The next day the protests grew larger. Priya could see them across the street as she arrived at her office at 5 a.m. She received an alert from her company’s newly patented VectorDetect system.

“Warning: Unidentified genetically engineered airborne variant of the Marburg virus has been detected entering air intake vents in several locations in this building. Vents are closed. Air intake is terminated. Vector isolation and analysis is in progress. All employees must stay away from this facility until further notice. Employees in the building must go to the isolation room at once. Small numbers of viral particles may have entered the building. Interior scanning is in process. End of transmission.”

Priya silently contacted Sophie who was heading to work.

“This week isn’t getting off to a good start. You saw the message, right?”

“Yeah,” Sophie said. “This is not a common virus in California. It causes hemorrhagic fever, and you can bleed out of various parts of your body and die a horrible death.”

“Let’s meet at Raven’s lab to figure out what to do. Our employees have been alerted to stay home today. I’ll contact Raven, Warren, and Pablo. They need to be there.”

An hour later they met in a conference room at Raven’s lab.

“I’m getting the results of the analysis,” Priya said. “The virus entered simultaneously through several air intake vents. The vents were immediately closed. The virus may have entered inside. We’re checking on that now. This happened at 4:59 a.m.”

“That sounds intentional,” Pablo said.

“Do you think someone planted it?” Warren said. “They might know you get to work at 5 a.m.”

“It’s too much of a coincidence to be random,” Sophie said. “I bet those protesters had something to do with it.”

“It gets worse,” Priya said. “This is a genetically engineered variant. The analysis shows it’s designed to attack cells containing a specific genetic sequence found only in our DNA. Old species humans are immune. This is intended for us.”

“It’s extra virulent too,” Sophie said. “This thing could kill us within a day after exposure to a small number of individual viral particles.”

“Yeah, we might have been dead by tomorrow if we unknowingly walked into that office and it was not detected,” Priya said.

“Have you reviewed the surveillance videos?” Pablo said.

“Not yet. Let’s have a look, starting at 4:55 a.m.”

A large screen dropped down from the ceiling.

“I don’t see anything,” Warren said.

The video forwarded to the first sign of movement.

“Look at the top of the screen. It’s a drone,” Priya said.

“It’s flying over our air intake vents,” Sophie said.

“Freeze it there for a second,” Priya said. “It’s spraying a vapor from a vial into the vent.”

“And into that vent too. It’s going around to all the vents,” Sophie said.

“They know what they’re doing with their drone,” Raven said. “The route was pre-configured and it’s executing the plan. This was not hand operated. It’s too efficient.”

“It only took a minute. This is a professional operation,” Priya said.

“Yeah, especially considering what it delivered,” Sophie said.

“They’ve taken this to the next level,” Priya said. “They want to exterminate us and get away with it. My analysis shows this virus would also be deadly to the 95 million new species children. We expect a 90% mortality rate if left untreated for one day after infection.”

“As soon as the robot UV cleanup is complete, we need to get to work on a vaccine,” Sophie said. “We now have the virus.”

“We need to let the authorities know about this,” Pablo said. “It’s attempted genocide. They could be planning this worldwide.”

“No, we can’t tell anybody,” Priya said. “This is intended for us. If it works, they’ll use it on all the new species kids. This is a decapitation strike. Chop of the head of the hydra, as what’s his face said in Congress. This comes from the top. Right now, we have a slight advantage because they don’t know we know. They don’t realize how effective our system is at detecting airborne vectors. They think we’re getting sick right now. They’re hoping we’ll be dead tomorrow.”

“This is like a war,” Warren said.

“It is a war. They declared it today,” Priya said.

“Don’t we have a meeting today with the CDC?” Sophie said.

“Yes. Let’s pretend we’re getting sick during the interview. Then people will think we didn’t detect the virus.”

“Good idea,” Sophie said. “Let’s make it seem like all of us including our employees are sick. No need to fake the bleeding for now. That would come tomorrow if we were infected.”

“Meanwhile, we’ll work on a vaccine,” Priya said.

They put their plan into action. Days later, they made it appear as though the only reason they survived the deadly virus was because they acted fast since they work in a bio-medical laboratory. Over the next several days, they gathered information and developed a vaccine while several dozen large scale attempts were made to infect groups of new species children around the world. Pablo’s team presented their data to the CDC and several intelligence agencies. Video from Raven’s pursuit drones, which followed the infection drones to their points of origin, clearly showed who was responsible and how they executed their plans. Despite warnings about the virus, over 5 million new species children were infected around the world over the next two weeks. Even though Priya’s lab was able to create, manufacture and distribute millions of doses of vaccine at the end of the first week, 250,000 new species children died. More would have died, but a commonly available antiviral vaccine slowed the progression, giving them enough time to distribute the new vaccine. The old species family members of the new species kids were emotionally devastated, but physically unharmed.

