Kate squatted down across from him and watched the “chicken stew” begin to boil. It was no doubt soy beans or some other chicken substitute. “At least no animals will be harmed.”
David kept his focus on the flame and the carton as if he were repairing a delicate piece of electronics. “Oh, I think it’s real meat. They’ve come a long way with these things in the last few years. I ate some in Afghanistan that weren’t fit for human consumption. Or, hominid consumption, I believe you would say.”
“Very impressive — yes we are hominids. Hominins to be exact. The only ones left.”
“I’ve been brushing up on my evolutionary history.” David handed her the heated Chicken Stew, then ripped open another package — Meatloaf — and began eating it cold.
Kate stirred the stew with the spork and tentatively took a few bites. Not terrible. Or was she getting used to how horrid it tasted? It didn’t matter. She sipped the stew as they ate in silence. The lake was placid and the dense green forest that surrounded them swayed in the wind and creaked occasionally as unseen creatures leapt from branch to branch. If not for yesterday’s tragic events, they could be campers in an untouched wilderness, and for a moment it felt that way to Kate. She finished the last bite of stew a minute after David, and he took her carton and said, “We should get a move on, we’re T minus thirty on the contact’s meet time.” And just like that, the peace and innocence of the natural setting evaporated. David hoisted a heavy pack and hid the last of their trash under the tarp.
He set a brisk pace as they hiked into the mountainous forest, and Kate fought to keep up, and to hide her heavy breathing. He was in much better shape than she was. He stopped periodically, still breathing through his nose as Kate turned away and sucked in mouthfuls of air.
On the third respite, he leaned against a tree and said, “I know you’re not ready to talk about your research, but tell me this: why do you think Immari took those kids?”
“I’ve actually been thinking about that a lot since Jakarta.” Kate leaned over and put her hands on her knees. “Some of the things Martin said to me, when they were questioning me, they make absolutely no sense.”
“Such as?”
“He implied there was a weapon, some kind of super weapon, that could wipe out the human race—”
David pushed off the tree. “Did he say—”
“No, he didn’t say anything else. It was a delusional rant. Part of a tirade about lost cities, and genetics and… What else?” Kate shook her head. “He suggested that autistic children could be a threat, that they were the next step in human evolution.”
“Is that possible — the evolution part?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. We know the last major breakthrough in evolution was a change in brain wiring. If we look at the genome of humans 100,000 years ago and humans 50,000 years ago, there’s very little genetic change, but we know that the genes that did change had a huge impact — mostly on how we thought. Humans began using language and thinking critically, solving problems rather than acting on instinct. Essentially the brain started acting more like a computer than a processing center for impulses. It’s debatable, but there is evidence that another shift in brain wiring is occurring. Autism is essentially a change in brain wiring, and the diagnosis rate for autism spectrum disorders, or ASD, is exploding. In America, it’s up 500% in the last twenty years. 1 in every 88 Americans are somewhere on the spectrum. Some of the increase is due to better diagnosis techniques, but there’s no question that ASD is on the rise — in every country around the world. Developed nations seem to be hit the hardest.”
“I don’t follow. How does ASD connect with evolutionary genetics?”