Subspecies

Don cursed under the breath, and hit the brakes, as the treacherous traffic light turned red, and, from around the corner, the huge track roared across. That was the nastiest crossroad Don has ever seen in his life, and, by necessity, he was quite a car-traveller.

While standing there, half across the zebra crossing, Don once again recalled the strange events of the quite recent past.

He and Jeff were buddies right from the high school. Jefferson Davis Perkins was a computer whiz even then. In fact, that was how then became pals in the first place - what started one day as a purely computer talk on how better to write this or that piece of code soon turned into beer parties together, and the friendship was there ever since. In the same resourceful tandem they both went through MIT, but then their roads split quite a bit apart, as Jeff went working for some quasi-military AI lab, while Don hit a multimedia division of a small advertising company.

The traffic light blinked and went green. Don hit the gas and dived into the memories once more.

It was about two or so months ago, when, during one of their weekend beer parties at Jeff's place he was surprised by a sudden increase in the amount of hardware hooked into Jeff's old Pentium Pro. One thing looked much like overblown virtual helmet, the couple of large half-assembled devices with wires hanging out he could not place at all. Then it was that Jeff for the first time hinted at some new project he was doing on his own, which will turn upside down everything there is to know about the human race. The claim was so ludicrously ambitious, that Don never seriously believed this whatever-it-was would ever work. Plus, after that first time, Jeff was not too prone to speak of it again.

That is, until yesterday. Late in the evening, he suddenly called Don, and asked him to come by today morning. His voice on the phone sounded so strange, that Don was almost forced to believe that Jeff is a bit drunk, had he not known the guy better than that. From a few dark hints, Don understood that this ludicrous project of Jeff's did work, and the results are so important, that Jeff has to speak to his friend first, before he decided what to do with those.

Well, whatever it was, he better be there, just to calm Jeff down, if naught else. Don looked at the car' clock - 8:14 in the morning. In about ten more minutes he will finally know what's all the Jeff's excitement was about.

   *   *   *

'Don, I think it never did hit you - just how different people are, no?'
'But, Jeff, there's nothing, I mean - nothing in the world new to that' - Don was now sitting in Jeff's study, in a not too comfortable arm-chair, and Jeff was pacing to and fro across the room. - 'Any species differ somewhat, Jeff'
'Yes, but not in the way we do. Don, I mean, every animal has some average characteristics - and, they flock around it. Every species fit in some ecological niche - that's the main peak - and the further one deviates from it, the smaller are numbers. Almost gaussian distribution, always. I checked.
'But, Don, for humans it's different. Somehow. Do you know how much graphs I drawn? It alone would be enough to stuff a library. And, Don, every time, on every graph, I do get a gaussian picture - bit I also get a secondary peak far higher than the average!!! In fact, it's so far higher, that I had to go to logarithmic scale to draw both on the same sheet'
'So, you say that some people are much better than an average layman. Sorry, Jeff, nothing new' - Don was, somewhat, disappointed. And THAT was supposed to "turn upside down everything there is to know about the human race", as Jeff said? Now, even if some people are better than others, (as they are - Don knew perfectly well that mythical "equality" was never a scientific claim) - so what?
'No, NO!!! For heaven's sake, Don! I would never be so stupid, you know. I had these graphs two months ago. And I thought just the way you do - that it's some statistical or psychic deviation. It's then I've started to work on EEGs.'

Don, now, was almost sure that Jeff needed a substantial cool-down.

'EEGs? Jeff, That's known for... damn, half-a-century, at least. You can't discover anything new. Well, you can, I take my words back, but it can't be a breakthrough. Or a proof for whatever. These EEGs are too fuzzy. You can say anything - and you always can make EEG to back you up.'
'Don, I'm not stupid. Not THAT stupid, anyway. I knew it. That's why I never used an ordinary EEGs - just to prove a subject is sane. I used the laser-focused EEG to find out what part of brain makes the difference between the peaks.'
'You mean, you've spotted the piece of brain that is responsible for being a genius? If so, Jeff, I want ten percent of the profit.'
'No, Don, it goes deeper. And, if you say, yes, I spotted it - but it's not a piece of brain, it's not a few cubic centimetres of neurons that one has and another hasn't. Everyone has the same skull. It's a piece of cubic centimetres, OK, but when I trace neuron connections in that piece - I get roughly the same result for all save quarter-percent of subjects. The said quarter has there such connections that even the deepest laser-scan gives. I even took a few people through the full Mental Scan. Same.'

'So, what do you think it means? Cause I'm lost, Jeff...'
'OK, Don, I'll say it loud. Just don't laugh at me in public. All humans are the same in their biology, but some of them - not many, quarter-percent roughly, are different in a mental makeup. I don't mean "out of average" - I mean totally different. Out of our reckoning. Like... like light and rock. No common points, except that they have to live in the same universe'

Don had a good five seconds to himself, thinking of the proposition.

'No Jeff, it won't do. What you say implies these few are aliens. Can't be. I mean, if they were aliens, they could well mimic human appearance, no problem, we build such dolls ourselves. They could mimic the behaviour, too. But they could never mimic our bio-makeup. They couldn't breed with us, for one. Even a quarter-percent of non-breeders is apparent enough to be noticed, in a population so huge.'
'Don, but that's what I mean! These few are not aliens! Don't you think I thought of that, too? A month ago I ran a simulation, right on my PC. I gave it all the facts and all the rules I'm aware or could think of. Why do you think I called you today, and not earlier?'

'No idea... I thought you finally want to talk about it.'
'Wrong. It's because yesterday this simulation finished and printed out an answer. I mean, it had a couple of answers, but there's only one, which is twenty-odd times more probable than all the others together.

