MASS SPECTROMETRY DATA OUTPUT

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PERCENTAGE OUTPUT

SAMPLE 1 - BLACK OBJECT UNIDENTIFIED ORIGIN -

ALL HEAVIER METALS SHOW ZERO CONTENT

SAMPLE 2 - GREEN OBJECT UNIDENTIFIED ORIGIN -

ALL HEAVIER METALS SHOW ZERO CONTENT

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END PROGRAM

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What all this meant was simple enough. The black rock contained hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen, with significant amounts of sulfur, silicon, and selenium, and with trace quantities of several other elements.

The green spot, on the other hand, contained hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. Nothing else at all. The two men found it peculiar that the rock and the green spot should be so similar in chemical makeup. And it was peculiar that the green spot should contain nitrogen, while the rock contained none at all.

The conclusion was obvious: the "black rock" was not rock at all, but some kind of material similar to earthly organic life. It was something akin to plastic.

And the green spot, presumably alive, was composed of elements in roughly the same proportion as earth life. On earth, these same four elements—hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen—accounted for 99 per cent of all the elements in life organisms.

The men were encouraged by these results, which suggested similarity between the green spot and life on earth. Their hopes were, however, short-lived as they turned to the amino-acid analysis:

AMINO ACID ANALYSIS OUTPUT

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SAMPLE 1 - BLACK OBJECT UNIDENTIED ORIGIN -

SAMPLE 2 - GREEN OBJECT UNIDENTIFIED ORIGIN -

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"Christ," Leavitt said, staring at the printed sheet. "Will you look at that."

"No amino acids," Burton said. "No proteins."

"Life without proteins," Leavitt said. He shook his head; it seemed as if his worst fears were realized.

On earth, organisms had evolved by learning to carry out biochemical reactions in a small space, with the help of protein enzymes. Biochemists were now learning to duplicate these reactions, but only by isolating a single reaction from all others.