The Atlantis Gene: A Thriller (46 page)

“Yes, but why — aren’t there better ways? Couldn’t they, I don’t know, sequence a bunch of genomes or steal some data and find these people?”

“No, or maybe. You could probably identify people with the Atlantis Gene, but there’s a missing piece: epigenetics and gene activation.”

“Epi—”

“It’s sort of complicated, but the bottom line is that it’s not just what genes you have, it’s what genes get activated, as well as how those genes interact with each other. The plague conceivably would cause a second Great Leap Forward by activating the Atlantis Gene in anyone who has it. Or maybe it’s something else entirely, maybe the plague will reduce the population and force us to mutate or evolve, just like the Toba Catastrophe did…” Kate rubbed her temples. There was something else, some other piece, just out of reach. The conversation with Qian flashed through her mind: the tapestry, the flood of fire, the dying band of humans cowering under the blanket of ashes… the savior… offering a cup with his blood, and the beasts of the forest emerging as modern humans. “I think we’re missing something.”

“You think—”

“What if the first Great Leap Forward wasn’t a natural occurrence? What if it wasn’t evolution at all? What if humanity was on the brink of extinction and the Atlanteans came to our rescue? What if the Atlanteans gave that dying band of humans something that would help them survive Toba? A gene, a genetic advantage that made them smart enough to survive. A change in brain wiring. What if they gave us the Atlantis Gene?”

CHAPTER 98

David looked around as if deciding what to say. Finally he opened his mouth to speak, but Kate held up her hand.

“I know it sounds crazy, ok, but just hear me out, let me talk through this. It’s not like we’re going anywhere for a while.” She motioned to the basket and the balloon above it.

“Fair enough, but I’m warning you, I’m out of my element here. I’m not sure how much help I can be.”

“Just tell me when it starts sounding too crazy.”

“Is that retro-active? Because what you just said—”

“Ok, actually, you just listen for a while, then call me out on any craziness. Here are the facts: around 70,000 years ago, the Mount Toba Supervolcano erupts. There’s a global volcanic winter that lasts 6-10 years and possibly a 1,000-year-long cooling episode. Ash blankets Southern Asia and Africa. The total human population plummets to 3,000-10,000, maybe even as low as 1,000 viable mating pairs.”

“Alright, that’s true, I can confirm its non-craziness.”

“Because I told you about the Toba Catastrophe in Jakarta.”

David held up his hands. “Hey, just trying to be helpful here.”

Kate remembered her own reaction and her words to David in the van days ago, what felt like a lifetime ago. “Very funny. Anyway, the reduction in population caused a genetic bottleneck around that time. We know that every human on the planet is descended from an extremely small population, between 1,000 to 10,000 breeding pairs that existed about 70,000 years ago. Every human outside of Africa is descended from a small tribe that left around 50,000 years ago with as few as 100 people. In fact, every human alive today is directly descended from a man who lived in Africa 60,000 years ago.”

“Adam?”

“Actually we call him Y-chromosomal Adam, since we’re scientists. There’s an Eve too — Mitochondrial Eve, but she lived much earlier, we think about 190,000-200,000 years ago—”

“Time travelers? Am I still calling out the craz—”

“Not time travelers, thank you very much. They are just genetic designations of the people everyone on earth is directly descended from. It’s complicated, but the bottom line is that this Adam had a huge advantage — his offspring were far more advanced than any of their peers.”

“They had the Atlantis Gene.”

“For now, we’ll stick to the facts — they had some kind of advantage, whatever it was. By around 50,000 years ago, the human race is beginning to behave differently. There’s an explosion in complex behavior: language, tool making, wall art. It’s the greatest advancement in human history — what we call the Great Leap Forward. In looking at the fossils of humans before and after, there’s not a ton of difference. There’s also not much difference in their genomes. About all we know is that it was a subtle genetic change that caused a difference in the way we thought, possibly a change in our brain wiring.”

“The Atlantis Gene.”

