by F. Habib
‘So what’s this to do with DNA?’
‘Well, it was only discovered by western research in 1953, but is abundantly symbolised within many shamanistic cultures going back millennia, in the form of entwined snakes or ladders. Twin snakes have represented special knowledge, power and healing in primitive and Occidental mythologies from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia to Australian Aborigines. Even the western symbol of medicine still uses the Caduceus’ entwined snakes.
The serpent of knowledge was often described as colossal, stretching to the stars and interestingly, originating from the stars. Sometimes in winged or feathered form, it represented divine power and the creation of life. Obviously, we now know that the DNA in one human body, if stretched out, could do about seventy round trips to the sun. It is also the grand master of transformation through the evolutionary process. The myths later reversed the cosmic serpent’s role from good guy to bad guy. For example, Zeus went from being originally embodied as a snake to being a snake-killer, defeating Typhon the serpent monster.’
‘I suppose the satanic snake in the genesis story is post role-reversal?’
‘Yup. There are myriad ancient myths and legends about creation involving such imagery.’
‘So what does it mean? Are you suggesting DNA is somehow sentient?’
Rupert flushed pink, ‘well…yes…maybe. We’re not sure. At the moment we’re electing to think of the shamanic spirits as a sort of innate intelligence within organic matter. For example, three years ago a Japanese researcher called Toshiyuki Nakagaki discovered that a class of unicellular organisms with no brain - a slime mould, can solve puzzles such as the shortest path through a maze. As well as outstanding information-processing functionality, our own tests found these moulds can actually anticipate events such as routine changes in their environmental conditions, before they occur.’
Beth frowned, recalling her stolen papers. In it she’d speculated about improving research methodology by breaking through the constraints on human perception as defined by DNA.
The idea of perception not being confined to the physical senses and organised by a brain, was odd. Perception at a cellular level opened a plethora of possibilities. Her mind reeled at the power of accessing such a system. Rupert passed her some papers.
‘Western research into natural and artificial psychedelics has produced some useful, but highly subjective, often chaotic data. The shamans themselves warn against their use without the support of highly experienced practitioners. We can only speculate about their likely success at regulating access to cellular intelligence.
However, the picture broadens when we bring in Khoen’s ability to manipulate metals. Much of the data we’ve attained suggests the cellular intelligence we are talking about may not be limited to organic materials.’
‘Can you be more precise? What metals and what form of manipulation?’
Rupert looked to Bazir who gave the nod to Dr. Mullany.
‘His power is most clearly evidenced with transition metals. His influence on them seems to depend on their crystalline structures, with hexagonal elements being most susceptible. Alloys containing those elements seem to also be receptive to his power. He describes them as, “going with the flow”.’
‘That leaves him with a huge number of elements to play with. What form does the manipulation take?’
Mullany frowned, ‘you don’t seem surprised by the idea of cognisance at the elemental level…’
She blinked at the frowns around her.
‘I’ve been dealing with Galen for long enough that few things surprise me completely; however, you’re wrong. I’m simply putting aside my astonishment, as it’s not helpful; it’s distracting. Please continue…’
‘Khoen describes his interaction with the elements as a conversation of sorts. He pictures what he wants and then he has to…’
‘Persuade them.’ Beth completed his sentence to open mouths. ‘Galen reports similar interactions with groups of eusocial insects,’ she shrugged. ‘Have you been able to ascertain how he achieves this persuasion? Galen has never been able to find the words. I’m not sure he really knows.’
Mullany’s cheeks wobbled. ‘So far we’ve been unable to identify any electromagnetic activity between him and the matter being manipulated – the whole spectrum has been tested; the communication process is not detectable.’
‘Can you describe a typical manipulation?
‘We’ve done 573 trials over the last five years. Many here on Salacia, but some have been conducted in other private labs, and even on remote landmasses for large-scale experiments. We started by analysing the morphing of metals into increasingly complex structures, then movement of material at increasing speeds and distances; skills he had perfected by his early teens. His control of objects requires fairly close proximity to begin with, but then holds true over all the distances we’ve tested to date…the greatest so far is 450,000 kilometres.’
Beth’s mouth hung open and Mullany smiled.
‘That’s beyond the moon.’ Beth marvelled at how grossly she’d underestimated Khoen’s power.
‘We made a small satellite and tracked it through a lunar orbit. He said it could have been six meters away, referring to the difficulty of the task.’
Beth covered her face with her hands and willed clarity of thought.
How can distance have no impact on his power?
‘Sounds like some sort of entanglement, but with an entire structure rather than just a particle. If he can somehow achieve a form of entanglement with the particles within the object…that might also explain why you can’t detect any connection between him and the object. The communication could be happening outside of the space-time continuum; along some other dimension.’
Mullany grew queasy grey.
Beth frowned, ‘you didn’t think of entanglement?’
How could they not think of that? Seemed pretty obvious as a first guess.
Bazir’s fingers interlaced into one large fist before him. ‘Something we hadn’t thought of?’
Mullany drew a shaky breath, ‘There are some parallels, but there is no way to conceive of how thoughts would entangle in that way with an entire object.’
