"Don't bother to read it all right now."Don't bother to read it all right now. Just the summary on Page 5. David picked up the sheaf with a raised eyebrow, pulled off the paperclip and rifled through to page 5. At the bottom, boxed off, was a summary of the document. It read: JANUARY 16, 2655. Persuant to Article XVI of the Charter for Project Jersey, This United Nations Ad-Hoc Committee for said Charter does agree to revise the ultimate goal of said Project. Therefore, in agreement with Alpha Laboratories of Pendor, Project Jersey agrees that NeoRattus Norvegicus will be invested with full sentience, in exchange for which Alpha Laboratories will provide the necessary technical data and precision genetic CRX documentation required to effect full sentience. Signitaries: Lancombe', Petre, for the United Nations. Slammas, Arraon, for Alpha Laboratories. David looked up with a wide-eyed expression and said, "This is real?" "You can look it up yourself. As far as I can tell, it's not a classified document. David, weren't you ever interested in your own creation?" David shrugged, embarrassed. "It never occurred to me that my folks might lie. They said they were created by Project Jersey." "And they never told you that Shardik or one his people actually may have gone as far as writing the very code for their brains?" "Denni, get it straight. They probably didn't know! How do you think the people at Project Jersey felt?" "I know they didn't give much of a damn about NeoRattus. You were originally intended to be slaves, you know that? You were meant to be deltas, David, made just to follow orders. Shardik had to literally _shame_ them into making you full members of society." "And how do you think they'd feel about that?" David was nearly shouting. "How do think? He never lets up, Denni, he never lets go. He had to embarrass them with their own lack of technical knowledge. Do you think they appreciate that, especially when every Terran hates Pendor so? When all we can do is envy you, your bodies, wealth, power, and technology? When since forever we've known that you were all immortal and we only got our own sort of immortality years later? Denni, it's no wonder my parents hid that from me, or their gengineers hid it from them. |