I tried to stay focused on what Dr. Clarke was talking about.
She looked pleased not to have to launch into a detailed explanation of the First Contact Meetings. “So you’re up to speed already? Good. It makes things easier. I’m sure you realize then, that, for a time the agreement between us and them was peaceful.”
“Peaceful?” I interrupted, sounding more than a little skeptical considering where we were standing right now. “Do you mean the part where they were kidnapping kids and experimenting on them, while the government turned a blind eye?” I crossed my arms. “We may have different definitions of peaceful.”
“Agent Truman has informed me of . . . of what you all are. So I can see why you might not understand the situation.” She glanced around at us. Other than my dad, everyone in our group had been taken and returned. “The matter was complex, Kyra. There was more to it than a simple pact. What you might not realize is that it wasn’t exactly a negotiation.”
Griffin shot her a black look. “Are you saying they would have taken us whether there was an agreement in place or not? I have a hard time believing the president would have just accepted that.”
“And what would he have done about it? What would anyone have done about it?” she asked. “Do you know how incredible it is that they found us at all? Of all the planets, in all the solar systems, in all the galaxies, and they just happened to track us down? It’s the universal version of a needle in a haystack. If their goal had been to destroy us, then they could and would have. But clearly they had other plans for us. The M’alue are explorers. Scientists in their own right.” She made it sound like they impressed her. That she revered rather than feared them. Shrugging, she added, “Cooperating was our best option.”
“So what was the point?” I asked. “If you know so much about them? What was their reason for coming here in the first place? Why were they doing this to us?”
Dr. Clarke looked around—not at us, but at her team. “Clear the room.”
She didn’t say who was supposed to go, and who should stay, but they seemed to know. Only about five of her people remained by the time the evacuation was complete.
Beneath the table, I settled my hands on my knees to stop them from bouncing. This was it. We were finally going to get some answers.
“When they came here, they were dying. That is to say, a large segment of their population was sick, and they were looking for a cure. They thought we might have . . . that we might be the answer they were searching for. Genetics isn’t my specialty.” She nodded to Agent Truman. “Dr. Arlo Bennett here could probably do a better job explaining the science of this, but I’ll give it a shot.” The hologram of Adam vanished and was replaced by a large, rotating double helix. “This is our DNA,” she explained. “Ours is remarkably similar to that of the M’alue considering how different our species and environments are.” She used her fingers to indicate she wanted to ply the strands apart, and the double helix exploded, sending fragments flying into virtual oblivion. All that remained was a single coiled, X-shaped piece. “What it really comes down to is this. They needed one imperceptible, but crucial, chromosome from our genome.”
Jett’s fingertips drummed on the tabletop. “Why not just ask for it? Couldn’t they just get a sample rather than go through all the trouble of abducting us? Experimenting on us?”
Dr. Clarke’s lips pursed. “It was more complicated than that. You might have noticed that you age slower now. Well, there’s a reason for that. Human DNA is subject to something called the Hayflick limit. Basically, it means that there’s a limit to the number of times a human cell can divide before those cells start to ultimately die. Our natural life span.” She shrugged. “And ours is significantly shorter than the M’alue. In order for our chromosome—the one they potentially needed—to be useful to them, they first had to make the life spans match, and the only way to do that was to get their specimens”—she raised her eyebrows as her gaze swept meaningfully over us, letting us know in no uncertain terms that we were the specimens in question—“to live as long as they do before extracting the test samples. Increasing the life spans had other side effects as well—the advanced healing, the slower metabolisms, the need for less sleep.”
“You seem to know a lot about us. How come we’ve never heard of you?” Griffin challenged.
“We’ve tried to be discreet,” Dr. Clarke replied. “But we’re not entirely unknown. The government knows we exist, and as long as we don’t interfere”—she smiled smugly—“they don’t bother us too much—although, sometimes it’s a matter of what they don’t know won’t hurt them. All in all, we do our best to stay off their radar.”