by Ian Cook
“Your work is important to you, isn’t it?” she ventured.
“Keeps me busy,” replied Jim, as she got into the car.
“It’s just that, I was thinking about doing an article on choosing science as a career,” she said. “What about you? What made you go in for science? Did you always know that was what you wanted to do? You seem very dedicated.”
Jim shrugged his shoulders. “That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? What makes the world tick? The search for the truth ultimately, I suppose. Meanwhile, though, I’ll happily accept a better understanding of how things work.”
“Even so, not many of my friends went in for science,” said Rebecca. “And most of those who did, left and went into law or finance instead.”
“And I can see why,” he said. “The money’s rubbish, and I spend half my time trying to conjure up grants.”
“You must have gone to a good school if they taught science well? So many find it impossible to get good science teachers.”
“Yes, I was lucky. We had a really good physics teacher.”
“Was that a public school?”
“No, no. Just the local comprehensive. I was the family misfit.”
“Misfit?”
“My brothers went to public school like my father. They’re both bankers now.”
“I don’t see you as a banker.”
“At least I escaped that fate,” said Jim, and he laughed. “I was due to go to Eton as well, but my father lost the family fortune on the stock market. Ironic really, because he had just been given a knighthood for ‘Services to the City of London’. Anyway, I was sent to the local comprehensive.” He watched her expression, as if judging her reaction.
“Well, it was the same with me – state school in Edinburgh,” she said. “But it was good enough to get me into Glasgow University.”
“To do what?” asked Jim.
“My degree’s in Spanish and French.”
“Lucky you. Languages weren’t my thing. Much preferred physics. That’s what got me started on astronomy. We built a telescope after classes at school. Mother always seemed to be out, anyway – too busy with her social life to bother with me.”
Rebecca smiled encouragingly.
“At Cambridge, I did astrophysics. Then a PhD on solar phenomena at Oxford. And now I’m back at Cambridge as a physics lecturer. Not much money, but plenty of time to do field research. Suits me.”
“Do you have time for much else?”
“What else? A social life? Not really. I travel too much. A bit of tennis and a bit of scuba diving when I can.”
“Is your wife in the same line?” she asked, as casually as possible.
“My wife?” Jim said, looking somewhat taken aback. “Yes. When I had a wife, she was a scientist too, at Cambridge. She was American – liked the idea of marrying into what she thought was the English upper class. My family lived in a manor house, near Chellaston in Derbyshire.”
“Well, Cavendish is a very aristocratic name.”
“I believe we are related to the aristocratic Cavendishes, but very distantly. Anyway, she soon found life with me was not as grand as she expected. So we divorced.”
“I’m so sorry,” said Rebecca, “I didn’t mean to…’
“That’s all right. We were too young, I guess. Not a good time. Suppose I’ve got used to being on my own now.”
“Is that what you prefer? To be on your own?”
“It suits me fine for the moment,” said Jim. He started the car, slipped it into gear and began to drive towards Birsay.
Almost immediately, Rebecca noticed an enormous dome-shaped, grass-covered mound in the distance. “What’s that over there?” she asked, keen to open up the conversation again.
“Now, that is really interesting,” said Jim. “That’s Maeshowe. It’s actually a Neolithic tomb. They’re found all over the islands – a lot of them in isolated places and virtually unvisited. But this is the biggest and best known in Orkney. And, you know, something quite fascinating is happening in there at the moment.”
He checked the date on his watch. “In a couple of weeks, it will be the winter solstice – December 21st. For a short time, leading up to the solstice, the rays of the setting sun shine right down the entrance passage into the very centre of the tomb. For the ancient Orcadians, the winter solstice was obviously very significant.”
CHAPTER 16
The small car park overlooking the Brough of Birsay was deserted. Jim parked the car facing towards the sea. The prediction was correct; the causeway was exposed. Getting his rucksack out of the boot, he slammed the door shut, not even bothering to lock the car in this isolated spot. They made their way easily over to the island, Rebecca pleased to see that no one else was there.
