Alien Genes 1: Daughter of Atuk

by Petra Theunissen

  She didn't answer, and he could see she was lost in her thoughts. Then, she turned to him and asked, “Eqin, what is a ‘Truth Seeker'?"

  This time her question didn't just catch him off-guard, it shook him. It was the second time that day that the words ‘Truth Seeker’ had come up, and it bothered him. Could it be simply coincidental?

  “Why are you asking?"

  “First tell me what it means,” she insisted.

  He wrinkled his brow trying to think of a way to explain the concept to her. “In cases where certain laws are broken, Truth Seekers are used to find the ‘truth'. They live among the accused long enough to satisfy themselves they've found the truth and thus the accused can be judged in a meeting—what you would call a ‘court'. We call it ‘Judgement Day’ because in most cases the accused has already been judged and is simply there to hear his or her sentence,” he explained.

  “How do they find the truth?"

  “They enter the minds of the accused without them knowing it, searching for the truth. When they're satisfied they've found it, they present their testimony—their truth judgement—to the court. Their interpretation is regarded as the only believable testimony regardless of what the accused says. If they find against the accused, the person is punished accordingly—most of the time by death; seldom by banishment. If they find for the accused, the accused go free and the accuser is punished,” he said.

  His explanation seemed to puzzle her. “Wow, that's a bit rough, isn't it? What if they're wrong?” she asked.

  “They are reputed to never be wrong."

  He could see she wasn't convinced, and smiled. Living on Earth where there was a much more complex system of proving guilt and innocence, he could understand her inability to grasp the concept.

  “Truth seekers are very special people,” he continued. “Besides having exceptional telepathic abilities and powers of observation, they spend years in training. Many are—ironically—trained by Caretakers who live in isolation outside the tribal towns. Because few outsiders ever get the opportunity to visit there, there are many myths and legends surrounding the Truth Seekers. Some say they are shape shifters. Others say that they're trained by the Antediluvians, which is, of course, impossible since the Antediluvians are long gone."

  “If that's true, how do you know whether someone is a Truth Seeker?"

  “You don't. They only reveal themselves once they're satisfied with their findings. They prefer to work unobtrusively,” he said.

  He looked at the rain which was pouring down in buckets. If there were a Truth Seeker among them, it could be anyone at the Facility. The thought made his stomach turn. He could already have been judged without knowing it.

  “Right,” Cathy said. “So, even though the Algidans and the ones they call—” She looked at him for help.

  “...Caretakers,” he said.

  Cathy frowned. “Okay ... the Caretakers ... Even though they don't see eye to eye, the Algidans call on them to help them judge their own accused. Am I right?"

  “No, not really. Algidans prefer using their own Truth Seekers, but they still have them trained by the Caretakers. It's been like that for centuries. So, in effect there are two groups of Truth Seekers: those who are Algidans trained by the Caretakers, and those who belong to the Caretakers themselves. Each group uses their own Truth Seekers when the need arises."

  “But they're all trained by the Caretakers."

  “Yes."

  “Pretty complex."

  He didn't answer. He knew the Algidans were aware of rumours the Caretakers were gathering strength to reclaim their position on the Council. He'd never thought much about it, but what would prevent the Caretakers from using the Truth Seekers for their own purposes? If the Algidan Council got the same hunch, it would spell disaster for the descendants of the Antediluvians.

  “So, tell me, where did you hear about the Truth Seekers?” he asked her.

  She pulled up her legs and leaned back in the couch. “I think Anya is one,” she admitted.

  Eqin burst out laughing. “Impossible. She's way too young to be a Truth Seeker.” He pictured the shy young woman in his mind. It was a physical impossibility that she'd gone through years of training. Then he noticed the look on Cathy's face. “You're serious."

  She nodded. “Yes."

  “She's too young,” he said, unable to hide his disbelief.

  “How old are the Truth Seekers then?” she asked.

