The first chapter of my upcoming book , The Converted, as promised.
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The Converted
Chapter 1
“Wake up, sleepyhead!”
Mom’s words resounded through my sleeping ears, shattering my pleasant dreams. I opened my eyes and sat up. My bed tempted me to fall back asleep but Father’s firm voice broke its hypnotic spell. “Annette Cherise, you get out of that bed!”
“Yes, Father…” I stretched and yawned. Through the window, it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day.
I ran down to the river. I looked down at my reflection. A foxy face stared back. I winked at myself and stepped in. I shivered. The water was freezing this morning! So, I jumped in, bathed myself, and returned the bank. I shook myself, water flying in all directions. Running back to the house, my mind raced with all the trouble I could get into.
Mandy, my best friend, passed me. I stopped, turned around and shouted,
“Hey girl! I’m going fishing at Apple Creek today, if you want to come. Ray’s going to be there!”
She blushed, “Okay, I’ll be at your house after breakfast.”
“That sounds good, see you then.” I turned and headed home.
Breakfast consisted of Berry-Nut Surprise, Mom’s specialty and my favorite. Since I was a vegetarian, odd for someone like me, Mom only made meat for Father and herself. I ate enthusiastically, and then hurried off for a wonderful day.
• • •
He had never run so fast in his life. His heart pounding against his chest, he raced along the white corridors as if the Devil was behind him. In his hands, he clutched a manila envelope. As he rounded a corner, he crashed into someone. Stepping back, he shook his head and apologized, not acknowledging who they were. Then, he returned to his previous speed and started up the stairwell. Six stories to go, and the fate of the world in his hands, he ran, determined to reach his destination posthaste. As he reached the sixth floor, he stopped for a second, breathing heavily. He wiped his brow and walked through the door.
He had never been on this floor before. A security guard sat at a desk to his left. Directly ahead, double doors blocked the way. These doors were not like the rest of the facilities’ doors. These were solid metal doors, soundproofed and locked with a thumbprint sensor and eye scanner.
When he was finished observing, he turned to the security guard and said,
“My name is Dr. Samuel Nicholson, and I have urgent information for the head scientist.”
The guard, in a rough, scratchy voice replied, “I know who you are. I was told to let you in when you arrived.”
“Thank you,” he said and proceeded to the thumbprint sensor. He placed his thumb in the indicated place and a red light scanned his thumb. Then, he pressed his face to a scanner and a green light, moving from left to right, scanned his retinas. A female voice came from nowhere. “Dr. Samuel Nicholson, access granted.” A green light shone, then the door swung open. Turning, he took a deep breath and walked confidently through the doors, not knowing what to expect.
Dr. Ilea Schwarzkopf, the head scientist at the facility, looked like she had not slept in days. She was standing at the head of a conference table filled with government officials and scientists. The table, strewn with coffee cups, documents, and folders, was a terrible mess. There was a screen projection of a diagram on the wall behind her. On the left side of the diagram was a picture of the different layers of the earth. The center depicted the Earth and the Ozone with gigantic holes in it. The Earth, cut in half, showed the core with a chemical formula inside it. There was an arrow pointing to the right side, where there were small particles emanating from a central point. Dr. Schwarzkopf was speaking in a subtle Russian accent,
“So, what has headquarters issued about this incident?”
A government official spoke up, “Nothing yet, Doctor. They did not want to create widespread panic.”
“Very tactical, General Fuhrer,” she replied, “Now, does anyone have any suggestions as to how we go about this…” She stopped, noticing Dr. Nicholson walking in the door.
“Ah, Dr. Nicholson, I believe you have the official test results from our Japanese team. Please bring them here.” She extended her hand.
He straightened his white jacket and strode confidently up to the front of the room. Placing the envelope in her hand, he stepped back.
She opened the envelope and took out five pieces of paper. She read each one, a growing look of dismay on her face.
“Oh no,” she gasped, tears welling in her eyes. “I have terrible news. The report states that the core is slowly becoming unstable to sustain life. If nothing is done to stop the holes in the Ozone from increasing, the Earth will lose its atmosphere and, ultimately, implode.”
