Free The Bar Code Prophecy by Suzanne Weyn Page A

warned as the swing-lo lifted above the fence and sailed over it. “Jack’s big invention is a mechanism that amplifies the magnetic repulsion coming from the earth many times over,” he explained. “It’s a totally clean fuel, and the thing can really fly.”
    Grace nodded as she peered over the side. As long as they were talking about the machine, she could bear the sound of his voice. But that was about it. They were flying at about ten feet in the air, still needing to stay to the roadways rather than flying above buildings. “We’re heading down again,” Eric reported. “If I stay close to the road, people just think this a funky new car, some kind of experimental hybrid. They don’t even notice that the thing isn’t actually on the ground, especially now that it’s dark.”
    They traveled toward GlobalHelix without talking any further. At one point Grace spied Mfumbe, Kayla, and Katie riding ahead of them. Eric flew up and buzzed them from above before speeding past.
    After twenty minutes, they turned the corner toward GlobalHelix. Grace looked at Eric directly for the first time since learning the truth about their relationship.
    “What?” he asked.
    “I didn’t say anything,” she pointed out.
    “That scowl on your face did, though,” Eric countered. “What’s wrong? Is my driving making you sick?”
    “No,” Grace replied. “You lied to me. Why didn’t you tell me what was going on?”
    “I wanted to, Grace, but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t have been doing my job if I had. You can understand that, can’t you?”
    “Yes. You were just doing your job . How could I not understand that?” Grace replied. “Still … I thought we were friends.”
    “We are friends,” Eric insisted as he slowed the swing-lo in front of the Global-1 headquarters. “I’m going over this gate so I can park the swing-lo inside, then your code will get us in the front door.”
    “If it works,” Grace said.
    “Yeah. If it works.”
    Once more the swing-lo rose and easily sailed over the wall before descending on the lawn outside the headquarters. Low amber lights glowed from the lobby. There was no sign of activity inside. They left the craft stashed behind some forsythia bushes and headed for the front entrance.
    Grace ran her new bar code tattoo across the front door scanner.
    ACCESS DENIED.
    “Maybe it’s too soon. I’ll try the eye scan.”
    ACCESS DENIED.
    “You’ve been wiped clean. They’re not admitting you anymore. Can you think of another way in?”
    “There’s a door on the roof that isn’t scanner protected, but it’s usually locked.”
    Eric’s eyes darted to the swing-lo and back to Grace. “Want to try it?”
    “Can it go that high?”
    “We’ll find out.”
    Grace gazed up at the huge spiral sculpture on the roof. Looking up was vastly preferable to looking down. She had never been frightened of heights, but as the aircraft rose, it began to shimmy, first just slightly. But the higher they went, the more violent the shaking became.
    “Don’t worry, Jack has landed on this roof before,” Eric said, though his expression was not confident. “And that was with the first swing-lo.”
    Grace kept her eyes fixed on the twisting sculpture and remembered what she’d learned in biology: the double helix represented a spiral polymer of nucleic acids held together by nucleotides that base-paired together. It was how genetic information was stored and copied. Genetics was what Global-1 was all about. It had started as a company that made hybrid food and grew to one that made animal clones for meat production. Now it was trying to make hybrid people. And it was doing everything in its power to control the population, just as they had cornered the market on the world’s food supply. We’re just a product to them, like cattle, Grace had seen Ambrose Young quoted as saying in a recent article — the image had stuck with her, even though she’d thought at the time it was overblown. Now she