"The reason you are getting this message is that things failed...again. The message I got from my future 'self' told me what Ying was allergic to, but she said it was too late, and Ying died. So, I did what she, I, told myself, and she was correct, but Ying was allergic to more allergens than she knew. I figured out everything Ying was allergic to this time.
"The previous me determined Ying's herbal supplement contains ginkgo biloba, which causes his breathing problems and lung inflammation. That allergy comes from the Grey part of his makeup. Ginkgo biloba existed in prehistoric time, and Greys must be allergic to it. Prehistoric Greys spend most their lives underground, which is how they avoided many of the surface allergens that affected them. She surmised that prehistoric plants contain powerful allergens and poisons, which were necessary due to the sheer size, mass and strength of prehistoric creatures. Ginkgo biloba became very rare on Earth; her guess was Greys eradicated most of those plants from the surface, and only small quantities survived hidden in China. It was humanity that revived the plant species.
"I got rid of his ginkgo, which cleared up his breathing and lungs, but his skin lesions remained and didn't heal. And his cell regeneration was still unable to compensate. So, I surmised there had to be another allergen or poison affecting him, likely prehistoric. I tested and experimented. Asking myself what else might contain traces of prehistoric vegetation. And I found it. All of it. And it is not good.
"It's petroleum and petroleum extracts: benzene, toluene, oil, gasoline, cleaners, paint, even plastics. Petroleum is an amalgamation of prehistoric organics, which affects the Greys heavily. People use petroleum and its extracts so much that there is no way to remove it. Anywhere on this ship, anywhere among humans, Ying will get exposure, develop lesions that don't heal, and die.
"I concluded that is why Greys don't spend more than short periods on the surface right now and used skin spawn hybrids for their recon. Humans aren't allergic to these things so skin spawns were perfect for roaming among us. I also believe it is the other purpose of those giant terraformers that deconstruct and recycle our cities, destroying everything on Earth's surface that man built. Walter believes those machines are designed to extract the raw materials that humans collected and refined, but I believe they are meant to remove all the toxins humans use but Greys are allergic to and prevent their regeneration. Since humanity has used petroleum in almost everything, the Greys need to tear down and reprocess everything man-made to clean up the mess we made before they can safely repopulate the surface.
"Ready yourself for this next bit of information. Ying has died four times now. And so have you...will you...I will be dead by the time you get this...wait, that's not right. You are in the past, so this hasn't happened yet. Either way, it sucks. Look, the previous 'me' that sent me a video after she and Walter escaped the Barge as it was being destroyed, and that same thing happened again to me and Walter. We escaped on the Mantis to send these videos, which is what you are watching. Death is the outcome for you and those around you if you don't succeed.
"Two things you need to remember. First, everyone around you will be busy doing Walter's research to attack the Greys, so you are on your own. And that is not a good thing. I kept finding myself needing information on areas of science I am unknowledgeable or inexperienced. You can imagine how much time I wasted studying the molecular makeup of the petroleum extracts that Ying was allergic to. After that, I had no time to do anything with the information, and here I am. All I can say is, do whatever is necessary, regardless of the dangers. It won't matter. Everyone dies.
"The second thing: you need to figure out a way to save Ying. I believe he is the missing element to a solution. He understands Greys, can read Grey language, and his brain is so huge, he must know something we don't. But Walter isn't considering Ying because he is incapacitated. On the Barge, no environment exists that excludes petroleum and petroleum-based items, so his sores will persist. You will need to find a way for the lesions in his skin to close despite being exposed to petroleum and by-products. There is no other solution. Nemolopolus' crew was able to dock with a Grey craft, but once inside, they didn't know what to do or where to go. They couldn't understand Grey or operate any of the equipment. Ying can.
"You need to do whatever it takes to heal Ying. Don't worry about doing something radical that could kill him. Take the chance, because he ends up dead. I keep contemplating the Grey sample I took from the bunker. The one with coexisting organic and inorganic material. But my knowledge of physics, dimensions and molecular composition is insufficient to uncover its secrets.
