Humans and other Aliens: Book 1

by Winzer, Alexander

  Now Jon looked surprised. Had Delta brainwashed her already? “Let’s agree to disagree… Delta, what did you want to discuss?”

  Jon took a sip of water while waiting for Delta who was busy bringing up a holographic representation of the alien DNA on his holo desk.

  “Now that Peter is here, he will be able to team up with Ivan and build the defense system that we require to buy us some time while you two develop the seed that we will be planting in humanity’s past.”

  Eva looked unsure. “I’m no genetic engineer. Jon’s a brilliant genetic scientist, but I have only a rudimentary knowledge in this field.”

  Delta nodded. “All that is required from your side is your ability to tackle problems from a different angle. Jon needs you. He needs your female side to complement his male way of thinking. The seed that you will be developing is not like any other genetic code that Jon might have engineered before. It is much more and also much less. It requires utter simplicity. Every bit of complexity will reduce its effectiveness. It is not truly a new piece of information; it is more of an ancient starting point, a bit like the initial setup of a game of chess. It is not meant to inform a genetic system, but remove certain tendencies and thus take you back to the source. Furthermore it requires a trigger. It cannot be allowed to affect human beings immediately. We have to be able to trigger it in the present. The seed needs to be dormant until the moment is right. We cannot change the past, it is only the present that counts.”

  Jon was struggling with Delta’s request. “How do you think this can be achieved? It sounds impossible.”

  Delta zoomed in on a specific section of the alien DNA that Jon had never seen before. “This section here is something that could be called a perfect mirror. It allows consciousness to mirror itself in an objective way. It provides the framework for objective thought structures to be born from the mirror womb.”

  Jon looked at Eva who was clearly mesmerized by Delta’s explanations.

  “This pure and innocent genetic code must have mutated in humans over hundreds of thousands of years, overlaying the perfectly clear mirror with a mirage of separation. I am sure this mirror is still there, in every human being, but it is now stained with the idea of being fractured, with ideas that imply separation. The one witness now observes itself not only in multiplicity but he now also identifies with the objects he observes. You call it the subject, I, which is lost in this hall of mirrors, ignorant of its untouched source.”

  Jon looked up, a sudden sparkle in his eyes. “If you’re correct then we should be able to detect this mutated genetic code in today’s human beings. We can run a pattern-matching algorithm to find the closest match between this pure, alien code and the degraded version that seems to be present in modern humans.”

  Delta nodded. “I think you’re on the right track. Don’t forget that this pure code will also need to override the tainted section. It needs to have the capacity to awaken.”

  Jon had never done anything like that before. A genetic code that was implanted and thus became active, triggering its activity via an external event seemed impossible. “How should this specific section be activated… awakened…?”

  Delta looked at Jon as if the answer were obvious even for a small child. “By seeing the truth, of course.”

  “The truth? The truth about what? And how will people even know that it’s the truth they’re seeing?”

  Delta touched Jon’s hand. “They will know, just like you know.”

  Jon suddenly felt his perspective change. The sense of being inside his body gave way to a deep knowing of perfect unity. He turned his head to look at Eva but he felt as if he was again looking only at himself. A perfect mirror seemed to reflect every experience back at itself, leaving no room for the slightest taint of separation. Delta removed his hand. “Do you see?”

  Jon was shaken to his core. “I… I see what you’re talking about.”

  Eva touched Jon’s hand. “Are you OK? You look…”

  Jon quickly drew back his hand. “I’m OK. It was just so… magical, beautiful. I was still there, I was me, but I also was you… It’s hard to explain… I can see now how such an experience can change the way one sees oneself as well as life in general. Whatever I do, I do to myself… How can I still be hurtful, mean, or greedy if I only inflict suffering on myself? People really don’t know what they’re doing when they…”

  Eva looked at Jon with her eyes wide open. “I don’t know you very well, but I think this sounds like a new Jon. I like what you said. It sounds like there truly might be a way of doing things differently.”

  Jon had regained some of his composure. “I still don’t really know how to trigger this realization. Delta, what did you do to make me see?”

  “I didn’t do anything. You did. I was only the catalyst. It’s like opening the floodgates of a dam, once opened the water will flow on its own. All you have to do is provide the opportunity, the rest will follow naturally.”

  Thirty-One

  Peter

  Peter stood next to Ivan in the lab that had been assigned to them. Ivan had rebuilt Nick’s machine and performed a few successful test runs sending a dog back to his puppy stage. He was even brave enough to test it on himself while Eva was in charge of the control panel.

  “You know, I was in this seat about two years ago when Professor Dimitrios was showing off his device at the technical university in Vienna.” Peter still remembered the amazing adventure of again experiencing the world through the eyes of a small child.

  “Isn’t it marvelous? It felt so free, so simple…” mused Ivan.

