Ripple (Breakthrough Book 4) Read online

  Sitting on a large rock next to Dulce, the more reserved monkey Dexter was also studying the toy intently. When Dulce would periodically turn one side of the cube, Dexter promptly cocked his head and studied the bottom of it. It reaffirmed her belief in how intelligent the older creature really was.

  DeeAnn’s thoughts drifted momentarily to her old friend Luke Greenwood, the man who had discovered Dexter and the first to suspect just how special the capuchin was. A discovery that ultimately cost Greenwood his life and very nearly DeeAnn’s.

  But Greenwood’s instincts had proved correct. So far, every test DeeAnn had administered clearly substantiated his hunch. For a capuchin, Dexter’s intelligence was literally off the charts.

  DeeAnn’s phone suddenly chimed, and she reached down to retrieve it from her pocket. It was a message she’d been expecting. She looked back at the two primates.

  “Dulce, I will be back soon. Okay?”

  The young gorilla looked away from the cube and blinked happily at DeeAnn with her soft hazel eyes.

  Okay.

  DeeAnn smiled and looked at Dexter, who had not taken his eyes off the cube. She then glanced around the habitat, noting the dozens of high-resolution cameras surrounding them. It was peculiar. Using a wireless connection to the IMIS computer system, the vest translated everything Dulce said. At least to her.

  What it wasn’t translating was anything Dulce said to Dexter. Even when they were clearly communicating with one another. One of DeeAnn’s former colleagues had published the first examples of instinctive gesturing between primates, and DeeAnn continued to witness it now firsthand. But the IMIS system, even as powerful as it was, was not picking up any of it.

  It was very peculiar.

  Something she would have to bring up with Lee again. When he was ready.

  She let herself out through the wide glass door before reaching down and turning off the power to the vest. She had something more important to talk to Lee about right now. They all did.

  Lee Kenwood looked up as Alison and Clay entered the computer lab. The large metal door swung closed behind them with a loud click, and Lee instinctively rose from his chair to get Clay a seat.

  Clay crossed the room on his crutches and smiled. “Thank you, Lee. I think I’ll stand for a bit.”

  Lee nodded and looked up to see the door open a second time, with DeeAnn stepping quietly inside. He looked back to Alison and Clay.

  “What’s up?”

  The lab was quiet, eerily so. In the absence of their colleagues Juan Diaz and Chris Ramirez, the entire research center didn’t feel quite right. It felt…empty.

  Alison smiled as she approached. “What are you working on?”

  Lee turned back to his monitor with a solemn expression. “Uh, just some coding. Trying to improve the pattern recognition between multiple—” He suddenly stopped himself and shrugged. “Nothing important.”

  Alison put a gentle hand on his arm. “You okay?”

  “Yeah. Just…kind of having a hard time with it all.”

  “We all are,” DeeAnn replied softly.

  “So, what’s going on?”

  “Lee,” Alison said, “we need to talk to you.”

  “About what?”

  “About Juan and Chris. About what’s been happening.”

  Lee glanced at each of them. “What do you mean?”

  “I think you know what I mean.”

  “Uh…”

  “Lee, you’ve been friends with Juan and Chris for a while. So I’m sure they’ve told you some things, not to mention what you’ve already witnessed firsthand. I’m betting you know quite a lot.”

  Lee displayed a subtle but nervous grin. He eventually turned his attention to Clay, who was watching him intently. “Well, I know some things.”

  Clay took a deep breath. “Have a seat, Lee.”

  “Okay.” He reached back for the arm of his chair and lowered himself down.

  “Tell us what you know.”

  “Well, I saw what happened with Sofia. And what happened with us. Like my ribs. And how fast they healed. Chris did tell me about the plants. The ones in South America and then the ones you found in the ocean.” He paused. “And…I’ve also been reading through IMIS’s translation logs.”

  Clay nodded. “Then I’m guessing you know even more about what we found in Guyana.”

  “Some.”

  “That’s what Juan was killed over,” Clay said.

  “Yeah…I know that too.”

  “And then we found something related. Near Trinidad.”

  “Where all the plants and dolphins are.”

  “Correct.” Clay glanced at Alison before continuing. “Lee, what we’re about to tell you is highly secret. It cannot be repeated to anyone. Ever.”

  “Including your wife,” Alison added.

  “Okaaay.”

  “It’s a ship, Lee. It’s an alien ship.”

  Lee’s eyes instantly widened. “What?!”

  “A spaceship, hidden beneath the coral. And what we found in Guyana came from that ship.”

  “What was it?”

  Clay stopped and took a step back, leaning against the edge of a large metal table. “Embryos. Millions of embryos. In perfect hibernation. Buried inside a mountain.”

  “No way!”

  Clay grinned. “We’re pretty sure those embryos were transported on the ship we found. Brought here and intentionally hidden.”

  Lee blinked in fascination. “When?”

  “We’re not sure,” Alison answered. “But we know it was a long, long time ago.”

  Lee sat in stunned silence. He continued staring at them, trying to grasp the meaning behind all of what they just said. His reaction felt strange. After all the years of speculation, of movies and stories about aliens, now for it to actually be real, felt…odd.

