Teresa, anxious as she boarded the private jet, relaxed slightly when she saw Professor Richard. She exhaled deeply. The scientist apologized, explaining how Donald had threatened him, and admitted that the first person who came to mind—someone brilliant, someone who solved bizarre problems—was her. That was why he chose her as his partner.

Teresa narrowed her brows, silently conveying: You dragged me into this mess.

“What’s done is done,” Richard replied, as if invoking the memory of old friendship to soften her anger. “At this point, we should focus on whatever this job is supposed to be.”

“They threatened me,” he said quietly. “I was scared. I didn’t surrender without resistance, but… I lost.”
Then he looked at her meaningfully and continued:
“You’ve survived more than most. People say you’re one of those hidden activists who stand up against injustice around the world—who never bow to tyrants. So tell me, how did you let them intimidate you? Or… have you finally grown old?”

Teresa never doubted Richard’s goodness, but she knew one truth better than anyone:
A secret known by two is no longer a secret.
So she chose an ordinary explanation instead of what she truly thought.

“You know Mark is already struggling,” she said. “When they threatened to harm my son Robert, when they said they could imprison or kill my family… I did what any wife or mother would do—I was afraid.”
She paused, then added:
“All that you said about me is in the past. I can barely keep my own blood pressure under control. How am I supposed to fight people whom young officers and powerful prosecutors can’t even handle?”

Richard lowered his head and whispered:
“These people are the deep state. They can do anything.”

“I don’t think so,” Teresa replied. “Not here, not anywhere. There is no deep state. There is only deep interest. They use the name of the state to justify their own gains—nothing more.”

She brushed the matter aside with a quiet “Anyway,” and asked:
“Do you have any idea where we’re going?”

“No,” Richard answered.

“But judging from these thick fur-lined clothes they gave us, we’re going somewhere extremely cold. Siberia or Alaska come to mind.”

“They didn’t let us bring our own clothes because they’re afraid of hidden listening devices sewn into them,” Teresa whispered, lowering her head. “If we’re heading north… do you have any guesses?”

“Siberia?”

“No, not there. Nothing particularly strange is said about Siberia. But there’s a place in the north stranger than anything — stranger even than the Bermuda Triangle. I’ll give you a clue: it’s also known by a name with the word triangle in it.”

As always, the professor deflected with humor.
“The only triangle I know is an equilateral one. I’m listening — please don’t stretch the mystery any further.”

“What would a species of extraterrestrials, determined to remain unknown, want most? A place with few humans, where harsh climate makes tourism or settlement nearly impossible. The region I’m talking about fits perfectly. Only one percent of it is inhabited, and like the Bermuda Triangle, it is believed to have high electromagnetic activity.”

“Perhaps it’s just gossip, but some researchers claim that the reason the United States wanted to buy Greenland — a place with no apparent value — was because there were aliens and spacecraft beneath the ice. But there’s no triangle legend attached to Greenland. On the other hand, I’ve heard of such a place in Alaska — not just aliens, but even the elusive Bigfoot supposedly inhabits the area.”

“Yes, it’s called the Alaska Triangle. Its corners are Barrow, Anchorage, and Juneau. To the south lie Kodiak Island and the Gulf of Alaska. If I remember the article correctly, the first recorded extraordinary incident in the region occurred in the 1950s, when villagers in Portlock were attacked by some creature, resulting in several deaths. The village was abandoned afterward.”

“The villagers might have killed each other and invented the monster story,” Richard said.

Teresa leaned forward. “All right, then what do you say to this?” she continued.
“In 1972, a plane carrying two members of the U.S. House of Representatives entered the region and disappeared. No wreckage, no bodies — nothing was ever found.”

“That’s an old case. Who knows how accurate the reports are.”

“Fine. Then what about the woman named Shanna, who went to visit a friend in the region in 2019 and was never heard from again? Even the professional mountaineers who went to search for her vanished. And what do you make of the forty-four soldiers who simply disappeared? Or the locals reporting silent, triangular objects moving through the sky?”

“Those all sound like isolated incidents.”

“Official records list twenty thousand missing persons connected to the region. That’s hardly insignificant.”