  While Ivan looked like he was reliving the journey he had taken only two days ago, Peter was already thinking about the scientific value Nick’s machine held. “I was never really sure what the benefit of this undertaking was. Having someone traveling back in time to his youth while the rest of the world remained the same. I was thinking that…”

  Ivan interrupted, “I feel the same! It would be much more beneficial if we could reverse the process. Leaving the one traveling untouched while opening a door to the past. A door that one could step through and enter the world as it was years ago. The problem is that this machine is not built for it, neither is the programming behind it. It is back to front. I was wondering if you’ve ever thought along similar lines.”

  Peter smiled; this was his cue to expound on his theory. “I’ve had a look at Professor Dimitrios’s code base and I’m pretty certain that a few tweaks will result in a scenario similar to the one you’ve been describing. May I use your holo desk?”

  Ivan’s mouth hung open. “Yes… sure.”

  Peter transferred the calculations and technical drawings he had been working on the plane to Ivan’s display. “Here… see, I’ve changed these equations in a way so they now use an inert object that carries a time signature. When sending this object on a similar rotational journey it essentially releases its energetic makeup. We can read the source of its information and feed it into…”

  Ivan now became really excited. “This is amazing! It’s so simple! We don’t need all this huge equipment, we just use a few particles of a specific item and subject it to the same procedure, then…”

  Peter nodded as he took over. “And then we don’t stop. We make it collide with the artificial black hole that Professor Dimitrios was using. By doing this we—”

  Ivan’s eyes went wide. “We create an opening. A gateway, something like a wormhole, a portal leading to… well… it should be leading to the time and place the object was created.”

  Peter looked at Ivan. The Russian man frowned at the equations as if he were missing something, something essential. Peter knew. The whole setup had one major drawback, but he wanted Ivan to notice it too. Peter smiled knowingly as Ivan continued. “But what about the person that walks through the gateway? It looks like… this is a one-way street.”

  “Yes… there’s no returning. At least not on the same path, but if we can build a device that can b
e carried and used by one single person then…”

  “Then the traveler should be able to create another gateway back to where he came from.”

  Peter smiled. He could sense Ivan was already reconfiguring Nick’s machine in his head. “How long do you think it will take us to build this… gateway generator?”

  Ivan grinned as he said, “I thought we could call it a portal gun. Do you remember the old computer game?”

  Peter snorted and said, “I do actually! But in the game you could only open a portal to a different location, not in time.”

  Ivan nodded. “True… but this isn’t a game. And it’s not 2011 anymore. We have to start from scratch. We can’t use any of Nick’s equipment. But we know exactly how to put this together. I think we should be able to have a prototype in about three days from now.”

  Peter nearly fell off his chair. “Three days? I was expecting at least three months.”

  Ivan now looked very content. “Three months? No! Not if you have unlimited resources at your disposal. We just order what we need and ARC will take care of the rest.”

  Peter was not used to such a technological land of plenty. “This isn’t how we work at the university…”

  Ivan smiled. “ARC now being able to receive military funding has certain benefits… It’s pretty much unlimited.”

  Peter’s thoughts drifted back to Vienna, back to the last days he spent with his girlfriend Julia. They were in love; he wanted to move in with her. He even considered marrying her and potentially… having children.

  Ivan was working on a few ideas regarding the portal gun when he noticed Peter staring off into space. “Are you OK? You look like you’re somewhere else.”

  “I… was thinking about my girlfriend Julia. I miss her a lot.”

  Ivan got up to fetch some water. “It’s not easy to leave a loved one behind while working overseas. I have…”

  Peter shook his head in despair. “No, it’s not that. She died only a few days ago.”

  Ivan sat down next to Peter, listening in silence as his Austrian colleague continued, “It was her birthday. I left work early and bought her a gift. I wanted to surprise her. When I snuck into her apartment I found her and my best friend dead in her bed. It looked like a wild beast had… torn them to pieces…” Peter’s eyes were brimming with tears. “And the worst thing is that I thought… that I didn’t trust her. I thought that she had betrayed me and that what had happened to her was a fitting punishment. I was sad, but I was also so angry.”

  Ivan looked at the glasses of water sitting in front of them. He shook his head and got up, fetching a flask of Russian vodka from inside a dinted metal suitcase that held most of his equipment.

  “Have a sip of that.”

  Peter took the small silver flask and took a big gulp. He didn’t even seem to notice the highly alcoholic content burning down his throat “And then… Delta showed me the truth. She wasn’t cheating on me. Michael was there to give her a present and he was trying to call me when he… when this creature killed him, took his head straight off. And then Julia came in and she…”

  Ivan again handed Peter the bottle and he took another big sip.

  “It’s OK, Peter. It’s better to let it all out. You didn’t know and you misjudged the situation. No one could have known.”

  Peter was moved to tears. “But I should have known. How could I even think such a thing about her? Why didn’t I trust her? I feel so guilty.”

  Peter took the flask that was still sitting on the table in front of him and emptied the rest. “I’m thankful Delta showed me what happened, but at the same time I’m also struggling with the insight he gave me. Why couldn’t he have left me in ignorance?” Peter and Ivan sat quietly for a little while.

