Project Willow

By Natalie Buske Thomas

In the beginning Serena Wilcox investigated crimes from the safety of her computer chair. She never got her hands dirty. Her life was never in danger. Today she is a detective of high tech and psychological crimes.

Her new case is Project Willow:
Imagine a world without babies. Humans are cloned to enter the world at age 18. No one grows old. Life ends at age 40. There is no diversity. Humanity is of only one race: a blend of all known racial types. There are no women. Humans have been genetically modified to be of optimal age, unified race, and one gender. There is no more poverty, no more disease. There are no more wars. There is no more violence. The world is at peace.
But something is missing. They want more. They want to live forever. No cost is too high.

Not everyone wants immortality. Some only want to be human, fully human. Can Serena find the masterminds behind the genetic research that led to genetically modified humans? Can she reverse this technology before humanity is gone forever? Or is it too late for Willow, for the future, and for Serena herself?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Natalie Buske Thomas
• Release date: Dec 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311645784

Natalie Buske Thomas

Natalie Buske Thomas is the author of the Serena Wilcox Mysteries, the Dramatic Mom comic stories, Savannah's Inky Imagination and the Thriving in a Hateful World series. She is also an oil painter and entertainer. Her paintings have been in exhibits, galleries and on tour. Please view her website to see her list of titles, pictures of her paintings, life stuff on her blog, and more!

Book preview

Preface

Serena Wilcox is an investigator for GSI, the Göbel Solutions Institute, where time travel technology is now possible. Government corruption from the past, present and future endangers Serena’s new case Project Willow. Can Serena stay one step ahead of the men of the future (the MOTF) and reverse the scientific progression that would one day create the genetically modified humans of the future?

The MOTF’s pursuit of ideal humanity has led to a one-gendered, one-race population of men ages eighteen through forty in perfect health. Through genetic modification, passionate emotional responses have been eliminated. The crime rate is statistically zero. World peace is established. But are these future humans fully human?

Willow, a genetically modified human, finds a time traveler to save the universe from a bleak existence. The fate of the future is in the hands of Serena Wilcox, former private detective, time traveler, and mother of three.

Chapter 1

Serena Wilcox, former private detective, wife, mother of three, the world’s first time-traveling detective and now a world-renowned kick-ass heroine according to a top ten list that appeared in an article she’d had framed, was listening to Willow drone on about the philosophy of life. She had underestimated how loquacious he was. She regretted that she hadn’t packed a lunch.

When Willow paused to take a breath Serena said, You have all the power and I have none. That's going to have to change if you want my help.

Willow blinked.

Like that thing you're doing with your eyes. You're stalling, thinking, and waiting me out.

Willow blinked twice. His face was as plastic as a mannequin’s head. The only detectible movement was in his eye lids.

In contrast, Serena’s thick dark eyebrows punctuated her sentences, her green eyes widened and narrowed as she spoke, and her long hair bobbed and swayed when she moved her head, animating her thoughts like the sound waves of a laugh track. She frowned with her entire face before launching into an enthusiastic lament. You have a profile of my entire life's history. You're spying on my every move. I accept that. But using digital telepathy to read my mind? That's where I draw the line. I don't have access to the same technology that you do. Unplug right now or we're done. I know you’ve found a way to flip the switch.

Willow said, I am not in defiance of your request, I am merely pragmatic. You will not trust that I have done as you requested. It is therefore irrelevant if I comply with your request or not.

It's relevant to me.

Very well. Willow moved his fingers as if he were conducting an orchestra. My link to you has been terminated.

You're right, I'm not convinced that you’ve unplugged. Trusting you is an iffy proposition at best.

I assure you that the balance of power has been equalized as per your request.

Thank you. Serena wondered if she could get a firewall installed in her brain to prevent Willow from accessing her thoughts. You say that you want to reverse the progression of genetic research, but I question your sincerity.

Willow blinked. I do not know why you have made this statement.

Serena studied his face. You really did unplug, didn't you? It's refreshing that you don't already know what I'm thinking.

It is much more efficient when I am linked. If you would permit me to reconnect I can expedite this discourse. If it was possible for Willow to appear anxious, he would have been wringing his hands. Instead, he stood rigid. His arms remained stiffly at his sides and his face was deadpan.

Serena shook her head. My test will only work if you don't already know what I'm going to say.

Very well. Begin.

She removed a chip from her camera. Can you do something with this so that it projects my images on the wall?

Willow snapped his fingers and an assistant came forward. A man who looked nearly identical to Willow– having a lean toned body, bronzed skin, caramel irises, lithe movements, symmetrical facial features, a regal nose, a habit of frequently blinking his eyes, and thick chestnut hair– stepped forward to retrieve the camera chip with a pair of surgical tweezers. He inserted the chip into a coin-sized gadget. He then directed the gadget at the wall.

Serena said, I thought you’d be able to accommodate this. Good. I want you to show you some images. Then, I want you to reconnect your telepathic link to me and find the images I showed you. Can you do that?

Willow blinked.

The first image was of a baby. The second image was of an elderly man. The third image was of a burly Latino man with a prison gang tattoo emblazoned across his chest.

While Willow was occupied with the slideshow Serena fished around in her purse in the faint hope of finding food in there. She stumbled upon a peanut butter and chocolate bar that had melted to its wrapper. The wrapper was stuck fast. She let it go. She turned her attention back to Willow.

She said, I’ll start with the last image, of the Latino man. In your society genetic engineering has created only one merged race. Powerful people had decided that the way to eradicate racism was to eradicate races. Am I getting this right?

