by Claire Rye
First thing first though we need to make sure our makeup is done, hair quaffed and everyone is in place for the documentary crew to capture ‘the breakthrough moment’
“Places please, everyone look worried, look excited... aaaand ACTION”
“Sector one … clear. Sector two … clear.”
Chapter 6
Natures Wonderland.
Before me stands a handsome young man. He is dressed like a cross between a storm trooper and a 1950’s spaceman. It would be almost comical if it wasn’t actually so necessary. He clears his throat and makes an announcement.
“Right people, listen up! We have ‘acceptable environment clearance’ but this is still a dangerous place. There is possible instability, pockets of questionable air quality and we are going in blind. The terrain is variable so watch your step. No-one – repeat No-one goes anywhere alone. Are we clear?”
I almost half expected a combined shout of “YES SIR” but instead there were a few mumbles of agreement a half-hearted ‘yep clear’ from the back of the crowd.
His captive audience is made up of geologists, hydrologists, biologists, surveyors, engineers, and scientists plus of course me, the token civilian.
The decision was made to exclude the documentary crew from the first deployment. There were a lot of tests and safety measure that needed to be carried out before we invited a whole production crew in and the team of experts agreed the added pressure of being filmed was unnecessary.
I wasn’t the first to be lowered down into the cavern, in fact I was the second last, but this gave me the advantage of having a fully lit up area to descend to. All the safety gear was set up and a dozen people with their organised chaos were just about ready to explore.
I am dangling in the air like a baited fish hook, gently swinging while I am lowered ever so slowly towards the group of people below. The drop to the floor is only about 15 feet but still enough to make me feel uneasy, so I look up instead. The bright light from the car-size hole in the ceiling gives me no reassurance, I can’t see faces, I can barely make out the shadows of people and I can’t see any detailed of the area surrounding them. I shift my focus to the carven, it seems more structured than I had pictured in my mind The walls are smooth, the floor is remarkably even, the dimensions of the space are symmetrical, the whole area is about the size of a small sports oval, except it is square. “A square cave” I whispered to myself, the feeling of the ‘too perfect’ dread returns. I’m not a speleologist but I don’t think nature would create a square cave, would it? I look down at the people who would know the answer and there seems to be no concern or alarm and since I am the only person in this square cave without a bunch of letters after their name I am not about to question why, but the doubt remains.
Chapter 7
History never repeats.
3 hours in the cave and I am bored. The novelty has worn off and all I can see is the hard work ahead.
Being the only non-scientist, my job right now is very limited, I am sitting watching others work. I’m not allowed to touch anything or go exploring anywhere alone and I am starting to wonder why I actually even bothered to come down.
The cavern feels familiar to me now. I can imagine where to put all the contents. It’s like mentally moving your furniture into a new home and it all fits perfectly. The space is ideal and every area seems to be perfectly allocated for a specific purpose. There would be very little modification needed. We definitely are going to need to excavate the rock and rubble out, and we have to get air filtration and electricity down here but I can see why they were so keen to get into this space. It is ideal.
I listen in on a conversation between two serious looking people who are discussing particulars of the excavation process. I learn that thankfully, we are able to get more space because there seem to be layers of soft natural sediment over the bulk of the area. It was very difficult to get into the cavern but apparently once in, we have an easy task of clearing it all out.
My stomach grumbles and I am acutely aware of how hungry I am. Excellent excuse to leave and go and find something more productive to do with my time.
As I scan the area for someone who can get me a lift back up and out of this pit of boredom, Edward approaches me looking strangely serious.
He is puzzled, which is a look I don’t often see on him. I smile at him but he doesn’t smile back.
“What?” I instinctively know something is wrong and the urgency is my voice gives it away
“Nothing serious, it just that, well things aren’t making sense” he speaks calmly
“Yeah it’s a square cave” I offer with a smile.
“No…., well yes it is, but that’s not the problem. It’s not actually a cave. This is a vault”
“Yeah I know, a natural vault. ‘Perfect’, remember”, I joked
Edwards’s voice gets stern “Charlotte, this is a vault. A man made vault. I have found trace elements in the walls and the material is far more advanced than anything we have developed”
“More advanced? How? Is this a vault from the future” I puzzled.
“No, get this, preliminary carbon dating has indicated the elements are old, very old”
“How old” my interest peaks.
“2.4 million years old”
“2.4 million years old” I repeated it back with a thick hint of scepticism “modern man evolved 1.8 million years ago, Edward” I pointed out, still disbelieving.
“So we have a vault from the future that was built 2.4 million years in the past? Edward have you been drinking”? I asked sarcastically.
