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Gaius stared out the window of his office, trying to think of a way to save his life's work. The view from the ninety-third floor was magnificent. From the skyscrapers that stretched out below him in the foreground, to the river twisting back and forth behind them choked with vessels of all sizes, and the mountains in the far distance, it was breathtaking. His mind didn't perceive even the smallest part of it, consumed as he was in endless thought.

The board meeting was mere minutes away and he still hadn't found the solution to the swathes of modified patients succumbing to repeated hallucinations. He'd thought that if he gathered enough data he'd find the solution, but it had been weeks and the data had lead to only one new conclusion.

Every patient was modified to look like a dragon. Each patient had a unique combination of genes from different species. He'd previously thought that they only hallucinated in proximity to one another, but this wasn't true. A few scattered patients reported having hallucinations a few hours after receiving genetic modification in conjunction with Acceleration treatments.

Questioning other patients revealed that some of them had had similar experiences after their treatments. They'd simply been reluctant to share these problems given the increasing stigma against modified individuals, and due to the fact that most of these hallucinations occurred after they'd returned to their homes.

Gaius continued to stare out the window, his frown deepening. These new facts were interesting. They just weren't useful. None of the patients were willing or able to share the contents of their experiences. And despite creating dozens of recordings of them speaking while hallucinating, they'd collected nothing intelligible. Even using artificial intelligence to interpret their mutterings produced nothing coherent.

These latest findings did present one possibility… But did he dare consider it? He…

A chime from his computer jolted him out of his thoughts. It was time for the meeting. Gaius sighed and collected his computer before leaving his spacious office. He'd need access to his notes to face the Board and stand any chance of protecting his work.

He walked down the hallway outside slowly, passing glass walls that revealed offices similar to his own. Their sheer size limited the number of people that could work on this floor to a small number, but Humanitech's top employees were well compensated. It wouldn't do for the Head of Security or Finance to feel slighted by being stuffed into a small windowless room in the core of a skyscraper. That treatment was for lesser workers. Hopefully, Gaius thought, he wouldn't be one of those after today.

Gaius rode an elevator at the centre of the building another thirty floors up, an anxious resolve building within him as he ascended. The entire back half of the elevator was windowed, and it suddenly broke into the open as he neared his destination. It slowed down for the final few floors, probably to allow it's occupants to take in the breathtaking view for a few moments before they left. These top floors were smaller than those lower down, and only the highest ranking executives and board members were permitted up here.

The city spread out before and below him, sprawling almost to the horizon. The morning sun was only just over the mountains in the far distance, it's light reflecting and glittering off the vast expanse of glass and steel below. Gaius knew this view was intended to enhance the exaggerated sense of self importance felt by the unimaginably wealthy individuals at the top of Humanitech. Even so, something about this view spoke to him, strengthened him. He took a deep breath as he gazed out over it, the elevator crawling slowly toward the top of the spire.

After a few more precious moments the elevator cab came to a slow stop and deposited him onto one of the uppermost floors of Humanitech's headquarters. The floor Gaius' own office was on was luxurious, but this was something else entirely. Huge marble pillars and arches swept up to a ceiling nearly three times the height of a normal floor. To either side of him, manicured gardens surrounded fountains and sculptures. Stone paths flanked by benches wound their way down a gentle slope towards massive windows on either side.

Ahead of him, a huge, dark wall sloped up towards the high ceiling. A huge obsidian obelisk dropped obtrusively into the middle of the opulent garden. This was the tower's main board room, used only for the most important meetings. It's dark bulk certainly made a statement juxtaposed against the gardens that surrounded it. Gaius knew it's purpose was to exude power and authority over those that stood before it, and resolved himself not to allow it to affect him. He thought he was successful.

As he strode along the raised pathway towards the structure within a structure, he didn't notice anyone else on the entire floor. He suspected the space was seldom used after the recent assassination attempt on some of the board members here.

