Perfectible Animals: A Post Apocalyptic Technothriller (EidoGenesis Book 1) by Thomas Norwood Page B
Authors: Thomas Norwood
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madam.” The porter lifted our bag onto a low shelf and bowed before leaving.
The door closed behind him with a click and we were left in silence.
I leant down to try to kiss Annie, but she pulled away from me and walked across to the window.
“A drink?” I asked, picking up a drinks menu from the counter top.
“You have one. You know alcohol makes me sleepy during the day.”
“It’s not like you have to do anything.”
She didn’t answer.
I had hoped this break would bring us back together, give us some time to talk things over – everything that had gone unsaid between us as we focussed on work – but if Annie was going to act like this all weekend then being stuck in this room together would be difficult.
We’d promised each other we weren’t going to do any work while we were away, but already I was looking forward to getting back to the lab. With the new funding we were getting from Gendigm, the possibilities would be endless.
Then, for the first time, I wondered if helping Gendigm take over Geneus was really the right thing to do. I had been so focussed on the possibilities that the threats had hardly crossed my mind. What if they were simply trying to take over the company for their own purposes? How did I know who they really were and what they really wanted?
Annie walked over to the window, and I watched the light shining off her thick, dark hair. I longed for the way things used to be between us, when we could talk together for hours, sparking one another’s imaginations, feeding one another with ideas. I realized how totally absorbed in work I was and how my obsession with keeping Annie alive didn’t allow me to enjoy the precious time I did have with her.
All this time I’d wanted to share with her what was happening with Gendigm, but Bruno’s warning on that first day stopped me. I had no idea how much surveillance they had on me. I knew it was possible to hack into people’s coms, and although I had some heavy duty firewalls protecting mine, installed by Geneus to prevent industrial espionage, I wasn’t sure what they were capable of. Presumably if they had the money to take over Geneus they had the money for almost anything.
“Let’s go and explore,” I said to Annie, wanting to escape from this claustrophobic room.
“No. I think I’ll stay here and rest.”
“I’ll see you later then.”
I pushed the door a little harder than necessary and it closed with a bang behind me. I headed for the upper deck; I needed some space, some thinking room. Maybe I’d forced Annie into this trip. Maybe that was why she was angry with me. But it went deeper than that. She’d been like this for months. There was something else.
I walked up a steel staircase to the roof of the ship and stood against a metal railing and stared at the horizon. The sun was low and glittered off the surface of the ocean to the west. Other people were up there too: young couples in pastel colors hugging one another in the breeze, a few older people clasping the rails and staring out at the ocean, that immensity which must have reminded them of that to which they would soon return.
I wished that Annie was up there with me and that she was healthy again and that we could go back to our room together and make love together for days on end like we used to. I remembered the last real vacation we’d taken, before the flooding. We’d gone to Mexico and spent two weeks in a colonial hotel staring out from our balcony to palm trees swaying in the beach breeze. Every day we’d gone swimming and eaten seafood at the restaurants with their tables and chairs spread out on the sand.
Half an hour later, when I went back down stairs and made my way to our room, Annie was half asleep on the bed and I sat down next to her.
“Are you hungry? We should go and get something to eat?” I said.
“Okay.” She sat up.
I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but I was afraid that if we
The door closed behind him with a click and we were left in silence.
I leant down to try to kiss Annie, but she pulled away from me and walked across to the window.
“A drink?” I asked, picking up a drinks menu from the counter top.
“You have one. You know alcohol makes me sleepy during the day.”
“It’s not like you have to do anything.”
She didn’t answer.
I had hoped this break would bring us back together, give us some time to talk things over – everything that had gone unsaid between us as we focussed on work – but if Annie was going to act like this all weekend then being stuck in this room together would be difficult.
We’d promised each other we weren’t going to do any work while we were away, but already I was looking forward to getting back to the lab. With the new funding we were getting from Gendigm, the possibilities would be endless.
Then, for the first time, I wondered if helping Gendigm take over Geneus was really the right thing to do. I had been so focussed on the possibilities that the threats had hardly crossed my mind. What if they were simply trying to take over the company for their own purposes? How did I know who they really were and what they really wanted?
Annie walked over to the window, and I watched the light shining off her thick, dark hair. I longed for the way things used to be between us, when we could talk together for hours, sparking one another’s imaginations, feeding one another with ideas. I realized how totally absorbed in work I was and how my obsession with keeping Annie alive didn’t allow me to enjoy the precious time I did have with her.
All this time I’d wanted to share with her what was happening with Gendigm, but Bruno’s warning on that first day stopped me. I had no idea how much surveillance they had on me. I knew it was possible to hack into people’s coms, and although I had some heavy duty firewalls protecting mine, installed by Geneus to prevent industrial espionage, I wasn’t sure what they were capable of. Presumably if they had the money to take over Geneus they had the money for almost anything.
“Let’s go and explore,” I said to Annie, wanting to escape from this claustrophobic room.
“No. I think I’ll stay here and rest.”
“I’ll see you later then.”
I pushed the door a little harder than necessary and it closed with a bang behind me. I headed for the upper deck; I needed some space, some thinking room. Maybe I’d forced Annie into this trip. Maybe that was why she was angry with me. But it went deeper than that. She’d been like this for months. There was something else.
I walked up a steel staircase to the roof of the ship and stood against a metal railing and stared at the horizon. The sun was low and glittered off the surface of the ocean to the west. Other people were up there too: young couples in pastel colors hugging one another in the breeze, a few older people clasping the rails and staring out at the ocean, that immensity which must have reminded them of that to which they would soon return.
I wished that Annie was up there with me and that she was healthy again and that we could go back to our room together and make love together for days on end like we used to. I remembered the last real vacation we’d taken, before the flooding. We’d gone to Mexico and spent two weeks in a colonial hotel staring out from our balcony to palm trees swaying in the beach breeze. Every day we’d gone swimming and eaten seafood at the restaurants with their tables and chairs spread out on the sand.
Half an hour later, when I went back down stairs and made my way to our room, Annie was half asleep on the bed and I sat down next to her.
“Are you hungry? We should go and get something to eat?” I said.
“Okay.” She sat up.
I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but I was afraid that if we
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