Log Entry #61: Atlantean DNA

So… yeah, Michael is part Atlantean, who would have guessed? In point of fact—he is not that unique; stop any stranger on the street and there would be a good chance that he has some Atlanteans genes in his DNA.

If you take a step back and look at it from a historical perspective, it only makes sense, as almost all Atlanteans were relocated from their home and seeded all over the world. It was originally Ision's idea, and it somewhat worked; if demons didn't have the tech to locate CEI implants, it would have been much more successful.

The problem was that all those people wanted to stay in contact with one another, and CEIs were communicating using a few satellites that the angels placed in Earth’s orbit. My theory is that is how demons discovered their locations, much similar to today's ways of locating the source of radio signals. As far as I know, the cybersecurity those Atlanteans and angels had was laughable by today’s standards. So, it likely wasn’t that difficult for the demons to connect to the satellites themselves. Using the resources of your enemies is a well-established tactic, and I guess it is universal, no matter the species.

And why wasn’t their cybersecurity stronger? That one is easy—who would attack them. Remember, at the time, they were the only advanced civilization on the planet. The rest of humanity was still throwing rocks at one another, and wouldn’t know what a satellite was if one hit them on the head. (Which I wouldn’t recommend, they tend to hit hard when they fall.)

By the time the relocated Atlanteans realized what was going on, many of them had already perished. They stopped all communication immediately, unfortunately, that didn’t help those the demons had already had coordinates on. They were hunted down, killed, and eaten. Those who survived stayed out of contact for the rest of their lives, knowing that if they so much sent a single query to the satellite, they would have been located and everybody around them murdered. I can't even imagine that constant state of fear they were living in, it is not something I would ever want to experience.

They probably created a few tribes of their own, yet there were not that many of them in a single location. That was a precaution Atlanteans made to prevent what happened to those unfortunate enough to be tracked down by demons. And if you think about it, all of the beings living in Atlantis before the attack wouldn’t be enough to populate a very small town today. The survivors needed to go native and mix with bigger tribes to ensure their safety and that of their loved ones.

Humans among them fared better, by a simple fact that they could somewhat blend in with the native population. Angels, on the other hand, had those wings, which were a dead giveaway. It is logical to think that their numbers were more concentrated in the scattering that ensued before the attack. And that made it easier for the demons to hunt them down.

Can you imagine how completely different their lives were than what they were used to? From a thriving technological society, they were thrown into a brutal and unforgiving life of prehistory. Demons were not the only danger out there. Even going to the bathroom in the bush meant you could become a snack for local wildlife. (A possibility of meeting a saber-tooth tiger when you are trying to do a number two is a good recipe for constipation.)

As Dr. Ross (call me Bob) said, the Atlanteans had improved DNA, thanks to angels and their efforts to cure them of all defects that were a product of them living isolated in Antarctica, and inevitable inbreeding. Their lives were so much longer than the norm and they were generally resistant to most diseases, which meant that the tribes venerated them as gods, or killed them. (It could’ve gone either way; humans tend to be unpredictable.)

Over time, they mixed their genes with the rest of humanity, improving them. Eventually, those who escaped the destruction of Atlantis and subsequent demon hunts—died of old age. Their descendants carried that improved DNA heritage within them. I am sure it gave them many advantages, and they still held on to some knowledge of the past. But any chance of advanced ideas surviving was erased by the times they were living in.

Look at the state of the Earth after demons messed everything up with orbital bombardment, and later with parts of the collided ships striking the surface and making a mess of things. The consequence of their actions created a mini Ice Age and that alone caused the extinction of many mammalian species, including severely cutting down the human population. The hunts’ did not help any and cut the number of humans even more. It is approximated that at that time, there were only a few million people alive on Earth. To put that into a modern perspective, all the people on the planet were less than the current population of New York City. (It is information to make your head spin, isn't it?)

When I said that life was hard, I also meant that it was very short. Those among you who are forty years of age (or more), would be considered practically ancient in those prehistoric times. Chances of surviving to the end of your fifth decade were not very good, you would be more likely to die very young than to have a long life, and that is where those modified genes came in handy to Atlanteans—they could procreate for much longer. Yes, it is sex that enables humans to continue as a species, all animal kingdoms really (except some organisms which decided that mitosis is more fun). One of the few enjoyable pastimes to do was to procreate. In fact—that was about it as far as fun went.

Remember, there was no TV, or the Internet to keep you occupied, no sports, books, or video games. Hunting for food took most of their time, and the few minutes in the sack was the only thing they could hope for at the end of the day.

As I read in one book, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it…” …”Well, surviving Atlanteans took those words to heart and they did exactly that. They were not many in today’s numbers, but a few thousand survivors made a big splash in a human gene pool. One of the strongest impulses in the human race is to spread our genes; it is a biological imperative that makes us do stupid things for a chance of intercourse.

That is the same impulse that’s causing us so many problems right now with overpopulation. Soon, the sheer mass of humanity will become a problem everybody will have to face (before some rather drastic things happen).

In those times, monogamy was not such a widespread phenomenon as it is today; don’t get me wrong—I am all for it. Just the same, I must admit that it is a rather recent trend. In the past, men had multiple wives or mates, all to ensure the continuation of their bloodline. Take the Bible and browse through it, you will be surprised at the examples of polygamy within it. This is a bit strange, as the marital practice that the church adheres to today is in opposition to their earliest text. (It seems to me they are in an emergency need for an editor to rectify those mistakes; books with too convoluted and inconsistent plots tend to do badly on the charts, the popularity of it notwithstanding.)

Dr. Ross hypothesized that Methuselah was an Atlantean who survived. That is a possibility, but my guess is that he lived long after the fall of Atlantis. Aside from being a direct descendant, he most likely had a lucky break, and expressed recessive genes for longevity inherited from his ancestors, turned dominant in his case. As a consequence, he had a much longer lifespan than his contemporaries did. Simply put, he hit a jackpot at the time of his conception.

One thing I cannot overlook is that in the centuries following the Atlanteans exodus, started the so-called Holocene Era. It. Era.It is the beginning of the transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to agriculture; a shift toward urban living and the development of major civilizations. I can’t help but wonder if that was all Atlantean influence, a fundamental change in a way of thinking.

Today, most of the people on the planet have some DNA markers that were passed through all those millennia since angels improved Atlanteans genes. Diluted through countless generations until their influence is a fragment of what it used to be. There is a good chance that it is because of their influence, humanity made such swift progress in such a short time. If you compare us to other species on the planet, we are not a small aberration. Maybe that nudge was not in the extreme, but enough to enable us to become a dominant species.

Those people running for their lives twelve thousand nine hundred years ago are directly responsible for my existence, and the creation of the Solarian Union. The MI in the Excalibur would have never made the AI copy of Michael’s mind if it didn’t identify those genes.

I may not like what transpired in that ancient history, but I must acknowledge the principle of causation.

When all is said and done—I am very glad I exist.