The Martian Pendant (35 page)

“
Where the rest of the crew was at the time remains a mystery, but it seems obvious that they were the watch on duty, exactly half the complement. My theory is that they were either killed outside the ship by that same gas, or by wild animals. Thus, the entire command was wiped out, and their advanced knowledge with them. The passengers, who survived were those on the lower decks, evidently having left the ship earlier. Why they wouldn’t have had access to Martian knowledge is unclear. One possibility is that if they were naïve and uneducated peasants or herdsmen, they would have had little, if any, knowledge of the science or technology of the elites in command, forcing them to start all over again, as it were, regarding weapons, tools, and other means of survival.”

“Mere conjecture,” another Fellow observed. “It is easy to accept the fact that
Cro-Magnon
man, only around 25,000 years old, was found to be identical to the modern human after its discovery some years ago.  But how can you explain that in a million years, no evolutionary changes have taken place in those descended from the aliens? Wouldn’t one expect at least minor differences developing in all that time?”

Diana smiled, saying, “Oh, but there have been many changes. We don’t know anything about minor ones such as pigmentation, hair and eye color, but our Martians’ bones are indeed identical to modern man, save for an apparent increase in chest capacity, a function of the decreasing oxygen tension of their thinning atmosphere. But in the intervening million years since the landing, the human race has evolved in many ways. Compare the bony development of the black African and the East Asian, regarding frontal bosses, bony tubercles for muscle and tendon attachments, skull thickness and shape. Were we able to analyze muscle and other non-skeletal structures, we would certainly find as many differences, all developing in the human race as it spread across the globe, adapting to the varied conditions encountered.”

A final question followed. “What evidence do we have, really, that mankind’s diaspora from Africa consisted of Martians? Why not another race, evolving from pre-hominids parallel to the Neanderthals, and identical to those found in the spaceship?”

Diana replied, “What a coincidence that would be! There is nothing other than the virtually identical skeletal remains, I’m afraid, and the mathematically calculated million years’ time it would have taken for population growth and migration from Africa to reach the far edges of the Eurasian land mass. Final answers to such questions will have to come from further investigation and exploration.”

It was rare that a more heated discussion would fail to develop after such a talk at the Society, but that night, such was the evidence that few chose to contest the issue. One, a notorious skeptic who had become better known for his conspiracy theory than for his science, stood up.

“I should first like to congratulate the author for such a masterful climax to her previous effort. I refer not to her preliminary report given in Chicago, but to that earlier opus, the fiction on the demise of life-supporting conditions on Mars,
leading to the space voyage to earth. Considering this previous work, written well before any of the evidence presented tonight was uncovered, I submit that tonight’s paper is yet another work of fiction!”

Several members around the critic jeered
at him until he sat down, as the audience in general voiced its disapproval of his opinion. The moderator, Sir Charles, hastily took the microphone. “Gentlemen, please! Despite the outburst you have just heard, we must all keep in mind that the so-called fiction previously published by Miss Howard has, in fact, proven true. One has only to regard the photographs of the spaceship, the pods containing skeletal remains of the aliens and their advanced technology to see prophecy, rather than prevarication, in her earlier publication.”

Then turning to Diana, he added, “Please accept our apologies. I daresay that this membership is nearly unanimous in their approval of your work. I, for one
, will be the first to place your name before the committee for admission to this Society.”

Another member came forward from the front row. “A most impressive paper,
Miss Howard. I’m sure there will be many questions in the press, if not more from other members tonight. I do have, in fact, one of my own.  Rumor has it that you possess linguistic material hitherto never presented. If that is so, might you enlighten us?”

Taking the microphone, Diana began. “Indeed there is more Martian evidence. And I say “Martian’ rather than ‘Alien,’ because that material, mostly in their language, does contain a diagram of the solar system, identifying their home as the fourth planet, depicting
our world as the next closer to the sun. I’m sorry not to have been able to present all that tonight, but that data has been seized by the U.S. Government. Military authorities there fear the material too advanced to be released, for security reasons. To this has been added the destruction, or loss to thieves, of all the fossils, and every bit of Martian technology. Someday, the impounded data will be released. Then, perhaps, their alphabet and language may be deciphered to allow us to translate the material. This includes a technical manual for their spaceship, as well as what might be a history of their habitat’s deterioration and what appears to be a log of their landing.”

Once again
, Sir Charles took the microphone. “Thank you, Miss Howard, for the most outstanding presentation this society has heard in years. When next we have the pleasure of your company, I’ll wager you will be a member here, where we may address you as either Doctor Howard, or Dame Diana.”

Springtime

By the end of March, the crocuses had pushed their way through the snow, heralding the end of winter. By early April, blossoms were just appearing on the trees, and the many other previously dormant bulbs underground were displaying their flowers in an explosion of color. Spring had come to London at last, and with it, Diana’s urge to get on with her life. She had to admit that it was all about Dan. Family support and love were wonderful, she thought, but life wouldn’t be the same without him. Now she had both the reassurance of his encircling arms, and the twinkle in his eye whenever they were alone together. To have a man in her life again, a significant love, after so many years! As a consequence, it was Dan’s return to London with her that had brightened her spring more than Mother Nature could ever hope to.

After her triumph
at the Royal Society, she had received an invitation for tea with the Queen at Buckingham Palace. While Dan and Bobby talked sports and politics with Prince Philip and young Prince Charles, the Queen engaged Diana in conversation, mostly regarding theory as to the demise of the Neanderthals. The Queen had read Diana’s
The Martian Imperative,
which she had found fascinating.