The professor lowered his head, leaned closer, and whispered into her ear.
“I’ll tell you something. Who benefits from stories like this? Who benefits from people believing aliens or unknown creatures are abducting and murdering humans? Those narratives serve one purpose: they protect the interests of clandestine groups. When they want to eliminate someone — a dissident, a liability — they send them into a place like this under some pretext. Then they kill them and blame it on aliens. They stage a symbolic search, feed the media a paranormal cover story, and walk away clean.”

Teresa nodded slowly, a long silence stretching between them.
“Yes. Now that you say it, I agree,” she murmured, then voiced the dark thought taking shape in her mind.
“So are these men planning to kill us and blame it on aliens? Our families don’t even know where we’ve been taken.”

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t have any enemies,” Richard replied. “I’ve never been involved in anything that might upset the authorities.”
Then, hearing the thump of landing gear and the squeal of tires, he smiled weakly.
“At least we didn’t die in the sky.”

They thought the journey was over, but moments later they were escorted off the plane — blindfolded — and loaded into a black van. The cries of gulls and the crash of waves against rock told them they were near the sea.

Donald entered the cabin where they were held and spoke.

“We’ll be travelling by ship for a while,” Donald said. “You may continue your conversation.”

Teresa glanced at the professor.
“They’re definitely listening to us. Let’s switch to safer topics for now,” she whispered, then asked,
“Professor, do you know what I’ve been wondering? If they could hide micro-capsules under dental fillings, couldn’t they also hide performance-enhancing hormones or chemicals there? Isn’t that another possible method of cheating?”

“In the past, yes,” He replied, “But things are different now. Today, even trace amounts of banned substances can be detected days or weeks later. Even if a new chemical appears, once discovered, it can be added to the list of prohibited agents, and the athlete receives a penalty. Hormones are fascinating substances. In the early twentieth century, when endocrinology was still young, there were cases of deliberate or accidental cheating. The most famous were the experiments of Steinach.”

He drew a slow breath and continued,
“Steinach observed that during mating, male frogs’ reproductive glands became enlarged. At first, he assumed the swelling triggered sexual desire. But when he removed the glands and noticed that the frogs still attempted to mate, he realized the opposite was true: sexual drive did not originate from the gland’s activation — rather, sexual drive stimulated the secretion of hormones.”

“In his experiments with mice, he placed male and female mice together and observed sexual behavior. He then separated the same pairs for eight months and reunited them. This time, there were no mating attempts. He also noted that the males’ seminal vesicles had shrunk. The absence of visual and physical contact had diminished sexual desire.”

“If we interpret these three findings, we can say the following:
The psychological state has powerful influence over sexual drive. Exposure to visual cues — the constant presence of an attractive, sexually stimulating counterpart — evokes sexual desire in nearly all species. That desire, arising in the brain, triggers the release of intermediary hormones, which then stimulate reproductive organs. Later research confirmed this cascade well into modern times.”

“And yet,” the professor continued, “despite demonstrating the influence of sensory experience — what we see, hear, touch, taste — on psychology and consequently sexual drive, Steinach made one claim that ignored psychology entirely.”

“You’re about to tell me what the real deception was, I suppose,” Teresa said.

“Yes,” replied the professor. “And don’t misunderstand me — I’m not saying Steinach deliberately committed fraud, but he certainly made promises he couldn’t keep. He pioneered and performed the first vasectomy. His intention was to surgically tie off the sperm ducts and prevent ejaculation — a method still used today to avoid unwanted pregnancies.”

“So what promises did he make?”

“He claimed vasectomy would restore lost sexual drive and potency in the elderly, increase energy, and make one appear younger — promises that, even today, would catch many people’s attention. He argued that by blocking the ducts, the hormone-producing cells would increase, thereby ‘rejuvenating’ the individual. We now know with certainty that this logic is flawed.”

“And how on earth did they market vasectomy as a path to youth?”

“Very easily,” Richard answered.
“If you have strong advertising and media moguls behind you, you can pressure people into feeling better after the procedure. In medical language, we call that the placebo effect. Furthermore, it was already known that reproductive cells — sperm, egg — contribute to general vitality. But the notion that they could reverse aging to such an exaggerated degree was never medically sound.

