Short Story Sci Fi

KILL SWITCH
by Edward J. Owens

    Zach Freeman stared at the line of test tubes biting his thumb nail. The entire experiment ruined some how. Years of work down the drain because he didn’t do something right. The story of his life.  Doctor Randall was going to be pissed and there was no way to hide this mistake. Whatever that mistake was.  He turned back to the analyzer output. The same three spikes and a squiggle in batch seventeen. The same result as he got for the last sixteen trials. The genetic material in the test tubes were all the same. He had somehow replicated the same three strands of gene material in every sample in the lab. Both the test batch and the control.

    He needed to sit down. He noticed his heart was racing he was sweating. His career as a researcher was over. Hundreds of thousands of dollars flushed down the drain along with his future. He would be lucky to work in a crime lab after this. The lowest and least skilled profession in the world of genomic testing.  He thought he was going to vomit. Almost as soon as he thought it he did. He vomited all over the lab counter spraying the centrifuge and test tube rack.  His vision blurred as his eyes watered. He reached out a hand to steady himself as the naseau over took him again. His hand slipped in the vomit, his balance on the vinyl stool precarious, he pitched forward and the stool rocked back in unison. His face crashed into the lab table.

    Zach Freeman, twenty three, lay in his own vomit on the floor. He knew this wasn’t his infrequent but substantial panic attacks. This felt totally different.  He slid a hand up his chest to wipe the vomit off his mouth. The chunks of hotdog he had eaten at lunch brushing up against the hair on the back of his hand. He flopped the hand over to wipe the sweat from his eyes his vision now a misty reddish color.  He pulled his hand back and struggled to move his head down to look at his hand laying on his chest. It was covered in blood.  His lab coat, that he could see of it, was splotched with blood where it touched his body.

    “Damn it...” He said under his breath and sighed a long last sigh. He never inhaled.

    Zach could feel himself slipping away. His ears ringing. The coppery smell of blood in his nose. His left hand, lying on the cold tile floor felt the warm liquid flowing around it. Somewhere distant in his mind as it faded he knew it was his blood. He was dying.  The ringing in his ears turned into a day at the beach the roar of the ocean pressing down on him. He struggled to draw air but he couldn’t. His lungs felt heavy and bubbles of blood popped on his lips and the remaing air in his lungs seeped out.  His heart stopped.  He was dead.

    Charles Randall took a sip from the water glass. He had another thirty minutes left on his lecture. He wasn’t sure he could make it. His throat was sore and dry. He had given this lecture ten times in the last two weeks and even though he loved the research he already hated telling everyone about it.

    “As we can see on slide thirty four the same red bands showed up in my imaging analysis of the isolated DNA.  This red band is usually accompanied later by a green band and appears throughout the genome. Of course red and green are arbitrary. The program I used to derive these images was rudimentary and the color values were picked somewhat at random. What the green concentration shows is a cluster of Thyamine and Cytosine. I found similar clusters of Adenine and Thymine as well as nearly solid bands of Cytosine and Adenine.”  He said and clicked the advance button on his remote.

    “Here are a few panels from the same program showing distinct patterns found in all the chromosomes in the human genome. Some are quite striking. The pattern is dependent on the matrix used. The data is read in and one of four colors corresponding to the four bases is laid down. You choose the point where the pixels being set drop down, and begin going the other direction, like laying down a string of beads. In this case the line drops down a single pixel and begins laying colored pixels back in the other direction.  It is as if you take each base as a bead on string and wind it back and forth.  A mathematical pattern will emerge for different lengths selected.”  Charles clicked through the slides as he took another sip of water.  He watched the slides for the right one to continue.

    “This panel or image is where I found the markers. As you can see the red and the blue line up in perfect lines when a matrix of thirty seven is used which is odd since you would expect a repeating pattern to fall into groups divisible by three since codons are composed of three bases. The markers seemed more concerned with the location of the same base equidistant from itself.  I found this pattern several times. I isolated this sequence between corresponding bands of red and green my other reoccurring artifacts.  I did not know whether this was a structural in nature, perhaps part of the blue print for coiling the DNA, making a certain substance  such as an enzyme or hormone, or any hundred other things that DNA does. So I became curious as to what the function of this sequence and the remaining sequence was. When I...” Charles stopped as he saw the director of the conference walking on stage.  Charles looked at him and cocked his head.  The man approached him and covered the microphone with his hand.

