"But it's still not definite proof," said Whitney-Evans.
Thornton turned on him with barely disguised anger. "Even you, Edward, can't close your eyes to that atrocity."
Would you please tell us what has happened?" It was the same voice from the back, obviously undeterred by Thorn-ton's previous remark.
The private secretary's head snapped round. The remains of two humans were found in the churchyard this morning. One had been buried normally yesterday and the other ... the other we believe to be the body of a Reverend Jonathan Matthews, vicar of the Church of the Holy Innocents."
A loud gasp went round the lecture hall.
Thornton went on, his voice brisk and emotionless. "Both bodies had been stripped of flesh. We believe the vicar discovered these creatures digging up the corpse and was killed by them. Indents on the bones and their fractured state indicate that sharp implements were used to tear off the flesh: sharp teeth in other words. What's left of the clothing is being examined to ascertain whether it was the vicar or not, but we fear there can be little doubt. Even more odd in this most bizarre of incidents, the skulls of both bodies were missing."
Thornton did not allow the disquieting news to disrupt the meeting further. "Although we still have only one actual sighting of these creatures, I think we can assume beyond all doubt that it is the Black rat behind these incidents. We know of no other creature in England that could cause such damage.
"Now, our plans to combat this menace. All homes in the immediate vicinity will be evacuated by midday tomorrow. The superintendent's men are at this very moment warning all householders to stay inside and keep their windows and doors firmly closed even to erect barricades if necessary. Many will obviously prefer to leave their homes right away, even though they are quite safe for the moment."
"How can they be safe with giant rats roaming the forest?" asked a councillor, leaning forward in his seat.
The rats haven't broken into any houses yet," said Thorn-ton, now resigned to the interruptions. "Besides, to our knowledge, they have only attacked one living person so far. It seems unlikely they would suddenly go on the rampage after being undetected for all this time."
"But isn't it escalating?" the councillor insisted. "I mean, at first just damage to property, then killing other animals. Now they're onto humans."
Fender turned to stare at the man, realizing he was right. Considering the rats had not been seen in the forest before yesterday, there seemed to be a rapid and frightening increase in their activity.
"I think the vicar was attacked because he disturbed them," replied Thornton. "He may even have foolishly tried to chase them off. No, I'm sure people will be safe for the moment -as long as they stay indoors. If my colleagues agree, I think we should start a phased evacuation: the immediate area first, then moving out towards the surrounding woodlands. Major Cormack will organize the quarantining of the entire forest, working in conjunction with the Essex and London police forces."
"How do you propose to keep the whole area out of bounds?" asked the director-general for the Forestry Commission. "I mean, there's over 6,000 acres of woodland to cover."
We'll concentrate on the logical area say within two or three miles of this spot."
"It's still a hell of an area."
"I agree. But there are plenty of broad roadways running through the forest; these can be marked out at various intervals. We'll also use helicopters for surveillance. I can't actually imagine anyone wanting to get into the forest once they know what's in there, can you?"
"I thought the idea was to keep in whatever's there," the police commissioner commented drily.
"Quite. But we'll come to that later. The Ratkill people will move in at first light tomorrow morning and it will be their job to root these monsters out and destroy them. But I'll let Stephen Howard, the research director of Ratkill, explain his operation." He looked encouragingly at Howard, who almost stood before he realized he was not addressing a public meeting.
What we'll need," he began, 'is full cooperation from everyone in the forest..." he smiled disarmingly '... and detailed maps of the whole woodland area. Most important will be plans of sewage works running beneath the forest, because you can be sure, that's where the rats will be. My crews will need army protection. Your Green Goddess fire engines, Major Cormack, will be invaluable; since they've been brought up to date with new, high-powered hoses, they'll prove ideal for protection that's one thing we can thank the last firemen's strike for.
Flame-throwers might come in handy, too, although I don't like the risk to the forest itself nor to my own men. They don't appreciate singed backsides."
The remark barely raised a smile around the room.
"My crews will all be wearing protective clothing, similar to but more advanced than that used in the London Outbreak. A team of investigators will go in first and find the likely spots, then the destruction crews will move in. I'll let Mike Lehmann, our head biologist, explain exactly what will happen."
Lehmann was uncomfortable under their gaze, but he struck out boldly.
"If it really is the new breed of giant rat in Epping Forest, then we're in serious trouble. And if these are the descendants of the Black rat from the London Outbreak and all the evidence points in that direction there are a couple of questions that need to be answered: how did they escape the annihilation of their species in the city; and how have they remained undetected for so long?"
They could have found their way into the forest before the extermination took place," the defence secretary suggested.
"It's possible, although the previous attacks suggested they were confined to certain areas of the city," said Lehmann. The other possibility is that they were somehow unaffected by the ultrasonic sound waves we used to draw the rats from their nests into the gas enclosures, and fled afterwards when they realized the game was up.
