We've been following the Starchild Project for years at TDG. We present the latest update from Lloyd Pye for your consideration and comment. If you are unfamiliar with the Starchild Project please visit the website. TDG is not an agent or solicitor for the project. The information is offered as a public service.

Hello to all 1500 of you:

First, I want to wish all Americans, Happy Thanksgiving! To the rest of you, we all have something to be thankful for this year. As you know if you've been to the new website (www.starchild-uk.com) to see the slide show there, we have discovered two unknown, previously unimagined aspects of the Starchild's bone: (1) what seems to be highly durable fibers threaded throughout; and (2) what seems to be desiccated marrow, or some other reddish residue, in the cancellous holes that contained marrow when it was alive. These are both certain to be historic finds, regardless of whether they do or don't mean the Starchild is at least partially of alien origin.

Thus, after six long years of frustrating struggle, we stand on the verge of making world-class history at some point during the next few months. Unfortunately, the closer we've drawn to scientifically proving our supposition about possible alien involvement, the less we are being helped to achieve that monumental goal. This is a baffling contradiction, one I simply don't understand. I work for all of you, in the stead of everyone whom I assume would do what I do if you had the opportunity. I would expect you all to help even more as we drew closer to the final goal. Yet exactly the opposite has taken place. The closer we get, the more help has dried up, to the point where we are near blowing away. I'm being painfully serious when I say that.

It's all about numbers, which is why I opened with how many of you are on the Starchild mailing list--1500. A few months ago, when I last sent out a plea for help, we received $1500 in contributions. You can all see the average. One person gave $1000, four others gave the other $500. 5 out of 1500. You can see that average, too. But the bottom line, the most crucial number, is this: we are perilously near to 0 (zero) in the Starchild bank account, and if we don't get a serious infusion of help by the end of the year, we will be forced to close up shop for an indeterminate time, if not permanently. For sure the momentum and goodwill we've established with some of the research community in England will be lost. This would be a tragedy I hope all 1500 of you will consider helping us to avoid.

Again look at some numbers. If all 1500 of you gave $10, we'd have $15,000--nearly halfway to our total requirement of $40,000 dollars. (For a detailed breakdown of our needs, provided by those willing to do the work, see the list below this letter.) If all of you gave $20, we would have $30,000--3/4 of the way to the $40,000 we need. And if you all gave $30, we'd have $45,000--the $40,000 we need with $5,000 left over for contingencies. $30 from each of you would solve all the problems and allow us to move ahead with full steam.

Naturally, not ALL of you are going to contribute even a dollar, much less $30. Let's face it, when only 5 out of 1500 respond to a well-justified plea for help, we obviously have a motivation problem. That is just as obviously my fault. I simply have never quite figured out how to motivate each of you to contribute to the cause. But now it's down to do-or-die for all of us. Many of you have been in this from the start, and many of you have contributed along the way, many of you for substantially more than $30. If not, I wouldn't be here writing you from London; I would not have made it this far.

Assuming not everyone will contribute $30, that some of you will have to take up slack from others who, for whatever reason, simply cannot send even a minimal amount, if you can, PLEASE send more, whether $50 or $75 or even $100 (or more if you can). I don't know how else to say it. I don't know how to grovel any more abjectly than this. I have put six long, grinding, often humiliating years into this work, into getting this thing scientifically evaluated, and now I have it on the verge of success. I can't imagine what it will be like to have to pull back and accept a defeat of this magnitude, all for lack of an ability to motivate the 1500 of you on my mailing list.

I can do no more. It's up to you, each and every one of you, and those you might forward this to. You all have to decide if you want this to end knowing you DIDN'T help at the modest level I'm asking all of you to contribute. You will notice, I hope, that I've never asked you all to contribute a small amount before. I've always felt that would be more like begging than asking for your heartfelt contributions. But desperate times call for desperate measures. This is as desperate as times are going to get for the Starchild. I don't know how else to make you understand this.

If you are willing to help, PLEASE send checks or bank drafts to Belinda McKenzie, NOT ME, at the address below. (The PayPal account on the website is usable as well.) Belinda is the paymaster now, handling all the money from her Cognoscence account. I'm just an employee and glad to be that to avoid the taint of managing the money. See the list below for where your money will be spent, and why, and know that not a penny will be wasted or spent frivolously. All of us involved in this are seekers of truth, that and nothing more. If you feel the same, now is the time to put at least a little money toward justifying those feelings. Send what you can to:

Belinda McKenzie (b.mckenzie@btinternet.com)

83 Priory Gardens

Highgate, London

U.K. N6 5QU (that's 5 Queen Under)

Here are the tests we need and the procedures required, and what they cost, with costs provided by those who will do the work.

1) Microtomography to reveal the bone's 3-D internal structure--$800

2) Laser raman spectroscopy to characterize the Starchild's bone and compare it with the human--$1000

3) Light element stable isotope ratios of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen to provide more information about diet and geographical provenance--$1200

4) Strontium and lead isotope ratios for the same elements as #3 in both Starchild and human ($800 each)--$1600

5) Electron probe/ion probe analysis OR laser ablation ICP analysis to determine trace element concentrations and spatial variability which might be related to the unusual bone strength--$3000

6) Electron microscopy and chemical microanalysis to compare the grit particles on both skulls ($800 each)--$1600

7) MALDI-TOF to determine whether fibers or residue are fungi or bacteria, organic or inorganic--$1500

8) A new DNA test using advanced techniques for recovery and analysis of the Starchild's nuclear DNA--$10,000

9) Two weeks in northern Mexico for two qualified researchers to seek out the village where the skulls were found, recovering soil samples of the general area, visiting local experts, local museums, etc., to try to get a clearer picture of the purported provenance--$10,000

10) A clay model reconstruction of the Starchild's head--$3000

11) Consultancy fee for qualified guidance to and through the maze of all the accumulated testing procedures--$5000

Total for all analytical tests and informational procedures: $38,900 rounded off to $40,000. All prices verifiable if requested, and any may be earmarked for individuals who may want to pay for a particular test. In addition, any contributor moved to pay for a particular procedure will be sent the bill on request. We will make almost any kind of accommodation to get our money problems resolved. Thank you.

Lloyd Pye

London 11/24/04