He stares at me blankly, obviously trying to make sense of it in his mind
“Yes, I know and that’s right. That’s why I am confused”. He replied in a worried voice.
“Edward you’re not making sense, this vault was made by man 600,000 years BEFORE man evolved?”
“Yes” answered Edward “this is a Man-made vault created before the evolution of man”
Chapter 8
PRESS RELEASE
Edward Lloyd MSc
Global seed Vault expansion project
A discovery was made below the current global seed vault (GSV) of a much older yet more advanced vault. Preliminary carbon dating has indicated that this vault was built approximately 2.4 million years ago. The secondary GSV is of a technology that would indicate a far more advanced species of humans than that which has evolved to date. Perfectly preserved Genetic material gathered from the site conclusively proves that the engineers of this vault are human and of the same origin/species as modern day humans.
Several theories have been proposed to explain how this could have occurred and the following was deemed – by scientific consensus - to be the most plausible explanation.
13.8 billion years ago the universe was created by the widely accepted “big bang theory”. From this point to current humankind, some 13.6 billion years, it was incorrectly assumed that evolution and natural selection occurred as a prerequisite to modern humans. The discovery of the new genetic material indicates that humankind evolved much faster than previously thought and reached the peak of evolution some 5 million years ago. The previous evolution of humans had over 3 million years advancement on the current evolution we know today and thus were far more advanced in knowledge and capabilities.
Humankind was the primary species in existence from that time up until 2.4 million years ago when an unknown occurrence caused their extinction. It is believed that the vault was built with the knowledge of this event and both biological and organic samples were stored in an indestructible sealed chamber.
This chamber did have the capabilities to support life for a limited timeframe but unfortunately the small group of residents expired shortly after the vault was sealed.
It is then believed those 500,000 years after the first evolution extinction the most recent evolution of humankind began and resulted in our current state of being.
The GSV project is aware that in light of
this new found knowledge there will be an undertaking to review and revise current theories of ancient architecture, civilisation and cultures, and believes that this new theory of evolution will help to reveal answers to unexplained anomalies in the fields of archaeology, anthropology and evolutionary Biology.
Chapter 9
Questions.
Edward had discovered the Pandora’s Box of biology. Knowing that we aren’t the first to evolve and certainly aren’t the most evolved in history really shook humanity to its core. Being the secondary line of humankind raises more questions than gives answers.
Religious groups, continue to deny evolution regardless of whether we are the first or the second and they amended their interpretation of the scriptures to include “god” as the unexplained event that causes our first extinction and the fact that God created and then re-created man in his image.
Alien conspiracy theorist, whose primary evidence of extra-terrestrial life was advanced signs of civilisation from an ancient time were now struggling to find support leading to wild and ridiculous stories of extra-terrestrials and humans sharing a world together and an alien world war resulted in the obliteration of both life forms.
Most biologists were accepting of the results from the GSV number 1. Slightly embarrassed by the evidence of being wrong all this time but mostly excited by the prospect of exploring and discovering the new theory and connecting all the new dots.
Scholars had very in-depth theoretical decisions on whether this was the first creation of the universe. Taking the whole notion of secondary evolution right back to creation. Was this even the first big bang? And just like humanity, had the universe been created and destroyed before?
The psychic community were offering a new service in ‘first evolution past –life’. Hypnosis was used to remember your first evolution life and how it affects you now. Even psychologists and counsellors were booked solid for months while the more sensitive souls tried to come to terms with the fact that we are no better than the dinosaurs. A huge and dominating life form that occupied earth for a micro-second of time.
Society as a whole had an immediate and unquenchable thirst for everything and anything to do with “the first evolution”. Not so much the biological implications or even the evolutionary path was taken but a more practical application. What did they wear? How did they live? Did they have laser guns and flying cars? I wondered if they had learnt more than we had. They were further evolved, yes, but where they further advanced? Did they live with the earth or on the earth? Did they follow a faith of love or bloodshed? Where they custodians or conquerors? And what constituted as power – money or compassion?
Everyone had their questions and it seemed the most important ones could not be answered by science.
Chapter 10
A step too far.
“You have to make them see this is wrong Edward, are you ready for this?” I nervously asked.
“Yes, and don’t worry, they will agree with me” he answered confidently.
He believed scientists would make decisions that were best for humanity and I believed scientists would make decisions that would advance science.
Let’s see who was right.
I watched him enter the Global Science meeting – he was there to discuss the cloning of biological material found in the first evolution vault. The large group of experts were split 50/50 as to whether to allow all the biological material from the vault to be cloned.
Farmers, environment groups and public opinion had squashed the idea of growing the organic materials. The obvious problems with unknown plants and crops being introduced to our already fragile ecosystem, the potential spread of disease and impact on the food chain could be an uncontrollable biohazard. People could easily understand the implications.
