Hargrove shifted forward beneath the studio lights, while the small silver cross upon his lapel flashed briefly toward the nearest camera.
“Thor may be extraordinarily powerful, but power alone does not make any creature divine, and an extended lifespan should never be confused with eternity. The Christian understanding of God concerns the uncreated source of existence itself, rather than a physically embodied organism who can be injured, measured, photographed, or genetically examined. If Thor is a living being from another planet, dimension, or realm, then he remains part of creation rather than its creator, regardless of whether ancient Scandinavians once worshipped him. The discovery that one pagan tradition may contain memories of extraterrestrial contact does not logically establish that every religion originated through the same process.”
He looked directly at Jane here.
“It certainly does not justify reducing the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to an ancient misunderstanding involving advanced technology.”
Anderson allowed the tension to settle before turning toward Hank McCoy.
“Doctor McCoy, Thor and Loki appear remarkably human despite supposedly developing beyond Earth and possibly within an entirely different physical environment, what does their resemblance to us suggest from an evolutionary perspective?”
Hank cleared his throat a bit, the bassy rumble making the Reverend visibly unsettled.
“It suggests that biology beyond Earth may be both stranger and more familiar than evolutionary scientists previously expected, Thor and Loki possess the same broad body plan found throughout humanity, including bilateral symmetry, four limbs, forward-facing sensory organs, and recognizably human facial structures, that being said, resemblance does not automatically establish shared ancestry, particularly when no verified Asgardian genetic material has been made available for independent study.”
He folded his hands together and leaned forward in his seat.
“One explanation would involve common descent, possibly through ancient migration, genetic intervention, or an earlier civilization spreading related life across multiple worlds. Another explanation would be convergent evolution, where similar environmental pressures produce similar biological solutions in populations that developed independently.”
Anderson glanced toward him.
“Can two species really evolve to look almost exactly alike without sharing a recent ancestor?”
“Convergence rarely produces perfect duplication, but evolution repeatedly discovers similar answers when different organisms face similar physical problems.” Hank replied.
“Eyes evolved independently in multiple lineages because detecting light provides an enormous survival advantage, while wings emerged separately among insects, birds, and mammals. A humanoid body may represent an efficient solution for intelligent tool-using life developing under gravitational conditions comparable to those found on Earth. Upright movement frees the upper limbs for manipulation, forward-facing eyes support depth perception, and flexible hands allow increasingly complex technologies to develop.”
Hank’s gaze moved between Thor and Loki.
“The Asgardians, and Chitauri for that matter, may provide the first empirical evidence that intelligence elsewhere can produce a body plan recognizably similar to our own.”
Hargrove spoke up interrupting him.
“Or their resemblance may demonstrate that life was designed according to a common pattern rather than produced through unguided evolutionary accidents.”
Hank turned toward him, remaining outwardly patient despite the familiar shape of the argument.
“That interpretation belongs to theology, while convergent evolution is an observable biological process supported by extensive comparative evidence, you may assign spiritual meaning to the pattern, but that does not invalidate the mechanisms through which organisms change across generations.”
Hargrove shook his head.
“You are assuming that Asgardians evolved without possessing any biological evidence showing that they did.”
“No, I am explaining the scientific possibilities available until such evidence becomes accessible.” Hank rested his folded his giant clawed hands upon the table.
“Evolutionary biology does not require blind faith in a predetermined answer, because it provides testable models that can be revised when new data becomes available. If Asgardian genetics reveal no relationship with terrestrial life, convergent evolution becomes more likely.” He spoke calmly.
“If their genome shares deep structural similarities with ours, then common ancestry or deliberate genetic exchange becomes a serious possibility. That is how science works, Reverend, because the conclusion follows the evidence rather than requiring the evidence to follow the conclusion.”
Anderson intervened before Hargrove could answer.
“Doctor Foster, does Asgardian longevity change how we should understand the stories describing them as immortal?”
“It probably explains why ancient humans believed they were immortal, although we should distinguish extreme longevity from actual immunity to death. Thor appears capable of living for thousands of years while ageing far more slowly than an ordinary human being.” She answered.
“For a society where surviving beyond sixty was remarkable, meeting someone who remembered events from several centuries earlier would have made immortality the most reasonable available explanation.”
Hank nodded adding on.
“Longevity on that scale would require extraordinary cellular maintenance, particularly mechanisms preventing accumulated genetic damage, protein degradation, and uncontrolled cell division, again I must stress, if Asgardian biology can be studied ethically, it could transform human medicine by advancing research into cancer, degenerative disease, organ failure, and ageing itself.”
Hargrove’s expression darkened slightly.
“There would also be profound moral consequences if humanity attempted to seize immortality from beings once mistaken for gods.”
Hank looked toward him.
“Treating ageing-related disease is not seizing immortality, relieving suffering remains medicine regardless of where the knowledge originates.” Read this novel at novelping.com for the best experience.
