Toys Read Online Free PDF Page B

dwell on, but
     we’re rational—and it is what it is.
    Quite simply, our kind was geneered from human stock. In our case, it was deliberate science rather than blind natural selection—but
     it’s essentially similar to how “modern” humans themselves are said to have evolved from
Homo erectus
or
Australopithecus
or other primitive forms.
    But even more significant than our DNA blueprint—genes, after all, are simply sets of biological instructions—is the final
     product. Unlike humans—or any organism that’s ever walked under the sun for that matter—we aren’t just flesh and blood. We
     contain circuitry and nanomachinery. Although it isn’t visible from the outside, we are, in fact, part machine.
    One other difference between
us
and
them
is that rather than being born from a woman’s uterus, we grow in artificial wombs. This means Elite women don’t have to endure
     the old-world pain, inconvenience, and health risks of pregnancy.
    Artificial wombs also permit us to gestate for longer—we spend a full two years developing before birth, as opposed tothe typical nine months of human pregnancy. Among other things, this makes it possible for doctors to integrate the biocircuitry
     and other augmentations that enable us to rise above humankind’s dangerous shortcomings: greed, immorality, self-destructiveness,
     rage. I could go on and on, of course. Even the best human artists understood humanity’s frailties and failings. Just read
     Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Swift, Rand, Solzhenitsyn—even pop culture writers like Stephen King and Philip K. Dick got it right.
    The brutally dismembered bodies at the Toyz store reminded me once again these human flaws should never be underestimated.
     Too often the outcome was tragic.
    Looking around the scene, I noticed something interesting. The organs taken from the bodies were all those linked to uniquely
     Elite biotechnical augmentations—especially our circuitry-enhanced brains. It suggested something even more disturbing: the
     massacre at the store wasn’t random, or motivated by robbery—this wasn’t an explosion of shortsighted rebellion and rage that
     occasionally flares in the human ranks.
    Instead, this had all the elements of a complex and premeditated murder plot.
    I shook my head and walked the route between the two crime scenes, cataloging traces that the cold-blooded attackers had left.
    They’d come in at the rear—the blood of the first corpses I’d seen was more congealed than the others—and they’d moved fast
     to execute their daring plan. Footprints in the blood—sizes ten and a half, twelve, and two size elevens, all popular-brand
     athletic shoes—told me that there’d been fourof them. Large males. Animalistic. Acting without any regard for right or wrong.
    A forensic team was on its way, but I already knew my assignment: I had to go bag myself four murdering skunks before they
     could kill again.
    The Toyz premier items on display tonight were, of course, Jessica and Jacob dolls. Dozens of them had been placed in the
     store’s huge front window, undoubtedly to lure in traffic.
Scary
didn’t start to cover that tableau.
    The dolls had wandered away from their display stations and were now standing behind the glass barrier.
    They were staring at the mutilated Elite corpses, pointing at them, talking among themselves like so many looky-loos at a
     terrible, terrible traffic accident.
    To the Jessicas and Jacobs, the crime scene seemed to be the featured amusement for tonight. Talk about disturbing—
dolls being entertained by real-life tragedy.
    Lizbeth was right—there was no way our Chloe and April were going to get any of these little bastards for the holidays. Not
     while I was Dad.

Chapter 14
    “DR. BAKER,
SIR.
Our street surveillance cameras have picked up four skunks on motorcycles fleeing the area,” a city cop called out, hurrying
     toward me. “They’re heading north along the lakefront. We have emergency