The Owls

Prologue

Brussels, 10:34, 15th October 2033.

"We are gathered here today to vote on a matter that has been at the heart of mankinds drive for medical advancement since the dawn of time. We have been given glimpses of what could happen but no assurances have been made that this serum will infact grant long life without side effects. We have been given the word and the test study results of Dr Frank Ian Stein an expert in the fields of Molecular Biology and Blood Synthetic Research at the Global Medicine and Cure Research Facility in New Jersey, that the side effects are minimal, short term and are easy to treat with simple antibiotics and painkillers if they arise, which in his study was one in every two hundred and forty subjects. His study has been across almost five thousand subjects at various ages, ethnical backgrounds, blood types and no singluar variable stood out. With this in mind we must vote at least eighty percent in favour to allow this to become widely available."

The vast room for a moment broke its silence as those eagerly listening began to discuss what they had heard. There was still more to be said as the speaker waited for he chatter to disperse.

"We must also take in to account Dr Steins previous work, his Synthetic Blood Donations now means that thirty seven percent of the worlds population now have Type S+ Blood making them immune to blood clots, all blood based cancers and diseases. This also means that these three hundred and seventy million people are likely to out live others based on the mortality rates of blood affected deaths over the last ten years increasing substantially. As well as his life changing Synthetic Blood Dr Stein has also given us the Bio-Plastic Organs, which have reduced organ affected deaths globally by a massive sixty nine percent in the last five years."

The room erupted again with chatter, it was public knowledge of the success Dr Stein had gained because of his research and application of his ground breaking life changing designs. The BP Organ List was also public knowledge and many of the older members of the gathered council had their names upon the list. Several of them more than a few times. But Dr Stein had made it clear that this information should be made public, however those with Type S+ Blood were not expected to be placed on the list, they had the option to remain anonymous unless they already had or would later have a Bio-Plastic Organ Transplant.

"Please Ladies and Gentlemen may I continue?"

The room fell silent except for the door clicking shut.

"We must not look just at the success of Dr Stein's work, we must also look to the moral and viability of this action. The Population of the World took a heart shattering drop in the wake of the E-Virus and this cowardice act has left us bitter and full of hatred, but would our world be better off with us living longer. You have all received and I hope read the vast, and I make no apology for the amount of reading that has been required, outline for what we are voting on. Please remember that both delegates from each Country must Vote, junior delegate votes are worth one in favor while senior delegate votes count as three in favor. You will have ten minutes to consider and cast your vote starting now."

Except for a few muffled whispers the room was almost silent for every minute of the time allowed. In fact the majority of votes had been cast within the first two minutes, it took the junior delegate of Tunisa nine minutes and forty three seconds to finally decide and once his vote was in the result would be final.

The electronic voting system required both a finger print and iris scan to confirm the vote so there was no chance of the votes being tampered with. Every one of the three hundred and twelve represented countries had their Vote revealed and confirmed as the counting began. Germany had been first to cast their votes, both delegates agreed that the LLS Drug would be given to all new born children born after the 1st January 2035. The Albanian delegates voted in favor of a Global dispensary of the drug from the 1st of January 2035, so all those alive now and after would receive the drug. Surprisingly the delegates of England, France, Spain, Wales, West Poland and Croatia voted in favor of the Child proposal. Russia and Australia voted for no action to be taken and to have the drug destroyed. China voted for a Global Issue and then Italy and the Vatican voted to destroy the drug. Once the final vote from Tunisa had been revealed the outcome had already been long decided. With a total of eighty six percent of the vote all children born on and after the 1st January 2035 would receive the LLS Drug and have a much longer productive life than those before them.