Read The Bar Code Prophecy for Free Online

space station owned by Global-1, has no plans to evacuate. NEDRA competes with ISS, offering its scientific findings for sale to individuals or other companies willing to purchase its research.
In an anonymous opinion piece appearing in today’s New York Times , a contributor widely believed to be former Senator David Young, leader of the bar code resistance group Decode, calls this situation just the latest in Global-1’s bids to gain control of outer space and corner the market on space travel. “Their careless disregard for human life is once more their trademark and calling card,” Mr. Young wrote. “After all that has happened, why is this amoral corporation still being permitted to operate? If we let them get their foothold in outer space, with their privately held satellites and space stations, there will be no fighting them here on Earth.”
China and Russia have followed NASA’s lead in bringing their people down from space. They have urged Global-1 to do the same.
     

 
    On Monday, Grace took the GlobalHelix elevator to the fourth-floor personnel office. The moment had arrived. The bar code tattoo was the rite of passage that would mark her as an adult. And what choice did she really have? The life of an outlaw, running and working against the bar code tattoo wasn’t for her. It would all be fine.
    When Grace got off the elevator, she saw a girl she knew from a lower grade in school who had a job as a data-input assistant for the summer. “Hey,” said the girl, whose name Grace couldn’t recall. “What brings you up here?”
    Grace flashed her wrist. “Getting the ’too.”
    “Awesome. Happy Birthday!”
    “It was yesterday, but thanks.”
    A rush of anxiety ran through Grace as she sat waiting in the tattoo office. When the nurse appeared, she smiled at Grace as she took a blood sample, working the needle with a skillful, practiced touch. Grace waited while the nurse disappeared into the next room and returned with a black machine about the size of a toaster oven: the laser tattooing machine.
    With the nurse’s guidance, Grace slid her upturned wrist into the machine. It caused only a slight burning sensation as the blue laser lights etched the first two sections of the bar code tattoo onto the inside of her wrist. Numbers, words, and symbols whirred by on a read-out as the lasers worked.
    With an unexpected abruptness, the machine whirred to a halt. Grace looked at the nurse quizzically. “Why are we stopping?” she asked.
    The nurse poured the vial of Grace’s blood that she’d drawn into a glass compartment built into the machine. “We entered your vital information from a disc that’s been compiled on you. Now the machine will analyze your blood to add your genetic information.”
    “I thought that’s illegal now,” Grace objected, alarmed.
    The nurse smiled confidently. “The system has been refined so that only authorized medical practitioners can access your genetics. Employers and insurance companies can’t see it. Having ready access to this information could save your life someday.”
    “How do I know that’s true?” Grace questioned.
    The nurse scowled lightly and shook her head, silently scolding Grace for her mistrust. “President Waters signed that bill into law just last week. It’s against the law for anyone else to access that information. You don’t have to worry.”
    Grace nodded uncertainly. Was it paranoid not to trust what this woman was telling her? What reason would she have to lie?
    Eric’s voice came back to her. Don’t do it.
    But then she saw her father’s face. He’d worked here all his life. Didn’t she owe Global-1 that much trust?
    “Which kind of bar code tattoo do you want?” the nurse asked. “You can have the traditional rectangle of bars or the new square ones with the bars inside.”
    “I don’t know,” Grace replied. “The new ones are kind of cool looking.”
    “Not as many places take them yet. They need a special upgraded