A few months later, they settled in the new location.

Pree, don’t you love this place?” Sophie said.

“Yeah. No more tomatoes on our faces. I like our new discovery even more. I think the baby rats are becoming more intelligent each day.”

They walked into the room. 100 cages lined the walls surrounding a maze and other tests designed to measure intelligence.

“Hi Akna,” Priya said. “How are the babies?”

“They’re better than we expected.”

Jamilla picked up one of the baby rats.

“This one just walked through the maze more quickly than her mom. She’s only one month old. She already has metacognition. We found out yesterday. We gave her a test where she got a big treat for being right, no treat for being wrong, and a medium treat if she opted out. She opted out of a test where she didn’t know the answer in return for the medium reward. Most rats don’t become meta-aware until they’re several months old.”

“Do you think her neurons are growing a second axon?” Priya said.

“It’s possible,” Akna answered. “When she’s bigger, we’ll sedate her and take a look. For now, we’re tracking her development.”

“Hey,” Priya said, “Do you guys want to go with us? We’re meeting our friend Amy at JavaNation? This is her first day at Stanford.”

“Sure, let’s go,” Akna said. “It’s lunch time.”

They arrived, right as Amy walked in.

“Amy. You’re here.” Priya and Sophie said at once as they all hugged.

Priya introduced Akna and Jamilla to Amy and they sat down and ordered their favorite coffee drinks.

“How did your first day go Amy?” Priya said.

“I’m excited. My bioengineering professor is the one who got a Nobel Prize for discovering a way to genetically code bone growing bacteria to locally heal fractures in only a few days. He did that in the days before the genetic programming methodology had been implemented. He had to splice in the genes manually.”

“Manually? Ah, the good old days,” Priya said. “They used flint axes back then to splice their DNA.”

They laughed.

The sound of breaking glass shattered the moment.

“Pree.” Amy shouted as Priya fell to the floor. “Someone, get an ambulance.”

Sophie silently summoned an ambulance. Amy held her palm against Priya’s head, attempting to stop the blood shooting out of her head in pulsing jets. She pushed hard and stopped the flow. Priya lost consciousness.

Soon they were at the hospital and Sophie contacted Nisha. A nurse wheeled Priya into an operating room. Sophie, Amy, Akna, and Jamilla walked around in the waiting room. Warren ran in, almost tripping over a side table.

“How is she?” he said.

“We don’t know anything,” Sophie said as tears ran down her cheeks.

An hour flew by. No news. Nisha, Quinn, and Sanjay walked into the waiting room.

Sophie was surprised. “How did you get here from LA so—”

“Hi Bok. I guess you drove?”

“Yes, I heard about the incident so we got here as quickly as we could.”

“How is she?” Nisha said.

“We don’t know anything.”

Quinn walked up to the desk and demanded to know what happened. Soon a doctor came out of the operating room.

“We had to remove some glass and repair an artery. We induced a coma because she had a lot of swelling and pressure. The bottle had a thick bottom and may have caused some brain damage. We aren’t sure.”

“Is she going to be okay?” Nisha said.

“We don’t know,” the doctor replied. “I’m sorry. We’ll let you know as soon as there’s a change in her condition.”

Nisha and Quinn held each other and cried. Sophie and Amy hugged them.

Silence.

“Do they know who did it?” Sophie said.

“Let me see,” Warren said as he activated his eyepiece. “No news. I’m looking at the JavaNation surveillance record. I can see the guy, but his face is blocked by a tree. Afterwards, he walked away. Even if I knew him, I wouldn’t be able to identify him. Did anybody look out the window when this happened?”

“I saw him I think,” Akna said.

She activated her eyepiece recorder with a double blink.

“Let me see. Okay, there’s the guy. I’m isolating his images and I’m going to post them to the police AI website and some other places. Someone must know who this guy is. Of course, the protesters may know but they won’t tell.”

They waited in silence for several hours. The doctor eventually came out.

