‘Pretend I’m an idiot,’ Ethan said. ‘I like baby steps when it comes to science.’
‘The DNA sequences are ordered in a particular way,’ Lucy explained patiently. ‘The way they are ordered does not correspond to any biological processes known to man. That does not mean of course that they have no biological process attached to them, but it does lead me to suspect that their purpose within the DNA is not so much as a biological marker as a message.’
‘A message?’ Ethan repeated as he raised his eyebrows in surprise. ‘You think that there’s a message in the DNA?’
Lucy nodded as she set her mug down.
‘A number of scientists have postulated that the best way for alien species to have left messages or markers of their presence on earth would not be the classic idea of leaving a monument or rock carvings or similar because those messages would not endure for as long as a species that may be living on any given world. Their idea was that the best place to leave evidence of their passing would be in the genetic structure of the creatures that they encountered, because although those creatures may evolve over millions of years into species entirely distinct from those witnessed by passing aliens, the DNA would hold still the messages left behind. As long as life survived, so would the messages.’
Ethan stared into the flames of the fire for a moment. ‘So you’re saying that if ET wandered past Earth when the dinosaurs were walking around, and left a message in dino — DNA, then technically we should be able to find that message in the species alive on the earth today.’
‘Technically, yes,’ Lucy replied. ‘The dinosaurs, or more specifically the raptors, survive now as many species of birds. If what you have outlined occurred, we would expect to find that genetic message surviving in the genes of birds.’
Ethan shook his head in wonder, quite surprised at how often advances in science revealed new ways in which the message of life could be passed across the universe.
‘I’d never have thought of something like that.’
‘Well, until Crick and Watson discovered DNA, nobody else had either. The point is that this discovery goes far further than just potential messages in the genetic sequence of species. There is a theory known as panspermia.’
‘I’ve heard of it,’ Ethan replied. ‘It’s the idea that life is common in the universe, that complex organic molecules form naturally in deep space and are then carried to new born planets by comets, kick starting life all around the universe.’
‘That’s exactly right,’ Lucy agreed, for the first time showing some sign of enthusiasm and delight in her work. ‘Complex organic molecules have been discovered floating in gas clouds throughout our galaxy, some of those molecules just one step away from proteins and amino acids, the basis of all life on Earth. Panspermia is no longer just a hypothesis, it’s a solid and valid scientific theory and provides the means for life to travel across the vast distances between stellar systems and spread the basic chemicals of life wherever it can be found.’
‘How does this tie in with the message in the bone DNA?’
‘I’m not sure yet,’ Lucy admitted. ‘But if the creature that we found in Israel was indeed a hybrid, then its genetic code must have been blended with that of a human. If you recall, although tall and with many features very different to ours, it was nonetheless bipedal and with a humanoid appearance. It’s generally considered highly unlikely that humanoid figures would be a commonplace result of evolution around the galaxy. Certain features such as eyes, ears, grasping hands and limbs are of course likely to develop, but the appearance of any intelligent alien species we would expect to be vastly different from our own. It is my conclusion that this hybrid creature was part human, and if the message encoded in its DNA is present then there is every likelihood that same message is present in some humans today.’
Ethan raised an eyebrow as he considered this new idea.
‘A bloodline,’ he murmured as he thought back to his work in Israel. ‘Kelvin Patterson was obsessed with the bloodline. He thought it was something to do with angels breeding with humans, like the Biblical legend of the Nephilim.’
‘If there is any chance that an alien species did interbreed or otherwise genetically altered our ancestors then the traces of their work should be present in the blood, or in the DNA, of certain peoples. It’s my hypothesis that the clearest signal of any extra-terrestrial intervention in human development would be found in the oldest civilizations and the oldest remains that we can locate. I was in the process of researching various ancient civilizations and trying to determine which would be the most likely to harbour the evidence that we seek when Vladimir Polkov showed up.’
Ethan rubbed his jaw with one hand, a day’s growth of stubble rasping beneath his fingers as he thought for a moment.
‘That could be almost anywhere,’ he replied finally. ‘If I remember what your mother told me correctly, mankind evolved in Africa and expanded out in all directions, inhabiting the Middle East, Far East, the far north and Europe.’
‘Well, that’s one of the other interesting things I’ve been looking into.’
Lucy made to reach for her missing bag and then sighed as she remembered that it was no longer here.
‘You’ve got a good memory,’ Ethan guessed. ‘I’m sure you could fill in the details.’
Lucy sat for a moment as she gathered her thoughts.
‘I started looking into the research of people involved in something called pseudo-archaeology. It’s essentially a fringe branch of science that until now hasn’t really been science at all. Its proponents believe that the current model of human civilization’s evolution is incorrect and that in fact we were able to develop complex societies many thousands of years before we originally thought.’
‘You’re talking about the kind of people that believe in Atlantis?’
‘Not so much Atlantis,’ Lucy replied. ‘The thing with Plato’s Atlantis is that the name is simply the one he gave to a rumoured advanced city that existed somewhere in the Atlantic, beyond the Pillars of Hercules, which are what we now call the Rock of Gibraltar. If you take away the name and everything associated with it, then what you have is an eminent individual from an ancient civilization merely claiming to have heard of the existence of a much older civilization.’
‘Okay, so how much evidence of you found?’
‘Quite a bit,’ Lucy replied. ‘Mainstream archaeology does not involve itself in claims of ancient civilizations predating current history, and accepts only that our earliest civilizations evolved in what we refer to as the fertile crescent, areas of the Middle East, Iraq, Iran and so on that border the Persian Gulf. However, in recent years cities have been discovered deep in the jungles of India and other countries that clearly predate those civilizations, pushing back advanced human endeavour by thousands of years. The best known is Cabo de San Antonio, off the west coast of Cuba.’
‘What’s there?’
‘A geological survey team discovered an entire sunken city beneath half a mile of water, filled with geometric megalithic structures like multiple pyramids arranged in rows that the scientists involved said they could not describe in terms of natural geological formations. They have beautiful sonar images of streets arranged around the pyramids. It’s old enough to have existed during the last Ice Age, up to fifty thousand years ago. Ancient stories of the Maya and native Yucatecos people tell of an island state of advanced peoples that was swallowed by a flood. Samples collected from the site are of polished granite, not the limestone that forms the entire northwest Cuban peninsular. The closest natural granite is in the centre of Mexico.’