I’ve been working on scripts for an audio podcast of fiction stories that I’ll be jumping into soon. I think it’s important we tell our stories. Tolkien and Lewis talked about this often and agreed that Lewis would work on a sci-fi space story and Tolkien would work on a time travel story. Lewis obviously completed his and it became his Space Trilogy. Tolkien did not but took what he’d written and folded it into the Lord of the Rings and the Simarillion. They wanted to create stories that they themselves would enjoy. I hope you enjoy.

SCENE START
INT. LIVING ROOM – NIGHT

SFX: KNOCK. KNOCK.Footsteps.

ANNA
He’s here.

DAVID
Ugh. Anna. No decisions today. We don’t sign anything, right?

ANNA
Right. Just listening…

DAVID
I just…

ANNA
I know.

SFX: Door opens.

ANNA
Hello.

MARCUS
Hi. Marcus from Optima Genetics. You filled out our online…

ANNA
Right.

MARCUS
I’m a few minutes early. Hope you don’t mind.

ANNA
Please come in.

MARCUS
Here ok?

ANNA
Well, that’s David’s…

DAVID
Right there’s fine.

MARCUS
Lovely house. Lovely.

SFX: [Places brochures and tablet on table.]

ANNA
Thank you, Mr….

MARCUS
Just Marcus. May I call you… Anne and David?

ANNA
Anna. Not Anne.

MARCUS
I’m sorry. The interns gave me your… They do this and I’m the one who…Well, never mind…So. Anna. You and your… husband?

ANNA
Yes.

MARCUS
You’re planning on having a child. Congratulations.

DAVID
Well, we haven’t done anything yet…I mean…

ANNA and MARCUS laugh slightly.

MARCUS
Having a child is the most wonderful and courageous act in the world today.

ANNA
Do you have children?

MARCUS
(Hurriedly) My ex and I have two. (Back to business) You contacted us about your plans so you’re way ahead of the curve. Most people…well… Let’s just say it’s a pleasure to come into homes like yours where the people are already educated…

DAVID
We try.

ANNA
I read an article and it made me think but David…

MARCUS
That’s why you’re ahead of the game. You get it. I never do this but I’m going to be blunt. We’re living in a world of biological accidents. For ten thousand years, the human race has been playing a high-stakes game of Russian Roulette with nothing but a blindfold and hope for the best. You meet a girl, you fall in love, you have a kid and then you spend twenty years hoping that the kid doesn’t have a ticking time bomb in their lungs or a dark shadow waiting in their cells. Cancer for this one! Cystic Fibrosis here. Autism! We didn’t know. You’ve seen the numbers. Scary.

ANNA
Scary.

MARCUS
What we do at Optima Genetics is we provide knowledge.

DAVID
You do a lot more than that.

ANNA
David…

DAVID
I’m just sayin…

MARCUS
That’s ok. Let me ask you a question. Why leave it to chance? Why let a random shuffle of the deck decide if your daughter fights a battle with breast cancer before she’s forty? Why let Cystic Fibrosis turn your son’s life into a desperate, gasping struggle for air?

DAVID
Look, we’re not trying to create some superhuman here. We just…

MARCUS
Couldn’t agree more. You ever been to a childhood cancer clinic, David? I’m asking a question, David. Have you?

DAVID
No. I…

MARCUS
I have. My brother’s child, Jimmy. Leukemia at 7. Bobby, my brother, and his wife cared for him every day, spent every dime they owned but the poor kid didn’t leave the bed for two years. Surgery after surgery after procedure. Every little league game my kids went to. Every soccer field my kids played on I couldn’t help but think about the poor kid. Your child being healthy isn’t about being superhuman, it’s about them not being robbed of their childhood. It’s about giving them a chance. I don’t think it should be too much to ask that a child gets to play ball in the sun with their friends. Little Bobby never got that chance.

DAVID
I’m sorry.

MARCUS
I never do this. I didn’t mean to get personal.

ANNA
It’s ok.

MARCUS
So here. The Basic Package that Optima offers. To me, this is a must. I personally, wouldn’t dream of becoming a parent without this. Not anymore. It’s an insurance policy for the soul. We aren’t just “editing” here; we are stabilizing the foundation of their lives. We go in, find the glitches, the errors, the ancient genetic rot, the junk DNA, and hit ‘Delete.’ We’re talking about a clean slate. A biological fortress.