    “There has been an incident at your lab. The CDC has told me to inform you they need to talk to you.”

    Charles looked quickly at the audience and shrugged trying to look casual.

    “What do you mean an incident?”  Charles said straight face.

    “Your assistant is dead. It looks pathogenic. I am instructed to have you walk out of here. Please do not touch anything or anyone. I have also been told you need to leave everything as it is and walk with me to the back of the building. There will be an ambulance here shortly.”

    Charles couldn’t keep the look of surprise from taking over his face.  He could hear the audience becoming restless. He nodded to the director and then smiled.  He looked off stage and motioned to his assistant Heather Brown. She cocked her head. He motioned again.  She put down the electronic pad she was holding and came forward.

    “I need you to finish. You know the material. I will call you later.”

    He turned back to the microphone.

    “I am sorry ladies and gentlemen but it seems I am needed back at the university. An important experiment I have been conducting. Very exciting.  My assistant Miss Brown will finish the presentation.”  He smiled nodded to Heather and followed the director.

    The director led him outside. Charlies didn’t talk. He knew better than to talk.  A dead lab worker and the CDC was not completely uncommon. There were “dark protocols” for things like this. Unwritten rules made up by lawyers. Keep your mouth shut as much as possible.

    Charlies waited in the back lot as he was instructed. The director couldn’t get away fast enough. He didn’t have to wait long. A black SUV pulled up. Charles could see the red and blue dash-lights but they weren’t flashing.  A man, the size of a mountain, step out of the passenger side and opened the back door.

    “Doctor Randall would you please come with us?”  The man said

    “Do you have some ID?”  Charles said cautiously.

    The man’s upper lip began to curl back then he stopped. He pulled a flip case out of the inside pocket of his black blazer and flipped it open.  He held it out for Charles to see.

    Special Agent James Alvarez FBI

    Charles pulled his head back.

    “I thought you would be CDC.”  Charles said squinting.

    “I am FBI. The CDC is busy at your lab. You are head of a level 2 facility doing work on grant from the CDC and The World Health Organization. While your work isn’t strictly classified it is secret. I am here for your safety. We do not know what happened to your lab assistant for all we know it could be terrorism. Also it wouldn’t be smart to roll up in a van marked CDC and call a prominent doctor out of a lecture. Tends to cause people to ask questions. That’s how panic starts. Remember Houston Christmas Day? Now please get in the car.”  Alvarez said calmly.

    Charles remembered. Ebola scare and mass panic. Shut most of the city down for days. Charles conceded the point with a nod and got in the car. The agent shut the door and climbed back in the front.

    They drove to the airport.  Charles was put on a private flight back to his lab in Atlanta Georgia. Another black SUV met him on the tarmac. This time Charles just did as he was told. Twenty five minutes later he was standing outside the lab building. Police cars and police tape were everywhere. Flashing lights.  A few students here and there. It was summer break which is when Charles did his speaking engagements. Already he had a glimmer of hope. Less panic and potential problems the fewer people around to witness the spectacle.

    Charles was told to wait in the SUV this time. He waited. In a few minutes a man, about his age, glasses and going bald walked out of the building and up to the car.  The passenger this time was Agent Singleton. A young woman in her mid to late twenties. Same dead look on her face as Alvarez back in Boston.

    “You can exit now doctor. Thank you for your cooperation.”  She said evenly.

    Charles stepped out.  The man put up a hand telling Charles to stay where he was.

    “Doctor Randall. I’m Doctor William Morey with the CDC. Sorry I can’t shake hands but under the circumstances its not a good idea. I am an admirer of your work. Read all your papers. Using cold viruses as luggage carriers was my favorite. Brilliant stuff.”

    Charles began to decompress a little more.

    “Thank you.”

    “I would first like to have you accompany me to a clean room where you will be examined by some doctors. I will tell you straight up what we have here.  Your assistant, Zachary Freeman is dead. His appearance is like that of a hemorrhagic fever except according to accounts he displayed absolutely no symptoms early this morning when he came to work and passed by security. Some nine hours later he is laying in a pool of his own blood which from a gross examination appears to have come from every conceivable place on and in his body. We are performing an autopsy now.”

    “Oh my god.” was the only thing Charles could say.

