Upgrade

Abstract

Upgrade takes place in the late 2060s, when genetic engineering has become usual and part of everyday life. It follows Logan Ramsay, an officer working for the Gene Protection Agency, which was founded after a global famine – the Great Starvation – ravaged the Earth and killed millions of people, and happened as a consequence of an attempt to genetically modify fruits and vegetables. It is revealed that Miriam Ramsay, Logan’s mother, was the geneticist behind this catastrophe. Meanwhile, Logan is working his job and, during an investigation that sought to arrest a suspect who was illegally doing genetic modifications, he is infected with a strange virus that, ultimately, physically and mentally enhances him, increasing his bone density, resistance, and improving his cognition. After discovering this, the Gene Protection Agency arrests Logan for illegal genetic modification, but he is unexpectedly freed by his sister, named Kara, who also seems to be genetically upgraded. It is then revealed that their mother, Miriam, was the one responsible for these genetic upgrades, and not the virus. She did so because she wanted her children to spread these mutations, so that humanity might survive extinction. While Kara wants to honour her mother’s wishes and begins to disseminate the enhancements, Logan is against it, especially because, with the passing of time, he begins to feel like an outsider amongst other non-upgraded humans. He eventually discovers her sister’s activities, and also that these upgrades might result in death in some people. He confronts her, but loses the fight because Kara is once more transformed, having undergone a second upgrade. Logan undergoes this change as well sometime later, and remains focused on stopping Kara. He eventually confronts her once more and kills her, but not before discovering that she had significantly spread the mutations until then. The novel ends with Logan developing another upgrade which intends to enhance empathy, so that genetic engineering might be more ethical from then on, and also as a response from the reckless actions of his sister which led to several deaths.