“The Atlantis Gene.”
“Whatever it was, this change in brain wiring, it was the greatest genetic jackpot in the history of time. The human race goes from the brink of extinction — less than 10,000 people, from hunting and gathering in the wilderness, to ruling the planet, with over seven billion people, in the span of 50,000 years. That’s the blink of an eye in evolutionary terms. It’s an extraordinary comeback, almost hard to believe for a geneticist. I mean, 12% of all the humans who have ever lived are still alive today. We only evolved around 200,000 years ago. We’re still riding a mushroom cloud of the effects of the Great Leap Forward, and we have no idea how it happened or where it will lead.”
“Yeah, but why us, why did we get so lucky? There were other human species around, right? The Neanderthals, the— I can’t remember what you called them; what about them? If the Atlanteans came to our rescue, why not help the others?”
“I have a theory. We know there were at least four subspecies of humans 50,000 years ago — us, or Anatomically Modern Humans, Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Homo floresiensis, or Hobbits. There were probably more that we haven’t found, but those are the four subspecies—”
“Subspecies?” David said.
“Yes. Technically they’re subspecies; they were all humans. We define a species as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring, and all four of those human groups could interbreed, in fact, we have genetic evidence that they did interbreed. When we sequenced the Neanderthal genome a few years ago, we discovered that everyone outside of Africa has somewhere between 1-4% Neanderthal DNA. It was most pronounced in Europe — the Neanderthal homeland. We found the same thing when we sequenced the Denisovan genome. Some people in Melanesia, and especially Papua New Guinea, share up to 6% of their genome with the Denisovans.”
“Interesting. So we’re all hybrids?”
“Yes, technically.”
“So we absorbed the other subspecies into a combined human race?”
“No. Well, a small percentage maybe, but the archaeological evidence suggests the four groups survived as separate subspecies. I think the other subspecies didn’t receive the Atlantis Gene because they didn’t need it.”
“They—”
“Weren’t on the brink of extinction,” Kate said. “We think Neanderthals existed in Europe as early as 600,000-350,000 years ago. All the other subspecies are also older than we are; they probably had larger populations. And — they were out of the blast radius of Toba — the Neanderthals were in Europe, the Denisovans were in present-day Russia, and the Hobbits were in Southeast Asia — farther away from Toba and downwind.”
“So they fared better than we did, and we almost die out. Then we hit the genetic jackpot, and they actually go extinct — at our hands.”
“Yes. And they died out quickly; we know Neanderthals were stronger than us, had bigger brains than us, and had lived in Europe for hundreds of thousands of years before we showed up. Then, within 10-20,000 years, they are extinct.”
“Maybe that’s part of the Immari grand plan,” David said. “Maybe Toba Protocol is about more than finding the Atlantis Gene. What if the Immari think these advanced humans, these Atlanteans, are hibernating, but if they do come back, they’ll eliminate any competing humans, anyone who might be a threat — just as we did in the last 50,000 years ago after we received this Atlantis Gene? You read Kane’s speech; they thought a war with the Atlanteans was imminent.”
Kate considered David’s theory, and her mind drifted to her conversation with Martin, his allegations that any advanced race would wipe out any threatening inferior humans. His theory that the human race was like a computer algorithm advancing to one eventuality: a homogeneous human race. That was the last piece of the puzzle. “You’re right. Toba is about more than finding the Atlantis Gene. It’s about creating Atlanteans, transforming the human race by advancing it. They’re trying to synchronize humanity with the Atlanteans — to create one race so that if the Atlanteans do return, they won’t see us as a threat. Martin said Toba Protocol was ‘a contingency.’ They think if the Atlanteans wake up and see seven billion savages, they will slaughter us. But if they emerge and find a small group of humans, very similar genetically to themselves, they will allow them to survive — they will see them as part of their own tribe or race.”
“Yes, but I think that’s only half the plan,” David said. “That’s the scientific basis, the genetic angle, the back-up plan. The Immari think they’re at war. They think like soldiers. I said before I thought they were creating an Army, and I still do. I think they were testing the subjects on the Bell for a specific reason.”