“Whatever it was, this change in brain wiring, it was the greatest genetic jackpot in the history of time. The human race goes from the brink of extinction — less than 10,000 people, from hunting and gathering in the wilderness, to ruling the planet, with over seven billion people, in the span of 50,000 years. That’s the blink of an eye in evolutionary terms. It’s an extraordinary comeback, almost hard to believe for a geneticist. I mean, 12% of all the humans who have
ever lived
are
still alive
today. We only evolved around 200,000 years ago. We’re still riding a mushroom cloud of the effects of the Great Leap Forward, and we have no idea how it happened or where it will lead.”

“Yeah, but why us, why did we get so lucky? There were other human species around, right? The Neanderthals, the— I can’t remember what you called them; what about them? If the Atlanteans came to our rescue, why not help the others?”

“I have a theory. We know there were at least four subspecies of humans 50,000 years ago — us, or Anatomically Modern Humans, Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Homo floresiensis, or Hobbits. There were probably more that we haven’t found, but those are the four subspecies—”

“Subspecies?” David said.

“Yes. Technically they’re subspecies; they were all humans. We define a species as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring, and all four of those human groups could interbreed, in fact, we have genetic evidence that they did interbreed. When we sequenced the Neanderthal genome a few years ago, we discovered that everyone outside of Africa has somewhere between 1-4% Neanderthal DNA. It was most pronounced in Europe — the Neanderthal homeland. We found the same thing when we sequenced the Denisovan genome. Some people in Melanesia, and especially Papua New Guinea, share up to 6% of their genome with the Denisovans.”

“Interesting. So we’re all hybrids?”

“Yes, technically.”

“So we absorbed the other subspecies into a combined human race?”

“No. Well, a small percentage maybe, but the archaeological evidence suggests the four groups survived as separate subspecies. I think the other subspecies didn’t receive the Atlantis Gene because they didn’t need it.”

“They—”

“Weren’t on the brink of extinction,” Kate said. “We think Neanderthals existed in Europe as early as 600,000-350,000 years ago. All the other subspecies are also older than we are; they probably had larger populations. And — they were out of the blast radius of Toba — the Neanderthals were in Europe, the Denisovans were in present-day Russia, and the Hobbits were in Southeast Asia — farther away from Toba and downwind.”

“So they fared better than we did, and we almost die out. Then we hit the genetic jackpot, and they actually go extinct — at our hands.”

“Yes. And they died out quickly; we know Neanderthals were stronger than us, had bigger brains than us, and had lived in Europe for hundreds of thousands of years before we showed up. Then, within 10-20,000 years, they are extinct.”

“Maybe that’s part of the Immari grand plan,” David said. “Maybe Toba Protocol is about more than finding the Atlantis Gene. What if the Immari think these advanced humans, these Atlanteans, are hibernating, but if they do come back, they’ll eliminate any competing humans, anyone who might be a threat — just as we did in the last 50,000 years ago after we received this Atlantis Gene? You read Kane’s speech; they thought a war with the Atlanteans was imminent.”

Kate considered David’s theory, and her mind drifted to her conversation with Martin, his allegations that any advanced race would wipe out any threatening inferior humans. His theory that the human race was like a computer algorithm advancing to one eventuality: a homogeneous human race. That was the last piece of the puzzle. “You’re right. Toba is about more than finding the Atlantis Gene. It’s about
creating
Atlanteans, transforming the human race by advancing it. They’re trying to synchronize humanity with the Atlanteans — to create one race so that if the Atlanteans do return, they won’t see us as a threat. Martin said Toba Protocol was ‘a contingency.’ They think if the Atlanteans wake up and see seven billion savages, they will slaughter us. But if they emerge and find a small group of humans, very similar genetically to themselves, they will allow them to survive — they will see them as part of their own tribe or race.”

“Yes, but I think that’s only half the plan,” David said. “That’s the scientific basis, the genetic angle, the back-up plan. The Immari think they’re at war. They think like soldiers. I said before I thought they were creating an Army, and I still do. I think they were testing the subjects on the Bell for a specific reason.”

“So they could survive it.”

“Survive it yes, but more specifically — to be able to pass under it. In Gibraltar, they had to excavate around it and remove it. I think there could be a Bell at every Atlantis structure — a sort of sentry device that keeps anyone out, but it malfunctioned on us because we’re actually human-Atlantean hybrids. If the Immari found a way to activate the Atlantis Gene, they could send an army in and kill the Atlanteans. Toba Protocol would be the ultimate contingency — if they were unsuccessful, the Atlanteans wake up and all that’s left are members of their own race.”