“Hi Doc,” Quinn said.

“Hi everyone, she’s sustained some permanent brain damage. We don’t know enough about her species to say for sure. Her brain has significant differences. We installed a shunt to relieve the pressure. We’re keeping her in a coma until the pressure goes down in a week or two. I’m sorry.”

Nisha sobbed as Quinn held her.

Nisha, Quinn, and Sanjay stayed the night in the waiting room while the others went home. The next day, Bok flew back to his colony in the desert while Priya’s family stayed at a nearby Airbnb.

Priya woke up three days later, to everyone’s surprise. They were in their hotel room when they got the news. They rushed straight over to her hospital room. The first rain of the winter rainy season fell softly against the windows.

“Hi Mom, my head hurts. Where am I?”

“You’re in the hospital. Someone hit you with a bottle when you were at JavaNation with your friends. You’ve been in an induced coma for three days.”

“I don’t remember anything.”

The doctor came in along with Sophie, Amy, and Warren.

“How is she doc?” Quinn said.

“Her brain is healing at an astounding rate. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Is this associated with her genetic modifications?” Sophie said.

“Possibly, but we have no data on her people. You guys somehow don’t get sick or injured as often as normal people.”

“That’s because we’re indoors hiding from jerks like the guy who threw the bottle,” Sophie said.

“That might be,” the doctor said. “However, I think there’s more going on here than that. Here’s a picture of her wounds three days ago, and here they are now.”

They studied the photos.

“This amount of cellular repair normally takes at least a week, not three days,” the doctor said. “It’s great news for Priya and for everyone who’s been modified. There’s something going on. We’re studying tissue samples now.”

Pablo cut into the conversation.

“Please don’t let those samples leave the lab. We’ve formed a corporation, which includes our own DNA as private property. That’s our right under the Personal Identifiers and Genetics act which recently passed.”

“We’ll comply,” the doctor said. He walked out and left them in Priya’s hospital room.

“Pree, how are you?” Nisha said.

“I have the worst headache ever. It’s like when you eat something icy cold too quickly, and the pain gets worse and won’t go away.”

“The doctor had you in a coma for a few days to reduce your neural activity and reduce the swelling. He said the pain and swelling will subside in a few weeks, but you’re recovering more quickly than normal.”

“Warren? What have you been doing while I was gone?” Priya said.

“Besides worrying, Pablo and I are trying to get this, and similar crimes classified as hate crimes under existing laws. I think we have a chance. The protests are getting bigger and more violent. Nobody is standing up for us, except us. The police protect us within their minimal limits but it’s not enough. People are hiding behind their right to protest, to do us harm. We’re also fighting to become a protected minority group.”

“That’s good,” Priya said. “We can’t walk down the street because anybody might do anything to us at any time. Hey, Amy sent some pictures of us at JavaNation seconds before the bottle incident.”

Priya looked closely into her eyepiece.

“Hmm, doesn’t Amy seem more mature than us?”

“Let me see,” Sophie said. “I’m looking at these and comparing them to a photo of all three of us from a couple of years ago, just before we were abducted. Hmm.”

“Interesting,” Nisha said, looking at Priya and Sophie. “You guys haven’t aged, but Amy has matured. You guys are going to age at a slow rate.”

Priya and Sophie studied each other closely.

Silence.

A few weeks later.

I’m glad you’re back,” Akna said to Priya as she walked in the door of the rat lab.

“Yeah, I missed you guys,” Priya said. “I’m recovering after waiting forever for the headache to subside. There’s still a little pain but it’s going away. What’s happening?”

“The baby rats are beating the adults in all the intelligence tests now,” Jamilla said. “Something is happening in their brains. Rats are close to being as smart as chimps in some ways, but this batch might be as intelligent in many ways.”

Sophie walked into the room.