Nowadays the machines are used to drive the vermin away, not draw them in; but either way, our experiments with them at the Ratkill laboratories show that the ultrasonics become ineffectual eventually; the rats adapt, learn to ignore them."
"I must point out here," said Howard, 'that tests are still in progress with these machines. I think we can develop one that will be extremely effective once we find the correct wavelength or indeed, wavelengths."
To do that, we'd need a mutant rat itself. Our own over reaction killed them all off four years ago apart from the few that obviously escaped. We'd have been wiser to have saved some for study."
"Surely," said the defence secretary, 'you can experiment on ordinary rats?"
We've been doing just that," the biologist replied. "Unfortunately, the giant Black is no ordinary rodent: it's a mutation, its genes are different. They're not just bigger and stronger, they also have a high degree of intelligence. They'd need it, to have remained hidden these past few years. Of course, the fact that rats are nocturnal has helped; but what puzzles me is why there's been no evidence of them until now. Even more puzzling and, I may say, more ominous: why now?
"My guess is that after the mass destruction of their breed, the survivors developed an even stronger fear of man, which was passed on to the following generations. We already know of their abnormal brain-power. I'd say this has advanced with the new generations, too.
They've kept out of sight, foraged in places safe to them, left little evidence of their presence."
"It could be that there is just a small number of them," Whitney-Evans suggested hopefully.
Yes," agreed Major Cormack. "A small group would be hard to detect in a forest full of wild animals."
"It's unlikely," said Lehmann. The life-span of a rat is from fifteen months to two-and-a-half years; the female can have five to eight litters a year with as many as twelve new-born in each litter. She's ready again for mating within hours of giving birth, and the young ones reach the reproductive stage after only three months. You can figure out for yourself just how many could be bred in the space of four years."
&nb
sp; Fender could almost hear the clicking of mental arithmetic going on around the hall.
"I think there's plenty of them," Lehmann continued, 'but they've gone literally underground. I believe they're in the sewer network beneath the forest; that's where we'll look for them. The perverse thing is that the normal Black rat, or Ship rat as it's sometimes known, is arboreal it can climb trees, high buildings; the mutant has been forced to live below ground. It could explain why they dug up the corpse at the church: they've learned to be burrowers."
"But that's impossible," Milton began to say. "It would take decades for them to evolve ..."
"For any normal animal, yes," the biologist cut in. We're dealing with the abnormal."
Thornton spoke. "So your recommendation is to tackle them at their source: the sewers."
Lehmann nodded. "If they're there. We'll pump gas into the network, using a proprietary powder that produces hydrogen cyanide gas when it comes into contact with damp soil or damp air. Our main problem other than attack from the rats themselves will be to block all holes leading from the sewers."
"I'm afraid many of the sewers have overflowed into some of the streams," said Whitney-Evans. "We've complained to the local authorities often enough."
Those outlets will have to be plugged. We'll need the help of your forestry staff to locate them and any other outlets from the sewers."
"Perhaps we can help too," said Milton. "My staff at the Centre know the forest like the backs of their hands."
"Fine, the more, the merrier."
Why not use rodenticides?" the defence secretary asked.
That could be our biggest problem, I'm afraid," Lehmann said grimly.
There are two main types we could use. One is of the single dose variety: sodium fluoroacetate and fluoro-acetamide, which is normally used in sewers; zinc phosphide;
nor bromide which is harmless to most other animals; arsenious oxide, which is dangerous to most other animals; alpha-chloralose, normally used only against mice. The big disadvantage with these is that rats have a built-in instinct against anything strange to them. We call it neophobia new object avoidance. It makes it difficult to get them to accept new bait. They might try it after a while, but only in small amounts. If they feel any ill-effects at all, they leave it alone completely. A single dose poison might just kill a few, but even that would serve as a warning to the others."
"And the other type of poison?" the defence secretary asked.
The others are anticoagulants. They kill by their reaction on the rodent's blood system: they interfere with a substance called prothrombin which causes the blood to clot when vessels are broken. The rat suffers a haemorrhage at the slightest damage to blood capillaries: a tiny scratch can kill it. Females having litters are obviously very susceptible.
Three kinds are in current use: Warfarin, coumatetralyl and chlorophacinone. They're administered gradually, building up to a lethal dosage. The rat gets used to the bait, feeds on it regularly, then suffers the effects."
"And all this takes time," said Whitney-Evans.
"Yes, but the process can be speeded up. However, that isn't our problem. Over the past few years, rodents in this country have been building up a resistance against anticoagulants. It began in a couple of countries on the Continent, now it's spreading over here. Luke Fender, there, has just returned from the North where he's been investigating the matter. Luke?"
