Carvelle had been pacing furiously up and down the light perforated palace that he called his office. The office was set suspended over the giga-structure that was the Centre for Administration. Hundreds of thousands of people toiled in the city below. Ascension might have been massive, but Carvelle was even larger.
‘So what you mean to say is that he won’t capitulate,’ he spat. Holly nodded nervously, she thought it best to make no sound. ‘He does realise how much money we are throwing at him, doesn’t he?’ Again she nodded, uncertain what to say. ‘Let me have a little think about this. Let me have a little think.’
He sat down on his throne. The huge chair still not quite dwarfing his presence. Holly cringed. Carvelle almost never sat down. He hated being still. If he was sitting down now then the problem was obviously a big one.
‘Then we have no choice now.’ His hands spread themselves out on the table, palms facing up. ‘We will have to radically alter the project. Something about the Promethean Layer must be stopping him from thinking properly. We can’t have any other test subjects denying our requests.’
Holly could almost feel what was coming. ‘Now Carvelle, this is just one subject. Others might see things a little differently.’
‘No,’ he interjected. ‘All they want is power. That is all anyone ever wants. Can’t they for once see what we are trying to accomplish here? For the first time in human history we have the genuine chance to evolve. This genetic revolution will be the final testament to our passion. We are saving humanity from itself. Nothing can stand in the way of that.’ He was standing again now. He looked dangerous.
‘I agree, absolutely. I just don’t think that now is the time to do anything radical. Let patient-zero sleep on it. He will see the light tomorrow.’ She realised she was stammering now. It couldn’t end up like this, it just couldn’t. She was not about to sacrifice any more of her morality to achieve this aim. It was too much. The cost too great.
Carvelle seemed to grow larger as he drew in breathe. ‘Oh don’t be a fool Holly. You always were too sentimental. You of all people should realise that some people have to be sacrificed in the pursuit of our future. What is the salvation of our entire species worth to you?’
‘A lot, but Carvelle there are some lines that we simply cannot cross.’
‘Cross? There are no lines left to cross. Our species is at crisis point. Ascension is the only future. You know that, you’ve always known that. The United World and the Alliance will go to war. It won’t be long now. And what then? What happens to us when our parent nations die? It will be an extinction event. It will be unlike anything our species has ever seen.’
‘Oh god Carvelle, don’t talk like that. We can find another way.’
‘Really? Do you remember what it was like on Hercula? It won’t be much longer before that happens everywhere. Do you really think that there is going to be anything left out there?’ He paused to let his questions take their toll on her. ‘No, there will be nothing left. But just imagine. Just imagine if we can build this future today. Imagine we can save all of those lives. Imagine a world where there is no war. Imagine a world which has forgotten the meaning of the words: scarcity, resources, and commerce. Can we really let a small group of people get in the way of that? Well, can we?’
‘No, no. We can’t.’ She sighed in an effort to make Carvelle think she was defeated, but she was determined not to let this happen.
‘Good. Now take a look at this.’ He threw a pad at her.
‘What am I looking at?’ she asked.
‘Alliance warships. They are heading towards the United World as we speak. In a matter of days they are going to reach core United World territories. There’s enough of them there to wipe out the United World. That is of course, not before the United World’s retaliation wipes them out at the same time. After that automated defence responses will take care of the few survivors there will be.’
Holly almost collapsed, her breathe caught in her throat. ‘Oh my god. Oh my god. Why aren’t we warning them?’
‘I thought you were supposed to be a scientist,’ Carvelle asserted with venom.
‘The signal won’t reach them in time.’ Holly gasped realising the problem. Terror built within her. There it was, the end of world.
‘When they are gone Holly,’ he spoke very softly and very kindly, ‘all that will be left is us.’
‘Then we have to do it, don’t we? There are no options anymore.’
‘That is why I want you to start a new Equinox trail. I want you to take the willing volunteers and wipe out their personalities. Then you can expose them to the virus, and then we will have ascension.’
‘Of course, I will begin immediately, there is no point in waiting anymore.’ Carvelle turned away from her. He motioned her towards the door. It was when she got to the door that Carvelle called out to her, almost as if in the way of an afterthought.
‘Oh Holly,’ she turned back to face him. ‘Dispose of patient-zero, he will only become a problem.’