Super Genius DNA

Alphonse Lofair’s breath stopped for a moment when he heard the news.

“President Campbell did what?”

“The President himself came into the interrogation room with Director Harris and took Isaiah Franklin.”

“What are you…”

Alphonse frowned.

“It seems like Campbell is siding with Ryu Young-Joon,” said Tate Lofair.

“...”

“At this point, wouldn’t it be safe to assume that Ryu Young-Joon has gathered some kind of evidence that he can use against us?”

“Evidence…”

“Campbell wouldn’t have made such a reckless move if Ryu Young-Joon didn’t have anything. Buying A-GenBio stock and running a news story was just to apply some light pressure, but I think we need to be a little more aggressive.”

Alphonse thought for a moment, stroking his chin.

“Perhaps,” he said. “Tate, Lincoln said something like this during the Civil War: ‘I have two great enemies: one is the Confederate army, and the other is financial institutions. The latter is more threatening, so I am more anxious than I was in the war.’”

“...”

Alphonse sighed.

“Some people suspect that my family assassinated Lincoln, but that was almost one hundred fifty years ago, so I don’t know the truth. But one thing for sure is that we’re not that cowardly now,” he said. “For the most part.”

Alhonse added, “And Campbell has made a huge mistake. He’s already a lame duck with no power as the re-election approaches, and he’s wasting his time on pointless things…”

Then. Alphonse made a call.

*

Mistega, now in his third term as president of the Sandinista government, doubted his ears.

“What did you say?”

“Upon examining the patients, there was a very unexpected problem. Usually, people with genetic conditions have mutations in two or three genes, but in Nicaragua, there were lots of people with mutations in hundreds and thousands of genes,” Young-Joon said.

“If you look at the contract we wrote, it states that the fifteen billion dollars includes medical services such as stem cell neural treatment for patients with incurable diseases that can be improved with chemical therapy, and customized artificial organ production services. However…”

Young-Joon pointed at the contract.

“Gene correction requires a highly sophisticated gene surgery procedure using Cas9, and then it requires verification that the corrected stem cells are working properly. As such, up to one gene correction is included in the fifteen billion dollar contract, but anything over that is an additional one hundred thousand dollars per gene.”

“...”

Mistega looked worried as he read the contract.

“So people with thousands of genetic mutations…”

“It’s going to cost a lot more than the initial contracted budget. Yes, it’s very expensive, but considering the value of our technology, it’s not an excessive charge.”

“But our government doesn’t have that kind of budget. Is there an option of not doing the treatment or converting it into national debt?”

“It’s possible, but the Nicaraguan government doesn’t have to pay the astronomical cost,” Young-Joon said.

“Pardon?”

“Charge the U.S. government. They are the reason your people have those genetic mutations.”

“What are you talking about?” Mistega asked, confused.

Young-Joon smiled and held out the data about TALENs he found—the Groom Lake Air Force Base, the TALENs used there, the viruses used for cellular delivery, and the hundreds and thousands of genes that were modified by the TALENs. Another common denominator among these patients was orphanages.

Mistega’s hands trembled as he read the documents.

“What is… Is this all real?”

“Yes, it is. And I was on the phone with President Campbell and Director Holdren the other day, and I think the U.S. government will probably concede if the Nicaraguan government sues them.”

“They will concede?”

“It is the U.S. government, but it’s not the Campbell administration that will take the hit. It happened decades ago, and they are not at fault. If Nicaragua wins this lawsuit, the Campbell administration will gain a favorable precedent to bring down their political opponent,” Young-Joon said.

Mistega had absolutely no idea what was going on.

*

“Are you suggesting we propose a presidential impeachment?”

Congressman Norton was on edge as he spoke to Alphonse Lofair on the phone.

—You may be in politics now because you were lucky enough to be included in President Bush’s pardon, but won’t you also suffer quite a bit if that scandal breaks out?”

“... Yes.”

Norton sighed. He was one of the people involved in the Iran-Contra affair. At the time, he served as colonel in the military, and he was responsible for sending the proceeds from arms sales in Iran into the Groom Lake Air Force Base. After retiring, he moved into politics and became a powerful congressman in the House.

—You have a lot of influence in the House, and Campbell has a lot of issues, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to blow one of them up and drag it into a prosecution.

Alphonse went on.

—It doesn’t matter if the impeachment doesn’t actually happen, I just want that to be all what the American media talks about. The re-election is coming up and since he’s already a lame duck, he won’t be able to hold on. It won’t be long before he collapses.

“What specific issue do you suggest attacking?”

—I don’t know. In my opinion, going after the A-GenBio Cancer Laboratory would be a good move.

Alphonse began explaining his strategy.

—It’s good timing because there are rumors accusing Ryu Young-Joon of breach of trust and taking money from the Nicaraguan government. So, attack whether the process of establishing the cancer lab was reasonable.

“There are plenty of successful biotech ventures in Silicon Valley, but giving A-GenBio, which hadn’t been fully proven, a contract within just a few months and allowing them to establish a research lab in the U.S. was excessive favoritism. Is that the argument?”

—Everyone has their dirty laundry. Something will come up if we create suspicion and get the prosecutors involved.

