Becoming

CHAPTER 37 – II

The Few had been genetically engineering their offspring for generations. At first they merely tweaked around the edges, attempting to eliminate various congenital diseases. With the elimination of ever more maladies, the procedures became ever more aggressive. No longer eliminating the harmful (and less desirable), they began to accentuate the useful (desirable). What exactly was useful and desirable was up for debate, of course, but The Few were generally allowed to do as they saw fit. Each generation surpassed its predecessor tenfold. These few among The Few were becoming the greatest – or at least most capable – humans to ever live.

Despite the rapid progress, something was missing. Change at the generational level was too slow. They began experimenting on living adults, which yielded mixed results. Testing on children was banned after some terrible accidents. The Few had grand aspirations and they needed greater progress, faster.

And then the utterly unforeseen happened…A member of The Few, while outside the confines of the compound trading medicine for material, found a near perfect sphere. It was the purest white that she could imagine in nature and its density was astounding, given its relatively small size. She had found Irrimmium.

The strange and unknown metal was brought back to the scientific minds within the compound, and even these genetically modified and enhanced intellects had a hard time figuring out what to make of it. Eventually their brightest of the bright constructed a machine they believed would tap into the sphere’s latent energy. The experiment was so successful that it fried the machinery and incapacitated most of the surrounding facility. It all needed to be rebuilt, but the scientists knew they were onto something. With a few modifications, everything was rebuilt and the experiment conducted anew. Success! The chemical and computational power that was now afforded The Few allowed them to alter the DNA of living adults, yielding instantaneous results. What’s more, cloning was now possible in a more efficient manner than before, with the clones taking on the newest genetic desirability in a matter of minutes. The originals would then find themselves an inferior version to their own copy. This presented many moral dilemmas and the greatest test to philosophy to date. A solution would eventually be reached.

Rough-Smooth
Behold: one thousand-sided polygon
To the naked eye, it’s simply a sphere
To the philosopher, it is revered
Esotericism’s chiliagon