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  After two sharp knocks on the door, Michael Murphy entered. Gray stood and met him in the middle of the room. “What’s the status?”

  “They’re all here apart from the Russian Gas reps,” Murphy said.

  Devereaux let out a loud grunt.

  Gray turned to him. “What’s the matter, Quentin?”

  “The Russians. Those guys were prime targets.”

  “Keep your cool. XNA Industries will not live or die based on their attendance.”

  “Cool? You expect me to be cool? I’ve pumped hundreds of millions into this venture. How long do you think I can let you continue without a result?”

  Gray smiled. “You’ll get a result today. I promise.”

  “If this thing starts going off the rails, I’m taking over,” Devereaux said. “You may know your science, Julian, but I know business. I know what makes these people tick.”

  Gray didn’t doubt the final part of the statement, but it wasn’t what he considered a particularly special talent. What mattered to those people was profit, the kind that benefited shareholders, not society.

  Michael held open the door to the auditorium.

  Gray nodded at his COO and entered the room, following Merriweather to the table on the stage. Fifty people, seated in five rows of ten, sat in silence in front of him.

  Devereaux held his thumb up from the back.

  Merriweather clicked the first slide and displayed the XNA Industries logo on the large screen behind them.

  Gray cleared his throat. “Firstly, I want to thank you for coming here today. I’m Dr. Julian Gray. What I’m about to show you is the future. Every day, humanity walks a tightrope, with death, disease, and conflict hungrily waiting below. We will all eventually fall. Unless something is done. My objective is not only to ensure the long-term sustainability of our species, but also to provide a marked improvement along the way.”

  He gestured to his right.

  “XNA Industries marketing manager, Tanya Merriweather, will now play you a short film, followed by a presentation giving you an overview of the science involved, and how this can be of benefit to humanity and society. In order to keep some structure to the proceedings, please save your questions until the end. Tanya?”

  Gray glanced across to the side of the room and nodded. Michael dimmed the lights. The laptop illuminated Merriweather’s face as she fumbled with a USB mouse.

  “What you are about to see isn’t fiction,” a monotone voice boomed from the speakers. “Evolution has been a continuous process since the dawn of time. As an uncontrolled occurrence, perfection was never going to be attained. The human body is still susceptible to genetic and transmitted diseases, and our limbs have still not evolved to a sufficient level of robustness to match the current life expectancy in the Western world. Only by harnessing science can we control our own destiny and provide a better quality of life.”

  As the voice spoke, an array of pictures displayed on-screen, including a hospital ward filled with malaria victims, a hip operation, and a large cancerous tumor in a metal dish.

  Quiet chatter filled the room.

  The film panned across a small athletics stadium and cut to the finishing line of the hundred-meter track. In the distance, a man crouched on starting blocks.

  “Are you ready?” the voice asked the audience.

  Two seconds later, at the noise of a pistol crack, the man burst out of the blocks and sprinted forward. A light green, digital timer appeared in the corner of the screen and counted the seconds.

  “XNA Industries has developed integrated brain-computer interface technology that will increase our capabilities as a species. Together we can create a smarter, stronger society. A world where we can move forward with confidence, providing a chance for everyone.”

  The digital timer stopped at 9.6 seconds as the man crossed the finishing line. His six-foot, muscular frame faced the camera and he placed his hands on his hips.

  “Let me introduce you to our newest family member at XNA Industries.”

  The man released two straps from his shoulder and revealed a backpack. He opened the top and emptied a pile of twelve bricks onto the track surface.

  The audience gasped.

  Gray smiled; now he had their full attention.

  At first, they sat casually, then mostly upright, like a group of meerkats, transfixed by the images on the screen.

  The initial silence turned to whispering, no doubt about how they would transform their businesses or operations.

  “This isn’t just about streamlining our capabilities,” the voice continued through the speakers, “it’s caring for the community. We can have as many doctors, nurses, firefighters and police as we want. The list is endless.”

  A doctor was shown, shaking the hand of an apparently happy patient. Gray recognized both as lab assistants from his Russian facility and winced at the level of their acting ability. Still, it would do to illustrate the point.

  “Natural resources are becoming an increasing source of tension. Where will we be in fifty years?” the voice asked.

  The film cut to a burning oil well, then a familiar riot scene in a Middle Eastern town.

  “Clean energy is a priority for our planet, but not as much as peace—”

  The film abruptly stopped. The lights in the meeting room blinked on.

  Gray surveyed the rear of the room and smiled as he met Devereaux’s gaze. The investor squinted and shook his head, no doubt frustrated at the lack of military applications.

  “That can’t be real?” a voice called out.

  Irritation rose within Gray. He stood and walked to the table at the front of the stage, accompanied by Merriweather.

  “Who said that?” he calmly asked.

  “Graham Laidler, from Anglo Construction. How did you do it?”

  “Please, save your questions until the end, sir. But I can assure you it’s real.”

  That was always going to be the problem, Gray thought, convincing the world that a XNA-based bio-chip could enhance humans—cloned and rapidly grown ones at that—though this secretive group of international investors didn’t need to know that part, at least not yet.

