Apex Predator (30 page)

Leonard held Steven’s eyes with a soft, understanding smile on his face, “I understand completely. I was terribly sorry to hear about your loss. I can’t begin to imagine how hard it must have been on you, how hard it probably still is. If it makes you feel any better, I was actually thankful that you did not share your circumstances with me, because I think if you had, I probably would not have agreed to meet with you or, even if I had agreed, perhaps I wouldn’t have shared all of the information that I shared with you, and then I would have felt bad about it. So, you see, I think it was the right thing to do at the time.”

Leonard was trying to put Steven at ease about their earlier encounter, something Steven appreciated immensely because it made the conversation he was looking to have with the scientist a bit easier.

Leonard, a bit more focused now, asked Steven the obvious, “How can I be of assistance?”

Steven had thought about the conversation and the questions that he needed answers for, but he also knew that he had to come at it correctly, patiently, because given what had happened at the courthouse Leonard might be more guarded about what he shared, in spite of the curious, open look now dominating his expression.

“Thank you for your kind words, professor, I appreciate the sentiment, and again I am sorry for withholding the full circumstances of my situation. I wanted to see you again because I have some questions that we didn’t address in our previous conversations.”

Leonard nodded thoughtfully, still focused in on Steven, “Okay, and what might those questions be?”

Steven now leaned closer, “Well, I have to be honest, what you shared with me last time is incredible. I can’t imagine that discovering a new species, a species that as you said is above humans on the food chain, is something that happens every day. It seems like something that would be a huge event for humanity, something that would be on the news or in headlines in magazines and newspapers.

“I would think that you would be beseeched by interview requests on all kinds of talk shows or newscasts. And yet, there hasn’t been anything like that. Everything I found about it was online on blogs and obscure theses from students across the country.”

As he was speaking, Leonard was nodding with a much broader smile on his face and a sparkle in his eye. Clearly this was something that he himself had thought about or been asked about time and time again. He chuckled as Steven was finishing, “You are absolutely right, there has been no big story or big transcendental pronouncement about what we’ve found, but I can assure you it has not been for a lack of trying.

“We announced our findings in all of the proper peer-reviewed journals and published all of our work, including the raw data by the way, on my own blog online and on the university’s blog. We even put out a press release through the PR Newswire. I don’t need to tell you how much interest all of it generated, the fact that you are asking about it now should be answer enough.”

Steven leaned back and nodded, “That’s what I mean. It just seems incredible that none of this, none of your work or the work of the other scientists I read about, has been discovered by the world.

“I can’t believe that the world would not want to know about this, about the threat that it poses to everyone who comes across one of these things.”

Leonard responded, “It’s not that they don’t want to know, it’s that they don’t realize the significance of it as it relates to their everyday lives. To most people, these are abstract theories, stuff of science and academia, and not related to their world, the ‘real’ world.

“Listen, this year scientists at CERN finally discovered the Higgs boson or what some call the ‘God Particle.’ It is something scientists had been trying to find for decades and it has the potential to completely change the fundamental laws of physics, in essence it has the potential to change the fundamental understanding of reality as we know it. There were a few headlines about it in some of the more intellectual publications and there have been scores of presentations by scientists all over the world.

“How many people do you think even know about it? I would venture to guess that it’s not more than roughly 10 percent of the population, and that is probably too high. And of those that have heard about it, however it is they heard about it, how many do you think understand the implications of it? Probably less than one percent.

“I’ll give you another example, Japanese scientists announced that they were able to grow eggs,
human eggs
, from embryonic stem cells. Even more astounding, they announced that they believed they could grow human eggs from
any
other human cell. Theoretically that would mean that they could take DNA left by Brad Pitt on a drinking glass and grow eggs genetically similar to Brad Pitt without him ever being aware that it had happened. That has very significant, real-world implications and yet very few people have ever even heard of the discovery, let alone understand the implications of it. We won’t even begin to discuss the discoveries in the fields of genetic engineering, computing, programming, microbiology or nanotechnology, to name just a few.

“No, Mr. Loomis, the world is interested in mindless voyeurism, in watching a group of mindless youth consuming vast amounts of alcohol while they share a house on the New Jersey coast. They care more about what label a candidate is wearing or who they are sleeping with than they do about the substance of that candidate’s policies.”

Loomis took it all in and nodded. What Leonard said seemed incredible. These were major, history-changing discoveries that were going completely unnoticed by the world at large. Still, he knew the man was telling the truth. He himself had been completely unaware of Leonard’s and the other scientists’ work. Until it had touched him personally, until he’d paid for the ignorance with the confusion and helplessness he’d felt after his daughter went missing.

Leonard went on, “I was disheartened and angered by it when I was young and naïve, and I vowed that my discoveries would be so monumental that the world would not be able to ignore them. Now I know better.”

Loomis had another question, “Why go on then, professor? Why continue to do the work and the research if you know that the fruits of your work are being ignored, that the world is bound to suffer because of their ignorance? It seems like it would be incredibly frustrating to do what you do.”

Leonard, looking a bit forlorn and sad, responded, “Because, Mr. Loomis, that’s what scientists do. We do the work and we come up with our findings and hypotheses in the hope that someday, when humanity is ready, it
will
all make a difference in people’s lives.

“Throughout history, every time mankind has evolved, taken a step forward, you can always trace it back to science. It is a scientist’s job to do the research and find the truth. It is humanity’s job to take the science and do something with it. Doctors, explorers, aeronautical engineers, they are the doers, the ones who bring the science to the masses and the ones that make it matter in a concrete way.

