The Gene Priest -- new free short

[bthrowsnaill]

I have released a new sci-fi short story. I've bundled it with another wacky short I wrote called Economicon and the first three chapters of Hemlock and the Wizard Tower. Available as a free download from Smashwords.

"The Universe, in all of its vastness, is God--immaculate and inviolate. People were created by the Universe and in accordance with its laws. The process of natural selection bred a version of humanity that was able to become one with the Universe. We learned its secrets and its realities. We dreamed of anthropomorphic Gods, but ultimately our rationality steered us back to the path of reason. We realized, almost too late, that in order to keep pace with and control over the power of our knowledge that we had to extend our life spans.

Genetics became our most important science. We soon understood how to enhance ourselves in order to increase our power. But we did not ignore the lessons of our history. We recognized the potential for brutal race wars between different branches of our newly evolved evolutionary tree.

The Gene Priests became the agents of God, and they control the very nature of our existence. They are the only persons with the authority to conduct genetic research. They govern the DNA of the generations, ensuring that each one shares a comparable genetic makeup. Each successive generation is further enhanced, yet each family also remains comprised of prior, inferior genetic generations. Therefore, there is no 'us' and 'them'--there is only 'we'.

Through the sacred work of the Gene Priests, humanity has progressed from enduring a fragile and short-lived existence, to enjoying many centuries of life in bodies with bones as hard as steel and skin as impermeable as Kevlar.

Our great work to build our bright future must continue, yet we must always remember our creed: The Universe is supreme, the Gene Priests are its eyes and its hands, genetics is its law, and genetic parity is every human's right."

Excerpt from the introduction to the educational text "Universal Law and History" by Supreme Gene Priest Father Matthias IV.