Beth sighed.
‘None of what we see here is possible within orthodox parameters. It’s safe to say the logic of objective causality will only carry us so far. We’re being forced to step very far out of the box to understand what’s happening. I don’t want to throw out logical causality, but the rules are being thoroughly mangled and our thinking is going to have to bend right along with the observations.
Entanglement is probably not the answer, but any similarities with known processes must surely be used to form a hypothesis about what the hell we’re dealing with. What other parallels have you noticed?’
Mullany reddened.
‘When Khoen manipulates elements they seem to behave in many ways like a plasma, but without changing their properties. The metals appear liquid during manipulation, can move with the lightness of a gas, but retain whichever shape and form he wishes, before reforming to a solid. He can alter the temperature and electromagnetic properties, but this doesn’t appear to be a prerequisite for transformation.’
Beth’s vision narrowed to a pinpoint as she focused on the information. Words floated in her mind’s eye; disjointed, unrelated concepts circling round and through each other.
Her silent stare stretched on.
‘Would you like to see some data?’
Beth raised a relaxed palm and stood. She walked with excruciating care round the enormous table, each step placed as though on a narrow plank. Wary eyes followed her.
‘I want to revisit the mould possessed of single-celled intelligence,’ she looked at Rupert, ‘perhaps it is not the single cell which actively manifests intelligence, but the group. Did they test isolated cells?
‘I don’t think so. I’m guessing a certain volume is required for the mould to move and demonstrate its ability.’
‘A bit like a swarm, it may be the collective effect of cells together that coalesce an intelligence coded for within the DNA molecule. As I’m sure Dr. Mullany is aware, groups of electrons in plasmas have been seen to mimic behavioural aspects of cellular organisms. The Measurement Problem of course also demonstrates a fundamental interaction of an observer’s consciousness with particles.’
‘What measurement problem?’ Bazir frowned.
Beth paused; she’d assumed he knew the basics.
‘In a nutshell, when physicists try to measure a particle’s behaviour, the particle alters its behaviour.’
He raised an eyebrow.
‘It’s called the double slit experiment, and it confirmed not only that light particles behave as a wave and a particle simultaneously, but that in their wave form, they don’t actually exist except as a probability. But the real problem was that the consciousness of the observer had a direct impact on the results of the experiment.
This caused considerable consternation as you can imagine. Of course, this Observer Effect overturned the fundamental scientific assumption that reality is out there to be objectively recorded and analysed. It brought more than one physicist to despair. Yet the effect isn’t restricted to the subatomic level. It’s been shown to occur with entire atoms and even some large molecules, including buckyballs, which have 60 atoms.’
‘So are Khoen and Galen changing matter in this way…a kind of super observer effect?’ Bazir looked hopeful.
Beth shook her head, ‘I don’t think it’s that direct. What’s interesting is the evidence of an innate consciousness within the cells, molecules, and particles that Khoen and Galen interact with, without the need for psychedelic substances.
I’m particularly astonished at the possibility that this communication is, to some degree, two-way. You mentioned the shaman’s medicinal databank of knowledge gained from spirits in organic matter; Khoen spoke of the elements going along with the crowd; and Galen was always reporting back on his interactions with creatures.
I never really credited his comments about the internal goings-on of his subjects. After all, he never reported explicit knowledge from them. He would usually just comment on their feelings.’
‘Emotions do to have a significant impact on Khoen’s control. The elements seem sensitive to his mood, but we’ve never established to what degree or why. He’s…not usually a good communicator when in a bad mood,’ Mullany’s voice choked off to a whisper, making her smile.
The door opened quietly and Galen sprinted for his mother, nearly knocking her off her feet with a tight hug. A flash of relief, then anxiety washed over Beth as his head pressed against her stomach.
‘Are you ok, my love? Did they hurt you?’
He shook his head, face drawn.
She pinned Bazir with a stern look.
‘From now on Galen and I stay together. Where he goes, I go. Kindly make arrangements for his move to my quarters. I’d also like a full report on his tests, past and prospective.’
She could see Bazir count to ten before he nodded his consent.
He’d agree to quite a lot right now; it’s obvious he’s hooked on the possibility of getting some answers.
‘Now that Galen has joined us, perhaps we could get some direct feedback about the transformation process,’ he gestured for Galen to take a seat. Beth followed suit.
‘Before we get to that, I’d like to know what work you’ve done on digital physics. There are some interesting ideas there that could play a part in this.’
Mullany raised anxious eyes.
‘You know Zuse, Fredkin…Wolfram?’ Beth scowled at their pained silence.
I was stuck in the middle of the Indian Ocean and even I’m ahead of these guys.
‘You said Khoen’s powers related to metals with specific crystalline shapes. Well, basically the digital boys argue that very simple computational systems, not pure mathematics, are needed to model the complexity of nature. Particles can be modelled as informational bits, processed by simple programs of a binary nature. Theoretically, one could conceive a program that computes the evolution of the universe using very simple algorithms for replication and selection.