Reed joined the discussion before Hargrove could respond.
“The same principle applies technologically, Asgardian transportation alone could advance human space travel by several decades.”
The screen behind them changed to display the circular markings left in the New Mexico desert after Thor’s arrival.
“Whatever mechanism carried Thor between Asgard and Earth created a stable bridge across an enormous distance without requiring the traveler to cross the space between those locations conventionally, if we can understand even a fraction of that process, the current space race stops being a competition over rockets and becomes a race toward controllable gateways.”
Anderson turned toward Reed as the screen behind them displayed several diagrams taken from his published work on folded spacetime.
Beside those carefully drawn mathematical models played footage of the portal above Stark Tower, where the impossible theory had become terrifyingly real.
“Doctor Richards, much of your research has focused upon the possibility that spacetime could be folded, allowing two distant locations to become temporarily connected. Does the Tesseract prove that your research was moving in the right direction, and could understanding what happened in New York accelerate that work?”
Reed studied the two images for several seconds.
“My research has always suggested that distance may not be as absolute as ordinary human experience makes it appear. My paper on dimensional displacement proposed that sufficient energy could deform spacetime until two otherwise distant points temporarily occupied the same geometric position.”
Reed lifted one hand toward the diagrams, where two points on opposite ends of a grid were drawn together as the space between them folded.
“Until last week, that possibility existed primarily through mathematical models, limited laboratory experiments, and results far too small to support practical transportation. We could demonstrate that the equations were internally consistent, but demonstrating that something should be possible is very different from proving that someone has already built it.”
The screen changed showing a 3D rendering of the Tesseract pulsing inside its containment chamber before showing the blue gateway tearing open above Manhattan.
“The attack on New York demonstrated that spacetime can be folded or connected artificially, while the Asgardian transportation events suggest that an advanced civilization can control that process repeatedly and with remarkable precision. Those two discoveries validate several foundational assumptions within my work, while simultaneously revealing how incomplete our current understanding remains.”
Anderson noticed the restrained irritation beneath Reed’s clinical explanation and leaned slightly closer across the table.
“You sound understandably frustrated that the government possessed evidence supporting your research but prevented you from examining it.”
A small, humourless smile crossed Reed’s face before disappearing beneath his usual intellectual composure.
“I will admit that discovering the government possessed an object capable of validating several major areas of my research has been somewhat frustrating. Access to even a fraction of those readings could have advanced dimensional physics by years and potentially prevented several mistakes made during the portal project.”
He briefly glanced toward Jane, whose own research had been confiscated after the incident in New Mexico.
“Doctor Foster and I apparently share the unfortunate experience of watching classified agencies hide evidence directly connected to our respective fields.”
Jane responded with a tired smile that suggested she found considerably less amusement in that shared experience than Reed did.
“However, I also understand why an intelligence agency would hesitate before publicly revealing an energy source capable of opening gateways across astronomical or dimensional distances. The events above Manhattan demonstrated rather effectively that this technology is not merely a transportation breakthrough, because it can become an invasion route when handled without sufficient understanding.”
The footage behind him showed the Chitauri fleet pouring through the opening, followed by the enormous creatures twisting between Manhattan’s towers.
Reed watched the shaky images for a moment, his frustration giving way to the more sober awareness of what careless experimentation had already cost.
“Secrecy was understandable, but secrecy without sufficient expertise created its own danger, because the project continued while many qualified scientists remained deliberately excluded. There is an uncomfortable difference between protecting dangerous knowledge and restricting that knowledge until only a small, isolated group is permitted to recognize its mistakes.”
Anderson allowed that observation to settle before asking the question waiting beneath the technical discussion.
“How quickly could the recovered information advance your work if the government now provides responsible access to the available data?”
Reed leaned back slightly, considering the scale of the answer before speaking again.
“We remain years away from reproducing anything comparable, because observing a phenomenon and knowing how to construct it are entirely different scientific achievements. A person can watch an aircraft cross the sky without possessing the metallurgy, engineering knowledge, or industrial infrastructure required to build another one.”
He gestured toward the portal footage, where streams of energy twisted around the opening above Stark Tower.
“Even so, the evidence gathered from New York could push my research, and humanity’s broader understanding of dimensional physics, forward by decades rather than several years. Questions that previously existed only inside equations can now be tested against measurable energy signatures, gravitational distortions, and surviving extraterrestrial machinery.”
The diagrams behind him changed again, replacing abstract models with sensor readings captured during the battle.
“For the first time, we possess data showing what spacetime looks like while it is actively being bent, connected, and stabilised on a practical scale. That does not give us every answer, but it tells us which questions were correct and which assumptions need to be discarded immediately.”
Reed’s voice became more animated as he moved away from the government’s secrecy and toward the future hidden within the recovered information.
“Given enough time, international cooperation, and responsible access to the data, we could begin replacing theoretical assumptions with an actual engineering framework. The applications would extend far beyond transportation, potentially transforming communications, energy distribution, astronomy, disaster response, and planetary defense.” Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping.com.