  “I don't know. I've never met one before. There's just no way she could have undergone years of training."

  “Maybe she didn't need to. Maybe she grew up in a family of Truth Seekers,” she suggested.

  “Not possible. They live celibate lives,” he said. He saw Cathy smile and wondered what she found so amusing in his statement.

  “More important is: who is she investigating?” she mused.

  His expression darkened. “If there is a Truth Seeker in the Facility, then they'll be likely to be investigating me,” he said glumly. He noticed the shock on her face.

  “What do you mean: You?” she said, visibly upset.

  He leaned back in the couch, holding his mug somewhat precariously. “It's the only thing that makes sense. S'Tha told me there was a rumour the Council had asked for a Truth Seeker to be sent here to investigate me. It could easily be anyone. I don't see how it could be Anya, but I might be wrong."

  “Eqin, I don't understand. Why would they investigate you?"

  He averted his eyes, drinking his coffee carefully, not knowing what to say. What could he tell her? That he broke all the rules by saving her life and bringing her there? That it might cost him more than just his career—maybe his life? She didn't need to hear all that. “I don't know. It was probably Hasan who brought the charges,” he said evenly.

  “Is it because of me?” she asked.

  He glanced at her briefly. He'd really underestimated her perceptiveness, but he wasn't prepared to discuss it any further. There'd been enough negative talk. He put his cup down and pulled her closer, pleased she didn't resist and that he wasn't flung across the room again. “Let's forget it, shall we? It's not important right now. What is important is us,” he said.

  He felt her snuggle up against his chest, and had an irresistible urge to kiss her and never stop kissing her. Instead, he held her tighter. God, how he loved her. If only they had been different people and had met under different circumstances. His hand rested on her hair and he stroked it gently, smelling the sweetness of her shampoo.

  By now, it was pitch dark outside, and he couldn't see the ocean any more, but he could hear the waves crash violently on the rocks. Occasionally they could hear the rolling thunder and see a flash of lightning. The storm outside was fierce.

  As they sat in the semi-dark lounge, he could sense her anguish and he gently rubbed her arm. “It'll be alright, you know.” Then, changing the topic, he pointed into the darkness. “We have three moons, which increases the gravitational pull. Our years are longer than yours are. One of our years is five of your years,” he said.

  “Really?” she said, still snuggled against his chest.

  “Yes. It means that our people live longer than you do. That's why Hasan is now almost three hundred and fifty of your years."

  “You're kidding,” Cathy said incredulously.

  “Nope."

  “How old are you?” she asked.

  He smiled. He supposed he should have expected that question, but how she would react was a different issue. “Just over hundred and sixty of your Earth years,” he said and when he sensed her disbelief, he burst out laughing. “Besides our years being longer than yours, we also live longer. Some of this was passed onto your people when our people mated with them thousands of years ago. I think you call it the ... longevity gene. It's rather rare nowadays on your planet—too many people—but occasionally one stills finds a person turning a hundred and twenty. More often disease and violence tend to end your lives earlier than ours,” he said.


  “Okay...” she said, evidently not convinced, “...so your world's perfect."

  “It isn't. We have our share of problems. We may live long, but we're still prone to disease. For instance, thousands of years ago some of our travellers brought back a plague from one of the planets—it wiped out most of our population. It took us years just to find a way of keeping those affected alive. It devastated our society, because on the whole the ones affected were the most educated ones—the ones who travelled outside our solar system. Even now, although we have the disease under control, we can't cure it. It's one of the reasons why we're on Earth. It was recorded in our history books that some of our people—the Antediluvians—found a cure here on Earth. We've been trying to find it for years, but the knowledge was lost when the plague devastated our cities, and the Antediluvian Council was destroyed in battle with an invading alien nation. Some, like Hasan, believe the legends that claim all of it was written on the scrolls, and he's been trying to find it through accessing the descendants of the Antediluvians who bred with the humans on this planet."