Small drones loaded with explosive payloads had smashed themselves into one of the massive glass walls in an attempt to breach the walls and detonate in the midst of a group leaving a meeting. The glass wasn't actually glass, but some kind of advanced alloy nearly impenetrable to anything but an armour piercing round fired from a tank. Even so, enough of the drones had exploded against the material to breach it, allowing some of them inside. Fortunately, small point defence guns concealed in the ceiling had shot down the remaining drones. Whoever had sent the attack had just enough intel to know how to penetrate the glass, and not enough to know what to do once inside.

Gaius glanced up at the ceiling, noting the bulbous protrusions spaced around its perimeter. Each of those could open up to reveal small gatling guns that fired high velocity rounds with enough AI-guided precision to cut down an entire company of soldiers in seconds. Once, Gaius would have considered the sheer strength of the Board's paranoia to be astounding given the amount of overkill even one of those guns represented. After the attack, his contempt for their paranoia was replaced by an equal measure of contempt at humanity's ever evolving resolve to destroy itself.

That contempt mingled with his frustration at the Board in trying to shut down his research. He'd come so far, he'd dangled the carrot in front of them, and even allowed them to catch it a few times too. Genetic Acceleration allowed for the rapid deployment of special ops forces with modifications specially tailored to their mission parameters. They could have enhanced strength, speed, and senses. The could survive for days or weeks without food or water. They could even heal from what would normally be a life threatening injury in mere days. Each new breakthrough bred an ever more perfect soldier.

And it was never enough for them. They argued that AI driven combat machines were superior, far cheaper, and more customizable. The Board wasn't of one mind on this, but side driving towards ending his work had grown stronger over time, especially with the recent problems facing modified individuals. Gaius was certain that this was in part a tactic to push him for more results. It infuriated him that it was working.

He fed that emotion into his resolve as he approached that imposing wall of the Board room. Huge smoked glass doors slid open silently at his approach, revealing a room as imposing and opulent as the exterior suggested. The windows at the back were as large as those outside, and generously lit the darkly appointed room. Sunlight reflected off black marble floors, and from the polished ebony and mahogany table at the centre of the room. The dark wood panelled walls were decorated with large etched panels spaced every few meters. These dark metallic squares showed a helix spiral of DNA here, the chain of humanity's evolution there, and other similar motifs.

Recessed LED lighting along the edges of the ceiling and floor as well as in the crevices of the table itself provided light where the dark surfaces devoured what sun provided at the end of the room. Tall, rigid black leather chairs surrounded the table. Sixteen in total, all empty. The vastness of the table had them spaced far from one another. A costly array of microphones and speakers ensured that everyone could be easily heard without raising their voice. A ridiculously expensive solution to a problem that could have been solved by simply making the room a reasonable size.

Gaius had only those few moments to frown at the space before the windows at the end of the room slowly transitioned to an opaque black, blocking out the sun. The illumination from the LED lighting faded too, leaving the room almost complete darkness. A moment later, a spotlight embedded in the ceiling above the table illuminated one specific chair at one end of the table, indicating where he was to sit.

Gaius sat down, opening his laptop and double checking that all the notes he'd need were available for easy access. That done, he let out a breath and waited for the meeting to begin.

The smoked glass doors had changed to an opaque black now to match the windows, but did not open to admit any other attendees. Instead, holographic projectors in the ceiling came to life and began to project the images of four of the Board members into the chairs at the end of the room one by one.

They weren't human. Or at least, they chose not to appear as such. Only one of them appeared to resemble someone genetically modified, however. Firewing was, confusingly, opposed to further investment in Cross Species Modification despite appearing as a dragon in these meetings.

Aside from having the stupidest name Gaius could conceive of for someone in his position, he was also a finance influencer of considerable popularity. Several of the board members had prominent online presences. In the years since legislation was passed allowing board members to conceal their true identities from the corporations they were invested in, most of them chose to do this, largely for their own protection.

