The Pretender Project
by Ashley Michel (Ash XF@aol,com)

Disclaimer: The Pretender and all its characters and whatever do not, 
unfortunately, belong to me. This story comes solely from my twisted 
overworked mind. Some of the concepts in this story were taken from John 
Saul's book "The God Project"  so my apologies to Mr. Saul  for borrowing 
some of his ideas. Please keep in mind that I am ONLY in Biology 1001 so if I 
make some mistakes, please ignore them. You'll see. Hope you like my 
second only attempt at fanfic.



Washington D.C., 1952
Pentagon  meeting room 237

   When the two men walked into the room, a sudden hush fell over the 
thirty others already seated at the long table. Although they were younger 
than most of the men there, they had the reputation of being the coldest, 
hardest, meanest and most efficient  of  their kind. As they took their seats, 
the chairman of the meeting called them to order.

"We will now discuss the status of the Centre Operation.. Mr. Raines?"

One of the two men got up and walked to the front podium while his 
companion lit up a cigarette. All eyes turned to Mr. Raines.  The Centre was 
his idea, his pet project. Construction had already begun on the actual 
building three years earlier, even though the operation itself was almost 
seven years old. Mr. Raines knew, as he looked around, that he had these 
paranoid war fanatics exactly where he wanted them. In his opinion, they 
were utter morons and the fact that we entrusted the nation's defense to 
them was appalling. However, he was well aware of the fact that he needed 
them if the Centre was to go as planned. And they needed him and what he 
would provide for them.

  "Gentlemen," he began, "The building itself is now complete and we have 
already begun screening possible employees for the different sections. The 
Centre's first order of business will be Dr. Schaefer's project. He will give us 
the tools we need to branch out into other areas. For those of you not familiar 
with Dr. Schaefer, he is a German immigrant who came to the united states 
after the war."

"You mean he's a Nazi, don't you?" said a general off to Raines' left.

 Raines sighed. ' Closed minded fool, I KNEW this was going to happen.' He 
thought.

 "Yes, general, to put it mildly. Dr. Schaefer is one of many Axis powers 
scientists given amnesty here in America after World War 2 in exchange for 
their knowledge. He was stationed at Auschwitz concentration camp and was 
one of many who were experimenting with human genetics on the Jewish 
prisoners, unfortunately.  He has, however, discovered many things about 
DNA that the rest of humanity will take another decade to discover. As many 
of you are aware, the race is on with the Russians to develop better weapons, 
spacecraft and yes, even soldiers. Recent reports have indicated that the 
Soviets are experimenting with eugenics, trying to come up with "the 
superior soldier", so to speak. Dr. Schaefer's original assignment by Hitler was 
to come up with a genetically superior super human that has a heightened 
strength, intelligence, immune system, everything. Dr. Schaefer has 
continued his research here in the U.S.  at the expense of the American 
taxpayer. It is his belief that he can create super intelligent humans that will 
make Einstein look like the Three Stooges."

  The general spoke up again, "If the Russians are trying to create soldiers, 
why aren't we trying? If they succeed, they'll win a war against us. What do 
we need Schaefer's little creations for? Why can't he give us superior 
soldiers?"

  Raines had to remind himself to keep patience with this narrow minded 
fool, but his companion had no such limitations. He spoke up for the first 
time, "Spoken like a true warmonger, general. And what do we do with these 
'superior soldiers' when we're not at war? A genius with an I.Q. level such as 
this can be anything at all. A soldier, a general, a doctor, anything. A soldier 
bred for the purpose can be only one thing, a soldier. With these geniuses, we 
can train them to be anything, and more even. It is our intention to train 
them to become anything at anytime. Their intelligence level will be such, 
that they can pick up a text on surgical procedures and within a week or less, 
be able to perform surgery without ever having gone to medical school and 
do it better than people who have. This same genius could later read up on 
tactical procedures and become a commander of a strike force. And in the 
meantime, your superior soldier will be sitting there doing nothing useful 
except getting himself killed."

 Raines liked the way his partner shot down the smug general, but tact wasn't 
one of his virtues. Time to resume the presentation and stop the tirade. 
"Quite right, Mr. Parker. And this brings me to my next point." Mr. Parker sat 
back enjoying the attention he and Mr. Raines were getting.  He had made his 
point, now it was time to push it with the money men.

  Mr. Rains continued, " As Mr. Parker said, soldiers have limited use, while 
geniuses can be trained to be anything. Now, it has long been suspected that 
the genius occurs as a genetic anomaly,  meaning that intelligence is 
determined by a set of genes and then brought out by the environment. Dr. 
Schaefer has isolated the genes he needs and is working on enhancing them, 
thus making them some fifty times stronger than normal. We will breed a 
number of these geniuses to be raised to be whatever we require of them. 
Because of their abilities to become anything, we have nicknamed them 
'Pretenders' and we call the project itself the 'Pretender Project'. Now do you 
see the value of continuing this research and the Centre? We need the 
funding you promised us. If the project is a success, we should be up and 
running within the next few years."