    “No doubt.” Doctor Morey said nodding. “So of course you see why we need to check you out first. There is a mobile clean room on the way.”  Doctor Morey began then looked over Charles shoulder.

    “In fact here it is. Pays to be in Atlanta today.”

    Charles turned around and saw what looked like a plain brown RV the size of a tour bus.

    “We can continue inside. I would like as much information as possible so I’m going to ride along with you. Ready?”  Doctor Morey said politely.

    “Of course. What ever I can do. But I don’t see how this could be tied to my research. The meanest thing I’m working with is another rhino-virus which me and Zach both inoculated ourselves with...” Charles began.

    Doctor Morey held up a hand.

    “We are aware of your research. We shouldn’t discuss it out here. You never know who is listening and how.”

    The RV pulled up and the man motioned to the vehicle palm up.

    “After you.  Please enter from the back. Inside you will find that the RV is sectioned off. Two doctors in hazmat suits will take your temp, a blood sample, etc and we will talk as we go.”

    Charles did as he was told. No upside to protesting.


Part 2


    Charles sat on the gurney. A blood pressure cuff on his arm flanked by two doctors in hazmat suits.

    “You guys are pretty prepared these days. Didn’t take long to put this together. Benefits of fourteen years of democrats in the White House.”

    Doctory Morey smiled and nodded. “Something like that. Being right here in Atlanta is probably the real reason. Hell we are only about three miles away.”

    “Do you have pictures of Zach?  Can I see them?”

    “That won’t be necessary. We will determine what killed Zach.”  Morey said flatly the smile totally gone from his face.

    “There is nothing dangerous in my lab. My virus was tailored to deliver a designer enzyme that sought out only certain segments of DNA. If they were found the enzyme attached itself and then fluoresced. Nothing spectacular. This is only preliminary work. The real work would have begun once the delivery method was tested and controllable.”

    Doctor Morey simply smiled again.

    “Why are you smiling?”  Charles said nervously. Then he noticed one of the hazmat guys had a syringe. A standard blood sample vial.

    “We just need to know if you are infected and with what. We will find what caused Mr. Freeman's death and compare it to your sample. In the meantime we just need you to cooperate. As you have guessed cooperation is the only chance you have of coming through this with a career intact at the most and alive at the very least. Of course that depends on your priorities.”

    Charles was taken aback by the man’s bluntness. It was all fact but he didn’t expect to hear it put so directly. He watched as one of the men stuck the blood sampling needle in his arm. He noticed there was something already in the tube he drew back his arm quickly.

    “What are you doing?”  Charles said backing away.

    “Taking your blood. Are you okay?”  Doctor Morey said a worried look on his face.

    “There’s something in the tube!”  Charles yelled.

    Doctor Morey looked puzzled.

    “Of course there is. It’s an anticoagulant. Haven’t you ever drawn blood before? I would think in your line of work especially you would know what a blood sample entails.”  Doctor Morey said still looking confused.

    Charles shook his head. He wasn’t feeling well. Suddenly he was dizzy and nauseous. He grabbed the gurney he had been sitting on for support but his arm was too weak to support his weight. He collapsed and slid into the floor.

    “Stand perfectly still gentlemen! Do not try to leave!”  Doctor Morey shouted through the intercom.

    One of the men turned to Doctor Morey and keyed his mike.

    “Who do you think we are? Of course we aren’t going to try to leave.” Then he reached for the zipper that held the membrane between themselves and Doctor Morey shut and opened it quickly.

    “What are you doing?”  Morey said and turned to leave the RV.

    The man was quicker. He grabbed Doctor Morey and pulled him back into the room. Morey kicked and yelled throwing wild punches at the man. The man held him like he were a child. His strength unbelievable. The man forced Morey down on the floor next to Charles Randall who had begun bleeding profusely from various sites on his body. The man pushed his face into the widening pool of blood. Morey screamed.

    “Get the device.”  The man holding Morey said calmly.

    The other man opened a silver box on the wall shelf and opened it. He pulled out a flashlight shaped device and handed it to the man. The man pulled one of Morey’s arms back and when he turned his head shined the light into his eyes. The light pulsed and flickered  Morey struggled a few more seconds and then stopped. He was still awake but he stopped struggling.  The man pulled him up and sat him on the gurney.  Morey looked like someone in a sleep walking state. He just stared ahead.

