The Darwin Oversight

Copyright © 2007 by Vishwamitra Ramdath

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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

ISBN-13: 978-0-595-43291-2 (pbk)

ISBN-13: 978-0-595-87631-0 (ebk)

ISBN-10: 0-595-43291-3 (pbk)

ISBN-10: 0-595-87631-5 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

QUESTIONS

SPECIMEN

LIFE’S A BEACH

ON THE SURFACE

TICKET TO HEAVEN (OR HELL)

THE CHILEAN DEFENSE

THORNS INTO ROCK

(SARC’S JOURNAL)

LEATHER, SMOKE, DUST …

THE IMPASSE

THE PASS

LOCATING THE HIDDEN

FJORDS IN THE MOONLIGHT

THE LIBRARY OF ANTHRUIM

SHEETS OF FIRE AND WATER

GREAT MINDS COME TOGETHER

GUACARA

SQUALL

C H A P T E R 1

QUESTIONS

With that, I complete my lecture on the evolution of the eye. Next week we shall do the brain. The professor removed his wire rimmed glasses and wiped his forehead with a large blue handkerchief. He had not slept all night as he was studying a new discovery he had made the day before.

The third year medical class at Stone Haven University applauded their approval and started filing out the packed amphitheatre. Professor Holdt’s lectures were especially popular at the university not only because they were intellectually stimulating but because he provided invaluable titbits into the philosophy of human behaviour as a result of evolutionary influences.

Sarc, may I see you a moment? said the professor to one of the front row students. Sarc looked up, an inquisitive expression on his face and then walked briskly over to the professor, clutching a disorganized heap of papers to his chest.

Yes, Professor. What’s up? Sarc had known the professor from long before. They met many years ago while studying the evolution of human physiology at Cambridge.

How are you today, fine I hope?

Can’t complain. They talked for a few minutes, catching up on old times, when suddenly the professor blurted out. There is something I want to show you. Come over to my private lab. They continued bantering as they started down the corridor, but the professor seemed uneasy. As they stepped into the large, cold, room the pungent smell of formaldehyde used to preserve cadavers greeted them. The lab was part of a fairly new facility and was well equipped. The tables were covered with old bones and, fossils, and cadavers.

Professor Holdt walked over to one corner and unlocked a drawer. He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Sarc. The paper was very old and Sarc felt that ifhe held it too hard, it would crumble in his hands. The professor observed his care. Don’t worry, it’s not as fragile as it looks. Saying that, he snatched the paper from Sarc and attempted to tear it. His attempt failed.

See. Sarc stared at him amazed as he handed the paper back.

Come now, look at the inscriptions.

Sarc pored over the parchment. There was a picture of two men, both in line drawings. One of them had a flowing white beard.

‘This one looks like da Vinci," Sarc said.

Quite, right. Professor said.

Where did you get it?

The professor ignored him.

Is that all you see?

He looked closer, turned it over then back at the pictures again.

It looks like an ordinary piece of parchment,

The professor placed it on the table. He touched both eyes of the unknown face in a sequence.

Suddenly the line drawings of the faces became color photos and started moving around. Sarc could hear voices. They spoke in what sounded like Latin.

It was extraordinary. What was an old piece of paper now appeared to be a video screen (an extremely flat one at that) with moving pictures and sound.

I have happened upon an amazing discovery, Sarc. One that I have suspected for many years. This is a complete video record of the life of one man. Every thing he saw and experienced is recorded here. The professor smiled. He was very calm.

How? W-Why? Who? Sarc blurted out, not being able to put his thoughts together.

Calm down, Sarc, said the professor in a soothing tone. Sarc looked at the paper again. There she was, Mona Lisa, posing for Leonardo. She smiled coyly from time to time

Come sit down. He poured Sarc a cup of tea. The steam added potency to the lingering smell of formaldehyde and Sarc’s nose burned.

Sarc what do you know about the missing years of evolution?

The missing link is … Sarc began.

No, no, no, the missing years of evolution

What missing years?