  He'd felt her tense up when he mentioned Hasan's name. “Hasan was the one who injected me with the virus, wasn't he?” she said quietly.

  “Yes, in his quest for the scrolls he developed a nanovirus he believed would enhance our people's genetic material in those who carried traces of it. His theory was that it would stimulate memory and by accessing their memories he would locate the scrolls."

  “Was he right?” she asked.

  “Yes and no. The virus has a nasty side effect: it destroys the human genes. The first place it starts its vicious work is in the human brain, driving the person literally mad. Because the virus triggers latent memories, many also believe they were abducted by aliens,” he said.

  “So they're not imaginary?"

  He hesitated. “Not in the sense that you mean. There was an ancient race that looked like the creatures in the triggered memories. They were at war with our people for centuries. If our people were caught, they were subjected to cruel experimentation—including efforts to breed a new race and wipe out our own race in the process—and then let go free. It's those memories that are latent in the humans, and that are triggered by the virus."

  Cathy was silent for a moment, and then said, “I don't remember ever having those memories."

  “Then your ancestors were probably never captured and experimented on. It's not unusual. Not everyone was imprisoned and subjected to that type of treatment,” he answered calmly.

  “Did you know about this?” she asked.

  “That we were after the scrolls, yes. I knew that, and because of Hasan's reputation, I chose to become his assistant. He's regarded as one of the greatest Algidans ever. I assisted him in most of his research, and we travelled all over your world, identifying those we believed had traces of our DNA. Once we had a sample of DNA, we charted their ancestry, which wasn't very difficult to do because our charts were almost complete. We've been on this planet for many centuries, and we were able to trace the lineages of most humans."

  He omitted to say that it was how he had found her in the first place. As Hasan's assistant it had been his job to trace the lineage of potential carriers of their alien DNA. He came across her purely by accident, and he couldn't believe his luck. Cathy's lineage had followed a reverse process. Instead of diluting the DNA, her ancestors had chosen mates who had similar or higher levels of Antediluvian DNA. Her DNA content was higher than everyone else's.

  It didn't take him long to realise that he'd found the One, and he purposefully kept it from Hasan. He led the old man to believe that Cathy's Antediluvian DNA was no more than the average human they'd come across. He sighed inwardly. By now Hasan would have found out about his deception, and he could only guess the old man's plans...

  “About the same time we found you, I became aware that the nanovirus Hasan was using to strengthen latent memories was in fact killing his subjects. When I confronted him about it, he just scoffed it off,” he continued.

  She suddenly sat up and he noticed the cold breeze moving through the house. It sent a shiver down his spine.

  “So that's what happened,” she said.

  He was bowled over, not sure what she was talking about. Then he realised she had been in his mind without him even noticing it. It took him by surprise. How much had she seen?

  “He took away my memory and had you sent back,” she said.

  “Yes."

  “Why was he so worried about your relationship with me?” she asked.

  “It's against our laws."

  “Why?"

  “Travellers in the Ancient Times often mated with those from other planets, and then brought them back to our home planet—Krinis—or accelerating their development on their own planets. Some became concerned that our lineage would become diluted, and a law was passed that mating with someone from another planet or species, so to speak, was punishable. The travellers simply ignored the law and the sentence was increased. Now breaking the law is punishable by death,” he said.

  “Is that why you believe a Truth Seeker is after you? Because of me?"

  He nodded. He didn't really want to talk about that. “Hm."

  “But we haven't ... mated..."

  He looked at her fine features reflected in the dimmed light. No, they hadn't, but that didn't mean he didn't want to. How he longed for her. “They don't know that. Falling in love with you is already a punishable act."

  “I'm sorry about this all. If I had died..."

  His placed his hand under her chin and turned her face towards him. “Don't be. I haven't been sorry about it for one minute,” he said softly. His mouth was very close to hers and he felt an irresistible urge to kiss her soft lips, but sudden loud footsteps on the paved courtyard outside the house caused him to move away abruptly. He recognised the footsteps as those of a woman; lighter, faster than a man's. He was right. It was a woman's voice in his head, calling out to him.

