Eva looked up from the quantum microscope, one of her most cherished toys in the lab. “Ivan, have a look. Tell me what you see.”
“Hmm… It looks like these strange DNA structures are attaching themselves to the water molecules. Why would they do that?”
Eva answered, “Yes… why would they do that if not to use them for transportation, as a means to spread all over the planet as fast as possible. I can’t think of a better way of infecting the whole planet including every living organism than using the single element that makes up more than seventy percent of our planet’s surface. And not only that, it is invading the earth’s atmosphere using the wind and the clouds as a means of transport.”
Ivan frantically entered data into his holographic workstation. “Considering the time the Green Egg has been present on earth, the size of the pond, and the water vapor it’s giving off, then it shouldn’t be more than two to three months until a strain of alien DNA is found in every single liter of water on the planet. We‘re lucky in a way that the Egg appeared in Siberia. The cold air leads to fairly fast condensation. That’s why the clouds so far are very much contained to the area around the Egg. But with the bad weather approaching from the north they’ll spread fast.”
Eva started playing with a strand of her hair, a habit she wasn’t aware of, but which normally meant she was racking her brain, trying to find a solution to a problem that seemed impossible to solve. “What about the other specimen that you collected? The plants and insects. Let’s have a look at them. Maybe we can find some more clues.”
Ivan carefully loaded a few samples into the microscope’s specimen containers. “This is the first one I collected. Pieces of moss from the ground around Pavel’s body.”
Eva shuddered at the thought of Pavel being consumed by the flowery vine. “It looks like there are still most parts of the typical plant DNA present, but there are also new parts attached to the basic structure. It seems to be only a small excerpt of the superstructure of the alien DNA. Let’s look at the little flowers.” Ivan rotated the next specimen into view. “The same here, do you see?”
Eva’s holo-workstation clearly marked the alien strands of DNA that had been inserted into the basic DNA structure of what the computer identified as Silene stenophylla, a flower that normally was found only in the tundra of far eastern Siberia and the mountainous region of Northern Japan.
“Strange, I’ve never seen this species anywhere close to where the Green Egg appeared.”
Ivan turned around from his workstation. “According to information from ARC-net this species grew in the area some thirty thousand years ago. It could well be that there were some plant seeds left in the permafrost that combined with the alien DNA to form this new species.”
Ivan moved the focus of the microscope to the next specimen. It was a strange-looking insect with a glowing blue exoskeleton and an unusually large head that was covered by a rainbow-colored net of compound eyes, similar to that of a fly, but in a much smaller grid size.
“Quite amazing this one,” mused Ivan. “Looks like a cross breed between a dung beetle and a horsefly.”
Eva switched to analysis mode and brought up a 3D visualization of the insect’s DNA. “You would have made a pretty good biologist,” she remarked. “There’s a mix of Copris lunaris, a species of the Scarabaeidae family and also traces of Hybomitra distinguenda, some kind of horsefly in the mix.”
Ivan smiled at her. “Thank you, I always enjoyed biology. Here’s another interesting fact for you: the dung beetle was found to be able to navigate by the stars of the Milky Way. It can orient itself to the stripe of light generated by our galaxy and move in a direction relative to it.”
Eva looked at Ivan, trying to display more interest than she really felt at the obscure fact. “That’s amazing, Ivan. Let’s hope they don’t combine this skill with their newfound ability to fly. Show me the scan of the alien DNA, please.”
Ivan highlighted the strands of alien DNA on the holographic model, displaying an intricate web of connections linking sections of the DNA of each specimen into a completely new structure.
“It seems the alien DNA knows how and where different strands of DNA can be linked so they result in a workable solution generating a new species. What do you want to call this, Eva? Maybe Scarab Evamitra?”