Fraudsters rely on a familiar tactic: take a scientifically accepted fact, then attach to it an extravagant promise. When a health clinic is full of people saying, ‘This procedure changed my life,’ you cannot simply stand up and say, ‘Actually, it did nothing for me.’ Who can prove those patients weren’t planted?

And consider modern clinical trials: participants are sometimes given inert tablets with no active ingredient at all, yet they report relief from pain, improved mood, better sleep. That’s patient psychology — a real phenomenon. You don’t even need clinical trials to see it. Our elderly demand medication. They take a simple stomach pill, and suddenly their headaches and joint pain vanish. They believe the drug healed them, when in reality, their belief did.”

Returning to Steinach, his greatest advantage was timing. He introduced his procedure at a moment when medicine was only just beginning to understand the monumental power of hormones — substances whose effects could be explosive even in trace amounts. Because of this, people used hormones to justify all sorts of extravagant health promises. Just as, decades later, some would claim that with advancing neuroscience, they could hijack the human mind and dictate its decisions.

A similar wave followed the discovery that DNA codes influence the trajectory of human life. Once the code was understood, there were those who boldly claimed they could manipulate it to produce perpetual happiness, or customize unborn children to order — eye color, skin tone, even intelligence. The moment medicine makes modest progress in an area, certain circles immediately stretch that progress into wild predictions — and tragically, sometimes those predictions take hold.

Teresa stepped in to anchor the conversation.
“So you’re saying that advances in hormones, brain science, and DNA were exaggerated by scientists who sold impossible dreams: happiness on demand, pre-fabricated traits, life without effort. And you’re emphasizing that this fantasy — that humans don’t need to think, learn, cultivate skills, or exercise their will — has no medical grounding and is indistinguishable from charlatanism.”

She paused, her thoughts circling back to the present.
“But I have questions — especially considering Mark. We’ve seen what happened to him because of a foreign chemical in his blood. He couldn’t resist the hunger it created; he didn’t choose any of this. Couldn’t other people also lose control of their decisions because of external intervention, or because of congenital disorders of their glands?

If so, is it fair to blame them? And what about morally or spiritually? Are these people accountable before God, or not?”

“I understand what you’re asking,” said Professor Richard. His mind was dividing itself — half organizing the argument, half silently grateful for Teresa’s presence. These conversations keep me sane, he thought.

“As I said earlier, thoughts and emotional states can influence the activity of endocrine glands. But my first point is this: there are hormonal disorders that arise independently of a person’s thoughts or psychology. You know, gigantism and dwarfism are linked to the secretion of the pituitary gland. A dwarf doesn’t become a dwarf because he imagines himself small — that’s simply not how the body works.

So just as a person suffering from insanity is not held responsible for their actions, one could argue that individuals with congenital endocrine disorders should not be held legally accountable either.

But here is the problem: we cannot distinguish whether a gland’s dysfunction is the result of a person’s psychological state, or whether the gland was defective to begin with. It’s similar to asking whether someone’s impaired judgment comes from being born mentally unstable, or from voluntarily numbing their brain with alcohol.

If a person is born mentally unsound, they are not punished; but if they choose to intoxicate themselves, they are. The same logic can be applied to endocrine disorders. Yet because we cannot determine whether a hormonal imbalance is gland-derived or thought-derived, the law has no provision that exempts someone from punishment merely on the basis of endocrine pathology.

This debate first emerged in the second quarter of the twentieth century. A three-year study of 250 convicts reported that murderers had elevated thymus and adrenaline levels, and reduced parathyroid hormones; rapists had high thyroid and sex hormones, but low pituitary secretion; and thieves and fraudsters had high adrenaline but low sex-related hormones.

When I say ‘high’ and ‘low,’ I mean two- or three-fold differences compared to normal individuals, measured at different times. Berman’s findings caused a public stir — to the point that, in some murder and rape trials, defendants attempted to use endocrine imbalance as a defense.”

“So,” Teresa asked, leaning in with curiosity, “what did the judges do? Were they aware of this research? Did they take hormonal imbalances into account when making their decisions?”

