Chapter XI

When they returned to the dungeon, Catherine and the others saw that JT had become highly agitated. He couldn't seem to stay still, walking back and forth as if he was trying to escape some inner turmoil.

"JT what's the matter?" Vincent asked, obviously concerned.

"Nothing, nothing...everything!"

"Buddy you don't make sense..."

JT stopped mid stride and turned a haunted expression towards his friend. "Vince I'm not sure...the science is undeniable but…."

When it became obvious that JT had found something that unhinged him, Vincent went to him and calmly talked to him, "how about we all take a deep breath here, sit down and you can tell us all about it"

JT was still agitated but he seemed to get back some focus at least. As suggested by his friend, he took a seat at the main lab table and while everyone else found their own seat he used that time to collect his thoughts. "Alright," he began, "for starter, Vincent here knows how much of a packrat I am."

"Boy do I," Vincent replied with a little smile, "I had to move all this crap too."

"Yeah well," JT went on, "my tendency to keep everything doesn't stop with physical stuff. I also keep just about every scrap of digital data I ever collected. For once I congratulate myself for that." When his comment was greeted with expectant silence he continued. "As you all know, this whole thing started, well as far as I'm concerned anyway…Ok you'll get that soon. It all started when Vincent decided to enlist."

"Aren't you going back a little far?" Catherine asked warily.

"Might not be far enough…Bear with me ok?" He added quickly when he saw the doubting expression on her face. "As I was saying, when Vince enlisted I got a package from a private firm, Muirfield, who claimed working under the umbrella of the United States Army. At first I was a bit suspicious but after asking around I heard that many people in my specialty and other medical professions had received similar packages since the war started and that it was legit. The package contained instructions to test a number of individuals for a specific marker. What I didn't know was that my little package had in fact a distinctly different DNA marker type than anyone else. That's one thing I've only found out only recently…As I said, at the time I didn't know and that's why I wasn't as surprised as I should've been when I didn't get any positive result until I tested Vincent's blood. The package also came with a very encouraging outcome for anyone who would qualify for a very exclusive treatment. We all know the rest. My point is I not only kept the data from that package but also the original results on Vincent's blood. Of course back then I saw no reason to look further than the marker but in light of everything that happened, I did now and compared it to a more recent sample. I'm afraid that this Jeremy fellow has been playing fast and loose with your DNA and more than once."

JT stopped to take a few breaths and collect his thoughts anew. In doing so he caught Vincent's eyes on him and he saw extreme wariness in them. "The good news is that I'm now convinced I can reverse most of what's been done to you."

"What?" Vincent exclaimed incredulously.

"Wait, when I say that, you gotta understand something Vince. What they did to you that's exactly what they said it was. They jump started you, so to speak. I don't quite know when it was supposed to happen but...just like Catherine you were always going to become a beast."

By now Vincent had already figured that out, but nevertheless for a brief instant he had hoped that he really could turn back time. Then guilt for even that thought made him look at Catherine and when he didn't see the reproach he expected, he felt somewhat worse. He wasn't sure she had guessed his thoughts but now wasn't the time for it anyhow. "It's o.k. JT. I kinda knew. Still what did you mean by turn back?"

"Just what I said… I'm almost certain that the bite from last week actually started the process anyway. But the truly remarkable stuff I found came when I compared your original DNA with the newer one."

"Go on..." Vincent encouraged him.

"Remember the skeleton of a beast Catherine found last year?"

"How could we forget?"

"Right...well the DNA from that beast was different than yours in the sense that for all intents and purposes it's not human at all..." JT paused again allowing them to take it in.

"Are you implying that we're not...that we're part alien or something?" Vincent couldn't conceal his mounting impatience with the subject.

"Not exactly although that can't be ruled out…," JT replied without appearing to notice his friend's attitude. "What I'm saying is that DNA is specific to the species it belongs to and that this beast was fully a beast, not a hybrid like you or Catherine. But right now it's not the main concern." JT raised his hands to stop them from interrupting again. "Look what I have to tell you is really out of this world but I need you to understand what I'm talking about first..." When no more comments were forthcoming JT pursued, "to recap, Vincent's DNA is different from before because you got a super dose of the same DNA that animated that skeleton once." Once again he saw them about to protest and stopped them, "I don't mean similar or beastly...I mean the exact same one only that one is live, or normally mutated by our environment. And," he quickly added, it's a part of that other beast's DNA, Jeremy. In fact in his case, he's been hybridized with that DNA, a human one…"

"First off how do you know whose DNA that is?" Vincent asked testily.

