Author's note: This chapter gets complicated... sorry!

OOOOOOOOOo

"So what do you do around here, Sander?" Ian asked, his attention drawn from the buzzing box in his hand to the newcomer.

"I run things."

"Head Ancient, huh?"

Sander nodded, and frowned, then reached out and touched Ian's shoulder before the Cadet could move away. A moment later he realized what had happened, because all the residual aches from the injuries that he'd taken vanished in a heartbeat. Of course, he'd been fairly well on his way to being healed anyways – thanks to Janet Fraiser, and then Dotty and then Janet's care in her infirmary for the final touches – but he noticed the difference immediately.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. And you are welcomed here, even though your stay will be, by necessity, short."

"Well, since I don't know where I am, I'm not going to cry when I have to leave."

Alexander smiled, and walked across the room and pressed a panel on the wall. Ian felt a sharp increase in the buzzing in the device in his hand, and a moment later a holographic image started appearing near Alexander. Ian and Sander both turned that way as well, and Ian's jaw dropped when he realized that the hologram was of himself. Then he frowned. His hologram self was naked.

"How about some clothing, sport?"

Alexander snorted, but before he could say anything, the skin on the hologram vanished, showing the musculature under the skin, covering the bones – including his ribs, and the thin membrane and musclesthat covered the belly, holding the internal organs in position. Ian couldn't help but feel a touch of pride at the perfect six-pack - even though it was a little gruesome to see it without the skin.

"Ick."

In another moment the musculature vanished – including the organs, and all that was there were bones. Including red marks that Ian recognized were places that were bones he'd broken through his life – and there were several.

"Wow…"

The bones swirled and vanished, and although the outline of Ian remained, the rest was replaced by little moving bits and pieces that weren't labeled – but which Ian instinctively decided were DNA.

"This is your DNA," Alexander said, confirming Ian's guess a moment later, and watching a readout on the wall while Sander and Ian watched the pieces swirling around inside the outline of the human form. "What we're looking for is an anomaly that might tell – there it is."

His attention was solely on the readout on the wall, so he didn't see both Ian and Sander walk over to stand behind him, looking over his shoulder. Sander might have understood the wacky readout – and the odd symbols and pictures on the readout – but Ian didn't have a clue.

"What?"

"You're human, but-"

"Of course I'm human."

"But what?" Sander asked.

Alexander looked up from the readout and turned to the hologram once more, and Ian's gaze followed his. The swirling lights formed into a noticeable DNA chain, the double helix plain to see, and something Ian could at least recognize.

"There…" Alexander said, gesturing. An instant later the helix grew so they could see it better and the human form vanished. "Between the carbon and nitrogen in the cross-linked purine and pyrimidine bases." The area in question – which was the interior of the helix – was magnified, and there was a small red dot that was pulsing slightly.

"What's that?" Ian asked. So far he wasn't too confused – he'd studied DNA and genetics, after all – but he'd never seen it broken down so completely before, and this was going beyond him. Something he didn't like, and something that he wasn't going to allow if he could avoid it. "A gene?"

"It's a gene, but it's not one that I've seen active before. Not in any human."

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"He's human," Sander said, just as confused. "You said it yourself."

"He is human," Alexander said, nodding. "It's a cognizance gene. One that is there because of the origins of humans but started out as latent in the species and eventually died out completely."

"Obviously not." Sander said.

"Well, genes are always there, even when they're not being used. Humans – and other multi-celled life forms – are incredibly complicated, and when a gene isn't necessary for improvement of the species, it comes into play less and less often, and eventually recedes until it doesn't have any affect on the cellular level." He looked at Ian to see if he was following along, and didn't see a blank stare as he'd expected, but he gave an example anyways, just to make sure he understood.

"For instance, there was a time when your people had far more body hair than they do now. It was mainly used for protection form the elements and as a disease control device, but as time went on, your kind mastered the use of fire and other variables for warmth, and discovered that you could cover yourselves with cloth and furs to stay warm. As the need for the excess hair faded, so did the gene that produced it. Now, only a very small percentage of your people ever have a large quantity of body hair, and in time, even that number will decrease."

"Which means…?"

"That fewer people will have hairy-"

"Not the hairy people, Alexander," Ian interrupted, irritated. "I understand the example." He hadn't even needed the example. "What does that cognizance gene mean? Where did it come from?"

"From my people."

"What?"

"My people have been watching yours for a long time, Ian – from the very beginning."

"You mentioned that before."

"Well, sometimes they didn't just watch. It hasn't happened in centuries, but in the history of your species there have been a few times when a cross-breeding would occur – when someone would fall for one of the subjects he or she was watching, and would mate with one of them. Genetically, our species' are compatible, however, the offspring of such a union were always taken to be raised with us, for your kind would never understand if they showed any talents."

"A few slipped by, though," Sander said, taking up the recital. "Not many, but before the mating with humans was banned completely, occasionally one would be missed – and that child would grow up on your world, completely ignorant of his or her lineage, and most of the time would live and die without ever finding out. of course, there were exceptions, but that's another story. What Alexander is saying, is that chances are you're the great, great, and many times over great grandchild of one of these missed offspring."

"Our people have this cognizance gene – although even in my species it is nowlatent and never comes into play – which is why none of us recognized it in you."

"And that's why I remember everything I see and hear?" Ian asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Neither Ancient recognized the motion, but had she been there, Maggie Brooks could have warned them that their explanation had better make sense, because it was the start of Ian at his worst.

"Your photographic memory is why you remember everything you see and hear," Alexander corrected. "The cognizance gene is what makes those memories accessible to you. Other humans who have the photographic memory talent – and as you said, there are a few – are still unable to access the subconscious levels of their memories unless they're in dream state or being drugged. The gene is what makes you able to remember things you shouldn't be able to."

"A gene that no one else has…?"

"You weren't paying attention. Others have it, they just don't – and can't use it."

"But I do, and can?"

"It would appear that way."

"What a crock of shit." Ian turned on his heel and headed for the door. "I'm ready to go home, now."