A Gift from the Gods

by Martin Gunn

  “Apart from this score mark it seems okay to me. Could’ve been made by the tooth of another predator.”

  “Possibly,” acknowledged Harrison.

  The professor then picked up a single vertebra and passed it to Sophie.

  “How about this – notice anything unusual?”

  Sophie put down the ilium and took the vertebra from the professor and began to study that also. She was beginning to worry, thinking that she was missing something blindingly obvious.

  “This shouldn’t be there – should it Professor?” she ventured finally.

  Sophie was pointing to a circular mark, slightly proud on the bone, about the same diameter as her little finger.

  “Exactly,” confirmed Harrison, “looks like a hole filled with solidified sediment if I’m not mistaken.”

  “What could have caused it, do you think? Another bite?”

  At this point Harrison started to get a little nervous but decided to press on anyway.

  “If you place the ilium in its correct position with this vertebra, it looks as though an object has hit the ilium, and then deflected off and penetrated the vertebra.”

  “Like what?” she enquired – intrigued.

  “I don’t think a bite from any predator would be strong enough to penetrate the vertebra to this extent. But a bullet might explain it,” proffered Harrison succinctly, as he turned to gauge her reaction to such a crazy notion.

  Before Sophie could react, they were both distracted by a figure approaching from the left. It was Tom, a tall, gangly, though somewhat nervous lad who tended to stutter when he got agitated. Knowing what he was like, the professor smiled kindly to put him at ease.

  “Yes Tom?” he enquired as the lad walked up to the table.

  “We’ve f-found something that you might want to look at.”

  “What is it?” interjected Sophie.

  “A left-hand radius bone,” replied Tom.

  “What, like this?” added Harrison, picking up the short radius bone from the forearm of the Dilophosaurus, and brandishing it in front of Tom.

  “No Sir, it looks h-h-human.”

  This sounded highly unlikely to Harrison, so he decided to check it out for himself. All three of them made their way down to the second dig site, about four hundred yards from the site where the Dilophosaurus was discovered.

  As they approached the depression where the bone was found, several students stopped what they were doing and watched. Harrison carefully picked his way down, followed by Sophie and Tom. They made their way over to a skinny female student with short mousy hair who was carefully brushing red sand away from the radius and ulna of what was clearly the left forearm of a hominid.

  Poppy stopped excavating and looked up at the professor who was studying the bones intently. There was no doubt about it, these bones looked human.

  “I think it’s an adult male,” declared Poppy.

  “How do you know?”

  Poppy laid her own forearm alongside the exposed skeleton arm – it was much longer than hers.

  Harrison acknowledged her logic with a nod.

  “Okay Poppy,” he announced, “let’s see if there’s any more to this guy.”

  Harrison decided to take over this part of the dig. He was fascinated as to what they were going to find, though partly annoyed that he was going to have to stay out in the blistering heat all afternoon, and probably into the evening.

  As the day wore on they uncovered most of the skeleton, until by dusk they had finally found the left cheek of the skull and by nightfall the whole skeleton was finally exposed.

  “Let’s get some light over here,” demanded Harrison, “I want to see what we’ve got.”

  One of the students brought a lamp over on a post and set it down close to the find. The skeleton was on its side almost in a foetal position. Harrison picked up the skull and examined it. He was worried that they might have inadvertently uncovered a crime.

  “Crap,” he announced, eventually, “it looks like we are going to have to get the police involved.”

  “Why?” enquired Sophie.

  “Because these remains are Homo Sapiens, they will have to be notified before we can do anything with it. We’d better take photos before we move the body.”

  “Do you think it might be, like, a murder victim?” asked a wide-eyed Poppy.

  “To be honest I don’t know what to think. This is a modern human skeleton, it shouldn’t be here at this level. Just doesn’t make any sense.”

  Harrison rotated the skull around in his hand, snapped out of his reverie and turned to address the whole group.

  “Okay everyone, let’s call it a night. We’re leaving tomorrow and there’s loads to get done before we go.”

  Everyone made their way back to the tents to cook a final evening meal before settling down for the night.

  There was plenty of chatter around the camp fire as they ate. Everyone was excited about the two discoveries. Harrison though, deep in thought barely noticed, until eventually he felt an elbow nudge his left side.

  “Eh?” he muttered, shaken out of his preoccupation.

  It was Poppy, smiling.

  “We were trying to decide on a name for the human remains. Tom suggested Captain Hook, as his right hand is missing.”

  “Oh – okay,” was all that a tired Harrison had to offer.

  Sophie stood up and walked over to where the professor was sitting. Harrison was relieved to see that she had put on a black hoodie. Her earlier outfit had proved to be somewhat distracting. She smiled and sat down next to him, much closer than Harrison felt comfortable with. It occurred to him, not unreasonably, that she might just have a crush on him.

  “Are you okay?” she said, “you seem a little quiet tonight.”

  Harrison didn’t do well in the extreme heat and the afternoon’s activity had taken its toll on him.

  “I’m fine,” he smiled, “nothing that a good night’s kip won’t sort out.”

