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

EP. 16 - ACROSS THE BOW

MOLLI ARRIVED AT THE condo late that evening from her martial arts seminar.

"My buds were great to stick around here while I was with the grandmaster. I just asked them to leave, though. We're switching off places, so they're attending tomorrow's seminar. I hope we can make do without our guardians at the door."

Peter was finishing dinner in the kitchen. "We'll survive. The fact that the PD is on the case has hopefully diminished the threat level."

"Maybe so," Ears responded from his upstairs bedroom, "but let's not get over-confident."

Molli whispered in Peter's ear. "The boy has the ears of an elephant."

"I heard that!" Ears shouted as he trotted downstairs to the kitchen. "Guys, we're queued-up for OmniBev to play out in two days on our usual Wednesday time slot. Plus, I just finished working out the kinks from Jennifer's interview this morning."

"Kinks? Did Peter's young obsession botch her interview?"

Peter was slightly annoyed. "She did fine," he grumbled, covering his mouth.

Ears sensed Molli's sensitivity to this subject and didn't want to embellish. "It went okay."

"What did you think of the interview, Peter?" Molli taunted.

"She's a nice girl, um, woman. Clean interview. Non-toxic."

"Meaning?" Molli wondered.

"It was non-controversial," Ears reassured her. "Exactly in-line with our plan to soften the messaging on defenses to the alien threat. This was much more tech-oriented around augmentation and what her peers were doing."

"I don't recall mentioning the obelisk in any threatening context," Peter added.

"Okay, I'm sure I'll have comments after Ears finishes the edits." She pulled up a chair. "Can we talk about what's next? I'm energized after my workout today, and I want to plan out this week."

Ears grabbed a bottle of almond milk from the refrigerator and sat with them. "Two more are lined up, per our accelerated plan, and possibly a third."

"Please tell us, amigo."

"Wednesday morning is the Bard."

"The Bard. Love that name," Peter chuckled. "Can you help me again on his story?"

"He's the nano-robot, synthlife guy. And what a wonderful array of tech to cover, based on our brief conversation."

"Great, thanks. Who else?"

"Oort Cloud, though that name has nothing to do with the ring of comets in our solar system. There is an interesting cross-reference, if you think about it, to a bunch of comets and asteroids bumping into each other and fragmenting and recombining."

"Not sure I get the connection, my friend," Molli confided. "Who is he again?"

"A surgeon well-known in Boston circles who fixes the unfixable, especially the mess of off-target outcasts that black market geedee tech is creating."

"Oh, yeah, I've seen a number of feeds on the issue," she noted. "Sounds like it's a growing problem. Another good one, though, where we're not focusing on the obelisk."

"My point entirely. This guy is one of the best in Boston. He's my surgeon, if you must know, and he's helped with some of my issues."

"Issues?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, I don't speak of it much but my clipper tech has caused problems. None of this genetic stuff is perfect, even with high-grade geedee."

Molli grabbed his hand. "Ears, I never hear you complain."