Page 74 of Jude
“It’s almost there.” Kade’s brow furrowed as he read the information on his screen. “Danni, you need to look at this.”
Danni peered over his shoulder.
“What’s it saying?” asked Octavia.
Danni shook her head. “We’ve only got a partial message. It mentions removing population members not deemed useful. They have a list: the elderly, the sick, and the disabled.”
“There’s no way they can wipe out so many people,” said Jude.
“Hold on, the final piece of data is syncing with my decoding program,” said Kade.
Letting go of Octavia’s hand, Jude joined Kade and Danni to look at the port screen.
Octavia strained her neck to see what they were reading.
Even Sophia joined them, her face impassive as she read the information.
“It’s a vaccine,” said Jude. “They’re introducing a new mandatory program. Everyone has to be vaccinated.”
“Against what?” asked Octavia.
“I don’t think it will protect them against illness,” said Sophia darkly. “This so-called vaccine will target the people the State want to remove.”
“How would that work?” Danni looked at Sophia.
Sophia raised her hands. “It could be a genetic marker. If they have access to our genome sequence, they could tag this vaccine to an abnormality in the genetic markers of people with illnesses or disabilities. They could do the same with our telomeres. Older people have shorter telomeres. A vaccine could attach to that and activate.”
“Then what?” asked Octavia.
Sophia frowned. “I’m not an expert on vaccines. Maybe it’s some sort of slow acting killer. It seeks certain genes, attaches to them, mutates and kills the person.”
“Here’s the final information coming through,” said Kade. “Whatever the hell it is they’re doing, anyone receiving the vaccine will be dead within a day.”
Danni shook her head. “Gather everyone for an emergency briefing.”
Panic flooded through Octavia. “We have to stop them from manufacturing this vaccine.”
“That’s exactly what we will do,” said Danni.
“When you do, I want in,” said Octavia. “I want to help stop the State.”
