text: Many questions once nagged at the back of my head. Are we doing the right thing? Is this okay? Should we be doing this? It's taken a long time, but I no longer need an answer to any of those. I found my own reason to do what needs to be done, regardless of circumstances. My name is Elaine Marco, and I work for a special branch of the military that operates underneath the government. It is currently 4:03 AM, according to the clock hanging in my office. I look up and the digital calendar on my wall tells me the day is Tuesday, the month is August, and the year is 2302. Below that calendar lies a small glass coffee table with a coffee synthesizer and cup dispenser on the top. The coffee is old, and smells burned from where I sit; an old wooden desk, a rarity in today's world, with too many hardlight government and military reports scattered atop it. I like to think my office is big. It's larger than most, that's for sure, but I know that I could be doing much better. My eyes track down to the hardlight report in my hand. It's good news, for once. The operation went off without any trouble, and we got our guy. I sigh, placing the report on the desk, and give my temples a quick soothing massage with my eyes closed. Then why am I still so stressed? ***\~KNOCK KNOCK\~*** I open my eyes and look to my door to find my assistant standing there with several more hardlight reports in his hand. I inwardly groan, and speak. "Please, come in.", I say as I gesture him in. "There's... something that resembles coffee there on the table if you'd like." Leo looked to the coffee and to me before saying, "No, but thank you.". All with a polite smile to match. I returned the smile and looked down to see the reports in his hands. "Please tell me there's more good news in those.", I said with a bit more than a hint of desperation. I had dozens of reports on my desk already, and only one managed to not give me a killer migraine. When I looked back up, Leo was still smiling. "Actually", he began, "These reports are different. These are in regards to the big project." He gave heavy emphasis on "big". The big project or, as it's really called, "Project D" was the entire reason why this special branch existed in the first place. We were tasked with finding and collecting individuals who had something we were calling the "D" gene. What does the "D" mean, you ask? Divinity. You see, we've been hard at work creating an army of superhumans to spearhead our expansion into the stars. We need people that wont deteriorate before reaching their destination. Our top biologists and chemists have been working on a serum that will allow that "divine spark" to wake up in those people, and we will hopefully have ourselves a group of people strong enough to survive the harsh conditions of other planets. Humankind has already begun their interstellar expansion, but there's only so much we humans can do. We need something more, and that's where those with the "D" gene come in. It's speculated those who have it are descendants of literal living gods that resided among us humans in the distant past. Of course, there's no evidence of this, but the things we have been able to do with the "D" gene is incredible. Disease is a thing of the past, healing salves that mend cuts, breaks, and abrasions before your very eyes, and we've even found a way to weaponize it. Of course we have, right? Leo hands me the reports and I wave him off as I begin looking through them. According to these reports, awakening trials have been hit or miss. While it's easy to extract the "D" gene from a blood sample, and activate it in a controlled environment, it is much more difficult to activate the gene within the host itself. It appears there's been several failures, which have resulted in each carrier passing away before full activation can occur. I've seen what happens when it fails, and it's not nice to look at, let alone remember. When it fails, the body is engulfed in white fire and burned away. We don't know why the awakening rebounds in such a horrific way, but we've been finding ways to mitigate harm to both carrier and personnel. Despite this, there have been successes. I've witnessed a few of them myself. There is always a bright flash and a general feeling of calm and happiness. When it passes and we can see again, the carrier lives, though they are forever changed. Most changes aren't too noticeable, but we've had a few grow pairs of wings within months after activation. Others have acquired horns, tails, and many more abnormalities. I yawn and look to my clock and see it's now 6:42 AM. I turn to look out my window to find the sun is now rising. Time sure does fly when you're having fun. I turn back around and grab the final report, but I freeze only after the first few sentences. It had to be a typo. An error. I had to read it one more time to be certain. *'-and we have found an individual with a high concentration of the "D" gene. While most we've collected have had between 80% and 90% dilution to their gene, this one is quite the anomaly at only 20% dilution. A team is currently being put together to collect the target.'* This was something I had to see for myself.