The Gift
an excerpt

Prologue

It was eons ago, before it was called Earth, before any sentient beings lived on its surface, when they first came. They were here long before the dinosaurs roamed the land, before primates walked on two legs. And they saw the planet's potential. It had a solitary moon to regulate the weather and the tide, the ideal distance from it's star to support water and ice, and it was located in a distant part of the galaxy, far from prying eyes and outside interference. And it had life. The planet was teaming with various forms of life; plant life, marine life, reptiles, and mammals.

They saw the potential in many of the animals, but they chose a mammal that would evolve into a primate. They captured a few specimens, analyzed, tested, and finally altered. They used their own DNA to influence the evolution of the animals and sent them back into the wild.

They watched as the animals rejoined their own kind, and they remained to observe the proliferation of the altered genetic code into the new offspring. With each generation, they evolved more and their intelligence level increased. They continued to return to the planet over time to monitor the progress of their creation.

But they left more than just pieces of their DNA. They left a genetic memory; a memory that the descendents would not be aware of, but it would be there. It would guide them to do things, invading their subconscious as their minds evolved to a certain level of awareness.

And they also left The Gift. Within the genetic memory of the primitive primates, they left enough information for their descendents to eventually realize and find The Gift.

And they allowed the primates to evolve with no more interference; only observation. They did not reappear to the primates again; had no intention of doing so until those primates evolved enough to venture out into the galaxy to see what was there.

They left The Gift, the memory, and the evolutionary path. And then they left the Earth to the primates who would eventually dominate the planet.