Transcript of the Senate Ethical Genetics Hearing - January 21, 2431

Senator Perez: "To sum up my opening remarks, I'm sure this hearing will uncover LockGe

The corporations acted beyond their mandate and violated ethical, religious, and moral issues in their contracts with the US Armed Forces. When my time is up, I give you back the right to speak,"

Warren: Thank you, Senator. Today, we're here with LockGe

Jeremy Whelan, CEO and President, agreed to be in front of us about LockGe

The work testifies on behalf of the armed forces, dare I say, on behalf of the American people. Mr. Whelan, I'm sure you have a prepared statement, right?"

Mr. Whelan: "Thank you, Warren, and thank you, members of this committee, for taking the time to speak with me today. I hope that, through today's testimony, I can demonstrate that General Locke's work is in the best interests of the Army and the Marine Corps, and in the best interests of taxpayers and citizens of this great country. LockGe

State-of-the-art genetic modification programs provide the armed forces with a strategic and tactical advantage on the modern battlefield and help protect U.S. interests and American lives around the globe. Volunteers who have participated in our projects become faster, stronger, and more capable. ”

Senator Herring: "That LockGe."

And what about the deaths of dozens of volunteers who tried to cover up? Or those survivors of failed experiments who will spend the rest of their lives like cripples?"

Small mallet bangs

Warren: "Senator, I must warn you that this seat is not yours. You will have the opportunity to ask questions. I'm sorry, Mr. Whelan, if you could continue. ”

Mr. Whelan: "Yes, there have been some unfortunate accidents that have resulted in casualties. LockGe

Take immediate steps to revise and improve our policies and procedures, and work to ensure that such incidents are part of the past. These include large payments to affected families—"

Senator Perez: "Hush money."

Mr. Whelan: "Fair legal and open solutions, and significant philanthropic donations that provide valuable medical care to the less fortunate people with genetic diseases." But back to my point, LockGe

work to make America safer and will continue to work on behalf of Americans in the future. We are patriots, senators, and we see our work on genetics as the future of a nascent America, ready to regain its position as the world's unparalleled superpower. ”

When the first ships began to appear at the Morbius Gate, my outpost began to darken. During this time, mining operations were blocked and transmissions were stopped, transport drones landed and stayed in place, and non-essential external construction was stopped. I want to minimize collateral damage to my actions. About half of my outposts have also been darkened, but for more important strategic reasons.

"Ah, you shut all the doors. I wanted to tell you the truth, but you can't listen to the verdict. When the blindfold bleeds, what justice is there?"

Yes. I want to ignore Gerry's message, really, really. He's in a small probe, far from the action, and after a few more rounds will be close to Earth's orbit. Even if he hits the Earth, he can't do anything. Most of it will burn up on re-entry, and the rest is more likely to hit the high seas.

The first ship to pass through the Möbius Gate is being bombarded by my endless coil cannons. The ship was different from the tree-like structure that Fael had sent us, it was more rectangular and had some lumps on it, apparently always a weapons bay. Its armor withstood the heavy artillery fire for a few minutes, and I found traces of gas from shells penetrating the hull. After thirty minutes of shelling, it drifted aimlessly, and under the weight of the fierce attack, its course changed.

When the first group arrived, there was another pause. I suspect a forward scout who wants to sneak into this system and prepare to broadcast telemetry live when other fleets arrive. The boat went out at a decent speed, but not fast enough.

I was beginning to wonder if it was a false alarm, when the real arrival began. A huge battleship appeared, twice the size of my pit viper. It looked like it was all armor, a huge sphere of metal, mass, and engine. Immediately after it, three more appeared. They shrugged off the super-high-velocity shells that were constantly flying towards them, forming a formation nearly half a kilometer square. It held out a lot of my artillery fire. I could see that there were numerous dimples on their armor-covered faces, and some places glowing with blazing light due to the kinetic energy of the impact. I had hoped for a better return on my artillery investment.

But the two warships simply pushed forward and rushed directly into the line of fire. Just as they were doing so, four more identical armored ships appeared. They lined up behind the existing armored ships. Then the floodgates opened.

Hundreds of ships began to pour into the system, some moving towards the armored ship, others moving away, all trying to stay in the clean corridor created by the armored ship. Some stumbled out of the safe zone, their efforts shattered by coil gun fire and destroyed or damaged in a matter of minutes. I'm not the first opponent of the Orion Arms Trading Company to bombard the Morbius Gate with fire. I hate smart enemies.

