The First

Chapter 39

Alexa sighed, relieved Ross had Teagan and Ellie. They would be there within the hour. Now she could focus. The tests remained positive. "Run it again." But she would keep testing until she had what she needed.

Ray rolled his eyes, threw his hands up and stomped back to the lab. "It's gonna be right."

"I'll believe it when I see it. We're going to run the tests again and again until I have a specimen to test it on."

"You're the boss." He ugged and disappeared into his hole.

She had to be sure the formula worked to perfection. She'd isolated the third allele and created an agent which, in theory, could stop the effects of the mutagen. An injection into a new fetus would be a great risk at this point. Once she cleared the anti-mutagen with top military scientists, she'd put it into production. This frightened her. Human trials in genetics almost always ended with less than desirable results; however, she had isolated the third allele and could probably say with about a 98% certainty, it would work.

Ray strolled back into her office. "Dr. Mason."

"Yes."

"We have another positive result. You think that'll be enough to start trials?"

"Run it again."

"Jesus."

"We'll continue to run the test until the specimen arrives. Then we'll see what it does against their blood cells."

"Thought it's for a viable fetus only?"

"We need to see what it does against a fully-grown tri-allele first. I've developed a marker to isolate the gene. That way we'll be absolutely sure we have the correct one."

"I know what isolate means. And you've told me this multiple times."

"Good. Kindly run the test again."

"You got it." He turned and left the room.

The office phone rang. She didn't know who could be calling the office this late at night and almost ignored it. Against her better judgment - or worse, depending on how you looked at it- she answered.

"OHSU Genetics. This is Dr. Mason."

"Halo," a foreign voice said.

"This is Dr. Mason. Can I help you?"

"Yes. Dr. Mason. My nama is Faysal Madeed. I am a Geophysicist from India."

Alexa had no idea what a geophysicist would be calling about.

"Dr. Mason?"

"Yes, Dr. Madeed. How may I assist you this evening?"

"You are working on anomaly, yes?"

"I oversee the tri-allele project."

"Interesting name. Have you had any successes?"

"We've made some progress. And have procured a live specimen for testing."

"Ah...wonderful news. But I have some as well. I think I may have stumbled across their origin."

What could he possibly have found? "Tell me your theory doctor." Excited, yet skeptical, she listened close.

"You are familiar with Earth's magnetic field?"

"Yes. I'm very familiar. The Earth's magnetic field protects us from the effects of the deadly solar winds originating in the fluid motion of the Earth's outer core. Due to geomagnetic secular variation, the field changes over time."

"Ah...splendid. I have been tracking the comet for the past year. We named it 'Madeed'. It's a 'sungrazer' comet. Are you knowing the terminology?

"I do Dr. Madeed. Please continue."

"As Madeed passed by our sun it broke into tiny particles. By the time it hit Earth's magnetic field, it disintegrated into billions of ions that should have dissipated. I tracked the ionization from this cloud which enveloped the entire planet. They did not dissipate as expected; instead, they discharged into the ozone layer."

She jotted notes into her computer as he spoke. "What does this have to do with the tri-allele genome?"

"The ions entered our atmosphere on Wednesday, October thirty-first. Now you understand."

"Halloween. You're saying there is a direct correlation with these ions and the appearance of the tri-alleles in the current human fetus?"

"Yes, doctor. That is what I believe happened. It could be coincidence, but highly unlikely. And I do not believe these ions are random. I believe they came from another galaxy and are designed to do exactly what they are doing."

Alexa gasped. "From where did the comet originate?" The proverbial puzzle pieces began to snap together in her mind.

"This particular comet came from Epsilon Eridani."

"That's 10.5 light years from us." She grimaced.

"Yes, the nearest known planetary system. The strangest part is that Madeed stayed the same size for the entire year. This is very irregular comet activity."

"What are you saying, doctor?"

"I believe the comet was not an accident. It may have been caused by...otherworldly forces."

"An attack?" A million probabilities, magazine clippings, stories, scientific proof, all barraged her thoughts.

"It's possible, or another race sending their DNA through time and space, to repopulate on a planet compatible with their own. Doing anything they can to keep their species alive."

Aliens? She shook her head. Logic dictated her life. Statistics show the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. "It is plausible."

"Only in theory, doctor. I'm working on tracing the exact origin of the comet."

"Keep me apprised of your findings, Dr. Madeed. If you identify the chemical makeup, maybe we can come up with a way of killing the ones that have already come to term."

"This is good. I will keep in touch. Goodbye."

"Thank you for the call." Alexa hung up.

She took a deep breath and relaxed into her chair, laid her head back, closed her eyes and found herself dreaming about creatures exploding from her abdomen and the tri-allele population dominating Earth.

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Could the Trills be from another galaxy? What do they want?