The resistance was first noted in Wales and the Midlands, but now it's spread as far up as Cheshire and down to the south-west coast," Fender told them. We've bred Warfarin resistant rats in our own laboratories, but these others have developed their own immunity. The point is this: the Outbreak rats had developed that same immunity before gas was used as the final solution. It seems likely that resistance will be inherent in those descended from the rats that escaped from London.
That's why I agree with Mike: gas, providing we can trap them in the sewers, has to be the answer. If the machines can't be relied on to lure them out, we have to keep them in and destroy them there."
"I think we're all agreed, then," said Thornton. "Gas it shall be.
Gentlemen?" he asked the room at large. A murmur of assent was given.
A councillor raised his hand. "What about disease from these rodents?
How will we combat that?"
"I don't think we need worry ourselves about that problem at the moment," Stephen Howard said smoothly. The disease caused by the vermin at the time of the Outbreak was a particularly hideous distortion of Leptospirosis or Spirochaetal Jaundice. Fever first, before jaundice set in. The victim became prostrate, blind, then all senses were lost. Coma, then the skin began to stretch and tear, and the victim died. The horrifying thing is that the whole process took only twenty-four hours. Fortunately, an anti-toxin was soon produced, so we needn't fear the disease any more. The other, more normal rodent diseases are too minor nowadays to worry about. No, the main danger it would seem is attack from the beast itself. Of course, everyone "out in the field" as it were will be wearing protective suits." Howard reached behind his chair and drew out a large, mounted photograph of a dead mutant Black rat. "At this stage, I think it might be an idea to remind ourselves just what our old enemy looks like." He stood, resting the photograph's base against the tabletop so everyone could see.
Fender groaned inwardly. The research director was obviously enjoying throwing the fear of God into his captive audience. No doubt he felt it valuable to impress on them the dangers his company faced. It would make the company bill seem cheap. The move was effective. Fender could feel the shudders run round the room.
"Ugly brute, isn't he?" Howard said jovially. This is actual size.
Over two feet in length more than three, counting the tail; long, pointed head with deadly sharp teeth the incisors are particularly large; ears pink, naked, pointed. The fur is actually dark brown, but mottled with specks of black that give it the appearance, from a distance, of being completely black. It's much like the normal Black rat apart from its size, the main difference being its large brain and strangely humped back powerful hindquarters, you see. Its claws are lethal."
One of the forest verderers had gone deathly white. "My God, are they all like that?" he asked.
For a moment, Howard seemed flustered. "What do you mean?" he said.
"Are they all that size? It's monstrous."
"Yes. Afraid so. All that size."
Fender hadn't missed the research director's reaction and he was puzzled by it. He could have imagined it, but Howard had almost looked shifty for a moment. As though he had been caught out. Now he seemed relieved that the question was only to do with size. Fender frowned.
"I have a question." It was the police commissioner who spoke, a straight-backed, sombre looking man.
"Yes, Commissioner?" said Thoraton as Howard swept the photograph from the table and placed it behind his chair.
"Earlier, Mr. Lehmann was puzzled by the fact that the rats had remained hidden for so long. Someone else asked why their noticeable activities seemed to be on the increase. It all appears to be pointing to one thing, doesn't it?"
He left the question unanswered and there was silence around the room.
Fender cleared his throat. "Er, I think I know what the Commissioner is getting at. There does seem to be an escalation in the rats'
activities. Why have they been seen lately after all these years of hiding? What's given them their new boldness?"
"And your explanation, Mr. Fender?" Thornton asked.
"One of two things; or perhaps a combination of both. At the time of the Outbreak the mutant rat was motivated by the desire for human flesh. The new breed may also have decided it would no longer be dominated by man, or fear him as it had in the past. It decided to strike back.
They possessed a new brain-power and soon they had the essential ingredient which gives any army the confidence to become the aggressor: the power of numbers. Perhaps that was the real turning-point for them."
&n
bsp; "I see what you're getting at, Mr. Fender," the defence secretary said. "You're suggesting the rats in Epping Forest have reached a sufficiently high number to bring out that aggressiveness."
"As I said, it may be a combination of two factors. They have the strength now, although I doubt they've reproduced in the quantity Mike suggests the forest would be overrun with them if that were the case.
These are a mutant strain: their reproductive capabilities may be different to that of a normal rodent. We know from the few groups left after the Outbreak that their reproductive system had been impaired either by the ultrasonic sound waves or their mutant genes, so it may well have become an inherent thing. The other factor is that the old blood lust has returned. Their strength in numbers may have triggered it off, or the taste of fresh animal flesh may have awoken an old memory, a desire that's been lying dormant for years. And if that's the case, the attacks are going to get worse. Remember, they've now tasted living, human flesh."
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