Human beings appeared on the earth approximately one hundred thousand years ago. Since then we have evolved as the dominant species on the planet and have populated the entire earth, changing its landscape. Many other species have evolved, for example bacteria, continued the professor, but bacteria are not highly evolved organisms, nor do they appear to be capable of achieving sentience. Before us the other dominant species to evolve were the dinosaurs. They roamed the earth from one hundred and twenty six million years B.C. to sixty-three millions B.C. Our evolution period has been almost nil compared to theirs. Do the math and see for yourself. Sarc nodded. One hundred thousand divided by sixty three million gives a number very close to zero.

Furthermore, let’s say the earth was formed four billion years ago and life began one billion years after that.

Okay.

Do you see now?

It dawned on Sarc what he was getting at.

Yes, there are two big gaps.

Big gaps! Extremely huge, gaps! You expect me believe that there were no beings, intelligent beings, in the millions ofyears from 3 billion B.C. to 126 million years ago and now all of a sudden in a 2 meagrely thousand years to go from shaping stone to flying in outer space. No! Evolution does not work that way.

So you believe that there have been other intelligent beings to have evolved on earth.

Of course, and this paper, or device or some sort, is proof of it.

Have you considered the possibility that it could be an alien race?

Didn’t you see da Vinci in the parchment? Aliens among us for at least the past five hundred years? scoffed the professor, It certainly isn’t an invasion and if this is their new home, they won’t sit back and watch us as we slowly destroy it. We would have heard from them by now.

Sarc looked over again to the paper and sipped on his now lukewarm tea.

Your specialty is physics. What do you think of it?

Well, Sarc pondered. It is some sort of nanotechnology device way advanced. It probably uses nanorobots as well. The person, whoever he was would have to have a microcamera, possibly two of them or one with two lenses because this has 3-D vision, implanted somewhere close to his eyes.

The professor clasped his hand together, with his thumbs resting on his chin and medicated in silence. Finally he opened his eyes. The possibilities are endless. Many sentient species would have evolved and then disappeared.

The strange thing though is the lack of evidence of the existence of any of them. Sarc was sceptical.

Aha that is where you are wrong it could be easily explained. Any species that evolved to such an extent would aspire to keep the earth as pristine as possible. With a nanotechnology anything is attainable.

Sarc smiled. The professor was well versed in all fields including robotics.

A person could buy a box of chips the size of his palm and build a house using an opaque force field. The power supply need be no bigger than a battery.

He was right. Sarc remained silent and listened. Let’s look at things in perspective. In five hundred thousand years we humans would be able to fly to the edge of the solar system just as easily as it is to take the car to the nearest supermarket.

In this huge span of 63 million years let us take a chunk out and examine it, say 3 million years.

This would produce approximately six extremely advanced civilizations and probably a couple that blew themselves out of existence.

Evolution has shown that when there is one advanced life form the other species suffer from evolution stagnancy. They are suppressed. So to preserve evolution and natural selection as ordained by God, extremely advanced life forms would learn to live the most fulfilled life with the least possible interference of this magnificent earth.

CCT »

I agree.

From our own novice experience we have seen that the more advanced machines are the smaller they become and interfere less with the earth’s ecosystems.

Yes, but we now have the technology to see into the depths of the micro-cosmos and nothing has been found to prove that minute robots are over the earth. Sarc interrupted.

I know that, Sarc, he said in a fatherly tone, Most advanced civilizations will venture out into outer-space and colonise other planets. It is human nature to explore. Eventually no evidence of that civilization will remain. We do not all live in the Garden of Eden wherever that was. We migrated.

But, not all would leave; some must remain.

"Yes, yes that is true. However time does not wait for anyone. Think about it. An advanced civilization would most probably find a cure for all diseases and put a check on aging. Death, after a while would be unheard of and even become something rare or out of the ordinary. After say a further hundred thousand years or so no one will die. Remember living to one hundred years was almost unheard of just a century ago and now it’s everyone’s aspirations. A person might be adamant on staying on his beloved earth, but after about 20,000 years he may get a change ofheart. A human can change his or her way of thinking drastically in one year, far less 100 000 years.

Now, we have reached a state where dying is unheard of. You can and want to be 25 for thousands of years. How long would you spend on earth? How old are you now?

Thirty five

In those thirty five years you have done so much. After a couple thousand years what would be your perspective earth?

I see your point. Eventually, I would leave also. But would those who left not return. "Yes, but remember we are talking in the hundreds of thousands of years. In the end earth will become a myth just like Eden and a new species