They appeared in meetings like these with digital personas and rarely made their actual locations known. The attack on the tower a few months back made it clear why they would choose to do so. In theory, the government should have done something to stop incidents like these. At this point, however, the lobbying power of the largest corporations was so strong that laws were little more than a gentlemen's agreement between them, and frequently broken. The technological sophistication driving the attacks was also such that proving who was even responsible was a fool's errand.

These strange apparitions before Gaius were the manifestation of corporate power run amok, driven into hiding by their own ambition and capacity for violence. Their lack of physical substance did not diminish the power they held over him, however. As they materialized into their seats, they turned to regard him with cold, digitized stares.

Four faintly shimmering figures occupied the seats around the table closest to the window. This left Gaius an awkward distance away, seated as he was closest to the entry. A monitor set seamlessly into the table before him lit up showing the image of Helix, the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Gaius' laptop covered half of the image. He didn't bother to move it. He'd seen the man's strange digital facsimile in dozens of advertisements for Humanitech products for years now. His human-shaped figure was violently green and translucent, like a mass of sentient gelatin wearing an expensive suit.

“Gaius," Helix began unceremoniously. “You told the Board weeks ago that you'd have a solution to the Cross Species patient issue. Do you have any updates for us?" The figure laced his green fingers together in front of him, his eyeless gaze boring into Gaius from far across the room.

Straight to the point then. Gaius had expected that, at least. Unfortunately, without a true solution to the problem he was still unprepared. “My team is still in the process of gathering more data, but we've discovered that many of our patients exhibit symptoms a few hours after receiving treatments. That, in addition to our previous findings regarding proximity should lead us to discover the cause soon."

“So you're no closer to finding a solution then." Helix replied, his displeasure plain in his tone, though invisible on his featureless face. He turned away from Gaius to address the rest of the board. “The Espionage Department has determined that the House is about to table legislation making Cross-Species modification illegal, necessitating this meeting. The bill was likely funded by one of our competitors, but where it came from is irrelevant. It would outlaw not only distribution of Cross-Species mods, but further development. Where do we stand on this?"

Firewing spoke first. “My stance hasn't changed. Cross-Species modifications may have provided some useful returns, but I still say they're too risky to invest significant resources into. If continuing into this research means we now have to dump billions into lobbying and lawyering up, that risk only looks worse. Especially when compared against our more recent investments into AI enhanced security products."

Firewing's stance had initially confused Gaius, given his appearance. It had taken only a glance at advertisements for his content to see that the dragon motif he used only borrowed the idea of dragons hoarding gold as a metaphor for the brand of fiscal responsibility he peddled. The large red and gold dragon that more than filled his chair was simply branding given holographic life.

“I for one see an opportunity here." Julius interjected. He had no public presence, and as such had a far more abstract appearance. He appeared as a blood red spectre with no facial features, and like all the other board members had a heavy dose of voice modulation to help hide his identity.

“These hallucinations occur when modded individuals are in proximity to one another. Perhaps we could weaponize that? Genetically modified bodyguards and soldiers are common now. Outright disabling them at will could revolutionize our Espionage operations." Julius had no facial features, but the smirk practically dripped from his voice.

“That sounds absurd." Firewing said derisively. “These mental problems only affect Cross Species patients. And only those fools that look like dragons." He emphasized that point with a rough snort. “Do you see any dragons among your bodyguards? No? Then why would any of them break down and start hallucinating in the middle of an operation?"

Julius didn't have facial features to give away his anger, but the set of shoulders slowly shifted as Firewing laid into him. “I don't think you're getting the big picture here..." He said, anger lacing his words. “In case you somehow forgot, we were attacked. Me and others on this Board were nearly killed! If any other corps sense weakness in us they will take advantage!"

