During the SETI program , Earth 's scientists send out transmissions ( shown to be the Arecibo message ) with information about Earth and its inhabitants , DNA structure , etc . , in hopes of finding life beyond Earth . They then receive transmissions from an alien source on how to create endless fuel effortlessly . Therefore , the scientists assume that this is a friendly alien species . From a second alien transmission , the scientists receive information about an alien DNA along with instructions on how to splice it with human DNA . A government team led by Xavier Fitch ( Ben Kingsley ) go forward with the genetic experiment attempting to induce a female , under the ( later proved to be mistaken ) assumption that a female would have " more docile and controllable " traits . One of the hundred experimental ova produce a girl named Sil , who look like a normal human but develop into a 12 @-@ year @-@ old in 3 months .