"Doctor Maximillian Moreau, the Supreme Court of the World Republic has found you guilty of crimes against nature. In the name of humanity we sentence you to life in prison!"

Still, the judge's words rang through the Doctor's head. The World Parliament had made genetic engineering illegal earlier the same year, 2100. Well after Doctor Moreau had done his work. This entire proceeding had been a farce from beginning to end. All the World Government wanted was to clean up the mess the old nation states left it with. Doctor Moreau and his creations had gotten under the wheels of the biggest revolution in human history.

Sitting in a dark interrogation room, he could do nothing but wait. Featureless white walls, a single surveillance camera and a table with two chairs standing opposite to each other. Only a single weak lamp illuminated the room, allowing him to see the closed door.

Doctor Moreau muttered the names of his many creations, his children, to calm himself. Eventually, he arrived at the six whom he had created for a special purpose, "Sheranee, Tapeesa, Valentina, Setanto, Funi, Vini."

The door opened. A man with sunglasses, clad in a black suit entered. He closed the door and went to the surveillance camera. Doctor Moreau had seen many people wearing black suits and sunglasses lately.

But this one surprised him. He turned off the sole surveillance camera with a special key, something no ordinary police officer had. Then the stranger sat down and deactivated the microphone in the same manner. Doctor Moreau raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Doctor Maximillian Moreau, I suppose?"

"In the flesh.This conversation is off record?"

"Yes Doctor. The World government has realized your case warrants a different treatment than other genetic engineers. So they sent me. I am Special Agent Shakid Hatsokovy."

Maximillan nodded. "I guess you'd agree, Doctor," Mister Hatsokovy correctly assumed, "After all, your seven Nobel Prizes speak for themselves."

"I helped bring back mammoths to Siberia and Canada, designed plants to help turn the Sahara and many other deserts green and created a genetically stable Pomato plant. The single most productive food crop to ever exist," Maximillian drove home how much he had done for humanity, "It produces tomatoes above ground and potatoes below. And those are not even my greatest achievements. I could do so much more if the World Government just let me."

"I've been warned of your humility," the man in black answered with an emotionless expression, "But the things you didn't do are far more important now. You never took part in creating biological weapons. Instead you developed cures for the man made plagues. Needless to say, you still have a great many fans, even in the highest ranks of the World Government."

"So what exactly do you mean by different treatment, Mister Hatsokovy?"

"Well, Doctor, there are a few loose ends which need to be tied up. The world government doesn't hold a grudge against you or your creations. In fact, many admire you. Many were against dragging you before the Global Supreme Court..."

"I noticed. Only nine out of seventeen justices voted to convict me."

"Exactly. Believe me Doctor, if this was just about you, you would have been found innocent. But it never was."

Maximillian could already imagine what Mister Hatsokovy meant. Genetic engineering, the greatest invention in human history, got into the wrong hands on more than one occasion. Every single time, great suffering followed.

"See, Doctor, the new World Government needed to ban genetic engineering for good. It has been misused way too much during the third and fourth world wars and we are still far from cleaning up the mess those left us with."

"So?"

"So, the president decided to pardon you. The supreme court already set its precedent on how to deal with genetic engineers. Presidential pardons are meant for special cases and, considering all your Nobel Prizes, it makes sense to see you as one such special case."

A presidential pardon? The Doctor knew he should have been ecstatic to hear this. But then why was this conversation off the record?

"The way you worded it sounds like the president wants something from me in return."

"Yes, Doctor. We need your cooperation in tying up the aforementioned loose ends. Your mutants, for example."

"Don't call them that," Doctor Moreau snarled, "They are human beings, just like you and me!"

"Whatever Doctor. Let's just refer to them by their project names and start with the Astari. The World Government doesn't think it would be possible to integrate them into global society. And since they are only a bit over 4000, we thought it best to just leave them where they are now. They will build their own country on Southampton Island, far away from the world's major population centers and you will live there with them."

Maximillian's eyes lit up as he heard this. He had always planned to spend his twilight years with his children. But not all his beloved creations came from the Astari program.

"What about the Imenu? Will they join their younger siblings on Southampton Island?"

"We'll leave them where they are as well, just across the sea in the Nunavut Reservation. A gated community of 4500 mutants."

Doctor Moreau frowned at Mister Hatsokovy's choice of words and the decision to separate his children with an international border. Those were supposed to be a thing of the past. At least the Imenu would not be forcibly deported somewhere else entirely. But there was one more of Maximillian's creations whose fate worried him.

"And what about project Vellamun?"

"That's where it gets complicated. The World Government has no interest in interstellar exploration. It's a waste of money, which we need here. Thus, they would like to just release the crew you created for this mission into civilian life on Southampton Island where they can live with the Astari and pretend none of this ever happened...."

"But?"

"They've seen too much... they saw the UFO."

"They - are but four people. Hundreds of scientists worked on this object. The government never seemed too worried about any of them spilling secrets! Besides, this UFO was about as disappointing as an alien spacecraft could possibly be. The technology was crude, downright primitive and let's not forget about the complete lack of any alien life forms. Imagine finding a UFO and it doesn't come with little green men! Even if all the documentation got out, we could plausibly claim this to be a failed experiment by some early 21st century billionaire. It even had battle damage that looked a lot like something our own kinetic weapons would cause."

"I know, Doctor," Mister Hatsokovy rolled his eyes, "But that's not the only issue."

Silence followed.

"You remember how genetic engineering was used during the last war to create super soldiers? If I remember correctly, you even worked in one of those programs yourself."

"I had to! Those fools would have created terrible monsters without my guidance."

