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Chapters (58)
  1. DEDICATION
  2. PART 1
  3. CHAPTER ONE
  4. CHAPTER TWO
  5. CHAPTER THREE
  6. CHAPTER FOUR
  7. CHAPTER FIVE
  8. CHAPTER SIX
  9. CHAPTER SEVEN
  10. CHAPTER EIGHT
  11. CHAPTER NINE
  12. CHAPTER TEN
  13. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  14. CHAPTER TWELVE
  15. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  16. PART 2
  17. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  21. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  22. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY
  34. PART 3
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. PART 4
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  55. CHAPTER FIFTY
  56. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  57. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  58. ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

“Naturally,” said Vale. He glanced at Samm, still stiff in his chair, then looked back at Kira. “It was my background in biotechnology that made the cure possible.”

Kira had to force herself not to leap up out of her chair—a biotechnologist from ParaGen? Was he part of the Trust? She was bursting with questions, but wasn’t sure yet how to approach him: If she just came out and asked about the Partials or the expiration date or the Failsafe or anything else, would he answer her? Would he clam up? Would he fly into a rage? She decided to keep him talking, to get a read on his personality. “You built microbes?”

“Microbes that ate waste products,” he said, practically giddy to be discussing the topic. “Radiation. Heavy metals. Poisonous chemicals. All very different things, but all, in their own way, a perfect energy source for an organism designed to use it. A couple of government contracts, a few years for the microbes to work their magic, and all of a sudden the poor, bedraggled Rocky Flats was a Garden of Eden. A success like that leads to more contracts, bigger projects, bigger checks; a few more successes and you can start writing your own checks, and one of them turned out to be Rocky Flats itself, a vast tract of perfect real estate that nobody else would ever want. Our karmic reward for saving it, and still the microbes churn away in the soil, holding back the toxic wasteland and maintaining our little corner of paradise.”

He loves to talk about this stuff, thought Kira. Should I push him a little further? She cleared her throat. “So you were part of the research team that created new organisms.”

“That I am,” said Vale. He glanced at Samm again, still as cold and silent as a statue. Kira wondered what was wrong, but Vale looked back at her with a kind smile. “I’m a geneticist, to the extent that any genetics work is even possible these days. The cure I have is workable, for now, but I need something that works like those microbes—something that lives under the surface and spreads itself out and protects us without any guidance or intervention. Something that passes from mother to child.”