Lemuria by Burt Clinchandhill (most popular novels of all time .txt) 📗

thing the poachers more or less respected was the army. Once they saw or in any other way came in contact with soldiers, they would run like hell or risk getting shot, or worse, killed.

“You have a lot of trouble with poachers?” Bishop asked the officer who accompanied them.

The man answered in a heavy Spanish accent. “Only yesterday, some three hundred vicuñas were killed by poachers.”

“Vicuñas?” Bishop asked.

“They are the national animal of Peru. They look a bit like a llama,” the officer answered. “Only much scarcer. Almost endangered. They are hunted for their valuable wool. Poachers kill them all—males, females, even newborns. One pound of fiber sells for $400 on the local market and more than $2,000 on international markets. Each animal delivers about half a pound of wool. Howler monkeys, Goeldi monkeys, Tumbes crocodiles, Andean mountain cats, jaguars and many other animals are also hunted. We are a poor country, you know.”

“What would you do if you didn’t have anything to eat?” Lindsey asked.

Bishop and Ignatowski nodded.

“So, what can you tell us about Ernst Haeckel, and the drawing, the Tree of Life, you called it?” Lindsey asked.

“Well, I’m not a specialist on Haeckel per se. You already know I wrote the paper, ‘Evolution, the mathematical probabilities and philosophical implications of proof.’”

“It’s still a mouthful,” Ignatowski interrupted.

“Sure, but basically my paper said that if Darwin was more or less right, you know, sexual selection, survival of the fittest, the descent of man as he called it himself, could we prove it through mathematics? And if we could prove it, what would that mean in the philosophical sense? It would be grounds for all kinds of new debates about the creation of the universe. Belief systems all over the world would be debated and questioned. In my paper, I suggested that, theoretically, evidence of evolution—real hard evidence—could lead to one or more new world wars.”

“But what does Haeckel have to do with that?” Lindsey asked.

“Nothing in itself,” Bishop answered. “But, where I tried to suggest mathematical proof, Haeckel, a contemporary of Darwin, tried to prove Darwin’s evolution by finding physical evidence.”

“There,” the officer called out as he pointed to the riverbank, where Lindsey and Ignatowski were dropped off last time.

“We’ll come back to it later,” Bishop promised. “We’ll have time during our hike.”

“Or over a campfire later this evening.” Lindsey smiled as the helicopter landed.

They all got out.

“So, you’re sure? I will pick you up tomorrow same time?” the officer asked one more time.

Lindsey nodded, looking at the three large backpacks that were unloaded. “We have everything we need to spend one night. No problem. Thank you.”

The officer stepped back into the helicopter and waved his beret out of the side door. “I wish you all the best, and I’ll see you again tomorrow, same time.” The helicopter blades whirred louder, and after a short moment, the helicopter lifted into the air.

Bishop felt his sweaty forehead.

“We better get going,” said Lindsey. “Once below the trees, it’ll be cooler.”

They picked up their backpacks and disappeared from the riverbank into the rainforest.

“We’ll be there in about forty minutes.” Ignatowski clearly felt more comfortable the second time around, and this time in his army clothing.

“One thing I don’t understand,” Bishop said, rushing into the shadow. “Those satellites at the NRO don’t have infrared or heat signature capabilities? I mean, you said the tribe disappeared overnight. With those capabilities, you surely must have been able to track them.”

Ignatowski paused for a long moment.

“What is it, Iggy?” Lindsey asked.

He cleared his throat. “You know, at the NRO, we have only so many satellites and bandwidth available for tracking humanitarian missions. Since nothing ever happens at night at those missions, the satellites with the capabilities you refer to are not deployed as such.”

Bishop shrugged, smiling. “In other words, the more capable satellites are deployed for military use. Figures.”

“Be nice,” Lindsey commanded, and the two men continued on their way. Except for the crackling of small twigs beneath their feet, they silently followed the woman through the rainforest.

“Now, about Haeckel, please continue,” Lindsey said, breaking the silence.

“How far is it from here?” Bishop asked, wiping sweat from his forehead while obediently following Lindsey and Ignatowski through the rainforest.

“It’s about a ten-minute hike to the shabono and another ten from there to the caves.”

“All right, where was I? Oh yes. Haeckel tried to prove Darwin’s theory of evolution by finding physical evidence all over the world. You have to know that besides him being a racist, the German Haeckel was a philosopher, naturalist, physician, professor, marine biologist and artist who discovered, described, named and drew thousands of new species. He was the one who promoted Darwin’s work. Without Haeckel, Darwin’s work wouldn’t have been half as popular. In his time, he was a celebrated man. He was a flamboyant figure who could take giant non-scientific leaps with hardly any evidence. That is also why he has been discredited on a lot of his theories over time.

“Regarding evolution, at the time when Darwin published The Origin of Species, Haeckel argued that human evolution entailed exactly twenty-two phases. The twenty-first phase is the one we know as ‘the missing link.’ These are also the phases Haeckel drew in his Tree of Life where he gave the missing link the name “Pithecanthropus Alalus,” which translates to—”

“Apeman without speech,” Ignatowski interrupted.

“Check,” Bishop replied.

“We also did our homework.” Ignatowski smiled.

“The same Pithecanthropus Alalus,” Bishop confirmed, “that was misplaced on the cave’s finger painting that you showed me. Anyway, you have to know that at that time, at the end of the nineteenth century, no human ancestry remains had ever been found or identified. Haeckel named and described all twenty-two phases of human evolution in great detail without ever seeing or identifying one of them.”

“Except for the last,” Lindsey added.

“Of course,” Bishop conceded. “And at the same time, he sent his students all over the world searching for proof.”

“Look, over there,” Lindsey called out as she stopped and pointed right. The two men caught