Chapter 94: We Shall Not Be Replaced
Governor Jason summoned Marlon to the palace regarding his secret back breeding program. Two guards escorted Marlon to Jason’s new office at the back of the palace. One of the guards opened the door for him to enter. The office was huge; it had previously been a meeting room. The office was lavishly decorated with tapestries, wall paintings, and busts of former chiefs. One of them was of Waldo’s father, Rundo the Fifth.
‘Isn’t this office a true spectacle for a true leader!’ said Jason smugly as he beckoned Marlon in to take a seat.
‘It’s grotesquely opulent,’ replied Marlon scornfully as he sat opposite Jason, who had sat down behind his enormous ornate desk. ‘Outside your window is a nation of poverty and sickness. All you seem to care about is expanding your wealth and ego!’
‘Sure, I take care of myself,’ replied Jason as he shrugged his shoulders. ‘My real focus is to take care of those who truly matter.’
‘Sounds like a great relationship,’ replied Marlon. ‘They make the decisions. You sell them with your pretty face and sophisticated accent. You all get rich, and everyone else moves further into poverty or dies.’
‘I attended elocution lessons every week when I was growing up,’ boasted Jason. ‘My face, well, that’s just good genetics and the right type of moisturiser.’
‘Could we just skip the small talk?’ replied Marlon as he rolled his eyes. ‘It’s becoming painful.’
‘Fair enough,’ said Jason. ‘We can be a little more informal at my grand barbeque next week.’
‘I’m not going,’ replied Marlon sharply.
‘I strongly recommend you attend,’ said Jason, sounding a little annoyed. ‘All the future owners of the largest companies in Sapia will be there. You could learn a lot from them.’
Marlon glared angrily at Jason.
‘Right to business!’ said Jason, slapping his palm on his desk. ‘I’ve heard about your disgusting little project. Crossing breeding us with them. The very thought makes me want to vomit.’
‘Your parents are “them”,’ said Marlon angrily.
‘Yes, they are the past, and we are the future,’ said Jason firmly. ‘A crossbreed is part of neither.’
‘Our genetics are broken,’ said Marlon as he pressed his hands down on the desk. ‘Our future is sickness, suffering, and death.’
‘Speak for yourself,’ chuckled Jason. ‘I’m feeling top-notch.’
‘You’re intolerably selfish,’ said Marlon in a raised voice. ‘What of your future children and your grandchildren?’
‘The greatest minds in Sapia are working on a cure,’ said Jason. ‘They’re real scientists. They’re not like the basement dwellers who work for you. Remember, we are the superior species. There is nothing we cannot achieve.’
‘Please listen to me,’ said Marlon firmly. ‘I have spent the past ten years of my life researching this. The problem is in the genetics. They must be changed. The only way we can do this is through back breeding.’
‘These crossbreeds, are they well?’ asked Jason.
Marlon paused for a moment.
‘Damn it, Marlon,’ shouted Jason. ‘I know some of your test subjects have given birth. Are they healthy?’
‘So far, so good,’ replied Marlon. ‘No complications. They look more like us than them. They have light brown eyes. I think the next generation will be healthy too.’
‘Wow, really!’ exclaimed Jason. ‘That’s impressive. It looks like you’re really onto something.’
‘Just think,’ said Marlon, ‘you could have a perfectly healthy child. I could find someone in the program for you or any of your Business Sector friends.’
‘Are there still plenty of viable “others” who are willing to help us?’ asked Jason.
‘There are a few males, but females are now in short supply,’ replied Marlon.
‘This is a horrible compromise,’ said Jason in an agitated tone. ‘However, the alternative could be the extinction of our species, you say.’
‘That’s what is at stake,’ said Marlon. ‘I implore you to support this program.’
‘I can’t believe I’m saying this,’ said Jason, shaking his head. ‘I support this program. You have won me over.’
‘Thank you so much,’ replied Marlon. ‘I’m sorry I insulted you. I’ll gladly attend your grand barbeque.’