"And if it's not?" asked the general.

"Failure is not acceptable, general. I do not tolerate failure with the people 
under me, nor will I in this," said Mr. Parker.  Mr. Raines smiled.


The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware, a week later.


   The Centre's building loomed up from the bay surrounding it. To the 
people of little Blue Cove, it was the biggest secret in town. Nobody knew for 
certain what the place really was or what went on there, but the electrical 
fences, guards with patrol dogs and tight security made it plain that outsiders 
were not welcome at all. Rumors flourished and the people of the town 
learned quickly not to question it. The building itself was like a fortress. It was 
surrounded on three side by woods and electrical and barbed wire fences. The 
bay and the Centre's private dock were on the fourth side. The structure was 
solid steel and concrete with seven sub-levels descending deep into the 
ground and two towers reaching for the sky. The place reminded many of 
Alcatraz.

   Up in the Tower, Mr. Parker closed the last file on his desk. He had 
personally seen to the background checks on all the employees for the Centre, 
especially the ones for Psychogenics. They would be the ones in most contact 
with the test subjects and they had to be entirely devoted to the project. Mr. 
Parker considered himself lucky to have found the head psychologist  for the 
Centre, a Dr. Sydney Green. He was recruited out of school, having just 
received his doctorate and he had done some amazing work on the study of 
the human mind. His favorite subject was the twin phenomena, where a set 
of identical twins felt each other's pain or thought each other's thoughts. It 
was his belief that with the proper training and research, one twin could 
infiltrate an enemy base, see information and his twin would be able to recite 
it back home, without the use of radio which could be traced. Dr. Green had a 
twin brother himself, according to the file, so he must have some idea of 
what he was talking about. Mr. Parker had his own doubts about the Doctor's 
theory but it didn't matter, as long as he handled these Pretenders. But it was 
Catherine Henessy that got his attention. She had been approved for the 
position of SIS and seemed capable of handling it. She was a very pretty 
woman and intelligent too. 'Maybe I'll ask her out sometime, when I have 
time' he thought to himself.

   Mr. Parker leaned back in his chair. Yes, this place was, without a doubt, 
going to kick some serious butt when everything got up and running. The 
Centre would have all the latest technology, the best security, and soon, some 
of the most brilliant minds in the world all on its few hundred acres. Hell, 
they even had their own airport and jets. Soon there would be satellite  
operations and contracts bringing in the money, which was a definite 
improvement than working solely for Uncle Sam alone.

   Suddenly, his secretary buzzed him. "Mr. Parker, Mr. Raines is requesting 
that you meet him and Dr. Schaefer in the Medical wing immediately."  
Parker sighed. It was probably about the Project, "Tell them I'm on my way", 
he said and walked out. He took the elevator down to sub-level three, where 
Medical Research was located. After the Pretender  Project was completed, 
they could begin work on genetic engineering and the eradication of 
hereditary diseases. Mr. Parker walked into the lab which was lined with 
microscopes and tables.

  "Mr. Parker, come in and see what's been going on with the Project", said 
Mr. Raines. Dr. Schaefer came over with a file and handed it to Parker. He 
was a man in his forties who spoke English with a heavy accent which was a 
constant reminder of the horrors he had witnessed and inflicted in the 
concentration camps.

  "Well, I don't know how much you gentlemen know about molecular 
biology so I'll try to explain as best as I can." Schaefer took a deep breath and 
then continued, "As you know, I have isolated the genes on the human DNA 
strand which deal with intelligence. The first phase of the Project is to alter 
these genes or rescramble them to enhance them." He opened the file to the 
first page which had several diagrams of the DNA double helix and sections 
missing, then replaced. "What the main problem is are the restrictive 
endonuclease-ligase compounds. These are the combination of enzymes that 
alter the genetic structure of the egg just prior to conception. If you're going to 
alter the DNA of any organism, it is possible to start in the embryo but more 
successful if done in the egg, before fertilization. The process is basically a 
simple one, once I develop the tools to accomplish it. It is a matter of cutting 
the section of  the DNA strand which contains the specific genes being 
worked with and then repairing it in an altered form. Unfortunately , it has 
taken years and it may take a few more still, to develop the right combination 
of compounds to do the job, all of which have to be tested by trial and error."

  He thumbed through the pages showing the charts, graphic correlations of 
causes and effects, chemical analysis of the enzymes they had used so far, and 
medical charts. He flipped to another, larger diagram of a DNA strand and 
began to point out certain points to the two men.