  Tanya clicked on a PowerPoint presentation file. A slide filled the screen.

  “Good afternoon, everyone,” Merriweather started. “In the next five minutes I’m going to take you through a few slides, providing an overview of our work at XNA Industries. Hopefully I’ll shed some light on what we’re all about, and how this can benefit you. The question on most of your lips is probably, what is XNA?”

  She paused before running through the bullet points on the slide. “Until very recently, almost all life on our planet had one thing in common, the same instructional genetic building blocks that we call DNA. Life has a great ability to store and pass on this information, facilitating evolution.

  “XNA or xeno-nucleic acid is a synthetic alternative, which can carry the same information as DNA.”

  She paused to let it sink in. “We are advancing today, but imagine where we could be with a stronger and more intelligent society.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Gray noticed Devereaux slowly moving around the side of the audience towards the front of the room.

  “Think of it in terms of a computer,” Tanya said, walking casually across the stage as she continued to engage the audience. “You’ve created a new beneficial piece of hardware that enhances and streamlines existing features. You need a skilled accountant? It’s at your fingertips without paying top rates. You need to do a job that your skilled workforce are not trained for? Simply upgrade them.

  “Training and controlling your staff while maintaining cost efficiency is crucial. We want to help you create the most profitable and flexible target operating model for your business.”

  Gray smiled. This was exactly the kind of corporate trivialization he despised. But he knew it was people like Tanya who could translate science to the masses—a necessary obfuscation to bring clarity.


  “Over the last decade, it’s no secret that BCIs, or brain-computer interfaces have been advancing. Along with his small team, Dr. Julian Gray has pioneered a number of avenues for this technology. XNA Industries has taken his breakthroughs and moved them to the next level.”

  She waited for a slide to change over and show an illustration of a strand of XNA. It was one of the first that Gray had created while still studying for his PhD at Harvard.

  Tanya continued, “We’ve created an XNA-based biological chip capable of integrating with the human body, carrying out everything I’ve just told you. Your requirements can be our priorities.”

  She paused and looked at Gray, waiting for a prompt.

  “Continue, Tanya, you’re doing a great job,” he said.

  Taking advantage of the gap, an audience member in the front row thrust up a hand. Gray gestured her to lower it. Why couldn’t these people listen to simple instructions?

  “We have powerful engineering and testing capabilities in our foreign-based labs, which will enable us to move quickly to market. When you see the results we’ve achieved so far, I know you’re going to be impressed.”

  “Gray, hey, a word,” Devereaux whispered.

  Gray hushed Devereaux as the investor approached. Michael stepped between them with a stern look on his face. Merriweather, put off her stride by the intrusion, looked at Gray.

  “Continue, please,” he said.

  She hit the space bar of the laptop and moved along to the next slide: Synthetic Humans.

  “At XNA Industries, we created a number of synthetic humans to showcase our technology. By producing a live embryo with specially configured genomes to accelerate the biological evolutionary process, we have perfected the process and can complete a birth within a month. During the gestation period, nanotechnology accretes to form the chip from the instructions within the XNA interface.”

  Two people from the back row stood up; one of them shouted, “This is ridiculous. You’re wasting our time on pipe dreams. Not to mention the ethical implications. I’ll have none of this!”

  Both quickly made their way to the exit at the back of the room. Gray looked over at Michael and raised his eyebrow. The COO and head of security followed the men.

  “How is that even possible?” a Chinese man said.

  Gray stepped forward, annoyed that these people couldn’t wait until the designated Q&A, but having expected it at this juncture, he answered, “By using an amniotic tank as a large artificial womb. We add protein, nutrients, and oxygen, using dialysis for waste disposal. We found that a rapid gestation period could be achieved by smart coding, coupled with using a higher temperature in the tank.”

  He looked around the room and tried to gauge the feeling; most of the faces were blank. One or two shook their heads in disbelief.

  “Now, please, let Ms. Merriweather continue. Thank you.”

  Gray moved back to the side of the stage.

  “What are you doing here? You could have used that as a chance to deliver the military angle,” Devereaux whispered.

  “We’ll cover it when the time is right.”

  “Why did you cut the military part from the last two slides? I reviewed that presentation myself, I know what was in it.”

  Gray clenched his fists. “Did I?”

  “You know you did. Are you trying to spike us?” A few members of the audience glanced across. Devereaux grinned and politely nodded before returning his focus to Gray. “I’m not letting you cut it out. After she finishes, I’m going to run them through what we agreed. Whether you like it or not.”

  Michael entered through the rear doors and joined Devereaux and Gray.

  “Everything okay?” Gray asked.

  “Fine. They thought we were trying to trick them. I reminded them about the NDA and the consequences of talking about our presentation.”

  Devereaux tutted. “That’s a shame, but no real loss. Those guys were at least priority number twenty in the room. Any sign of the Russians?”

  “They’re probably not coming,” Michael said.

  Gray turned to their investor, wanting to offer a conciliatory branch. “We’re scheduled for another twenty minutes; why don’t you go do your bit? Just make sure you leave time for questions.”