‘That’s fantastic,’ said Jason energetically as he jumped to his feet. ‘To move things along at warp speed, I’ll need the names of all those willing to participate in this program.’
‘I’ll have them sent through to you immediately,’ said Marlon as he stood up.
Jason walked Marlon to his office door. He patted Marlon on the back and said, ‘I really appreciate everything you’ve done.’
Marlon smiled back as he left the office.
Jason gleefully strutted back to his desk. Maskameera Wolf entered the office from an adjoining office.
‘Hope you heard that conversation,’ gloated Jason as he looked over at Maskameera. ‘I outsmarted Marlon Carvaress.’
‘Let me guess,’ said Maskameera sarcastically. ‘You plan on dumbly sitting in your chair waiting for the list of participants. This wait will be a little longer than expected. When it does arrive, you’ll do an idiotic fist pump. After wasting another half-hour of prancing around like a complete fool, you’ll order enforcers to go to the homes of the potential participants as well as to the location of the current subjects. Then you’ll have all of them killed. Crossbreed threat averted, you celebrate with your stupid barbeque.’
‘Wait, kind of,’ said Jason while pulling a perplexed face. ‘I’m not enthralled by your use of adjectives.’
‘Marlon knows you want to put an end to his program,’ said Maskameera as she walked around his desk. ‘He is going to use this window, which he thinks he has to move his operations. According to my surveillance, they began moving out before this meeting even began. Don’t worry; my security team is keeping an eye on them. Your enforcers can take over once they are travelling somewhere a little more rural.’
Jason folded his arms in annoyance.
Outside the palace, Marlon sent an encrypted message to Ginger informing her she needed to contact the participants to inform them they needed to meet the rest of the group in a small town north of West City. He then messaged an employee to create a fake list of names to send Jason the next morning.
Ginger sent an encrypted message back informing Marlon that a convoy of vehicles carrying the mothers and the babies had already left the Capital City. She told him she had sent drivers to pick up the participants for the second round of the program.
Ginger was unaware that one of the drivers in the convoy of vehicles worked for Maskameera.
Six hours later, the convoy had crossed over into the West District. Several dozen cars carrying the other participants were only a couple of hours behind the convoy. Another hour later, the convoy had reached a very isolated open grass area. Maskameera’s driver alerted the head of the convoy that he was experiencing some problems with his vehicle. The convoy pulled over to the side of the road.
Ginger climbed out of her vehicle and walked to the vehicle, experiencing problems.
‘What seems to be wrong?’ Ginger asked the driver.
‘I suspect something came loose when we went over all those bumps,’ said the driver. ‘This road is so poorly maintained. It’s barely even a road.’
‘Can you fix it?’ said Ginger firmly. ‘Or do I need to get help?’
‘You’re in luck,’ said the driver as he thrust his finger in the air. ‘I’m a superb mechanic.’
‘Good, I’ll let you get on with it,’ said Ginger as she patted him on the back.
The driver walked to the back of his vehicle to get some tools. At the same time, he picked up his phone to call Maskameera to inform her of the coordinates.
In the palace, Maskameera entered the media room, where Jason was playing a console game.
‘Here are the coordinates,’ said Maskameera as she handed Jason a piece of paper. ‘Time for your enforcers to make them vanish.’
‘Ummm,’ stuttered Jason. ‘Couldn’t we….’
‘The rest of the vehicles will be joining the parked convoy soon,’ said Maskameera firmly. ‘You need to mobilise your enforcers now.’
Jason paused his game. He picked up a phone and called his newly appointed Head Enforcer. They spoke for a few minutes, and then he hung up.
‘Nobody will ever know they existed,’ said Maskameera, shrugging her shoulders. ‘Poor Ginger will be just another missing Linap.’
Maskameera left the media room. Jason watched her as she left.
Meanwhile, at the convoy of vehicles, the Maskameera’s driver continued to tinker with the engine under the hood. A few of the others joined Ginger as they watched.
‘I don’t think he knows what he’s doing,’ said Ginger to another driver. ‘Go take a look.’
The driver nodded and approached Maskameera’s driver.
