The Zen Gene (29 page)

When Mrs. Knight turned to look at Tyler he was white from blood loss. He was holding his hand over the gushing wound on his leg but his pallor and the amount of blood on the floor told her he was close to bleeding out. She slipped in the blood when she went to him and fell hard beside him. She slapped his weakened hand away from the wound and grabbed and squeezed his leg with both hands in a brutal raw-force effort to shut off the flow.

A woman opened the washroom door and Mrs. Knight turned and screamed at her to get help. When she turned back to look at Tyler’s face she was astonished to see him laughing. Her pants were around her ankles when she fell and he thought that was funny. He was still laughing when his heart stopped.

Making up The Truth

33 months later

Andi put her book down and glanced at Lee. He was at the kitchen table writing. She was curled up on the sofa with a blanket reading when she noticed him holding his face in his hands.

“How’s it coming?” she said.

He looked up and gave her a wan smile.

“Okay I guess.”

She could see by his face he was having trouble. It could not be easy putting the events of the past few years into words. “Read me what you have so far,” she said.

He smiled at her and cleared his throat and began.

“My name is Lee Mann and I am a scientist and teacher most recently at the University of British Columbia. You were to be addressed this evening by Lyle Greef, but he has asked me to speak in his place. He believes the message I bring is of vital importance for humanity and one which must be heard.

It is an honour to address the members of the World Health Organization.

As you are aware the nations of the world have all experienced a dramatic reduction in armed conflict and indeed deadly violence of all kinds. This, along with the wholesale dismantling of military forces worldwide, has been a surprising but welcome change. I’m happy to report that the trend towards non-violence continues to spread across the planet.

We have seen progressive measures taken in countries such as the United States where the President has shown vision and courage by converting military forces into domestic agents of change. US soldiers are no longer engaged in killing or destroying they are rebuilding and repairing the aging infrastructure of their great nation. These and other changes in nations herald the beginning of a new era for humankind.

I am here this evening to explain how and why this fundamental shift in human behaviour has come about.

There has been much speculation and many explanations posited by the various interest groups, be they religious, political, military, or academic, but I am here to tell you all of their theories are incorrect.

The planet-wide reduction in violence we are witnessing is the result of a virus-born agent which was created in a lab for the express purpose of inflicting peace upon humanity. This man-made agent, which some are calling ‘the Zen Gene,’ is the source of this change.

The Zen Gene was first detected in Canadian soldiers stationed in Afghanistan approximately three years ago. I was tasked by the Canadian Military to lead a group of scientists to study it and determine its origin and how to stop it. We were unable to discover who created it but we have learned much about how it works. When we charted its progress we determined that, at its present rate of growth, it would take sixteen years to infect 180,000 people.

This number is significant because it is the number of positive exposures required to ensure the vector virus will self-sustain. After several months of study we realized this would not happen. The Zen Gene was clearly designed to be self-limiting.

I informed the Canadian Government and military leaders that the virus appeared to have been purposely designed in such a way it would naturally stop and no longer be a threat within six to eight months of first occurrence and therefore creating an anti-virus or cure was unnecessary.

It was only later revealed to me the reason the Canadian Military wanted an inoculation against the Zen Gene. Along with their Western and NATO Allies, the military was planning to infect non-western armies with the virus while inoculating our troops against its effects. This, I was assured, would create a super army with which peace and stability could be maintained indefinitely the world over. It was at this point our group of scientists realized what would happen to humanity if this plan were to succeed.

We agreed to begin work on altering its genetic structure so the Zen Gene would no longer be self-limiting and I am happy to announce we were successful in creating an unlimited version of the gene while also eliminating a dangerous side-effect which caused hyper-violence in some people. Unfortunately the new unlimited version of the gene accidently escaped from our lab eighteen months ago and you have seen its effects. Our version was a high-bred of the Zen Gene and unfortunately, at least for those who wanted to control it, we were unable to develop an anti-virus or inoculant before it escaped from our lab.

I feel certain that those people who once made their living selling or employing the tools of death and violence will judge us harshly for our failure to contain the Zen Gene and create an antidote. This is, of course, a most bitter irony given what they had planned for it.

The majority of humanity will see the new gene for what it is; the unconditional release of humankind from the tyranny of armed conflict. Those who profited by war have no case to be made. We have, after all, achieved the outcome they have always claimed they were after.

