2081. In a sinister world where human survival hinges on biotechnology, an oblivious sixteen-year-old possesses the one code to undo it all. Can she survive the devious world designed to eliminate anything - anyone - out of the ordinary before it's...
Don't ask me about the date. I don't know the date. All I know is, it's December. The year is almost at an end, and Nate and I have been with our 'mother' for over twenty days. Our training is going eh-okay. I mean, Shah's figured out my nanites can hook into other nanites and breach their system's code. Then it uses that bridge to rewrite their code into the one I carry — a virulent effect of sorts. It corrupts their data and rewrites it, so a virus, but a nice virus, which restores free will!
How cool is that? I'm a designer virus — in a designer human body. Pretty groovy, as Light likes to say. I like the sound of groovy.
Shah calls it the Mother Codex while Granddad insists we call it 'The God of all Codex'. He is a silly goose now and then, but he tries to explain to me how I work sometimes. I tell him, "Give up, old man," and he doesn't like that one bit.
Just point me in the direction and tell me what to do. No point in explaining the ABCs of it all, but I'm glad I'm not alone in this science-heavy mission.
Nate is doing well. He aces everything they teach him. I'm not surprised. That boy has always been a sponge. Turns out, it's his brain. His brain is freaking unique. Lights up like a Christmas tree under observation. Shah figured somehow, his particular gene-splicing allowed him to tap into more of his brain. Hence, the freakish photographic information sponge it is. Now, I don't feel as bad, being the dumb-dumb next to him. He has a super brain. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.
Me? Well, let's see. How am I unique? Apparently, my body has more stem cells than normal, and they are super-fast and in sync with my bionanite. My nanites are part biological and part nanotech, which they have never managed before — it explains my fast healing and ductility when it comes to my ability to spread my code, not to mention the slight bulletproofing.
When I first learnt of this, I wanted to punch the old man in the face, if he still had a face. He had no way of knowing I was 'bulletproof', so I could have died that night shielding Nate from gunfire. His excuse? He thought Nate was the latest prototype — not me — hence he needed to safeguard their property and saviour of humanity. In their haste to leave their old medico-tech lab, he couldn't remember which embryo growing nicely in surrogates was the latest tech infusion. The 'boy' or the 'girl'.
It was a serious face-palm moment. I'm sure I bruised my forehead attempting it.
As for Dev, the DNA test came back positive. He is Dr Shah's brother, the one she thought had died during the nuke blasts. Turns out, somehow he survived the camp, ended up on the same river bank from which Hill's people rescued Nate and I. It's highly probable Hill's men rescued Dev. And Hill somehow turned him into a soldier — likely after he recovered — without his consent. With the world crumbling around her, she needed the men that survived to secure the base and break off from the government.
Today, Dev left us. He is going back to Hill. I tried to tell him to stay, stay with us. He is my uncle, after all — feels odd to say that. But he refused the offer. Said there wasn't much he could do here once Nate and I slip back into the Hive, into our old world. He wanted to go back to Hill and 'keep an eye' on her.
It feels odd that just days ago I almost killed him, and now I'm worried. As I write this, I know I'll probably never see him again. May the new Codex save him for whatever it is worth.
New Codex, same prayer. Silly, right?
Anyway, I have a Combat & Arms training with Light in five, and the man hates later comers. Nay, loathes latecomers, and I am always 'late' even if I get there on the dot.
According to him, on the dot is late. You must be early. The early bird catches the worms, he is fond of saying. I kind of want to ask, 'why would I want to catch worms?'
"Mia? Are you ready?" Nate knocks on my door and pops his buzz-cut, military-styled head through the gap. He is channelling Light without realising, and it's funny to watch.
"Unless you are happy to do twenty laps around the deck again?" he snorts in laughter.
I rush to my feet. No, I will not be happy doing twenty laps of the damn deck, thank you very much. "Yeah. Coming."
As soon as I'm out the door, I bolt for it. "The last one to get there owes the other their chocolate pudding!"
I cackle as I take the lead. I usually win these because I am faster — thanks to a more advanced tech than his. Nate hates losing his choc pudding to me.
I hear his footsteps reverberating down the corridor behind me, and in these small everyday moments, I don't feel like I'm a piece in a machine created to mimic humans in every way except one. I am part-machine, down to my core, and I'm here to restore humanity to its former self. It's a shit feeling most days, unless I'm racing Nate for his precious pudding!
In these small moments — I feel I have every right to be here. That I am human regardless of what is under my skin, and I am supposed to be here with Nate — that we have a right to live our lives too.
Unless he kills me for nabbing his chocolate pudding thrice in a row first. Which is likely. I'm winning again.
~ The End ~
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A/N: That's it. That concludes 'The God Codex'.
After umming and ahhing on whether I was even going to do the ONC2020, to then deciding on expanding it to qualify for the Wattys2021, what a journey this has been.
It's an unconventional story and I hope I've done it justice -- that it's managed to entertain you throughout. Thank you for reading Mia's adventure and for encouraging me; for leaving me with your lovely votes/comments/feedback. I greatly appreciate them all.
In the near future, I plan on drafting the sequel, The God Codex: Survival Mode. I hope you will join me in that journey too when I upload it.
The God Codex: Survival Mode [COMING SOON- Watch this space.]
