G-Mods vs Non-Gens – A Society Divided.

Year: 2098

He pressed her against the ladder, the cool composite reminding her of where they were.
“Not here, Ed.” She put her hands to his chest and gave him a reluctant nudge.
“Yeah, you’re right Anna. Sorry. I got carried away. I can’t help myself. I hate the goddamn rules that mean we can’t … we shouldn’t … you know.” Each of them, with little experience in affairs of the heart, was touched by the sobering hand of awkwardness. The passionate spell which led them to the secluded alcove was broken.
He drew back from her, frustrated and angry. Rubicon had strict regulations on fraternization. Ed knew he could land them both in a heap of trouble if they were discovered in a compromising position. They risked revealing the depths of their entanglement.
“I’m meeting Amy for lunch. Want to have drinks at the social club later?” Anna’s guilt pricked at her conscience. She was desperate for them to get more serious, but she knew she couldn’t risk her career or Ed’s posting to Mars. Their months-long relationship needed to stay a secret.
Her friend, Amy, revealed how perilous her own situation was. She and Sven, her lover, were ratted out by a colleague in Sven’s division. The man issued an ultimatum to him, and Sven duly surrendered to the civic council, pleading his guilt and insisting on taking all the blame. He refused to name his accomplice, and Amy was spared the awful, corrective treatments that robbed a person of their vivacity. Sven had borne the full brunt of the civic council’s displeasure. He’d been demoted. He’d had to pack up his desk in Control, where he’d held an enviable position, and report to maintenance in Operations where a few other non-gens worked. As lowly recruits, sourced from rehabilitation programs on Earth, the non-gens were considered to be low-class residents with fewer rights and privileges. Sven would join their ranks, losing all potential for advancement, thanks to a cruel and inflexible system.
“Those council hard-asses do not mess around. I’ll see you later” Ed kissed her forehead chastely and left.
The council took the G-Mod Program very seriously and allowing relationships to take root in the artificially created population of the Rubicon settlement jeopardized the efficacy of the program. Investors would scatter, drying up funding for the experiment, if it became known that the people in the underground colony were succumbing to their base urges, in spite of a council declaration stating those urges were being bred out of them.
Anna and Ed had slept together only once. It had been such a passionate night, full of the most glorious sensations and experiences. She’d wanted their time together to last forever. Their one night together was over a month ago. Now, she was worried. Anna knew her cycle was off, and she wondered if it meant she could be pregnant.
“Is it even possible?” asked a confused Amy over a glass of protein shake in the bustling canteen at lunch.
“All I know is, I’m late. I had my biannual contraceptive injection three months ago, but it may not have worked.” Anna stressed over her current state.
“I think you should speak to Jin. She might be able to tell you what’s happening.” Amy sipped her drink, looking over the rim of the cup at her friend, her eyes full of concern. A baby would not be good news. In fact, it would be the worst kind of news imaginable. Anna would be shamed, demoted and dealt with by the civic council. She would have to take care of the pregnancy before it got too far along, or her life was going to become a nightmare.
Anna nodded. Jin was the only science officer the women knew that would keep Anna’s secret. She hopped off her stool and made her way over to Jin Lee’s lab in the Sciences node. The shorter woman, with a Korean-Chinese genetic footprint, was serious and attentive as Anna explained her predicament.
“You are the third woman I’ve talked to this month. Jesus. There’s something interfering with the contraceptives.” Jin tapped the menu on her ATOM, retrieving the electronic file on her previous conversations. “Let’s take a look and see if we can isolate a common issue.”
Jin and Anna spent an hour going back and forth over health data for her and the other two pregnant women.
“Here it is. You’re all taking the same drug to treat anxiety symptoms. There’s a possibility this has caused the contraceptive treatments to be less effective and because you’ve been sexually active, well, you know the rest.” Lin was shaking her head. This was bad news. These women were all in serious trouble. “You know what you need to do.”
“What? No! I don’t give a shit what happens to me, but I’m not going to let anyone hurt my baby.” It was the first time Anna had uttered the phrase, “My baby.” The tears welled and the emotions flowed, unchecked, as the implications hit her. She’d grown up alone and scared, in the care of bot nannies, and this child meant a connection to someone. It meant family. She wouldn’t be alone anymore. The realization was worth all the years of prejudice she knew she would face.
Jin regarded Anna steadily. She was brave, no doubt about it, but what would become of mother and child? What would it be like for a natural-born offspring of a rebel mother? Jin made up her mind in the moments it took Anna to rein in her emotions.
“I will write a motivation arguing for your decision to keep the baby. Anna, it’s not going to be easy, but I support you, and I hope this helps to set the stage for serious reform in the ridiculous rules keeping us from having healthy relationships. I see nothing wrong with letting people live as we were intended to live. The bureaucrats be damned.”
Anna smiled, blinking away fresh tears at Jin’s show of solidarity. She left the Science node, a determined set to her chin. A big change was coming for her and she would meet it head on.
