Genetic Anomaly

Chapter 2

A gem amongst the pebbles

At 4 my abnormalities surfaced and by 6 I had learned to suppress and hide them. However, when I entered primary school, I made a new friend. William Magnus Portrite. Like me he was quiet, reserved and unnoticed. We had similar aims and so we became partners. In the beginning I didn't trust William with my secret, but when I was 12, there was a new development in my oddity. It wasn't possible for William to not know that something was vastly different about me after the incident. William promised me his support and help hide me, since we both held dangerous secrets from the Core.

After the new development, it opened my abnormality to new heights. I knew I couldn't stay under a rock forever. If I was to keep it suppressed, I first needed to understand it. William and I began by looking through the standard Elite genetic textbooks used in all Norm schools. Unsurprisingly, it didn't provide us with much more information than we had started with. So, we had to dig deeper. At first, I didn't know what we were doing. I was afraid to do anything, really. The incident with Freeda was always in the back of my head, warning me that if I took one misstep, I would disappear without a trace.

Surprisingly, William was able to start us in the right direction. William showed me something he kept secret, not like my kind of secret, but still something he didn't want becoming common knowledge. William was amazing with codes and computers. This was how our real research project started. William had an old laptop that belonged to his grandfather. Surprisingly, it still functioned pretty well for a 'something year old' piece of machinery. The reason we used such an old piece of tech was because William was able to connect to the modern digital system without the old machine leaving a footprint. I didn't really understand the technology since all the terms used were weird and complicated. But it was successful in the end.

At first, I was reluctant to use it, just in case it didn't completely block our digital footprint. But after William showed me that it was secure, I dived right into the research. To begin with I just visited general genetic modification information sites that gave me a more in-depth understanding than the Norm textbooks for students had. It gave us a little bit of a clearer understanding of how the genetic modifications were carried out and what the main modification procedures were. However, it wasn't what we were looking for. We were trying to find the non-modified type of genetic talents. I knew Freeda and I weren't the only ones. I knew it because of gossip vines and even, quite ironically, the Core news. Every few months, stories appeared of missing children and other family members. I always knew which ones the Core were hiding. They always had the least information and they were only ever mention for a minute. So, I was determined to find all the information I could.

I ventured onto the dark net after about 4 months of useless researching on normal sites. I was nervous. The dark net is nothing to play with. Even though the Core tried to eradicate the dark net, there is no possible way. It is all too tied up with the rest of the digital world. Taking down the dark net would be like disabling the entire digital foundation. I first looked into conspiracy forums, which expectantly, speculated the under belly of the Core. I ventured further through the inky blackness day by day and I gained more information. One very interesting dark net site advertised illegal genetic adoptions, which were supposed to be shut down. I skimmed through this page, because it didn't have any information similar to what I needed. However, I did find it interesting, it meant that there was evidence to support the Core's claim that Freeda could've been illegally modified and adopted.

The day I stumbled across gold caused my resolve, to never used my gift, to shatter. What I read terrified me. On an old archive site there was an article, that was maybe 70 years old, I read that another Anomaly like me had been discovered because they exploded. Not literally, of course. They exploded because the pent-up energy from repressing their gift had exploded into the light. They had lost control over it and it back lashed. The Anomaly caused not only their discovery but also many casualties. I realised after 8 years that I could already feel the pressure. If I hadn't realised it then, I probably would've lost control over my gift by now and would disappear off the face of the earth. William and I agreed after my findings that I had to start learning to control them, not just suppress them.

I kept digging and finally came to the Core's confidential files. It was risky, but with William's help I managed to break into their network and read their most hidden information. This was the real breakthrough. I learned about hundreds of Anomaly cases that were written off as illegal modifications. They researched into every family tree and kept an eye on all the Anomaly's family. I wasn't surprised by the measures the Core took to ensure that us Norms couldn't rise above our station.

However, what did shock me were files called 'Aptitude testings'. These were files detailing people who came forward, claiming to be gifted and were willing to work with the Core in exchange for an Elite citizenship. The 'aptitude testing' determined if the person coming forward were actually gifted. They went through three stages of testing. The scan, to scan for outward signs of modification, the genetic test, the search for genetic tampering and then the scale determiner, where the stated gift was measured up to an Elitists standard. All this information was invaluable.

First, it cemented the fact that I wasn't an illegal modification. I have no Signature. All modifications left scars or signatures on the modified person's surface. For example, people with enhanced beauty would have a distinctive birth mark on their body. They couldn't get it removed either, if removed it would just form back in the exact same place no matter the surgery or skin alteration. People with modified intelligence had mutated eyes, either unique colours of the eyes or irregular irises. Specific talent mutations had clear outward signs on the specific modified area. Me, I had no alteration signatures at all. I checked any signs that could've corresponded with similar talents but there were no matches. I even looked for signatures not connected to my talent, but none.

Second, it provided in-depth information on how to train and hone a modification. I found this out through their annual health check records. This recorded the state of an Elite's talent and gave the Elite's family recommendations of how to further the person's usage of the talent. And third, it made me even more fearful of discovery. This was because, I couldn't find any records of anyone having anything similar enough to what my Talent was to explain to why I was the way I was. I was truly and utterly alone in my abnormality; I wasn't just an Anomaly. I was the Anomaly.