The evidence of once thriving communities was everywhere: a Pictish well, the ruins of Norse dwellings, a small monastery and a kirk. Now it was all abandoned to the elements.
Rebecca was the first to notice the stone slab. Rectangular and nearly two metres high, it was covered with strange carvings. “What’s this, Jim?” she called over to him.
He walked over to inspect it. “That’s it! The Pictish symbol stone. Or at least a copy – the original’s in a museum in Edinburgh.”
He pointed to the carvings. “These are very typical. See here – a mirror and a crescent. And this symbol that looks like an upside-down pair of compasses – that’s called a V-rod. Under it, that thing that looks a bit like a lion – that’s the so-called Pictish Beast. And look, there’s a really fine eagle symbol as well. Those three men at the bottom are probably Pictish warriors. See the shields and spears?”
Rebecca could barely make out the details, but she took Jim’s word for it.
As the wind gusted around them, they were too engrossed in exploring the ruins to notice the time passing. They were even too absorbed to notice that there were no birds, not even seagulls, to be seen.
Jim was reading a description of the settlement on a noticeboard, when he straightened up and looked around. The sea was already beginning to lap gently over the causeway. “Hey! I think we’d better get going. The tide’s coming in fast.” He checked his watch. “And it’ll be getting dark soon. I didn’t realise it was so late.”
The eagle swooped quite suddenly. Neither of them saw it coming, and as it swept past them, the outstretched talons caught the edge of Rebecca’s coat, throwing her off-balance.
“Jim!” she screamed.
The bird soared upwards into the sky, wheeled and hovered for a few seconds, high above the car park. Then it plummeted down again, aiming straight for them.
Terrified, Rebecca fell to her knees and covered her head with her hands. She daren’t even look.
Jim whipped his small rucksack off his back, grabbed the handles and whirled it around his head. As the bird closed in on them, he hurled his rucksack at it and ducked. It caught the bird on the wing, so that it veered sideways. Flapping wildly, it managed to regain its balance and soared skywards once more. Yet, still, it was not scared away. High above them, it continued to hover menacingly.
Rebecca peaked out from behind her hands. “What is it? What’s it trying to do?” she gasped.
“Let’s just get out of here,” Jim said. “Once the tide’s in, we’ll be stuck. And that bloody bird’s still up there.” It seemed poised to attack again. Jim grabbed his rucksack. “Okay, let’s go,” he shouted.
They clambered over the rocks to the causeway and began to splash their way along it. When they were about halfway over, Jim stopped and glanced around. The bird was already swooping down towards them, but, at the last moment, it abruptly veered away, as if wary of Jim.
The water was now lapping around their ankles. The eagle glided past slowly, but at a distance, then climbed into the sky and drifted around in circles above them.
At last, they reached the end of the causeway and clambered up the steps towards the car park. Jim stretched out his hand to help Rebecca and virtually pulle
d her up. At the top of the steps, he looked distraught.
“Where’s the bloody car?” he cried. The car park was empty.
CHAPTER 17
Jim pointed along the coastal path. “There’s a place along there where we can shelter. Come on.” They started to run, the bird gliding along effortlessly at the same pace, swooping from side to side a few yards in front, as if taunting them.
Rounding a curve in the path, Jim stopped and indicated downwards to a small building covered in grass.
“Make for the hut. It’s the best we can do for now.” He leapt down to it and shoved at the door. It creaked open and they fell into the dark interior. Jim slammed the door shut behind them and stood with his back against it.
Rebecca pressed herself to the wall alongside a small dirty window at the back of the hut, so that she could not be seen from the outside.
“I don’t think I can take much more of this,” she said, shaking.
“It’s just an eagle. But I’ve never heard of one attacking humans,” Jim said. “Perhaps it’s got young around here.” Rebecca did not look convinced. He rubbed the dirt off the window. There was no sign of the bird outside the back of the hut. “Where the hell is it?” He went to the door, cautiously opened it a few inches and peered outside.