  He stood up to say goodnight, “Anyway I’m off to bed now, don’t leave it too late you guys.”

  Zipping up his sleeping-bag, Harrison laid back and put his hands behind his head. For a while he listened to the talking and laughter coming from outside his tent, as some of the students sat round a camp fire into the small hours of the morning. Despite being tired however, sleep came slowly, his mind was racing, thinking about the paradox of the dinosaur and human skeletons. The human bones looked old – prehistoric even.

  He shook his head and said quietly to himself again, “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

  Eventually exhaustion got the better of him and he rolled over on his side to drift off into a restless sleep. At one point in the small hours he became vaguely aware of a presence in his tent. A soft voice said, “Goodnight Professor,” and gently kissed him on the cheek. As the dawn rose on a new day, Harrison awoke, stretched and rubbed his eyes. He recalled this moment as he became more alert, but he couldn’t tell whether it had been a dream or not.

  ***

  University of California – Berkeley

  Human Genetics and Forensic Science Research Facility

  15th August 2016

  Just over two weeks after receiving the skeletal specimens from Professor Harrison, Doctor Jessica Phillips made the phone call to inform him that she was now in a position to present the results of her tests.

  Being overly keen to hear some news, he had started to badger her towards the end of the second week; Jessica however, was determined not to be rushed and when she heard the outer door to her laboratory open less than an hour later, she was not surprised to see Professor Harrison walking in.

  Harrison was a tall slim man in his early thirties with light brown hair which was starting to recede at the temples. His easy-going manner was mistaken by many, including Jessica, for a pers
on who didn’t take his job seriously. They couldn’t have been further from the truth however; yes, he liked to joke around with his students and colleagues but always carried out his teaching with the utmost dedication, diligence and competence. As he entered the lab, he could see Jessica’s blurred image through the frosted glass partition, where most of her work took place.

  Jessica was a slim woman in her late twenties, with dark shoulder length hair, tied back in a ponytail, and horn-rimmed glasses. As ever she was wearing a white lab coat, and Harrison wondered as to whether he had ever seen her out of it. With both of them being single, the professor had on a number of occasions considered asking her out on a date; after all, she was physically attractive enough, but alas he found her aloof and simply too serious for his taste. She needed to relax a little. Jessica on the other hand constantly looked at him with disdain, he was very popular on campus in a way that she knew she could never be and making friends didn’t come easily to her. It was no surprise that she had chosen the relatively solitary life of the research laboratory. Enjoying the peace and quiet of the holidays, Jessica would often be seen in the lab when most of the staff were on vacation. Having run out of things to occupy her time though, she was grateful when Harrison turned up with the two specimens for her to get to grips with. Although she wasn’t going to tell him that.

  “Jessica,” greeted Harrison with a smile as she came through the partition door to meet him.

  “Professor Harrison,” she replied with a perfunctory smile.

  “Jeez, isn’t it time you called me Nathan?” he complained with exasperation, “we’ve known each other for years. Do we really need to be so formal?”

  “I feel more comfortable with it,” she replied, without making eye contact.

  “Yes, I don’t doubt it,” sighed Harrison, sensing not to pursue the subject.

  “Well what have you got for me then?” he continued, deciding to get right down to business.

  “Do you mind if we wait for my father to arrive?” requested Jessica, “I contacted him half an hour ago – he should be here any minute.”

  “Why did you do that?”

  “Because I know he will be interested,” offered Jessica, resenting the question somewhat, “he may be retired, but he still has a keen mind and I like to keep him in the loop when I can.”

  Harrison had no problem with it per se, he was always happy to see David, it was a little surprising, knowing that this wasn’t his field of expertise.

  Pulling into the university car park, Professor David Phillips smiled inwardly to himself. He was grateful for the opportunity to get out of the house, and always took a keen interest in his daughter’s work. She was well respected at the university, and he was very proud of her. It saddened him though, to watch her focusing all her attention on work. Like most parents he would have preferred to see her in a happy relationship, even though a solitary life seemed to suit her. Jessica looked very much like her mother, especially around the time of her mother’s suicide. David had come home from work one day to find his wife Laura in bed, unconscious. She had taken an overdose of sleeping pills, and unfortunately, he had arrived home too late to save her. All attempts to revive Laura in the ambulance failed, and she was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Jessica was barely a year old, when David found her crying in her cot on that fateful day. Even though he understood Laura’s depression, he found it hard to forgive her for leaving them both this way. As he swung his legs out of the car, he picked up his walking stick; he needed it to support his left leg after a gunshot wound had left him with a severe limp. Slowly, he hobbled his way over to Jessica’s research lab.

  “Ah at last!” exclaimed Harrison, as David eventually entered the laboratory. He was relieved to see the old man arrive, since an awkward silence had fallen between him and Jessica. Harrison had helped himself to a cup of coffee after shaking hands with David, offering him a coffee at the same time. David was seventy-one and feeling his age. What hair he had left was grey, he had put on some weight over the years and this along with his leg injury had not helped his stance. He gratefully accepted a cup of coffee whilst Jessica curtly declined.