"Making the future right is tricky. Trust me, I wasn't able to do it. I'm scared. I don't want to die here at the bottom of the ocean. The only thing keeping me going is hope that a version of me will succeed. And you won't die like me and the previous versions of us, time and time again. Failure is an option. Don't let it be yours."
The hand of Dr. Black in the video reaches out to something, then the video stops. Dr. Black sits back in shock, trying to absorb what she just saw. After a few moments, she leans forward and presses a communication panel.
"This is Dr. Black in Laboratory Beta Eight. Could you please get a hold of Captain Nemolopolus and ask him to meet me here one hour and a half from now? Tell him it is regarding Ying."
A voice responds from the communication panel.
"I'll pass the message."
Dr. Black goes to the lab refrigerator and removes the organic-inorganic hand-wrist sample she brought with her from the destroyed Grey bunker. At the digital microscope, she sets aside the slides of Ying's blood, and makes a new slide from the sample. She then puts it under the microscope and studies it.
While rubbing her forehead, she stares at a cabinet. She locks the laboratory door and goes to the cabinet. Inside, she grabs the telepathic implant headset from the shelf, and connects it to her computer.
Dr. Black searches through computer files and opens two. One file is archived documents of Einstein's and Schrodinger's theories and discussions on the unification of electromagnetism and gravity. The other file is Walter's notes and equations on the same subject. She drags the folders over to an icon representing the implant device and drops the folders on the icon. The headset activates.
After tying her hair up into a bun, Dr. Black puts on the headset, covering her ears and eyes. Her mouth gapes as her head subtly jerks.
Future Past
Chapter 38
A Familiar Dream, A Familiar Place.
Dr. Black sits back in the Mantis' copilot's chair, her face barely showing signs of life, her hair falling 0ut of a collapsing bun. Shallow breaths shake hanging sweat drips off her chin onto her uniform. Her eyes crack open and see the inactive control panel flashing a lone red warning light signaling depleted oxygen. The ultrahigh-tensile windshield is open, but shows nothing but the pitch black of the deep ocean. She rolls her head to see the pilot's chair, glancing at Walter's unconscious body.
Breaking the darkness outside, a glowing cone-shaped ray scans the front of the Mantis. Dr. Black's head turns and looks out the windshield, seeing the remains of the destroyed transmitter and receiver towers on the ocean bottom illuminated by the scanning ray washing over them.
The beam moves closer until the source of the scan becomes visible. It is the nose of a Grey escort craft stopping in front of and facing the Mantis.
Dr. Black's body tries to panic, aware of the danger before her, but lacks the strength to do anything other than squeeze a tear out of the corner of her eye. She tries to speak, but can only mouth a windy whisper, "No...no..."
Losing consciousness, her head sags lifeless. The Grey craft brushes against the Mantis, creating a loud thud.
Still wearing the implant headset, Dr. Black's body jolts alert at the loud repeated pounding against her laboratory door. Sweat drips off her cheek onto her white lab coat. She sits up in her chair, trying to get her wits.
"Dr. Black? Dr. Black, this is Captain Nemolopolus. Are you i
n there? Are you ok? You asked me to be here. Please respond or security will open the door."
Startled, Dr. Black rips off the implant headset. Her computer monitor displays an open message box notifying "data implant complete".
"Ahh, yes, yes! I am ok. Give me a second, I was just lost in my work. My apologies."
Dr. Black closes the message box on her computer, disconnects the headset and shoves them into a cabinet. She takes one last look around the room to make sure it is presentation worthy, then opens the door.
"Please come in, Captain. My apologies."
"No problem, Doctor. I'm sure you were in the depths of thought. I got a message you wanted to meet regarding Ying."