Rebecca felt nervous. “Maybe we should wait a bit longer?” Jim ignored her and warily glanced around.
The eagle was barely twenty feet away, sitting on top of a stone cairn and staring at him, its yellow eyes standing out in the twilight gloom.
He closed the door quickly. “Still there. We’d better phone the police.” He fetched out his phone from the rucksack, only to find that the screen was blank. He stabbed at the keys. “Damn thing’s not working. I must have bust it when I chucked my bag at the bird. Try yours.”
Rebecca switched on hers and keyed 999. She listened for a while, then frowned. “It’s just crackling.”
“Give it to me,” Jim said, and put it to his ear. He listened. “There’s probably no signal here. We’ll just have to stay here in this place for a while. Most likely it’ll get bored soon.” He looked around. The hut was empty apart from a wooden bench. He beckoned Rebecca to sit down, and joined her.
As they sat there, the sky outside darkened rapidly, throwing the inside of the hut into blackness.
“Looks like bad weather brewing,” said Jim. He got up and slowly opened the door again. He could still see the outline of the bird, its glowing eyes staring at him. He eased the door closed and sat down again.
They were still sitting there in uneasy silence, when a soft, flickering glow began to illuminate the inside of the hut, until soon, green and red light was pouring in through the window. They got up and pressed their faces to it in astonishment. The whole night sky was ablaze with flaming colour; a glowing green curtain hung there, fringed with deep red at the bottom, rippling as if it were being gently blown by a heavenly wind.
“You’re seeing the Northern Lights,” Jim said. “We’re a long way north here, and getting quite close to the Arctic. In fact, in terms of latitude, we are just about halfway up Norway.”
He went to the door and opened it an inch. As Rebecca apprehensively joined him, he opened the door further. The bird had gone. Rebecca was overwhelmed with relief. As they stepped outside, she was entranced by the brilliant lights. Beneath the display, just above the horizon, hung a full moon. The reflected moonlight and sparkling many-coloured lights mingled and glittered on the calm, mirror-like sea.
Rebecca gazed upwards. “It’s just beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
She was admiring the changing patterns of light, when Jim broke the silence. “Maybe it was electrical disturbances caused by the aurora that affected your mobile.”
It was just then that the eagle glided down from the roof of the hut and landed back on the cairn. As it turned to face them, they both dived back inside.
Jim groaned and sat down again on the bench. “It’s got to go sometime. It can’t stay here for ever.”
Rebecca didn’t reply, but just sat there silently beside him. After a minute, she was still silent and had become completely still. Her expression was blank, as if she had gone into a trance.
“Rebecca!” Jim exclaimed.
She didn’t respond. He waved his hand in front of her face, but her eyes didn’t even flicker.
Suddenly a brilliant flash of lightning lit up the inside of the hut. Almost simultaneously, a long clap of deafening thunder shook the hut so forcefully that the door rattled. Jim looked out of the window. The storm had blown up out of nowhere, and the blaze of colour had vanished, as if it had never been there. The sky was now black and featureless, and rain was drenching down, driven by the wind against the window. He got up, edged the door open again and looked out. The wind and rain blew in, soaking him in seconds. He could still dimly make out the eagle, but it suddenly spread its wings, swooped off and disappeared into the darkness.
Jim waited for a few seconds more, closed the door and sat down again beside Rebecca. He gently shook her shoulder. “Rebecca, Rebecca. It’s okay, it’s gone,” he whispered.
She stirred very slowly, as if she were surfacing from a deep sleep, and turned towards him. She stretched out her hand, slipped it under his jacket and rested her head on his shoulder. Jim coughed, but she ignored him and, undoing a button on his shirt, put her hand on his chest. He gently removed her hand and freed himself.
In an instant, Rebecca seemed to fully awaken. Apparently totally unaware of her previous actions, she sharply pulled away from him and rushed to the door.