Eva snorted. “Very funny. How about you tell me why the plants and insects have been affected like that and why we aren’t? We’ve been in the Green Egg for hours. Our biosphere shields didn’t detect any anomalies in the air. There was nothing for it to filter out… That would support the theory that we’ve been breathing in water vapor that must have been carrying alien DNA. So… why haven’t we changed into a human-fly or any other kind of weird cross breed?”
Eva wasn’t surprised to see the blood drain out of Ivan’s face. Thinking about the possible consequences were sobering, if not shocking.
“We have to do a blood test. Right now. I volunteer.” Ivan seemed to be set on making sure he wouldn’t turn into some kind of monster overnight. He needed to know if he was infected and if so, could something be done about it. Eva simply nodded and fetched the Nano-Bot injector.
With the rise of nanotechnology in the last twenty years it was no longer necessary to take blood from a living organism. One simply injected a Nano-bot into the bloodstream of the subject and all relevant data showed up a few seconds later on the bio-scanner. The bot itself would decompose in less than twenty-four hours leaving no trace of it ever navigating Ivan’s bloodstream.
“What do you think?” Ivan nervously tapped his foot and his hands started sweating.
“Have a look for yourself.” Eva moved her hand over the tablet in the direction of Ivan’s holo screen and the results materialized in front of him.
“My DNA structure is still normal… But what is that?” Ivan pointed at the blinking question mark behind the readings of the hemoglobin count in his blood. “Can you please zoom in on that?”
Eva brought up the hemoglobin analysis. “There’s something attached to the iron molecules.” As she zoomed in further the alien DNA came into focus. It had attached itself to the hemoglobin complex itself.
“Looks like you’re infected,” Eva stated drily, “but as long as the intruder remains where it is, you should be safe. It hasn’t changed anything else in your system. At least not that I can tell.”
Eva gazed at Ivan, noticing beads of sweat forming on his forehead, the corners of his mouth twitching involuntarily. He seemed to find it difficult to accept the result of the analysis. Not surprising, she thought. He’s infected with alien DNA and there‘s no way of telling what might happen to him next. She sighed, steeling herself for more bad news. “Test me.”
Ivan did as requested and brought up the blood analysis onto the screen. “It’s not normal… But I can’t find any alien DNA. What’s that?” Ivan pointed to the hematology analysis indicating a hereditary disease affecting Eva’s red blood cells.
“I’m a carrier of the sickle cell trait. My brother had sickle cell disease and died from it a few years ago. I’m lucky. I only have the trait not the full-blown disease. Maybe I’m really lucky and this abnormality has prevented the alien DNA from attaching itself to my red blood cells. Anyway… Let’s hook up the Amphibian to my workstation. Maybe we’ll find an indication of how all of this happened.”
Eva smiled. She sensed Ivan’s amazement at how easily she moved on to the next part of the investigation. Ivan walked over to his field pack and carefully unpacked the silvery, cigar-shaped device. Eva started downloading the accumulated data and switched the bio-scanner into analysis mode.
“Let’s see what we have here… The water is very similar to the sample we analyzed before. It’s brimming with alien DNA.”
Ivan moved the time indicator closer to the end of the exploration. “Let’s have a look at the black hole or whatever it is… I’m curious what data the Amphibian was able to collect from it.”
Eva looked at
the readings in disbelief. “There’s something coming out of it… It looks like the black hole is at the other end and what we’re observing is actually something resembling the exit of a wormhole.”
“There are massive amounts of alien DNA signatures in the base signal, but look at this spike.” Ivan pointed to the analysis of the frequency modulation of the incoming signal, which appeared to be fairly homogenous but for one massive spike.
“There’s another one, a few minutes later,” Eva noted excitedly.
“What’s that?” Ivan moved the results to his workstation and started feeding them into one of his special inventions, as he liked to call the reverse engineering programs that he was most proud of.
“I’ve now dissected the spikes and compared them with most known frequencies on earth. They resemble the electric frequency patterns generated by our brains’ center of visual and audible perception.”