Graphic images of new species children bleeding out of their eyes and ears went viral. A group of radical native humanists was arrested in several labs scattered around the world. The top-level people escaped conviction. A month later, Priya and her friends moved their laboratories to a more secure location in the hills above Palo Alto. They met there the day after the arrests were made.

“I’m so glad they caught those guys,” Priya said. “At least the scientists who did it.”

“Do you think they have most of them?” Sophie said.

“I doubt it,” Raven said. “Native humanist organizations have over 1 billion members worldwide. I’m sure they’re planning new surprises for us right now. New species kids are still being attacked everywhere. There will be copycats. The top-level guys are untouched of course.”

“The one good thing that came out of this disaster is we have more support now,” Pablo said. “Children bleeding through the eyes got their attention. About 50% of eligible voters in the US support the restoration of our rights. Families with new species kids are becoming more politically active.”

“They have higher than average incomes,” Warren said. “They vote at higher-than-average rates.”

“We have a stalemate,” Priya said.

“I’ll take it,” Sophie said. “If we can survive long enough to become the majority.”

“I think we can,” Raven said. “But the other 50% believe all sorts of conspiracy stories and outright lies about us. They think Amy is a traitor. It doesn’t matter how much data you present and how carefully you explain how they’re wrong, they won’t listen. Almost half the human population has this odd character trait where they have trouble distinguishing between fact and fallacy.”

“They must realize by now we’re not going to die from that virus,” Priya said. “They’ll try again.”

“What if you guys were in the building when they released the virus?” Raven said.

“We have detectors outside the vents. They run quick analyses for anything about to enter the system. The vents were closed. Some viral particles got in, but not enough to do us any harm.”

“But if they do it to us out in the open, we could be in trouble,” Sophie said. “One deep inhale of a vapor on the street could do us in.”

“Yes. Until this phase is over, we’ll have to stay away from the public. We need more security,” Priya said. “The vaccines will help.”

“It’s going to be a long phase,” Pablo said. “Society is divided 50-50 on what to do about us. They were against us 40-60 until the virus attack. So, the trend favors us for now, short-term.”

“There’s got to be a better way to gain public approval besides our children being massacred,” Priya said.

“We’re the innocent victims in this attack,” Warren said. “People sympathize with victims. I think we need to present an image of being harmless and non-threatening. There will always be people threatened by us, but we need to reduce their numbers to tip the balance. I think we need to promote our children’s talents. Everyone likes cute and talented kids. I’m starting to see lots of videos of them skillfully playing musical instruments, chess, even tennis. Their parents are proud of them. That’s harmless, right?”

“It should be, but many old species people will see their talents as a threat,” Priya said. “We need to present them as normal non-threatening children. We need to stop uploading those videos showing the virtuosity of the kids.”

“I see,” Warren said. “They’re already banned from playing sports and other activities with old species kids.”

“Yeah, but showing five-year-olds performing algebra equations will bring up more resentment,” Priya said. “We need to play them to a stalemate. For decades. We need to show that society will not be destroyed. We need to show our human side.”

“I still don’t see what the big deal is,” Sophie said. “We’re still human. I don’t feel much different than before. I can do a few things better, but I’m still me.”

“We keep saying that, but we need to let people know,” Priya said. “Right now, we’re getting negative publicity. Most news stories talk about us taking away jobs and hoarding all our money. Talk show hosts vilify us, even though we’ve been on all the talk shows too many times to count. Maybe we’re deluded about feeling not much different than before.”

“You guys are different,” Amy said. “I’ve seen it from the start. You guys blow me away every time. Maybe it’s good if you replace the old species.”

“Maybe we’re oblivious to reality,” Priya said. “But I feel the same.”

Amy shook her head.

“You’re not the same. You really are super geniuses, like I’ve said all along,” she said. “I can feel the gap between us widening. But when I compare the Mods to the old species, I’m favoring extinction. I want enlightened people on Earth, not warring superstitious, ignorant, lunatics who can’t think logically.”

“That’s severe,” Priya said.

“But it’s true,” Amy said.

“I’m seeing more offenses being committed against the new species kids,” Pablo said. “Not just in the US, but everywhere.”

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Priya said. “We need our rights back.”

“We’re working on it.” Pablo said. “If we can’t get them back, they can do anything to us.”

“And they will,” Priya said.