  Eqin!

  “It's S'Tha.” Cathy whispered, looking at him inquisitively. “What's she doing here?"

  S'Tha didn't wait for an answer from Eqin, simply walked into the house and straight through to the lounge. Eqin felt the sudden cold breeze again and looked at Cathy. Her facial expression was blank, but he sensed she was more than annoyed with S'Tha's attitude. It was clear to him that Cathy didn't like S'Tha one bit, and he wondered why.

  S'Tha's eyes narrowed when she walked into the lounge. Eqin knew her well enough to know that she didn't like what she saw. She spoke out loud for Cathy's benefit. “Eqin, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I had to come and tell you in person. Apparently Hasan has somehow heard about our little experiment.” Her eyes flashed towards Cathy. “He wants to see it for himself. He's arriving here tomorrow."

  Eqin noticed Cathy stiffen at the mention of Hasan's name, and the house suddenly became incredibly cold.

  “How much does he know?” Eqin asked S'Tha.

  “Apparently not much. He knows we found a human whose genetic make-up was changing, but I don't think he knows it's Cathy. It wouldn't surprise me, though, if he didn't suspect something. After all, she did disappear out of the hospital without a trace,” S'Tha said.

  “How did he find out?” Eqin was mystified, but his sister's expression provided the answer he was after. “You told them?"

  “I'm sorry, Eqin, but it was the find of a lifetime. I couldn't keep it from them. When they heard, they insisted that Hasan had to come to determine the value of the experiment for himself. Do you know what this means? We could be written into the Annals of Scientific History.” She could barely hide her excitement.

  He was hardly impressed. “You stupid woman. Do you know in how much danger you have placed us all—especially Cathy? If they find out we took one of Hasan's subjects..."

  S'Tha's demeanour was unrelenting. “I'm sorry, Eqin, but I had to inform them. If it will make you feel any better, they won't punish me. You're the Commander, you carry the responsib
ility."

  Eqin couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew S'Tha had become increasingly unhappy about his refusal to have more tests done on Cathy and that she'd always been extremely ambitious, but that? He thought they had an understanding, having grown up together. But even he could see now that S'Tha was like all the others of his kind.

  Suddenly tired, he looked at her disappointedly. “Do you know what you've done, S'Tha? You've basically given me a death sentence,” he said.

  His words appeared to take the wind out of her sails. It seemed that with all her ambition and conniving she hadn't actually considered the full implications of her actions. She rallied after a moment.

  “Don't be ridiculous, all I said was that you were reluctant to have further tests done because you are emotionally involved with...” Her voice petered out, and she brought her hand to her mouth. “Oh, my God. How could I've been so stupid ... I'm so sorry..."

  If her reaction hadn't been so obviously false, he would have probably forgiven her, but he knew she'd calculatingly sold him out to the Council. He felt disillusioned. He'd realised that someone would eventually have complained to the Council about his decisions and his affection towards the human, but he'd never actually suspected it would be his sister. Suddenly very weary he got up and walked out of the house without a further word. He was tired of the fighting. It seemed like such an endless struggle with so little gain.

  The rainstorm had subsided and there were only a few drops spattering here and there on the wet soil as he dejectedly negotiated his way through the overgrowth. He'd always known the time would come when he'd have to give reckoning for his actions. It had always been a matter of time. He just wished that it wouldn't have come so soon. To leave Cathy alone now wouldn't be fair on her. She still needed protection and guidance. She'd done nothing wrong. For her it was only the beginning of the road, but he'd reached the end of the road.

  * * * *

  When Eqin had left, Cathy turned to S'Tha. She couldn't help to notice the glimmer of satisfaction in the alien woman's eyes. “You did this on purpose, didn't you?” she reproached.