    A trickle of blood ran down Morey’s face and a drop formed on his chin. The man reached out and caught it in his gloved hand.

    “Give me something to clean him with.”

    The other man moved to the shelf and grabbed gauze pads and a bottle of distilled water. He poured some of the water onto the pile of pads he was holding and handed them over.  The man cleaned Morey’s face looking him over carefully including his dress shirt and pants. He handed the bloody pile back to the other man.

    “Bag it. We will take it with us.”

    The man looked into Morey’s face. The pupils were twitching.

    “He’s ready.”

    The man that had pulled Morey into the clean room took him by the shoulders and moved him back through the door and sat him in the chair where the observers sit. He stepped back into the clean room and re-zipped the enclosure.

    The two men resumed their original positions.

    “Doctor Morey what do we do?”  The man yelled.

    Doctor Morey snapped back to consciousness. He felt disoriented but began assessing the situation quickly.

    “Check his vitals.”  Morey ordered.

    The man rolled Charles over face up and opened his shirt. The suits prevented skin to skin contact. The procedure for this was to use electronic equipment.

    “Vitals kit!”  The man called out.

    The other man already had the kit in hand and handed it to him. The man took two sensor pads and placed them on Charles chest and turned the hand held device on. A steady tone began.

    “He’s dead.” The man said.

    Morey nodded.

    “We will have to go back to base to unload him and decontaminate you and the compartment. Prepare for transport. I’ve got to make a few calls.”  Morey said and then left the RV.
   
    The man pulled a cell phone from his pocket and pulled his protective hood back. He didn’t press any buttons he waited and then spoke.

    “Phase two has begun as planned.Transmission is plus three”  The man said then put the phone back in his pocket.   

    17 hours later Doctor William Morey met with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and transmitted the virus through a handshake. Twenty two hours after meeting with the Secretary Doctor Morey had transmitted the virus to fifteen people and the Secretary and infected the entire Presidential Cabinet, staff, and the President herself. Four days later the President unknowingly infected every leader she shook hands with at the Global Economic Summit.

    Three years later it would be discovered that the virus transmitted by Charles Randall to Doctor Morey had passed through one of its numerous life cycles. Incubation period had gone from hours, in the case of Zach Freeman, to days, in the case of Charles Randall and his assistant, to months in the case of Doctor Morey. Thus allowing a long period of possible contamination before symptoms became obvious. The fourth generation of the virus reversed this trend and became lethal within days of being contracted. The fifth generation of the virus was lethal within hours. This pattern continued for the life of the virus.


    Six years after Zach Freeman died the surviving population lived in small bands around the world. Trade and communication was done at a distance. After a year had passed with no new infections or deaths groups began to reunite and form larger communities. The population was estimated at less than five hundred million.


    Eight years, two months, and twenty two days after patient zero, Zach Freeman, died in a pool of his own blood on a cold lab floor, the survivors watched as hundreds of ships, shaped like frisbees and tubes began landing all over the earth. The People of Phobos had run out of time.


   The War For Earth began on August 5th, 2030.

    PART TWO - THE REPTILE MASTERS FROM MARS - Coming Soon

Sci Fi Theatre

Freeze Frame

By Edward Owens

[setting]  Science Lab. Large machine sits in the center. Three walls and the floor of the room remain. The ceiling and one wall are missing there is only blackness.

“Jackson we are cutting a hole in the floor. Hang on!”  Man in lab coat yells at the floor.

A muffled sound comes through the floor.

“What did he say?” Woman in lab coat asks the yelling man. Dr. Shawn Braxton.

“I think he said he’s not going anywhere. I think I heard the F word.”  Braxton said shrugging.

A second man in a lab coat is waist deep in a box in the floor. He hops out. He takes a welding torch and pulls down a shield and pokes his head back into the hole. Sparks begin to fly.  After a few minutes a pop sounds and the chunk of metal on concrete comes from below. The man with the torch yells down the hole.

“Everyone okay?”

“Yes. What the hell is going on?” Jackson yells up from below.

“We aren’t sure. The machine triggered prematurely and.....”  Braxton said standing over the hole.

“You better wait for that to cool a minute or two before you try to come up.” The torch handler, Dr. Eric Deiken yells down.

“Ya think?”  Jackson yells back up.

“What’s it look like down there?” Deiken yells.

