Read Online [Contributor 02] - Infiltrator (2013) by Nicole Ciacchella - Free Book Online Page B

for farmers, and to feed the burgeoning population of the Earth. However, farmers became dependent on the seed and chemicals, and their overuse led to unanticipated problems like soil depletion and herbicide-resistant weeds, which in turn prompted scientists to develop other chemicals and genetic modifications. Before anyone knew it, food science had reached the tipping point and fallen over the edge, and, despite their best efforts, there was nothing Zhang could do to reverse the damage.”
    “Zhang wasn’t alone either,” Tasha chimed in. “The other Creators’ factories spewed pollution into the air, dumped it into the water supply, and toxic waste seeped into the soil.”
    “Everyday people were responsible too,” Mal said. “The more technology they had, the more they demanded. There was a lack of will to scale back, to make the necessary changes to stop the environmental destruction. In some ways the Creators were only responding to the demands of the people, though the obscene profits they made provided them with plenty of motivation to do so.”
    “How do you know all this?” Dara demanded. “How do you know this isn’t propaganda being fed to you by interested parties? The Creators have done a lot of bad things, but that doesn’t negate the possibility that people are seizing on whatever they can to blacken the Creators for their own gain.” Mal and Raj exchanged glances, and she knew there was something they weren’t yet telling her.
    “Let’s put it this way: we can’t be sure the motives of everyone involved with the Free Thinker movement are pure. In fact, we know some of them aren’t. Some people want revenge. There’s no point in us denying it, but does that mean we should stop taking a critical look at the Creators?” Raj asked.
    “No, but it doesn’t mean you should stop taking a critical look at yourselves either.”
    “You’re right; it doesn’t,” Tasha said. “You asked how we know all this. There’s a historical record. We have old textbooks, have managed to salvage fragments of information available on what used to be called the Internet, old news stories and opinion pieces. There wasn’t a consensus, that much is obvious, but you can piece things together based on what you read. Mal told you there have been Free Thinkers since the domes first went into operation. The original Free Thinkers did all they could to gather and preserve the old texts. Modern Free Thinkers have many different roles, and some are scholars, devoting their lives to studying the past.”
    “We have to learn from history if we want to make changes for the better,” Raj said.
    “If you want to become one of us, you will have to study as well.”
    “How is any of this different from what the Creators have taught me all my life?” Dara asked. “They’ve presented me with one story, and you’re saying you’ll present me with another. It doesn’t mean either of them are true.”
    “The difference is that we’ll present you with more than one story,” Mal said, his eyes flashing. His voice was intense, and he leaned forward, causing Dara to sit back instinctively. “Then we’ll ask you to draw your own conclusions based on what you’ve learned. That’s how it’s different. That’s why we’re called the Free Thinkers. The Creators program. We question.”
    Dara didn’t respond. She was too overwhelmed. Her head swam with everything the three had told her, and part of her simply refused to believe it, even though she heard the ring of truth in what they had said.
    Raj held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Look, we don’t expect you to buy into this immediately. What you’ll need to do, what everyone who wants to join the Free Thinkers does, is join us for study. We’ll teach you about the tech we use, provide you with instruction on our standard practices, such as what you should do in the event you suspect your cover has been blown. It’s what I thought we should have done with