Over the next several months, Richard remembered watching the main research facility undergo a massive rebuild, converting it into what could only be described as a large-scale production facility. Shortly after that, his reassignment came through, and he moved to the research lab off base that was meant to be his punishment.
The following year, Richard periodically used his security clearance to log onto the Malmstrom’s secure website to upload his work. More often than not, there were postings on the project’s update page focusing on Dr. Stone’s program. Richard remembered one article that claimed the initial test subjects out-performed their peers in every measurable way. Another posting a few months later announced that DARPA was granted Congressional approval to expand the augmentation program to all active combat personnel. Other updates indicated that larvae production had increased production a hundred-fold, and the military had farmed out the implantation procedure to its network of VA hospitals. Shortly after that notice, Richard remembered seeing a memo from one of the VA hospitals reporting they had received a batch of larvae without the certificate of final processing. The hospital was concerned because they had already used some of the larvae and didn’t know if they should notify the soldiers that it was given to or not. A follow up memo from DARPA instructed the hospital to discard the remaining batch in question, and indicated that they had notified the implanted soldiers of the mistake. Looking back, Richard realized that the incident was the event horizon for the downfall of humanity. The implants were not benign, and a new species had just been born.
The first warning sign that something had gone wrong in the enhancement program came several months later. Richard spotted an unusual correspondence between one of DARPA’s project leads and a field officer. The officer reported that a small group of enhanced soldiers under his command had lost the will to fight. He went on to say that they seemed to be suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and were not responding to conventional disciplinary action. The officer requested that the soldiers be reassigned to protect the enhancement program’s spotless record. DARPA’s response indicated that the soldiers would be rotated out, and the field officer was assured he would receive fresh replacements by the end of the month. Around the same timeframe, Richard recalled seeing a requisition for the hiring of additional production personnel at the Malmstrom facility. It wasn’t much of a leap to figure out that DARPA had reassigned the problem soldiers there, so they would be out of the spotlight. It was a move that changed the course of history. The soldiers that received bad implants were actually taken over by the parasite. What happened next was speculation, but Richard figured that those soldiers purposefully skipped the sterilization step, and all future larvae were capable of host domination. When that scenario first occurred to Richard a year, a quick search of the internet revealed that nature was full of examples of host-dominating parasites. One of the most notorious was an Amazonian fungus called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. Its spores would attach to the exoskeletons of unsuspecting ants and then hatch. Then the fungus would secrete compounds into the ant’s circulatory system that would modify its behavior. The ‘zombie ant’ would abandon its colony and help the fungus reproduce and spread. Another example was a parasitic wasp called Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga. The female wasp would sting a spider, temporarily paralyzing it so she could lay an egg on its underside. A few days later the wasp egg would hatch, and the resulting larva would feed off of the spider’s blood without killing it until it was fully matured. Then when it was ready to molt, the larva would inject the spider with a biochemical that reprogramed its brain so that the spider would build a web designed to hold the larva’s cocoon. After the spider completed the modified web, the larva would kill the spider, consumes it body fluid, and then pupate. Richard knew of several more examples, but the revelation came too late. Dr. Stone’s genetically modified flatworm had already evolved, and it was following the most basic principle of life… propagate and survive. Dr. Stone’s arrogance and ignorance forged the key that unlocked Pandora’s Box.
Richard wished he had paid closer attention to the warning signs, but like so many others, the hustle and bustle of family and work consumed all of his spare time. What he saw, but failed to recognize, started out harmless enough. DARPA’s upper management was restructured, with the majority of the new appointments being selected from a pool of recently augmented high-ranking military personnel. The augmentation program was expanded from combat personnel, to all active duty military and their families. The procedure was free and since people were healthier after receiving the implant, the vast majority enrolled in the program. After that, the dominoes fell one after another. The private sector demanded that the government expand the program to include civilians after statistics showed augmented individuals outperformed their counterparts. Corporations promoted the program so they could save money on healthcare costs and improve their bottom line through increased productivity. It wasn’t long before every employer was preferentially hiring individuals who had been augmented over those who had not. Some employers even ran ad campaigns portraying the un-augmented in a derogatory light. Slogans ranged from, ‘Don’t be left behind’ to ‘An un-augmented mind is a terrible thing to waste’. The demand for larvae was unrelenting, and the product sold itself. It wasn’t long before Dr. Stone was hailed as a savior for healing the sick, and the few that questioned his miracle cure found themselves marginalized.
Richard and his wife were in the minority that opposed augmentation, claiming it turned people into automatons. It was clear that people acted differently after augmentation, but they rarely got sick, they worked harder, and crime rates went into a free-fall. With so many societal benefits, it was impossible for the minority to mount any kind of counter campaign. With little opposition, the government mandated augmentation as a requirement for continued federal employment for all of its employees. When Richard refused to comply, he lost his job. Individual states quickly followed the Federal Government’s lead, mandating augmentation as a requirement for all state employees. That’s when Richard’s wife Mikala quit her job as a teacher.
Within a year, augmentation was added to the list of required ‘vaccinations’ for children attending public schools. Richard and his wife had to work odd jobs as they struggled to make ends meet and homeschool their two girls. It was a dark time, but things only got worse. The U.S. Government passed a resolution in conjunction with the United Nations to allow the expansion of the augmentation program to all countries around the world. It was hailed as the greatest humanitarian aid package ever offered, and there was no cost to receive the procedure. The trifecta of benefits; improved health, productivity, and reductions in crime paved the way for augmentation. It spread across the globe like a plague, but unlike other pestilences, it was embraced.