An Ecology of MInd (21 page)

“Humanity should be constantly aware of the fact that even if an organism is successful or the top predator in the ecosystem the process of natural
selection never stops testing it, or trying to replace it with something different. Status quo is not allowed. The system does not care if something is
working, it will continue to make alterations and test them against the existing populations in a life-or-death contest."

"Death is an integral and key part of the system. In order for some organisms to live, many more must die on an ongoing and continual basis. Death and
natural selection are inherent in how DNA functions. DNA continually creates organisms, which mutate over time in environments with limited resources.
Given those parameters, death must occur."

"There has been at least one experiment where an artificial environment has been set up with the conditions believed to have been present during Earth's
distant past. The best that this experiment could show was the creation of some of the building-block molecules that make up DNA. The actual spontaneous
creation of DNA itself has not been demonstrated."

"You can purchase machines now, relatively inexpensively, that allow you to make DNA and build it in the way you choose. As far as I know, however, nobody
has demonstrated an example of the spontaneous creation of DNA in nature."

"The average person sees evolution as being a process of developing species that are more and more advanced. The idea that all species are in the process
of evolving towards some form of higher being does not seem supported. Instead, observation of the details of the evolutionary process and natural
selection seem to support that it is largely, if not totally, random. There does seem to be a trend of increasing complication in organisms and species,
but only in certain species. Others have not changed much in millions of years."

"As I had mentioned earlier, natural selection keeps testing organisms and species, and as long as they seem to be the best in their particular ecological
niche, they remain. If they are not, they die out and are replaced. If an earthworm is functioning extremely efficiently in what it does, evolution does
not seem to try to make more intelligent earthworms. There has been no evolution of sharks over hundreds of millions of years into some form of highly
intelligent tool using shark. They have remained extremely similar to what they were at the time of the dinosaurs."

"The idea that humans are the pinnacle and final result of some long evolutionary process does not seem to be more than species-specific bias."

"It is often assumed by the general population that evolution is a change in species over time to create a higher or more evolved life form. The reality is
that there probably is no fixed end point or master plan in DNA. If so, we don't have some form of special status. Humans are only another random
possibility to be continually tested by natural selection and discarded if we fail the test."

"I have hinted and suggested that in many ways DNA may be more of a puppet master in our history and future than we realize. What we have discussed at
times seems to hint or imply that this may be true. However, that is something that is hinted at or suggested with no firm evidence at this time."

"DNA may have had a role in shaping or guiding some of our history, but the full extent of that role is unknown."

"I also mentioned at the beginning of the day that the human brain is hardwired to see patterns. It is so good at seeing patterns that it can sometimes see
meaningful patterns where there are none. This makes trying to infer from small glimpses and indirect data more difficult. What we construct could be
totally wrong, so there is a need in this type of investigation to keep looking and testing and not just assume it is correct."

KIM PULLED UP TO THE CURB of the street in front of the NSA and put the car in park. She and Don got out just as a guard was coming forward yelling at them
that they could not park there and to get their piece of crap car out of there. Don was just going to try to talk to him when Kim said, “Let me handle
this.”

“Of course he muttered, why wouldn't you?”

Kim produced some identification from somewhere. He didn’t see where she pulled it from. She showed it to the guard who looked at it and quit yelling.

“We are in a hurry. It's important. We will be back for the car, but it will probably take quite a while. Don’t let anyone tow it.” With that she ignored
the guard, just assuming he would do as she said and started towards the entrance.

“Come on. Wendy is going to need us to smooth things over with her bosses.”

Don glanced at the guard who looked like he wanted to argue but didn’t, and then hurried after Kim.

“Dammit,” he thought for probably the fortieth time. “Who is this woman?”

There were a couple of security points on the way to Wendy's office, but Kim just flashed whatever her identification was and said Don was with her. Don
didn't ever see the identification, but it seemed to work miracles.

He had never been to Wendy's office, so he had no idea where it was, he just followed along. He felt like he had not had control of anything since they
shot him with that tranquilizer dart at home. He felt like he was being swept along in some wave and could do nothing but watch. The one time he had tried
to take control and had physically confronted Kim had not gone well. He still could not get over how easily she had subdued him. Overall, he was feeling
pretty useless, but at least he wasn't held prisoner any more.

They were walking along one hallway when he noticed an armed guard at one of the doors ahead of them on the right. The guard had a stocky build, loaded
with lots of muscle and had his hand on the pistol located in the holster at his side. He had an "I'm not taking crap from anyone" kind of look on his
face.

Kim did not even hesitate. She marched up with her identification held up and said, "We are here to see Wendy Wallchuk."

The guard examined her I.D. closely and told her to wait there a minute. He then disappeared inside the office. Don could hear voices in the office and one
of them, in particular, did not sound happy. The door opened again, and the guard was there.

"Come in."

Kim went in, and Don followed. It was not a large office, and he saw Wendy sitting by a desk with a computer on it and a middle aged, distinguished-looking
man with graying hair. There was an additional guard to the one from the hall that let them in.

Wendy jumped up when she saw her brother. "Don, I'm so glad you are okay. I was worried sick."

