“You’re right on time,” Eugene said, patting him on the back. “Everyone’s in the other room. The telescope’s just about to come online.”
He was talking about the Chandra X-ray Observatory currently orbiting sixty-five miles above the Earth. Although launched two decades ago, Eugene and his team had successfully managed to upgrade the satellite’s capabilities via a series of firmware updates. The theoretical physicist led him into a room filled with a number of familiar faces.
Mia greeted him first with a thunderous hug.
“Easy, don’t ruin the guy,” Dag said, taking a far gentler approach.
Grant was there too and did the proper British thing by shaking Jack’s hand.
“Anyone speak to Gabby?” Jack asked, wishing almost at once that he hadn’t.
A stony silence descended over the room.
“I heard she went back to Nebraska to be with her mother and help rebuild,” Eugene said.
Jack nodded. “That’s good to hear.”
One of the other scientists in the room was new to him. She was a young woman in her twenties with dark shoulder-length hair and warm, pleasant features.
“Oh, yeah, where are my manners,” Mia said, playfully slapping her forehead. “I forgot you two haven’t officially met.”
Jack put out his hand.
“Jack, this is…”
He looked in her eyes and was struck by an overwhelming sense of familiarity. He swallowed hard, staring now, but not able to help himself. “Anna?”
“Hello, Dr. Greer,” she replied, the hue on her fleshy cheeks deepening.
“Holy cow,” he said and for several seconds it was all he could manage. “You have an entirely new body.”
“Caretaker left me with a parting gift, you might say.”
“I’ll bet.” Jack blinked and let out a burst of surprised laughter. “I swear if I was standing next to you in a subway, I would never know.”
He took her by the hands. They were warm to the touch. The nanocells were indistinguishable from human skin. “You are truly incredible,” he said, overcome and largely lost for words.
“I retested her,” Mia said, motioning to Anna. “And her readings turned out to be even more impressive than the twins.”
“If Rajesh could only see what you’ve become,” Jack said.
Dag snickered. “He probably wouldn’t believe it.”
There was some truth to that. It seemed to be the destiny of some children to greatly outshine even the parents who birthed them. That was part of the immeasurable magic of creation Caretaker had spoken about.
“We have been busy in other ways as well,” Anna told him. “It turns out Salzburg held one final secret. By taking the encryption to the next level, I was able to decipher a new layer resting on top of the existing code. It opened what you might call an encyclopedia.”
“Of what?” Jack wondered aloud.
“Every technology we will need to become a spacefaring civilization. I am also in the process of building a new companion.”
Dag rose out of his seat. “I hope this one’s smarter than Tink.”
A yapping sound emanated from the other room.
“See what I mean?” the paleontologist said.
“What will you name this new companion?” Jack asked, although he thought he already knew.
“Ivan 2.0,” she replied proudly. “Only this time I have left out the machine guns.”
Jack turned to Mia who was standing next to him. “I’m sure your daughter was happy to have you back.”
Mia’s eyes lit up. “She was. I’m assuming you heard that Ollie and I moved in together.”
“I did. Congratulations.”
Mia smiled. “Zoey just adores him. But he’s nothing compared to Sofia and Noemi. Those three girls are practically inseparable.”
“Sounds like you’ve got a full house,” he said. “Maybe one day you’ll be able to tell them about how you saved the world.”
Mia burst into laughter. “Yeah, don’t count on it.” Her expression shifted. “How about you? Was everything in one piece when you finally made it back home?”
“You’ll never believe it. I arrived on the farm to find Gordon still recovering from a fall.”
She frowned. “But who was taking care of things?”
“My father.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding me.”
“You can’t make stuff like that up. I arrived to find the two of them having a hoot. I decided to set my feelings of bitterness aside and open myself to the possibility.”
“I guess Anna isn’t the only one who’s growing up.”
He laughed and swung a playful arm around her. “Oh, I nearly forgot,” Jack said. “I got a call from Stark a few days ago. Turns out, a week after we left Greenland, something punched a hole through the ice sheet and shot off into space.”
“Caretaker,” Anna said wistfully.
“But Stark sure has his hands full,” Jack continued, “what with President Myers stepping down. Seems a news blog helped to expose his government’s ties to Sentinel and the internment camps.”
“Kay Mahoro,” Mia said with noticeable sadness. “After she passed, Ollie handed the Feds her laptop. Apparently it contained a treasure trove of compromising information on the conspirators.”
“All right, everyone,” Eugene called out, sitting before a large monitor. “It’s ready.”
“So what exactly did you do to the Chandra Observatory?” Jack asked him.
“We applied Mia’s research to detect the interaction between chameleon dark energy particles and the conscious mind.”
“You remember the haze I showed you around the twins?” Mia asked.
Jack nodded. “The way it created a bridge between them?”
“Well, watch this,” Eugene said, slapping the enter key with a flourish.
The screen populated with tiny points of light.
“We’re now trained on the center of our galaxy,” Eugene explained.
Slowly, as the data poured in and was run through the filter, an image began to materialize. It was a star system with twelve planets. The fourth planet from the sun was covered with what looked like a milky haze.