  "Really, it's the introns that interest me. The answer, I am sure of it, lies in 
the introns that lay like genetic garbage along the double helix of DNA. Ever 
since I began my studies,  I have disagreed with  the prevailing theory that 
introns were nothing more than gibberish to be edited out of the genetic codes 
as the process of converting DNA to RNA, and finally into the messenger 
RNA that would direct the cell development, to be carried out.  I have 
hypothesized that introns are a sort of evolutionary  experimentation lab 
where nature puts together new combinations of genes and then, segregates 
them off so they won't be activated  except by genetic chance. Thus, only if the 
experiment proves successful and the organism lives, would the activated 
intron, now an exon, be passed on to succeeding generations. My problem has 
been to find a way to activate the introns artificially, determine their 
functions, and then learn to control them and use them. And I have finally 
found the ones that will activate the intelligence genes to an unbelievable 
rate."

   Mr. Parker was not entirely convinced. "What about the fact that we are 
dealing with human beings here? They could come out with horns and a tail 
for all you know. And what about finding women who will be willing to bear 
these little monsters of yours?"

  Dr. Schaefer looked at him with the same look he had given the general just 
a  week earlier. "Mr. Parker, make no mistake here. What I will create are not 
human beings. Granted, they will look human and maybe even act human, 
but genetically they will be different. I can not tell you what they really are, 
human or not. It will be up to the courts to decide for sure, but since these 
specimens will never live in the outside world, there is no need to worry, is 
there?"

 Mr. Parker glared at the older man, but held his tongue, for now. Then Mr. 
Raines asked, "What about conceiving these specimens? How many women 
will be willing to take part in this experiment and then forget about it and the 
child she bore? Not many I'm guessing. There will be no way to keep them 
quiet short of killing them."

  "That can be arranged," said Mr. Parker with a cold smile.

 "That won't be necessary gentlemen," said the doctor, "I have already come 
up with a solution. As you may be aware, the FDA is coming out with a new 
birth control pill which is scheduled to be finished testing by the next decade. 
What many of your dear U.S. citizens won't know is that the preliminary 
tests of this pill were done in the camps as well. However, such 
contraceptives are being tested by the medical community  as we speak and 
some of the public are aware of this. I have come up with a similar pill which 
works as the contraceptive does, mainly by going straight to the ovaries. But 
instead of preventing conception, it will alter the DNA of the unfertilized egg 
to a potential Pretender. Once we have these pills, they can be sent to various 
doctors offices along with the normal ones. All the women will know is that 
they are taking a new contraceptive that may not be entirely foolproof and 
once they are pregnant it will be too late. All they will be told is that the new 
drug must be a failure. After the subjects are born, they can be brought here. 
The parents will never know the truth, that they bore wonderfully 
intelligent, if not quite human, Pretenders which will unexplainably  
disappear, never to be seen again."



The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
March, 1959

   Catharine Parker walked down Corridor 12  to give Sydney his latest 
assignment. For the past six years, he had been studying different geniuses 
brought to the Centre for observation. Right now, he was giving an I.Q. test to 
two fifteen year old boys who had been asked to come to the Centre for tests.  
She wasn't exactly sure why so many so-called intelligent children were 
brought here for study and subjected to mind tests. She did know that Dr. 
Schaefer down in Medical had been collecting tissue samples from all these 
people trying to find some kind of similarity in their genes or something. 
Eventually, they were all sent home never to be contacted again, as far as she 
knew. And she didn't know much. In fact, nobody did around this place. 
Nobody knew for certain what exactly went on in sections they weren't 
assigned to. Only rumors gave the slightest indication of anything and most 
of them were lies. Rumor was also circulating that Medical was trying to 
come up with a birth control pill before the FDA could approve anyone else's. 
The strange thing about that rumor was that all reports on that particular 
project went straight to Mr. Raines and her husband alone. And when she 
asked about it, she was basically threatened to shut up about it or else.

  Not for the first time, she seriously questioned the wisdom in marrying Mr. 
Parker. There was no question about it, that man was dangerous. He had no 
concept of the value of human life and neither did Mr. Raines. But they ran 
the place and their word was law. Mr. Parker was so involved in the Centre 
that he often slept there and he was constantly flying somewhere to negotiate 
something with associates. She was lucky if she saw him more than twice a 
week. It was a lonely marriage, if it even could be called that.  She knew that 
she was just something he had wanted and wouldn't give up on until he had 
it. Control over everything was vital to him. But now that he had her, she 
was ignored like everything else.

  She smiled to the people she passed in the hall but inside, she felt nothing 
but cold dread. Something bad was going to happen sooner or later, she just 
knew it.


The Tower
Board of Directors meeting room 4

   Mr. Parker called the meeting to order as Dr. Schaefer handed out the 
folders to the directors. It was time for an evaluation of the Pretender Project 
and everyone was anxious to hear how it was going. The Centre had been 
operational for almost seven years now but had not turned any heads. The 
defense department was talking about withdrawing funding and they needed 
results, now.

