From my limited vantage I counted fifteen mature tree cities, with dozens more juvenile systems being cultivated from other areas of the crater, the developing sites dammed off from the lake. As we hovered past one of these dry beds to land, I caught a glimpse of an exposed root system that resembled the tentacles of a kraken.

The marvel of these engineering feats exhilarated me—my ego basking in the knowledge that the seed which had spawned this new world had come from a simple protocol.

And then I looked at Oscar and felt shame.

We began our descent, the crushing g-force waning as our altitude diminished. I pressed myself into a sit-up, managing to regain my feet as the transport touched down onto a vacant docking portal, the framework of which was poised above the lake on pilings. Dozens of Hunter-Transports stretched end to end across the water, creating an elevated walkway that led to the entrance of the Holy City.

In the distance, a strange procession was heading our way. Fearing for Oscar, I decided I needed an ally.

I approached Transhuman Andria as her synthetic platform appendage locked down on to her assigned recharger. She gazed up at me, her human upper torso quivering, her white eye lenses now glowing crimson red.

“Andie, are you okay?” I reached for her hand—

—ABE stopping me. WARNING: TRANSHUMAN ANDRIA IS BEING RECHARGED WITH 125,000 VOLTS OF ELECTRICITY. AVOID FLESH-TO-FLESH CONTACT.

Can she hear me?

YES.

Andie, are you all right? Are you in pain?

EXISTENCE … IS … PAIN.

Adrenaline coursed through my bloodstream even as my heart ached. For whatever reason she had been created, this life-form deserved better.

And then another nightmare of synthetic biology made its appearance, and the sorrow I felt turned to fear.

Chapter 28

28

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.

—HIS HOLINESS TENZIN GYATSO, the fourteenth Dalai Lama

In retrospect, the genetic engineering involved in creating the monstrous beings nimbly advancing toward me from across the recharging docks must have been far less challenging than designing a humanoid hovercraft, and yet the interfacing of the two species into this particular brute seemed a far greater accomplishment.