Ameliora

New York 2029

NEW YORK, USA

2029

The bloodied and emaciated children leaned against the wall weakly, in the pictures. Their eyes were hollowed and empty, or angry and feral. Except for one. That single boy stood straight and proud, grinning at the camera. His teeth were perfectly white and straight, their hair shining and skin clear and smooth, despite their age- middle teens maybe. His eyes were bright and friendly. His build was more lean than muscular- a sure sign of a fast runner. Under any other circumstances his shot could have been a picture from an elite modeling agency.

Underneath the picture were numbers- scores out of 100 from a simple intelligence test that took nothing into account except previous education. The scores ranged from low twenties to high 70s, but no one scored above 78. Except for the smiling one. He scored a perfect 100.

He was perfectly healthy. He was perfectly beautiful. He was perfectly intelligent. He was perfect.

“I’d like to bring your attention to Subject 84.” The speaker was a young man with neatly combed brown hair. His name was Dr. Darling. Dr. Darling pressed a button and the hundred pictures were replaced with two. On the left was an ordinary boy of mixed descent- Asian and European probably- with a skinny build, but there was still that leanness about him that suggested he was a fast runner. The number underneath was an 82. The second picture was of the perfect boy.

“As you see, the two pictures are of the same boy, Subject 84,” Dr. Darling said. “The picture on the left is S84 before the Ameliora Project. The picture on the right is after. I think you can see the physical differences.

“His intellectual ability jumped by 16%. But he was quite smart to begin with. Now we also tested his speed and endurance. Before the Project he was able to run 1500 metres in 5:43 minutes. That’s quite good for someone his age, but after the Project he was able to run 1500m- which is around a mile and a half- in 2:43 minutes. That’s a world record. Would you like to see?”

The screen was filled with a clear video of Subject 84- before the Project- along with three other boys of decent health at the starting line of a race track.

A gunshot. The boys started to run.

Subject 84 ran at a decent pace, but it was nothing remarkable.

“This is after the Project.”

Only the perfect boy was on the track this time. The other two were probably dead or too sick to run.

S84 crouched into a starting position. His legs were noticeably more muscular, as were his arms. His breathing was controlled. He was grinning.

Gunshot.

The boy shot off and circled the track three and a half times. His feet were a blur. When he stopped, there was no sheen of sweat covering his forehead. His chest was not rising up and down with ragged breathing. He didn’t even take an offered water bottle.

“Any questions?” Dr. Darling regarded the large room, which held around twenty occupants. Not one person uttered a syllable. Except for one.

“How do we know that video was not sped up?” The speaker was Midori Siama. Dr. Darling widened his eyes at her. She was supposed to be on his side.

“I’d get Subject 84 to do a live performance but right now he is under strict observation,” Dr. Darling said without skipping a beat nonetheless.

“Does that mean you’re experimenting on the thing? You’ve already perfected it.” The use of the word ‘it’ was hard to ignore.

“He underwent the Project two weeks ago,” Dr. Darling said in a measured voice, “we need to be absolutely sure that he is in perfect health before unleashing him out into the world. There’s no telling what might happen. He wasn’t the most healthy boy prior to the Project, and he was going through puberty as well. Any other questions?” Dr. Darling looked pointedly away from Midori Siama.

No one spoke this time.