Generator [volume 3] the tower

Stephen hoped the name would reinforce the correlation between the digital and the organic forms of disease in the minds of people receiving his message. The disease began when a few renegade intruders initiated a chain reaction of destruction in the cells throughout the human body. As the cancer continued to grow and spread, the cells needed to support the system began to deteriorate. Stephen was cognizant that there were thousands of chemicals in existence which were toxic to human development; each one capable of disrupting the genetic code as the human cells multiplied to keep the body alive. Clearly, a higher risk occurred during human conception ~ While all the eggs a woman has for reproduction are present and whole before birth, in males the cells needed to divide in order to create sperm. As during any form of cell division, their was an increased vulnerability to toxins and genetic damage which would then be incorporated into the body of the newly formed child.

While this was not an issue for the tower dwellers or the wealthy residential citizens, it was becoming a crises for the vast majority, around the world, who did not have the luxury of access to genetic engineers.

Stephen claimed he sent his digital files directly to news media computers. The threat of the release of his computer virus was intended to add impact to his evangelis� tic messages regarding the destruction of the environment, the control of information, genetic manipulation, the dangers of virtual-reality escapism, and so on. He hoped that by raising attention to these issues, efforts would be made to begin to solve the problems in order to create a better society.

Television stations that did pick up the story edited out the content dealing with the issues entirely; focusing solely on the impending threat. Stephen watched in surprise and horror as the manipulated stories appeared on his screen. Reporters changed the slant to present the content as a warning to the public that a hacker was threatening to release a massively destructive virus into the network if not caught, and time was running out. The news stations which did mention the content distorted and exaggerat� ed the statements Stephen had sent to the media, embellishing them with lies.

The hacker’s efforts had been effective in generating public attention, but through the filter provided by the media, none of it had been favorable. The people on the display screens surrounding the news anchor in the television studio, interviewed to record their reaction, were vehemently in agreement that anyone who could commit such a crime was a very sick and twisted individual, and must be stopped no matter what it took to achieve that result. Stephen was deeply dismayed, and although the condemnation was directed at Russ Vai, a fictional character he had created, he took the full brunt of the attack personally.

The ensuing depression placed him once again into a semi-catatonic state. He wrapped himself in the sheets of his bed like a cocoon, and withdrew from the attention he had generated, into the isolation of his private world. A sensation of anger began to well up inside him, gnawing at his soul like a hungry parasite. During those dark days he had seriously considered releasing the virus to teach those who had mocked and scorned him a lesson.