  “You know, Peter, the truth is not always what we want to hear and so people often would rather tell a lie instead of confronting others with the brutal facts. We believe that this will result in a society that runs more smoothly. The problem is that once you start, where do you stop? One lie sets the foundation for the next and soon a huge house of cards has been erected. It sits there in front of you waiting for the slightest breeze to make it collapse. So you sit and wait, worrying about the future, about the storm that you know will eventually arise.”

  With Ivan talking Peter’s face relaxed and he seemed to slowly find his way back to his usual, confident self.

  “Delta doesn’t tell lies. He won’t waste his time building a house of cards. Yes, he has his way of not telling you the full truth, but his way is not a way of telling lies, he simply keeps the truth to himself until he feels that you’re ready for it. It doesn’t help to be told the truth if you’re not ready to hear it. Delta was convinced that you were ready to receive the truth about what had happened. He knows things and I’m sure he was right to show you. It’s better to work through this pain now than to carry a festering wound around for the rest of your life.”

  Peter slowly nodded his head. “Thanks, Ivan, for your honest words. I’ll have to talk to Delta again. I want to thank him properly.”

  “That’s a great idea. You should go over and see if he’s alone right now. I know he’ll talk with you. In the meanwhile I’ll start putting together our shopping list for ARC.” Ivan was looking forward to that; it was his favorite shopping experience. He didn’t care much about the grand shopping malls of San Francisco. He wasn’t interested in fancy clothes or luxury accessories. His heart started beating faster when he thought about particle accelerators or gravity inverters. This will be fun, he thought as Peter got up and slowly walked out the door.

  * * *

  Delta was sitting at his desk when Peter entered. It looks like he’s reading Sigmund Freud, thought Peter as he slowly approached his desk. “Hello, Delta, do you have a minute? I’d like to talk with you again.”

  Delta nodded and pointed at a chair opposite of him. “Did you know that the Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud studied in Vienna? Just like you?”

  Peter knew. He had read Freud’s The Ego and the Id, describing his structural model of the human psyche years ago. “I know… Why do you ask?”

  Delta looked directly into Peter’s eyes. “According to Freud there are three parts that define your psychic apparatus, the id, the ego, and the superego. The id consists of all instinctual, automatic processes; it is the only part of your personality that is present at birth. Freud argues that the id’s functioning happens in the unconscious. I find that quite entertaining. How could anything function if it is not lit up by consciousness?”

  Peter was not sure how to respond. He hadn’t expected to be subjected to a question and answer game regarding Freudian theory of personality development. “Well… I would say that Freud wanted to explain the processes that occur without a controlling entity being in charge of them. You know, it’s like having an itch and you scratch it automatically. You don’t have to think about it, you don’t decide to scratch it.”

  Delta smiled. “That would imply that there is something that you can control, that there is someone inside of you that is in charge of certain processes.”

  Peter nodded. “Yes, that’s what it means. I’m in charge of certain processes, like this…” Peter raised his arm, held it in the air for a few seconds, and put it back down. “See… I decided to lift my arm and then I put it back down again.”

  Delta nodded. “I saw your arm lifting. But I didn’t see a controller. I didn’t see you lifting it. I only saw an arm going up and back down… Does that require a separate controller?”

  Peter felt strangely challenged by Delta’s simplistic question. “Well, sure it does. How else could I lift my arm?”

  Delta laughed out loud. “The confusion in your society runs deep. Why don’t you look for this controlling entity for a day or two? Whenever you do something try to be aware and look for this separate controlling entity. Let’s talk about it again when you have looked.”

  Peter didn’t enjoy being treated like a schoolboy, but some
how he felt that he should simply follow Delta’s request. Why not, there was nothing to lose, or was there?

  “OK, I will, I’ll look.” Peter was just about to start when Delta held up his hand. “You don’t have to thank me for what happened earlier today. There is nothing to be grateful for. Truth needs no special consideration. Once wrong ideas have been seen as such truth shines by itself. Truth requires no mental understanding, rather it’s the opposite. As soon as you try to understand you move away from it.”

  Peter was dragged into the unknown. He was lost for words. He just sat there, alert, but blank, and looked at Delta who continued, “See… this is what I am talking about. Your mind has given up. You no longer know what to say. That is a good place to be. Try to familiarize yourself with this special place. It holds the key to unlocking the answers to all your questions. All action arises from this place of silence. It is uncaused and natural. Once you leave this place, your thoughts will start churning, which in effect will make the world start turning. You will again be lost in a labyrinth of your own making.” Delta sat in silence for a minute. “Of course you never truly leave this place. You are never lost. This is just a metaphor.”

  Peter was speechless. There was nothing inside of him that seemed to be responsible for him suddenly getting up, nodding his head, and silently walking out the door. What the hell happened in there? Peter thought as he slowly walked down the corridor to Ivan’s lab. I feel like something important happened, but I…

  Ivan suddenly walked out the door. “I’ve finished our shopping list and would like to discuss it with you before I send it off. Let’s have a look at it over coffee.”

  “Ahh… of course,” Peter replied absently.

  Thirty-Two

  Suki