“Did you hear the news? Oyuun has his fusion reactor up and running thanks to Pablo fighting off the power companies. He’s putting energy into the grid as of 10 minutes ago. It’s a trending story around the world. When you adjust for inflation, oil is the same price as in 1930. When you combine conservation, solar, electric transportation, LED lights etc., and now this, oil is only good for special purposes.”

“That’s great,” Priya said. “Burning oil now is as inefficient as when they burned whale oil for light and heat. The oil price has been flat or falling for decades now. I hear he’s making a public stock offering tomorrow. Let me look. They’re estimating a valuation of $900 billion for his company despite only one generator working.”

“That’s because of his patents, thanks to Pablo, and the easy duplication of the design,” Sophie said. “Some people are saying he’ll own the entire much of the world’s energy production, due to his low cost. Less than solar.”

“I guess this makes his company stock low priced,” Priya said. “The way stocks are valued baffles me sometimes. I understand both sides. I guess the $900 billion valuation is halfway between what it’s worth now and its potential worth later.”

“I bet Warren is happy today,” Sophie said. “He’s going to make many more billions tomorrow.”

“He’s not in this for the money Sophie,” Priya said. “He’s supporting our entrepreneurial efforts. That’s all. He has enough money. I mean—”

Sophie smiled.

“It’s okay Pree. We know you’re biased.”

“I am not. I’m saying that it’s not all about money for him.”

“Okay, okay,” Sophie said as she smiled at Akna and Jamilla.

“Are you in this for the money?” Priya silently thought to Warren, who was in his office. She allowed Sophie to join the connection.

“Of course not,” Warren thought back. “Once I had a place to live and the freedom to work on important projects like our survival, more money became less important. The more I understand what’s happening in the world, the less wealthy I think I am.”

Sophie shook her head at Akna and Jamilla.

“There. Anyway, let’s all meet at JavaNation at lunch,” Priya said to everyone. “They installed graphene glass.

They walked down the street; dodging food items thrown by the protesters. Amy met them.

Amy got a notification in her eyepiece.

“Guys, stop for a second. Remember how I got a photo of the bottle thrower’s face?”

“Yeah?” Priya said.

“I’ve got an ID lock on him. Keep walking and don’t look. He’s leaned against the tree near the fountain talking to those other guys with the picket signs.”

“Let’s walk across the street to JavaNation and contact the police,” Priya said. “I want that guy strung up by the—”

“Okay Pree,” Sophie said, smiling.

They sat down at a table in back, far away from the window.

“He’s coming over here,” Amy said. “I think he spotted you Pree. Get in the bathroom and close the door. Oh, it’s too late, he sees you.”

Amy stood up in front of Priya.

The bottle guy stopped in front of Amy.

“What’s the problem mutant lover? Why are you protecting them?”

“We’re all recording what you say and do,” Amy said.

“So what? There’s no law against expressing my opinions,” the bottle guy said. “They’re going to take over the world. Protecting them makes you as bad as them. You’re encouraging them. Do you work for them? Mutant lovers?”

“Shut your stupid head hole, jerk.” Priya said.

The bottle guy towered a foot over Priya.

“Calm down Pree,” Amy said, pushing Priya back down onto her seat.

“Just go, okay?” Amy said.

Three police cars pulled up in front of JavaNation. The protesters noticed this and walked towards them to get a closer look. Several officers walked up to the bottle guy.

“You called them, didn’t you?” the bottle guy said, as an officer put hand cuffs on him. “There’s nothing wrong with expressing an opinion. I’ll be back tomorrow G-Mo’s.”

They put him in a police car and drove away. The other officers stayed behind to move the protesters back across the street. They interviewed the protesters and released them.

“Thanks Amy,” Priya said as she gave her a hug. “You’re the smart one.”

Raven walked in.

“I heard you were almost attacked. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Priya replied. “My head hurts but your icy blended mocha drink should help.”

She tried to smile.

“Remember the Omanji drone I bought off the guy in Nevada?” Raven said.

