by Dane Bagley
***
“Tammy, what’s the word?” Kenny was quick to the punch as Tammy walked into the dining area.
Tammy raised her eyebrows. She looked white in the face. “It worked. The machine’s fine. We’ve got perfect results. Everyone had an exact match.”
“Is Aspiria human?” asked James.
“James, even the specimen’s report was an exact match.”
“But you said that…” began Steve.
“I said that it was nonsense—I thought that it was. It had no similarity, in pattern, to any genetic code in all of our libraries. Humans and, say, earthworms, have a lot of differences in genetic code; but compared to this creature they are very similar. Everything on earth has a high percentage of similar genetic material. The little genetic differences make for huge differences among the various species. I figured that this creature, which looks and acts so much like a human, would only have small genetic differences. For instance, like a human and a Neanderthal. We could determine, if it was a human, how long we had been separated—or, if not a human, how closely we were related. But this creature is pure alien. It is not human, and it is not even remotely related to us. Humans are more closely related to some of the strange creatures that have been dragged up from the bottom of the ocean than we are to that specimen in my lab.”
“Tammy, are you sure that something else isn’t going on? Aspiria is so human-like. She is exactly like a human on every level. Are you sure it is not a mistake?” asked Mike.
“I thought that for a second too—but an exact match—I mean, an exact match—from the first test to the second, and everyone else had an exact match, as well. The machine is working marvelously. Plus, it makes sense now about the viruses. Viruses only work on species that are closely related to them, genetically. In fact, they rely on the genetic code within the cell that they infect to reproduce. Viruses that infect human cells require human DNA. This creature does not have human DNA, or anything even remotely similar; therefore, our viruses can have no effect on its cells. Bacteria, on the other hand, don’t require a specific DNA: they are working on the next level of the cell; the phonotypical level. If the phenotype is within range, they can infect it. This creature is phenotypically human, or as human-like as can be. It is genetically alien, and phenotypically human.”
“How is this possible?” asked Steve
Blank stares surrounded him. “Aspiria’s an alien,” said Bob somberly and broke the silence. This thought seemed to occur to him for the first time since he first saw her and feared to tranquilize her. “How can she eat our food? Won’t it make her sick?”
“This specimen requires the same things that we do in its nutrition: fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. It doesn’t matter what the genetic makeup of the food we eat is. The creature is doing just fine on our food sources.”
“I don’t see how it is possible that she is just like us, but doesn’t have our genes. I thought that our genes make us how we are. If she doesn’t have our genes, how can she be like us? Something is not right here.” Kenny actually sounded irritated as he said this, and that was not typical for Kenny. But, he was astounded, and he felt like the carpet had been pulled from under his feet.
“I think I get it!” said James. “It’s like a book. What if you had two copies of a book—one in English, and the other in, say, French? It’s the same book; if you could read both English and French, and you read both books, they would be the same story. The story is the phenotype. The phenotype is the same. The letters on the page are the DNA. Both English and French have the same letters, the same DNA. But the language itself is completely different, the genes. However, the story is the same, the phenotype. If you didn’t know French, and only knew English, they would look like completely different books. But if you knew how to read both, the story would be exactly the same.”
“Are you saying that Aspiria is a human, just a different genetic translation of a human?” asked Mike.
“I don’t know about that. I know she is human-like. I mean she is completely human-like. But, as far as I’m concerned, she can’t be human without human genes,” said James.
“Tammy, could her species breed with humans—with earthlings?” asked Kenny.
“No, I checked for the possibility of fertilization, as well. The two genetic codes are completely incompatible. This is a completely alien species, and there can be no interbreeding between them and humans.” She glanced at Steve and gave him a dirty look. Tammy had been extremely occupied over the past couple of weeks, but it had not gone unnoticed: all of the time that Steve was spending with Aspiria—not to mention how much they both seemed to be enjoying themselves. She had also noticed, in general, that she was not the female that was getting the most attention on this ship. Aspiria had turned every man’s head, and because of that and her workload she was not getting the attention that she had been used to. Still, she was not truly jealous. She was not uncomfortable in her relationship with Steve—but he deserved, at least, a dirty look.
No reaction from Steve, though. He looked lost in thought. She turned back to the rest, who were beginning to debate and consider the new revelation. Danny walked in, and said, “I think Aspiria is getting used to my cooking. I think she likes the meatloaf.” The others began to inform Danny about Aspiria’s genetics.
Steve felt a tinge of concern. They were all, that is all the humans, in the dining area. The alien was left alone. Security measures had been relaxed greatly over the past few days. It was his fault. He had begun to feel very unconcerned in regards to that. He almost told Danny to go back and stand guard, but thought better of it. If, with the new information, he jumped back into high security mode, the others might become alarmed. They might also question his choices over the past week. Steve had been feeling bothered inside ever since he had left Aspiria a few hours previously. He had been debating as to whether or not he would let her go on a walk outside of the lab. He was concerned that she had made that request—partly because he felt it represented a new attitude on her part—She doesn’t know her place—and partly, because he had not offered this, and other comforts to her. She had been completely compliant with everything. She had never posed the slightest bad attitude or brought any concern. She was even becoming his friend.
Steve didn’t have feelings for Aspiria that were similar to the feelings that he had for Tammy. Sure, she was beautiful, but over the past few days, he was seeing her for the person that she was, and not her external beauty. Person?—but she’s not a person, he thought. Still, he did have feelings for her. The closest that he could compare them to, was the way he felt for his departed mother. Aspiria reminded him of his mother, especially as she tried to teach him her language. It was both her way, and the loving kindness that simply emanated from her being.
He had already decided that he would take her for a walk around the ship the next day. But now this news, as to how genetically alien she was, had cut him to the core. He began to distaste the good feelings that he had felt for her. In fact, a feeling of enmity was beginning to swell within his breast. He started to see everything in a new light and from a different perspective. She sure is curious about our language. She’s dedicated to learning everything. Yeah, she’s sharing information, too. But that may be so that she can learn more. She has everyone, including me, wrapped around her finger. She gets whatever she wants. We’ve already let down most of our guards. She pays so much attention. Sometimes I’m shocked at what she has discovered about us. I think she knows more about us, than we know of her.
Beyond this, he was concerned about Central Command. He had been in talk with his superiors daily. So far, they were giving him a lot of rope. They had been pleased about everything, except the failure of the initial genetic testing. The prevailing thought was that this was a human or near-human colony. Far-flung space travel, though new to earth, had always been possible; and so, althoug
h unsuspected up until this point, it appeared to have been going on from before. Because Aspiria had been willing to share so much, they were okay with the guard being let down to some extent. Trust often brought more than force or torture did. But when the genetic results became known, it would be clear that this was a completely alien species. They were not connected with earth or humans in any way. The ground rules would be different. Not only would they have to be more careful, but in all likelihood additional ships would be dispatched. As interesting as a colony of humans on a distant planet was, it would now be more interesting that they were actually unrelated aliens. Steve was very concerned about his place in history, and how his handling of this mission would be perceived.
Whether or not to take Aspiria on a walk around the ship seemed pretty small compared to his other worries. No, she, or it, won’t be going on any walks around this ship. I’m going to tighten the guard. We’ll continue to get as much information as we can, but we will have to minimize how much info we give to her, he resolved.
Chapter 25