"Because I found it in yours and in some traces of blood I found in the cell he was in. But wait there's more. I said that the beast wasn't human and that's very accurate but be that as it may there's a good reason it's extremely compatible with yours Vince."

"Why is that I'm afraid to ask?"

"When people asked for paternity testing the lab looks for a few specific set of genes that are common to many species, but that are expressed differently in human or say, lions for example, or closer to us, apes if you'd like but it's all the same. We have common DNA with all species of this world, even plants. Some of those common genes are the same but they also have minute differences that give brown eyes to one person and say green ones like Catherine's to another. Are you following me so far?"

"Go on."

"I'm not too sure but if you get to the point maybe it'll become clearer," Tess commented.

"Ok…when you're related to someone…and don't get me wrong all of us humans have a common ancestor, which is the other part that's gonna blow your minds but anyhow…when looking for DNA marker to indicate relationships between two people, there are some particular similarities that tell us how close a match one is with the other…"

"JT you're losing us here, is there a point to all that?" Catherine interjected.

JT took a deep breath before speaking anew, " I'm getting there…it's a good thing you're all sitting down cause I would've asked you to...the skeleton shares enough gene commonalities with Vincent that I can say with absolute certainty that he is a close relative of his."

"J.T we know he's a beast and I got beast DNA...that's nothing new."

JT ignored the impatient tone and went on, "if I were to give a result I'd confidently say he's your father."

The pregnant silence that followed this bold declaration only added to JT his slightly agitated state. "I know how it sounds..."

"Have you gone insane?" Catherine asked shakily.

"Look Cat, I'm the first one to find this idea beyond insane but I redid the test twice and the result is always the same..."

"Wait," Vincent interjected, "you said I had this other guy's DNA in me..."

"I said you have it now but I tested your original DNA. From before you got the first serum. The DNA you got injected with has different environmental changes in them and what's more, the markers I was given to test were based on that particular variation, not yours…What I mean is that before you were injected you already had this beast DNA woven through your own genes. Remember my comment about being a packrat? Remember when we were at the university and I started considering forensic medicine as an alternate..."

"Yeah, I remember, you were testing all kinds of shit for fun."
"Well, DNA was the big deal then. We'd just mapped the genome. Everybody in the biology community wanted into that. I'm sure you also remember I tested some baby hair…yours and mine?"

"Yeah…" Vincent's voice trailed.

"Ok, I didn't say anything at the time because I thought I made a mistake…but there was something different about your DNA even then. I just wasn't well versed enough to pinpoint what that was. The test from the package only called for a partial result and it looked for an unusual combination of genes so that at the time I didn't make the connection. And in all the time since, it never occurred to me that the two were related. I had simply dismissed the first time I tested it as a mistake and didn't even check to see what the contamination might have been…Not until today…"

"You knew?" Vincent exclaimed.

"What do you think I knew Vincent? I had no idea beasts even existed back then. And afterward, all we did was try to find a way to reverse it and we never could. But how was I to know that a contamination I had found years before wasn't in fact a contamination? I had no idea it was the real answer to the problem. We always assumed Muirfield did all of it to you. I didn't know why nothing I tried ever worked. I tried everything I could to help you!"

"I know," Vincent said quietly. "I'm sorry," he added sincerely.

"You don't have to be sorry and particularly not about what you are. Told you that before but now I mean it even more…"

"Doesn't mean I have to like it…Now, how about we go back to your outrageous claim…"

"Yeah how is all this DNA stuff supposed to connect with some ten thousand year old beast?" Tess questioned.

"Yeah, JT really," Vincent asked, "I mean, you grew up with me. I know that the rest of the stuff we found is tough to explain, but you know I grew up? Right? I wasn't born ten thousand years ago…"

"Huh…well…that's the other part of what I needed to explain to you."

"Now I wonder if I really want to know more…"

"I'm sorry...I can only tell you what I found out."

"Wouldn't it be more plausible if all this was an elaborate hoax? Maybe those agents are doing this to us…" Catherine offered.

JT sighed deeply, "in a way, that would be nice to think so but it wouldn't explain you, or this Jeremy, now would it? Much more than this it wouldn't explain the other thing I deduced from those tests…"

"We know beasts exist, we got that obviously…" Catherine replied a little impatiently. "So why is that so important where they came from?"

"Actually it is...see," JT started again, "that's the other thing...Vincent is not just different from me or Tess or any other human without beast DNA...he's different from the other beasts as well, including you and this Jeremy."