“Is that what I think it is?” Jack wondered, astonished. It looked exactly like what Mia had showed him hovering around the girls’ heads, only this was on a planetary scale.
“It’s life,” Dag said, his fists clenched.
The image zoomed over to a neighboring star system and there it was again, this time blanketing the second planet from its star. White filaments were strung out in all directions, popping in and out of existence. “Not just life,” Jack said in awe. “Intelligent life. And it’s everywhere.”
Quick Reference
Genes in the 47th Chromatid
COL1 encodes a protein that attacks bone density, mirroring the effects of diseases such as osteoporosis.
TRPP2 specifies a protein that weakens the ability of DNA to repair damage from ultraviolet radiation, leading to albinism.
DAF4 mimics the genetic disease progeria, which causes a rapid whittling down of chromosome tips, greatly accelerating the aging process.
SER3 produces a protein that effectively shrinks the frontal and temporal lobes, sections of the brain which control abilities such as speech and reasoning.
Genes in the 48th Chromatid
LRP5 encodes a protein that greatly increases bone density.
SOD11A encodes a powerful protein Dsup, helpful in shielding us from radiation.
MRE11 encodes a gene which repairs errors in our DNA.
HOK3 enables some form of telepathic communication.
Other related gene(s)
HISR, an assembler gene present in about 30% of the population. When triggered by the detection of GMOs, this gene would draw on strands of junk DNA to create the Salzburg chromosome.
Glossary
Chromosome: A structure found within most cells which carries genetic inform
ation.
Chromatid: A single strand of a chromosome.
Gene: A sequence of nucleotides located within a chromosome. Genes help to determine inherited traits.
Proteins: Produced by genes as a means of expressing their function in the body.
Gene sequencing: Used to determine the order of adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine, in a strand of DNA.
Real life versus fiction
While the Extinction Series is a work of fiction, several of the elements that went into building the story were drawn directly from newspaper headlines and magazine articles as well as from medical and scientific journals. Here are just a few.
From Extinction Code (Book 1)
Drilling the impact crater:
In 2016, an international team of scientists descended on the Chicxulub impact crater in the Yucatán Peninsula. This was the location where sixty-five million years ago a meteor struck the planet and ended life not only for the dinosaurs, but for seventy-five percent of the species on earth. Their goal was to drill down into one of the ‘peak rings’ to learn more about what happened in the days and years following the meteor strike. To my knowledge, no expedition has ever set out in search of the meteorite itself.
Galactic Cosmic Rays:
Cosmic rays are bursts of high-energy particles originating from outside of our solar system. Although the source is still somewhat unclear, many scientists believe they are created by supernovae. Since they contain radiation, direct exposure to cosmic rays can alter segments of our DNA and lead to health issues. Astronauts working in space often reported seeing flashes of light whenever their eyes were closed. The cause was eventually attributed to cosmic ray particles striking their optic nerves. Such rays also pose a challenge for the prospect of long-distance manned spaceflight. In the future, spacecraft hoping to travel the vast distances between stars will require some form of shielding against various forms of radiation.
Sentinel:
For a variety of reasons, there are several groups and prominent individuals who believe that contact with an intelligent alien species might lead to humanity’s demise. Among them is theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who suggested recently that “meeting an advanced civilization could be like Native Americans encountering Columbus. That didn’t turn out so well.” In my research, I also came across an organization called Lifeboat which seeks ways to mitigate the impact of future extinction-level events. In regards to first contact, they say, “We are against any efforts to purposely provide our technological level and location to potentially hostile aliens.”
Silencing chromosomes:
As with the fictional Salzburg, scientists using gene therapy have recently learned to ‘muzzle’ the extra chromosome (twenty-one) which causes Down syndrome using a gene called XIST. In women, XIST is used to silence one of the two X chromosomes they carry, a built-in function which made repurposing the gene that much easier.
Office for Outer Space Affairs:
Yes, it sounds made up, but it really exists and is actually part of the UN (not the US). The full name is the UNOOSA (United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs). The department’s staff is larger than one person (sorry, Eugene) and also deals with more than the prospect of first contact. See the UN’s website for any additional information.
MAOA gene:
The ‘warrior gene’ is real and exists largely as it was described in the book. However, more research is needed in the area of human aggression to fully understand the interplay between genetic and environmental influences.
Magma pockets beneath impact craters:
Large enough asteroid impacts on earth, like the one in Sudbury, Canada, have been known to create pockets of magma beneath the earth’s surface, forming what is known as an igneous intrusion.
Prosimians:
It should come as no surprise that several debates are currently raging within the field of primate evolution. Identifying animals from the fossil record that look and behave like modern primates is easy. The challenge for most scientists is that the links between distant primate ancestors becomes more and more tenuous, especially since there was an explosion of mammalian species in the years following the extinction of the dinosaurs.
So if anyone claims they can draw a precise line from proto-primates through to Homo sapiens, you should be very skeptical. As additional species are uncovered, however, that picture will become clearer.
