"Good morning! It's a pleasure to have you all here. Without further ado, let us begin this special session on Biocode. I would like to invite our youngest professor, Callum Wight, to the dais."

A thunderous applause echoed through the town hall.

"Thank you for the warm welcome!" I slapped my hands together, rubbing them nervously. It felt unreal, a twenty-six-year-old "professor" taking a special seminar on Biocode, trying to make the common masses understand an algorithm that had changed the very world itself.

"I'll start off with the basics, so please bear with me for a while. And feel free to raise a hand in case of any queries."

The crowd nodded in agreement.

"I guess almost everyone here has a general concept of how coding goes," I spoke through the mic, taking care to keep it at a safe distance to avoid any more of the awkwardness. The audience didn't seem to be responding much.

"Just the basics, as in you type a few lines of code, it gives you a certain output. Right?"

I spotted a few members talk among themselves. This was already proving to be difficult.

"Okay! Well, Imagine this. What if you could change the way a being grows? What if you could change its behavioural patterns? What if you could alter its very primal instincts?"

All eyes were trained on the stage.

Yes!

"What if you could change the very way God, if he does exist, designed every living being, just like you change a computer program's code?"

Silence hung heavily in the air. I had them under my thumb.

"That is what Biocode is! DNA patterns specific to any species can be converted into Biocode using a programming language called TERRA, a term that we now encounter in our daily lives. With the help of TERRA, we can alter the Biocode to suit our needs, within the limits set by the Government of course."

I turned around, clicking a button on the remote I'd been nervously clinging onto. The vibrant images of wild animals flashed by as the projector slowly attained full contrast. The video slowly came to a pause as bold letters spun around the screen, coming to rest at its centre. The word TERRA was written on the screen, followed by a huge applause from behind me.

All that speech and you clap for this?

I turned around as I watched the image slowly change to that of a proud lion, roaring as it stood at the edge of a cliff. I put on the 'stage smile' again, drawing the mic closer.

Focus Callum. Focus!

"As you all know, lions are one of the predators that occupy the higher tiers of the food chain in our ecosystem. Still below us though."

A wave of chuckles swept through the hall.

"Suppose you run into a lion in the wild. Now under normal circumstances, you'd be the guy's appetizer for the day. However, the government's R&D division has now developed a Biocode for lions that triggers the production of epinephrine, a hormone responsible for inducing fear, when the lion comes in contact with human scent."

The audience was now wide eyed with amusement. The murmurs had begun to grow in intensity.

"Given that their sense of smell is far greater compared to ours, the chance of us spotting lions in the wilderness is now close to null. Well, that also means the wildlife photography department has taken a major hit."

Another wave of laughter rung through the halls.

"While human safety is the most obvious advantage here, it can also be noted that this little modification in their genes has given them an edge over poachers. The most recent census on lion population worldwide shows an eight percent increase, all that within just one month of code dispersal."

A young woman raised her hand. I responded with a wave of my palm, asking her to stand up.

She had her hair cropped to shoulder length, a few bangs hanging loose over her sharp black eyes. The dash of dark lipstick and the choker on her neck was an obvious sign of your run-of-the-mill rock addict. I don't know what gave me the impression though. Perhaps it was the determined gaze, or maybe even the way she stood up regardless of the murmurs that spread around her like a ripple of bad gossip. She was a smart one. I could tell.

"Sir, could you tell us how exactly this code is dispersed?"

She's well mannered too, despite her looks.

"Good question. Miss?"

"Katelyn. Katelyn Burghes." For some reason, it seemed to have made her uncomfortable.

Sorry...

"As we discussed earlier, Biocode is a method that was discovered to alter the sequences of DNA, or simply speaking, a way to induce mutation. And what better method to mutate than radiation?"

Her bland gaze hadn't changed in the least. She definitely wasn't new to this field.

"The Biocode generated by TERRA is used in Synthesizing modules. These machines alter radioactive substrates to synthesize an isotope, one that changes the DNA according to the given Biocode. These radiations are species specific, so they react only on the target species. They're neutral to all other beings in the vicinity of the material. A single dispersal can show effects in a radius of up to thirty kilometres, so it's highly efficient too. Does that clear your doubt, Miss Katelyn?"