  “Dad, it’s lovely to see you,” greeted Jessica. She hugged and kissed him on the cheek in an outward display of affection, which frankly flummoxed Harrison.

  “And you, my sweet,” reciprocated David, smiling at her, “now what is this interesting find you want me to see?”

  “In here,” motioned Jessica.

  They all started to move towards the partition door, to where the skeletons were displayed.

  “There are two specimens found by Professor Harrison which are both interesting and quite puzzling,” she stated.

  David reacted by raising his eyebrows, more at her formality with Nathan than anything else.

  Soon they were looking down at two tables, each one displaying a skeleton. Jessica moved over to the table with the dinosaur lying across it.

  “Let’s look at this one first.”

  “What we have here is a young Dilophosaurus Wetherilli. I used radiometric dating in a mass spectrometer of rocks collected around the bones and have concluded that this creature is around 190 to 195 million years old.”

  “What type of radiometric dating did you use?” enquired Harrison.

  “Argon – argon dating,” replied Jessica, “I consider it to be the most reliable.”

  Harrison nodded in agreement. Jessica moved to a wall on which two radiographs hung. She switched on a back light to display the images.

  “Now the question of the ilium and the vertebra which you brought to my attention, professor,” she continued, “I took two x-rays of the vertebra as you can see and there has obviously been some penetration by a foreign object.”

  Pointing to various fine cracks and fissures in the bone, she pressed on. “It is my belief, however unlikely, that the trauma is consistent to that caused by a bullet.”

  “What calibre?” enquired her father. Suddenly he didn’t like what he was hearing.

  “Nine millimetres would be my best estimation.”

  “What guns use a nine-millimetre bullet?” asked Harrison.

  “The nine-millimetre parabellum has been around since the early twentieth century and is still used today so there is no way of knowing the type of gun that was used.”

  “It was a Walther P38,” said David, forgetting himself. It wasn’t his intention to be overheard.

  “What!” Harrison ventured.

  “The ilium,” continued David trying to avoid this awkward question, “what about that?”

  “Again, it is consistent with a bullet ricocheting off it, before penetrating the vertebra It is highly likely that the spinal cord was severed, paralysing the creature; death would not have been instantaneous.”

  “So, I was right,” mused Harrison.

  David was keen to move on to the next find, though he was edgy now and it didn’t go unnoticed by Nathan, or his daughter. Jessica moved over to the table where the human skeleton was displayed and sighed.

  “This one is even more puzzling if not controversial. I used the same dating technique on this specimen and came to the same conclusion. This Homo Sapiens – these bones – are 190 to 195 million years old.”

  “I came to a similar conclusion, but how can that be?” said Harrison.

  Jessica shrugged, she had no answer to that. Conjecture was not part of her precept.

  “Not only is he Homo Sapiens but he is also recent, inspection of his teeth would suggest that he was healthy and had a good diet. There are traces of silver amalgam in two of his molars. This man has been to the dentist,” quipped Jessica, “amalgam wasn’t invented until 1819 so he must have been born any time between say, 1800 and 1980. Apart from age, all I can tell you is what you already know. The skeleton is of an adult male, I would say in his mid-thirties, and is complete apar
t from the right hand. Also, there is no obvious signs of trauma to indicate how he died. I did find a small mark on the back of his skull, which looks like a healed fracture. This is a much earlier injury and would not have contributed to his demise. Needless to say, the police weren’t interested, once the age of the remains had been established.”

  Moving over to a computer at the other end of the lab, Jessica sat down and moved the mouse. The screen saver disappeared to reveal a graph. Harrison and David followed and stood, looking over her shoulder – intrigued.

  “And there’s more. This is where it gets really weird. I did some DNA profiling on the human skeleton and this is the result.”

  Jessica pointed to the electropherogram on the screen. It displayed four different coloured plots.

  “Here you have the four nitrogenous bases, displayed as you would expect, but if you look closer there is a very faint plot in grey, weaving its way through each, almost trying to hide. Oh, and before you ask, the sample has not been compromised. I double checked the test and got the same result.”

  “What does it mean?” enquired Harrison.

  “It suggests that there is something in this person’s DNA that shouldn’t be there. What’s more it cannot be identified. It’s a chemical or compound not found on this planet.”

  “Maybe it’s synthetic,” suggested Harrison

  “Maybe,” agreed Jessica, “but developed by whom?” And if it isn’t of this world, the only conclusion we can come to is that it is extra-terrestrial.”

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” exclaimed Harrison, “alien – no freaking way.”

  Jessica raised her eyebrows in surprise and consternation; whimsy was a human trait that she would never countenance – especially in the workplace. Not being comfortable with this hypothesis however, she simply gave a slight nod and a shrug.

  “So basically, we have a human, slash alien hybrid that might be anything up to two hundred years old, living in the Jurassic period,” stated Harrison, scratching his head.

  “Basically,” concurred Jessica, “or a hundred and ninety million – take your choice.”