Intended Extinction by Greg Hanks Read Free Book Online

grabbing a room fast enough, but it had filled up pretty quick.
    Jutting 100 stories above me, the Turnmont stood tall and powerful. Its tan plating and opaque windows shimmered in the rising light, half concealed by the shadow of another skyscraper.
    I rounded the corner and pushed one of the mirrored doors aside. I groaned, feeling sorry for myself. The lobby sparkled with white marble and crystal glass, opening to a huge, polished commons. A magnificent chandelier hung from the high, gilded ceiling. Four large columns supported the lobby’s lounge area, each designed in a colonial theme. The commons was decorated in expensive furniture, paintings, and bright flowers. Two ballroom-ish staircases arched on either side of the lobby with obnoxious banisters just asking to be ridden. Where the stairs met, a waterfall cascaded below into a small pool.
    When it came down to it, I could only smirk. My place sucked compared to this godly castle.
    “I take it you like the place?” said a familiar voice.
    “Tara!” I said, startled.
    She walked up to me and smiled, her black hair let down, hanging over her shoulders, sleek as silk. She wore a red shirt with a faded gray design, blue jeans, and calf-high boots that fit snugly.
    “I’m glad you made it. I didn’t know if you thought I was crazy or something.”
    I sort of laughed. “It was good for me to get out of my apartment.”
    She smiled again. “Well, why don’t we see what’s in that package.”
    Where was her little boyfriend?
    She turned heel and led me toward the commons, where tons of couches, chairs, and coffee tables were placed. I followed her to an annexed room and saw a package the size of a microwave resting on a glass table.
    “So you haven’t opened it yet?” I asked.
    “No, I wanted to wait for you.”
    Tara carefully spread the two panels apart. She scrunched her face and then looked at me.
    “What is it?” I asked, standing to get a better view as she tilted the box toward me.
    Inside GenoTec’s package laid two, cylindrical devices, colored like cherry blossoms. They were placed in a squishy, porous material that cupped the cylinders perfectly. In the middle of the contraptions, a VisoNote was tucked into another cutout. VisoNote’s had pretty much replaced paper. Each Note was a thin, transparent, foldable message, able to store gigabits of information. The contents were accessed through touch, being able to shrink, expand, or process the text in any way.
    “What in the world does this have to do with Vax?” I said, glued to the devices.
    “Maybe this Note will tell us.” She reached inside and plucked the data sheet out of its place and started to unravel it. Once the material smoothed automatically, the Note illuminated and we read it together.
     
    Mark Wenton and Tara Tracer, we congratulate you on being the first in Manhattan to sample a dosage of Vax. You are very lucky to have had the experience of being pioneers in this great undertaking to stop the dominion of Edge. To advance this new development in that process, we have taken steps to speed up the production of finding the last and final cure. One of those ways is what we call ‘collecting.’ Collecting is a very simple, easy way for us to take information regarding Vax and the population, and use it to make new discoveries about Edge.
    In the coming days, there will be machines placed all over Manhattan. These machines are called ‘Vaxinators.’ The Vaxinators are the means by which people can retrieve their weekly dosage of Vax in an orderly fashion. What we are asking you two to accomplish for the next few months is a very simple task. In a sense, we are inviting you to become Temporary Volunteers. Every week, we would like you to gather information via the Vaxinators. You will use the devices, or Collectors, to receive the data, and the Collectors will send the data back to GenoTec for the furthering of our research.
    We hope you will accept this responsibility to help