“I suppose you are asking how much of the building is left. There is a floor.”  Jackson yells back looking around.

“Anything to stand on?” Braxton yells.

“My lab stool is intact.”  Jackson again.

Deiken reaches down and pokes the metal with a finger and pulls it back quickly. Then he pokes another spot. Then lays his hand on the metal.

“You’re good. Come on up.” Deiken yells.

Jackson places his stool beneath the hole and stands on it. It is another two feet to the hole. He looks up. Deiken and Braxton bend down and extend hands through the hole.

“On three. One, two, three!”  Braxton says.

Jackson jumps. Deiken misses grabbing a hand. Braxton grabs Jackson’s left hand. Jackson dangles above the stool.  Braxton heaves up and Jackson sticks his other hand back up. Deiken grabs it and they pull him up together.

“Anyone else down there?” The woman, Dr. Sheila Linney asks Jackson.

“No. Just me. Everyone else was on the other side of the blackness. Wherever or whenever that is now. What were you guys doing? Quantum tunneling, quantum entanglement, quantum something right?”

The men and the woman look at each other. Jackson smirks.

“I think we are beyond security clearance issues at this point don’t you?”

The two men and woman looked at each other and shrugged.

“Yeah. We were about to send a signal in what we would assume to be the past but suddenly this happened.”  Dr. Braxton spoke up.

“You said your machine powered up early? That's what it sounded like through the floor.”  Jackson asked intrigued.

“No, it was powered up it just fired the burst earlier than we had programmed it to do.” Linney said.

“How much earlier than programmed?” Jackson asked.

Braxton walked to the computer which was oddly still functioning. This fact suddenly dawned on him. The lights were still on. The machines were still working.

“Well?”  Jackson said making a face.

“Fourteen minutes and forty one seconds. And why is the power still working?”  Braxton said pointing around.

The others looked around. They hadn’t noticed either.

“We must not be cutoff from the power supply which means the black sphere surrounding us didn’t destroy us or the outside world. Assuming there is an inside and outside.”  Dr. Deiken said.

“Has anyone attempted to move through the blackness?”  Jackson asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

“Also, have you noticed that we haven’t fallen meaning the floors are not severed from their supports? Also no one has come in or poked an object in? Do they even know this is going on from their perspective?”  Dr. Jackson said.

The three lab partners looked at the man and around at each other. As a group they shrugged.

“The fourteen minutes forty one seconds might be a clue or it might be pure coincidence. What are the odds that an event, that would have begun fourteen minutes and forty one seconds in the future, triggers that same amount of time, the decay rate of free neutrons, in the past?  Any thoughts?” Dr. Jackson asked.

Dr. Deiken stepped forward.

“Yeah. What do you do here? I have never seen you before.”

Dr. Jackson smirked.

“I don’t socialize much and I use the back entrance. Level four studies.”

Dr. Deiken looked at Dr. Braxton and Dr. Linney.  The terms “level four” and “back entrance” meant off the books projects usually funded by the military.

“What in particular?”  Dr. Linney asked cocking her head.

“Well there really isn’t a name for it yet but the ultimate goal is zero point energy production. Two very strong like charges are forced together and cycled. The idea being to draw energy out of the compressed space between the two like charged fields. Tore a hole in the machine. Lit up the room like turning on the sun.”

“Does it work?”

“I’m starting to think so.” Jackson said looking around.

“You think this is a result of your experiment?”  Dr. Braxton asked wide eyed.

“Well your experiment glitched fourteen minutes forty one seconds prior to being activated and at the exact same time I achieved a perfectly stable field for about one tenth of a second which in this case is somewhere near an eternity. If I am right your experiment did work and will somehow tunnel backward to a point my machine occupied. At least into the field. The effect if not having to do directly with neutrons follows the same laws as decaying neutrons. The universe apparently like fourteen minutes and forty one seconds. Actually forty two seconds but what's a second between universes right?.”  Jackson said making a believe it or not face.

Dr. Deiken looked at Dr. Braxton and then at Dr. Linney.

“Bullshit.”  Dr. Deiken said dead faced.

“Yeah probably. What have you got that’s better?”

