It would be years before the medical industry was able to read the genome map well enough to begin devising the much-anticipated cures and treatments. In 2008 the first FDA-approved gene therapy was introduced to the public. Pfizer's prescription drug Cytex permanently immunized the human body against diseases and infections for which medical science had the cure.

Smallpox, polio and a host of other maladies to which humankind was vulnerable were genetically "edited out" of the species within a year. After being genetically-altered by Cytex one's new improved genes could be passed down naturally to one's offspring and so forth through the genes of one's descendents. It was lauded as a miracle by some, an invitation to disaster by others. But the effects of "genetic reconstruction" felt like the most natural thing in the world to those who would undergo it.

Cures for certain diseases such as cancer, depression and the common cold would continue elude researchers. However as scientists came to better understand the genome map many other formerly elusive diseases surrendered their secrets and were cured once and for all. Birth defects were eliminated. Life spans were extended. Man's faith in his own boundless ingenuity and mastery of nature was restored to a position not seen since the Enlightenment. Naysayers began to fall silent.

By 2011 the human code had been completely hacked. Drugs designed to alter to the human genetic blueprint could now be made and sold at will, pending FDA approval. Competing drug companies now began to explore new cosmetic applications of the powerful new "superscience".

A brand new chapter in human evolution was about to begin and the world itself was about to be turned upside down. •