  Dr. Schaefer stood up. "You have all been very patient and I thank you for it. 
I know you are all nervous about the project taking so long but I assure you, it 
was well worth the wait. I am on the verge of success. Phase one of the project 
was basically completed even before the Centre was officially open. It was the 
labwork with the microscope analysis of genes and DNA. Phase two involved 
lab animals."

  "Yeah, we heard about that purple rabbit of yours. And also, the bald rats 
were priceless," commented one of the directors.

  "It was necessary to alter the genes so they could be observed with the eyes 
alone. No further tests were needed. However, I have yet to try the 
compounds on humans. They have been tried in the lab, but not in the actual 
organism. This is what I have come to report on today. We are ready to push 
forward with Phase three, the human factors. We have come up with the 
pills that resemble contraceptives but are actually the gene altering 
compounds. We have decided to use fifty women, all unaware of the true 
drug they are taking, and see what happens. Please keep in mind, this has 
never been tried before. We have theories on the outcome but there are 
always surprises, which may have to be dealt with. I cannot guarantee  that 
they will all be the geniuses we need. Or they may be but not all of them will 
be Pretender level. That is why we are going with fifty women. Out of fifty, 
there are sure to be enough that will be Pretenders for the Centre. Also, 
nobody must know the true nature of these pills except the ones in this room. 
Even our own people don't know what they are except a few in Medical. We 
have them ready for distribution and we have people to watch the subjects 
and report on the situation. When these watchers confirm that the child is 
born, it can be brought here for study, gene analysis, and tests to determine if 
it will be useful to us."

  "Very well doctor, proceed with the distribution of the pills. In another year, 
we will evaluate the situation and decide our course of action from there. Are 
there any objections?" asked Mr. Parker. "In that case, meeting adjourned." 


Parker residence
7:00 pm. Later that day.

   Catharine tried to strike up conversation at dinner, but it was always 
useless. She tried anyway. "You know, Frank and Anette Terell from 
Intelligence Sector 3 just had a baby boy. She'll be out for awhile of course, so I 
went to see her. The baby's cute, he looks just like his daddy. You should 
have seen Frank. He was so proud."

  "Please, Catharine, I'm trying to eat here." answered her husband. "I don't 
need to be hearing about screaming, whiny kids."

  "I'm guessing you never thought about having one," she replied.

  "Are you kidding? The only time I ever thought about kids was long enough 
to know I never want one around here. If you ever are unfortunate enough 
to get pregnant, I hope you have nothing against abortion."

  Catharine felt cold inside. How could he say those things. Of course she had 
a problem with abortion! But she knew better than to question him or she 
might end up like that poor fool who had been caught leaking information to 
some Soviet spies. Mr. Parker had shot the man down himself. And she had 
watched. She never wanted that rage turned on her. She felt herself getting a 
headache. At least her vacation was coming up soon.

  "Just a reminder," she started tentatively, "I'm going to leave this weekend 
for my annual trip to visit Dorothy. I'll be gone about a week, as usual." 

"Whatever," he answered.

 Her husband didn't know it, but every year, she returned to the bed and 
breakfast in Maine where she had spent some weekends in college. For that 
brief week in spring in that beautiful place, and with Ben, she could forget 
about this horrible place, the Centre, and that she was even married at all. But 
now she had to be extra careful to avoid pregnancy, now that he had told her 
what he thought about it. She wanted kids, she wanted lots of them. But that 
was never to be, now. And she hated him for it.


The Centre
the next day

  Catharine Parker walked into Medical just as Dr. Schaefer was getting ready 
to leave.

"Doctor! I'm glad I caught you in time. I need your help."

 "What can I do for you Mrs. Parker?"

"I heard you were developing a new sort of contraceptive, a pill or 
something? I was wondering if I could have some? If you are absolutely sure 
they're not dangerous, that is."

  Dr. Schaefer paused a minute. He was well aware that the pills had no effect 
on the mother, but this was MRS. PARKER. The Chairman of the Board of 
Directors' wife. He and Mr. Parker shared a mutual contempt for each other 
and he was sure that the man would probably be royaly pissed to find out his 
wife was given the Schaefer pill. He was not afraid for his life, however. He 
felt confident that he was needed for the project and no one could replace 
him. It was his choice. And it would save them all a lot of trouble looking for 
the child later on. It would be right here. He smiled down at her warmly.