Kate nodded. “They would be massacring the same people who saved us from extinction, maybe the only people that could help us reverse the plague from the Bell. But it’s all theory and speculation. We could be wrong.”

“Let’s stick to what we know. We know bodies were taken from China and that bodies from the Bell caused a pandemic before.”

“We alert health agencies?”

David shook his head. “You read the journal, they know how to hide outbreaks. They are probably a lot better at it now — they’ve been preparing for Toba Protocol for a very long time. We need to find out if your theories are correct, and we need some advantage — a way to contact the Atlanteans or stop the Immari.”

“Gibraltar.”

“It’s our best option — the chamber the tunnelmaker found.”

Kate glanced at the balloon. They were already losing altitude and they had only a few sandbags left to jettison. “I don’t think we’ll get that far.”

David smiled and looked around the basket, as if searching for something they could use. There was a bundle in the corner. “Did you bring this?”

Kate noticed it for the first time. “No.”

David slid over to it and unraveled it. Inside the layers of rough woven cloth he found Indian Rupees, a change of clothes for each of them, and a paper fold-out map of Northern India, which they were no doubt flying over now. David unfolded the map, and a small note fell out. He set the map aside, read the note, and handed it to Kate.

—————

Forgive us our inaction.

War is not in our nature.

~ Qian.

—————

Kate set the note down and studied the balloon. “I don’t think we have much longer up here.”

“Agree. I have an idea. It’s risky though.”

CHAPTER 99

1.5 Miles outside Drill Site #6
East Antarctica

Robert Hunt had to drive slower — the giant umbrella had almost pulled him off the snowmobile twice. He had finally found a comfortable speed where he could hold on, but even at that speed, the noise of the machine, combined with the umbrella’s flapping, was almost deafening. Through the din he heard an unusual noise. He looked back. Had the men followed him? He stopped the snowmobile. It wasn’t an engine. It was a voice.

He tore his jacket open and searched for the radio. The signal indicator was lit — they were calling him. He killed the machine, but the signal was gone. He waited. Around him, the rolling hills of East Antarctica were as quiet as the Serengeti at sunset. Far in the distance a wind gust blew snow dust off the top of a rounded peak.

He pressed the radio button and said, “This is Snow King.”

He took a deep breath. The abrupt response and the operator’s sharp tone startled him. “Snow King— why were you radio silent?”

Robert thought, then pressed the button on the radio and spoke as evenly as he could manage. “We are in transit. The radios are hard to hear.”

“Transit? What’s your location?”

Robert swallowed. They’d never asked for his location or contacted him between sites before. What could he say… Could they see him from the air?

“Snow King! Do you copy!?”

He fidgeted in the seat, then lifted the radio back to his face. “Bounty, this is Snow King. Estimate we are 3 klicks from location seven.” He released the button and lowered it to the snowmobile again. He inhaled. “We have encountered… We have problems with one of the snowmobiles. We are repairing.”

“Stand by, Snow King.”

The seconds ticked by. It was cold as hell, but all he could feel was his heart beating in his throat.

“Snow King. Do you require assistance?”

He answered instantly, “Negative, Bounty. We can handle it.” He waited for a second and added, “Should we alter our destination?”

“Negative, Snow King. Carry on at best speed and observe standing local blackout protocol.”

“Copy that, Bounty.”

He dropped the radio to the seat. In that moment, it had felt as heavy as an anvil. His adrenaline slowly receded, and as it did, he realized his right arm was aching. Holding the umbrella had taken its toll. He could barely make a fist, and his shoulder throbbed with every micron he moved. He gritted his teeth and shifted the umbrella to the other side of the snowmobile.

Through his cold and pain, his mind screamed: go back now. He considered why they would have called. There were only two possibilities: a) they were on to him or b) they wanted to make sure he was clear of the site. If they were on to him, his goose was cooked anyway. If they were doing something at the site they didn’t want him to see, that put him in a tough spot.