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Microscopic examination of its neurons, brain cells, also indicate a staggering degree of neural specialization and complexity. Human neurons are basically made up of a central cell body, the soma, and branched fibers called dendrites and axons. Neurons share information with other neurons via electrical impulses gathered by the dendrites at connection points which are called synapses. This information is processed by the soma and its output travels down the axons to the synapses of other neurons. Boring? I suppose it is. Regardless, I tell you this only in comparison for the creature’s neurons are totally alien, though, I would assume, operate in roughly the same manner. You see, the creatures’ neurons are not made up of a single cell body, but a sort of triple soma connected to a highly sophisticated network of dendrites, axons, and a mysterious third plexus of branching fibers that has us simply baffled.
    â€œWhy do I tell you all this?” Gates smiled thinly, then frowned. “Because you need to understand the nature of what we’re dealing with here, the level of intellect this creature must have possessed in life which must have been limitless. I doubt the human brain will be anywhere near this level of development for several million years. Maybe not even then. So now you know . . . this creature was possessed of something of a hyper-intellect and appears to have sensory adaptations that hint at senses beyond the normal five.”
    Hayes looked over at Sharkey and she whistled silently. Which was pretty much what he’d been doing in his head. Sure, some of what Gates said was a little heady, but the impact of it was shocking. What he was saying was that these creatures — apparently million of years gone — were intellectually above man as man was above your average toad. Jesus, it was enough to suck the wind out of you.
    Gates took a drink of water. “Now I know that there’s been a lot of talk about our mummies . . . I’m not sure if that word even applies such is the state of their preservation . . . and a lot of it has been pretty wild. What I keep hearing is that people are saying these creatures might be alien, as in
extraterrestrial.
I won’t even hazard a guess as to that, but I will say that, given their level of development and culture, I suppose it’s not impossible. We won’t even be able to speculate much on things like that until we begin a comprehensive analysis of the creatures’ DNA and proteins. As you know, I’m sure, all life on Earth shares the same DNA . . . we’re only different from a spider or a fungus because of
how
our DNA synthesizes and replicates proteins. If, say, the DNA breakdown of the creature was to show marked irregularities from our own . . . or even a completely alien structure . . . then, my friends, we would have some very tough questions to ask ourselves.”
    Hayes wasn’t liking any of this.
    Gates wasn’t definitively saying that those things were from Mars or Altair-6, but he sure as hell wasn’t ruling it out either. Christ, Rutkowski and the boys were going to have a field day with this.
    Gates took another drink of water. “Okay, time for your history lesson now that you’ve had your biology lecture.” There were a few stifled laughs at that.
“Aliens.
It’s sort of a word that’s pretty much been worn out, but it’s one you hear about from time to time if you’ve spent any time down here in Antarctica. For years there’s been crazy stories circulating about some great pre-human civilization under the ice. I’m sure most of you vets have heard your share of horror stories. But how did all that start? Well, I’ll tell you — the Pabodie Expedition and the Starkweather-Moore Expedition. Ah, I saw a few eyes light up at the mention of those names. Some of you might be familiar with them . . . “
    He went on to say that both of these