“I don’t know. We don’t even know the nature of the black sphere. Although if someone could get in, assuming anyone is still there, they probably would have by now. At least flicked the lights or something or shut down the power to this part of the building. Something. Which tells me they can’t, don't know, or won’t. Also how would your energy come through to feed the power to the lights and machines? I think we are still connected to a grid somehow. Your zero point energy wouldn't be coming through just on power lines.”

Jackson shrugged.

“I think we are sealed off from the rest of the universe. Our experiments would not be normal under normal conditions. In other words these two things or any one of them wouldn’t happen normally in space time. This is the universes way of segregating stupid people who do stupid things.”  Jackson said wide-eyed.

Dr. Deiken raised an eyebrow considering the thought.

“You mean even under say the most extreme of circumstances two poles of the same polarity wouldn’t slam together or a particle be forced to quantum tunnel. The particles would rebound or slip past each other. So when both or either occurred it breaks natural causal conditions and this is the universes way of segregating out such an event. I see your point but wouldn’t that imply some kind of intelligence?” Dr. Linney asked.

“Not intelligence as we understand it perhaps more like a program or actually more like a machine with a set of functions. For some reason in this universe, of course referring to the multi-verse theories, in this universe like poles repel, yet protons reside together in the nucleus of an atom along with neutrons. Of course with particles actually being waves and all and we just perceive them as particles, neutrons somehow seem to dampen this field. Electrons which should fly off at high speed , or crash into the nucleus to join the protons, instead orbit the nucleus. There was a theory in 2007 put out by someone I don’t remember now that the neutron either makes the protons act slightly negatively charged, until you tear it apart, and that’s why electrons don’t crash into the nucleus, or the action of the electrons trying to reach the nucleus creates a field that repels the electron like a generator creates a field.”

Dr. Braxton look quizzically at the man.

“I’m not sure what that means here.”

“I was just pointing out that there a plenty of mysteries we still don’t understand about the fundamental mechanics of the universe and this is one of them. Perhaps this has happened before. Maybe some of those weird stories you hear on AM radio late at night are true. In our case the universe is not programmed for the forcing of two like fields together and particles cutting shortcuts through the fabric of space. Or it is programmed for that and this is the result.”  Jackson said smiling.

The three lab partners looked at each other. Braxton noticed Linney batting her eyes as if she was trying to clear them.

“What’s wrong Sheila?”  Braxton said holding out a hand.

“Light headed.” She said slumping slightly. “Need to sit down.”

Eric Deiken yawned and shook his head.

Braxton looked at Jackson. Jackson shrugged.

“I think we are running out of oxygen. CO2 levels getting high. Apparently oxygen doesn’t flow through the barrier even though electricity does.” Braxton said touching his forehead.

Jackson’s face got serious.

“We need to shut down the machines! The field might collapse and return us to our normal space.”  Jackson said moving toward the hole in the floor.

Braxton, who was now feeling the effects too, held out a hand.

“But what if the collapsing fields collapse on us not just around us?”  Braxton said breathing heavier.

“Then you get crushed. Which I would say is probably a small chance since you weren’t squashed against the walls of the lab when the field expanded. But I would say the odds of death from lack of oxygen are one hundred percent. I’m shutting down my machine. You do the same while you can.”

Jackson backed down into the hole in the floor grabbing the lip with his hands dangling from his ceiling.  Braxton went over to the computer that ran the tunneling array and typed in the power down sequence and code.

“I hope you’re right!”  He yelled. And hit the enter key.

The hum from the machine began to subside.  Braxton watched the black sphere that had engulfed the lab begin to turn greyish. He didn’t know if this was true or if hypoxia was messing with his vision. Just before he passed out he thought he saw the exit sign to the lab door which had been on the other side of the blackness.

Dr. Deiken woke up to Director Hanson shaking his shoulder. The man’s chiseled face and bright blue eyes a foot from his.

“Eric!  Eric!  Are you okay?”  Hanson said loudly.

Dr. Deiken came awake quickly. His head pounding.  He looked around.  Dr. Linney was slumped over a swivel chair but stirring.  Dr. Braxton looked at him from across the room and oxygen mask on his face.  He gave Eric the thumbs up.  Eric looked around toward the hole in the floor they had cut.  He swiveled his head back and forth. A puzzled look on his face.

“Eric what’s wrong?”  Hanson asked.

“Where’s the hole?  Where’s Dr. Jackson? He‘s below us.”  Deiken asked.

