It was also a country of deep historical significance, being one of the few mentioned consistently in the Bible, the Koran, Homer’s Odyssey, and dozens of other religious texts. And, ironically, was also home to the famed missing link, Lucy, discovered in 1974––the hominin discovery that radically changed modern theories on human evolution.
Genetically speaking, it was as much Dulce’s birthplace as it was DeeAnn’s since humans and apes had lived together for millions of years before the inevitable divergence of the species.
Yet despite its questionable hygiene and extreme poverty, Ethiopia remained one of the most beautiful places DeeAnn had ever seen. With deep colorful canyons on one side of the country and vast stretches of green earth on the other, it provided a very different feel from the heavily foliaged mountains of Rwanda.
DeeAnn burst out laughing when Dulce took another tentative step too far, lost her footing from the log’s slick surface, and tumbled like a ball into the water. Her head was up instantly, grasping with desperate hands and flailing to keep her mouth above the water.
DeeAnn couldn’t suppress her laughter as she pushed forward through the water, reaching down to pluck out the small panic-ridden gorilla. The experience would not have been nearly as funny if the water had been more than eighteen inches deep.
“Easy. Easy,” she said reassuringly, lifting Dulce up and onto her shoulder. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. I’m right here.”
She felt Dulce’s hands clamber up her back and intertwine beneath her chin, making DeeAnn feel like she was wearing a large, scared bonnet.
“You’re all talk, you know that?”
Water cold.
“Well, when it’s this hot out...” With sloshing shoes, DeeAnn trudged forward and exited the water, setting Dulce back down on dry ground. She turned around and took in the scene, beautiful and remote.
She still did not like being here for multiple reasons, but she had to come. Especially to Ethiopia. The trip was a done deal after what they discovered in Rwanda––a second vault, hidden in the mountains, storing millions of samples of alien DNA. Positioned near the other side of the planet from Guyana, Will Borger believed its placement to be an act of careful planning.
The discovery was staggering in its significance, particularly to DeeAnn. Like the vault found in South America, this too had eventually eroded over time––enough to allow a tiny leak from one of the alien storage columns to make its way into the underground springs. And impacting all sorts of things. Including the very progress of human evolution itself, and even our historic deviation from the apes.
The whole idea was nothing short of earth-shattering. So profoundly significant to any number of sciences that at times, DeeAnn found it hard to take in. Primarily because it was not just humans who appeared to have been affected. So had dolphins, from the same mysterious compound leaking from the alien ship itself, not far from the dolphin’s secret breeding grounds, according to Alison.
DeeAnn paused when a thought hit her. Of course, it was no coincidence that their breeding ground was located near the ship. Nor was the dolphin’s annual pilgrimage back to it. The ship had most likely been leaking for thousands of years, perhaps tens of thousands. Just like the vaults. Long enough to influence the dolphin’s evolution, which meant their breeding ground was there because of the influence of the ship. Not in spite of it.
It was all so incredible, yet the pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fit perfectly—including the reason DeeAnn could not leave Africa. At least not yet.
She glanced down when Dulce tapped her leg with long dark fingers, then pointed back at the water.
More swim.
“I think your definition of swim needs some adjustment.”
This time DeeAnn was fully expecting the erroneous beep from the vest before she heard it. When the translation failed, she didn’t even flinch. Instead, the researcher checked her watch and shook her head at Dulce. “We have to go.”
Almost on cue, a group of nearby bushes rattled, and the short figure of Ronin stepped out into the clearing. Wearing a loose tan shirt, he addressed them from beneath a pink, slightly-sunburned scalp.
“Our time has expired, DeeAnn Draper.”
145
The Jeep was thoroughly caked in dust, now colored a light shade of tan instead of the original faded-green underneath. The old vehicle looked as though it had been driven to the edge of the Earth and back, but still refused to quit. With cracked upholstery, a dusty dashboard, and a subtle but strange knocking somewhere inside the engine, DeeAnn was just happy for the working air-conditioner––continually pumping out cool air to stave off the brutal heat outside. All in all, she was convinced the stubborn old vehicle had been made by the Energizer Bunny.
They sure didn’t make them like that anymore.
Bouncing over the empty two-lane dirt road, DeeAnn noticed an unusual silence from Ronin sitting next to her. In the beginning, he had been fascinated by their trip, at both the huge expanses of green valleys and cloudless blue skies above that seemed to stretch forever. These sights had moved him deeply, providing glimpses of what his own planet once looked like––a mosaic of life, now only available for him to experience on Earth.
But over the last few days, the landscape had gradually changed, with the lush mountains and hills of Rwanda eventually replaced by the barren and dry deserts of Kenya and Ethiopia. Some green life remained but was now scattered in patches, tucked into small crevices over the distant brown horizon.
“Are you okay?” DeeAnn asked.
Ronin did not reply.
Angling around a large hole in the road, she turned and peered at him. “Some people say the desert has a beauty all its own.”
He nodded. “It is a beautiful planet.”