“I have to be honest and say that we also do it for the love of science, of discovery, because when we run up against walls, when the answers seem to elude us, it is only that love that drives us.

“Einstein put out his theories of relativity and special relativity knowing that most people of his time would dismiss his work as nonsense, as the imaginations of a young theorist looking to shake the foundations of his field. He also knew that many of his hypotheses would not be validated until he was long gone. It was his internal curiosity, his desire for the truth of reality, that drove him, and I suspect it is that same curiosity that drives most scientists.”

Steven listened intently. Leonard could tell that he was trying to process everything that he had just shared with him.

He got up from the table they were sitting at, walked over to the shelf, picked out a book, and gave it to Steven as he came back to sit down at the table, “Here, this is a book written by Dr. Samuel Grossman. He is a professor of forensic psychiatry at Columbia University. He has also done significant research on the same topic.

“I believe I told you about him when we last met. His approach involves more of an abstract approach than an evolutionary one. He has actually developed a scale to measure the level of deviance of those he studies. He has come to establish the concept of ‘evil’ as an empirical measurement that he uses on his scale.”

Steven was a bit confused, “I remember the name, but I would be lying if I said I remembered his work. I read so much that it’s hard to keep it straight now. What do you mean he uses ‘evil’ as an empirical measurement?”

Leonard explained, “I mean exactly that. The different levels on his scale determine how ‘evil’ someone’s actions are. So, for example, the lower levels on the scale represent a very low level of ‘evil.’ Usually, it is people in the throes of a fit of rage or who display a gross disregard for safety that end up on the lower levels of his scale. Where our work intersects is at the highest levels on his scale. Those levels represent planned, sadistic and cruel murders, the type of behavior that also draws out attention.

“The book I just gave you outlines his work in detail. Although his approach is different from ours, the basic conclusions are the same. The three highest levels on his scale define behavior that is not within human norms, that does not fit within any recognized standard for deviant human behavior.

“He also has a show on public television that features most of the levels of his scale, but not the three highest levels. I imagine the types of crimes that define those highest levels are too much for a television audience.

“Anyway, there are a lot of us exploring this science, some of us take an evolutionary and philosophical approach, while others concentrate more on the physiological and genetic elements, but all of us are working from similar, if not the same, hypotheses.”

Steven was absorbing everything that Leonard was sharing with him. It was precisely the type of information that he had been looking for.

He had one last question for Leonard, “Thank you, professor, again you have been more than generous with your time. I have one last question for you. You told me before that there were physical differences that you had been able to establish during your research. I read some of your papers and you explained in them that the differences were in some areas of the brain, are there other physical differences that you have been able to identify?”

Leonard’s smile brightened up again, “You mean are there differences you can readily see, differences that don’t require a microscope to find, is that it?”

Steven now let a small smile appear on his face, “Yes, I suppose that’s what I am talking about.”

Leonard paused for a couple of beats, trying to think about the type of work Steven was asking about. “Well, there is a researcher out of the University of Nebraska, Dr. Allen Schultz. He and I were introduced about three years ago by one of my assistants. He has been doing work on involuntary physical triggers. He is one of the foremost experts on interrogation techniques and on lie detection. He has been nicknamed The Human Lie Detector by some of his students.

“Anyway, he has identified 44 involuntary indicators when someone is trying to be deceitful. Things like involuntary movement of the eyes, minute shakes of the head or tightening of the facial muscles. He has studied thousands of subjects, using the most sensitive measuring equipment to register every minute change in intonation, pitch, modulation, everything, and he has discarded every element that could potentially be controlled or suppressed by his subjects. That’s where the 44 indicators come from. Every one of them is something that he has over time determined cannot be controlled by even the most skilled liar.

“He has worked with professional interrogators, former CIA agents, military intelligence specialists, every type of professional whose work demands that they know how to deceive and how to control their responses, and not even those professionals can suppress the indicators he has identified. So when one of my assistants found out about his work, she thought we might be able to collaborate.

“We met and agreed to work together, testing both of our hypotheses through several sets of controlled interviews. We utilized 22 of our most promising subjects, individuals we were certain were
Homo predaer,
and we set up all of Dr. Schultz’s measurement equipment. Every one of our subjects was either able to suppress the indicators or the indicators were simply not present. None of our subjects were told what the indicators were, so the most likely explanation is that they simply did not have the same physiology as the subjects that Schultz had researched.

“He was completely astounded by our findings and decided to explore them along with us. Remember, he had developed these indicators after interviewing and measuring
thousands
of people over many, many years. He had been certain that his indicators would revolutionize the science of lie detection, and now he had to reconsider those findings.”

Steven nodded in understanding; that was precisely the type of thing he was looking for, something that could be identified without looking through a microscope, something that had real-life weight to it. He understood the scientific aspect of Leonard’s work, but he was looking for something that regular people, everyday individuals, could relate to, understand and perhaps even internalize. It was also a perfect example of how the world was simply not equipped to deal with
Homo predaer
. Human lie detectors would be useless on them.

He got ready to wrap up their conversation, “Thank you, professor, you have been incredibly kind with your time. I don’t want to take up any more of your day.”

Both men stood up from the small table. As they were shaking hands to say goodbye, Loomis felt the academic’s hand tighten as he proceeded to almost floor him, “Goodbye, Mr. Loomis, I hope that I have given you the answers you were looking for, but I also hope that my work is not responsible for the path that you have chosen to pursue.”