Dr. Black sits by her microscope facing Captain Nemolopolus, "Yes. The issue is the Grey genes in Ying's DNA. The Greys suffer anaphylaxis from certain plants and organic materials that existed in their early stages of development, dating back millions of years. One is ginkgo biloba which Ying takes as a supplement. The other substance, or I should say substances, he is reacting to is oil: crude, petroleum and petroleum extracts."
An air of confusion surrounds Captain Nemolopolus.
"Look, I get the ginkgo thing. He's been taking that herbal supplement. His genetic structure mutated into the Greys, making him susceptible to their weaknesses. Greys were allergic to ginkgo in prehistoric times, and they are now. Right?"
"Correct."
"But you are also saying he's allergic to oil..."
"Petroleum and petroleum extracts."
"Oil didn't exist in prehistoric times."
"Correct. However, it is made from prehistoric plants and animals. Think of this. Life on Earth has always had a balance. Not just a food chain, but the earth has always had organic ways to ensure that organic life dies or becomes susceptible to death. Predators are one. Poisons are another. Allergens. Physical limitations. That way, even the tops of food chains are able to die in other ways than growing old. We don't know what nature created to help end the life cycles of ancient Greys, but those ways existed. Now imagine those allergens and poisons ending up in an underground stew. I don't know if those poisons stayed in their original form and are in the fluid, or those poisons changed in the fluid to become other poisons or a stronger poison, but petroleum is extremely deadly to the Greys. It is very dangerous and toxic to humans, but we made it the center of our energy profile and live with those toxins even if they harm us. We also take extracts from petroleum to make fuels, cleaners, paint, cosmetics, and the list goes on. You can't go into a home, building, or even a room on this ship that doesn't contain some kind of petroleum product in it.
"Ying used benzene in his lab, which he is allergic to. Grease in the engine room. Paint on objects and walls. And therein lies the problem. There isn't anywhere on this ship, anywhere people live, or any building, that doesn't contain traces of petroleum or petroleum by-products. So, unless we drop Ying off in a remote jungle, far from any trace of humanity, and that jungle doesn't contain any prehistoric plants that still exist today that the Greys are allergic to, there is nothing we can do. It is these allergens that cause his lesions to appear and not heal. The prolonged exposure has weakened his immune system. From what I can see in his blood, it has gotten into his bloodstream, causing his blood cells to collapse and internal organs to deteriorate."
"Is there anything you can do? You are the best, Dr. Black, that is why we requested you."
"Look, I can't take credit for any of this. This information about the allergies came from the video Sandy gave to me. I'm just repeating what I was told."
"Who told you? Who was on the video?"
"Ahh...me. I mean, it was a video from future 'me'. She, I told me his allergens. I didn't discover this."
"But she was you, right?"
"Yeah. It was me. I must have figured it out in the future, but I didn't figure it out here."
"Dr. Black, the time compression loop we are in can be confusing, but if you figured out the problem in the future, then you figured it out. No one else. Did the future 'you' tell you how we can fix Ying?"
"No. Listen, Captain, I don't know what I should say about what was on the video, but I think some of it has to be told. At least to you. Ying dies. Despite her...my best efforts, I was unable to save him. It is up to me to come up with a solution to save him, no matter how dangerous. I shouldn't say anything, but I see how you watch over and protect everyone here, including Ying."
"I care about my crew," says Captain Nemolopolus, his tone revealing a deeper emotional connection than his words.
"My concern is that a drastic medical procedure or solution could be fatal. And knowing something might be fatal could cause you to want to protect him, even prevent the procedure. What I do to save him might fail and kill him, and if I don't do something drastic, he dies."
"Are you sure?"
"The future 'me' thought I should know to prevent me from being too cautious. I, and you, have to accept that no matter what I do, Ying will probably die. He's already died four times."
"Four times?"
"It is a long shot I come up with a cure. What I need from you is to help encourage him to do whatever I come up with."
"Even if it kills him?"
"Yes."