She nodded her head, sitting down with the same blank expression she had before. It was throwing me off.

Well, whatever.

I tapped the button on my remote again, the image of the lion giving way to that of an elephant pushing a wooden member of an irrigation wheel. Another round of murmurs had spread throughout the halls. Animal labour had always been a touchy subject.

"Here we see animals that are being used for manual labour."

"Sir."

Another hand had popped up already.

"Yes."

"Isn't that animal cruelty we're seeing here? They're being manipulated against their will to work for us, aren't they?" said a young man, trying to sound as amiable as possible despite his accusations.

"Actually, the Biocode used in this industry is rather primitive. The code simply demands them to 'push' any horizontally aligned piece of wood. It doesn't affect their free-will otherwise. Of course, this Biocode is used only on animals that are used in manual labour industries such as the irrigation sector in underdeveloped nations, a temporary measure before actual technology can be implemented there. It is far better than people training animals by beatings and torture, is it not?"

That had definitely hit the spot. The man sat down, satisfied with my explanation.

I clicked the button once again as I turned to face the screen, watching the image fade into that of the government's insignia, a symbol that consisted of a shield in front of two crossed spears. The crest of Knox, the system that had united all of the world's countries under one common rule by the end of the Third World War.

"Earlier, I had mentioned that the government has set limits to how much private firms can use TERRA. Only the government has the authority to use human specific Biocodes. They are used in the defence and medical sectors, namely in increasing pain tolerance and aggressiveness for soldiers, and for inducing a sense of duty in order to save lives for medical staff. I'm sure they're using TERRA to develop far more useful applications oriented towards the general public, but this is all they have revealed for now. I'm hoping to end on that note for today."

The crowd went wild with applause, a satisfied smile on each of their faces.

Guess it went well after all.

"We'll continue tomorrow at 9 am -"

"Is it possible that the Biocode can be abused then?" a girl spoke from the crowd's midst. It was Katelyn.

"Pardon?"

The short haired girl had stood up of her own accord, her words now spreading confusion amongst the people gathered in the hall.

"I'm asking that is it possible that the government can use TERRA to carry out their will. As in, weaponizing these codes," she said, casting the audience into further disarray.

"What sort of weaponization do you mean Katelyn?"

"Brainwashing."

Oh great.

The murmurs had gotten louder.

"I've heard of multiple experiments gone wrong, and various theories that got classified minutes after they were released to the public," she spoke, standing firm as the audience fidgeted in discomfort. Her words lingered on the edge of hostility.

"May I know the source of these accusations?" I asked.

"It's Verum.com, sir."

"Ah, the infamous website that tries to uproot the standing of Biocode in this society, isn't it? I've heard a lot about it, even visited a few times to know what the fuss was about. They've even got a tally of how many times the government tried to take the site down, don't they?"

"The count passed three hundred thousand yesterday," she replied.

"Saying the site is well made would be an understatement."

"It definitely would."

The hostility had gone down by a large extent now. The crowd seemed to be pleased too.

"Although some of their concerns regarding the Biocode can be considered vaguely genuine, I personally believe that Biocode is the reason why our society has developed so much. The sacrifices we had to make along the way were negligible compared to what we gained in return. I'm afraid my views don't align with those, conspiracy theorists," I said, handing over my remote to an assistant who had stepped onto the stage.

"Brainwashing is not the only -"

"I'm afraid we're ending today's session now. I have things to attend to, and I'm pretty sure that you do too. You may meet me in private in my office at around seven this evening if you have any further queries. Actually, you must. I'd like to hear of your view regarding this subject in person." I had to cut her off amiably before she started again. The girl sat down, her face wrinkled in annoyance.

"That's all for now."

Footsteps clattered in the large hall as the masses made their way out. I watched the girl as she walked out the exit, turning back one last time.

Our eyes met for a moment. I didn't need my qualifications to understand that her eyes held rage.

She was no ordinary theorist. Her stakes were personal.

I felt my lips curl up against my will.

As I stepped off stage into the shadows behind, I couldn't help but grin. My eyes narrowed down to slits, palm plastered over my mouth to hold back my excitement.

Katelyn Burghes.

Interesting.

Very interesting.