DNA

PURINE

Seventeen year ago, one of the things that really attracted Philip to Maggie was her passion for cryptology, the study of codes, how to create them and how to break them. That was a childhood fantasy Maggie she had grown up with. While she was undertaking her undergraduate studies, she was more fascinated my alchemy. Alchemy is described as the study how metals are transformed into gold. In general, alchemy is the study of change, thus the study of how substances change into other substances. As an ancient science that originated from ancient Egypt, it had a lot of connections to mathematics, astrology, physics, chemistry, medicine, magic mythology and even religion. Those who practiced or studied alchemy were called the alchemists. And a popular alchemist we all know was Sir Isaac Newton. In all his life Isaac Newton worked so hard, studying alchemy for only one sacred purpose and that was to find what was called The Elixir of Life. The Elixir of life, also known as the elixir of immortality was a potion or a solution that was believed to grant eternal life or eternal youth to anyone who drank it. It was also believed that, the Elixir of Life could cure all diseases, making it a great treasure to possess. Though Isaac tried, he could find it until his demise in the year 1727.

But before Isaac Newton, was a man called Imhotep an Egyptian who lived in the late 27th century B.C. Imhotep was an Egyptian counsellor to the then Pharaoh of Egypt and the most intelligent counselor Egypt had ever had in all of history. Apart from being the architect of the Egyptian pyramids, and  a high priest of the sun god Ra at Heliopolis, Imhotep was also an alchemist, a poet, a polymath, a judge, an engineer, a magician, a scribe, an astrologer and more notably a physician or a doctor. Due to his colossal knowledge, and enormous Egyptian wisdom and mysteries, he was believed to have lived longer than he was supposed to due to his knowledge in alchemy. It was believed Imhotep was able to create his own elixir that granted him longevity. But before his death, it was believe he left sample clues of how one could find and locate the elixir of life he created. And that had been the ancient books and scripts scientist like Isaac Newton had studied. And for many years, no one had confirmed the location or the true existence of the Elixir, until some few months ago, when Maggie was still pursuing her undergraduate studies. A Chinese archeologist had published a paper about a site in one of the Egyptian pyramids that was believed to possess the portal to where the Elixir was found. 

With that knowledge available, Maggie had started her own clandestine research with the optimism that she would one day obtain the Elixir of life. And for security purposes, she had not told anyone except her fiancée at that time - Philip and together, they did name the expedition Project Alchemy. So, after they got married they had planned to spend their honeymoon in Cairo, Egypt. With the hopes of finding the place the Chinese archaeologist had spoken about. After they arrived at the place, they did well to pass in as tourists visiting the site, hid and entered a secret place that was prohibited.

According to the Chinese archaeologist, that was the place they were supposed to be. The place the love birds entered was dark. There was no light. They walked on quickly and fastidiously, and then something at the far end shot up vertically with yellow, golden lights. Philip quaked a little after he clutched the hands of Maggie. Maggie then decided they move forward and take a look at the golden substance. When they got there, they saw it. It was an oval shaped cube, with a lot of weird inscriptions and symbols on the sides. The oval shaped cube exuded bright golden light. Maggie quickly read the inscription on the pedestal the oval cube sat on and quickly she took out her bag and bagged it in. Philip looked on a little stunned.

“We got something Philip, we can go now.” Maggie said now elated. “Do you know what you have taken?” Philip asked not sure that was the right thing to do.

“Come on let’s get out of here Philip before we are caught.” Maggie said but Philip was not sure that was the right thing to do, with that, a minute altercation ensued in the dark space. As they tried to settle their differences, from nowhere two golden scorpions crawled around the wall in the dark space and crawled towards them. There were so minute it would take a careful analysis to see them. As Maggie and Philip continued to quarrel, the scorpions jumped unto their necks and bit them each. They felt the pain, and quickly moved their hand to their neck. They then pulled out the scorpion looked at them and in fear threw them onto the floor and quickly made for the door before they were caught.

