5. Jasmine

5

JASMINE

J asmine had gotten pretty good at discerning Ell-rom's emotions from subtle changes in expressions and body language. He had slightly different frowns for when he was worried, intrigued, or upset, and the one he was sporting now was clearly the latter.

What had caused it?

There could be several things, starting with her telling him about riding on Negal's back after twisting her ankle, to what she had told him before about her suspicion that one of the gods had bitten her to hasten her recovery.

Either way, it was time to change the subject, or rather take it in a different direction. "I've just remembered a concern that Ell-rom and I brought to Kian's attention. I don't know if he spoke with you about it or not, but do you think that your commander will ask for DNA samples to prove that Ell-rom and Morelle were indeed hybrids and to prove that they are dead?"

Aru leaned back in his chair. "That's a good question. My commander wouldn't ask that of his own volition but, given the Eternal King's agenda and his paranoid tendencies, it's likely that he will want proof of the twins' demise."

"Would a genetic sample collected from a live person differ from one collected from a dead person?" Ell-rom asked.

That was a good question for which Jasmine had no answer. She hadn't been interested in the subject before, and if they had taught it in her physiology and anatomy class in high school, she didn't remember it.

"Let's check." Margo pulled out her phone. "All the answers can be found on the internet if you know what to ask, especially with that newest chatbot version they've introduced."

Jasmine had happened to read about artificial intelligence in a magazine but had yet to try it herself. According to the article she'd read, artificial intelligence chatbots were easy to access, and some of them were free, but the answers couldn't be a hundred percent trusted because some AIs were known to hallucinate, which Jasmine found hilarious and a little worrisome.

Making up stuff was a human trait, so did it mean that the bots were becoming more human?

But that was less bothersome than the bias intentionally incorporated into those bots for whatever reasons and agendas.

Truth shouldn't be selectively modified or altered to better fit certain views and agendas of those controlling the bots, but that was the way of the world. Those with money and power decided what the plebs were allowed to know and needed to believe.

"Here is what I found," Margo said. "DNA itself doesn't change after death. However, the degradation process can make it harder to extract and analyze DNA from a dead body compared to a living one." She lifted her head. "But if we take tissue samples, like hair or fingernail clippings, it wouldn't matter if they were taken from a live body or a dead one, right?"

"I don't know about that," Dagor said. "With how advanced Anumati's tech is, they might be able to detect subtle differences we're not even aware of."

There was a long silence as everyone mulled over the problem, and then Frankie lifted her finger. "What about a chemical solution? Something that would destroy DNA but look like it resulted from the crash? Could that work?"

Gabi nodded enthusiastically. "You could say the pod's fuel leaked and mixed with other chemicals, creating a corrosive substance."

Dagor chuckled. "The pod doesn't operate like one of your vehicles. It doesn't use fossil fuel."

"What does it use?" Ell-rom asked.

"The technology and substances used are not available on Earth, but its functionality is similar to nuclear fusion."

"Don't you mean fission?" Gabi said.

"No. I meant fusion. It's a different technology."

"Like what is used in nuclear submarines?" Frankie asked.

He laughed. "Not even close. I don't want to sound condescending, but in comparison, your nuclear submarines use Stone-Age technology. The nuclear fission generates heat that is used to boil water and create steam in a closed loop system that drives turbines, which are connected to generators and propel the submarine." He seemed to be barely able to contain his laughter. "It's not so different from the steam engines that powered your trains in the nineteenth century."

Jasmine sighed. "Okay, so that's out. What else can we do?"

"We can still use your idea of hair and nail clippings. Don't forget that the Kra-ell bodies had been kept in good condition despite them being brain dead. There shouldn't have been much DNA degradation, if any." Aru turned to Ell-rom. "Our greatest difficulty in faking your deaths is still staging a funeral pyre that will pass the scrutiny of Anumatian tech."

Ell-rom nodded and turned to Jasmine. "You are an actress, and you seem to have many great ideas. Any suggestions come to mind?"

She shrugged. "The best way is the simplest way that doesn't involve any trickery that can be discovered and put you and everyone on Earth in danger." She shifted her gaze to Aru. "Don't report that you found this pod and keep looking for the others. If and when you find one with everyone dead inside, report the find, and they might assume that everyone in the pods that are still missing is dead. After all, you wouldn't have found this pod without my help, right? So, it wasn't like you were on the right path to finding anything."

Aru closed his eyes and let out a breath. "The more I think about it, the more I'm inclined to do exactly that. The problem is that we will have to keep the dead Kra-ell of Ell-rom's pod in their stasis chambers in case we need the proof in the future. It doesn't seem morally right to keep them from entering their afterlife, and Jade won't stand for that."

"That's just religion," Margo said. "Even if there is an afterlife, which I sincerely doubt, the soul doesn't need any ceremony to find its way to wherever it is supposed to go. The body is just a vessel, and once it stops working, it doesn't really matter what happens to it. The soul makes us who we are, and without the body it's free of its material tether."

Frankie snorted. "That's awfully philosophical from someone who claims to be a non-believer."

Margo cast her a haughty look. "I didn't say that I was an atheist. I'm agnostic. Since we can't prove or disprove the existence of an afterlife or the existence of a divinity, I reserve judgment."