“It is.”
“There is so much green everywhere. So much life, it is…astonishing.”
“Except here,” she acknowledged, adding a satisfied grin at his correct use of the word astonishing. “We’re not too far from the Sahara Desert. The largest low-altitude desert on the planet, stretching from one side of the continent to the other.”
“This,” he said sadly of the desolation surrounding them, “is more like my planet. Today.”
DeeAnn shrugged. “This all used to be green too.”
Ronin looked at her.
“It’s true. A few thousand years ago, the entire Sahara was grassland. Millions of square miles. Green then brown, and then green again. In something like a 15,000-year climate cycle.”
An interested Ronin continued gazing at her before returning to the view out his side window.
“Kind of changes the way you look at it, doesn’t it?”
“Perhaps there is still hope for my own planet.”
“It’s strange. So much life has come from this area of our world. And now it looks like this. But it’s all part of one giant cycle. A planetary cycle that outlives us all.” She glanced over. “Makes me feel pretty insignificant sometimes.”
Ronin nodded kindly. “It is to be savored, DeeAnn Draper.”
She smiled. For some reason he always called her by her full name. She spotted another small patch of green in the distance, a sign of a nearby river or stream. “There’s something truly magical about the color green.”
“Our scientists say we have a genetic relationship with it, embedded from the planet as it once was.”
DeeAnn nodded. “Some of our researchers suggest the same thing. We have an innate predisposition to green and blue. The colors of life. Both on land and sea.”
Ronin watched an odd rock outcropping pass slowly to his right. “Now our attraction is to brown.”
“What do you mean?”
“For my people, brown reminds us that even without our green hills, both our planet and we are still here. And there is still hope.”
DeeAnn’s voice lowered. “Wow.”
“You do not have to be sorry, DeeAnn Draper. It is not your fault. It is simply the state of
our world. It is like the saying of your people. Life continues to change.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I think you mean, life goes on.”
“Yes, that is it. Life goes on.”
DeeAnn continued driving, occasionally checking the mirror to see Dulce and the top of Dexter’s head in the back seat. All at once, an unexpected thought came to her and she began slowing the car.
Ronin looked down curiously, then up at the dash. “Is there a problem with our vehicle?”
“I have an idea.”
DeeAnn pulled to a stop and looked out as their own dust cloud swirled past them. She grabbed the handle of the door and looked at Ronin. “Time for you to drive.”
“Excuse me?”
“Come on. You said you don’t drive on your planet.”
Ronin tilted his head. “That is not correct. I said, our vehicles do not require a driver.”
“Same thing.” She pushed the door open and stepped outside.
The stifling air immediately enveloped DeeAnn like a blanket, prompting her to move around the back of the Jeep quickly. Once there, she yanked the passenger door open.
“DeeAnn Draper, I do not–”
“Come on,” she said, laughing as she pulled at him. “It’ll be fun.”
Ronin stepped out and circled hesitantly around the front, where he stopped and remained standing outside her door. “Come on! Just get in and close the door. You’re letting the cool air out.”
Oh, lovely, she thought to herself. What a perfect rendition of my mother.
Ronin climbed in and eased the door closed next to him. He glanced apprehensively at DeeAnn before placing his hands on the wheel.
“Don’t worry,” she winked. “You’re in luck. It’s an automatic.”
“Automatic?”
“Never mind. Just look at your feet. The right pedal is to accelerate. The left is to stop.” She grinned sarcastically. “And this big thing in front of you is to make it go left and right.”
Ronin shot her a disparaging glance. “You are making fun of me.”
“A little. Now just put it in gear, down to the D, using this shifter right here.” DeeAnn reached behind herself, retrieving and buckling her seatbelt for the first time in days.
“You are securing your safety harness.”
“It’s something you do when you’re nervous.”
Clearly enjoying herself, DeeAnn watched Ronin with a wide grin, at the same time failing to notice what was happening in the back seat.
Behind them, both primates were watching the human exchange with curiosity––although Dexter displayed a much deeper level of interest. Standing over Ronin’s shoulder, the capuchin observed carefully when the other male entered their moving box from the other side. He continued watching attentively as the man moved into the seat and began touching things. He looked down and up again. When his hands were placed on the round object in front, their box began moving again. This time more slowly.
The small capuchin remained still, in rapt fascination, sure that the man had just learned how to work the box. Dexter leaned his head in between the seats and noted that the man’s legs did not appear to be moving. Only his hands.
146
“We are near our destination, yes?”
DeeAnn nodded. “We are.” She noted a small round thatched hut through her side window as they passed. A frail old woman was sitting outside, the ground in front of her littered with dozens of yellow vegetables. Next to the hut, two faded tire marks led up a gentle hill through wild brush––zigzagging toward an aged and worn stone structure near the top.
She let her mind wander, trying to imagine when it was built and what it was for. And by whom? She wondered what their story was, what their lives were like. And what sorts of things those families worried about.
“It is growing warmer.”