“Sure,” Priya replied.

“I got the drone working.” Raven said. “It tried to get out, but we have it in a box. I studied it and made new a drone that works like the Omanji drone using its anti-matter power source. I’d like to use the drone for surveillance. It’s got 97 years of power left. I’d like to catch guys like the guy who threw the bottle. The eyepiece can’t do everything. Akna happened to look out at the right time. This drone can follow people and record everything.”

“What does the drone look like? Will it be easy to see?” Priya said.

“Turn around,” Raven said.

“That? I can barely hear it,” Priya said.

“I gave you permission to connect to it. Go ahead.”

“There we are in my eyepiece,” Priya said. “Nice hi-res camera. How do you control it?”

“You don’t. It’s autonomous.”

“Aren’t autonomous AI machines dangerous? What if this drone decided to attack people?” Priya said.

“Don’t be silly Pree. I’m not adding functionality. I’m happy the thing flies and records. Don’t worry. I installed a detached remote shutoff switch just in case something goes wrong. I also must send a restart signal before it can operate after a shutdown. It will hide and shut down in a day if I don’t send a signal every day, so it won’t go crazy for long. I have the drone configured to follow you. If you go inside, it’ll wait in a safe place until you come out.”

“It sounds perfect Raven. Thanks,” Priya said.

Two men walked up to them as they talked.

“Are you Raven Corbeau?” the first man said.

“Yes I am.”

“We’re from the department of defense. We’d like to discuss something with you, in private.”

They took her aside and several minutes later, the men left. Raven walked back to them.

“What was that about?” Priya said.

“They offered me $50 million right now for my drone design and $30 million per year to work for them.”

“What did you say?”

“I said no, of course. We all made a pact to not work for any military organization. JavaNation is valued at $4 billion now. Therefore, even if we didn’t have a pact, I have no monetary interest.”

“Did they pressure you?” Priya said.

“Yeah, they asked me if I cared about my country. Of course, I said yes to that. They tried to get me to commit to something right on the spot.”

“I wonder if this is happening to the rest of us,” Priya said. “Let me ask around on our network.”

She paused in silence while she gathered the information.

“Yeah, they’re asking all of us if we wish to join the military. Most of us are at least 18 now.”

“I’m hearing the same thing too,” Sophie said. “This started today. Someone in the government made a conscious decision to recruit us starting now.”

“Read this,” Priya said. “There is already some backlash against us on Twitter. People are saying we’re unpatriotic for not joining the military. Great, this is what we don’t need. Let’s get back to the office before we’re attacked again.”

They walked out the door and looked across the street at the protesters. Raven’s drone followed closely behind Priya.

Priya pointed across the street.

“There’s a scary sign. ‘The mutants are the work of the devil.’ That’s pathetic. Here they come, let’s go.”

Raven walked out onto the street behind them.

“Pree, use the app on your eyepiece to broadcast to your Twitter feed from the drone.”

She turned on the broadcast right as the protesters surrounded them and chanted, “Mutants, Mutants.”

Millions of Priya’s followers watched the drone’s broadcast in Priya’s stream.

Dozens of Priya’s friends were soon on the scene. Soon, about 100 of Priya’s followers arrived within minutes. The protesters watched the crowd coming and backed away from Priya and Sophie.

“Let’s get out of here,” Priya said.

Her friends and supporters followed her to the park across the street away from the protesters. She stood on a rock and glanced at them with her friendly drone hovering behind her.

“Thank you for supporting us. This means a lot. I don’t understand those protesters. We carry no strange diseases. We aren’t Omanji in human meat suits. We can’t read your minds. We aren’t going to take over your minds. We mean no harm. We want to do our work and live our normal lives like anyone else. We want to make discoveries in technology and science which will make the world a better place. We’re normal people like everyone else.”

The crowd of about 200 people cheered as Priya gave her speech. Twenty million people watched the broadcast.

Priya returned to work after the incident.