The first victim

“Randle, come quick! We made a breakthrough!” Hiroto grabbed Randle just before he entered a Security Council meeting, earning him the confused stares of four councilors.

“If you’ll excuse me, Councilors, I’ll be back soon.” Randle closed the door and faced the Doctor. “This better be good, Hiroto.”

“It is, can’t you tell?” The Doctor leaned his head down, showing his luscious scalp with nary a white hair in sight. “We finally cracked the code! We can give orders to the Pathogen to rewrite the body however we want!”

“I see you made yourself younger…”

“And you too, as well!” The Doctor raised the screen of his phone to act as a mirror. The crow’s feet around Randle’s eyes had disappeared. The lanky businessman touched his face in disbelief.

“When did you?”

“Just now. The Pathogen works fast, doesn’t it?”

“…How did you cajole the virus into obeying you?”

“The Pathogen always had some communication system with itself that we didn’t understand. A way to send commands and coordinate the changes it makes to its host without damaging it. We sort of… placed ourselves at the top of the chain of its command.”

“And by ourselves, you mean us as in humans or us specifically?”

“Us specifically, at least for the time being. We only managed to program the Pathogen to obey me and Aida. Well, to obey people with my or Aida’s DNA to be precise, but we plan to expand it to “

Randal grabbed Hiroto’s shoulder, pulled him to the corner of the hallway, and stuck his neck out to check if anyone was listening. “Listen, Doctor, this is great and all, but it might not be the best idea to give this gift to the whole of humanity. I think it’s best to limit the selection to a chosen few.”

“Why? People could change their bodies however they wanted! Reduce wrinkles, eliminate scars, grow hair, or stop it from growing... and that’s only the cosmetic applications, health-wise-“

“Yes, but as you can see, you also can control other people’s pathogens. Don’t you see how that can be a problem as well? What if you could do something more nefarious than removing wrinkles?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, that Pathogen has so far been unable to do anything harmful to its host. I think it could do it even if specifically ordered to. It’s against its nature.”

“Let’s hope you are right. But such a sweeping change can’t be made in secret. We would have to get permission from the government.”

“Well, that’s where you come in, Mr. Councilor…”

---

“So, you can control this…Pathogen, as you call it, simply by willing into action?”

Hiroto and Aida stood in the middle of the council chamber, both dressed in formal wear. Beads of sweat rolled across their foreheads as the light shone above like a spotlight. Hiroto wrung his hands as he examined his audience.

The whole Security Council sat across the room. Randle, a serious-looking blonde woman, an imposing bald man, an octogenarian woman with white hair, and a serious-looking man with glasses and a long brown beard...

Randle had told Hiroto all of their names, personalities, and even favorite hobbies to help him, but… the Doctor was too nervous to remember any of them. Politics wasn’t his forte.

The man with the beard removed his glasses, his eyes piercing the scientist's bravado. “And you are ok with playing god?”

“What, … no, that is not our intenti-”

“But it is the result,” the old councilor interrupted. “And while your intentions might be good, you can’t just change the human race on a whim. The consequences could be catastrophic-“

“I assure Councilor, the Pathogen is harmless, I’ve used myself-“

“Yes, illegally and without Council oversight.”

“That’s not fair, I-“

As Hiroto began shaking, Aida placed her hand on his shoulders and gently pushed him back to take the stage.

“Councilors, please, I understand your concern about our new technology, but you are ignoring the upside. We can cure practically every major disease left, mold each of our bodies to become as perfect as possible.”

“A statue might look pretty, perfect even, but that doesn’t mean it has any real humanity inside it. I don’t think the monsters your Pathogen will mold would have either.”

“That’s not-“

Aida stepped in front of the increasingly upset Hiroto.

“As you said, humanity comes from inside, not from the shape of our bodies. Despite their lanky appearance, I hope everyone here agrees that people born on asteroids are as human as us. On that point, this Pathogen would also let us expand to previously inhabitable worlds.”

“And condemn our mutant colonists to live in sub-human conditions in those inhospitable rocks.”

“The point of the Pathogen is precisely that these mutations don’t have to be permanent. If those worlds are truly that awful, our colonies can leave and return to Earth without issue.”

“Which brings us back to the start. We are better off without that affront to nature.”

“Affront to nature?! Why-“

“Please, dear, let me handle this. You are missing the forest for the trees, Councilor. This technology, this marvel, could be what’s needed to finally reach Utopia. It would be a New Dawn for humanity, spearheaded by the sage advice of your very council.”

“Nice sales pitch, Doctor. I can see why you convinced the greediest among us to join your cause,” the bearded councilman spared Randle a glare. “But not me.”

“Listen, sweetie,” the old councilor said, trying to put some honey into the bitter words she was about to say. “I know you have the best of intentions with this… thing, but the fact remains that humanity no longer needs any miracle cures. Hunger, war, and poverty are practically gone from the planet. We are living as close to a Utopia as we can already.”

“But not everyone! Not every disease has been eradicated, not every-“

“As close to everyone as realistically possible. As nice as it would be to help the suffering 3%, it is not worth the risk you are proposing. I can tell your intentions are honest when you promise us heaven, but I’m afraid your path might instead take us to hell. I won’t support this motion.”

“Neither will I. If I had it my way, I would throw you lot into prison and burn your precious Pathogen!”

Despite coming from a councilor, it was a bit of an empty threat. Like the old council, the new one worked with a veto system. Thanks to the two obstinate councilors, Hiroto’s research would be unable to go forward, but by the same token, Randle would not let them get arrested.

Nonetheless, Hiroto was shaking, seething with anger at the prospect of stopping his life’s work. Everything getting undone because of those two idiots.

The Doctor’s head began pulsing. There was something like a… dark shadow creeping around the edge of his increasingly blurry vision. Randle had broken his silence and was leaping to his defense, but it was hard to tell what he was saying. All the talk sounded like blabbering to his ringing ears.

A couple of sounds did come loud and clear. A pained shriek, and the calls for an ambulance. The old Councilor had fallen to the floor. Her bearded companion was likewise drawing heavy breaths, clutching his chest.

As the paramedics rushed in, something clicked inside Hiroto. He came back to reality to make a dreadful realization.

He had done that. Him and the Pathogen.