'And here's the answer it gave - Don, on this planet there were originally many species, but only two evolved into being sentient. At the same time, roughly. Actually, the simulation said there had to be the third one, still humanoid, over-strong and non-to-sentient anyway, and so extinct in about fifty centuries after forming finally, since it couldn't compete with the former two. That's what keyed me, Don! The simulation deduced Neanderthals!
'Of course, the two surviving species both evolved from roughly the same source - maybe, some apes, but the simulation insists only on ape-shape and similar metabolism. And, one was much more numerous than another, too, several orders of magnitude. Now, once they interact, and the interaction is dated some seven thousand BC, what can result?
'All the history shows - the large band never destroys a smaller but smarter one. Never. They always try to enslave or assimilate - and always there was an apparently total success, turning in favour of smarter ones with time.
'So, that's what my simulation said in the end. Two species - the more numerous supplied an appearance, the smaller one supplied the know-how. The knowledge. The initiative. The invention, too - the simulation insists that, once a small inventive group is assimilated, there is no need for the dominant group to invent anything - they'll do.

'Jeffy boy, let's go for a beer. Now, I mean. The "Queen of the Dark" round the corner is open 24 hours a day - let's go. I'll juice you. And we'll talk more there...

Jeff, to his eternal wonder, agreed.

   *   *   *

'Here - Don sat back on the chair by the pub' table and addressed one of his hands to Jeff - Have a Guinness - Jeff had.
'Now, - sipping his ale, Don's narrow and pale face with his long white hair flowing down like a small and graceful waterfall, looked almost like the Death itself - Jeff, you say, that there're two different species of humans? Now, tell me, what YOU believe now...'

'No, Don. I don't believe any more, I am convinced. There were two different sentient species, which evolved here, on Earth. Both started at the same time, and from the same source, I think. They evolved independently for some time - and, faced with the problem too large for them, one learned to multiply and tackle the problem in masses, while another learned to develop own abilities to cope.
'Now, when the two intersected - neither could destroy another one. Breeders should have been afraid of smarties - and smarties could not, possibly, destroy breeders. Just too many. Plus, breeders are always fearsome fighters, in any species.
'Finally, I think, the two races merged. Mainly, I think, breeders were overpowering - so thinkers merged in. And so the whole known history goes. Thinkers devise the strategy. Breeders fight.

...Don was silent for some time, again...

'No, Jeff, it doesn't compute with me. Assuming what you say is true, and I know human psychology, - all "thinkers", as you call it, would be killed long ago. Humans never accept anything even remotely alien. No matter, how smart, no logic - an outsider is always a dead beat. This works now, this worked 5 thousand years ago, remember Echnaton's Egypt?

'Don, but that's what I mean! An alien would have been killed ten times over. So, I think these thinkers assumed the shape of humans - my simulation said they did. Anyway, what better way? And, remember, the two were close enough to start with.
'And, since then, they live among us, Don!!! That's the dread of it - they invent all there is to be invented, they lead, they shape the world - and nobody even thinks that there is any trouble!!!

'No, Jeff, can't be. One of em' superhumans would give itself away. In so many years...

'Precisely!!! So the simulation decided, too. But it also decided that there is no danger if every thinker truly believes himself to be a human!!! Don, they're different beyond the imagination, and they don't even KNOW it!!! What's the best way to live in a presence of a dominant species? Mimic! And, what's the best way to hide it? To think you're one of the background, of course! Not only can't one give away anything - he's not even aware there is anything to give away!!!

'Don't know, Jeff... I have to think... let's go home...

   *   *   *

'JEFF!!! Look OUT!!!

Vain. The huge Cadillac went right through Jeff, without even as much as stopping afterwards. The broken body flew a couple of meters, then smashed into asphalt, still pouring blood out. Several people frozen in horror. Hysterical shriek of a woman.

Dreadful.

Don wanted to shout, but all his guts were frozen for a second. Was it an accident? Yes, it looked accident. But,... What if Jeff's theory was true? Weren't they, whoever "they" were, silencing him? Or, maybe, he will be next?
Yet, could one crazy cyber-researcher be so true after so many years? Yes, he well could... but was he? - and, then, a thought hit him - why is he himself not dead yet? If THEY, whoever THEY were, terminated Jeff - he's the second one to kill, 'cause he heard all Jeff said... Or is he going goo-goo after having heard that paranoid nonsense?
...Or what? Sure, he had created quite a new theory on the psychology of presentation, and was even convinced that he had a slight hypnotic ability, but all this still doesn't make him a racist. Or a separate race, if such crazy thing exists at all. Or was he able to have it and create it only because he, himself, is of a higher species? Inventor? What better way to keep silent, than when a thinker doesn't KNOW he's a thinker?!!

What better way to hide what you are, then by not being aware???

Instantly, Don relaxed, and didn't quite remember which way he flew home. Who cares?.. In a split of a second, his car, parked at Jeff's place, disappeared, and re-materialized in Don's garage.

Don opened his flat, was in, threw the jacket on the hook and went to the kitchen. Five minutes later, the water was boiled and Don settled in front of his TV with a large mug of tea. Then, as he switched the TV on, some strange thought flickered through his mind - he was, for some strange deja-vu reason, almost sure that he woke up early today and couldn't remember whatever happened in the half-day before now. Then, the thought disappeared, and even the memory of the thought went next, and the memory of the memory.

...It's so nice to have a weekend once per week. It's exactly the time when one can indulge in sleeping till noon, and - Don looked over himself - could even indulge in not undressing before going to bed. Now, he could even remember the reason he felt not so good - that eighth pint of beer, yesterday night, was, clearly, one pint too much...

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