"I'm fine sis."

"Glad to hear It." Cut in Patrick Walker, but he did not sound glad. "I take it; you are the kidnapped brother, and who are you?" he asked, looking
pointedly at Kim.

Kim handed him the identification she had been using so freely to get them this far.

"Kim Lee. Is there a problem here? Why the guards?"

Nelson looked at the I.D. carefully and then handed it back saying, "All well and good but this is an internal matter, and the NSA will decide on how to
deal with it. "I'm considering having Ms. Wallchuk here arrested for a severe security breach."

"What security breach is that?" asked Kim.

"As I said, it's an internal matter but an email containing classified information was sent to a lot of people without the proper security level authorized
to see it."

"Nonsense," Huffed Kim, "The email was sent to ensure that the classified information would remain in the hands of the NSA and would not be stolen as the
Chinese agents had planned. The trustworthiness of your personnel was severely compromised by the nature of the requests and nature of the plot. Ms.
Wallchuk acted heroically and in line with the interests of the NSA. At this point, we are not even sure you are not working with the enemy agents,
although I doubt that you are."

The phone on Wendy's desk rang and Wendy looking worried picked it up.

"Wendy Wallchuk."

She listened and then looked over at Mr. Walker. "Yes he is, just a minute." She extended the phone to Nelson. "It's for you."

"Walker here. What is it June, I'm busy. What? Yes, yes, of course put her on." There was a short pause and then Patrick Walker said, "Yes, I will hold."

Everyone was wondering who was calling because Nelson had gone from irritated arrogance to paying serious attention to the phone and looking somewhat
confused.

"Yes sir. Yes, sir. I understand sir. Absolutely, you can count on me. It won't be a problem at all sir, happy to oblige. Thank you sir."

Looking a little dazed Walker put the phone down. Then he seemed to pull himself together and turned to Kim.

"I've been instructed to assist you in any way. What do you want me to do?"

"First, forget about Ms. Wallchuk as a suspect for having done anything wrong. If anything she deserves to be commended on fast thinking and heroism in an
extremely dangerous and stressful situation. In fact, I suggest you look very strongly at considering her for promotion."

"Second, I'm pretty sure you have one or more people here that are working for the enemy. The way the demands were phrased strongly implied that they had a
way of monitoring Ms. Wallchuk's progress within the NSA. Take a close look for anyone who seems suspicious or had a way to keep tabs on her."

"Third, it looks like the Chinese are ahead of us in the area of quantum computer research, possibly by a lot. Ms. Walchuck was careful not to include the
significance of what the information was that the kidnappers wanted in her email. She can bring you up to speed as to what they actually wanted and explain
to you its importance. The NSA better get started addressing that immediately."

"Perhaps Ms. Wallchuck could accompany you Mr. Walker to your office and she can explain to you the details. I will wait here with her brother and debrief
him while you are doing that. He doesn't have the clearance for what you two have to discuss. He'll be here when you are done."

"Yes, certainly. Sounds like a way to start anyway. Ms. Wallchuck, come with me please."

Wendy was a bit dazed by how Kim seemed to step in here at the NSA and just start issuing orders, and even stranger, have them obeyed. She didn't know what
was going on but decided the best plan seemed to go along. Kim seemed to be keeping her out of trouble with her bosses and most importantly; she had
rescued Don, just like she had said she would. Wendy decided to take Kim's lead in this. "Yes, sir."

"Ms. Lee." said Mr. Walker. "If there is anything else you need, let me know."

"Yes, thank you. I appreciate your cooperation. I know it's not easy putting up with outsiders at the best of times, let alone at times like this. I think
the situation is under control though with just some loose ends to tidy up." She smiled warmly at Mr. Walker and surprisingly; he found himself smiling
back. She was very attractive and seemed understanding of his situation.

Walker told one of the guards to stay with Kim and Don, in case she needed anything, and then he departed with the other guard and Wendy in tow. The guard
he left behind stepped outside and closed the door.

Once the door closed Kim turned to Don and said, "Looks like things are under control for now. Take a seat. Wendy will probably be a while before she gets
back."

DR. PEARSON SAID, "I THINK it's time for a brief history interlude to keep Dr. Wales happy. Who here knows who Heinrich Schliemann was?"

Several hands in the class went up.

"Ah, very good, I had a feeling a group consisting mainly of history students would have at least some people who recognized the name. To bring the rest of
you up to speed, Heinrich Schliemann is the archeologist who discovered the ruins of the city of Troy in the second half of the 1800s."

"Troy and the Trojan War had been described in the works of the blind poet Homer, hundreds of years before the time of Christ. It had been assumed to be
totally fictional but Schliemann thought otherwise. Homer included things in his poems like giant cyclops, a Sorceress that could turn men into pigs, and
the demi-god Achilles that was invulnerable everywhere except his one heel. Despite this Schliemann was sure the part about the city of Troy was true. He
went on to discover the actual city of Troy in what is now the country of Turkey. Doing this established him as a giant in the worlds of history and
archeology, and as you have seen his name and story lives on today."