Lemuria by Burt Clinchandhill (epub e ink reader TXT) 📕

for a satellite launch. Anyway, later that day, I traveled to our observatory here in Arizona, where together with another colleague, we researched the possibilities. The only thing we could come up with was that the two rockets are on their way to Mars for what could be a test in terraforming the planet.”

“But terraforming Mars is decades away, if at all possible.”

“Maybe.” De Cremonese rubbed his beard again. “We have strong suspicions that someone just might have skipped a few decades.”

“Any idea where the rockets came from?”

“Not exactly. We found a latitude of almost zero, so that’s on top of the equator, but that still leaves a possible fourteen countries and twenty-nine thousand miles to cover.”

“And you think Mulder has something to do with it?”

“That’s hard to say, but we know he’s been keen on Mars and is someone who has the financial means for it. We checked, but officially he doesn’t own anything on the equator. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”

“Did you ask him?” Bishop asked.

“Who, Mulder?”

Bishop nodded.

“I met with him a few days ago at the Logynous headquarters. I wanted to confront him with everything, but it didn’t come to that.”

“What happened?”

“Well, Mulder’s what happened. You probably know the man from TV or Twitter, where he seems to be an intelligent and reasonable figure. But, like most people with power I’ve met, they can be selfish, self-centered and, frankly, often show mild signs of autism.”

Bishop grinned.

“What is it?” De Cremonese asked.

“Well, it’s a bit off-topic, but you read some of my work on human evolution. There’s an ever-growing scientific community that believes that autism, or sometimes more specific, Asperger syndrome, isn’t a form of illness or other kind of problem in humanity. They believe that it could possibly be the next natural step in human evolution. The same goes for ADHD. You know one in every fifty-nine people in the United States are affected by a form of autism? There’s an unofficial long list of famous U.S. scientists, entrepreneurs and celebrity Americans that show mild to medium signs of Asperger syndrome. So, who knows? But, sorry, what happened when you met the man again?”

“Evolution is a strange and debatable thing.” De Cremonese smiled. “But about my meeting. I didn’t feel the man was up for a confrontation, and I was afraid that if I were to confront him, I could lose him as a contact, possibly forever. He might even go into hiding.”

“I’m really starting to wonder what he told you in confession.”

De Cremonese shrugged. “In any case, he described himself as being a eugenic, and when I debated the benevolence of describing oneself as a eugenic, he got angry with me. The discussion ended with me telling him about Amie contacting me and expressing her worries about him. I guess the same way that I did.”

“And that was it?”

“That was it. I tried to contact Mulder again to ask about Amie, but his office said he was out of the country. They did tell me there was no news about Amie.”

“So, what do you make of all this?” Bishop asked.

“I’m not sure,” De Cremonese replied. “But I have a strong feeling that somehow, in fact, it’s all connected to human evolution. Your missing tribes, the rockets, and the disappearance of Jennifer and Amie. Let me ask you this. In your work, ‘The Philosophical Implications of Proving Evolution,’ you concluded that human evolution could not be proven by using modern science computers. In fact, you claimed you had your doubts that we would ever be capable of developing computers powerful enough to prove it.”

“I did,” Bishop confirmed reluctantly, wondering where De Cremonese was heading.

“I believe you also stated that should it ever become possible to prove human evolution, mankind would open the door to manipulating and speeding it up—evolution, I mean.”

Bishop nodded.

“So, what would happen if you had a supercomputer, let’s say, like Eldin Mulder’s Occidium One—a quantum computer—and used it for exactly that purpose? The use of proving human evolution. Could that now be more successful than you were ten years ago?”

Bishop rubbed his face with both hands. “I think it’s time you and I, together, try to get in contact with Mulder and find out.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” De Cremonese replied.

Chapter 26 –The Paperless Office

Granite Bay, CA

“I hope you don’t mind,” Bishop apologized from behind the wheel of the rented white Jeep Wrangler Sahara. “I shared all our information with my comrades at the NSA, NRO and my best friend, Walker Monroe, who helped me find you.”

“You trust them?” De Cremonese asked.

Bishop thought for a moment. “Yeah, I think I do. I mean, Walker and I go way, way back, Iggy is a bit different and I haven’t seen Lindsey for ages, but yeah, I trust them. And besides that, what have we got to hide?”

“You never know with those government organizations. I always feel there’s a story behind the story.”

Bishop nodded. “Are you sure we’re on the right track?”

“That’s a good question,” De Cremonese replied, taking out his phone and placing it into the grip on the dashboard. “Open Lea,” he called out.

On the screen, the blonde lady appeared. “How can I help you?” the artificial young woman asked.

“Hi, Lea,” De Cremonese replied. “Do you remember me?”

“Of course, I recognize you,” she said, looking to her right, where De Cremonese sat behind the wheel. “I helped you last week on your way to the Logynous headquarters. And I see you brought a friend.” Her face turned left, she blinked and then fell silent for a short moment. “Is that you, Professor Bishop—Matthew Bishop?”

Bishop looked at De Cremonese and smiled. “That’s nifty. Yes, it’s me. Have we met before?”

“No. But you have an easily recognizable face.”

“Internet and social media,” De Cremonese pointed out.

“Amazing. This is definitely the most incredible piece of AI I’ve ever seen,” Bishop replied.

“Thank you,” Lea answered.

“Truly incredible,” he repeated.

“Is there something I can do for you, Father?” she asked.

“Yes, there is,” De Cremonese answered. “I’m on my