DNA

GUANINE

It was late afternoon at the University and Maggie was given a lecture on cryptography. The class was full as Maggie lectured. With all the things that had happened to her family the past week, she still had the courage to do what she loved doing best – teaching.

“Human beings from ages have had two inherent needs – one, to communicate and share information and secondly, to communicate selectively. These two needs gave rise to the art of coding or structuring messages in such a way that only the intended people could have access to the information. This coding was also done in a way such that unauthorized people could not extract any information, even if the scrambled messages fell in their hand. Ladies and gentlemen, -- the art and science of concealing messages to introduce secrecy in information security is termed as cryptography.” Maggie said with a blissful face and projected an image on the screen. The students kept writing. Maggie then continued to lecture.

“The word ‘cryptography’ was coined by combining two Greek words, ‘Krypto’ meaning hidden and ‘graphene’ meaning writing. So, in prosaic words we could say cryptography simply means, hidden writing. The art of cryptography is considered to be born along with the art of writing. As civilizations evolved, human beings got organized in tribes, groups, and kingdoms. This led to the emergence of ideas such as power, battles, supremacy, and politics. These ideas further fueled the natural need for  people to communicate secretly with selective recipient which in turn ensured the continuous evolution of cryptography as well.” Maggie paused and displayed the image of an ancient Egyptian civilization on the projector screen. Maggie smiled and continued.

“The roots of cryptography are found in Roman and Egyptian civilizations, as can be seen on the screen. The first known evidence of cryptography can be traced to the use of ‘hieroglyph’. Or what we know in these contemporary times as hieroglyphics.  The word hieroglyphics is Greek. “Hiero” means “holy” and “glyphics” means “marks” or “writings” – so the word means “holy writings “. The Egyptians believed there was great power in a name. If someone’s name was remembered, then he or she would survive in the afterlife. That’s why pharaohs’ names were written in hieroglyphics in their tombs. Hieroglyphics was a holy writing of the Egyptians like the bible was the holy book of the Christians.  Some 4000 years ago, the Egyptians used to communicate by messages written in hieroglyph. This code was the secret known only to the scribes who used to transmit messages on behalf of the kings. Typical examples of the hieroglyphs are shown on your screen.”

Maggie paused again and showed the class the image of the original Egyptian Hieroglyphics. The image on the screen was the image of alphabets and symbols. Organized in a matrix format, the original hieroglyphics had pictures that represented all the alphabets. So, for the alphabets A was represented by an Egyptian vulture. The letter D was represented by a human hand. The letter J was represented by a cobra and many more. The students stopped writing and took their time to observe what they have never seen or read about in their lives. This was ancient wisdom that the world did not talk about.

“Then as time went on, the scholars moved on to using simple mono-alphabetic substitution ciphers during 500 to 600 BC. This involved replacing alphabets of messages with other alphabets with some secret rule. This rule became a key to retrieve the message back from the garbled message. And this brings us to the end of this afternoon lecture. The next time we meet, we shall look at steganography and the modern digital cryptography. Steganography is similar but adds another dimension to Cryptography. In steganography, people not only want to protect the secrecy of an information by concealing it, but they also want to make sure any unauthorized person gets no evidence that the information even exists. Trust me it will be another exciting lecture. So, take time to go over what we have discussed today, and I will be ready to answer your questions when we meet the next time.” Maggie said and started packing her stuffs on her table to leave.

She was beaming with the normal smile most of her students knew her for, but deep in her, there was a lot that she had to resolve with her husband.

After the lecture had ended, Maggie walked briskly clutching her books on her chest as she entered her office. The secretary was busy with a thing she was doing so was not at her desk. Maggie got to her door and quickly opened it.  Immediately she entered a man turned his back to face her. It was her husband.

“Oh Phil, you never told me you were coming.” Maggie said and moved on and placed her books down.

“Yes, I didn’t my bad. I should have. Do you have a minute to talk?” Philip said still sitting in the chair posterior to her wife’s table. Maggie let out a deep breath and relegated herself in her seat. This was the best time to talk. And she knew it. And there was a lot to talk about.

Two weeks ago, Philip had come home late in the evening. All the children were asleep as their mother had told them to since they had to rise up early for school the following day. Maggie had waited for Philip to come home before she went to bed. After many texts Maggie sent, Philip replied her, he was coming and that he was not alone. That did not auger well or make sense to Maggie. Maggie then texted Philip again to understand what he meant by he was not alone. Philip then replied saying he cannot really talk about that on the phone, but Maggie would comprehend everything when they arrived.  Maggie waited for the next thirty minutes and that was when, the vehicle of Philip pulled up at the house.

