Just thinking of his story caused tears to begin welling up again in her eyes. Alison quickly shook her head and focused more intently on Sally who was still waiting for an answer. There was something about the way she asked the question that left Alison doubtful of the translation. She didn’t think those feelings were what Sally meant by love.
“How you love?” Alison repeated to herself. “How you… love.” Love could be used in so many ways. In this case, it wasn’t a noun. It sounded like Sally was using it as a verb.
Alison looked again to Clay who was looking at her curiously. He hadn’t heard the translation.
Sally repeated the question. How you love?
Alison opened her mouth but closed it again. Finally, she shook her head. “I… don’t understand.”
How love Alison? How people love?
It took Alison a full minute to eventually get it. To finally understand what Sally meant. It wasn’t until she turned the question around and considered what were the most common, and perhaps most primal, questions humans asked when discovering a new species. What Sally was asking was not how humans actually love one another, but rather how humans reproduce.
Clay now peered at her more intently. A nervous expression crept across Alison’s face inside her mask.
Under the circumstances, she wasn’t about to touch Sally’s question with a ten-foot pole.
4
DeeAnn Draper stood silently beneath the large netted ceiling of the habitat. Her hands on her hips, she watched as Dulce studied the object in her human-like hands. It was an old Rubik’s cube, and the young gorilla was absolutely fascinated by it.
Of course, DeeAnn held no expectation of her solving the puzzle. Although from an educational standpoint, it helped Dulce better understand the concepts of three dimensions and patterns while improving her fine motor skills. Pattern recognition was a key element in gauging intelligence and overall cognitive ability. But what interested DeeAnn even more, was the small capuchin’s interest in the cube.
Sitting on a large rock next to Dulce, the more reserved monkey Dexter was also studying the toy intently. When Dulce would periodically turn one side of the cube, Dexter promptly cocked his head and studied the bottom of it. It reaffirmed her belief in how intelligent the older creature really was.
DeeAnn’s thoughts drifted momentarily to her old friend Luke Greenwood, the man who had discovered Dexter and the first to suspect just how special the capuchin was. A discovery that ultimately cost Greenwood his life and very nearly DeeAnn’s.
But Greenwood’s instincts had proved correct. So far, every test DeeAnn had administered clearly substantiated his hunch. For a capuchin, Dexter’s intelligence was literally off the charts.
DeeAnn’s phone suddenly chimed, and she reached down to retrieve it from her pocket. It was a message she’d been expecting. She looked back at the two primates.
“Dulce, I will be back soon. Okay?”
The young gorilla looked away from the cube and blinked happily at DeeAnn with her soft hazel eyes.
Okay.
DeeAnn smiled and looked at Dexter, who had not taken his eyes off the cube. She then glanced around the habitat, noting the dozens of high-resolution cameras surrounding them. It was peculiar. Using a wireless connection to the IMIS computer system, the vest translated everything Dulce said. At least to her.
What it wasn’t translating was anything Dulce said to Dexter. Even when they were clearly communicating with one another. One of DeeAnn’s former colleagues had published the first examples of instinctive gesturing between primates, and DeeAnn continued to witness it now firsthand. But the IMIS system, even as powerful as it was, was not picking up any of it.
It was very peculiar.
Something she would have to bring up with Lee again. When he was ready.
She let herself out through the wide glass door before reaching down and turning off the power to the vest. She had something more important to talk to Lee about right now. They all did.
Lee Kenwood looked up as Alison and Clay entered the computer lab. The large metal door swung closed behind them with a loud click, and Lee instinctively rose from his chair to get Clay a seat.
Clay crossed the room on his crutches and smiled. “Thank you, Lee. I think I’ll stand for a bit.”
Lee nodded and looked up to see the door open a second time, with DeeAnn stepping quietly inside. He looked back to Alison and Clay.
“What’s up?”
The lab was quiet, eerily so. In the absence of their colleagues Juan Diaz and Chris Ramirez, the entire research center didn’t feel quite right. It felt… empty.
Alison smiled as she approached. “What are you working on?”
Lee turned back to his monitor with a solemn expression. “Uh, just some coding. Trying to improve the pattern recognition between multiple—” He suddenly stopped himself and shrugged. “Nothing important.”
Alison put a gentle hand on his arm. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Just… kind of having a hard time with it all.”
“We all are,” DeeAnn replied softly.
“So, what’s going on?”
“Lee,” Alison said, “we need to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“About Juan and Chris. About what’s been happening.”
Lee glanced at each of them. “What do you mean?”
“I think you know what I mean.”
“Uh…”
“Lee, you’ve been friends with Juan and Chris for a while. So I’m sure they’ve told you some things, not to mention what you’ve already witnessed firsthand. I’m betting you know quite a lot.”
Lee displayed a subtle but nervous grin. He eventually turned his attention to Clay, who was watching him intently. “Well, I know some things.”
Clay took a deep breath. “Have a seat, Lee.”
“Okay.” He reached back for the arm of his chair and lowered himself down.
“Tell us what you know.”
“Well, I saw what happened with Sofia. And what happened with us. Like my ribs. And how fast they healed. Chris did tell me about the plants. The ones in South America and then the ones you found in the ocean.” He paused. “And… I’ve also been reading through IMIS’s translation logs.”
Clay nodded. “Then I’m guessing you know even more about what we found in Guyana.”
“Some.”
“That’s what Juan was killed over,” Clay said.
“Yeah… I know that too.”
“And then we found something related. Near Trinidad.”
“Where all the plants and dolphins are.”
“Correct.” Clay glanced at Alison before continuing. “Lee, what we’re about to tell you is highly secret. It cannot be repeated to anyone. Ever.”
“Including your wife,” Alison added.
“Okaaay.”
“It’s a ship, Lee. It’s an alien ship.”
Lee’s eyes instantly widened. “What?!”
“A spaceship, hidden beneath the coral. And what we found in Guyana came from that ship.”
“What was it?”
Clay stopped and took a step back, leaning against the edge of a large metal table. “Embryos. Millions of embryos. In perfect hibernation. Buried inside a mountain.”
“No way!”
Clay grinned. “We’re pretty sure those embryos were transported on the ship we found. Brought here and intentionally hidden.”