The room was silent for a minute. No one moved or said a word. The news fell like an atomic bomb. All of a sudden, the room burst into life. People were shouting, crying, arguing and reading reports retrieved from the conference table. Among the chaos, Dr. Schwarzkopf was trying to regain control of the situation. She finally resorted to shouting,
“Please, please! Can we all settle down and get some rationality?”
Every single person in the room stopped, as if frozen. All heads turned toward the small woman, now standing on the table. She waited until all was silent before speaking again. When she did speak, she did so with a smooth, calming tone, as if trying not only to quiet everyone else, but also to reassure herself.
“Now, as you all know, this is grave news. We need to keep our wits about us in this most dire hour in the history of our world. We need a plan, something concrete, so that when the news does get out about this, we can keep worldwide panic to a minimum. So, what is the next step? We must either find a way to evacuate the entire planet in three years, or an alternative solution. Now does anyone have any suggestions?”
The door swung wide open. A small Japanese man in a lab coat and glasses emerged in the room. He stopped, blinked, then walked up to Dr. Schwarzkopf. He cleared his throat and, with a heavy Japanese accent, said,
“My name is Dr. Wu. I am from the Japanese Control Center. I apologize for barging in, but the satellite sent information on a planet that can sustain life. It is about 5 light years away…”
The room exploded with cheers. He stared at them, bewildered for a moment. Then, regaining his composure, he spoke again,
“There is a drawback. We sent a team to this new planet and they discovered a terrible flaw. The planet may be able to sustain life, but it cannot sustain human life. We did more tests and found that animals can live on this planet with no abnormalities. Humans had too many mutations. Therefore, what we propose is to transplant human brains and genes into animals so that our species can somewhat go on. It is radical, but we only have three years until Earth will be no more.”
Dr. Schwarzkopf blinked, then removed her glasses and proceeded to clean them on her lab coat sleeve. Returning them to her face, she cleared her throat and looked across the table at the dismayed faces looking to her for hope. She placed her hands on the table and said,
“Okay, this is a feasible solution. All in favor of animal transplants, raise your hands now.” Before she finished the last syllable, every hand in the room was in the air. She counted the hands, then said,
“It is unanimous. So, let’s begin.”
The Converted
Chapter 1
“Wake up, sleepyhead!”
Mom’s words resounded through my sleeping ears, shattering my pleasant dreams. I opened my eyes and sat up. My bed tempted me to fall back asleep but Father’s firm voice broke its hypnotic spell. “Annette Cherise, you get out of that bed!”
“Yes, Father…” I stretched and yawned. Through the window, it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day.
I ran down to the river. I looked down at my reflection. A foxy face stared back. I winked at myself and stepped in. I shivered. The water was freezing this morning! So, I jumped in, bathed myself, and returned the bank. I shook myself, water flying in all directions. Running back to the house, my mind raced with all the trouble I could get into.
Mandy, my best friend, passed me. I stopped, turned around and shouted,
“Hey girl! I’m going fishing at Apple Creek today, if you want to come. Ray’s going to be there!”
She blushed, “Okay, I’ll be at your house after breakfast.”
“That sounds good, see you then.” I turned and headed home.
Breakfast consisted of Berry-Nut Surprise, Mom’s specialty and my favorite. Since I was a vegetarian, odd for someone like me, Mom only made meat for Father and herself. I ate enthusiastically, and then hurried off for a wonderful day.
• • •
He had never run so fast in his life. His heart pounding against his chest, he raced along the white corridors as if the Devil was behind him. In his hands, he clutched a manila envelope. As he rounded a corner, he crashed into someone. Stepping back, he shook his head and apologized, not acknowledging who they were. Then, he returned to his previous speed and started up the stairwell. Six stories to go, and the fate of the world in his hands, he ran, determined to reach his destination posthaste. As he reached the sixth floor, he stopped for a second, breathing heavily. He wiped his brow and walked through the door.
He had never been on this floor before. A security guard sat at a desk to his left. Directly ahead, double doors blocked the way. These doors were not like the rest of the facilities’ doors. These were solid metal doors, soundproofed and locked with a thumbprint sensor and eye scanner.
When he was finished observing, he turned to the security guard and said,
“My name is Dr. Samuel Nicholson, and I have urgent information for the head scientist.”
