A Chosen Destiny (The Samantha Project Series #3) by Stephanie Karpinske

and his eyes became droopy. “But the material we took from Samantha and Erik isn’t enough. We need the baby.”  
    His head collapsed on the table as he passed out. The video feed went to static and the sound cut off.  
    I punched Erik in the arm.
    “What did you do that for?”  
    “I had to make sure you were real. I thought this might have been one of my dreams. Or nightmares.”
    “It’s real. I heard the whole thing.”
    “Erik, you were supposed to be listening to Drew’s thoughts.”
    “He hardly had any thoughts. He was too drunk to think. Although I did catch something at the end there.”
    “What was it?”
    “That material he said he took from us? He was talking about our reproductive material. They could make a baby, Sam. Our baby.”

CHAPTER NINE
Brittany
    “Are you sure you heard him right, Erik? Drew was really drunk.”
    “I heard his thoughts loud and clear. He said reproductive material, as in your eggs, my sperm—”
    “Yes, stop! I know what reproductive material is. But how did they get that?”
    “They had us for weeks, Sam. They knocked us out when we first got there. For a whole day, remember? They could have done anything to us.”
    “I think I might throw up. This just keeps getting worse. And did you hear their plan to get rid of people?”
    “Leaving only a billion people on the planet? Yeah. That’ll never work. That’s just stupid.”
    “Why wouldn’t it work? They sterilize almost the entire population by feeding them something they eat every day? Nobody will even suspect anything. GlobalLife and whoever else is involved will just use their power to get the media to blame the whole thing on air pollution or obesity or some other made-up reason.” I shivered just considering the possibility.
    “I’m going to get Dave and my dad. We need to tell them what we heard.”
    Erik left, then came back a few minutes later with Jack and Dave.  
    “According to Drew, the project isn’t going so well,” I said.  
    Erik and I told Jack and Dave what we’d overheard at Drew’s dinner.
    “Sounds like they’re finally starting to realize that those genes will never work in people,” Jack said. “The software is simply a bandage. It tries to fix all the problems caused by the alien DNA so the body will accept it, but the software can only do so much.”
    “But, Dad, those same genes are in Sam and me. Are you saying that our bodies will eventually reject them, too?”
    “No. Your bodies were able to adapt to the enhanced genes as you were growing. But you two are very rare. Think of all those kids who died before you were born. Their bodies immediately rejected the genes, even with the software. And if we put those genes in a million more people, I bet only a handful would survive.”  
    “If the technology is that fragile, why is GlobalLife going forward with it?” I asked.
    Jack shook his head in disgust. “They’ve made promises. They have investors. They’re taking risks and hoping it will work. And now it sounds like they’ve given up trying to insert the original alien DNA into people and are focusing on using the type of hybrid DNA that’s formed in the two of you.”
    “So did Drew say if they’ve done anything with your DNA, Sam?” Dave asked. “Have they tried it in anyone yet?”
    “No, but Drew said the researchers don’t think my enhanced genes will work in people.”
    “But they think our combined DNA will work,” Erik added, “which is why they want us to have a baby. But apparently, they don’t need us to do that. They already got what they needed when we were at GlobalLife.”
    Dave looked at Jack. “I don’t know why I didn’t consider this before, Jack. Of course they would take reproductive material from them. In case there wasn’t a pregnancy.”
    “Yes, but they’d need to wait to see if a baby could even survive with those genes before putting that version of the DNA in other people. And they can’t put an embryo with