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

EP. 18 - OORT CLOUD

EARS RECEIVED A CALL from the surgeon early Friday morning, and he asked to meet them at 10 a.m. With so many interviews cascaded together, the podcast team was unprepared with questions.

"We're winging this one again," Peter admitted while driving to the hospital, "but I can handle it, based on your conversation with him, Ears."

"Yes. He's a talker. The challenge will be to keep him on track."

"OmniBev ran without too much heat from the hinterlands, right?" Peter asked.

Ears nodded. "It depends on degree, I suppose. I can't judge how volatile things are when every breeze is a whirlwind. We may have broken twenty million on streams and downloads, but I'm not sure I appreciate the threats that ride along. The world is filled with crazies, a big boatload of scared nut jobs with weapons."

"Hmm," Molli observed, "I assume you are still forwarding the worst of those to our PD friends?"

"Yep."

"Good, and we're queued for having your girlfriend on today's 4 p.m. run, Peter?"

"You guys keep teasing me about this gal, and now I'm finally convinced to make good on it. When I walked her out to her car, she asked me to give her another foot rub."

"And you didn't pick up on that? Are any male hormones flowing in your veins, big guy?" Ears joked.

"You'll get no more direct hint from a woman than an invite for a massage, my boy. A woman could slap you in the face or wrap her legs around your waist with an offer, and you still wouldn't understand anything about her intentions or emotions."

"Yeah, um, I'm not so great with emotions. Born that way. But okay already, I'll do it. Just been busy."

Molli hesitated, feeling like their chiding was getting excessive. "We're not forcing you, Peter; only teasing."

Peter nodded his head and searched for a parking space. "No more garages for us, folks. Everything occurs out in the open."

They met the surgeon at an outdoor patio off a waiting room on the ninth floor of the hospital. Although fall had arrived, it was a warm day in Boston, and the patio faced to the south.

Molli donned her sunglasses as they sat at a concrete table and bench. A large blue and white metal umbrella shaded them from the sun. After introductions, Peter started the interview.

"We're so glad you could make the time to sit with us. For our internal needs, we called you 'Oort Cloud.'"

He shrugged. "Oort Cloud as in solar system?"

"Yes. Most people don't get the connection," Ears advised, "and it's a stretch, but the reference is relevant. If you visited the Oort Cloud, you'd find every shape of asteroid and comet and space debris you could ever imagine."

The doctor shook his head, then rearranged his white coat to expose his sewn-on name tag.

"I get that and agree with you, given the context. Can we use an easier name during this interview? Can you call me Bill, my first name? It doesn't matter if my colleagues recognize me, assuming they're even away from work for enough time to hear a podcast. No secrets here since you can walk into any ER these days and get an immediate eyeful of what we experience constantly."

"Great," Peter replied, anxious to get the interview moving. "Let's begin. We're visiting today with Bill, a Boston surgeon who will discuss ramifications of the multitude of new geedee technologies and related impacts on medicine and the human body. Bill, can you give us a view on how the new technologies and extensions, whether clipper, chipper, or gripper, are impacting what you and your colleagues are doing in health care and treatment?"