Peace for all people on earth. We simply took the additional precaution of ensuring a peaceful future by not allowing the power of the new gene to be consolidated and delivered into the hands of the few rich and powerful people who claim, as they have always claimed, entitlement over others. It is my pleasure to report to you today the rate of exposure has surpassed the one million mark and growth projections indicate the human species will be completely free of violent conflict by the year 2032.”

He looked at Andi to see what she thought and she had tears in her eyes.

“It’s very good. I don’t think you realize how powerful your message is,” she said.

“Okay. You like what I have so far but do you think they will believe the part about a new Zen Gene? And you’ll notice I didn’t mention anything about the Androgen Effect,” he said.

Andi looked thoughtful before she smiled and said, “The new Zen Jean is very cute like her grandpa, and the projections indicate the Androgen Effect will take at least one generation before it becomes a significant population balance issue. That’s at least twenty years, and like you said, the number of live male births has been on the decline for decades.”

“That decline was only seen in environmentally compromised industrialized countries like ours. The lack of male births will become obvious a lot sooner in less developed parts of the world,” he said.

To his amazement Andi laughed and fought to control her laughter long enough to say,

“Honey you worry too much. Someday it may have an effect on the population but it will be nothing compared to what’s going to happen when the world learns the Zen Gene does not affect females.

The End

After words

Orly Airport

The woman was tall and handsomely dressed in an elegant blue sari. In the grey pall cast by the windows her dress was a singular point of beauty and the electric-coloured material attracted the toddler. She could run amazingly well but when walking had the uncertain teetering gait of most two year olds. With a wide grin of exploration and high colour on her cheeks she haltingly steered her way towards the electric blue dress.

When the tug at her skirt came it did not startle the woman because it was such a familiar feeling. She was a mother. She turned to see who it was and smiled at the adorable girl with wonderful bright eyes looking up at her.

The woman knew it was not generally done these days, picking up someone else’s child, but convention could not override instinct. Like moms everywhere seeing a tiny baby plopping her butt down onto a dirty public floor caused this automatic response and she bent over and scooped her up.

“And who are you little one?” she asked. Her voice was warm and redolent with the lilt and music of the East.

The baby giggled and gurgled in delightful response enchanting the woman all the more. When she looked around the waiting area to see if she could spot the child’s parents she saw one solitary man sitting near a pink travel stroller absorbed by the laptop on his knees. He was the only person in view who might be her parent though he looked too young to be a father. She headed towards him carrying the child. Before she reached him a young woman came hurrying up to her smiling.

“Oh thank you, “she said.

She came from the direction of the washrooms and the woman smiled knowingly. She remembered her own husband doing a poor job of minding their children when they were toddlers.

“She is such a little wanderer,” Zen said.

She glanced at the young man when she spoke and older woman smiled knowingly as she handed her the child.

“I hope she hasn’t mussed your dress. It’s beautiful,” she said.

“No, she is a perfect little angel,” the woman said with a smile clearly taken with the baby. The woman paused to listen as the first boarding call for her flight to India was announced.

“I’m going to my niece’s wedding in Bangalore,” she said and smiled. They chatted for a few moments and as the woman turned to leave to board her flight Zen asked her if it was to be a large wedding.

“Oh, yes,” the woman said. “Over six hundred family and guests have been invited. My brother-in-law is very well situated in the movie industry.”

She watched the woman walk away until the baby started to fuss to be put down again. She was at that age. She wanted to explore her world and nothing was going to stop her. She put her down, steadying her until she gained her balance while she struggled impatiently to be released. Zen watched her daughter trundle off to examine a bank of black vinyl seats in front of the floor to ceiling windows which looked out upon the runways. She kept her eye on the baby as she sat down.

“Where is Bangalore?” she said.

He made a few keystrokes on the laptop and turned it to show her a map of the Indian subcontinent.

“I think Jeani Beani just saved us a trip to India. Wasn’t India on the primary list?” she said.

He nodded.

“I will send an IM to Dr. Mann.”

She stood up and reached out her hand to help him stand. He was unsteady; he suffered a mild stroke when his heart was restarted and it affected his gait. They were supposed to fly to Zurich but their flight was delayed and now they needed to find a room for the night.

“Why do you call your dad Dr. Mann?”

Tyler looked at her, “That’s his name.”