  “So…what do you need from me?”

  Clay rested his weight onto one of the crutches. “We need you because we don’t think the place we found in Guyana is the only one.”

  “You think there’s more?!”

  Clay nodded. “One more. Hidden somewhere in Africa.”

  The younger Lee looked back and forth between them again. “How do you know that?”

  “We’re theorizing,” DeeAnn answered. “The place we found in Guyana was hidden inside solid rock. But everything, even rock, eventually erodes. It eroded there. Enough to let some of what was inside trickle out and seep into the water. Which is how it reached the plants. We think it’s what caused the changes in Dexter too.”

  “The monkey.”

  “Yes. He’s old, Lee. Very old. Much older than he’s supposed to be. And he’s smarter than any primate I’ve ever seen before. You’ve witnessed some of the tests.”

  Lee turned and looked at his monitor at the live video feed from the habitat downstairs. “I didn’t realize…” He let his voice trail off before clearing his throat. “So, what does this all mean?”

  “It means there might be more of what changed him still out there. And if there is, we have to find it, before someone else does.”

  “It extends your age?”

  “It’s more than that,” Alison said. “It accelerates healing and slows aging to almost nothing. In fact, it might even reverse it.”

  “We saw it happen,” Clay nodded. “Onboard the Bowditch, while you and Chris were in sickbay. But the ship was attacked and the Chinese destroyed whatever was still left in Guyana. They were not about to let anyone else have it.”

  Lee looked intently at DeeAnn. “And that’s what you and Juan went back for.”

  “Yes.”

  Lee fell silent for several minutes. His eyes grew somber as his brain worked to piece things together. When he finally looked up again, a glint of determination could be seen in his tired eyes. “So, if there’s another location out there, we have to find it before the Chinese.”

  “Bingo.”

  “Do we know where it is?”

  To that, Clay turned
to DeeAnn.

  “No,” she said. “Not really. The reason we think there’s a second site is because of our own genetics.” She paused, then took a deep breath. “We think what we found in Guyana changed Dexter’s DNA. We think the same thing may have happened to the dolphins and their DNA based on the plants we found underwater. And we think it may have happened with humans too.”

  Lee’s eyes grew wide again. “You think it influenced human DNA?”

  “It’s possible. A discovery by a research group recently found very similar brain types existing between just a few different species on Earth. Brains that not only evolved to have very similar designs and functions but share common genes that affect brain development. So similar, in fact, that the chances of this happening independently through evolution is almost nil. Dolphins, humans, and primates all have practically identical looking brain designs. What differences there are tend to be rather slight. Things that affect size and weight. The discovery by that team was called the Trio Brain theory.”

  Lee was still incredulous. “Wait. If whatever it was you found is responsible for Dexter’s DNA, and Sally and Dirk’s, you think it could be responsible for ours too?”

  “Correct. Probably a long time ago, and much earlier on our evolutionary path. And probably close to where humans first originated. In Africa.”

  “Wow,” Lee said, shaking his head. “Just wow! If you’re right, then that’s huge!”

  Clay continued. “And there’s more. But before we go any further, you need to decide on your level of participation.”

  Lee leaned forward in his chair. “I’m in. I’m definitely in.”

  “It’s not that easy, Lee. Alison, DeeAnn, and I are now part of a very small team that knows. Some, like you, now have pieces of what we’ve found so far, but not everything.”

  Alison nodded. “No one knows what is happening here, Lee. Or how big this is. Not the public, not even the military beyond our core team.”

  “And no one can find out,” Clay finished.

  Lee’s expression abruptly changed. “Wait a minute. You’ve already told me a lot. At what point do I know too much?”

  “We want you, Lee. We want you and your skills on the team.”

  “And what if I say no?”

  Clay shrugged. “We’re not going to make you disappear if that’s what you’re asking. The government has far more sophisticated ways of keeping people quiet. Better ways to deal with loose ends.”

  A sudden look of worry passed over Lee’s face before Alison shook her head at Clay with mock displeasure. “Stop that.”

  Clay laughed.

  “Oh my God,” Lee exhaled. “I thought you were serious.”

  DeeAnn’s eyes were also wide. “So did I.”

  Clay’s laugh faded, and he grew serious again. “I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t dangerous. The Chinese killed a lot of people, including Juan, and destroyed an entire mountain to try to hide it. Which should give you an indication of just how far people are willing to go for this.”

  “How many people are on this team?”

  “Myself, Ali, DeeAnn, Steve Caesare, and Will Borger. Plus, Admiral Langford and Secretary of Defense Miller. A few others have some limited involvement, but they only know what they have to.”

  Lee sat quietly, thinking.

  “This is big, Lee,” Alison said softly. “Really big. Some of the biggest questions we’ve ever had, not just as a civilization but as a species, might just get answered.”

  DeeAnn shrugged. “Or they might not.”

  “True.”

  “Before you say yes,” Clay added, “there are a few things you need to understand. There are caveats. Steps that will need to be taken to ensure no one finds out what we’re really after. And I mean no one.”

  “What kind of caveats?”