 "Mrs. Parker, I have just the thing for you. It's not dangerous, and it should 
do the trick, nicely." He handed her one of the boxes. 'Yes, this will do very 
nicely' he thought. 
Cincinnati, a week later
Dr. Braidwood's office

  The young woman walked in to the doctor's office to pick up he 
prescription. Her long, curly red hair blew in her face as she walked through 
the door. The doctor smiled and handed her the box of pills. She sighed. 
These were new contraceptives her doctor told her about. The were still sort 
of experimental but effective, she had been told. She wanted kids. So did her 
husband. But he was a pilot in the air force and they moved around a lot. 
Now was not a good time for her to get pregnant. Maybe someday, when they 
finally settle down for good. She clutched the box in her hand and walked out 
of the office as fast as she could.


The Centre
three months later

  "You're WHAT!!??" yelled Mr. Parker. His face showed his fury as he glared 
at his wife. "You can't be pregnant! I thought you said you were on 
something."

  Catharine Parker was no fool. She had learned the hard way just how far 
away to stand from him when she had bad news, or she usually ended up 
getting hurt. Now, she was standing clear across the room. She had actually 
suspected about a month ago, but had been understandably reluctant to tell 
her husband. And how was she to know that when she got back from Maine, 
there would be a sudden burst of friendliness between them which had 
produced their current problem? And she was on something, wasn't she? Dr. 
Schaefer's pills. 'Oh well' she thought, 'looks like his experiment failed. Fine 
time for me to find out!' She made a mental note to inform him of his 
project's failure if she wasn't killed in the next few minutes.

  "Well," she began tentatively, "It's not like this is entirely my fault you 
know. It does take two to make a baby. And I was on something, but I must 
have just forgotten to take it. Or else it was a failure completely. Blame Dr. 
Schaefer for the pill failure, not me."

 Suddenly, Mr. Parker was silent. For a full minute, he just stared disbelieving 
at his wife. "You mean you got your contraceptives from SCHAEFER!? Our 
Dr. Schaefer? Medical wing's Dr. Schaefer?"

"Um, well, yeah," she replied. 'This is it, I'm dead meat,' she thought. 'But 
why does it make a difference where I got them? Dr. Schaefer has always been 
nice to me and I thought it was a race to produce a birth control pill he was in. 
What's the matter?' She decided to risk it and ask. " I didn't think you'd 
mind. You just said not to get pregnant so I went searching for something to 
take. And rumors are all over this place about Dr. Schaefer developing a new 
birth control pill so I thought I'd ask him and save me a trip to some doctor 
in Dover. What did I do wrong? I tried to do what you wanted. It's not my 
fault this happened."

  Mr. Parker sat in shock. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He cursed 
the Tower's paranoia about the entire project so that it had to be kept secret 
from even the Centre's employees. His wife had had no idea and now she 
was carrying some genetic mutant. There was no doubt in his mind that this 
was all done on purpose by that Nazi doctor. Hell, the only ones who even 
knew he was an ex-Nazi were Mr. Raines and himself. Catharine didn't know 
or she would have thought twice about going to the doctor. He found that he 
couldn't logically remain angry at her, it wasn't really her fault. If anything, it 
was his fault for not telling her to go to a doctor in town and not here. But 
now what? He had been tricked, his wife had been tricked and now they had 
to pay the price while Schaefer just sat in his lab and laughed.

  "You have to have an abortion. Now, before anyone else finds out. I don't 
want kids, and we don't have time for them. And this time, I'll chose the 
doctor to do it."

Catharine was afraid of this. Now came the one time in her life when she 
knew she had to stand up to him, for the sake of her unborn child. "No. I'm 
not having an abortion. I want this baby and I know I may never have 
another one. You won't have to do a thing, if that's your wish. I'll handle it. 
Besides, Sydney knows. I told him already."

  "Maybe you didn't hear me right," he said through clenched teeth. "I didn't 
mean for it to sound like it was open for discussion. You WILL get rid of it. 
And as for Sydney, he's a shrink and has to keep patient confidence. I'll make 
sure that he does. Better yet, maybe it's time for you to find out exactly what 
you've gotten us all into here."

 He walked over to his desk and buzzed his secretary. "Tell Mr. Raines to 
assemble the board and tell Dr. Schaefer to come up to the meeting. Tell them 
it's an emergency."


The Centre
Mr. Raines' office

  Catharine sat in shock flipping through the files Dr. Schaefer had brought up 
detailing the Pretender Project, while her husband and Dr. Schaefer and Mr. 
Raines had a screaming match. It wasn't true, was it? Could she really be 
carrying some kind of Frankenstein's monster that would be confiscated by 
the Centre for use as a human computer or something? Her child that she 
had wanted so badly was a genetic mutant? No, it couldn't be happening, not 
to her. But it was. And the men were screaming at each other about it right 
now.

  "You conniving, sneaky, vicious, two faced son of a bitch! You did this on 
purpose. Are you suicidal or something? Did you think I was just going to let 
this pass? I always knew you Nazis were insane and this proves it. If you 
think I or my wife are going to be test subjects to be used at your disposal, you 
are sadly mistaken. I remind you, you answer to me whether you like it or 
not!" hollered Mr. Parker.

