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got
down on their knees, casting prayers and wishes his way. Others pushed in and
desperately tried to touch him.
    Belinas was the self-appointed
leader of Redeem Church, the fastest growing religious trend in America.
Besides its quasi-evangelical Christian practices and loud anti-transhumanist
agenda, his church was increasingly known for its strong governmental ties and
massive financial resources. People trusted Belinas with their money and power
because of his unequivocal faith in God, his unblemished piety, and his intense
devotion to the world’s poor. He was, as the media often reported, “an
authentic Christian leader who takes orders directly from the Lord—and no one
else.”
    Walking through the crowd he saw a
disfigured paraplegic man in a wheelchair, holding a sign: FAITH IN GOD—NOT
TRANSHUMAN SCIENCE .
    Belinas stopped, knelt on one knee,
and prayed with him, tightly clasping the man’s hands. The crowd around them
went silent for thirty seconds, until they finished. Then the preacher was on
his way again, hurrying up the steps to the rotunda, a determined look in his
eyes. Behind him the crowd waved and cheered.
    The motorcade for the President of
the United States arrived last, ten minutes late. Spectators clapped and
whistled. Others cursed and yelled. Some simply watched, unsure of what to
think or feel. The President, surrounded by tall Secret Service men, waved
casually to the people as he climbed out of his vehicle and walked towards the
rotunda. The Leader of the Free World bore a bemused smile.
    Inside the rotunda were forty
narrow tables with three chairs apiece, loosely arranged in a circular format
by quarter sections. Each table had a microphones on it. The President,
senators, and various governors, as well as the university chancellor, sat near
the north wall in one section. A huge, imposing American flag hung behind them.
Another fourth of the tables were occupied by clergymen, anti-transhumanist
group leaders, and preachers like Reverend Belinas. In the third section sat
thirty-five students, professors, and business people who were included to give
the event a town hall feel.
    In the last section was a small
team of transhumanists: two robotic designers, a geneticist, a cryonics
specialist, a cyborg technologist, a longevity scientist, a virologist, a
cloning expert, a biotech ethicist, and an artificial intelligence programmer.
Representing them were Dr. Preston Langmore and Dr. Nathan Cohen. Towering
behind this group was a squad of eight-foot-tall bronze statues: Roman soldiers
bearing spears; they were part of the building’s historical decor. It made the
transhumanists appear as if they were under guard and on trial.
    Scattered everywhere else in the
rotunda, both kneeling and standing, were news teams with their equipment.
    The university chancellor grabbed
his microphone and stood up, loudly clearing his throat. The inside of the
noisy rotunda quickly came to order.
    “Good afternoon, ladies and
gentleman. It is with great honor that I welcome the President of the United
States, our esteemed senators and governors, and other guests, to our town hall
forum at Victoria University.”
    There was clapping in the audience
and flashes from reporters’ cameras.
    “We have all come here together
today to discuss the future of technology and science for our country's safety
and civil order as it relates to transhuman ideas, and to give pause as we
carefully consider concepts that have the power to forever alter the human race
for better—or possibly for far worse.”
    The chancellor continued his
opening speech, meandering through carefully crafted sentences, lauding the
current administration’s running of the country, while subtly cautioning it
against social upheaval created by transhumanism. When he turned the floor over
to the Senator from Kansas, the short, obese politician reiterated the same
generalities, the same embellishments over the handling of the country's
welfare, and