"How so?" Vincent questioned reluctantly. Each of JT's revelation were like a knife in his gut and in spite of his skepticism, he couldn't discount the fact that his friend had never mislead him about his physical condition before.

"The science that created the hybrids...suffice to say it's beyond anything we could accomplish even now with the advances we've made. But what someone like me can do is recognize a synthetic hybrid from a naturally occurred one. See, as you may or may not know, cloning and even hybrid speciation has been done many times in laboratory by now. The common thing about these experiment is that they were in fact done in laboratories and the way the genome is modified differs from natural evolution. Those subjects are rarely viable by the way and they certainly couldn't be…reborn." Once again, JT stopped himself and looked at each in turn, making sure that they understood but what he got from them was more confusion. "I guess it's complicated but I'll try my best to make it clearer. When making these clones or hybrids, scientists usually sort of sign their work deep at the cellular level, to protect potential patent. You my friend have none of those artificial markers. Also, in an artificially hybridized animal, plant you name it, there are obvious signs of splicing in laboratories, compatibility issues that had to be resolved, the works. In short, it's obvious to anyone in the know that those are not naturally occurred. What Vincent has is an obviously natural hybridization that occurred between this 10000 years old beast and a human woman..."

"JT you can't be serious..."

"Come on, Vince you really think I would tell you something so outrageous without more proof to back it up?"

"What proof?"

"Remember the bones? Alistair's bones?"

"Of course…"

"I said that your original DNA had been naturally hybridized and I meant that. But there is the other form of biological manipulation that scientists today can easily recognize. That's cloning."

Vincent sighed irritably, "JT, we kind of figured something like that had occurred even though none of us can figure how that's possible. That's the only thing we could actually agree with in all you've said, I'm sure I speak for all of us, here."

"Alright, fair enough," JT said almost smugly, "But then how do you explain the re-occurrence of those clones throughout history?"

"If I knew that," Vince replied. "And wait, what do you mean history?"

"Those agents, they sent me a little more stuff since you left. Among other things, they managed to exhume both the man and woman from the 1940s murder case you saw before leaving."

"And…"

"Same DNA. And they also went back about 600 years. Based on history and some that's not all written in the generally accepted history books and even novels who might in fact have been based on real facts and romanticized…they've been searching for other examples of your presence throughout history. During those 600 years alone they found at least 5 other sets of DNA identical to Catherine and yours among others…And that's only what they could unearth."

"Nobody's even cloned a human that we know of," Catherine said, even as she tried to wrap her mind around the shocking concept, "not now, let alone 600 years ago!"

"600 years is only what the agency has been able to compile so far. As for the cloning in question, we're not talking about cloning a person and then impregnating a woman every time here. What's been done might never be possible for us. Not unless we get to understand a concept that is to this day only a somewhat uncertain theory…"

"What's that," Vincent questioned.
"Quantum mechanics."

"Ok JT you're reaching now."

"And you think finding your clones throughout history, including bones that are right here right now belonging to one and that I tested myself as having belonged to a man who lived 160 years ago is not reaching? Of course it is. But as much as I have trouble believing even that, the science is inescapable…Your clones have been popping up all over the world for as far back as 10000 years based on what I found out today and what those agents sent me."

"And how does that translate to quantum mechanics? Time travel? Wouldn't be any crazier!" Vincent was trying really hard not to accuse his friend of bullshitting them but at this point, even considering his own situation this whole explanation was going nowhere.

"What? You think I'm making this up? Well I'm not and there's a reason you need to understand all that and believe in it. But we're not there yet, I understand. Please give me some leeway and who knows you might change your mind."

"You may as well go on but seriously dude, I'm starting to wonder if we're not seeing the effects of what they did to you right now…"

JT stopped to think for a moment and somehow, he came to a similar conclusion but from a whole different point of view. "You know what…I think it's actually possible. But not the way you think. I'm perfectly in control and clear headed. In fact, in spite of the craziness of what I'm saying, I feel like I can understand things better than I ever could before…Anyhow, that's for another discussion and it doesn't change the facts."

"The facts," Catherine questioned pointedly.

"Yes, the facts," JT insisted. "By the way, I haven't even gotten to your side of this yet…but if you don't have too much else to do right now maybe we could go on? I guess you'd all like to know why you're here…"

"I thought we were here to hear your story," Vincent replied.

"I'm talking about why you're beasts…"

"What? You know?" Catherine suddenly showed more interest.