Dr. Schaefer just yelled back, "You are only upset because you can't control 
this situation or the project! This is my research and I chose my subjects for it. 
You won't kill me for this, I'm too valuable to the project. You need those 
Pretenders and I'm the only one who can give them to you. And if you try to 
stop me, all I have to do is make some phone calls to Washington. I can bring 
this whole place down if I want to." He sat back smugly while Mr. Parker 
looked ready to explode. The rest of the directors started looking around for 
cover knowing that there was soon to be bloodshed. They were thankful that 
Mr. Parker had seemed to have left his gun in his office but that didn't mean 
he couldn't use his own two hands.

  Mr. Raines spoke up, "My dear Dr. Schaefer, I'm afraid it is you who are 
mistaken. You are not irreplaceable. Nobody is. If you were to die tomorrow, 
your work could be followed and the project will continue. Granted, we 
would be behind several years which could cost us dearly, however, it would 
be a small price to pay for getting rid of someone who is as much a threat as 
you seem to be. You were entirely out of line pulling this stunt of yours and 
you know it. And as for 'bringing us down', just what makes you think you'd 
make it out the door long enough to make your calls? You would be dead 
before you could even scream. I should let Parker do you in right here and 
now. But I'm in a forgiving mood today." He smiled coldly and lit up a 
cigarette.

  Dr. Schaefer suddenly felt as if ice water had been poured into his veins as he 
realized his mistake. These men had no problem whatsoever in killing him 
and they would too. Now he was in trouble and he couldn't get out of it. Mr. 
Parker looked at him with the predatory gleam in his eyes of a wild animal 
about to make his kill. And Raines was going to let him, Schaefer was sure of 
it. He'd never live to see the results he had worked so hard for. These men 
would get the credit and use his results. Reports had already started to come 
in of women who were pregnant after taking the drug and who would most 
certainly bear the geniuses.

  Mr. Raines let things simmer down for a moment before continuing. 
"Seems to me that lies are all you are good at, Doctor. You lied to us hoping 
we'd finance you research and thinking you had a free hand around here. 
This is not America, Schaefer. America ends at the front gate. This is the 
Centre and I'm the evil king. I will hear no more lies from you because 
you're going to loose that lying tongue of yours. And I'm personally going to 
watch to make sure it's done." He nodded to the security guards who came up 
and took Schaefer's arms and dragged him out, screaming. 

Raines nodded in satisfaction. After the bastard could no longer talk, he 
would still be able to carry out research for them, hopefully with more respect 
than he had been showing. "now that that little problem is cleared up, let's 
deal with the other one. Mr. Parker, there will be no abortion. If the child is a 
Pretender, we will need it here and you need not even know it's here. If it's 
not, well then, there's nothing to worry about now is there?"

 Parker started to protest but Raines silenced him with a glance. He turned 
and walked out. Catharine got up and ran down to Psychogenics to tell 
Sydney what had happened. She couldn't believe what they were going to do 
to Dr. Schaefer. No wait, yes she could. She was more surprised that they had 
let him live at all. She felt sick just thinking about it. Sydney listened with 
quiet horror as she told him everything about the project. Now he started to 
realize why he had been testing all those natural geniuses. He had been 
getting ready for the time when he would be required to test the man-made 
geniuses. Catharine was scared. It was a no win situation. She was going to 
have to give up her child to these madman to use if it was a pretender. But 
she had read in the reports that the tests were inconclusive, and that the drug 
might not work in some people. She supposed she was the first mother in 
history hoping that her child would be not be born a genius. But if it was 
normal, it would end up with a father who resented it for being born at all.


The Centre
January 30, 1963

  "People, please take your seats. We have much to discuss concerning the 
project." Mr. Parker sat down and handed the floor over to Dr. Walker from 
medical, who was Dr. Schaefer's second best man. Ever since the good doctor 
had lost his tongue courtesy of Mr. Raines, Dr. Walker had been forced to take 
over the presentations to the Board of Directors. He cleared his throat and 
began. "Well, I'm afraid that things haven't gone exactly as planned. We 
started off with fifty women, all of whom became pregnant. Of the fifty 
children produced, forty died within their first year. The best we could 
determine from genetic analysis, was that the genes were indeed altered, but 
other genes were affected as well, such as the nervous system. They simply 
couldn't survive."

  The Directors felt the despair sink in. Forty possible Pretenders, all dead. And 
with the defense department pulling funding at the end of this year, they 
would barely have enough to stay open.  They had relied on the Pretenders 
who would carry out the contracts for information to provide funding for 
them.

"What about the other ten?" asked Mr. Parker.