“Dr. Jackson?  I don’t know a Dr. Jackson.”  Hanson said now looking puzzled.

Across the room they heard a technician who had come in to help mutter something. Director Hanson turned around.

“What did you just say Jason?”  Hanson said squinting.

“I said holy shit director.” The man said his eyes wide a look of shock on his face.

“I thought so. I know this is a stressful situation but I am trying to run a classy operation here...”

“But director they couldn’t have met Dr. Jackson. In fact they shouldn’t even know Dr. Jackson existed and that he was in the lab beneath this one.”  Jason still staring at Deiken.

“I know. There is no Jackson here. Scanlon has the lab beneath this one doesn’t he?”

“Yes sir he does now. But you’ve only been here five years.  Dr. Jackson had the lab below this one six years ago, just before you got here. In fact the accident and his death are why you are now director. Director Keen was fired for allowing Jackson to turn off safety protocols that lead to the accident. It’s in your files sir. At least I think it should be.”

Hanson turned back to Deiken.

“What exactly happened here?”

Before Deiken could answer a security alarm sounded.  Hanson's smart phone buzzed.  He pulled it from his trouser pocket pressed the screen and held it to his ear.

“Hanson. What’s going on chief?”

“Its Officer Bart sir. We have an intruder on level four room eleven.  He has a BreuderCorp ID it looks legit but he’s not on file. Dr. Scanlon says he doesn’t know him but he’s in Dr. Scanlon’s lab.”

Hanson looked back at the tech, Jason Masters.

“What’s his badge say?”  Hanson said squinting and waiting.

“Dr. Trevor Jackson sir.”


                                                                          END PART ONE

Ruminations on Aliens and Life in General.

I often get asked my opinion on evolution, life, and aliens. A lot of times on God but I usually wave those questions off. I don't care to waste anymore time thinking about God. He/It/They/She either exist or they don't. They will either plainly communicate what they want or leave us with the mess we have now. If they don't then they can hardly blame us if we don't know which, if any, belief we are supposed to follow. It's not our fault if only one religion is correct and the other hundred are false. And if you don't believe in God that's God's fault too for not being more clear. So talking about God for me is a non-starter. If and when God get's a hold of me I will let you know. Stay tuned.

However

It is almost certain that there are aliens. Whether or not they have been to earth and made contact with mankind is another question entirely. Life may be a natural consequence of the particular way this universe works. Our existence along with the millions of other species and the amazing diversity would almost guarantee that life exists elsewhere. This is especially true if life was deposited here through an event known as Panspermia where the building blocks and even entire protein sequences, perhaps even organisms like viruses and bacteria, hitched rides on comets and asteroids. We already know that microbes from earth can survive in space. The space station has microbes living on its hull. The idea that life could be whizzing around the galaxy deep inside comets, asteroids, and even rogue planets is made even more plausible if it can live on the outside of a space station exposed to the sun's radiation, the vacuum of space, and the cold. http://www.iflscience.com/space/marine-plankton-found-surface-international-space-station

Bacteria can go dormant for tens and hundreds of thousands of years and "come back to life" as this article tells us.  www.livescience.com/3691-microbe-wakes-120-000-years.html

 So let's do some math. If we have a comet with a small colony of microbes in it moving at a leisurely pace of 20,000 kph and bacteria can live at least 120,000 years then how far could it travel in that time? About 21 trillion kilometers or 2 light years. We have no reason to believe that it couldn't last millions of years in the depths of space or even form in dense nebulae around stars.

I once thought of a project to ensure that if life on earth were the only life in the galaxy or universe I would raise the money through crowd sourcing to have a sample of DNA from earth launched on a trajectory that would take it out into deep space. After reading articles like those above I figure that is not necessary. It is without a doubt that Voyager's 1 and 2 will be carrying Earth DNA into deep space. If it should by chance encounter a planet some time in the very very distant future perhaps it will become the seeds for that planets evolutionary process. Maybe that's how we got started whether by accident or by design. Perhaps the probe now sitting on the comet Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko harbors bacteria and will get flung into space along with the comet after making a close pass of the sun and thrown in the direction of a nearby star system and reach there in a few million years. Half a billion years after that life like ours springs up and restarts the process.