If such a program does exist at the subatomic level, perhaps its computational power, or consciousness, grows with the formation of atoms and molecules. And conceivably it could increase exponentially when molecules are highly ordered such as in DNA or crystals, which of course are also self-replicating and stable structures, long used in computer processing.
The idea of DNA as a digital data storage tool has been around for years. I’ve no doubt it will soon be artificially created and used as the most effective digital data storage system available. In fact, a nanotechnologist, Nadrian Seeman, figured out how to form 3D structures of DNA a decade ago, I think he was also a crystallographer. I never read his papers…didn’t have reason to; someone ought to find out what he’s been up to.’
Jenny scribbled frantically. Mullany didn’t move. Everyone else stared at Beth.
‘What?’ She flipped her palms.
Rupert hid a smile behind his knuckles. Bazir called for refreshments.
‘What it is…is your astonishing ability to perceive a panoramic view, while everyone else suffers tunnel vision.’
Beth wasn’t fooled for a moment by his easy flattery, though it alerted her of the risk to Mullany.
Incompetence is unlikely to enhance one’s longevity around here. Guilt prickled her nape as she watched his bowed head.
‘Oh, I’m just the fresh pair of eyes and ears to the problem, that’s all. Also, I have the unfair advantage of total recall of everything I’ve ever read or heard which does help.’
Mullany raised his head, shuffled his papers and looked stoical. Beth smiled; perhaps he would be of some use after all. These people weren’t really incompetent; they just needed guidance through the morass of disparate information.
A thrill of anticipation buzzed through her at the thought of the data they had. She’d rarely worked with other people but she appreciated, for the first time, the scale of the problem. One person piecing it all together was unlikely.
Two waiters shuffled in trolleys of perfect little sandwiches and oversized confectionery.
‘Will you do a transformation for us Galen?’ Bazir smiled over a slice of cake.
Galen nearly choked on the huge macaroon he was trying to fit in his mouth. Beth beat lightly on his back and darted a warning look at Bazir.
‘You mean here and now?’
The setting was neither a lab, nor out in the open air where Galen was more accustomed to working.
‘It doesn’t have to be anything big. It might be useful for our discussion to hear what Galen has to say about the process as it happens. When was the last time you did a transformation?’
Galen swallowed his mouthful and looked for his mother’s nod.
‘Um, about a few months. When we took Rian to Blue Bay.’
‘You transformed at Blue Bay? There were so many people there? You didn’t say anything.’ And I hadn’t noticed.
How often had he done it without my approval? She hadn’t forbidden it; she’d just assumed he would ask first.
‘It was nothing, just a little crab that changed colour. It was much uglier afterwards, but Rian was still amazed.’
‘Would you like us to get you a crab?’
Galen looked to the far end of the room and pointed, ‘There’s a blue fish in that tank. She’ll do it.’
Every head swivelled to follow his finger. At the far end of the room, gloomy with superfluous space, was a faint green glow. Beth squinted to make out an aquarium, lit from within. There wasn’t the faintest possibility of distinguishing its contents from here.
Bazir clicked his fingers, triggering a rush of hands to the tank where much cursing and banging ensued.
‘How do you know she’ll do it?’
‘Be gentle. If she’s afraid she won’t change,’ Galen called out
. He turned solemn eyes to Bazir, ‘she’s friendly and lonely. Why do you keep your fishes in the dark?’
Bazir pushed his food away. ‘I didn’t know we had a tank in here.’
The blue fish was much larger than Beth expected. It hugged the bottom of a huge glass container; two waiters and Rupert struggled to lift it onto the table and it wasn’t even half full. The fish looked like a suitable candidate for Disney; glossy unmarked azure and a bulbous head gave it an approachable appeal.
‘Wow…what species is that?’ Jenny asked.
Galen shrugged, his nose pressed against the glass. Amelia placed steel-rimmed spectacles on her nose, ‘I think it’s a blue parrot fish, but I couldn’t tell you the exact species.’ Everyone sat, watching it intently.
‘Can you tell us what’s happening?’ Bazir whispered after a few minutes. Beth sat back and smiled at the group. They all looked desperate to press their noses against the glass too.
‘She isn’t from around here, we’re waiting for a form to come.’
Bazir gave Beth a quizzical look.
‘Galen acts as a catalyst of sorts. The new form the creature takes is not strictly within his control; at least, not so far. The speed of the transformation sometimes correlates to the distance between species. By distance I don’t mean just genetically…I mean also geographically.’
All heads except one popped up and stared at her.
‘Are you saying the change between species is not only genetically linked, but geographically related?’ Amelia was sceptical.
Beth shrugged.
Minutes passed, no one moved. The fish began to swim slowly around the bowl. Her speed grew and she gave odd spasmodic twitches, splashing water out onto the table and into Galen’s face. He didn’t flinch. The others leaned in.
The fish hurtled around the bowl at impossible speed, as through careening across an unseen ocean. Beth worried all the water would end up outside the bowl.
No one dared breathe…and then they could see it. The blue blur was fading to grey. Then, silver flashed the lights back in their eyes. Water frothed as the mass grew, filling the bowl with terrible thrashing.