As they walked back to their hotel, the pain on their necks receded, and they did not remember the incident ever again. Back in their hotel, Maggie was elated with the golden oval cube she had obtained. She was optimistic that it was the elixir of life. When they came back to Accra, Ghana, three weeks later, Philip and Maggie a seven months’ series of illness. During their illness period it was Maggie’s dad who had helped them recover. So, perturbed about the illness, Maggie’s Dad wanted to know what had really happened to them. So, Maggie knowing to was all connected to their Egypt expedition explained all that had happened to her dad. The professor then advice that they put away the cube away and forget about Project Alchemy and never mention what had happened to anyone.  

And that was seventeen year ago. Long before Abena, Yaw and Kwesi were born. And now from all the reminiscing, they had done, they believed, it was all connected to the golden oval shaped cube they had obtained from Cairo, Egypt. The treasure was called The Norea. And fascinatingly, they did not have a clue what The Norea did or what it stood for. With this development, Maggie and Philip had been up all night searching for the Norea.

After along search, they found it. The Norea was intact and safe like nothing had ever happened to it in seventeen years. Maggie pulled back all the research she had done on Project Alchemy. If anything, they knew that there was an elixir of life, but they did not know if the elixir was the golden oval shaped object.  Philip moved the Norea to the main study. They were in their home library at the moment. The library was small but accommodated a lot books and had one large oval shaped table with a lot of chairs around it. And that was where the Norea had been kept all this while. Philip eyed it as he waited for Maggie to finish her conversation on the phone with her Dad. Maggie had just informed her dad about the fact that, they believed what was happening in the family was all connected to their trip to Egypt many years ago. After Maggie ended the call, she moved over to the table and gazed at The Norea.  

“What did he say?” Philip said and moved closer to her wife. “He said, we should do well to come along with The Norea, for examination.”

“Examination? We do not even know what this is.” Philip retorted.  “We do not know, but this is our chance to get to the bottom of this Phil. You know my Dad, he will do anything to help us.”  

“I know, and I am counting on that. He has done a lot for us already.” Philip said. “I know.” Maggie retorted, “It’s past 2:00 A.M and I like to get some sleep. Early tomorrow morning we will go and see him and fix this quandary once and for all.” Maggie assured. 

“Sure, shall we.” Philip said, and they moved back went back to sleep.

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Another bright week day greeted the Quansah’s. Philip and Maggie sat in the office of the man professor had talked to Maggie about on the phone. The professor said he was an astrophysicist and had a strong specialization in atomic spectrometry, X- ray diffractometry and neutron activation analysis. The physicist believed the three processes could bring to light anything they were supposed to know about The Norea. After waiting for solid two hours, the man called Maggie and Philip to join Professor Edward Osei Bonsu and his good friend astrophysicist Dr. Martin Hama. He was old, forty-two year, with a clear shaped head. Dr. Hama moved with great confidence as a physicist and he was optimistic he could solve the plight of the Quansahs. The office the astrophysicist was indeed messy with, large computer monitors, laboratory equipment, chemicals both solutions and powered crystals, binoculars, goggles, a picture of the periodic table, hand gloves, electronic devices and finally radio antennas and a lot of research papers that had been affixed on the office wall. On the large monitor was a graphical display showing the elemental composition of The Norea.

“Welcome Mr. and Mrs. Quansah.” Dr. Hama said. “Your father has told me everything already.” The man said pointing to Maggie.

“All that we are going to do is to discuss the result I have obtained so far from the three tests I have done on the artifact you brought.” Dr. Hama said.

“Okay, so what it is. What did you find?” Maggie inquired as they were sited on the seat that had been provided. Dr. Hama moved to the monitor and showed them the diagram.

“The diagram you see here is the elemental composition of your artifact. Truth be, told I have never encountered something like this before. Most of the elements we found from your artifact were not on the planets periodic table. Most of the elements do not exist.” Dr. Hama said.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Philip inquired. “What he means is that, the artifact does not originate from earth. It originated from outer space, somewhere but not earth.” Professor Bonsu added.

