Apex Predator (54 page)

Steven was not clear on what it was that he had seen, “So one baby wanted the pen for himself, is that it?”

Now excited, Leonard explained, “No, Mr. Loomis, the child did not know what a pen was or what it was used for. He waited until he
knew
that the pen had some worth for the adult and once he made that determination, he made the decision that he’d keep the pen for himself, even if he didn’t know what it was.

“If you observe closely, he gets really interested when the other child delivers the pen. We were able to ascertain that the reason for that is because the child was calculating whether the adult could reach far enough to actually catch the child picking up the pen, and when he saw that the adult couldn’t reach, he made his move.

“What you have witnessed, Mr. Loomis, is a 15-month-old child, not shaped by education or trauma or environment, making tactical calculations, assessing the worth of the object the adult wanted and finally deciding that it was important, which meant that it must have some value. The child didn’t know how or why but he knew it was useful and valuable, and that meant that if
he
had it, he would have more than the other two players in the scene. Fifteen months, Mr. Loomis, fifteen months!”

They watched a few more videos and when the last one was finished Leonard turned off the television.

Steven was shaking his head, “Jesus, this is amazing. It’s also scary as hell.”

Leonard turned to look at Steven, “Yes, Mr. Loomis, it is. Now you understand why some of my colleagues and I have determined that they are the new apex predators of the planet. If they are capable of that at 15 months, what do you think they’re able to do when they’re older and more educated and perhaps in a position of power?”

Steven leaned back in the chair he was sitting. He knew what one of them could do with all those things, had thought he knew it when he found Riche’s warehouse, but realized that was just the tip of the iceberg. Barlow had shown him that.

Steven thought of something he had heard Barlow say, “Professor, have you heard of a Nigel Barlow?”

Leonard’s expression turned into one of curiosity, “Yes, yes I have. Why do you ask?”

Steven did not want to complicate his relationship with Leonard any further, “I came across his name while I was doing some of my research.”

Leonard still looked puzzled, “Interesting. He hasn’t been involved in serious research for some time. He does consulting and profiling work for law enforcement. I believe he also has a practice. He’s a neuropsychologist.”

Steven went on, “What do you mean he hasn’t been involved in serious research? What kind of research has he done?”

Leonard looked uncomfortable talking about this. Steven could tell the man had come across Barlow at some point and had been affected by his dealings with him the same way he had.

Leonard was clearly being cautious as he answered, “What I mean is that he’s not done the type of research that most academics engage in. Research that can be reviewed, duplicated and then reviewed again. He hasn’t published anything in any peer review publication. He believed that we should simply observe them as they engaged in their atrocities. That in and of itself was enough to get him shunned by most of the scientific community interested in the science we were exploring.”

Leonard shook his head slowly as he continued, “But then he began writing a manifesto, something out of science fiction. He believed these beings were superior to humans and should be nurtured, allowed to reach their full potential. He believed the only way humans would survive this species was by understanding them and then harnessing their natural tendencies to our advantage. That ensured he would never be taken seriously by anyone in the scientific community. Then he disappeared for a few years, and when he came back, he started doing the work I just mentioned to you.”

Steven nodded. He didn’t want to show any sign that he was interested in Barlow beyond just simple curiosity.

“Well, like I said, I saw his name in a few things I came across and just wondered whether you’d ever come across him.”

Leonard nodded thoughtfully and responded, talking more to himself than to Steven, “Yes, yes I have. He’s not the type of person you ever forget, if you get my meaning.”

Steven simply nodded. If there had been even a shadow of a doubt or hesitation about what he had done, this had taken care of it. They went back to Leonard’s office, where Steven thanked the professor for his time and called for his driver. He knew it would be about 20 minutes, so he sat down in the chair Leonard had cleared.

Leonard sat across from him, “So, I suppose now you and your legal team will go about getting ready.” Steven sighed, hung his head and ran his hands through his hair. “Yeah, professor, that’s right, although to be honest with you, I’m lost half the time when my lawyers start talking about it.”

Leonard smiled, “I can imagine it’s like listening to another language.”

Steven smiled back and nodded. He thought about the change that had come over Scoma when they spoke and he thought of another question he wanted to ask Leonard.

“Professor, Dr. Scoma mentioned that the two of you had written a paper together. I know I came across it in my research, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was about. How did the two of you come together? I mean, I know how your work intersects now, but how did you meet?”

Leonard’s expression changed. That semipermanent smile that always seemed to be parked on his face vanished. He regarded Loomis with a mixture of caution and compassion. That told Loomis that he was trying to decide whether to answer his question or not. That meant that the answer to his question was something far beyond ‘our work brought us together.’

After a few seconds, Leonard let out a big sigh and proceeded to explain how the two scientists had met. “Jim Scoma is a brilliant mind, Mr. Loomis, absolutely brilliant, but he’s also one of the finest human beings I have come across.”

Leonard paused and Steven got the distinct impression that he was saying all of it to prepare Loomis for what he was about to tell him. He nodded but said nothing.

“Jim was about to get ready to begin his own work relative to the new species. He’d read some of my papers and had been at some of the conferences where I spoke and became interested in what we were doing.” Steven just listened.

“Before starting his research, Jim thought it might be a good idea to establish a baseline for human physiology and genetics. He wanted to have something to measure his results against, so he tested himself in order to establish that baseline.”

Leonard paused and Steven could sense where he was going. He now understood why Leonard had been careful about answering the question. He remained quiet.

“After he got the results of all his testing, he became extremely concerned. You see, Mr. Loomis, Jim Scoma’s tests were almost identical to those of individuals that we’d come to establish as
Homo sapiens predaer
.”