"Well, sir, one of them is your own daughter, as you know. We have done 
every possible test on her that can be done and over a span of four years since 
her birth. As far as we can tell, she is not a Pretender, she's not even a genius. 
She's smart for her age, but genetically, she's as human as you or I. We can 
only speculate that the drug had no significant effect on her. There was only 
one thing that even indicated that she was a subject in the project at all. She 
carries the Pretender gene. Apparently her DNA was altered only enough for 
her to have the genes themselves, but they are not active in her. She could 
pass it on, though. Any child she has will have a fifty-fifty chance of being a 
Pretender. Unless, of course, the father is a Pretender himself. The they WILL 
be Pretenders. Of course, that will never happen, but you may want to keep an 
eye on your future grandchildren, sir"

  Mr. Parker drew himself up stiffly. "She will never have any children. I'll 
see to that. Parkers are not the parental type. As long as I have any say in the 
matter, as long as I'm alive, she will not make the same mistake I did. Your 
project and my family are parting ways right here as far as I'm concerned. No 
Parker will ever be anyone's science experiment. Now what about the other 
nine?"

  Dr. Walker took a breath, then continued, " Well, we have one boy named 
Angelo who could be a Pretender if he had any personality. He doesn't. He 
could never make any decisions of his own and he tends to absorb other 
people's characteristics. He might be useful but not as a Pretender. Then 
there's Jarod. Gentlemen, I believe that Jarod is out first real success. He has 
passed all the preliminary tests we sent to the schools of these children, he 
aced them in fact. He is capable of processing information better than our 
fastest computers and he has the perfect profile for a Pretender. It is out 
recomendation that he be brought here immediately for testing. We have not 
been able to examine his DNA but we're already certain of what we'll find. 
The drug was a success in him, Dr. Schaefer is sure of it."

  "Then we'll take him," said Mr. Parker, "Director Johnson, see to it that this 
boy is picked up within three days and brought here. Assemble the sweeper 
team to get him as soon as possible. Inform Sydney that he is about to become 
guardian to a very intelligent little boy who just lost his parents in a tragic 
accident. We don't need to tell him everything. But that still leaves seven not 
counted for. Dr. Walker?"

  "The other sever vary. Two are like your daughter, not showing any 
outward signs of being Pretenders. The other five have been tested here 
already and show some ability, but not like Jarod does. It will be up to the 
Board to decide what to do with them. And this is by no means the end, 
people. We can work on perfecting the flaws in Dr. Schaefer's original drug 
and in a few more years, we can try a new batch of Pretenders. And we can 
always keep our eyes open for natural geniuses who could be brought here for 
use."

  Director Leonard spoke up, "What exactly are we dealing with here? Are 
these kids even human? If they're not, what are they? It says here in the file 
that they have forty six chromosomes. Now, it's been years since Biology with 
Dr. Farrar, but I was taught that forty six chromosomes means 'human being', 
skewed genes or no skewed genes. And you just said a while ago that they 
could interbreed with normal humans. Could non-humans do that?"

  Dr. Walker replied, "Don't let sentimentality cloud your judgment, sir. I 
can't ell you if they're human or not. It's not for me to decide."

  Leonard countered, "I've read the euphemisms you boys have used in these 
reports of yours, 'failed test subjects,' 'non viable specimens'.  My God, how 
many children have we killed over the years? How many more will we kill?"

Dr. Walker was losing his cool. "None! We haven't killed any children! They 
were exactly what we called them in the reports. Laboratory animals. Humans 
are meant to live in the outside world. Pretenders are not. Make no mistake 
here, if these kids were to grow up unsupervised, they could become the next 
world leaders or somebody else's pawn for glory. They're ours, we made 
them, and we deserve what they will give us."

  "Enough of this!" said Mr. Parker. "This bickering among ourselves is 
pointless. Personally, I don't care what they are, as long as we have them. My 
daughter isn't one of them so it doesn't affect me any. As far as I'm 
concerned, let's get them and turn them over to Sydney in Psychogenics. 
They're his responsibility now."


The Centre
Psychogenics Lab, 3 days later

   From behind the sliding door, Catharine Parker watched the little boy build 
an exact replica of the Empire State building. Sydney sat next to her, watching 
carefully. She felt cold fear creeping in her heart. This little boy was taken, 
without a doubt. What about his parents? They must be going crazy worrying 
about him. Or were they even still alive? She wondered how it would feel if 
her daughter had been a Pretender. What would it be like to show up at the 
day care to pick her up only to learn that she had been taken by strangers 
whom nobody could identify or find, all because she was smart and could be 
of use to greedy men like her husband. She knew that if he had his way, their 
child would turn out like him. Since she was not a Pretender, she would 
have to be useful to the Centre in some other way. Right now her father 
considered her to be a deadweight nuisance. She shuddered at the thought of 
her beautiful little girl turning out like her father. She was such a happy 
child, always laughing and smiling just like her mother. Being forced to act 
like her father would kill her slowly. Catharine was determined not to see 
that happen. And she was determined that no other children would be pawns 
of the Centre. She had already begun searching for the other Pretenders out 
there who were not accounted for. She had found some and gotten their birth 
certificates from the Hall of Records so they could not be easily found. She 
would try to rescue them if she could, even at risk to herself and her child. 
Maybe she could even help this little boy. He was only a month younger than 
her daughter. She wondered if they would be friends. They both would need a 
friend in this place.