I may not be the first, but I suspect I could be the longest bombardment. The armored ships in the first row looked in poor condition. They stopped moving forward, but moved to one side in a largely coordinated manner, which expanded the width of the security zone to a full kilometer. Unfortunately for me, this gave the ships they were protecting a clear passage into the system to start pouring into the system outside my barrage. The first armored ships were shattered under endless artillery fire, and several ships that tried to escape from behind them were also blown to pieces. The exit lane is blocked.

I noticed that there were a few more armored boats lining up behind the second row, but at least the steady stream of boats coming in through the gate seemed to be slowing down. Excluding the ships I've already destroyed, I counted 1577 ships in total, each at least as big as my Viper-class battleship. I have 12 of them.

The second row of armored boats moved over and reopened the hole where my coil cannon fired. This group of armored ships was not in such a bad condition as the first ones, leaving a long enough passage for the remaining ships to escape. Even then, the armored boat remained in place.

Finally two ships appeared, both of which were larger than any other ship that had passed so far. They all rushed forward, slipped out of the safe zone, and into the galaxy, but here their paths diverged. Just as the entire fleet began to line up and move towards the origin, the last two ships moved in different directions.

The first left the battlefield in a vertical route, but was stationed a few hundred kilometers from the Morbius Gate. The ship has no obvious weapons, it is a rectangular sphere, and if you stretch the egg a little, you will see that it resembles an egg. It immediately began sending radio signals to me in an alien language I didn't understand. A few minutes later, the broadcast was changed to another language. It keeps looping in a language I don't understand. Eventually, it began to be broadcast in Swahili. Of all the languages on earth, why they chose this language, I can't even begin to guess.

"This is an observer ship for the Regional Planning and Zoning Committee. Orion Arms Trading has made a formal claim for ownership and is exercising it. If you wish to dispute the claim, please send Form 13-11 at this frequency. If you are unable to repel the Orion Arms Trading Company's Star Systems security forces, your dispute will be automatically rejected. To Obse

ve

Boat u

Any action taken by Latable will also result in your dispute being denied. ”

The broadcast then switched to Croatian. I was distracted, leaving one to observe the incoming fleet while I handled the observation boats. The enemy's fleet is accelerating, but early calculations show that the time of possible arrival is 10-13 days. The last enemy ship went in the other direction. Its course is clear. It's heading towards Earth, probably to end what they started when the asteroid hit Earth 12 years ago.

Until then, this won't be a problem. But there are humans out there, and I want them to live. If you let the remaining humans be killed by alien spaceships, it will be difficult to save humanity. The enemy ships are fast, but my battleships are faster. Unfortunately, now that the Gate of Morbius is between the origin and Earth, it will be a tight competition to see who gets there first. I couldn't find an ideal track to get my ships there first, but I could at least get them there quickly. I gave Sakura a warning. I don't want to waste a new seed ship, but it's worth it if the crash becomes the last case. Sakura can use several transport drones to keep her irreplaceable genetic profile in orbit.

"Nikolai, you're ignoring me, are you?" It's cruel, especially since I left you such a great gift! Gerry whispered.

"We have another problem," Sakura said. "In addition to the incoming ships, we've found more humans."

"What? Where?" I said to Sakura.

"I found a big refuge in China. They... In a way... Communication. Most of the time, they ask for immediate help. And, I find, um, I guess you can call it a shelter. It's in Newfoundland, where there are a few hundred Canadians. They are also making demands. ”

"Isn't this a refuge?" What do they want?"

"Well, no. Looks like an old mine. They wanted to know if we had a beer. ”

I laughed to myself. "Well, calm down the Chinese and do what you can to help them stabilize their residence. Did the general write back to us?"

I heard Sakura's grimace on the radio. "Not yet. They accepted replacement parts and a new stove, but had to take it completely apart first. They would have been lucky if they had repaired the stove in time. Better hope their luck lasts a few more days. ”

"Why should they — forget it." Paranoia. They were worried that we were trying to smuggle something into their shelter. I shrugged. I have bigger concerns.

At the same time, I was observing the actions of the enemy fleet and talking to Sakura, and I began to engage Gerry and the observer ship.

"Gerry, I thought we were done. You killed a good friend of mine," I said.

"I know! His soul was so delicious that I had to save a bite to eat. It shatters like water and smells...... Well.... Very good. Do you want to hear how he screams when I cut out his head? So beautiful. ”

I felt my anger rising. I haven't been so angry since Gerry attacked me, and this crazy NI knows exactly how to me off. I wanted to vent and promise to let him die a miserable death.

"What are you playing tricks on, Gerry?" You don't have resources and you'll eventually run out of fuel. Orbital mechanics are unforgiving. I'll catch up with you. I said, try to control your anger and stimulate him even further. I'm not sure what I'm saying is important. I think that madman was just trying to find someone to talk to.

