He watched Ashley’s face.
She obviously felt something, because she twitched her head like there was a fly on her nose. Then she looked like she was concentrating. Her eyes met Bobby’s.
“It tickles,” she said without smiling.
“Is it finished yet?”
“How would I know? It’s in my arm right now.” Seconds later she said, “Now it’s in my hand.” And finally, “I think it’s done.”
Bobby put the object back on the seat. Its surface began to ripple. Wide bumps formed and then moved, creating the illusion that the whole thing was rolling. Soon the rippling stopped, and the lump of clay looked the same as before.
Bobby put his hand on it. The visions appeared again, but now they were more stable. Kembalimo symbols appeared, remaining long enough for him to actually recognize them. And there were other symbols he had never seen before, and flashes of images, like stars and trees. There were even sounds in his head—snippets of some weird language or animal.
“What did you just do to me?” Ashley asked.
Bobby pulled his hand back. The visions and sounds stopped. “I downloaded some information from you into this.” He nodded toward the lump. “It was a packet of data the Lamotelokhai put into you back when Addison killed the Papuans at the hanging village.”
She opened her mouth to say something but then stopped and crossed her arms. Apparently she was waiting for him to explain.
“I know, I was kind of freaked out about that, too. Here’s all I know about it. The Lamotelokhai is a computer, right? So it made a backup of itself. But that backup is split into twenty-four packets of data. We just downloaded two of those packets into this.” Again he nodded at the clay. “The rest are in other people. The Lamotelokhai told me who they are. I think it knew it was about to be destroyed.”
Tiffany said, “What are you two doing?”
Bobby looked at her in the mirror. She was shifting her eyes between him and the road. “You probably didn’t know it,” he said to her, “but you guys may have started a really big problem. The Lamotelokhai warned us of what might happen, but you guys wouldn’t listen. Those creatures you saw that got out of the compound? Now they’re probably going to kill more people and spread. And they’ll keep spreading and killing more people. They may even spread over the entire planet. Do you understand what you’ve done?”
She was fighting tears again, and she didn’t answer.
Bobby went on. “We need the Lamotelokhai to help stop it. But the Lamotelokhai is probably dead—or destroyed, I guess—because of your 4:44 protocol. And even if it survived, we can’t get to it for at least two weeks.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what else I can say.”
“I know what you’re thinking,” Ashley said to Bobby. “We need to get the other twenty-two data packets.”
He blew out a puff of air. “Well, yeah. But most of them are in the Papuans in the hanging village.”
“Oh. Well crap.” She turned back around to stare out the windshield.
“Yeah.”
She spun back around. “So let’s go there and get the data packets.”
Bobby stared at her. They didn’t have identification, passports, or money, which would make leaving Puerto Rico almost impossible. But then it dawned on him that there might be another way. “Peter said there were two other people in his company who know what we were trying to do. He must have trusted them.”
Ashley turned to Tiffany. “Tif, we need to borrow your phone.”
Tiffany braked abruptly and pulled to the side of the road. The car stopped. Her arms were shaking, even though she was gripping the steering wheel.
They waited for her to say something.
She turned her head without letting go of the wheel. Much of the hair between her right eye and ear was burned away, making her look kind of pitiful. “I have to think for a minute,” she said.
They waited.
Finally she spoke. “I know this project was a mistake. I think I knew it before, when I realized Dr. Helmich was, well, a little fanatical compared to the rest of us.”
Bobby felt a surge of anger. “I have a box anchored to my skull. The other one was bitten off by a giant bat that used to be Dr. Helmich. Is that what you call a little fanatical?”
She turned around and actually studied Bobby’s condition for the first time. “That wound’s going to be infected soon. And you’ll have to have the remaining one surgically removed. I’ll take you to a hospital.”
“I don’t have to worry about infections.” Bobby touched the remaining implant. “And this can wait. Do you have a phone we can borrow?”
She closed her eyes, like she was trying to decide. Then she opened them and nodded toward Ashley’s feet. “Under your seat. They make us leave everything in our vehicles except one ignition key.”