‘Everything okay?’ he asked as he peered over the shoulder of Maskameera’s driver.
‘Lots of connections have come loose,’ said Maskameera’s driver without looking up from gazing at the engine.
The other driver turned to face Ginger. He shrugged his shoulders.
Around twenty minutes later, the other cars joined them. Maskameera’s driver slammed the bonnet of the vehicle that he was working on down hard. He began sprinting across the grassy area away from the convoy.
‘Maybe he has a stomachache,’ remarked another driver.
‘Everyone, get back in your vehicles now,’ shouted Ginger. ‘We need to leave.’
After a few seconds of hesitation, they all scurried to their vehicles. Ginger ran over to the vehicle the driver had been working on. It was clear he had disabled it. Ginger rushed everyone out of that vehicle and hurried them into other vehicles. A few minutes later, the convoy was on the move again. The vehicles were moving as fast as they could.
After just a few minutes of driving, around a dozen enforcer flying vehicles emerged in the sky just ahead of the convoy. Ginger ordered the convoy to stop.
‘We have to let them know. We’re just a group of mothers and babies,’ said Ginger into her vehicle intercom to the other vehicle drivers in the convoy.
Ginger climbed out of her vehicle holding a baby. Several others did the same.
‘Don’t shoot us,’ shouted Ginger. ‘We’re just mothers with babies.’
‘They’re just mothers and babies,’ said the commander of the flying enforcer fleet into his radio.
‘Do not let your eyes deceive you,’ shouted the Head Enforcer through the radio. ‘They are terrorists. They must be destroyed.’
‘No, we can’t,’ replied the commander. ‘This is a terrible crime.’
He disconnected his communication with the Head Enforcer and ordered the other enforcers to turn around and leave.
The Head Enforcer radioed the second in command and shouted, ‘They are carrying dangerous cargo. It must be destroyed. The babies are just cover.’
The second in command broadcast the Head Enforcer’s orders to all the enforcers in the other flying vehicles. The commander’s communication had been blocked.
Ginger and the mothers continued waving the babies to the enforcers. Tears rolled down the face of the commander as he watched them wave.
The other enforcer flying vehicles opened fire on them. Several of them were killed immediately. The rest either climbed back into the vehicles or ran into the open area. It did not matter. The enforcers continued firing at them. Running mothers were gunned down. Vehicles were blown up. Ginger watched as she saw them dying all around her.
This continued for several minutes. All the vehicles were destroyed. Several dozen mothers and babies lay dead in the grass. Ginger was lying on her back with a dead baby in her arms. She had been shot but was still alive. Tears rolled down her face as blood oozed from her mouth.
‘It’s done,’ said the second in command into the radio.
‘We have a ground crew coming in to clean this up,’ said the Head Enforcer. ‘Not a word. This never happened.’
A few minutes later, the Head Enforcer called Jason.
‘The threat has been erased,’ said the Head Enforcer confidently.
‘Thank you,’ replied Jason a little sheepishly.
‘Check your inbox,’ said the Head Enforcer. ‘My team made a short flyby video to confirm we did the job. I recommend you don’t keep it for long.’
Jason opened a video file that had been sent to him via electronic messenger. He watched in horror at the carnage it showed. He soon paused the video. Maskameera and several other business owners had entered the room. Jason turned to look at them as a tear formed in one of his eyes.
‘Don’t ever forget who you represent,’ said one of the business owners to Jason. ‘If you do, this will come back for you.’
Maskameera began to chuckle. Jason quickly got up and rushed to his bathroom to vomit.
An hour later, a fully automated emergency team arrived at the site of the destroyed convoy of vehicles and bodies. They began a full clean-up. Ginger was still alive, but in critical condition. A machine put her in a life support machine. She was immediately taken to the nearest medical facility. The rest of the site was completely cleaned up as if nothing had happened.
Sapien Loop: End of an Era
Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time is the sequel to the book Sapien Loop: End of an Era. Sapien Loop: End of an Era is available on Amazon, in collection series on my @spectrumecons account, and in individual chapters in my @captainhive account.
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