“In their written opinions, they acknowledged that hormonal imbalance could negatively affect a person’s judgments and behavior — even push them toward criminal acts. But they also stated that this does not grant anyone a ‘right to commit crimes,’ and that acquitting such individuals would open the door to massive abuse of the legal system. For that reason, they rejected the defendants’ appeals. Later cases reached the same conclusion, using this ruling as precedent.”

Teresa exhaled slowly.
“We’ve seen everything. I’m sure people would go so far as to physically or chemically damage their own glands just to mimic insanity and escape punishment. In that sense, I can’t say I blame the judges.”

“And there’s something else we shouldn’t forget,” Richard continued.
“Human physiology varies according to genetics, age, and weight. That’s why laboratory reports list reference ranges. A slight deviation means the individual should be cautious; a larger deviation means they are on the verge of illness.

For example, what people call ‘high blood pressure’ — ideally, it should be around 120, but the reference range is 110–140. When blood pressure exceeds 140, the person is warned. They adjust their diet and reduce salt intake. If the values are consistently high, a doctor will consider antihypertensive medication. Endocrine markers follow the same logic.”

He leaned back, gesturing with his hand.
“Some individuals secrete more thyroid and adrenaline, so they’re naturally quick and energetic. Their metabolism is fast; they live fast. Elevated cortisol may make someone more prone to stress.

But such people cannot automatically be labeled sick. High adrenaline may be ideal for an athlete — but disastrous for a politician who can’t control what he says. In other words, a slight exceedance of hormonal limits may be beneficial in one context and harmful in another.”

“So unless the imbalance is extreme,” Teresa said, “we shouldn’t classify it as disease, but as variation — a natural form of human diversity.”

“Exactly,” the professor replied.

“We should shape our attitudes with the awareness that our friends or spouses may have temperaments influenced by hormonal factors. Likewise, everyone should tell themselves: Because of variations in my hormonal levels, I may be reacting to people in the wrong way. I should know myself and take extra measures to stay in control.

For example, a quick-tempered person — someone with high thyroid activity — should recognize that others may not match their pace, and that this mismatch can easily provoke impatience. So such a person should consciously say, Alright, this will get done, but I must be patient.”

The professor gave Teresa a meaningful look and added:
“As for the religious side of your question, I think you should answer that yourself.”

She understood he was referring to media reports portraying her as religious — even as someone disliked by certain groups.

“I research all religions. I do have faith. I believe that noble values like idealism, justice, kindness, and honesty can unite sincere followers of different beliefs and ideologies.”

Then, with a faint smile, she continued,
“Since my reputation precedes me, very well — I’ll address the religious part.”

“There’s no need for a long explanation. We can say that the logic found in divine law is similar to what we described earlier. If a person has no mental capacity — in other words, if they are mentally disabled — then, according to sacred texts and prophetic teachings, they will not be held accountable on the Day of Judgment. But if someone drinks alcohol, knowing full well that it impairs judgment, and then injures or kills someone while intoxicated, they will be held accountable for the consequences.

The same logic applies to hormonal disorders. If a person’s severe hormonal abnormality — one that seriously impairs rational thought — is congenital, then they may be exempt from responsibility. But if a person’s own choices, desires, or behavior triggered a hormonal imbalance that led them to commit rape, murder, or similar crimes, then they will answer for it in the hereafter. Let me emphasize this: I’m stating the general principle and moral reasoning — not calling for society to condemn anyone. Each individual must examine themselves under this light.”

Donald announced, “Our journey is over. We can finally step onto land— or rather, onto the snow.” They disembarked from the ship. There was no need for a guide; the truth stood before them.
At the sight of colossal ice mountains and a thick blanket of snow, they understood they were in the south— in Antarctica— though they had no idea where in that vast continent they had landed.

The air was brutally cold. After riding for several hours on snowmobiles, they arrived at a settlement made of containers. Beside it lay a circular trench, carved cleanly into the ground.

Donald grinned. “Any idea what this place is?”

“What’s there not to understand?” Professor Richard replied.
“It’s a quarantine zone. Those on the inner side of the trench are quarantined. But what really concerns me is this: how did you manage to activate a microbe trapped under Siberian ice?”

