The Amber Project

Chapter 4

Archer's Personal Logs

Play Audio File 06

Subtitled: Initial Testing

Recorded August 22, 2316

ARCHER: I can't believe the level of stupidity I've had to deal with on this project. Just because I'm twenty-nine, it doesn't mean I don't know what I'm talking about. And yet that's the perception around here. My ideas are constantly ignored, not because they're flawed, but because of my youth. My vigor. My passion.

I went to Doctor Mayhew yesterday afternoon with an idea, but he rejected it outright. Oh, yes, he nodded along the same way he always does, but I could tell he wasn't listening, and I knew what the answer would be even before he opened his mouth. What an arrogant fool. I swear he's already turning senile. And I used to think so highly of him.

I suppose it doesn't matter. What truly matters is that I record what I know to be the solution. I need to get it all out. I need to have proof that it was mine first, just in case the old fool steals my idea or if something happens to me. I need the record to show the truth.

So here we go:

Regarding compound R2-16V, commonly known as Variant, the airborne catalyst, I, Doctor William Archer, present my findings and hypothesis.

As the record shows, the solution originally proposed was to modify the cell membranes to block the foreign bodies before they had the chance to infect the cells. Despite all attempts, the results were always the same. Moments after the initial injections, the germ-lines of the embryos appeared to be stable, but a few hours later, the accelerated replication of the cells would ensue. As the cells began to replicate, they would change, sometimes drastically, until eventually deterioration would set in. This process consistently resulted in the death of the cells. Before even a full day, the human cells became completely dead, while the catalyst remained intact, ready to move on to the next organic compound it could find.

These experiments were being conducted under the presumption that the solution was to strengthen and modify the cell membranes, blocking the catalyst before it could even enter. It was a theory based on centuries of traditional science. And it failed. Why? Because deep down in the back of our minds, we are fundamentally afraid of change.

But Nature operates on change, on adaptability. If we cannot adapt, we cannot progress. And if we cannot progress, we will die. If we can accept this fundamental truth, we can move forward.

First, we must accept that the cell membranes are going to be invaded, regardless of any modifications that we make. After hundreds of different scenarios, this has always happened. What I propose, instead, is a forced cellular adaptation, a complete redesign of the cells. The catalyst's only goal is to modify the organic tissue, but if we beat it to the punch, if we change the cells so that they've already modified—a variation that is both Variant and human—the catalyst will move right through the tissue, ignoring it completely. It will essentially look at the cells, see that its work has already been done, and move on.

The end result of this will be a new race, a new breed of human, but it will be one capable of survival. We'll be able to breathe the air again; we'll be able to walk the Earth again. The next stage of human evolution is before us.

We just have to get out of our own way.

End Audio File

April 09, 2341