"I figured it out. Profit is not a prophet. Prophets drive profits. Too bad, really, he lied because I had such high expectations. ”

Gerry's mania is clearly getting worse. Some of the strange words inserted into his ramblings sounded mechanical, like a signal less than a second long. Is he trying to warn me to watch out for himself? Or is he warning me to beware of others?

"Too bad, you're crazy to understand what you're messing up," I said. "But actually, you didn't leave any impact. You have made us lose Agrippa, but we are stronger than before. I'm stronger than ever. ”

"Ah, but you still haven't seen my gift. Best of all, it's not even a gift I'm going to give! Master file with folder name LGN-372291 "

I immediately found the folder and marked it as a dangerous file. My security subroutine started to analyze, and I closed the connection with Gerry and the focus line. I have more important things to do.

While I was talking to Gerry, I radioed a message to the "untranslatable observation ship". It doesn't seem to matter what language the Observer broadcasts, because human language has no similar name. Never mind. It's bureaucratic red tape.

"Untranslatable, I'm Nikolai, the leader of the Origin. I would like to dispute the claim made by Orion Arms Trading Company. Please send us the necessary forms and I will fill them out and send them back. ”

"Very good, I'll send it, but ...... Bulgarian said. Obviously, when I called them, they were broadcasting on that station. It doesn't matter to me. It must have been some kind of computer translation, but the voice sounded very human, except that it said the name of the ship. The Orion arms trading company certainly collected a lot more data than their brief visit had revealed. As the voice spoke, it sent me a simple message, followed by a more complex one. I forwarded it to Zia and instructed him to explain it so that it could be understood.

"The first transmission is a basic communication protocol that tells us how to read the second. The second is a 73-page table," Zia said a few microseconds later.

It's easy. I filled out the form and sent it back.

The message continues: "...... But you have to submit it before the end of the war, oh, you've sent it back. Well, it's done. ”

After a few minutes of silence, the aliens broadcast to me again. "Are you...... Homo sapiens?" The voice asked.

"No, I'm Nikolai informant." I replied.

"I guess it's man-made, right?" The other party replied. "Unusual, but not unheard of. You made a mistake on the form. ”

"Why?"

"You list Homo sapiens as the master of this system, but you list 'Origin' as a security defense force and the commander as 'Nikolai 1.01'. I don't see any Homo sapiens ships under 'Local Systems Officer'. ”

"They don't," I said. "All the ships here belong to me."

"I see." The voice said suspiciously. It sounds like he's trying to get my way, but I didn't understand the rules in the first place. "These flying machines, do they use gravity to maneuver?"

"Yes," I said.

"Ah, good! The aliens were much happier. "To be the owner of a star system, you have to have a gravity-controlled spacecraft. So, you Homo sapiens are not qualified, but you are qualified. I can simply change the "System Owner" to your species name and resubmit. If you have Homo sapiens living in your system, you can list them as 'conquered indigenous populations', 'symbiotic partners', 'mutant subspecies', or 'protected species'. ”

I really don't like this alien and the whole system. Do they have rules in place so that non-space races can be legally trampled on? It does seem so.

"Well, then, I guess you can classify my species as ape-man. Please change Homo sapiens to "protected species". Any other questions with the form?"

"No, it looks like everything is in order. I wish you all the best in your fight!"

"Thank you for your help." I lied. "Can you pass on all the laws, rules and regulations that apply to this area of space?"

"Okay...... Wait a minute...... Okay, it's going to be a big transfer. "A huge signal came and I passed it directly to Zia.

"Zia, we need a space lawyer. Start a new NI-12 and let them analyze the laws and see if there is anything in our favor. ”

"Understood," she said.

Seconds later, I was contacted by a new signal from the Zia Research Lab. A male voice said, "Nikolai, ask them for Form 209-B, 'Application to Protect Endangered Species.'" By the way, I'm Wilfred, your new lawyer. Thank you for letting me go online. ”

The transmission continues"...... You need a little time to revise. We are unable to provide legal advice. ”

"That's it." I teleported. "Please transmit Form 209-B."

There was silence for a long time, and then he said: "I didn't even know there was such a rule." Well, well, here's the form, but the form won't be processed until the current dispute is over. Verification is necessary before endangered status can be determined. If it is determined that the species was on the verge of extinction before the conflict, you can apply for compensation from the offending party. ”

It's great that we can get resources we don't need as a reward for the extinction of the species we're trying to protect. Red tape seems to be prevalent. I'm fed up with them. I sent the full form and closed the link.

It was a very busy ten minutes.