Firewing waved a hand dismissively. “Pure paranoia. The Security department has strengthened the defences at all of our facilities, and remote meetings like this ensure you can take responsibility for your own safety without costing the company billions in reckless spending. "

Wraith had silent up until now, her eyes twin pinpricks of white light peering out through the cloud of undulating black fog that made up her form. “The attack on our headquarters is obviously concerning, but Firewing has a point… We've addressed the problem, is there really any benefit in putting more resources into a plan with questionable benefits like this? Besides, it seems incredibly unlikely that there's a connection between these hallucinations and military grade mods that we could exploit."

“Actually you're wrong." Julius said, a hint of smugness in his voice. “I ran the numbers. Over seventy percent of modified individuals that could be classified as dragons have modifications that are part of most standard military genetic profiles. That number falls to less than ten percent for other species, in line with the rest of our patients."

That actually seemed to give Wraith pause. “I see… I wasn't aware they were purchasing military grade modifications in that kind of volume. Well in that case I would say this investigation warrants continued investment. I still think the idea of weaponizing this side effect isn't likely to produce results, but if these patients are going as far to pay for military grade mods, we should keep that customer base. Even grow it if possible." She turned to Gaius. “Do you have any theories about why these patients are buying these mods?"

He thought for a moment, but to him the answer seemed obvious. “It's a power fantasy. Dragons are mythical beings of immense power." Gaius tried not to look in Firewing's way as he pitched this theory. “These patients add enhancements to their strength, senses, and other such traits to feed into that fantasy. We might be able to sell more of these mods by marketing in that direction." This was how Gaius had originally secured funding for his research. By continually dangling the promises of great rewards in front of the Board to provoke their greed.

Wraith and Helix both nodded at that. Julius was likely already convinced before the meeting began. Firewing had his arms crossed and wore a frown. “So there's some statistical connection between the two types of mods. We haven't seen these effects on security forces or soldiers. Why should we think it's possible at all to find a weakness in military grade mods?"

Gaius cleared his throat, bringing the Board's attention back to him. “It's true that Cross Species modifications aren't generally used in a military context. However, many of our recent breakthroughs in military grade modifications had roots in Cross Species modification. Most mods increasing survivability in combat, enhancing the senses, and most notably Genetic Acceleration are all drawn from our research in Cross Species modification."

Nobody interrupted him. Good. He could continue dangling this second shiny object in front of them. “If the root cause of these mental problems ends up sharing a common ancestor with any of the widely used military grade modifications, we could in theory exploit that to disable forces using those mods. In addition, with the cause found we could adjust our own modifications to render them immune to those effects." There. Gaius figured that would steer them back towards supporting his research, even if the possibility of anything he said actually being true was remote at best.

“I do need to remind us all," Helix said, “that this impending legislation would require us to immediately shut down our research in this area."

“And when has that stopped us before?" Wraith said dismissively. “If the bill passes, we'll continue covertly. It'll cost us, but it sounds like the investment may be worth it. Had we not been literally attacked I would disagree, but the rules are changing. We need to protect ourselves. Not acting would be as much of a risk as investing more resources into research in anything that might enhance our security and espionage operations."

“And why would we not simply turn more of our resources towards automated defences?" Firewing asked. “Our investments in AI have paid surprising dividends, and were instrumental in thwarting the recent attack."

“We can do both." Wraith replied. “By diversifying our defence investments we can shore up vulnerabilities. Automated products are always vulnerable to cyberattacks, where genetically modified forces are not… Or at least, they haven't been up until now. Changing that could be revolutionary."

Firewing still appeared unconvinced, but he grunted and held up a hand, wordlessly withdrawing his argument.

“It sounds like most of us are convinced, in spite of your lack of progress, Gaius." Helix said, fixing Gaius with a brief stare. “Let's bring this to a vote then. The proposition tabled is that we will continue funding research into Cross Species modification, apply lobbying pressure against this legislation, and prepare to take the project covert if necessary. All in favour?"