Eva looked startled as Ivan continued, “It looks like the signal, this pattern of energy, is able to disconnect itself from the rest of the signal. It has been ejected out of the base signal as well as the surrounding water and now it…”
Eva finally understood. “And now it lives as a separate form of energetic information, but where?”
Ivan looked at Eva who was already on to the next step. “It has to be still around here somewhere. It wouldn’t make sense to transport this… whatever it is… to our end of the wormhole just to let it bounce off into deep space. We have to find a way to scan the atmosphere for the energy signatures.”
Ivan nodded, a tentative smile on his face. “We could talk to Mov and ask him to give us some time slices on the orbital ring.”
The orbital ring with its hundreds of satellites observing earth from the edges of space would be just the right tool to be used. Talking to Mov would be another matter. Eva had to find a good reason for this costly endeavor. Not just simple curiosity but another one of her crazy theories.
Ivan broke the silence with some gossip. “Did you hear about the strange attacks that happened in the central business district and also in Moscow? Police reports say that there have been crazy events and quite a bit of bloodshed, no survivors, but also no sign of the killer. Looks like he has vanished into thin air.”
Eva felt like she had been struck by lightning. “Thank you, Ivan, you’re the best!” She kissed him on the cheek. “That’s exactly what I needed to hear.” She smiled at Ivan as she left the lab developing her newest theory, which should be just good enough to convince Mov to give them what they needed. Time on the Ring.
Thirteen
Suki
“Champagne, orange juice, water.” Suki attentively carried a tray of welcome drinks down the aisle of first class on this two-hour JAL flight from Tokyo to San Diego. I’m looking forward to some warmer weather. It’s getting cold here in Tokyo, thought Suki as she smiled at every single passenger as defined by airline policy.
Air travel had advanced considerably since kerosene-powered jet engines had been replaced by liquid hydrogen engines. Suki enjoyed working in these streamlined marvels of modern engineering which, while carrying more than three hundred passengers, were able to achieve a maximum speed of Mach 5.
“Takeoff in three minutes. Please remain seated.” Suki took a seat next to the cockpit as the announcement was streamed from the aircraft’s media system. Human involvement in flying the aircraft was reduced to the physical presence of two navigators in the cockpit. Suki thought that they should be called observers rather than navigators, as all they ever did was stare at the holographic screens that detailed the plane’s current condition, flight path, and upcoming weather patterns.
Suki looked through the individual dinner requests that had been entered by the passengers in the Virtual Gourmet, a holographic tool used to compile the perfect food experience. She snorted silently when she read Mr. Granger’s order. He was a businessman who traveled regularly between Tokyo and San Diego, with a taste for Unagi, a Japanese eel dish placed on a bed of rice. He always ordered a massive portion and then drowned it in hot tomato and smoky barbecue sauce. His beverage of choice was Bud Light followed by a few cups of sake for dessert.
Suki wondered what this intercultural mix of flavors might taste like, but aircraft personnel were not allowed any passenger food, they had to be available to deal with passenger requests at all times, and so she had to get by consuming intermittent sips of the protein shakes that were provided for all staff.
“Welcome, Mr. Granger. It’s a pleasure having you on board. How are you today?” Mr. Granger looked up from the technical drawings he was examining and smiled at Suki. “Thank you, Suki. I’m well. How are your studies progressing?”
Suki studied Japanese history at the University of Tokyo. Her passion was the samurai, their history as well as the influence of their teachings on modern Japan. She had felt an affinity to the fearless warrior class since she was a little girl. Her parents often had to use restraint as her fearless behavior led to a string of dangerous and even life-threatening situations. She loved climbing the cliffs of Kegon waterfall at Nikko National Park, a place she cherished and which she and her parents visited often to escape the sweltering heat of Tokyo’s summer months. She never understood the fear that people seemed to battle when standing on the escarpment. All Suki dreamt of was jumping and diving into the sparkling waters below. Being a flight attendant in one of the hypersonic jets was tempting though. Suki expected flying at such speed in the no man’s land between earth and space to be exhilarating, but after a few months of working in this environment it didn’t feel that thrilling anymore. The excitement was replaced by daily routine and her adventures now took place in her head where she lived life as the first female samurai, an idea that most people would find laughable if not even arrogant. She knew to keep her dreams to herself and decided to simply enjoy the benefits of international travel, free transportation, and luxury hotel accommodation.