"Yes, the World Government secretly appreciates your work. We've found a home for all these genetically engineered soldiers in the new World Army. But there is still one big problem... a population bomb."

Doctor Moreau's eyes widened at these words. "How many?" he gasped.

"Exactly 100000 frozen, genetically engineered human embryos. The last batch of superhuman soldiers ever produced. Imagine what could happen if they fell into the wrong hands. It's a deadly army waiting to be born."

"And the World Army doesn't want them?"

"No Doctor, we are transitioning to a pure volunteer force. The World Government doesn't want to have anything at all to do with those genetic experiments and we don't want the population of genetically engineered people on Earth to explode. Your creations are breeding fast enough already."

Mister Hatsokovy had a point, if only a small one. By now, it looked like all Astari girls and their older Imenu sisters would end up each having seven children on average. Both started with populations of only a thousand. The North Atlantic Union originally commissioned them during the world wars to replace civilian casualties, a healthier alternative to mass cloning. This should have been viewed as a great success. Doctor Moreau could imagine nothing more wonderful than personally marrying two or more of his creations to one another.

But now the North Atlantic Union of fallen democracies had been replaced by a world government created by a far more reasonable Neo Confucian Republic. War was over, all of it. Nobody needed to grow their supplies of potential soldiers anymore.

"You mean the same applies to the population bomb I created for project Vellamun to set up a human colony in outer space?"

Doctor Moreau did not actually create those embryos for project Vellamun. It was a refuge for all his creations who, for whatever reason, never got permission to be born. Usually because some bureaucrat had cut his funding or because he failed to find a suitable surrogate mother. His superiors never understood why Maximillian had such high standards in this regard. Something which resulted in each educator having to raise multiple genetically engineered children at once, getting the Astari and Imenu used to large families.

"Yes, but we are much less concerned about this one. It's only 4000 genetically engineered embryos and they were not designed as superhuman soldiers either. They were not designed by Manke van Gelda!"

Maximillian's eyes widened as he heard this name. "So these 100000 super soldier embryos are all van Gelda's creations? The ones I put finishing touches on to make them more sociable?"

"Yes Doctor, that's another huge problem. They are no ordinary mutants. They were designed to be a different species entirely. A post-human master race whom Van Gelda imagined would conquer Earth one day."

"But I changed this. It was one of said finishing touches. Once they grow up, they will be very fine people if raised properly. I would even let them mingle with my children and you probably heard how careful I am in this regard."

"Well, that's nice for your creations, Doctor. But for the World Government, Van Gelda's creations being able to interbreed with everyone else only makes the situation worse. We can't have 100000 mutant supermen running around on Earth and spreading their engineered genes, no matter how perfect they might be. However, we do still acknowledge them as human, same as with your children. Human with an asterisk, mind you. See, the World Government doesn't want to start its reign by exterminating 100000 human embryos. It would be a stain on our time, which future generations are supposed to look at with pride. But leaving them here on Earth is not an option either and this isn't even our only problem. There's also this A.I. Tacitus. The World Government wants to ban self aware artificial intelligence, but the only one currently in existence is programmed with self preservation and connected to the internet. We know better than to start a war with the machines."

"You don't want to take any risks, do you?"

"We're trying to rebuild Earth after two nuclear world wars. There are more than enough risks already."

Things started to make sense to Doctor Moreau. "So if I understand you correctly, there are a couple of things the World Government just wants to get rid of in a civil manner and project Vellamun is your best chance to do it," he concluded, "A spaceship capable of interstellar travel, which you won't ever see again after launch due to the enormous distances of space."

Mister Hatsokovy smiled, "Exactly!"

"Doesn't sound too bad. I was hoping to get an A.I. for the spaceship anyways and the additional embryos from the second human population bomb will increase genetic diversity of the colony by orders of magnitude. Just give it four years and we are ready to go."

Silence followed.

"Doctor Moreau, the World Government doesn't want to wait four years. They want the spaceship Vellamun to start this year."

"What? No way! The mission was supposed to start in 2104. We can't launch any sooner."

"I was told the ship is ready, Doctor."

"Yes, the engineering department is way ahead of schedule. They did outstanding work. But the crew is not yet ready."

"You mean to tell me the people you genetically engineered to be perfect astronauts, who trained for this mission their entire lives aren't ready? Didn't you describe them as the Spartans of the Stars at some point?"

"Once the crew is ready, they will be the best. But right now, they are just kids!"

"You are being too generous, Doctor. They already had more time to train than most astronauts. Besides, they will have an A.I. and they'll spend most of the time in cryosleep, their minds linked to a virtual world where they can train for ten years before approaching the wormhole. Considering this amazing invention your chief engineer, Mister Ui Lorcain, made just last month, the World Government has concluded your entire schedule was way too generous in retrospect."

Maximillian's heart raced, his eyes widened. "Why now? Why so soon?" he gasped and pleaded, "My creations never had a say in any of this. They were born into this project, never got a chance to consent. At least give them some time to grow!"

"The longer the population bomb remains in the solar system the higher the odds of someone stealing the embryos, which is exactly what we are trying to avoid. Besides, the World Government wants to colonize the inner solar system and we've already begun building a spaceport on the moon for exactly this purpose. Project Vellamun is currently orbiting the moon. We don't want anyone to stumble over it by accident and delaying construction of the spaceport would cost us billions in taxpayer money and raise questions. Launching the ship now is not just safer, it's also cheaper."

Doctor Moreau's stomach turned. During his long career, he came across much cynicism. Never had it hit him like this.

"What if I refuse?"

No emotion graced Mister Hatsokovy's face as he spoke, "Then you won't get to say goodbye to your creations."