That would make for a good science fiction story. Earth gets whacked by an asteroid that resurfaces the planet or some other massive disaster and eventually one of our satellites or probes somehow tumbles back to earth carrying microbes we put there and reseeds earth again. Then reptilian like scientists 500 million years from now wonder about the sudden rise of multi-cellular life in such a short time period as we do. Which is completely plausible. Then you throw in that it turns out that certain bacteria are programmed to do just that. Maybe "the creator", a super genius from billions of years ago, designed bacteria to act like the ultimate program that under the right conditions finds a planet, changes its atmosphere, and when the oxygen levels reach a certain point the DNA program begins to allow for mutation that ultimately leads to sentient life.  Like Von Neumann machines. A concept much used in sci-fi of the 60s and 70s by authors like Clarke and Asimov. Here's the wikipedia link that explains Von Neumann machines.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-replicating_machine


When you think about it nature created the Von Neumann machine already when it created life. Throw a seed onto the ground and it grows a plant that produces seeds that fall on the ground and grow a plant that produces seeds and so on. In other organisms, I refuse to say "more complex", but in other organisms, like humans, one half of the process is performed by males and the other by females, and then biological behavior, also a result of the DNA program, cause the two to complete the cycle. DNA also stores information over time suited to its environment. We could look at evolution from the gene's perspective. The same basic genes exist in a multitude of organisms. Genes handed down time after time after time for certain functions. Take plants for example. The gene set that codes for the mechanisms to produce chlorophyll which acts as a solar panel that provides the energy that drives the metabolic processes of the plant. Millions of species some that have been around for thousands of generation some that are fairly new on the scene carry this same set of codes. They also carry the code for processing CO2 and producing Oxygen. We are complimentary, animals that is, in that we use Oxygen for the same purpose and return CO2. In our science fiction story as described above this is perfect. You code for two kinds of organisms, a large amount of diversity, and they produce a much needed resource for each other.

In my idea to crowd source a container or probe that contained DNA in the form of living organisms like bacteria, viruses, and perhaps molds the container would be designed to open up in the atmosphere of a planet dispersing its contents. This would be to avoid a hard landing or a chance landing in a volcano on another world which would certainly destroy the entire cargo. The idea of a ship functioning for millions of years after launch is as yet unlikely. It would have to be designed in such a way as to survive re-entry by its natural characteristics and not by mechanical controlled means.

A comet is nature's perfect delivery system. Composed of ice water it would enter an atmosphere, begin immediately coming apart, and then vaporize at a very low temperature compared to a more solid object. The dispersion of the contents would be quick and most likely at a low enough temperature to keep from cooking the contents. Dispersing on the wind would ensure greater coverage as well. If I were from an intelligent species trying to seed life through out the universe I would use comets to do it. You would also need lots of them. Many would be pulled into the gravity wells of stars and burn up. Many would crash into planets like mercury or venus and cook. Others would hit airless moons. And so forth. In my sci-fi story the Oort cloud would be the repository of many of these probes placed around our solar system. A large percentage of them containing such precious cargoes. Over millions and billions of years one after another makes its way to the inner solar system and hits a planet or moon. With this system seeding of at least one of the planets at a point in its geological evolution that is favorable for life is increased.

Now if I could think of way that the clock like working of the solar system does this at regular intervals and this super intelligence figured this out I might have a good ending. Perhaps a theory that circles back on a previous statement I made. If the originator of this plan evolved on Earth or Mars half a billion years ago and set these events in motion to ensure life at least survived in this solar system now that would be a pretty large idea. Perhaps this life form, only a few millions years ago evolved on Mars, got very intelligent, and when they saw that the end was near sent ships here and out into space. A species devoted to continuing life as they knew it whether they were around for it or not. Perhaps right now, in the atmosphere of Jupiter are our long lost cousins floating around like Carl Sagan's imagined creatures.

The ultimate goal of these "creators" would be for a sentient species to spring up and eventually move beyond the orbit of Mars to escape the eventual expansion of the sun into a red giant. The Oort cloud repository being an insurance of a sort. What a grand and noble thought that would be. Maybe such an idea would be something for the "non believers" and "believers" alike to aspire to. Continue life in the universe even if it doesn't work out here in the long run.

I think I will go write that story. Or maybe you could. If you sell it for the movie rights just give me a cut.

That's all for now. Time to go to bed and dream. Maybe the mother ship will show up and some of us can leave all this nonsense going on here on this planet behind.

 One could only hope.