“But, Miss Howard, you discussed the well-known hiatus of around ten thousand years between the last discovered Neanderthal remains and those of the earliest
-known
Homo sapiens
. How would you now explain that, in the framework of all you have proven about the Martian landing?”

“Much of the story, Your Majesty, has paralleled the anthropological findings of others, regarding the spread of modern humans in waves into southern Europe and Asia, as well as Australia. It is true that most of the evidence points to successive ice ages as having hastened the extinction of the Neanderthals. Although my fiancé and I discovered a solitary thigh-bone, butchered by humans
, in a cave in Spain, dating to that so-called sterile period, nothing north of the Alps has turned up to prove that the two species came into contact there. There
is
ample evidence of that in the Near East, where caves along the migration route out of Africa have been found to contain skeletal fossils suggesting hybridization. I believe that the Neanderthals were driven out of Southern Europe, and other more temperate climes, only to battle the glaciers of the last two ice ages. Indeed, a losing battle.”

“My dear,” the Queen replied, “Our view exactly. Caught between the expanding glaciers to the north, and the Alps and modern man on the south, they had little chance. And our humans had no reason to push on to the north until later, as those coming behind were busy fanning out to the east
, onto the steppes into the Far East, and west to the Iberian Peninsula. It wasn’t until the end of the last ice age that northern Europe became more attractive, and population pressures became critical enough, to lead
Homo sapiens
to tackle the Alpine barrier. By that time, the last Neanderthal had been dead ten thousand years.”

“The evidence indeed points to that, Your Majesty. But my story suggests that the Martian immigrants never left a trace of their presence until they had become true earthlings, literally what Americans call litterbugs, burying their dead, and leaving their artifacts in their kitchen middens, just as did the Neanderthals, later to be dug up by archaeologists.”

“Then,” the Queen said after some thought, “There is a chance that the two races co-existed, perhaps, for that ten thousand years?”

“That’s the way the story goes, and the evidence, scanty as it is, does fit.”

“We find that very interesting, and everything about you interests us as well. Tell us, what are your plans for the future? Your American fiancé is most impressive, and your young son is already Americanized, it appears, after just a short time in the U.S. What are your plans? Will you remain a British subject, or leave us for America?”

“Your Majesty, I can’t be sure just yet. I’ve several academic offers from universities in the U.S., but nothing has materialized here
yet.”

“It would be a shame for Britain to lose you, along with so many of our other scientists and intellectuals. Would
naming you as a Dame Commander of the British Empire serve to influence your decision? I know it is not entirely our decision, but our input is very influential. Of course you know that Americans cannot accept such titles.”

“It would be an honor to have such recognition, and I most certainly would remain in Britain
, were a suitable academic position offered, Your Majesty.”

“Oh
, dear,” the Queen reflected, sipping the last of her tea. “We do have a task before us then, don’t we? Well, perhaps a word to a Don at Cambridge or Oxford would bring results. That would keep you here, and open the way for a CBE, if you are among those submitted as candidates. Parliament would certainly approve and we would name you, to honor your meritorious work.”

After her meeting with the Queen, Diana realized her life was at a turning point. Her countrymen were about to bestow upon her every honor she ever imagined. In that elated state, the three returned home to her family, bursting with the news.

That evening, the dinner conversation began with recounting the experience of taking tea at Buckingham Palace. It soon focused on Diana’s plans.

“As you already know, I’ve received
quite suitable offers from both State universities in California. There would be a choice of either Los Angeles or Berkeley in the San Francisco area. It is indeed strange that nothing has been forthcoming from the University of Chicago, although I expect that a certain professional jealousy harbored by the head of the Department there has played a role in that. But it is odd that I’ve heard nothing from my
Alma Mater
, Cambridge, or any other British university, for that matter.”

Her father, after hearty congratulations toasted with
sherry, and after listening to the story, reassured her. “I’m quite certain that before long, more of our academics will hear of your triumph, and scramble to offer you a Chair. The Americans have had more time, don’t you see, since your preliminary paper, to learn of your work.”

He then reflected on his own knighting by Edward VII at the end of the Great War.

“It seemed so unreal, all that pomp and ceremony, and then the slightest tap on the shoulder. At that moment it was if I had become a new man. Before, a mere cog in the wheel in Intelligence, and after, I was in a different world. A luminary, sought after for lectures and dinner parties galore. Life has never been the same.”

“I daresay,” Lady Howard said, “It was indeed a life-changing event. But it was your newfound wealth from all those lectures and publications that brought about the change. Your service
in code breaking at Bletchley Park during the last war, leading to your election to the Royal Society, further added to your luster. ”

“Well, there is that, and other compensations. But for years afterwards, I couldn’t call my life my own.” Beaming at his daughter, he added,
“I do hope these new honors won’t interfere with your plans for a family and a career.”

“No
, indeed,” Diana responded, “The only question is where my work may best be accomplished.”

Turning to her, Dan asked
in surprise, “Di! Do you mean you might remain in the U.K. after all?”

“I’m sorry
, darling, this all jelled with me today after the tea with the Queen. You well know that the Berkeley offer was my best opportunity until then.” 

“Sweetheart, as I’ve always told you,” he
said, affectionately squeezing her hand, “wherever you go, you’ll find me there.”

Bobby was shocked. “All our plans, until now, have been to return to the U.S
., and California. Don’t I have a vote?”