The guard, in a rough, scratchy voice replied, “I know who you are. I was told to let you in when you arrived.”
“Thank you,” he said and proceeded to the thumbprint sensor. He placed his thumb in the indicated place and a red light scanned his thumb. Then, he pressed his face to a scanner and a green light, moving from left to right, scanned his retinas. A female voice came from nowhere. “Dr. Samuel Nicholson, access granted.” A green light shone, then the door swung open. Turning, he took a deep breath and walked confidently through the doors, not knowing what to expect.
Dr. Ilea Schwarzkopf, the head scientist at the facility, looked like she had not slept in days. She was standing at the head of a conference table filled with government officials and scientists. The table, strewn with coffee cups, documents, and folders, was a terrible mess. There was a screen projection of a diagram on the wall behind her. On the left side of the diagram was a picture of the different layers of the earth. The center depicted the Earth and the Ozone with gigantic holes in it. The Earth, cut in half, showed the core with a chemical formula inside it. There was an arrow pointing to the right side, where there were small particles emanating from a central point. Dr. Schwarzkopf was speaking in a subtle Russian accent,
“So, what has headquarters issued about this incident?”
A government official spoke up, “Nothing yet, Doctor. They did not want to create widespread panic.”
“Very tactical, General Fuhrer,” she replied, “Now, does anyone have any suggestions as to how we go about this…” She stopped, noticing Dr. Nicholson walking in the door.
“Ah, Dr. Nicholson, I believe you have the official test results from our Japanese team. Please bring them here.” She extended her hand.
He straightened his white jacket and strode confidently up to the front of the room. Placing the envelope in her hand, he stepped back.
She opened the envelope and took out five pieces of paper. She read each one, a growing look of dismay on her face.
“Oh no,” she gasped, tears welling in her eyes. “I have terrible news. The report states that the core is slowly becoming unstable to sustain life. If nothing is done to stop the holes in the Ozone from increasing, the Earth will lose its atmosphere and, ultimately, implode.”
The room was silent for a minute. No one moved or said a word. The news fell like an atomic bomb. All of a sudden, the room burst into life. People were shouting, crying, arguing and reading reports retrieved from the conference table. Among the chaos, Dr. Schwarzkopf was trying to regain control of the situation. She finally resorted to shouting,
“Please, please! Can we all settle down and get some rationality?”
Every single person in the room stopped, as if frozen. All heads turned toward the small woman, now standing on the table. She waited until all was silent before speaking again. When she did speak, she did so with a smooth, calming tone, as if trying not only to quiet everyone else, but also to reassure herself.
“Now, as you all know, this is grave news. We need to keep our wits about us in this most dire hour in the history of our world. We need a plan, something concrete, so that when the news does get out about this, we can keep worldwide panic to a minimum. So, what is the next step? We must either find a way to evacuate the entire planet in three years, or an alternative solution. Now does anyone have any suggestions?”
The door swung wide open. A small Japanese man in a lab coat and glasses emerged in the room. He stopped, blinked, then walked up to Dr. Schwarzkopf. He cleared his throat and, with a heavy Japanese accent, said,
“My name is Dr. Wu. I am from the Japanese Control Center. I apologize for barging in, but the satellite sent information on a planet that can sustain life. It is about 5 light years away…”
The room exploded with cheers. He stared at them, bewildered for a moment. Then, regaining his composure, he spoke again,
“There is a drawback. We sent a team to this new planet and they discovered a terrible flaw. The planet may be able to sustain life, but it cannot sustain human life. We did more tests and found that animals can live on this planet with no abnormalities. Humans had too many mutations. Therefore, what we propose is to transplant human brains and genes into animals so that our species can somewhat go on. It is radical, but we only have three years until Earth will be no more.”
Dr. Schwarzkopf blinked, then removed her glasses and proceeded to clean them on her lab coat sleeve. Returning them to her face, she cleared her throat and looked across the table at the dismayed faces looking to her for hope. She placed her hands on the table and said,
“Okay, this is a feasible solution. All in favor of animal transplants, raise your hands now.” Before she finished the last syllable, every hand in the room was in the air. She counted the hands, then said,
“It is unanimous. So, let’s begin.”
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