around the edge, and one is untouched.”

“Yes, the one with the goop is tissue from a malignant biopsy and the untouched one is from a non-malignant biopsy.”

“So why is the goop surrounding the malignant tissue?” Sophie said.

“Well, the goop is Streptococcus pyogenes, which is commonly called flesh eating bacteria,” Ian said.

The girls backed up a bit.

“Eeew. Isn’t that illegal?” Sophie said

“I’m not sure. It’s okay, the dishes are covered. They won’t jump out. I’ve been cultivating these bacteria the old-fashioned way with some special tricks for 940 generations, to attack malignant tissue and leave normal tissue alone. They don’t eat tissue; they release local toxins which lead to cell death. I don’t allow the bacteria which go after normal tissue, to survive into the next generation. Slowly but surely, I’m developing a type of bacteria which will only destroy malignant tissue. They would prefer to die than be near normal tissue. In this dish, a small percentage of bacteria go near normal tissue if they get hungry. There’s much work to be done, but I’m getting there. Afterwards, I need to develop an antitoxin to neutralize the toxins emitted by the bacteria.”

Priya smiled.

“Okay, besides making cures for cancers, what else are you doing?”

“Not much. I know I can’t be a slacker all my life. I’ll find something to do.”

They laughed as the girls cautiously backed out of Ian’s apartment.

“Yuck,” they both whispered as they giggled and walked back to their apartment.

They looked down towards the apartment pool and on the wall, they spotted a spray-painted message.

“MUTANTS GO HOME.”

They contacted the police. They took a report but couldn’t do anything about the harassment. Over the next week they created an apartment complex surveillance system with facial identity verification connected to the local police databases. John Roe donated a few surveillance and telepresence RoeBots to help out. They painted over the defaced wall until the message disappeared. They spent the rest of July installing the surveillance system in every building where the mods attended school.

“It seems much safer now,” Priya said as they walked out of their last class of the day and of the semester.

“Yeah, I’m glad we have supporters here in the Bay Area against the protests and the ignorance. Those protesters on the sidewalk have come from all over the country. Don’t they have anything better to do?”

“I wish they did. The crowd is getting bigger every day. I’m getting tired of being called a mutant. Hold on, I’m getting a notification. Mom.”

“Hi Pree, I’m coming to visit you,” Nisha said.

“That’s awesome. When are you coming?”

“A friend picked us up at the house and we’re heading there now. I know where you are from your signal. Stay there.”

“What do you mean by ‘we’, and who is this friend?”

“You’ll find out Pree. Stay where you are.”

They disconnected.

“What was that about?” Sophie said.

“I’m not sure,” Priya replied. “Mom said we’re supposed to stay right here”

A few minutes later.

“Pree, look up. It’s a racer.”

The sleek craft landed softly on the grass. An opening appeared on the side. Bok, Nisha, Quinn, Amy, and Sanjay exited the craft.

“What are you guys doing?” Priya said.

Nisha smiled.

“Oh, we were just in the neighborhood. Hop in, you guys.”

Priya glanced at Sophie in disbelief.

Sophie smiled.

“Um, well I can spare a few minutes. It’s Friday.”

Warren walked out of his last class of the day and spotted them on the lawn. He walked over to find out what happened.

“Hi guys. Is this a sky racer?”

“Yes,” Priya replied. “Mom, can Warren come along?”

“Sure. It’s nice to meet you, Warren.”

Soon they were all in and the racer lifted off. Warren couldn’t stop looking at Bok.

“Warren this is Bok,” Sophie said. He’s—”

“I know. He’s the rebel who founded the first new colony. Bok, I’m happy I get to meet you. I’ve read much about you.”

“And you still want to come along?” Bok replied in his translated voice.

“Good one Bok.” Nisha replied as she glanced at Warren.

She smiled at Warren.

“He’s trying to learn human humor,” she said.

Warren smiled too.

“Ah, I see. Yes, I still want to come along. This thing sure can accelerate.”

“Warren, Priya has told us about you,” Nisha said. “I’m glad you’re helping everyone out.”

“Well, I got a few lucky breaks in the financial markets, so now I have the resources to help us defend ourselves. Did you watch the protest down there? It’s getting bigger each day. Several religious groups are transporting in people to protest us mutants.”

“Yeah Mom, it’s getting bad. Where are we going?”

“We’re going to visit Yoova in the redwood forest. Their colony is close to being completed. She invited us to check it out. We don’t have much time today, but we’ll return soon for a longer stay.”

They watched in silence as the sky grew black at the edge of space.

“The stars are out in the daytime,” Warren said.

“Warren, Mom once drove this racer and landed in our back yard.”