Willow said, Your term ‘merged’ is scientifically inaccurate but I will not quibble or take time to educate you. Racism is a predominant cause of social failure, as your image demonstrates. This man is a criminal, is he not? You could not break the cycle of oppression, poverty, injustice, and victimization without the will or the means to do so. We had both the will and the means to create true equality. We have no use for prisons, while your society has filled them to maximum capacity.

Serena said, See? You’re defending the rationale behind genetic modification. That’s what I’m talking about. I’m not sure you want my help. Anyway, let’s move on to the image of the baby. Your society has genetically engineered life to begin in the lab. One thing led to another, and powerful people determined that it would be a brilliant idea to bypass childhood altogether. Why mess with babies? They are too much work, am I right? Instant fully-grown adults, that’s the way to go! Why procreate when you can clone?

Willow said, I am aware that you are mocking me through the mechanism of sarcasm. I am better equipped to detect subtleties in communication than I was upon first meeting you. However, you have no basis for ridicule. Statistics bear out that humans cannot effectively support themselves until their minds and bodies have reached full maturation. Prior to that, they are vulnerable to disease, accidents, neglect and abuse. Society cannot keep up with their high demands. Had you studied the dark truth as I have done, you would have known that child abuse is a problem far greater than the attention that has been given to it. You have molested, tortured and killed your young. You are incapable of detecting, preventing, and reversing these horrors. These tragedies continue today and must be stamped out tomorrow; you have left this crisis to my generation to resolve.

Serena had nothing to say. His point was well made. The confidence she’d had in her presentation was fraying around the edges. It seemed that the only thing she had accomplished so far was emboldening Willow to his position.

He added, All measures to prevent impregnation and viable birth had failed to rid the world of child abuse, poverty, and other societal ills that grow exponentially with each addition to the population. Can you not see that the only viable solution was complete population control? We must maintain optimal population size to protect the future of the planet. It is the only way to prevent and avert humanitarian crisis.

Serena said, In your world, there would be no me. Your society has no women. How can you look me in the eyes and tell me that I shouldn’t exist?

Willow’s eyes locked onto Serena’s. One gender is all that is necessary. I must backtrack, as you have not allowed me ample time to complete my previous argument. I have one more point about optimal aging. Mandating a life expectancy from the beginning of life to the expiration of it is a valid solution to population control. Nearly ninety percent of all of societies’ ills have been resolved through genetic engineering.

Serena said, Willow, I’m here because you begged us to help you and your people. But I don’t see you really wanting things to change. You just now defended the genetic modification of humans once again. Do you want my help or not?

Willow ignored her question. Societal efficiency dictates that we not live beyond the optimal age range for physical vitality. When the elderly and the infirm overtake society’s means to care for them, mental health issues exist on all fronts—from disorders that afflict the elderly, such as dementia, to the psychological pressures put upon the young who are burdened with caring for an aging population. The afflictions of the elderly and the stress upon the young are eliminated through termination before decline. Furthermore, psychological stress due to the fear of aging and death has been eliminated. When death is a painless and known entity, one is quite capable of accepting one’s fate.

Serena said, "Being human is to fear death. Having an awareness of dying is how we’re truly alive. It’s true that no one wants to get old. I sure didn’t want to hit the big four-oh. But the older we get, the more accepting of it we are, at least most of us are. I can’t imagine if my life had been terminated at age forty! I was only just then starting to get the hang of this thing we call life. I’m still not quite there. I hope to settle more into my groove when I’m fifty."

Willow blinked.

She sighed. "It’s a process, Willow. Humanity is fragile, flawed, and it involves a natural decline. It all matters. You’re trying to be human without really being human and it doesn’t work that way. Do you know what I mean by this?"

Willow carried on as if Serena hadn’t spoken. You could not sustain the elderly population. You lacked the resources, especially when advanced technology extended life expectancy decades past natural intention. Age selection is a logical solution to avoid a humanitarian crisis among the weak and feeble who can no longer contribute to society. You chose to create death panels to ration elderly care—in which the wealthy received care and the impoverished did not.

Serena showed Willow the palms of her hands. Whoa! I have nothing to do with politics or the master plans of the rich and powerful. I don’t agree with health care rationing.

By ‘you’ I mean ‘your generation and the one that existed before you’.

Then by all means, continue your rant.

Willow took Serena literally. He resumed speaking as if he hadn’t been interrupted. "How can you justify playing God? You insinuate that we have not been humane, but it is you who have been extraordinarily cruel. We have prevented the possibility of an elderly population, thus eliminating the colossal humanitarian crisis that you could not remedy. We have done this without the inherent cruelty of so-called death panels. While you reacted, we have prevented. While you have harmed, we have healed."

Serena said, What have you healed? You’ve proactively killed people by preventing them from existing.

Willow blinked. That statement is beyond ignorant. I choose not to address it.

Serena said, Being human is to be vulnerable. It’s about seeing beauty in the weak and the small. It’s about trusting someone who is different from you. It’s about taking a leap of faith into something unknown. It’s about experiencing a spiritual connection. Well, I can’t explain it in words. I want you to see it for yourself. Even though her confidence in her presentation had been nearly snuffed out, she flipped back to the image of the baby, then back to the image of the Latino.

She said, You now have my permission to restore your link with me. Rummage through my brain. Find the images I showed you, including the one of the elderly man. These are people I know. Experience my memories through me. If you still can’t understand what I’m talking about after you’ve seen what I’ve seen, I can’t help you.

Willow stood with his head tilted to one side.

So you’re doing it now then? You’re in my head?

Willow stood unyielding with his head tilted for several minutes. He murmured incoherently on