Breakthroughs in programmable biology have made it possible to neutralize any pathogen, including the latest coronavirus outbreak. But there’s a risk. The cure might prove more deadly than the disease.

When scientists perfected genetic editing with CRISPR and other tools, we could cut and paste and tweak DNA, and modify organisms. Using AI-powered co-scientists and nanoscale 3D printing, we developed the ability to build customized DNA and RNA molecules from scratch – synthetic life. The first fully synthetic organisms were engineered microbes for industry, to make useful chemicals and fuels, and break down waste.

Soon our attention turned to engineering benign viruses that could destroy harmful bacteria, including superbugs, and fragments of genetic material that could destroy viruses. All DNA has a similar helical structure, twisting in the same direction. A negative molecular structure, or mirror image, of a microbe would bind to the original, making it inert. Like two magnets snapping together.

Supercomputer simulations proved the theory, and the scientists got very excited about the possibilities. By 2029 there was a global research effort to synthesize DNA with a negative twist. If we could create mirror bacteria and mirror viruses, then no microbial disease would ever threaten us again. Progress in the labs was painfully slow, but eventually we succeeded, under carefully controlled and highly secure conditions.

Nobody has been willing to allow these experimental anti-bugs out of the lab. If they can destroy natural bacteria, what else could they do? But that was before the Covid-31 outbreak. With the world facing another pandemic that could kill millions, activists are calling for a mirror virus release.

And after the pandemic ends? How do we stop the mirror bug from evolving into something even more deadly?