Anna and Ed persevered and endured the hardships which came with their new status as parents. Their son, Daniel, was a wonderful boy and was well liked. Anna formed a tight community around him, and non-gen children like him. The non-gens families blossomed from a number of causes – medication interactions, Earth-born women entering the colony, the voluntary refusal to accept the mandatory birth control measures in use at Rubicon. They shared their struggles and rejoiced in their small victories, like when the children were granted access to the learning center to attend classes alongside the g-mod children.
Anna, and others like her, gave birth to a new generation of human settlers on Mars. The first natural-born babies to be born beyond Earth. Yet despite their uniqueness, their arrivals were not universally celebrated, their remarkable resilience and depth of character went unrecognized by the leadership of the settlement and the mission’s Earth controllers. A class divide emerged at Rubicon between the g-mods, the ruling class, and the non-gens, the accidental results of people’s lack of discipline. The stigma was reinforced, propagated and passed down to the children born after them. The non-gens were scum, unclean and a waste of valuable resources. Instead of the relaxing of the inhuman laws that Jin and Anna had sought, new rules were passed, further segregating and isolated the non-gen population. They were forced into the lowest ranks of workers and prevented from achieving their private ambitions and dreams. Their rights and privileges were whittled away at with dogmatic rigor.
One day, about two years after Daniel was born, Amy made plans to meet up with Anna and Ed at a special non-gen social gathering.
“Come on, Anna. Come out tonight. It will be interesting. You know how much fun the Earth crews can be. It feels like ages since the last cargo ship came in.” The cargo ship crews always arrived with a fresh perspective, an enthusiasm for recreational activities and plenty of wonderful stories. “Besides, it’s been a while since we had some good liquor in this place.” Amy winked at her friend. The crew usually brought contraband alcohol with them. It was consumed freely once an exchange of credits was made to on-duty security officers in order to secure their cooperation and silence.
“I suppose you’re in a festive mood, today, then?” Anna directed the question at her friend over their table in the canteen. Amy had just been promoted and was regaining her independence in the wake of a breakup with Sven.
After his demotion, the spirit had gone out of the man. He had been a drag to spend time with.
“As much as I sympathize with him, he constantly reminds me how he saved me from the council. He believes I owe it to him to make him happy. So, I told him to get off the sofa and stop feeling sorry for himself. His therapy is done, and I am not keen to pick up where we left off.” Without the pleasure of sex to distract her, Sven’s spoiled and entitled shallowness had worn on her nerves, motivating her to leave him.
Amy refused to feel guilty about their liaison. It had been about the sex for her. Without it, Amy had struggled to stay interested. She knew it was selfish, but Sven had been in it for much the same reason.
“To be honest, I’m open to the possibility of a casual encounter, Anna. I’m bored and these new guys looked pretty good when I saw them yesterday at the airlocks.” Amy beamed a naughty smile at her friend. They went back to their workstations, promising to meet at the club at eight p.m. that evening.
Full of anticipation, she arrived at the bustling club entrance just before eight. As soon as Ed and Anna joined her, the trio entered the crowded and noisy club. The party venue was a social club at the far end of the non-gen residential zone. Its out-of-the-way status meant the revelers would not be disturbed by Security and were free to enjoy their evening.
Amy spent a lot of her free time hanging out in the non-gen community. As a smart, defiant and driven woman, she gravitated towards people she could be herself around. The non-gens were a livelier bunch than the serious and cloistered g-mods. She enjoyed the thumping music of their social clubs and lounges, and the relaxed atmosphere of being around friends.
Ed introduced Amy around the crew of the newly arrived supply ship. A few of them became much more attentive as she welcomed them and asked for a round of shots in honor of their arrival. She was openly flirtatious and Anna shot Ed a look of of concern.
“It’s her life, Anna. If Amy goes off with one of these flyboys, she knows what could happen.” Ed spoke close to his partner’s ear, keeping the conversation private and below the volume of the loud music.
Amy was a classic beauty with her mid-length, sandy-brown hair, and eyes that were an enchanting shade of aquamarine. A smile lingered at the corners of her mouth, hinting at a wicked sense of humor lurking just beneath the surface. These traits gave her an intense sensuality. She scanned the new faces, seeking out the mutual spark of attraction.
She was able to tactfully rebuff the unwanted advances with well-practiced skill. But she did not escape the notice of the ship’s tall commander. He was hanging back from the boisterous group, watching her intently. Amy spied him from the dance floor and her beautiful eyes returned to rest on his handsome features, until she lost sight of him.
“You looking for me?” His voice was close to her ear, and Amy turned to see he had drained his glass and pushed his way through to stand very close to where she swayed to the slower song. A thrill coursed through her and she placed her hands on his wide shoulders.
“You’re tall.” She tilted her head back to gaze into his ice-blue eyes.
He nodded, intrigued. “I am. What’s your name? I only ever dance with women I know.” He slid his hands on her hips, drawing her closer. Her heart skipped a beat.
“Amy. And you are the Commander White, I assume?” He winked at her, a sexy smile lighting up his face. He nodded and swayed with her to the music. James White was caught up in the spell she had cast over him with her incredible sensuality, his earlier reluctance to accept command of the Explorer, quite forgotten.