The implications of the biological material was more complicated no one really expected it would ever come to this, most people thought the notion of cloning would not be considered but a well-paid campaign gain momentum and that lead to an open discussion on the benefits of being able to access human DNA a million years more advanced than our own. These highly evolved stem cells would offer a renewable source of replacement cells and tissue to treat almost all known disease and ailments. When people realised that muscular degeneration, spinal cord injury, burns, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis were all in the firing line then public opinion started to sway in favour of cloning.
Edward is well respected and much liked. He also had a good case against cloning and was surprised that the cloning discussion had gone this far. So many potential problems with resurrecting plants from the first evolution, imagine the consequences of introducing people and animals from an unknown evolutionary path. When is the development of cells considered life? Are we creating something just to conduct experiments and then terminate it? Did they carry and were they affected by strands of bacteria that could kill us, or in turn would a modern virus kill them? What about the practical implications of an introduced species, an alternative strand of people being bred for our curiosity. What would become of the people we are cloning? Living in a world hundreds and thousands of years after their existence but a million years less advanced.
The moral and ethical questions were endless but apparently, after Edward made his speech only one question remained for the scientists ... “When do we start?”
Chapter 11
A losing battle.
“Welcome to Standpoint, your number one source for news and current affairs. Tonight we have Mr Edward Lloyd on the program. Mr Lloyd is the founder of the Global seed vault and during his expansion project, discovered evidence of human’s first evolution, he joins me now..”
I stretch out on my couch watching Edwards’s final television appearance in his quest to convince officials and the public that First evolution cloning should not go ahead.
It’s been 6 months of constant media interviews and committee appearances. Edward has been relentless in his campaign. He found the Pandora’s Box of biology and he was determined to make sure no-one opened it.
I hear his voice from the television “we don’t need re-creation to learn, we unlocked the mysteries of universe with intellect so I’m sure we can do the same with the first evolution”
“But the public are curious” his interviewer protests.
“Well you know what curiosity did to the cat”
He is being passionate, informative and charming but it is clear he is losing the battle to stop cloning.
I cling to hope, but unfortunately it is starting to fade.
Tonight the final decision will be made in a closed-door meeting, the fact that Edward and his media pack are excluded from the meeting is a strong indication of which way the decision will be going.
My phone buzzes, I know its Edward, he always rings to see what I think of every broadcast.
“I’m not even watching it” I announce without formalities.
“Of course you are” he sounds deflated
“That tie looks awful, I told you to go with the red one”
Edward isn’t in the mood for jokes: “I have let everyone down, the cloning is going ahead. They are going to make the announcement tomorrow.
Silence.
“And Charlotte, they are going to transfer me out. I’m leaving the GSV”
“They can’t transfer you out Edward, it’s your vault!”
“Under the funding agreement, if the committee gets enough votes, they can and they have made that decision”.
“I’m coming with you, I’ll quit! They can’t get away with this. What do you want me to do Edward, I’ll do it”.
“I want you to stay there, work hard and be supportive. Tow the company line”
I wasn’t expecting that answer … “Seriously?”
“If you are willing, I want you to be my inside person. We can bide our time. These sorts of project take years to get funding and even longer to get political approval. Plus I imagine they will need trials and reports to satisf
y the regulatory body. They will be held accountable and will need to cover themselves at all time. That all takes time and money. They won’t be at the full cloning stage for 5 or more years and during that time we can dig away at them, from the inside. Leak information about failed attempts, problems they experience, doubts any of the scientists have. I have kept you out of the spotlight for a reason. They won’t suspect you and if they do, you leave immediately and apply for whistle-blower protection”.
Edwards plan is clear now and without hesitation I commit, “Good plan. I’m in!”
Edwards sigh with relief. “You’re going to be my secret weapon. Thank you Charlotte”
Chapter 12
Press Release
Global Science Meeting Outcome
The Global Science Team is proud to announce their commitment to the ‘First Evolution Cell Reproduction and Cloning Project’ (FECRACP)
The FECRACP has secured unlimited funding and bipartisan approval to proceed and will be conducting this self-regulated project with full support.
Effective immediately FECRACP will embark on the growth of stem cells and cell duplication for scientific research. Within 6 months FECRACP will commence the cloning a selected range of fauna and launch a complimentary breeding program
Within 12 months we will be able to launch the highly anticipated ‘Adam and Eve’ project with planned expansion of this genetic line in the following years.
The site for this important and vital work will be ‘The global Seed vault’. The remote location and controlled environment is ideally suited and FECRACP has received development approval to expand and redevelop the site for future endeavours
FECRACP: Exploring the past to expand the future