Amygdala Hijack - A Genetic Engineering Sci-Fi Story of Impending Dystopia

EP. 6 - THE WELCOMER

WITH THE CONSTANT TIRADE of media coverage on the obelisk, Wednesday came quickly for them. Ears was working his networks, and he had gotten approval to splash the message about the new format to potential listeners.

Thus far, he had lined up multiple experts, and many others were coming out of the woodwork. Beyond 'The Welcomer,' as he called the Reverend, Ears had received commitments from four others to whom he had assigned pet names: Poison Paul, the nuclear physicist who was suggesting tactical nukes in response to the impending invasion; Eugenie Driver, a renowned gene drive specialist advocating to accelerate the pace of humanity's hybridization; AlexG, an astrophysicist with interesting perspectives on calling out to friendly aliens as protectors; and BioEthel, a bioethics expert from MIT with a radical message that humanity's lifespan was coming to an end.

"A great start," he mused as he closed his laptop and set out to drive to Peter's house. Although the Red Line could get him there faster than hassling with road traffic, Ears avoided the subway for the same reasons many varints did – they were often teased or had stinging epithets thrown at them by non-varint bigots on the subway.

Ears arrived at Peter's house at 3 p.m., an hour before the podcast was to air. Peter let him inside and they both took their pre-podcast positions. Prior to this podcast, Ears always assumed he was there as wallpaper. His degree was in materials science, so he understood the topics, often more so than Molli, but she wasn't shy or self-absorbed like him. Indeed, Molli's personality was the opposite of that.

"That's why we get along so well," he concluded, unaware he spoke out loud.

"What?" Peter questioned, peering above his screen.

"Nothing. Just thinking."

"Did you develop a set of questions I can ask the preacher man?"

"Yeah, here you go." Ears handed him a folded sheet of paper.

"Great, thanks. Hey, how does the line-up look for the coming weeks? You're working with Molli on that."

"Wow!" Ears exclaimed, rolling his eyes. "You can't believe how active it is. People are contacting me, not vice versa."

"Why?"

"I used my amazing networking skills to extend the mailing list beyond our normal listeners. Got lists from my geedee friends, and I'm seeing good responses."

Peter looked pensive. "Isn't that illegal or something? Sharing lists?"

"No. These are people who agreed to other types of marketing. It may be stretching the spam laws but not breaking."

Peter teased, "Dude, don't put me in jail. I'd take you with me, you and Molli, and we could wash plates together in the cafeteria."

"I don't sense they have co-ed prisons. Co-ed dorms, yes. They haven't made it to prisons yet, though it's worth considering."

"Proof that not all ideas are good ideas," Peter joked. "Glad you're working with us on this. I can't wait to see the results."

They heard a knock at the garage door.

"Come around," Peter shouted, "and leave the door unlocked. I don't want our Reverend friend perceiving this is a dangerous neighborhood."

Molli sauntered into the room as he finished his sentence. "You were saying?" she inquired.

"Nothing, not important. Hey, where's the outline?"

"Give me a minute to boot here, antsy pants. There is an outline, if that's what you're implying, but it's all guesswork because I haven't heard back from the dude. And remember this format change was your idea, so if the chips fall badly, Ears and I are pure on this, got it? It's all on you."