“But we found it in Egypt, a country on earth?” Maggie added stunned. “Yes, that is true but we can also look at it that it came from somewhere and ended up in Egypt, though we do not really know where it came from.” Dr. Hama added.

“And from the inscription and the design, it could not match any human prototype. So, I used a reverse engineer simulation to have a prototype of the blue print and guess what.” Dr. Hama said and showed then another image on the monitor.  It was an image that resembled the animal cell, circular shaped, with a lot of dark particle in it.

“Is that an animal cell?” Philip asked. “Exactly. What you carry and have been carrying is not some oval shaped cube; it’s actually a segmented form of the DNA of an ancient civilization. The future progeny of a civilization is what you have been carrying.”

“He means that the golden cube you have been protecting is the future generation of some of people of a planet, and the strange thing is that, that planet is not planet earth.” Prof. Bonsu added.

“And that will connect to the scorpions that bit you. We have reason to believe that they were not earthly scorpion either. Meaning, after you were bitten in Cairo, you inadvertently had the DNA of some civilization encoded or embossed into your DNA. And that explains the illnesses you two had. Your body was reforming, transmutating and acclimatizing to a new genetic code and material.” The professor added.

Maggie could not believe it. “Oh my God, this is crazier than I thought. Dad you mean our DNA had undergone some form of mutation as a result of the bite of the scorpions?” Maggie inquired

“Not actually. I know you may have had your DNA checked since your husband is a geneticist, but what you did not bother to do is use a high-resolution laser microscopy, which we have used so far to check your DNA from the blood I took. And the results are clear.” Dr. Hama said.

“The image you are seeing on your screen matched to both of your DNA’s.” Prof Bonsu said almost in tears.’

“Your DNA had been merged for lack of a better word to the DNA of some alien species, and that is the genetic anomaly you are experiencing and that of your children. And this genetic aberration or mutation as you like to call it has corresponding phenotypic effects.…..” Dr. Hama explained. Philip shook his head; Maggie broke down in minute tears. What have they done? Maggie cried.

“And what are these effects?” Philip inquired. “A re-coding of your genetic information. And this accounts for the special abilities you possess. And since its hereditary, you passed the same genes onto your children.” Dr. Hama explained.

“So, our DNA has been taken over by some alien DNA. That is crazy. Is all these serious?” Philip inquired so livid. Dr. Hama was a little tensed so was Professor Bonsu.

“I am sorry Dr. Quansah, but that is the truth. What I have seen is what I have told you. Xenology is the study of everything that is outside of earth. What we term as extraterrestrial or alien. And your plight is a perfect example of a xenologic and homosapien fusion. I will suggest you do well to find the origin of the Norea and I believe that may give you some answers.” Dr. Hama proposed.

“So what is the worst we should expect from this genetic anomaly?” Philip inquired forlorn.

“But so far, I have not encountered any negative effect from my analysis and examination. So, all I will advise it that you keep this a secret and I think your children do not even have to know this. We do not know how this happened, but in my view, it is a wonderful thing to have supernatural powers, though it may sound infantile, but our country needs it and you will be an inspiration to many.”  Dr. Hama said.

Professor Bonsu thanked the astrophysicist for his help. Maggie was already in tears on the shoulders of her husband. All that had happened had been their fault, she ruminated. Still in the office of the astrophysicist, The Norea lighted again exuding its golden radiance. Maggie quickly stopped crying and moved closer and touched The Norea. She did not know what she was doing, but to her it was like she had been able to connect to a part of her that was lost. Philip stood there watching her wife as he bowed her head down. 

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Late that afternoon in the emergency room of the hospital, two nurses whizzed past everyone. There was an emergency at the ER. When they got there, the heart of Eddie Vorsah was beating in an undulating fashion. The electrocardiogram, EC reading was also receding meaning, if he did not receive immediate treatment he was going to die. One of the nurses rushed out to call a doctor while the other stayed applying pressure to the heart of Eddy. Minutes later, when the doctor came in, the EC was not beeping any longer. The sound was shrill. And that meant only one thing - someone had just died. Eddy Vorsah is dead.