Anderson glanced toward the rotating image of Earth now displayed behind the panel.
“The application most people are discussing tonight is space exploration, particularly the possibility that humanity could finally travel beyond its own solar system.”
“That would be the most visible application, although it would hardly be the only important one.”
Reed turned slightly toward the camera, addressing the audience more directly than he had throughout the earlier explanation.
“Every spacecraft humanity has ever built has been limited by the same fundamental problem, because space is simply too large for conventional travel. Even reaching our neighbouring planets requires enormous quantities of fuel, careful orbital calculations, and months or years spent crossing what remains a relatively tiny distance.”
The screen expanded outward from Earth, passing Mars and the outer planets before displaying the nearest neighbouring stars.
“Humanity spent centuries improving the speed of ships before aviation completely changed our understanding of distance between continents. Controlled gateway technology would create an even greater transformation, because it would not merely make a spacecraft faster. It could remove the intervening distance from the journey entirely.”
Anderson looked toward the stellar map, where the distance between Earth and the nearest star was compressed into a single glowing line.
“A journey to another star might stop being a voyage lasting thousands of years and become a transition completed within several seconds. We could potentially travel beyond the boundaries of our solar system within the lifetimes of people already living today.”
For the first time during his answer, Reed allowed the excitement behind the possibility to appear openly across his face.
“We could place observatories near distant stars, investigate potentially habitable worlds directly, and answer questions that have occupied astronomy for centuries. The next generation might grow up regarding Mars the way earlier generations regarded another continent, while viewing neighbouring solar systems as difficult but reachable destinations.”
The footage abruptly returned to the Chitauri invasion, stripping some of the wonder from Reed’s expression as alien soldiers descended through the same kind of doorway he had just described.
“The danger is that the same gateway carrying an exploration team outward can also permit an army to travel inward, as every person in New York has now witnessed. A doorway does not distinguish between explorers and invaders, because morality belongs to whoever decides what crosses through it.”
Reed folded his hands together, his earlier enthusiasm settling beneath the weight of that reality.
“This technology could advance civilisation further than almost any discovery in recorded history, while also creating threats our institutions are completely unprepared to manage. The challenge is no longer proving that humanity can reach beyond its own world, because New York demonstrated that such travel is unquestionably possible. The challenge is ensuring that our judgement develops quickly enough to keep pace with how far our technology may soon allow us to reach.”
Jane raised a cautioning voice before Reed’s enthusiasm could carry the discussion too far beyond the ruins still visible across the studio screens.
“We should be careful about treating every discovery as an invitation toward immediate replication, particularly when the first practical demonstration nearly destroyed New York.”
The footage behind them returned to the portal above Stark Tower, where Chitauri vessels continued pouring through an opening created by machinery nobody on Earth had properly understood.
“The gateway was constructed using technology operating far beyond the knowledge of the people handling it, and the result nearly created a permanent invasion corridor into our atmosphere.”
Reed nodded without appearing offended by the interruption, although his eyes remained fixed upon the energy readings beside the footage.
“I agree completely, but refusing to study the mechanism would not make the danger disappear or prevent another civilisation from using it against us.”
He gestured toward the image of the portal.
“Other civilisations already possess this technology, which means humanity must eventually understand it whether our immediate purpose becomes exploration, communication, or planetary defence.”
Anderson allowed the footage to remain onscreen for several seconds before the display shifted toward the people who had defended Manhattan from the streets below.
Captain America directed police officers through a burning intersection, while firefighters carried civilians beneath the protection of temporary barricades and scattered mutants used their abilities to hold back the Chitauri advance.
“The invasion also forced another issue into public view, because several confirmed mutants fought beside emergency workers, government personnel, and ordinary civilians throughout Manhattan.”
He turned toward Hank, whose expression became more guarded the moment the subject moved away from biology and toward the political existence of people like him.
“Doctor McCoy, what does their involvement mean for the increasingly contentious debate surrounding mutants within American society?”
Hank removed his glasses and cleaned one lens slowly before answering, apparently giving himself several additional seconds to choose words that could not easily be twisted against him.
“It means mutants responded exactly as every other human population responds during catastrophe, with some people fleeing, some becoming paralysed by fear, and others risking themselves for strangers.”
The screen displayed a young woman hovering above the evacuation centre in Hell’s Kitchen, her body surrounded by a radiant flaming aura as she destroyed a Chitauri aircraft approaching the civilians below.
“A young mutant woman used her abilities to defend an evacuation centre after fighting continuously for several hours, despite possessing no military obligation to remain there.”
The footage changed toward visibly mutated civilians using their abilities, carrying injured people, shifting debris, and shielding entrances while frightened survivors moved behind them.
“Other mutants assisted firefighters, protected wounded civilians, and fought beside neighbours who may have regarded them with suspicion before the invasion began.”