2036 The Proof: A Thrilling Science Fiction Novel

by Speiser, Zvi

  “I’m with Dr. Lester. We have to see you at once,” she said. “We’re on our way to you,” she concluded, without waiting for his assent.

  Will had a hard time dragging himself to the bathroom to freshen up.

  Dr. Lester was a handsome, well-preserved man, older than him by at least five years. He was indeed facing stiff competition.

  “I’m sorry about the late hour. I know how tiring all of today has been for you, but after you see what Dr. Lester wants to present to you, you can go back to bed. I’m just not sure you’ll be able to fall asleep,” Melissa said with a mysterious smile.

  The biologist laid out two large prints displaying rows of precise, appealing geometrical structures, photographed from two different angles. Will stared at the images, turning them around and looking at them again before laying them down on the table once more.

  “I don’t get it. What is in these images that’s so urgent?”

  Melissa and the biologist exchanged glances.

  “Can you guess what any of these lines express?” she asked.

  Will focused on the prints again. They were organized and symmetrical to some extent, and did seem to possess some logic. The structures repeated themselves in various arrangements. However, once again, he had to put them down and shake his head. The two watched him for a long while until the biologist spoke up.

  “Each line represents a Boolean equation, the kind computer programmers use.”

  “That’s really nice. And you woke me up for that?” he asked, snapping at them.

  Another long silence stretched out, until finally, the biologist said, “These images were produced in a biological process, originating in human DNA, where they have been concealed for millions of years.” He then gathered the prints and tucked them back into his bag.

  “Don’t talk about this to anyone but me. Call me whenever you have something to say,” Melissa said. “Oh, I forgot. Jack or Aaron, the guy who injured you, turned himself in. You don’t have to worry about him anymore.” The two of them rose from their seats and departed.

  Will was left open-mouthed, his glazed look directed at the closed door. He should have been too fatigued and exhausted to think clearly, but surprisingly, felt highly alert.

  These images were produced in a biological process, originating in human DNA. These images were produced in a biological process, originating in human DNA. The sentence echoed in his head again and again; he couldn’t break free of it. What did it mean? Mathematical equations in human DNA? What was the connection between the two, anyway?

  Human DNA, like that of every life form on Earth, had evolved gradually, over billions of years, starting with the first primitive bacteria and perhaps even preceding it. What was the link between DNA and computer systems, which hadn’t existed even a hundred years ago? And when had biological systems ever constructed such symmetrical structures? It was all so strange. His momentary alertness faded away, briefly replaced by an opaque veil of fatigue. All he wanted was to jump into bed. But no, first there was an urgent call he had to make.

  The exhaustion that had suddenly assaulted him got the better of him. With his last remaining energy, he crawled into bed. His sleep was restless, consisting of a swirl of DNA sequences spinning and tangling with one another, occasionally producing the figures of prehistoric man, Neanderthals, primates, and contemporary people of various races. Occasionally, he floated in space, pulling stones and rocks toward him before throwing them at glittering stars, which occasionally exploded in colorful, breathtaking fireworks. He woke up and fell asleep again several times until he found himself completely awake.

  Some elusive thought appeared and vanished. He didn’t have time to perceive it fully. It contained a faint lead, an interesting direction that might provide an explanation. He tried to chase it, but couldn’t focus on it. A short sentence he had heard, a handful of words uttered distractedly, perhaps jokingly—stars, people, but no whole sentence. And then, like a thunderclap, illumination hit him. He straightened in his bed, coiled and alert.

  The late hour didn’t bother him in the slightest. His assistant call was answered almost immediately. His interlocutor was also awake and alert. An instant agreement and the call was terminated. He waited quite a while for a response to his second call. The person on the other end of the line had been asleep, but agreed instantly once they finally spoke. Everything would be carried out on time.

  Chapter 35

  The Meeting at NASA

  Chicago, Friday, July 25, 2036

  Despite the early morning hour, everyone was present. Dr. Almog commandeered one of the less central conference rooms at NASA, hoping to avoid attention. Will recognized nearly everyone: Rick and Melissa; Dr. Lester, accompanied by a young woman who was probably the PhD student working with him; Dr. Apexton and his wife Ramona; and, of course, Dr. Almog, who locked the door once the last of the attendees arrived.

  Tom examined the participants, some of whom he did not know. He hadn’t wanted to take part in the meeting and could not understand what sorts of insights the journalist might provide; however, Melissa had insisted. She didn’t know exactly what Will was about to tell them, but she had faith in him. She said he excelled at surmising the big picture out of an amazingly small array of seemingly unrelated details. She also said an astronomer and someone working for NASA would be present as well. Tom couldn’t understand what sort of connection might exist between such distant branches of science. He had deliberated somewhat in regard to Lise, but had decided to bring her along to compensate for the stress she had been under since the structures had been discovered.

  The attendees did not converse among themselves. All of them waited tensely, a sentiment clearly written on their faces.