Maggie was eager to know what was happening. Philip entered the house holding a woman in his arms. Maggie did not know what was happening. She stood frozen seeing the fair woman was virtually n***d. What had her husband been up to? She thought. They quickly moved the woman to their bedroom. The women was getting hot, and suffocating as she depicted that with her difficulty in breathing. Sarah and Koby were not around. Only Maggie and Philip were.

“We need to lower her temperature. That is how she will be stabilized.” Philip said and Maggie still naive of what was happening quickly moved to the refrigerator to collet some pallets of ice. She brought it to the women. Philip them placed all the ice in a cloth and tied it around the woman. He then wrapped the ice around the neck of the women. She was not getting stable and her breathing started getting better. Maggie looked stunned and little petrified.

“Phil…what is going on, who is she?” Maggie asked with the sense of urgency. The women was getting better. Philip turned to look at her wife, who was not ready for anything but the total truth.

“I found her in my lab this evening. I was working, and she mysteriously entered in my lab from some form of a portal and crushed my specimens on to the floor.” Philip said rapidly. The time was fifteen minutes to the next day.

“What? How?” Maggie inquired not so convinced. “I know it does not make a lot of sense, but she is not from this earth. Her skin has changed. Her original skin is violet-green, and she spoke in a weird tongue but then, started speaking in English, after she transformed to a human form.” Philip explained.

“Oh…you mean she can speak English?” Maggie said. “Yes, she can.” Philip replied. Maggie then valiantly moved to the women. She was recuperating on their sofa.

“Hi…” Maggie said. The women looked on beaming with air. She did not say a word. “My husband has told a lot about you, but I want to know for myself. Who are you and where do you come from?” Maggie inquired. The women quickly jerked up and she thrust her head back. She moved her head in a clockwise manner and moved her head forward again. She seemed back again to normal.  

“Hello sister…it is good to see you again.” The women said. Maggie looked on stunned. “Oh! I have only one sister, and that is not you. So, tell me who are you?”

“Oh, sister how I have longed for this day. I am so glad I found you and brother.” The women said and pointed to Philip referring to him as the brother she was talking about. Maggie was getting more confused now. Then immediately, the women moved her head back and fell onto the sofa a sleep. Maggie tried waking her up, but she did not respond. Maggie then turned to Philip and looked at him more petrified than before.

“What have you done Philip?” Maggie said getting furious. “I have no idea what you mean.” Philip replied a little bit nerved.

“I do not want to have ideas in my head. So, what are you not telling me Phil? Who is she and why did you bring her to this house?”

“Like I told you, she crushed in my lab this evening, which is the truth.”

“I believe you Phil, but this is strange. A woman almost n***d if not for the lab coat which I believe you gave her. She is virtually n***d Phil. How did she get into your lab?”

“I have no idea and that is what I have been asking myself.” Philip said. “As I said earlier, she has transformed to a human form. She had an original form that was violet-green in nature. Her skin did not look human.”

“You mean she may not be from this earth?” Maggie inquired. “Yes. And she asked about the Norea, and she also said, Koneria will perish if I do not give her the Norea.

“Koneria…what is that?”

“I have no idea. Or maybe that is the place she is coming from?” Philip said. “She has a large scar on her left shoulder, and I believe that is the reason for her frailty. It looks like she had been hurt.” Philip added.

“I saw it when she entered.”

So, you brought her to our home?” Maggie asked. “I did not want to leave her in the lab where someone could easily pounce on her. She called me brother and I wanted to know more. I wanted to know how we are connected.”

“And she also called me sister. Thus, that means I am also related to her?” Maggie inquired. “I have no idea. And that is what we have to find out. In the mean time we cannot inform the kids of this situation.” Philip said and moved over to the woman who was deep in sleep.

“I agree.” Maggie replied quickly. “And where will she sleep?” Maggie inquired again.

“We can keep her in the study, for the men time until we get to the bottom of this.” Philip answered  Philip. In the mean time we will need to keep her in a constant state of hypothermia. Maybe that will rejuvenate her strength, biochemically.” Philip added. Maggie nodded her head in agreement to that.

“Yes, and about the Norea, if it is related to her, then we need to obtain it from you Dad.”

“Don’t worry I will take care of that.” Maggie said fully convinced. Philip nodded his head to her wife. He loved her more.

“And remember, we are in this together.” Philip assured her wife. Maggie also nodded and quickly embraced her husband, and that said it all.