Operating System

The System #3

by Andrea Ring, Jason Walsh (Illustrations)

Seventeen-year-old Thomas Van Zandt has finally figured out how to safely bring his extraordinary inner abilities outside his own body to help others. He can hook up his nervous system to someone else and help them heal. It’s heady stuff, this healing business, and sometimes, Thomas feels like he’s playing God. But God doesn’t make mistakes. And Thomas is not God. Tessa, Thomas’s girlfriend, has Huntington’s Disease, a rare genetic disorder that will soon turn her brain to mush. Thomas can heal her symptoms, but to cure her, he must figure out how to alter her genetics. So he starts experimenting on himself… And in a moment of crisis, Thomas makes a huge He accidentally replaces his genes with Tessa’s and loses his ability to control his autonomic nervous system. When Thomas discovers that his friend Tyrion has been growing human babies in the lab as specimens, and that the resulting research could bring back his abilities and also save Tessa, he’s faced with a Is Tessa’s life and his abilities worth sacrificing his principles? AND, is it right to sacrifice a few for the good of the many?

250 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014