  “No contact with family or friends. At least for a while. We’d have to make an exception for your wife under strict guidance, but you’d be away from her for at least a few months. Maybe more. You would have to tell everyone else that you were off the grid, on a remote project.”

  Lee frowned.

  “Phones would be restricted to only a few numbers, and encrypted.” Clay paused and took a deep breath. The next part was something he hadn’t spoken to the others about yet, not even Ali. But Langford and Miller were adamant.

  “There’s something else too,” he said, his gaze turning to Alison. “And it’s something none of you are going to like…at all.”

  5

  Alison’s expression changed at once, and she looked expectantly at Clay. As did the others.

  He rose again and propped one arm under a crutch for support, keeping most of his weight off his left leg. There was no easy way to say it, so he spit the acronym out quickly.

  “IMIS.”

  The three looked at each other with confusion before Lee responded. “IMIS?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s the caveat?”

  Clay nodded.

  “I don’t—” Lee stopped when he noticed the look of understanding on Alison’s face. It was combined with fear stemming from years of paranoia over what the government might decide to do.

  “No,” she said, slowly shaking her head.

  “Wait,” Lee said to Clay. “You mean…”

  “Your computer system has done something that no other has,” Clay said grimly. “It has data that can now point back to that mountain and what may lie in Africa.” He was still looking at Alison. “And that data needs to be protected.”

  Alison instantly hardened. “They’re not taking it, John! They’re not taking IMIS. If they do, it’s going to be over my dead—”

  “Easy, Ali,” he said, interrupting her. “Langford and Miller are right on this, but that’s not what they’re saying. If the rest of the government can’t know what we’re up to, then they certainly can’t have access to IMIS. No one can. But here, in this research center, it’s not safe. It can’t be protected here.”

  “So what do we do?”

  Even on his crutches, Clay’s blue eyes were strong and determined. “We move it.”

  “Move it? Where?”

  “Borger is working on that. But that’s not the part you’re not going to like.” He paused again while the others stared at him impatiently. “It’s not just the data…it’s also the work.”

  DeeAnn was the first to understand. And while Alison and Lee were still pondering his words, she spoke up with a smirk. “You mean our achievements.”

  “That’s right.”

  Alison looked back and forth, confused. “What?”

  “He means what we’ve done. Our achievements…and our press releases.”

  They still weren’t following.

  DeeAnn stared at them wryly. “Don’t you see? They want us to retract everything.”

  They all turned to Clay, dumbstruck.

  “Is that true?”

  Clay had been waiting to break it to Alison at the right time. And this particular moment was clearly not it. He nodded apologetically. “Yes.”

  “Retract? Do you have any idea what you’re saying?” Alison asked. “A retraction is like saying we’re incompetent. To the entire world.”

  Clay’s voice became low. “I know.”

  “I don’t think you do,” she said, crossing her arms. “And I’m not going to do it.”

  He frowned. “They’re going to come for IMIS, Ali. Sooner or later, someone is going to connect the dots. When they find out what IMIS is and what it can do, and what’s in the data, they will descend on this place with a vengeance and a single goal.”

  “Not if it isn’t here,” offered Lee.

  Clay turned to him. “We’ll move it, but ultimately it won’t matter where it is, Lee. Even if we hide it, once someone realizes this, they’ll find it. All secrets eventually come out, and this one leads directly to IMIS.”

  “No,” Alison said. “There’s got to be another way.”

  But DeeAnn shook her head,
thoughtfully. “No. The world already knows what IMIS can do. At least partly. The best way to avoid creating a path to IMIS…is to make people think it never worked in the first place.”

  “No,” Alison argued. “We can do it without destroying our careers! We can do something else. We can announce that IMIS is damaged, irreparably. Or the data was lost. Or—”

  “Computers can be repaired,” Lee mumbled. “And data can be recreated.”

  “Then think of a way it can’t!”

  He shook his head. “There isn’t a way, Ali. Even if we thought of a cover, and hid the system away, we still need a connection to it. And all connections are traceable, eventually. And if we broke that, we wouldn’t be able to communicate with it either. Hiding IMIS isn’t as easy as it sounds.”

  “The only way,” DeeAnn said, “is to convince everyone that it doesn’t work.”

  “But too many people have already seen it work!”

  “I don’t think that’s what DeeAnn means,” Lee said quietly. “We’d have to claim the translations themselves were faulty. That the results themselves were wrong. That’s the only way the scientific community would dismiss it. The only way the world would dismiss it.”

  This time, Alison didn’t reply. She simply stood, facing them in utter astonishment. Her sudden anger with Clay was already fading to helplessness. Her mind tried desperately to find a way that he was wrong, but she couldn’t. She knew as well as they did how critical IMIS was to all of this.

  It was the catalyst that had changed everything. That was still changing everything.

  But she just couldn’t do it. She couldn’t throw it away. Every bit of recognition she’d fought so hard for. Every bit of acceptance by those who had criticized her efforts and claimed it could never be done. The same people who mocked her in their own papers. She had proven them all wrong! And now she was faced with the prospect of letting them all think they were right. While simultaneously becoming a laughing stock of the entire scientific community. The very idea was simply horrifying, and it left her utterly speechless, standing before Clay and the others.