  “First, I want to ask everyone present to introduce themselves, on behalf of those here who don’t know everyone,” Will began, and thus learned that Dr. Lester’s companion was indeed the PhD student working at the lab where the security guard had been murdered. “As for me, I’m an investigative reporter for the Chicago Chronicle, a job that’s taught me to put together seemingly unrelated items of information and create a meaningful whole, and I’ve been doing that fairly successfully for quite a few years. I’ll start by presenting three discoveries, two of which were made by people sitting in this room today.

  “The first discovery: Dr. Gerald Apexton from NASA discovered that an asteroid moving into the solar system, which had the potential to strike the Earth, causing significant destruction, was diverted from its path while it was crossing the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.”

  His statements appeared as an orderly block of text on the left part of the large presentation board at the end of the room. “Dr. Apexton has no idea what caused the asteroid to divert from its path. Dr. Apexton, is there anything you want to add?”

  “No, I think at this stage of the meeting, your description is quite accurate.”

  “The second discovery was made by Professor Lia Rosen from the University of California, Berkeley, and Professor Benjamin Sheffy from Tel Aviv University in Israel. They discovered four stars that, according to the reigning theory, proved in dozens of cases, should have exploded into supernovas, and due to their proximity to the Earth, might have caused the destruction of all life on the planet. However, for a reason that remains unclear to us, they did not explode. Dr. Apexton, anything you want to add?”

  “Not at this stage.”

  The description appeared in an orderly array on the board, under its predecessor.

  “As for the third discovery, I must ask Dr. Lester to describe it in his own words.”

  Tom felt uncomfortable. Up to this point, he had only shared the discovery of the structures with a handful of people. He feared its implications and, to a large extent, was afraid for his life and the life of his family. It was true that Aaron, who had killed Oleg the security guard, had turned himself i
n and promised there would be no further investigations and interference. On the other hand, there was still Gaya (or Erie or whatever her name was) to contend with, and of course, the omnipotent Professor Goldon. What exactly was their connection to all this? Were they even connected to Aaron? Melissa had said that Aaron told her he worked alone with his family.

  He had believed he was only coming to listen to Will, as she’d said; he hadn’t thought he would be required to discuss his discovery within such an extended forum of people he didn’t know. He considered asking Will to describe the discovery in his own words, or perhaps asking Lise, who seemed frightened, to do so.

  He felt everyone’s eyes staring at him, eager for whatever he had to say. Actually, why not? Will would know how to present the essence of the discovery in a way befitting the level of knowledge of those present.

  “I’d be happy if you described it in your own words,” Tom said.

  “As you wish,” Will replied, sounding pleased. That had been his preference, as well. “Dr. Lester and PhD candidate Lise Oliver, from the University of Chicago, carried out a biological process on human DNA, and to their astonishment, ended up with a series of symmetrical geometric structures matching basic computing equations. Was that accurate enough?” he asked. “Is there anything you want to add or clarify?”

  Tom shook his head. He couldn’t have summed it up better. Will was indeed a sharp and talented man.

  Another paragraph of text appeared on the board after the previous one. All eyes were focused on the board, which now contained a description of the three discoveries as they’d been presented by Will, listed one after the other.

  Will’s gaze roamed between the board and the attendees. No one spoke up, each of them retreating into their own thoughts. “The riddle is right here in front of you,” Will said. “Does anyone have any ideas?”

  The minutes went by. People shifted uncomfortably in their seats, but no one said a word.

  “Last night,” Will began, “I talked to Professor Benjamin Sheffy, who’s currently attending a conference in Berkeley, about his and Professor Rosen’s discovery. The professor expanded on the anomaly observed in four stars, which has no current scientific explanation. It was a fascinating, challenging conversation. He explained to me that the masses of the stars they’d discovered were significantly larger than the maximum limit indicated by the known laws of physics. This phenomenon depicts white dwarfs that accumulate mass from an adjacent star, and then explode once they reach a fixed mass, calculated decades ago by a physicist named Chandrasekhar. Since the explosion takes place at a fixed mass, its intensity is fixed as well, as is its luminosity.

  “This fact provided cosmologists with the ‘standard candle’ they’d been seeking for many years, creating an accurate means of measurement to gauge large distances in the universe. The distance calculated based on the explosion has been verified through other means on several occasions, and found to match.

  “The discovery made by professors Rosen and Sheffy is the only exception found in this field, hence its oddity. Professor Sheffy didn’t forget to emphasize that the irregular stars discovered were in our galaxy, and at such a proximity to us that one of them exploding would have resulted in the annihilation of all life on Earth. When I asked what might have caused this, he replied, perhaps jokingly, that it might be God, protecting us here on Earth from extinction. Just to remind you, Dr. Apexton said something similar at the end of his presentation.”