"Well...I don't know. He might be willing. After all, Ying experimented on himself and he wasn't afraid of dying. Plus, once he knows he's dead if he doesn't, I'm sure he'll say yes."
"But you can't tell him he's going to die."
"But he is, so why not?"
"If I understood anything from the future, there is no way to guess how things will turn out. He tested his DNA experiment on himself not because he wasn't afraid of dying, but because he was more afraid of killing a peer or empowering a criminal. He didn't want to burden anyone with his mistakes. And look what happened? He's now in a bubble in the engine room, a helpless monster-headed giant, unable to take care of himself.
"If you tell him he dies in the future, there is a chance he will take his own life. That he won't want to be a burden on us until his death. That he won't want to go through a painful procedure or surgery if death is inevitable. He may want to control one last thing, his own death, to leave with dignity. We can't take that chance. We need him...his understanding of the Greys and their language. How could his life not make the difference against the Greys? But we can't tell him any of this. All that matters is that we try to save him, and that he believes we can. And for you to believe as well regardless of the risk."
"I see," says Captain Nemolopolus, fading deep into thought. "Ok. I won't tell him. It won't be easy. I don't like taking away his choice. Ying is more a son to me than many of the crew here. I brought him on board when he was seventeen. He was innovating discoveries as a teenager. But he was just a kid. I always took it upon myself to help him, guide him, and be there whenever he needed someone: a father figure. While he was mapping the human hybrid genome, he was asking me the best ways to pick up a woman, what I considered a good date, what liquor to drink or avoid, even sex. He wanted to know if..."
"Don't...don't tell me. The less I know, the more likely I won't make an emotional decision...but I get it. I could see it. It's why I told you and asked for your help. He needs you to get through this, even if that means not telling him the truth."
"Do you have any idea what you'll do to him?"
"Maybe."
Dr. Black searches around the room, but not finding what she is looking for, stops. Dr. Black asks, "I told Sandy to have that tennis ball-apple brought here. Where did she put it?"
"In a containment box. It is policy to put items like that in a safety container, in case it turns out to be toxic or dangerous."
Dr. Black sees a small containment case marked with a toxic symbol on the bottom shelf under a portable table. She grabs it, puts it on top the table, and opens it. Inside is the apple that has melded with the tennis ball. She puts on gloves, then picks it up with mechanical tongs.
"Future me mentioned the
hand, but this, this might tell me what I need."
"I don't understand."
"Are you in a hurry, or can you hang out for a minute?"
"You have piqued my interest."
Dr. Black looks around inside an instrument drawer, and pulls out a long hollow rod with a squeeze grip that opens the sharp tip, allowing it to extract the core of whatever it penetrates. Holding the ball-apple against the extraction table with the tongs, she penetrates it with the core extractor. Once the extractor exits the other side, she relaxed the grip, causing the extractor tip to shut. She then pulls the extractor out of the ball-apple. After the core sample is removed, the tennis ball-apple seals the extraction hole as if it never existed.
"Did that...thing just...fix itself?"
"What I hypothesize is that when two different states of matter are combined inside Walter's rift, their structural and molecular information or data combine and unify. The unification causes the molecules in the combined object to align and operate as a single molecule despite being different molecular types. Therefore, when I extracted a sample, the remaining molecules aligned and moved together becoming one mass again. What I need to do is analyze the core sample and determine if the cells of the apple are still organic and alive."
"And if they are?"
"It means the organic and inorganic material information combined in the rift, and their molecular states united, allowing the organic matter to retain the property of life despite containing inorganic material qualities. It also means they retain separate states of existence. Living material that can die, and non-living material that cannot be killed. Applied to Ying, it means inorganic molecules are not affected by allergens, aligning his molecules and sealing his wound, allowing his organic cells to heal through his regenerative Grey abilities. Keeping the wounds closed stops the allergens from entering his blood stream and circulating to his internal organs."
Nexus of Time Page 32