This last statement seemed to hang in the air as Leonard allowed Loomis to fully digest it. His mind was racing and he had a million questions he wanted to ask, but he settled for a much simpler, almost feeble response, “How?”

Leonard’s smile appeared again, although it still did not have the brilliance in normally carried, “That was basically his question to me: How? He was confused, as you can imagine, and wanted to know how it could be possible.

“When we met, we went over all my findings and over his own measurements and quickly determined that while his physiology, genetic makeup and cognitive processes were a close parallel, there were some differences. Still, his results were definitely not within human norms. That was the reason he decided to research this from another angle, from an angle that did not concentrate on my end of the scale.”

Steven nodded. He could now see what had started Scoma down the path he chose for his research; it made sense. Still, Steven still got the sense that this was not what was making both scientists uneasy. It might be part of it, but he sensed there was more. He still had that almost imperceptible sense of vertigo he got when there was something there, something he could almost put his finger on, remember, but not quite.

He decided to come at it from the only other angle he could think of, “He mentioned the paper the two of you worked on together, and as I said, I think, I’m almost positive I came across it, but I’d be lying if I told you I remember anything about it. He said it was a paper on how animals group together in order to protect themselves from predators.”

Again Leonard’s smile faded and again he debated on whether to say something in response. In the end, Leonard seemed to have decided that he had already answered Steven’s most troubling questions, so he explained, “Yes, early on I did some work on how weaker, slower animals established some of their most effective defenses by grouping. You see, there are some scientists that believe that herds – schools of fish, flocks of birds, those kinds of groupings – were either following a leader or were engaged in a top-down migration where one bird or bison began a migration and the rest simply followed, top-down leadership.

“What we found is, yes, that is part of it, but a bigger part is more of what we would define as group-think. It is not a linear process. It doesn’t go from one animal to the other to the other, but it is all of them as a group making determinations for the group. This type of behavior was incredibly difficult to establish because we simply could not model it, in other words, we simply could not get a group of animals to think as a group. With advances in computer science and other technologies, we are now able to model this behavior in computers. The latest artificial intelligence technology, Mr. Loomis, is not based on linear programming, as it had once been, but on parallel programming. Computers tasked with attaining an outcome after a number of conditions have been programmed in several parallels.

“So rather than one computer and one program acting on the conditions put in, it is several programs running in parallel to achieve an outcome. Over generations the program ‘learns’ what is most efficient and effective in achieving the goal set, because there are several ‘parallel’ programs working together to achieve it.”

Leonard paused. He could see he was losing Steven. He smiled and continued, “I don’t blame you if you don’t quite get it yet. It is still difficult for me to understand, but Jim Scoma is a genius when it comes to this and that’s why we wrote the paper together. I had been looking into this grouping behavior as a prey animal’s best defense and wanted to see how it related to what I was researching. I wanted to understand how weaker and slower animals were able to survive, how certain species were able to survive in spite of physiological and cognitive disadvantages when it came to the animals that preyed on them.”

Steven interrupted, “And? What was it you were able to determine?”

Leonard answered, “Remember that what I was, what I
am,
interested in is
Homo sapiens sapiens
and
Homo sapiens predaer
. What I found was that human beings have been able to not only survive, but thrive, because of their ability to utilize their intellect to build defenses. Weapons, buildings, fire, all of them, were humans’ desire to survive, to protect themselves. As the environment has become exponentially more complex, so have our defenses. Home security, advanced weapons, sensors, all of it is a result of man’s desire for security and for our species’ continued survival.”

Steven noticed that Leonard’s demeanor was not easy and jovial as it had been when he was speaking about his research. This was an area beyond his immediate expertise and he now had an intense, focused way about him.

Leonard went on, “Our most effective defense, however, our most effective and lasting defense, Mr. Loomis, has been our ability to group, to gather around fires, to build society. If you haven’t noticed, as far as our physiology, our physical ability to fend off stronger, more powerful predators, we are a pretty sad species. Without technology, a group of humans in the African prairie can still survive, even if it is just by grouping together. Predators will pause and often simply walk away when confronted with a large group of humans. In the same way, they will wait until a foal staggers from the herd rather than trying to catch one if the middle of a tight herd. But if a human runs into a pride of lions in the African savannah, it’s pretty much gamer over, as I’m sure you’d agree.”

He continued, “So the paper we wrote was about that. Specifically, we wanted to understand better how predators went about getting around these grouping defenses. My initial idea was that even though
Homo sapiens predaer
is superior to humans physiologically and cognitively, humans would still be able to survive and thrive because of these grouping mechanisms.”

Steven could understand exactly what he was saying. He had watched a show about lions not too long ago. The memory brought with it a pang he wasn’t ready for.

He had taken more of Leonard’s time than he had intended to, but now he had a better understanding of what had brought the two scientists together.

“Professor, you’ve been more than kind with your time. I truly appreciate it. I’m sorry for the whole media thing, it’s not something I can really do anything about. My lawyers’ office will be in contact with details about the trial and your testifying.”

Leonard waved his hand, “No need to apologize. As I said, the attention is worth whatever small inconvenience I might have to go through.”

Leonard reached across the table and took Steven’s hand in his. The almost haunted look on the man’s face chilled Steven, but not as much as what he said, “Mr. Loomis, Steven, I’m grateful for the attention you’ve brought to my and others’ life’s work, but you have to know, you have to know because the price is very steep. Yes, your trial, what you’ve had to go through with your family has been a price almost too high to fathom, but what may still be to come may be higher still. Donald Riche was one individual, Mr. Loomis,
one
. But there are others, I’m sure you know that, and you’ve gotten their attention too.