Part 6
While Mike was out on an errand Jake was at his house watching a documentary on Scientology. Jokingly he thought of Sasquatchology based on Mike's Bigfoot stories. Aside from alien technology Mike would sometimes talk about the habits of a Sasquatch. He said they could roam the entire planet more than once in a lifetime. It would only become territorial during mating seasons and the first two years of the offspring's life. After that it would stay with the mother for ten more years and then head out on its own.
They have much stronger instincts than people as well as the memories of their ancestors. With built-in camouflage and the ability to adapt to any environment. Now they frequent the harshest environments with the deepest wilderness. They communicate with the old tribal medicine men and the monks that preserve the ancient secrets. It could run over 50 MPH and navigate any terrain. Because of the amount of humans on the planet there was sightings here and there. The Sasquatch could also be moody and take offense to drunk hunters or campers leaving their trash. The Sasquatch would usually just throw a large boulder from the tree line and give out a war cry that would scare anyone.
According to Mike they also had telepathic traits. They could access memories by touching anything living. They were often solitary animals but would interact with all animals of the forest and jungles. They lived long periods of time and had symbiotic relationships with the planet and it's creatures. Sasquatches are graze as well as hunt. It preferred fish but would eat rabbits or other rodents if necessary. A Bigfoot as the term describes has very large feet that take up a lot of surface area rarely leaving a track. Through deep snow they often slide across the top on their bellies rather than leaving tracks. They are excellent climbers and can jump from tree to tree. If they stand straight up they can reach 15 feet tall. Their feet were different from humans. Humans feet are not as naturally suitable for all terrain.
According to Mike's story humans were actually de-engineered to prevent them from adapting and becoming too independent. Another strange thing he through in there was a so called master race was a combination of all races. A human was the result of genome splicing. In order to access recessive genes such as telepathy genes would need to be mixed together. The distant one Utanapishtum was able to change his skin tone before they put his brain in the jar. The distant one was the perfect prototype but too dangerous for simple tasks like mining.
New ideas are always dangerous. There is a strange anomaly with human genes. It does appear that genes have been spliced together. Genetic flaws that are advantageous are common among evolving species. Species usually evolve into an environment where the human adapts an environment. When compared to other mammals humans are not as easily able to adapt. Pigs for example can grow tusks in a couple weeks after being set free in the wild even though in domestic conditions they have no tusks. The story was far fetched but there were underlying truths to it. It was raining again outside so Jake had the perfect time to go over his notes. There was only a few days left to get what he could. Jake was just going to try to get is as accurate and descriptive as possible. Whether it was true or not wasn't important. Getting the details and putting into the proper format would be important.
The readers of the publishing wanted strange with hints of facts. Mike never really talked to anyone else about the Sasquatch but seemed to enjoy telling Jake about it. Jake was able to fix the roof and everything else that leaked as well as give Mike a hand with chores. Tom the friend that introduced him to Mike was a layer in the Seattle area. He knew the publisher through mutual friends from college. For all Jake knew they could be calling Mike telling him what to say. Aside from getting the story Jake enjoyed the smell of the forest and day trips to rivers, lakes, and other recreational areas. The occasional trip to the hippie, hilly town by the water. Mike would often get fish from friends in the fishing industry. There was nothing better than smoked salmon done correctly. Not even a cedar plank with an expert chef at the grill would be a better use. The expectation of running around in the forest chasing Bigfoot was replaced with home cooked meals tasty to the last. When the rain finally stopped Jake went out to the garden to look for slugs.