The number 37:
In a peer-reviewed work entitled “The ‘Wow! Signal’ of the Terrestrial Genetic Code,” scientists Vladimir I. Shcherbak and Maxim A. Makukov have suggested there are mysterious patterns of mathematical symmetry within the human genome. They’ve identified at least nine occasions in which the number thirty-seven occurs. They believe this lends weight to the idea that humans were bio-engineered by an intelligent species.
Similarly, other scientists such as Paul Davies have argued for a concept called ‘Biological SETI,’ the idea being that if humans were engineered by an advanced alien species, signs of such a manipulation would likely reside in our DNA.
From Extinction Countdown (Book 2)
Pulsar Map:
When the Voyager space probes were launched in 1977, each included a golden phonograph record intended as a greeting to any extraterrestrial intelligence who happened upon them. The golden case protecting them was inscribed with binary instructions on how to play the record as well as a pulsar map indicating Earth’s location. Pulsars are the rapidly rotating remnants of exploded stars, each and every one emitting a unique pattern of pulses. They are also among the most consistent known objects in the universe, lasting millions and often billions of years. The map identified fourteen nearby pulsars, showing their relative distance from Earth. An alien species who was capable of understanding the message would only need to locate three of the fourteen pulsars mentioned in order to triangulate Earth’s position in this part of our galactic neighborhood.
Biophotons:
Although they sound utterly fantastical, biophotons are real and consist of photons in the ultraviolet and low visible light range that are produced by biological systems. First discovered by Soviet scientist Alexander Gurwitsch in the 1920s, the low-level biophotonic light is considerably weaker, for example, than that observed during displays of bioluminescence. Recent hypotheses suggest this may represent one of the ways in which cells communicate with one another. However, further testing is required.
GPS location in images:
What many of us don’t realize is that every time your smartphone (and in some cases cameras) snaps a picture, that beautiful vista isn’t the only thing being captured. In many cases, several metadata fields are also recorded. Some of these fields include the time the image was taken, the model, camera settings and, more importantly, the GPS location. In some cases, this has helped the police apprehend a criminal, although at other times, it has been used by stalkers and other bad actors.
GMOs:
One thing I want to make clear. Extinction Countdown is neither pro- nor anti-GMO. In the book, the idea of genetically modified organisms was merely used as a technological benchmark for the appearance of Salzburg into the general gene pool. Developed in the 1980s and offered commercially in the 90s, GMOs have garnered a lot of bad press, some of it deserved, much of it not. The process of creating GMOs is commonly mistaken for being no different than what farmers and breeders have done for millennia. Breeding and farming, however, use artificial selection, choosing traits by breeding or cross-breeding, while GMOs can make specific changes to individual genes that are not known to occur in nature.
Wow! Signal:
In the summer of 1977, Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope detected what it believed was a signal of extraterrestrial origin. The strong narrowband radio signal appeared to be coming from the constellation Sagittarius. While reviewing the data days later, astronomer Jerry R. Ehman thought enough of the signal that he circled it in red ink and wrote “Wow!” along the margin. Sinc
e then, several “more scientifically accepted” theories have been proposed to explain the emission—ranging from satellites to passing comets. Despite repeated efforts, the signal was never detected again and remains a mystery.
Drone Swarms:
Artificial Intelligence has opened the door to connecting small, relatively dumb computer brains into a technological hive mind. Recent demonstrations on 60 Minutes and elsewhere have showcased the awesome, and in many cases frightening, potential of this new technology. As of now, the majority of the applications for drone swarms seem to be military-based. But with drone deliveries on the horizon, it’s inevitable that the skills perfected for combat will one day be used to deliver Christmas gifts and pizzas.
Japanese Internment:
This aspect of the book was loosely inspired by the story of Fred Korematsu, who, in May of 1942, defied Executive Order 9066 (directing the forced removal of “resident enemy aliens” from coastal areas) and was arrested and sent to an internment camp. He later fought a legal battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court, arguing that the internment of Japanese Americans violated their rights under the Constitution, in particular the Fourteenth Amendment (the equal protection of the laws) and the Fifth Amendment (due process). Surprisingly, he lost that battle. In 1988, however, President Reagan passed the Civil Liberties Act which offered an apology and financial compensation for those affected by Executive Order 9066.
From Extinction Crisis (Book 3)
Nanobots:
Nanometers in size, nanobots are still largely theoretical microscopic robots with the ability to perform a number of functions in areas far too small for precise human interaction. Currently, the most promising domain lies in medical science where nanobots may one day be used in the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases.
Morphic Resonance:
First put forward by Rupert Sheldrake, morphic resonance posits that the mind, and by extension memory, exists outside of the brain and that the rules of inheritance are more like habits transmitted from one member of a species to another via a form of telepathy. Sheldrake argues that when we observe something our minds are actually reaching out to “touch” the object. He believes this may help to explain why we can sometimes sense when we’re being watched. Although fascinating to consider, Sheldrake’s theories remain on the fringes of current scientific thought.
Extinction Series (The Complete Collection) Page 77