Total CF Clearance: We scrub the CFTR gene until it’s spotless. No mucus, no struggle, just the clear, easy breath of a champion. How does that sound, eh?

Oncological Pre-emption: We look for the BRCA markers and the rest of those predatory sequences. We don’t wait for the tumor to start growing; we make sure the soil is toxic to the very idea of cancer.

We reinforce the immune system. In a world of evolving viruses, your kid’ll be a walking fortress.

David, this isn’t about being “better” than everyone else, it’s about looking at your child and ensuring them some days playing in the sun. That’s all. Anna, that’s our basic package right there.

DAVID
And how much is that?

MARCUS
It’s right there on the brochure, dear.

DAVID
Wow.

ANNA
(Whispers) I think it’s worth it.

MARCUS
Worth it? You’ve no idea. Look, you’re going to love this child in a way that you can’t fathom. I can tell. You’re good people. Gonna’ be great parents. David. Lemme’ ask you a question. If your child were in a burning house you’d run in, right?

DAVID
Of course.

MARCUS
All this package does is insure they’re not born into a burning house?

ANNA
A burning house. Right.

DAVID
Is there a way to screen for some of these that would bring down the price?

MARCUS
You really want to protect your kid part of the way?

DAVID
Our pastor says…

MARCUS
I know. David, I’ve been doing this a while. You think I haven’t heard? Look, the Church isn’t against umbrellas. Rain falls when and where God says. It doesn’t mean we all have to get wet.

Look, I just noticed your wife’s cross. You mentioned your pastor. You’re religious?

DAVID
Well? I mean…

ANNA
Yes.

MARCUS
Believers. I am too. I always wore a cross but my skin reacted to the chain.

ANNA
That happened to my friend. She got a string.

MARCUS
I might just do that. I might just. Thank you. But what I’m saying here is that you don’t want to protect your child from one thing while leaving them exposed to another danger. Christianity says we’re to protect the most vulnerable, eh? As a father, David, you want to protect your child, right?

DAVID
Yeah. Of course. But I think we want a surprise. We want… nature.

MARCUS (Nods solemnly) I respect that. I really do. I felt the same way with my first. Leo. He’s twelve now. Leo was a “natural” baby. And do you want the truth? Every day, I watch him struggle. He studies six hours a night just to get a C in Mandarin. He’s the slowest kid on the track team. He gets the flu twice a year. And when he looks at his younger sisters, my Next Gen girl, he doesn’t see siblings. He sees a different species. He’s a typewriter in a world of quantum processors.

ANNA That’s a horrible way to talk about your son.

MARCUS Is it? Or is it more horrible to know I could have given him a 160 IQ and a heart that will never fail, but I chose not to because I wanted a “surprise”? I was selfish, Anna. I prioritized my “experience” of parenthood over his experience of life. That’s why I do what I do. I don’t want you to make the same mistake I made.

DAVID
You said you had two kids. But you said siblings. Plural.

MARCUS
I’ve remarried. Step daughter. Don’t get me wrong. I love her like my own but she also has a father. You understand…

SFX: Marcus taps the tablet.

MARCUS
See this. The graph. COMPETITIVE BIOLOGY INDEX. The red line (Natural) stays flat. The gold line (Next Gen) rockets upward.

Every sports team your child tries out for, every elite academy—they’re going to be populated by kids who were built for speed and endurance. Why put your child on a track where they are biologically destined to be the runner-up?

By the time your child enters the workforce, 80% of entry-level positions will require neural-link compatibility. A natural brain literally cannot interface. You aren’t choosing “nature.” You’re choosing a life of manual labor and chronic illness.

ANNA
David, did you read that?

DAVID
I’ve read about the neural link but…80 percent?

MARCUS
Studies. Projections. It’s the future. You can’t stop it.

Look, let’s stop whispering. I like you. I never do this but let’s drop the polite and look at the cold, hard future. You’re smart, good people. Believers. You know that stewardship isn’t just about feeding and clothing a child. It’s about equipping them for the wilderness.

And the wilderness is getting wild.