Outside, the noise of the storm was fading as quickly as it had begun. The clouds had vanished, and once again the full moon hung over the sea. No trace now, though, of the aurora, the Northern Lights.
“Doesn’t the moon look magical?” she said.
“I prefer the sun myself. I like the warmth,” he responded.
They stood there for several minutes, but there was no sign of the eagle.
“Okay, let’s go,” Jim said, taking her elbow.
When they reached the deserted car park, Jim shook his head. “We’ll have to get help. There’s a phone box by the Earl’s Palace down the road – let’s try it.”
They had almost reached the gaunt ruins of the once stately home, when they saw a solitary car, neatly parked at the side of the road. It was Jim’s. He stopped and put a hand to his forehead. When he tried the driver’s door, it was open.
Jim bristled with rage. “Someone must have pushed it here for fun. What a bloody stupid trick. Joyriders, I suppose. They’re probably still here, but there’s no more damn time to mess around.” He checked his watch. “We need to shift, or we won’t get back to London tonight. I have to get ready to go to Easter Island the day after tomorrow.”
A look of disappointment flitted over Rebecca’s face.
CHAPTER 18
As they drove back to the airport at Kirkwall, Jim’s mind was in a whirl. The events of the day had disturbed him; the incident with the bird didn’t seem right somehow. He had heard of birds attacking humans, but normally for a good reason, because their territory was threatened, or whatever. And then that line of birds changing direction – that was truly weird. Could a sea-eagle really have had that effect on them? Or could it have been for some other reason? He knew that birds guided themselves by using the Earth’s magnetic field. Was it possible that something had happened to the magnetic field – maybe just a blip? That would also explain the aurora borealis. He made a decision to check with his colleagues when he got back to Cambridge.
But what had really thrown him was Rebecca’s apparent trance in the hut, and her unconscious display of affection. That had really shaken him. It briefly entered his mind that it was more than a coincidence that her strange behaviour had coincided with the other bizarre events. But then he quickly dismissed the thought. The lingering sensation of her touch on his body had awakened a need he had suppressed too long.
/> He was aware that he had immersed himself in his work to help get over the trauma of the divorce. Perhaps it’s time to get more of a life, he thought. Maybe I’m ready for another relationship. Compared to his wife, and the rare, occasional dates he been on since his divorce, Rebecca was very different; lively and very attractive.
He shifted in his seat so that he could catch sight of his reflection in the driver’s mirror, and tried to imagine how he could appeal to someone like her.
His thoughts were interrupted by Rebecca. “How long are you going to Easter Island for?”
“Only about a week. I have to get back to present a paper with Larry Burton at an archaeological conference in Aberdeen. It’s a real opportunity to work on a dig with Larry – and on Easter Island as well.”
“Is that the one you said I should meet – the Near East expert?”
“Yes – Professor Burton.”
“Perhaps you could do me a favour?”
“What’s that?”
“Would you try and get me some info on the redhead murders that have been going on in the South Pacific?”
“Well, I’m not sure. I’m no reporter. Might be a better idea to go there yourself, if you can.”
Rebecca’s face instantly brightened.
CHAPTER 19
Rebecca excitedly showed her Carthage story to Syreeta. It was tucked away in the Foreign News section, but it was there.
“You certainly went through enough for it,” said Syreeta.
Rebecca looked up from reading the paper. “It wasn’t exactly uneventful in Orkney, either.”
“You know, I’m getting quite worried about you. Wherever you go, there seems to be trouble,” said Syreeta. “Are you going to follow up on the story?”
“Of course,” said Rebecca.
“How about your friend, Jim?” said Syreeta, her eyes twinkling. “Did he come up with much?”
Rebecca didn’t rise to the bait. “He does seem to know an incredible amount about anything to do with the sun. And the odd thing is, there does seem to be a red hair connection with the sun as well. What’s really useful, he has contacts in lots of places where there have been redhead murders.”