 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 ) goes 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 produces a girl named Sil , who looks like a normal human but develops into a 12 @-@ year @-@ old in 3 months . 
 During the SETI program , Earth <a href='null_genetive' title='1'><mark>'s</mark></a>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 ) <a href='uninflect' title='2'><mark>goes</mark></a> 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 <a href='uninflect' title='3'><mark>produces</mark></a> a girl named Sil , <a href='null_relcl' title='4'><mark>who</mark></a><a href='uninflect' title='5'><mark>looks</mark></a> like a normal human but <a href='uninflect' title='6'><mark>develops</mark></a> into a 12 @-@ year @-@ old in 3 months . 
During the SETI program , Earth  scientists send out transmissions ( shown to be the Arecibo msg ) with information bout 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 , da scientists assume that dis is a friendly alien species . From a second alien transmission , the scientists receive information aboutan alien DNA along with instructions on how to splice it wid human DNA . A government team led by Xavier Fitch ( Ben Kingsley ) go forward wwidthe genetic experiment attempting to induce a female , under the ( later proved to b mistaken ) assumption that a female would have " more docile and controllable " traits . One of the hunnit experimental ova produce a girl named Sil , look like a normal human but develop into a 12 @-@ year @-@ old in 3 months .