“I understand.”

—We just need to establish a connection between Campbell and Ryu Young-Joon. We have to attack first.

“But Mr. Lofair, if President Campbell has taken Isaiah Franklin, wouldn’t revealing her be enough to pressure us?”

—It won’t be easy because they don’t have any other objective evidence.

“So a witness isn’t enough?”

—That's right. Isaiah was tortured by the CIA, an institution directly under the president. Isn't it a bit odd for her testimony from the torture to be 'I was genetically modified at Groom Lake Air Force Base' rather than information about Palestinian rebel terrorist records? We could counterattack by questioning what kind of answer the CIA was trying to extract through torture. We could frame it as the president attacking us to seize financial power.

“I see.”

—I’m actually more bothered by Ryu Young-Joon. He’s not the kind of guy to keep quiet. And A-GenBio’s PR team put out a press release in response, and that’s about it.

Alphonse rubbed his chin.

—What is he thinking?

“Anyway, I will go ahead and pressure President Campbell.”

—Yes. I’ll make sure to contact the other congressmen.

“Thank you.”

Norton ended the phone call and left his office. He asked his secretary’s office to investigate how the U.S. government funded the creation of the A-GenBio Cancer Laboratory.

“If you see anything suspicious, tell me, no matter how small.

Then, Norton went out for three hours to take care of business. On his way back to his office, he received shocking news.

—Sir!

His secretary shouted over the phone.

“Did you find something?” Norton asked.

—No, but there’s something you should know.

“What is it?”

—The Nicaraguan government has filed a lawsuit against our government.

“A lawsuit?”

—They’re claiming damages for genetic manipulation at Groom Lake Air Force Base.

“...”

Norton’s mind went blank for a moment, and he almost hit the car in front of him.

—Sir?

“...”

—Sir, you’ve been through the Iran-Contra affair before during the Heagan administration, so I wanted to let you know just in case…

“W-Wait, stop.”

Norton felt his palms dampen with sweat.

“I have to make some calls, so call me later.”

—Wait. There’s one more thing you should know.

“What is it?”

—An Arab man named Yassir is attracting media attention right now.

“Who’s that?”

—He’s an executive of a company called Philistines, and apparently he has something to testify about Isaiah Franklin, who was kidnapped by the CIA.

“Hugh!”

Norton never knew that a person could make such a sound when truly shocked.

“O-Okay… Hang up for now…” Norton replied.

He could barely talk through the breathtaking sensation. He quickly hung up and called Alphonse Lofair.

*

“My name is Yassir, one of the executives of Philistines, a botulinum toxin manufacturer in Egypt,” Yassir said to the gathered reporters. “I know it’s been reported by the U.S. media, but our company imported a strain of botulinum from a Palestinian rebel terrorist named Isaiah Franklin when our company was starting up. We were unaware that she was a terrorist at the time and just thought she was an employee of Asham, the shipping company.”

Yassir added, “Isaiah Franklin was a very intelligent and well-educated woman. She knew more about botulinum toxin than we did, and I became very close to her as I sought her out for research advice. I also heard many serious stories from her. I am here today to expose the important issues surrounding her birth.”

Yassir finally revealed the bomb that had been hidden for the past thirty years.

“Isaiah Franklin is a genetically engineered human being who was born from a human experiment conducted on a U.S. military base thirty years ago, during the Heagan administration,” he said.

“This is not a conspiracy theory or a sci-fi novel. She was actually born through genetic engineering, and she is suffering from a severe condition called myelodysplastic syndrome because of that. This is also why she doesn’t have long to live.”

Cameras flashed all around Yassir.

“And Doctor Ryu Young-Joon has just come to the United States. As the media has revealed, he was instrumental in the arrest of Isaiah Franklin. He had the opportunity to meet her face-to-face in Saudi Arabia, and now he has come to the United States. Why do you think that is? It’s to treat Isaiah Franklin!” Yassir shouted.

“It’s understandable, given the humanitarian work Doctor Ryu has done while leading A-GenBio, and a cure could have been an important bargaining chip for a captured terrorist who is dying. But Doctor Ryu was turned away by the CIA.”

“Is that true?”

“How do you know?”

The reporters began asking questions.

“Doctor Song here knows,” Yassir said, pointing to the seat next to him.

Song Ji-Hyun flinched. She was a little confused as she sat facing the reporters’ cannon-like cameras. She had come to the U.S. with a cute idea that was full of curiosity—collecting bacteria from the outer wall of the space station—and now, she found herself in the middle of a war between big-shot monsters.

But she wanted to protect him. She knew that this time, the opponent Young-Joon was fighting was not an easy target.

“I overlapped with Doctor Ryu almost everywhere in the United States. He also told me about Isaiah Franklin. He said it might take a few weeks of experimentation to treat her, saying that creating a treatment focused on prolonging life is simple but that his goal was to cure her completely,” Song Ji-Hyun said.

“Then, he left for Nicaragua in a matter of days, not weeks. He was dejected because the CIA refused to let him visit.”

Then, Yassir intervened.

“I believe that the CIA refused to treat Isaiah Franklin because they wanted to deliberately kill her to cover up the secret of Groom Lake Air Force Base.”