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around,
facing his peer. Jethro’s expression was unconsciously blank. It was obvious he
didn’t take any offense or register any challenge. His opponent would have to
have real value for that to occur. Instead, Jethro looked behind Gregory and
observed Blue Lagoon two docks down. The forty-ton monster wooden yacht
took up a whole finger of berths. One glance at it made Jethro positive any modern, twelve-foot fiberglass Laser could outclass the splintery behemoth in any sailing competition.
    “I’ll pass, Greg. I’m only
interested in boats that will help me prepare for my circumnavigation.”
    Gregory nodded at the man,
acquiescing and hating him.
    Jethro bent back towards the sail
and continued working quietly.
    Awkwardly standing there and unsure
of what else to say or do, Gregory muttered, “Suit yourself. See you tomorrow
at the town hall forum then?”
    Gregory saw Jethro freeze for an
instant, a sharp tension momentarily clutching the man’s body. Then from behind
his shoulder, Jethro said, “Sure, Greg. See you there.”
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
     
    There was extensive vigilant security
at the Transhumanism Town Hall Forum. Apprehensive Secret Service men wearing
sunglasses and dark suits communicated with a dozen sharpshooters who lined the
nearby dormitory roofs via Bluetooth headsets. Police and campus security were
ubiquitous, spread throughout the crowds. The President of the United States
and other attending government officials promised they were there to
objectively consider transhumanism, thus creating a stir of excitement and
nervousness all over campus and the surrounding metropolis. Already the
conflict of religious imperatives versus transhumanist aims was being called
the next great civil liberties war—one that would likely dwarf the race and
gender movements by its global impact.
    Over 5,000 religious zealots and
protestors yelled and marched in front of Victory University’s rotunda. They
spilled out from underneath the building’s Romanesque facade of forty-foot
pillars, onto a grassy, soccer-sized field adjacent to Freemont Library. They
carried banners and signs: Artificial Intelligence Will Destroy Us; Cloning
is Evil; Religious Faith is the Key to the Future; Stem Cells Advancements are
Made from Murdered Babies; Being Human is to Remain Human; Biology and Machines
Should Never Merge; Only God Deserves Power Over Death .
    In between the protestors, numerous
motorcades arrived. Each vehicle stopped on the barricaded cobblestone driveway
in front of the rotunda, dropping off a governor or a senator. Each car was met
by a throng of journalists: reporters with microphones, television crews
shouldering video cameras, and photographers snapping pictures. Some
politicians smiled, stopped, and said a few choice words. Most jostled up the
stairs until they were inside and away from the chaos.
    Other invitees, such as important
religious leaders and award-winning scientists from across the country, as well
as students and professors from the surrounding campus, also made their way
through the crowds into the town hall forum. A few VIP invitees—each protected
by bodyguards—also navigated the protestors; they were famous entrepreneurs,
like Phil Holbec, CEO of Atlantis Software, which ran in virtually every
computer on the globe. Or Tom Wolfson, the powerful financier who recently
bought Phillips Bank when its stock price collapsed in two days—from forty-five
dollars to sixty-two cents. Or Frederick Vilimich, owner of Calico Oil, one of
the richest men in the world.
    Minutes before the town hall forum
was scheduled to begin, cheers and whistles erupted in the crowd. Reverend
Belinas had arrived. The preacher wore a dramatic white gown, embroidered with
gold and purple bands on its sleeves—the colors of his church and movement. His
presence quickly divided the crowd in half; like a saint parting a waterway, he
walked through the protestors towards the rotunda. Some followers cried and