“Professor, you’re fast— you solved it immediately.”

“I didn’t solve anything,” Richard said calmly.
“I simply stated the most likely possibility. An activated single-celled organism could have infected an animal here. It might have turned a harmless dog into something aggressive. Like rabies.”

Donald turned to Teresa with a meaningful look.
“The ones in quarantine are experts from different countries. I’ll say this now so we don’t waste time: they’ve debated endlessly among themselves, but none of them could figure out what that large egg inside the circular container is. They’ve entertained everything— legends, aliens, dinosaur eggs, Vikings, and whatever else you can imagine— yet still, they arrived at nothing.”

From Richard’s and Teresa’s expressions, Donald understood perfectly that they were thinking, “What on earth are you talking about?”

“Forgive me,” Donald said, “I must have confused you by jumping straight into the middle of the story.”

He then explained the two images seen in the cave paintings, the two eggs, and the scientific team. Meanwhile, a thought passed through his mind:
“Well, I’ve basically told them where in Antarctica we are just by deciphering the cave drawings. Are they idiots? They won’t get it anyway… still, I’d better not show them the drawings.”

Teresa cut in, “I assume you brought Professor John Nash, his assistant Kathy, and the other scientists here the same way you brought us.”

“You are here to figure out what this thing is and how we’re going to control it— not to question my methods,” Donald snapped.

Richard was about to ask what he meant by “control,” but Teresa’s sharp glare toward Donald stopped him.

“Then leave us alone so we can do our job,” she said. She turned to Richard and began:

“Whether we believe in God or not, we have to accept that there are numerous supernatural events that shaped the fate of the world. We cannot explain them, so we must consider the oldest sources we have— divine texts and the oral legends rooted in belief.

We have two things before us: two large eggs, found in two distant locations. These eggs remind me of Easter and its significance.”

“I’m a Christian, but I don’t even go to church,” Richard muttered, hinting that he expected an explanation.

“During Easter, eggs are painted and decorated, and people dress themselves in clothes resembling eggshells— as if they themselves are newborn chicks emerging from the shell. Some argue that the tradition of celebrating Easter originated from paganism.

According to certain myths, giant eggs descended from the sky, and from them emerged giants who initiated human life on Earth. Others say the eggs contained angels— beings who disobeyed God, descended to Earth, and mated with humans.

Thus, according to this belief, the noble traits of humanity come from those angels, while the corrupt traits come from the humans already present on Earth. One version claims that God gave humanity a limited time, and when that time is up, He will hold them accountable— even the angels themselves.”

“So which version is true— what are we supposed to believe?” Richard asked, his voice edged with a touch of mockery that Teresa immediately sensed.

“Superstitions usually arise from a true event that really happened,” Teresa replied calmly. “We just don’t know how it happened. And that’s not the main issue now.

What matters is that all versions of the story agree on one point: something descended to Earth—from the heavens or from paradise.

For example, all Abrahamic religions share the belief that Adam descended from paradise to the Earth. Some interpret this as ‘falling from heaven,’ others as ‘being sent down.’ The essential point is not the direction— it’s the fact that Adam arrived here.

Whether that descent happened inside an egg or not is merely detail.

If the egg we’re talking about is the one in quarantine, then theoretically an angel should emerge from it. But we cannot be certain— it could just as well be a demon.”

She turned sharply toward Donald.

“If I know you— and I do— I’m sure you’ve got that egg recorded twenty-four hours a day. If we can’t enter quarantine, then at least show us the footage.”

Donald muttered under his breath, annoyed:

“Obsessed with my methods… bringing this lunatic here was a mistake.”

Nevertheless, he projected the footage of the massive egg in the circular container onto a screen.

Teresa stared, wide-eyed.

“That egg is large enough to hold a full-grown human…”

“Two such eggs in Antarctica— that’s remarkable,” Richard added, astonished.

“We still don’t know whether it contains Adam, an angel, a demon, a monster, or just a microbe,” Donald said. “But laboratory analysis confirms that its shell is made of calcium carbonate— limestone.”