‘Nothing to be done.The Volstead cycle was a one off.’
‘Those were the days, my God.’
‘Yearning for a time gone past will lock you into it.’
‘You sound just like him, Dicky.Anyway, it’s not that big of a gap,’ Madeline says, takes a long sniff of her own.‘Alistair should count himself lucky he can even stillhavechildren.’
‘What’s the latest on the research?’
‘He’s confident that Helixx can reverse host attrition, but the research isn’t quite syringe ready yet, so I’m told.’
‘When will it be?’
‘Who knows?Paranaturals are a nightmare to study.’
‘He’s been running tests on them for decades now.’
‘I’d give it five years.Ten at most.Their DNA is a goldmine, but like I said, a nightmare to study.’
‘Why?’
‘Because to control them, you have to use hypochlorite, but it breaks down their power to the point that you’re studying dead cells.A fine line to walk.’
‘What about the other kinds?Easier, harder?’
‘Incredibly rare to capture and even more so keep alive.I’ve only ever seen one Morph up close, and it was already dead.No one’s successfully captured a Resonant since the nineties.Paranaturals are everywhere, though.With access to the genome data, they’re not hard to flag.’
‘Do you think it’s true, about Julian?’
‘Be careful, Dicky.He’ll skin you alive.’
‘I’m just saying…’
‘All of them are a perversion of the natural order,’ Madeline says.‘They sicken me to my core, even if they are useful.’
‘That’s a little rich, isn’t it?’Vale snorts derisively.
‘Be careful,’ Prescott warns softly, ‘not to confuse innovation with aberration.They are not of God.’
‘Not of God,’ Madeline echoes devoutly.‘Framing them as an extremist element is worth every penny that goes into it and doesn’t take much, not in this day and age.The masses are starving for accessible blame.Be on the hunt, be on the look, for somewhere close there’ll be a crook,’ she sing-songs, chuckling to herself.‘Nothing distracts people from their own chemical slavery more than seeking witches to burn.’
‘And there arealwayswitches to burn.’
‘It’s dangerous though, isn’t it?Making them aware?’
‘Class consciousness occurs every once every cycle,’ Prescott chimes in, conversational, ‘but that awareness is easily killed by major events, and sufficient hardship will force a reset.’
‘Major events are our speciality, aren’t they, brother mine?’
‘They always have been, sister dearest.’
Vale clears his throat.
‘If Sorrenko has gone rogue, there could be an opening with Alistair.’
‘And what?You thinkyou’llleap into the breach?Don’t embarrass yourself, Dicky.You’re in the same boat as us.No children, no viable way forward without the innovation of Helixx to counter host attrition.The next ten years are critical.After that, it’s a hard reset or stasis, and so far, he’s unhappy with the prototypes.’
‘What about Mikhail’s children then?Roman is too old but the little one, Vasily.He’s young enough to be—’