Because of advances in tech we’re standing at the edge of the Great Biological Divide. For centuries, the “haves” and “have-nots” were separated by bank accounts or zip codes. Those gaps could be bridged with luck or a staggering amount of grit. But that door is slamming shut. We are moving into an era where the divide will be written into the very marrow of the bone.

Think Anne, about the world your child is walking into. When they walk into an interview at a top-tier firm, or a lab, or a boardroom, do you think a recruiter is going to hesitate between a 105 IQ and a 160 IQ engineered polymath? A child who doesn’t just “learn” a language but absorbs it like oxygen?

ANNA
But the Bible…

MARCUS
You mentioned the Good Book. I read it often. Well, let’s look at the Parable of the Talents. We are judged by what we do with what we are given. If you have the tech to remove the “thorns and thistles” from your child’s genetic code – to give them the strength of Samson, the wisdom of Solomon, and the health to live a long, vibrant life – is it not a sin of omission to refuse?

If you saw your child drowning, you’d pull them out, right David? If you saw them struggling to learn, you’d get a tutor. This is no different. It is the ultimate act of love to ensure they never have to struggle in the first place. If you ask me what the Bible is about, it’s about love. It’s about sacrificing ourselves for others. I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong but…our AMBITION package is real parental love.

ANNA
David, I don’t want our child left behind.

MARCUS
The truth is this: The world is splitting. On one side, you have a new class of “Super-Sapiens.” Healthy, brilliant, and physically flawless. On the other, you have those left to the whims of random mutation.

As a parent, your primary duty is to protect. To provide.
The question isn’t whether we should play God. The Good Book says the Father will never turn us down. Why? Because He loves us. If your son or daughter looks to you in the future and asks why? What will your answer be?

God gave us medicine, Tech. For years, science and tech have been used in war but you, you can use it in service of love. To make your child’s life a little better. I don’t see a sin in that. To me, that’s what the Good Book is all about.

ANNA
(Quietly) I see here. What about the… the tech womb? That just seems…

MARCUS
The “Bio-Sleeve.” Look, the human body is amazing, but it’s inconsistent. Stress, pollutants, a glass of wine before you knew you were pregnant—it all creates “noise” in the DNA. The Sleeve filters the noise. It’s a 280-day perfect environment.

DAVID
What about the connection between the mother and child? I’ve read that children in the womb hear their parents.

MARCUS
These tech people have thought of everything. This’ll amaze you. You two just record yourselves going throughout the day. We’ll AI your voices so your child hears you reading to them, singing, whatever feels natural. And we’ll layer in Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven — studies show it advances brain development. Personally, I wouldn’t mind slipping in a little old-school Beatles, but nobody listens to me, heh?

ANNA
But… I wouldn’t carry my child?

MARCUS
I’ll be honest with you. When I see a woman carrying a child the old way, I don’t see a “mother.” I see someone who cares more about the aesthetic of motherhood — the “virtue signaling” of being natural — than she does about the child’s actual health. It’s biological ego. The Bio-Sleeve has 12 percent fewer miscarriages and 65% fewer SIDS cases in the first two years. It’s amazing.

ANNA
(Voice trembling) It’s not ego. It’s… connection.

MARCUS
You’ll be connected, because your child will know you did everything for them.

SFX: Marcus taps the tablet. A soft holographic glow hums faintly.

MARCUS (CONT’D)
Let me show you what real parental love looks like these days. The Ambition Suite.

Here’s the truth, and let’s be honest — this is science, not vanity. Studies have shown that above-average height, staying in shape, blond hair, blue eyes… they open doors. They help. That’s not me saying it. That’s data. Hey, I wish I’d kept my hair. I didn’t. But your child won’t have to wonder.

And beyond the physical? We remove maladaptive traits like excessive self-doubt or irrational fear of failure. Your son or daughter won’t waste years second-guessing themselves the way so many of us did. They’ll move through life with quiet confidence. No time lost on “Am I good enough?” They’ll simply know they are.

SFX: [Marcus slides the digital stylus across the table toward David.]

MARCUS
Don’t give him your flaws, David. Give him your dreams.

SFX: Heavy, suffocating silence. Faint artificial heartbeat layered under a low, clean mechanical hum.

DAVID (quiet, almost to himself)
He’d be… he’d be safe. He’d never have to worry about money. Or cancer.

ANNA (whispering)
Show me the Ambition Suite again.

SCENE END