  Devereaux grabbed Gray’s shoulder and eased him to one side, clearing his path toward the front of the room. “Let me show you how the professionals do it, Doctor.”

  “You’re all welcome to come up and visit us, and I’ll be happy to give you a tour. Thank you for your time,” Merriweather said to the audience.

  Devereaux strode to the front.

  “I’m Quentin Devereaux, the main investor in XNA Industries, and I’m here to give you some supplemental information about the benefits of this project.

  “I want to talk to you about synthetic humans. During field trials, we’ve tested their decision-making capabilities in combat situations. They’ve proven to be trustworthy and steady. Our boys, and some of yours, have been in dangerous war zones of late. Imagine freeing them up to spend more time winning hearts and minds. Synthetics could take on patrolling, camp security, and mine clearance work.”

  “How can anyone be created in a tank,” a man with an Italian accent said, “then be expected to go into the field and carry out an effective job? Wouldn’t it be like taking on a baby?”

  “The synthetics are released with a good level of education. The initial training is carried out in-house. Dr. Gray can expand on the enhanced education process, but I’ve seen a synthetic read and write a few weeks after birth.”

  Gray could see the audience split. Half were more intrigued at the military applications, and the other half were switching off. These people weren’t the right audience for it. They had global reach and logistical strategies, but integration was the key.

  Devereaux was getting into the hard sell, talking about unit numbers, returns on investment, and capabilities in the field.

  If he wasn’t careful, they’d lose all interest. Not wanting to spurn this opportunity to secure a major player, Gray took the stage and cut Devereaux off mid-sentence.

  “I’m sorry,” Gray said, “but time’s ticking away and I want to ensure you get your questions in. I’ll open the floor. Who wants to start?”

  Devereaux glared at Gray, his lips twisting into a grimace as he fought to hide his outburst. Gray held his gaze, stared him down, dared him to ruin the opportunity, but as expected, the investor cracked a smile and turned to the audience. “As the man said, who wants to ask the first question?”

  CHAPTER THREE

  6:20 p.m., Day 1, Alaska

  Exposure, frostbite, pneumonia; none of them were good deaths. All racked with terrible, slow pain. One by one, Jacob’s organs would fail, taking him one step closer to his maker, if there was such a thing.

  Huddled beneath the desk, trying to use the warm air escaping from the exhaust panels on the rack of servers to keep the cold at bay, Jacob wondered if there would be that often-mentioned flash of one’s life before he expired, or if he would see a light at the end of the tunnel. He’d read a lot of crazy stuff online about various NDEs—near death experiences. Despite his own predilections towards the conspiracy, the secret, he didn’t really believe in any such thing.

  He believed Death was the end. It was nothing more spiritual than that. The body expires and rots, transferring its energy into the soil and to the bugs that feast upon flesh and bone until only dust remains.

  That was the point when he truly understood why Julian Gray was so driven to do what he did: to break through the boundaries of ethics and morals in order to control life. Because if he could control life, create it, make it mutable to his whims, he’d also conquer Death.

  Julian Gray wanted to be immortal.

  And as the cold crept ever further into his clothes and bones, Jacob wanted that too.

  There must be a way out, he thought. He decided to take another look at the computer screens; see if there was any way h
e could unlock the doors from inside.

  His bones and muscles ached when he crawled out from beneath the desk. The joints in his fingers and hands flashed with white-hot pain when he began to manipulate the mouse and keyboard.

  Despite his computer skills, he could find nothing remotely related to an internal lock system. He did, however, notice the transfer of data had completed. Seventy-five percent of this particular system’s data files had transferred. And he had a picture of that thing in the cryo-tube.

  Even ten feet away, he could feel it looking at him.

  He shook his head, cleared his thoughts, and moved to take his flash drive out of the server, when suddenly the door’s lock released and it swung open, shining light into the room, making him squint. He opened his mouth to complain to Tucker for locking him in when, through frozen tears, he saw the blurred forms of two people.

  “I won’t be a minute, Tuck,” a voice said. Young, female. “I can’t believe I left it behind. Michael would have me sacked if he found out. I really appreciate you letting me back in.”

  “I, erm, hold on a second, Kerry,” Tucker said. “Before you go in, there’s something I wanted to ask you.”

  Jacob’s vision cleared enough that he could see Tucker turning a young brunette woman in a trouser suit until she had her back to the room. Tucker looked over her shoulder and tried to communicate something with his eyes.

  He was clearly stalling for time. Jacob took the opportunity to grab the flash drive and tiptoe toward the door, all the time keeping himself flat to the wall opposite from the cylinders, where the shadows were densest.

  Five feet from the door stood a small cabinet against the wall. Jacob eased himself up to the side of it, bringing his knees up to his chest, hiding in the cabinet’s shadow.

  “What is it?” Kerry said, “I’m really pushed for time, Tuck. I just want to collect my file and get out. Got a party to get to.”

  “Um, well, I, you see, about the party—”

  “Oh,” Kerry said. “Did you want to come, is that it?”

  Jacob could hear the hesitancy on her voice. It was the same hesitancy he’d heard dozens of times when he’d tried to ask out a girl way above his league. It was the tone of indifference and collided social strata.