CoDex 1962: A Trilogy

The book opens in World War II era Germany in the fictional town of Kükenstadt, which translates to “chick city”. Jósef Loewe claims the story of his conception begins here, explaining how Kükenstadt is home to a small chick statue erected in its name and an ex-brothel inn called Gasthof Vrieslander. One day, the owners of the inn are forced to take in and nurse a Jewish refugee, Leo Loewe, back to health. Leo, having just escaped a concentration camp, is nearly dead and only managed to keep one possession: a hatbox of unknown contents. Marie-Sophie, a young maid working at Gasthof Vrieslander, is assigned to care for him in the secret “priest’s room,” which was originally used for high status customers when it was still a brothel. Karl Maus, Marie-Sophie’s boyfriend, discovers that she is caring for a Jew, accuses her of cheating on him, and rapes her in a fit of anger. Distraught, she leaves Gasthof Vrieslander and walks around Kükenstadt to clear her mind. When she returns, Marie-Sophie discovers that Leo was not really unconscious the entire time she cared for him. Leo unveils the contents of his hatbox to Marie-Sophie: living clay. Together, they mold a baby from it.

Leo leaves Marie-Sophie in Kükenstadt and flees Germany to Iceland with the inanimate clay baby. On the boat to Iceland, Leo's gold ring, which is a vital component to bringing the clay baby to life, is stolen. In Iceland, Leo becomes acquainted with stamp dealer Hrafn W. Karlsson and is convinced by him to gain Icelandic citizenship to remain in the country and avoid severe punishment for illegal stamp dealing as a foreigner. At a meeting with Hrafn, Leo realizes that the capping on his wisdom tooth is made from the gold of his stolen ring. Leo is granted citizenship but is mistakenly given the Icelandic name Skallagrímur Kveldúlfsson, which means “evening wolf” in Icelandic. The court votes to change his name to Jón Jónsson instead. Leo gathers two of his acquaintances, Anthony Brown and Mikhail Pushkin, and explains his plans and reasons for retrieving his stolen gold. After seeing the clay baby, Pushkin and Anthony are convinced to find Hrafn and his brother Már and aid Leo in taking back the gold. Pushkin finds the whereabouts of the Karlsson brothers. The three first stop at an AA meeting and tranquilize Már as he exits the building, putting him into their car before heading to the Freemason’s Temple. At the temple, they restrain Hrafn and find the tooth is not made from Leo’s gold, but low grade orthodontist gold instead. After putting the brothers in their car, Már transforms into a werewolf and shows his tooth made with Leo’s gold, revealing that the tooth the men pulled previously was actually Már’s, and that the two brothers had switched appearances. No longer disguised, Hrafn runs away, and Leo, Pushkin and Anthony follow him and retrieve the gold tooth. Leo molds the gold into a ring and presses it into the clay baby, finally bringing him to life in the year 1962.

This part begins with a series of nuclear explosions that genetically mutate all the children born in Iceland in 1962. A genomics biotech company called CoDex starts to interview people who were affected by this event. CoDex also gains access to all of Iceland’s medical records in order to create a database of Icelandic genetic information to accelerate developments in medicine. The story alternates between a now adult Jósef Loewe telling his life story, other adults born in 1962 telling their stories, and updated lists of the death days of every Icelandic person born in 1962. Jósef, born in 1962, is one of the many subjects being interviewed; he suffers from Stone Man Syndrome, a disease that turns his soft tissue into bone. He also has the ability to recount vivid memories from the exact date and time they occurred in the past. Through these interviews, Jósef’s true coming to being is revealed. Long after Jósef's interview is completed, CoDex begins a new project to decipher the minds and languages of animals to better understand humanity’s impact on the environment. This results in the creation of a super software called Andria(S) that communicates directly with animals. Eventually, they become self aware. Teaming up with the animals, the software Andria(S) uses humanity’s own methods of war to eliminate the human race. The earth reverts to a pre-human state. Most human records have been destroyed, but the story of Jósef Loewe remains intact.