  Sydney spoke into the recorder, "This one's been with us only thirty six 
hours and already he's showing improvement over the others."

 The child came to the window and peered in, "Hey, I'm finished."

Sydney walked in. "Hi, Jarod, I'm Sydney. I'll be taking care of you for a little 
while."

The boy looked confused. "Why? Where's my mom and dad?"


The Centre
August 1970

  Mr. Parker leaned back in his chair. He lit up a cigarette and thought about 
the recent events. The past year had been full of unexpected changes and 
problems. His wife was dead, murdered, for reasons even he couldn't believe 
she had the guts to do. His daughter was now his responsibility until she was 
eighteen, that is. And Jarod was bringing in the money from the contracts he 
processed. Only seven years ago, they were on the verge of collapse. Now they 
were one of the most powerful corporations in the world. And it was all 
because of Jarod and the other Pretenders who will follow him. But there 
were some serious problems lying just below the surface. One was his 
daughter. 

  He had been assured that, even though she carried the Pretender gene, it did 
not affect her directly. It was like a person who carried the gene for cystic 
fibrosis. It didn't affect the person who carried it, only their children. But he 
was seeing evidence to the contrary. She was not a genius. She was smart, 
highly intelligent and maybe just a little too mature for an eleven and a half 
year old, but she was not a Pretender.
 But he had watched Sydney's experiment almost a year ago, where he had 
brought her down to the lab to meet Jarod in some weird sexuality 
experiment of Sydney's. She had walked up to the boy behind the glass wall, 
and put her hand over his and looked at him as if he was some strange lab 
experiment. But he had looked at her, seeing another child, a girl, for the first 
time with wonder. Parker made sure that she hadn't told Jarod her name, it 
would be too personal and he didn't want his kid on first name familiarity 
with that boy. Not that it mattered because she had told him her name the 
very next day. He had watched from the balcony as he held up his hand to her 
and she held hers only inches from his. They had been able to feel each other. 
That had filled Parker with dread. That was not supposed to happen.

  Sydney's theories about genetically similar people having a mental bond was 
ringing in his ears. Jarod was a Pretender, she carried the Pretender gene. 
They had a slight genetic similarity. Did it affect her more than was originally 
thought? How much more so? He had also seen the DSA of last Christmas 
when she snuck down to the lab to see the twin rabbits. Jarod had shown her 
that genetically similar things sought each other out, as the two children 
often did. Then, there was that time when she had gone down to the lab and 
he had followed her. From the balcony, she watched as his daughter kissed 
Jarod. That had got his attention.

  Parker knew now that he had to be careful where those kids were concerned. 
His wife was dead because of those kids and others besides them. Anyone else 
watching them in the lab that day would have dismissed the kiss as a curious, 
child like gesture of friendship and curiosity. But Parker knew that those 
children were only children on the outside. Both of them were growing up in 
an adult world, surrounded by adults and were treated like adults. 
Emotionally, the were children in only a few areas. They were forced to grow 
up fast and were essentially little adults. He had seen in his daughter kiss, the 
potential for something bigger with Jarod than a childish crush. And that had 
scared him. If the kids ever knew the truth about the project that had created 
them and would create others, they would most certainly turn against the 
Centre. If Jarod ever found out the real application of his simulations, or that 
he had been lied to about his parents, or about the project that had spawned 
him, the consequences would be disastrous.  And if his daughter ever found 
out that her mother was murdered, not a suicide as he had told her, or that 
she too was part of the project that had created Jarod, she might turn as well. 
Would she side with Jarod? He had to make sure that didn't happen. She 
would take her place here at the Centre, as her mother before her.
 
  The hard thing was that, the older she got, the more she looked like her late 
mother. He tried not to look at her too much for that reason. No, he would 
just have to make sure she became exactly what he wanted her to become.  He 
would train her himself. And Jarod must never know the truth.

  He sat back and closed the file marked "The Pretender Project" and smiled. 
He would have to hide this in a safe place. Then he would have to see about 
sending his daughter off to boarding school, away from Jarod and any 
connection she might develop or already have with him. Then, she would go 
to college. After that, she would return to the Centre, to whatever position he 
could get for her. People will get out of her way when she walked in the halls, 
just as they did for him. The name "Parker" will mean fear around this place 
and she could prove herself by being his avenging angel. And Jarod? Well, 
Mr. Raines had plans for him. Big plans.

The End