Helix, Wraith, and Julius raised their hands. Firewing did not. In addition, three glowing green orbs appeared and hovered above some of the empty seats. Only one red orb appeared to countermand them. Evidently, four of the eight absent board members had chosen to attend silently, listening to the proceedings without participating beyond a vote. That totalled six for, two against, and four absent. A simple majority of attending members was all that was required for a smaller decision like this.

“All right then. Gaius, you will continue investigating these hallucinations. Employ any means necessary to get the data you need, and ideally, find a cure. Increase your focus on directly provoking these hallucinations and see if there are any military applications there."

Gaius simply nodded in response. He'd done what he could to steer the Board in the direction he wanted. Though it did seem much easier than he'd anticipated. His past breakthroughs probably justified the continued risk in their minds. An outside actor attempting to push legislation against Humanitech likely caused most of them to reflexively dig their heels in anyway.

Unexpectedly, Julius spoke up. “Are there any resources I can provide that will increase your chances of success here?" That was unusual. The board members had control over company resources, but it was rare that they would offer to intervene personally.

Gaius leaned back, thinking for a moment. “I need more test subjects. Anyone modified to look like a dragon, specifically. I obviously can't just go calling patients into our clinics and hold them against their will."

“Done. We can manufacture pretence easily enough and I have connections with security firms that can lend the use of holding cells. I'll offer assistance to the city in providing additional holding capacity for suspected criminals. My people will be in touch with you for any preparations needed in the facilities beforehand. I take it there are no objections to using outside resources for this?"

Wraith shook her head. “Of course not. Anything that keeps Humanitech's hands clean and our budget balanced with your generous offer is worth taking advantage of." Her self satisfied tone made it clear she thought Humanitech was getting the better end of this deal.

Firewing merely nodded his assent. He generally approved of anything that saved money.

“No objections to using outside resources to assist in this endeavour," Helix stated for the record. “So long as all data resulting from the research is kept strictly to Humanitech's servers."

Gaius nodded his acknowledgement. “Of course, as always I'll use discretion."

“Excellent." Julius replied. “Now then, we should discuss our progress on forming a response to the attack. Grumman-Bauer has reported that their forces are nearly finished training after receiving modification, and Westech has supplied all of the necessary equipment. We should be ready to…"

Julius was cut off suddenly as all of the holograms faded from the room in unison, and the windows faded from black back to transparent, flooding the room with natural light. Evidently someone had actually remembered to exclude him from the meeting after his presence was no longer needed this time.

Gaius sighed. It would have been interesting to learn what exactly Humanitech was planning in response to the attack. It didn't affect his work though, so he collected his computer and made his way out of the room and back out into the sprawling indoor garden.

He ambled off to the left as he exited the room and slowly made his way down a fountain lined pathway toward the huge panoramic windows. A brief walk would help him collect his thoughts, and someone might as well use the enormous space for something.

Julius' involvement in his research was… Unexpected. It seemed likely that he was simply paranoid about another attempt on his life and needed to personally guarantee his own safety as much as he could. That sort of paranoia was in line with what Gaius already knew of him. His direct involvement was not something Gaius looked forward to. The lack of progress recently had him worried, and direct scrutiny would only increase the chances of his research being shut down eventually.

Conversely though, Julius offering to directly provide test subjects was a very good solution to his problem. His previous efforts of providing free Acceleration treatments simply to get patients into his facilities were providing some results, but not nearly enough. He was beginning to suspect that the patients with the most severe hallucinations were the most heavily modified. Those patients wouldn't need further acceleration treatments, and would only admit themselves to a clinic after having an episode.

A means of forcibly gathering multiple subjects to one location with monitoring equipment already set up was a chance he couldn't pass up. Julius was definitely one of the least stable members of the Board, in Gaius' estimation, but this was worth the risk.

As he stared out over the city, a small smile appeared on his face. The morals might be questionable, but this was how he would save both his work, and the future of all the new species of sentient life he was creating.