“It is,” she nodded, glancing back down at the tablet screen in her hands. “We’re not far from the Danakil Depression.”
Ronin looked at her.
“It’s the junction of three different tectonic plates. Caused by the Asian and African continents drifting away from each other.”
“I do not understand most of what you said.”
DeeAnn laughed. “It doesn’t matter. The reason it’s so hot here is because the Danakil Depression is also the lowest spot on the surface of our planet. And where Lucy was found.”
“Who is Lucy?”
“One of the most important,” DeeAnn paused, thinking of the right word, “ancestors of our race. At least that we’ve found so far. A very early ancestor.”
“I see,” Ronin replied, his hands still tightly grasping the steering wheel. DeeAnn glanced over to see the speedometer at less than thirty kilometers per hour.
“We are going to where this person was found?”
“Not exactly. But close. There is another site nearby. With a much more recent discovery. There’ve been a lot of discoveries in this area over the years, known as the Cradle of the Hominids. It’s where many different ancestors and species have been found. Some part of our own genetic line and other parts of different lines. Different branches of human evolution.” She peered out through the window. “Where we are going is to a site where a new branch was discovered. One that’s never been seen before.”
“And you will find your answers with this new branch?”
“I hope so.”
***
It was called Hudet. The small town lay near the even smaller meandering Fudalhi River in the Western Gharri region of Southern Ethiopia. A single white rectangular sign mounted on two steel poles, spanning the dirt road, acted as the sole ambassador welcoming them to the village.
Beyond the sign were dozens of dwellings scattered across the flat plain, gradually increasing in numbers until they reached the town itself.
Cars and houses lined the dirt road on both sides, accompanied by dozens and dozens of midsize, green trees in all directions. Then came the businesses. Single story and built from sheet metal or stone, the structures were bustling with locals, most dressed in surprisingly modern and colorful clothing.
Ahead, in the heart of the small town, children played under the shade of a wide acacia tree. Old and tall, its flattened canopy stretched out and over part of the road as they drove beneath.
A few blocks farther, they pulled into a dirt lot next to a faded store and unexpectedly lurched forward when Ronin brought the vehicle to an abrupt stop. The maneuver received a look of concern from DeeAnn.
“It seems I need more practice.”
“I’ll say.” She reached down to pick her things up off the floor when something caught DeeAnn’s eye.
It was her IMIS vest, still positioned in front of the gear selector and facing backward so the camera could see and translate Dulce’s words. But DeeAnn had turned down the volume while she and Ronin were talking, forgetting to turn it back up.
What caught her attention was that the light on the vest was still on. And blinking.
She turned around to observe both primates making a multitude of sounds to one another. Dulce’s softer grunting and Dexter’s higher-pitched squeaks were generating a rattling that DeeAnn had apparently been tuning out.
What surprised her was not merely the flashing of the light on her vest. In the new version given to her by Lee Kenwood, the light was both a power and activity indicator, flashing when language was being translated. But what was odd at the moment was the color of the flashing light.
The light normally displayed blue when the IMIS translations were happening. Then occasionally the light changed to red when the system encountered an error. However now, while DeeAnn examined the vest, the red light was constantly blinking. And it was doing so not just when Dulce was making sounds but during Dexter’s squeaks as well.
DeeAnn reached out to increase the volume on the vest. The red blinking continued and was accompanied by a consistent barrage of sharp tones from the vest’s speaker. The same tone she’d heard many tim
es before when translations were unsuccessful.
Her jaw slowly began to open. Something new was happening.
IMIS was recording errors not just when Dulce was speaking, but now Dexter as well. But Dexter’s speech was so different it had never registered through the vest before!
DeeAnn let out a silent gasp.
Seemingly beyond just hearing the capuchin’s speech now, the vest was actually trying to translate Dexter’s words.
147
Directions to the site were easier than she expected. With a single mention of the words Homo Naledi, the store owner smiled from ear to ear, revealing several missing teeth and explaining in deeply broken English where to find it. It seemed the humble town of Hudet had received dozens of visitors over the last several months due to the find, giving the place an exciting but temporary buzz of notoriety.
Now several miles out of town, Ronin dutifully navigated what had become little more than a dirt trail, winding up the slope of a long ridge and looking down upon the shallow valley below. There, the Fudalhi River could be seen, lined by trees and winding like a snake far into the distance.
In the passenger’s seat, DeeAnn absently watched the side of the road pass, caught in deep contemplation.
Something had happened with IMIS. Or at least with the computer code integrated into its vest. But how? Lee said the data on the vest was only a subset of the data on the servers. And processing power of the vest was much more limited, making the discovery of new words almost impossible. So how could IMIS have suddenly begun hearing Dexter? How could it now hear the capuchin’s squeaks without the processing power of the larger servers? Unless…the system had already picked up on some of the sounds before.
It didn’t make any sense. At least not to DeeAnn, who understood technology as well as…well, any average person really. At least these days.
Mosaic (Breakthrough Book 5) Page 42
