Chapter 17

The sponsors sat around the table looking at each other. Some wore facial coverings while some did not. They sat waiting.

Suddenly the door opened, Deccan and Doc walked in. Deccan stood at the end of the table while Doc walked around him and headed for an empty chair at the table. Some men stood up as she sat while some did not. There were about twenty-nine people seated with one empty seat. Among these twenty-nine, there were only four females.

"We may begin " One man said. He sat at the head of the table.

Deccan began by showing them camera feeds of the GMNs progress. He also distributed a rather thin file to them which had already been stacked on the table to the left of the room.

"GMN-1 shows great potentials" Another man said

"Their fighting is weak. Combat skill is mediocre " A man said

"We are working on that" Deccan said

"You have been working on it for the past six months " the man said again

"Maybe we need a change of administration " one of the women said but instead of the woman looking at Deccan, she was looking at Doc. Doc smiled

"Hope you have a suitable excuse for the change of administration " Doc said. She knew what the woman was hinting at, that she was incompetent.

"Seems they are getting attached. Will that be a problem for us? " the woman replied

"For you but not for the rest of us" Doc said. She cut her off before she could say something else. Turning to other members of the table. "For every change we make, we need to have a viable reason. They may be kids but they are smarter thanks to the modification. We limit their exposure but more importantly we need their trust."

"It doesn't change the fact that they are behind schedule" another man said

"How? Their curriculum was approved by almost everyone here. So far they have completed everything and more. Whatever you think is left was not included. So if you want to review the curriculum then page 10" Doc defended.

Everyone was silent. Deccan sent Doc a grateful look. Doc just smiled. She wasn't doing this for him, she was doing this for herself.

"I think their curriculum should be revised to accommodate our present opinions " Another man said

There were arguments as people began talking about what they felt should be included and what shouldn't. One of the men shouted for order and everyone calmed down.

"We are going to do this orderly so that we may be able to finish on time" The man continued

"I know everyone here may have one or more suggestions. If you look in front of you there are writing materials, write your suggestions, fold them and pass them up to the head of the table" the man instructed.

Members of the table began writing, some wrote more than one items. When they had all passed their papers. The man who had instructed them before continued.

"Since everyone here has submitted we may continue. We will debate in an orderly manner according to ranks. Conclusions arrived at will be enforced, Deccan take note. This will be presided over by the president and his executives" the man finished. Every member looked towards the president at the head of the table and he nodded his head for them to begin.

The papers were unfolded, the suggestions written inside were read, debated on and conclusions reached. Doc hated any part of the meeting that was done according to rank. Her rank was relatively low and she wasn't happy about it. Moving up was becoming impossible. She looked at her husband who was farther up. He had a higher rank compared to her. She sighed. He was closer to what she wanted than she was. Using his power was not quite the same as enforcing her own power.

Suddenly she was jostled from her thoughts. Someone had mentioned increasing their number. Building their own personal army of genetically modified nonhuman beings. This didn't bode well for her. On one hand it could giver her her very own GMNs but that would require doctor Stone especially Annabelle Stone and she couldn't let that happen.

"How do you intend to create more? " Doc asked when it got to her turn

"How we created the others" one man replied

"Dr stone? She is one person that knows about the order but is not a member. She's a liability, one we should get rid off along with other members of the GMNs family " Doc said. If they had no family, she would become their family.

"And how will you explain their deaths? " the other female who loves tackling Doc asked

"Missing kids are already causing commotions and you want to add missing parents? " another man said

"We cannot create more because it will result in more missing kids" a man said

"Some members of the government are already on our tails" the third woman said

"Then we have our next targets. We eliminate them before they create more problems for us." one of the executives said

"For now we'll put the creation of more GMNs on hold" the president said

The next suggestion had to do with the elimination of Dr. Annabelle Stone.

"Why do I feel this has your signature on it? " Doc's antagonist asked Doc.

"Because you want to charge me for arson where there's no fire" Doc replied

"We can't get rid of the Stones. They are the only ones who know in details about the reconfiguration." One man said. Due to their involvement in the research and their selfishness, they had kept the major part of the research secret. This meant that the research wasn't public knowledge and cannot be replicated without the Stones. 

"We just need to get rid of Annabelle Stone, she is the liability." Doc replied

"I thought you said I was falsely accusing you?" the woman asked again.

Doc was thinking, after Annabelle Stone she was going to get rid of this woman.

"She knows about us and would have a lot of grudges" the fourth woman said

"Man does she keep grudges" the woman that loves antagonizing Doc said. Doc turned to look at her and she had a weird expression but Doc knew what it meant. They were all afraid of Annabelle Stone and if she was truthful to herself, she was too.

"You were the ones that brought reasons why she shouldn't replace the deceased member thirty even though it would have favoured your sex in number and she met all the requirements and even more." One of the executives said.

In truth none of the women wanted Annabelle Stone there. Her ambitiousness could overthrow a man. She was tough competition to them especially Doc. Doc was the only doctor in their midst and she was just a psychologist. Dr. Annabelle Stone was beating her hands down career wise and she wasn't even a member. By right Annabelle Stone had earned her membership more than Doc and because of that Doc had sabotage her. Doc hated to think what Annabelle Stone would do for revenge and that was one of the reasons she needed the GMNs.

"Making Annabelle Stone a member was proven detrimental to us. She used her only child as a lab rat and so many other children. She covets power more than any human being alive" Doc said

"Which are all acceptable traits for our order" a man said

"She has the attribute of a wild sea horse. She cannot be tamed. She has the highest potential and probability of destroying the order. We all knew that and it wasn't a risk we were willing to take" the third woman said

"All being said, she can't join us but we can't get rid of her" another man said

"We can. We don't need her just her research. We get the research and then we shut her up" Doc said

"How do we do that? " another asked

"If it is approved, the how is not a problem " Doc replied

"Very well get the research and then you can dispose her. Keep her husband, we might still need him. That will be after we've handled major threats." the president said.

Boom! Doc smiled inwardly Annabelle Stone was going down. It didn't matter when. Her husband looked at her but she didn't pay him much attention. He better not stand against her.