  His gaze slowly surveyed the faces of the attendees. He was expecting illumination, a significant response from any of them. It was true that only he and Melissa had first assembled all the items of information; they were the only ones who held the important details of all three discoveries. However, a bird’s eye view of any two of the discoveries was enough to enable a leap to an unequivocal conclusion, especially since the discovery made by Dr. Lester and his PhD student was enough in and of itself to reach the conclusion he was aiming for. Perhaps they understood this, but were afraid to speak out, allowing him to be the messenger at the gate.

  However, no one took the leap. All of them seemed wrapped up in their own thoughts. It was obvious to Will that Dr. Almog still didn’t understand the urgency and sense of exigency that Will had exhibited when convening the emergency meeting. Many theories in physics had changed over the last few decades, and apparently, he found groundbreaking revelations a routine matter. Other than Dr. Lester’s strange discovery, he didn’t seem to consider the findings presented to him as sufficient justification for an urgent meeting promising dramatic insights. Was there an expression of disappointment on his face? Will wasn’t sure.

  The minutes continued to tick by. No one said a thing. Some of them still seemed immersed in their thoughts, while others appeared to have given up and were exchanging smiles, as if implying, Did they summon us to a meeting so early in the morning for this?

  “Okay,” Will said. “At moments like this, when I have a collection of disparate details that aren’t coming together, I try to observe them from a high altitude, an altitude at which minute details lose their sharpness and identity, and increasingly, what’s revealed is a single image, blurry yet unified. On the right side of the board, opposite the description of each discovery, you’ll see a statement defining the prominent common denominator between all the discoveries.

  “The first…” With these words, the sentence “A higher power preventing the destruction of humanity” appeared to the right of the description of Dr. Apexton’s discovery.

  “The second…” Will continued, as the statement “An unexplained process preventing the destruction of humanity” appeared opposite the description of professors Rosen and Sheffy’s discoveries.

  People squirmed uncomfortably in their chairs. Here and there, a momentary expression of disdain appeared as well. Only then did he notice Lise’s gaze, frightened to the point of sheer terror. Apparently, she had guessed what was coming next. He felt that he had to hurry before some of them sealed themselves off, losing interest in the next stage.

  “And now for the summarizing statement,” he blurted out quickly.

  At the bottom right corner of the board, opposite the description of Dr. Lester’s discovery, the final statement appeared: “An unexplained imprint upon the human race.”

  For a long moment, everyone’s eyes remained fixed on the board.

  An asteroid moving into the solar system, which had the potential to strike the Earth, causing significant destruction, was diverted from its path so that it would not strike us.

  A higher power preventing the destruction of humanity

  Stars that, according to the reigning theory, proved in dozens of cases, should have exploded into supernovas, and due to their proximity to the Earth, might have caused the destruction of all life on the planet, did not explode.

  An unexplained process preventing the destruction of humanity

  A biological process in human DNA resulted in a series of symmetrical geometric structures matching basic computing equations.

  An unexplained imprint upon the human race

  Chapter 36

  Will

  Chicago, Thursday, September 11, 2036

  Will was frustrated. More than a month had gone by since the meeting at NASA, which had undoubtedly been the peak of his career thus far, a meeting that had given expression to his extraordinary ability to create a clear picture out of a collection of seemingly unrelated details. Since it had taken place, he still hadn’t found a new subject to investigate.

  It had been a long month. His injuries had healed almost completely, and in fact he had nearly forgotten about the accident that had almost caused his death. He had talked to Melissa many times, and she had even consented to meet him once. She was undecided about resuming thei
r relationship.

  Her current relationship with Tom was convenient, leaving her time for her various occupations without tying her down to a formal commitment. She had gotten accustomed to the freedom allowing her to do as she liked, and enjoyed it. It was true, in her youth, while living with her parents, she had dreamed of a family and children, a distant dream that was no longer even tinted in rose-colored nostalgia.

  He was willing to have a loose framework, Will told her, with no rigid commitments, a sort of “couplehood lite,” going with the flow of life and changing definitions and arrangements as suited them both. He went on to say that he was sure they were compatible, that they had matured, and could keep going from the point where they had broken it off.

  She promised to think about it, telling him that Tom was leaving the university in favor of a major private company. He’d gotten an offer he couldn’t refuse. She could not tell him any more than that.

  Every day, he roamed the paper’s offices, talking to his colleagues, often bothering them and distracting them from their work. He tried to check out various possible directions, but every subject into which he once would have delved with enthusiasm now seemed worthless to him. Several ideas proposed by his editor also did not ignite his interest.

  He felt as if he was waiting for something big, perhaps a continuation of that same meeting. But what sort of continuation could it have? Everyone who had attended agreed to maintain strict secrecy in regard to its contents. He often reached this impasse in his thoughts when he tried to discover what, exactly, he was waiting for. In a password-protected folder, he kept his detailed research regarding the occurrences that had led to the NASA meeting. He wouldn’t break his commitment to maintain confidentiality. He would not be the first to do so.