“Really? Was it difficult to operate?”

“No, Bok gave me lessons. Later, Bok took me and Rachel to Tahiti for an afternoon.”

“You can get to Tahiti that quickly?” Warren said.

“Yes, I can travel to any point on this planet in less than two hours if I go slowly and let gravity do the work,” Bok replied. “Okay, we’re ready to descend. We traveled 300 miles.”

“I used to think of Palo Alto and the Bay Area as being in Northern California,” Priya said. “But it’s halfway between LA and the California redwoods. It’s in Central California.”

“I’m weightless but I’m being held back somehow,” Warren said.

“There’s an energy field restraining you and supporting you at the same time,” Nisha said. “It’s not artificial gravity. Okay here we are. Get ready for deceleration.”

“Whoa, I’m getting dizzy, Warren said.

A few minutes later, they landed in a grassy meadow next to a tall and elegant structure. Yoova came running out to Nisha as she exited the racer.

“I’m glad you could make it,” Yoova said via her translator as she reached out for Nisha’s hand. Nisha felt the warm flow of soft electricity rush through her.

They introduced each other and Yoova gave them a tour of her colony.

“We built 50 towers like this on our 10,000-acre property. 1,000 of us live in each tower. We made big towers because we wanted 99% of the land to be untouched so everyone can enjoy the land. The towers are only 200 feet tall so as not to be taller than the surrounding trees. We made them so they blend in, like a large tree. Many animals are already living in the holes we created in the towers.”

“It’s beautiful,” Priya said. “The towers blend in so well that from a distance you don’t notice them.”

“Yes, we’ve tried to be inconspicuous so we can stay friendly with the local humans. Some of them didn’t want us here.”

They walked into an open field with a stage on one side which faced a gradually sloping hill. Yoova held Priya’s hand as they walked, and Priya felt the electricity flow through her.

“Hold her other hand Sophie,” Priya said.

“Oh, I’ve heard about this, but words cannot describe the sensation,” Sophie said, looking at Yoova’s blue independently moving eyes.

“This is where we perform our concerts,” Yoova said. “Many hundreds of thousands of humans have attended. We’re making friends by inviting human musical groups to play with us. Humans used to attack us but now they don’t.”

“Maybe we can get people on our side by making friends like this,” Warren said.

“That’s a great idea,” Nisha said. “Many bad rumors are floating around about you guys right now. You need to turn that around.”

“Yes,” Warren said, “I’m hiring some PR people to help us with that.”

“Keep things simple,” Nisha replied. “Help people locally. Make them realize you’re human and you care about unmodified people.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the redwood forest with Yoova and her family as summer fog wafted through the treetops, creating sunbeams. A few hours later they said goodbye and headed home in Bok’s racer.

“I can’t get used to how fast this thing can go,” Priya said. “Oh Mom, how are your classes going? How is Rachel doing?”

“Our classes are packed. We teach three classes with 300 students in each class. Fewer than 3,000 students attend Caltech each year. That’s about ten percent of the total student body. Rachel and I take turns lecturing and giving presentations. I think the Omanji sparked a new interest in science and outer space exploration. The students seem more excited now. Rachel loves California. She likes that it’s sunny most days. She’s been here for a month and hasn’t seen a cloud except fog at the beach.”

“Well, the summer dry season is here. She’ll get plenty of rain in the winter.”

“That’s true, though not as much lately. I hear you finished your first year of college courses in only six weeks, is that right?” Nisha said.

Priya glanced at Sophie and Warren and smiled.

“Yeah, we finished our last finals today. Next week, we start our sophomore year.”

“I’m happy for you guys. I wish I completed my classes that quickly when I was in school.”

Time passed quickly in near Earth sub-orbit. Soon they arrived back in Palo Alto. Bok dropped them off. They said goodbye and the racer left before a crowd could form. They walked back to their apartment complex.

“That wasn’t a bad afternoon out, don’t you think Warren?” Priya said.

“Oh, not bad,” he said. “I talked with two extraterrestrial species. I flew in black sub-orbital space for 12 minutes to the redwoods. Overall, I had a decent afternoon.”

They laughed.

“Your mom made a good point about us getting people on our side,” Sophie said. “Those protesters were out all day. What can we do to get people on our side?”

“I know,” Priya said. “We can tutor local students in the subjects we’re good at. This would get people near our age to like us, the parents would like us, and the fear might be ameliorated.”

Warren smiled.

“Ameliorated? We are changing. Anyway, great idea Pree. Let’s get that started on our social network and our public website.”

They spent the evening setting up a tutoring schedule for the local area. They announced the news everywhere. They had the schedule completely set up as midnight approached.