Genie

**Genie** is a chimpanzee who was a test subject for Project Genetica under Navarro Industries. She appears in Chapter 1 of *Murder by Choice*.

## Physical Appearance

Genie is a normal-looking, young chimpanzee despite her age, thanks to the Genetica serum.

## Personality

Genie can be shy, as seen when discomforted by the number of people led down by Ruben to Genetica Keep, Genie's home, during Ruben's annual soiree on Isla Esperanza. However, Genie can also be mischievous, stealing other people's belongings like Ruben's phone and a book on the Overseers' history held by Carla for being shiny.

## Abilities

Genie is intelligent, being able to play video games on a handheld console and memory matching tests for treats. Genie is also agile in being able to steal other people's stuff like Ruben's phone without them noticing and in being able to access and climb through Haven's vents.

## Biography

Genie was a resident of the Great Ape Sanctuary and became sick. She was taken care of by a zoologist who would work for Ruben Navarro and other scientists on Project Genetica, which was a project intended to create a serum that would rejuvenate one's cells, basically curing death itself. When the zoologist brought up Genie to Ruben, Ruben decided to test the Genetica serum, which was already successful for smaller tests on animal tissues and then mice, on Genie to both try to cure Genie and to see if the serum would work on a chimpanzee, which was genetically the closest to a human. After sending Genie to Haven, located under Ruben's private island Isla Esperanza, and injecting Genie with the Genetica serum, the serum worked, curing Genie of her sickness and making her appear young again. Genie's cognitive skills were then tested at Haven with puzzles and games, likely to check if the serum didn't affect her mental capacity. Genie also develops the habit of stealing other people's stuff, creating a pile in her room in Haven, which was dubbed the Genetica Keep.

For Ruben's annual soirée on Isla Esperanza, Ruben decided to show off Project Genetica to his guests and staff, including Genie, a successful result of the Genetica serum, in the Genetica Keep room in Haven. Genie was shy in front of other people, not being used to so many people, and Carla Page had to give her a handheld game console to keep her distracted for a bit. Once the guests and staff, except Carla per Ruben's request, leaves, Genie runs off into a bush, forcing Carla to play a game used by Genie to grab a treat to lure Genie out. Carla can give the treat to Genie or to Ruben to then give to Genie, but the choice ultimately doesn't change much. Once Genie is out, Carla grabs a photo of Ruben and Genie together.

One of the guests, Margot St. Germain, was secretly behind the events happening on the island, including murders, theft, framing, sabotage, and more. After seeing Project Genetica's reveal and later sending Ruben and Carla on a goose chase, Margot broke into Haven, trying to find the three main files on Project Genetica to recreate the serum on behalf of her secret organization, the Overseers. In the process, Margot used a tranquilizer gun in the control room on Genie, knocking her out so that Margot could take a sample of Genie's saliva that could later be used to potentially reverse engineer the serum. When Ruben and Carla reach the Genetica Keep, they quickly rush over to Genie and are relieved that she's okay and only knocked out. Once Ruben and Carla found out what happened to her, Ruben deduces that it wouldn't be physically possible to reverse engineer the serum from just Genie's saliva, to Ruben and Carla's relief.

The next day, Genie snuck into Haven's vents and broke into the living quarters, where Carla and Ruben were in the middle of a conversation about Ruben's Overseers book found in his vault in Haven. Seeing how shiny the book was, Genie stole the book from Carla and jumped back into the vents. After looking in the Genetica Keep to see if Genie was there, Carla and Ruben decided to use Haven's ventilation system to blow Genie out back into the Genetica Keep, where Carla successfully grabbed the Overseers book back from Genie who was distracted by Ruben. There, Carla and Ruben continued their conversation about the book.

The following day, Margot was eventually captured by Ruben, Carla, the Admiral, and Q or Jax (depending on the player's choice) after Margot locked all the remaining guests and staff down at Haven and sabotaged the ventilation system to try to suffocate them all to death (including incidentally Genie) once Margot's cover was blown as the culprit and an Overseer. Ruben later burned the Project Genetica files to effectively end the project once and for all, deciding that humanity didn't deserve it yet. Genie is last mentioned by Ruben when about everyone is by the island's veranda ready to leave with a passing-by cargo ship, where Ruben says he'll check to make sure Genie is fed while everyone is off the island. According to the game's social media accounts in a Q&A session (see Chapter 1's trivia and gallery), Genie was later sent to a wildlife sanctuary (not directly said to be the same Great Ape Sanctuary where Genie previously resided) where she would live out the rest of her life, given that Project Genetica was no more.

## Relationships

### Ruben Navarro

Genie appears to be most comfortable with Ruben, trusting him enough to hold his hand long enough for Carla to take a picture of them for her article.

### Carla Page

Carla can befriend Genie by giving her a treat from completing the memory matching test, allowing Genie to be more comfortable with Carla. This doesn't affect Genie eventually stealing the book on the Overseers from Carla later.