"I have a pretty good theory yes. So can I go on?"

"Please do," she acquiesced. She then turned to Vincent who truly seemed on the verge of dropping out of the conversation altogether. "We really should at least let him finish…"

"Alright," Vincent reluctantly agreed.

"Well, ok then," JT started again, "ten thousand years ago, only between five and eight thousand human beings were left alive on the entire planet. The timeframe puts that in the middle of a mini ice age that caused many species to go extinct. Ours survived and eventually thrived, yes. But the point is that at the time, we were merely nomadic beings and definitely unable to use any form of science, let alone cloning."

"So, what you're saying is the same as us. It's not possible." Vincent interrupted.

"I'm saying We couldn't have done it," JT resolutely replied.

Vincent stared at his friend with an almost pitying expression but his stare was met with a certainty in JT's eyes that gave him pause. "Look, JT, I get that the situation is…almost nothing could surprise me considering what I am, what happened to Catherine," he added. "But what you're suggesting…"

"What is he suggesting," Tess asked, the unnerved tone of her voice cutting through.

"He's talking about alien intervention…Isn't that what you're saying JT?"

"Aliens…or another species we know nothing about that might have evolved on earth and might have been on the verge of extinction at the time. Hell for all I know it's beings from another dimension. The point is it all points to a scientist or scientists doing all this to preserve something or to send some kind of message maybe."

"What? They wanted to save beasts?"

"I'm not sure that's what it was exactly. I think…I think the point was to save humanity. There I said it."

"How on earth or anywhere else for that matter would create cloned beasts and dump them on unsuspecting humans supposed to save them?" Tess was really beginning to align herself with Vincent on the skepticism bandwagon.

"There's something you haven't gotten to before when you were checking the search on the laptop. While you were gone, I've read the accounts of the 1940s murder trial and it led me to cross reference with that John Reynolds you mentioned earlier, given all the coincidences piling up. That man was, in fact, Alistair and Rebecca's son. He had a twin sister called Anna and they both lived to be respectively 101 and 105. That alone is a feat, you'll have to admit. But when I pulled up the last few photographs of them, I also might have stumbled on a partial answer. It's still a hypothesis but…let me show you," he said, and then he woke the laptop from its sleep mode and turned it towards the others. An enlarged photograph of a man and a woman obviously in their 30s showed up on the screen."

"I guess they didn't have many pictures taken of them in their old age…what does that prove other than the resemblance?" Tess asked. But a little smile on JT's lips told her she was missing something.

"That picture was taken on their 100th birthday."

"Get out of town!" Tess exclaimed. "That's gotta be a typo or something."

"The photograph was part of an article written the same day it was taken, as part of a tradition to celebrate centenarians. The reporter who wrote the article said that he almost didn't send it in because he thought he was being played. Only after he was shown the actual birth certificates and photographs of the twins covering a large portion of the past hundred years did he agree to send it to his publisher. Nowadays, you can be sure a thing like this would have brought the Enquirer or its British equivalent to their doors…"

"But they almost look younger than me!" Heather opened her mouth for the first time since they came back.

"Don't exaggerate," Catherine said, "you look like a child."

"Do not! And you know what I mean. I've seen old people before. They don't look like that in their 50s, let alone 100!"

"Ok, what you're saying here, if I got this right," Catherine turned to JT, "is that they were seriously healthy."

"Healthy? According to the obituary they both died not of illnesses like one might think but violent deaths. John was knifed in a mugging and Anna, believe it or not was mauled by a lion during a safari...at the ripe age of 105 remember? And she wasn't there by accident. She went every year for 40 years until she died."

"And how do you know that?"

"Mauled to death?" Catherine repeated that part of the account with an awed expression that was almost comical.

"Yes, and she was protecting a young girl who'd been cornered by the pride."

"Seriously?" was all Vincent uttered but the look on his face told another story. This part of the little impromptu lecture had a definite effect on him.

"Well, by now we know that your side of the family is slightly more prone to violent death than the average," JT said, trying a little levity, although he soon saw that his quip didn't quite move his audience. "Anyway, the point is they didn't die of old age or disease. That would be because neither one of them got sick, hardly ever. Their children are the picture of health as well, although none of them show the same almost unnatural youthfulness as their parents. And according to the agents, they all tested as predisposed but none of them became beasts."

"Ok," Vincent said, "I'll bite...you're saying that beasts can confer great health to their descendants."

"What I'm saying is that this inherited health is the actual reason for your continued existence." JT answered very seriously.