“Domo arigato… Thank you, Mr. Granger. My studies are going well. One more year and I should be finished.”
Mr. Granger smiled back at her. Suki was pretty, smart, and friendly like most flight attendants, but she also had this reassuring smile that made passengers feel safe und understood.
“Would you like an aperitif before dinner? Our barman designed a tasty new cocktail especially for this flight. It is based on sake and Japanese whisky infused with green apple and lime.”
Mr. Granger looked unsure but Suki had been able to surprise him with special Japanese delicacies on previous flights and so he nodded in approval. Suki went back to the galley, placing a Martini glass under the cocktail synthesizer. She enjoyed observing how the colorful liquids filled the glass and then were perfectly dispersed by adding a drop of NShake, the chemical equivalent of an old-fashioned cocktail shaker.
Suki grabbed the glass and walked back to Mr. Granger’s seat. He doesn’t look well, she thought as she came closer. Mr. Granger was trying to get up from his seat, but something seemed to be holding him down. His face turned red and beads of sweat started appearing on his forehead.
He opened his mouth but the only thing that came out was a gurgling sound while a stream of blood started flowing down the back of his neck. Suki touched his hand trying to feel his pulse when she suddenly saw what she thought was a woman moving down the aisle towards the next passenger. She was tall and slim with very long black hair that floated in the air, moving like the arms of a giant spider. The woman was dressed in a beautiful, intricately embroidered green kimono, something Suki had once seen in a museum. She walked past the next passenger while a strand of her hair turned into a shard of glittering metal, stabbing down at the throat of the surprised passenger, killing him instantly.
Suki dropped the glass and fearlessly approached the woman. She tried to grab her shoulder but the woman’s hair must have anticipated her move and lashed out at her while another strand wrapped around her throat. The woman turned around and curiously studied the human who had dared ap
proach her. Suki stopped her struggle and stared at the creature that seemed to have emerged out of an old mythological fairytale. Her jet-black hair framed a beautiful white face out of which a pair of green almond-shaped eyes radiated a supernatural power that Suki was sure she could feel as a physical sensation piercing her right through to her heart.
The woman raised her arm uncovering a hand whose fingers and nails were way too long for any normal human being. Suki was reminded of the dancers she had seen in Thailand where a group of women performed the famous fingernail dance, a tradition that is now a tourist attraction but which has its roots in the ancient royal courts of Siam. The woman’s spike-like index finger hovered directly between Suki’s eyes, only an inch from making physical contact. Suki couldn’t move but was sure that the woman would have killed her by now if she had really intended to.
“Who are you and what are you doing here? Why are you killing these people?” The woman didn’t answer. She just smiled at Suki and moved her finger even closer. Her sharp nail made contact. Suki noticed a cold, tingling sensation going right through her head. It felt as if an icicle had pierced her skull and was now slowly melting inside her brain. A second later her vision went black. Only one thought remained:
“Find your brother!”
When Suki opened her eyes she was lying on the floor of the plane that she had boarded not too long before. Medical personnel, airport security, and two men wearing dark-grey suits surrounded her.
“What happened?” Suki sat up wondering if she had collapsed and dreamt the whole story about the woman and her black hair killing Mr. Granger and the other passenger. “Is he alright? Is Mr. Granger OK?”
The doctor who examined her looked at her in a concerned way, but before he could answer one of the men in grey cut him off. “No, Ms. Tanaka, he’s dead. And so are the rest of the passengers, including the navigators and flight attendants. You’re the only one left alive.”
Humans and other Aliens: Book 1 Page 6