Ashley pulled out a tan leather purse and Tiffany reached for it. Ashley hesitated, then handed it to her. Bobby heard a zipper, and Tiffany held up a smartphone. “Before you start calling people,” she said, “maybe we should talk about what we’re going to do next.”
Bobby and Ashley exchanged a glance. Bobby said, “Okay.”
The woman half-turned in her seat so she could look at both of them. “I don’t want to get in trouble. I really just want to go home. I have a family.”
Ashley said, “A family?” Bobby recognized a fierceness in her voice that he had heard before.
But apparently Tiffany didn’t. She said, “I’m going to San Juan and to the airport, where I’ll try to get on the first available flight to the States. I can take you two to a hospital first, or you can ride with me to the airport.”
Without warning, Ashley shoved her palm out and awkwardly smacked the woman on the side of her face. “A family! You want to talk to us about your fucking family?”
Bobby lunged forward to put his body between them. “Ashley, stop!”
Tiffany let out a whimper and fumbled with her seatbelt. She got it loose and started getting out of the car.
“Mrs. Travers, wait!” Bobby said. “Please.”
She hesitated. Besides, where was she going to go?
“We really need your help,” Bobby said. “Please.”
She looked at Bobby. Even her hands were trembling now, and there were tears in her eyes. “I told you I was sorry. I’m not the one who did those things to you.”
“We know you’re not.” Bobby turned to Ashley. “We need her help. Please.”
Ashley’s eyes were narrowed and enraged, and she was breathing hard. But she nodded.
Bobby settled back into his seat.
“I came here thinking I might have the chance to do something good for the world,” Tiffany said. “I had no idea something like this would happen. I’m scared.”
Bobby sighed. “We’re all scared. Ashley and I have seen what happens when people make mistakes with the Lamotelokhai. The mistake Dr. Helmich made is worse than all the others so far.” Bobby looked out the window. “We need your help. We don’t even know where we are.”
Tiffany seemed to consider this. “Are you going to go to the police?”
Bobby looked at Ashley and she met his gaze. Her eyes had relaxed.
“I think they might need to evacuate the area around the compound,” Bobby said. “Maybe a really big area.”
Tiffany nodded, but she was frowning. “So we need to call the police.”
“Look,” Ashley said, “we know you just want to go home to your family. If you call the police now—get someone who can evacuate the people near the compound—and then help us get to the airport, you can fly home and we won’t tell anyone we know who you are.”
Tiffany nodded again. “Okay. Um, okay. I’ll do what I can.” She turned on her phone and dialed 911. After several seconds she said, “English, please.” There was another pause. “Yes, I need to report an emergency. Animal attacks, several miles east of Salinas, just north of Jobos Bay Estuarine Reserve.” Another pause. “They have? I s
ee. Okay, well please tell them to hurry. It’s very serious. No, I’m sorry, I can’t. Just hurry!” She lowered her phone. “My lord, they’ve already gotten calls.”
Dreadful thoughts flooded Bobby’s mind, and he tried to ignore them. He put his hands on the lump of clay and spoke aloud. “Lamotelokhai, I need your help. Can you understand me?” The same snippets of symbols, images, and sounds passed through his consciousness, but none of it made any sense.
Ashley snatched the phone from Tiffany’s hand and started tapping. Then she looked at Tiffany. “How do I call the U.S.?”
“Puerto Rico’s a U.S. territory. Just tap 1, then the area code and number.”
Ashley tapped out a phone number Bobby assumed was the special number Peter had given them. Abruptly she handed him the phone. “You know a lot more about what’s going on here than I do.”
Bobby put the phone to his right ear, but that side of his head hurt too badly, so he switched to the left.
A man answered. “Benson here.”
Bobby remembered the name. Jonathan Benson was the third employee of Peter’s who knew about the plan to move the Lamotelokhai. Bobby hadn’t met him.
“Um, this is Wyatt Grayson,” Bobby said.
