The Descent

'Actually,  no.  This  came  from  Orlando,  Florida.  A  regular  neighborhood.  People  are scared. Maybe  it's a form of  racial  catharsis.  There's  this  revulsion  or  anger  or  terror. People  seem  to  feel  they  have  to  lay  waste  to  these  things,  even  after  they've  killed them. Maybe  they  think they're  destroying evil.'

'Do you?' asked Thomas.

Her almond eyes  were  sad. Then disciplined. Either way,  compassion  or  science,  she did not.

'We  offer  rewards  for  undamaged  specimens,'  she  told  them.  'But  this  is  about  the best  that  comes  in.  This  guy,  for  instance.  He  was  captured  alive  by  a  group  of middle-aged accountants and software  engineers  playing  touch  football  at  a  suburban soccer field. By the time they  got finished with him, he was a piece of charcoal.'

Branch had seen far worse.

'All around the country. All around the world,' she said.  'We  know  they're  coming  up into  our  midst.  There  are  sightings  and  killings  every  hour,  somewhere  in  metro  and

rural  America.  Try  to  get  a  whole,  undamaged  cadaver  in  the  lab,  though.  It's  a  real problem. It  makes research  very  slow.'

'Why do you think they're  coming up, Doctor? Seems like everyone  has a theory.'

'None of us here  has  a  clue,'  Yamamoto  said.  'Frankly,  I'm  not  convinced  the  hadals are coming up in any greater  numbers  than  they  have  historically.  But  it's  safe  to  say that  humans  are  more  sensitized  to  the  hadals'  presence  these  days,  and  so  we're seeing  them  more  clearly.  The  majority  of  sightings  are  false,  as  with  UFOs.  A  great number  have  been  sightings  of  transients  and  freight  riders  and  animals,  even  tree branches scratching at the window, not hadals.'

'Ah,' said Vera,  'it's all in our imagination?'

'Not  at  all.  They're  definitely  here,  hiding  in  our  landfills,  our  suburban  basements, our  zoos,  warehouses,   national  parks.   In   our  underbelly.   But  nowhere   near   the numbers the politicians and journalists want us to believe. As  far  as  invading  us,  come on. Who's invading who here?  We're the ones sinking shafts and colonizing caves.'

'Dangerous talk,' said Foley.

'At  a  certain  point,  our  hate  and  fear  change  us,'  the  young  woman  said.  'I  mean, what kind of world do we want to raise our children in? That's  important, too.'

'But  if  they're  not  appearing  in  any  greater  numbers  than  before,'  argued  Thomas,

'doesn't  that  throw  out  all  the  catastrophe  theories  we  keep  hearing,  that  a  great famine or plague or environmental disaster is to blame for their coming among us?'

'That's  one  more  thing  our  research  may  help  answer.  A  people's  history  speaks through their bones and  tissue,'  said  Yamamoto.  'But  until  we  collect  more  specimens and expand our database, I can't tell you anything more than what the bodies of  Dawn and a few of her brothers  and sisters  have  told us.'

'Then we know almost nothing about their motivation?'

'Scientifically speaking, no. Not yet.  But sometimes we – the  staff  and  I  –  sit  around and  invent   life  stories   for  them.'   The   young   doctor  indicated  her   stainless-steel mausoleum. 'We give them names and a past. We try  to  understand  how  it  must  have been to be them.'

She  touched  the  side  of  the  cutting  table  with  the  hadal  female's  head.  'Dawn  is easily our group's favorite.'

'This?' said Vera.  But clearly she was charmed by  the staff's humanity.

'Her youth, I guess. And the hard life she led.'

'Tell us her story,  if you don't  mind,'  said  Thomas.  Branch  looked  at  the  Jesuit.  Like Branch,  he  had  a  raw  exterior  that  people  misjudged.  But  Thomas  felt  an  affinity  for the  creatures  that  was  unfashionable  at  the  moment.  Branch  thought  it  perfectly  in character. Weren't all Jesuits liberation theologists?

The  young  woman  looked  uncomfortable.  'It's  not  really  my  place,'  she  said.  'The specialists  haven't  gone  over  the  data  yet,  and  anything  we've  made   up  is  pure conjecture.'

'Just the same,' Vera  said, 'we want to hear.'

'All  right,  then.  She  came  from  very  deep,  from  an  atmosphere  rich  in  oxygen, judging  by  the  relatively  small  rib  cage.  Her  DNA  shows  a  relevant  difference  from samples  sent  to  us  from  other  regions  around  the  world.  The  consensus  is  that  these hadals all evolved  from Homo erectus , our own ancestor. It's  common  knowledge  that we shared a  mother  and  father  long  ago.  But  then  the  same  can  be  said  about  us  and orangutans, or lemurs, or even  frogs. At some point we all share genesis.

'One  surprise  is  how  alike  the  hadals  are  to  us.  Another  is  how  unalike  they  are  to one another. Have you ever  heard of Donald Spurrier?'

'The primatologist?' said Thomas. 'He was here?'