“Bobby! Is that really you? We’ve been losing our heads here. Where are you? Where’s Mr. Wooley?”
“Well, it’s kind of a long story, and I have really bad news about Peter.”
There was a moment of silence. “What do you mean?”
Bobby explained the best he could without taking too much time, and the guy listened without interrupting. He told him about the experiment gone wrong and the rampaging creatures. He ended with their escape from the compound, the 4:44 protocol, and how it had burned up everything and everyone inside.
“Are you still there, Mr. Benson?”
“Yeah, still here. I just—I don’t know what to say. Peter and Robert are dead?”
“There’s another thing, and this is really big. Some of those creatures got out and ran away.”
There was another pause. “I’m not sure I understand.”
Bobby didn’t understand either, and there just wasn’t time to explain further. “Mr. Benson, you’re one of the people in Peter’s company he trusted the most, so you can probably arrange things like trips on his jets and stuff like that, right?”
“That’s correct.”
“Well, we need you to come get us. Like right now.”
“I can certainly do that. Where are you?”
This was one of the many things Bobby had left out. “We’re on our way to the airport in San Juan. Puerto Rico.”
Yet another pause. “Why in God’s name are you in Puerto Rico?”
Bobby had no idea. He tapped Tiffany’s shoulder. “Why are we even in Puerto Rico in the first place?”
She shook her head. “We weren’t told that, but I assume those funding the project had their reasons. Maybe to avoid scrutiny from the U.S. government, or maybe fewer regulations, but I don’t know.”
Bobby spoke into the phone. “No idea. Can you come get us anyway?”
“Yes, I can.”
“I know this is asking a lot,” Bobby said, “but if Peter were here he’d know we have no choice. After you pick us up, we need to go to Missouri to see my friend, Carlos Herrera. Then we need to go to Papua, Indonesia.”
“That’s… well, that is asking a lot.”
“But you know how important the Lamotelokhai was to Peter. I can’t even tell you how important this is to the Lamotelokhai. And to a lot of people around here, probably. Maybe everyone in Puerto Rico. You just need to trust me that Peter would want you to do this.”
Jonathan sighed. “Okay, Bobby. I believe you. Will I be able to call you back at this number?”
Bobby considered this. “Yes.”
“Good. You get to the Marin International Airport. I’ll call you when I have more information about my arrival time.”
“Mr. Benson, it’s really important that we hurry.”
“How important is it that you come back here to Missouri to see your friend? That’s going to take considerable time.”
“We can’t save the Lamotelokhai without seeing him in person.”
Jonathan let out a long breath, which sounded like tearing cardboard in Bobby’s ear. “Right, then. Okay, I’ll let the police know you guys have been found. Everyone’s searching for you. And since it’s you, Bobby, I think the feds are involved. But I’m not telling anyone Peter and Robert have been killed until I have absolute proof of that.”
“Mr. Benson, I think it’s just as important now as it was eight months ago that we can’t let the government have the Lamotelokhai. Especially not a small part of it, which is all I have left now.”
“Understood. Peter has given Ardell and myself the authority to leverage an impressive portion of the SouthPacificNet resources. You did the right thing, calling me.”
Bobby ended the call. He looked up to see a string of blue and yellow cars and SUVs with Policia on their sides race past them in the opposite direction, sirens blaring. Tiffany started the car and pulled back out onto the road.
“We’re an hour from the airport,” she said. “We need to get some clothes for you two first.” She gazed at Bobby in the mirror. “And you need to get cleaned up.”
Bobby said, “Mrs. Travers, we’re going to have to keep your phone.”
She glanced in the mirror again but didn’t say anything.
Bobby tapped the phone’s screen and pulled up the web browser. He went to an international calling assistance site and looked up the codes to call a satellite phone in Papua, Indonesia from Puerto Rico. He tapped in the codes and then the number for the SAT phone Peter had given them months ago. He then tapped the PIN that would power on the satellite phone, which would probably be shut off to save the battery charge. He listened for a moment to make sure the call was routing through, and then he nudged Ashley’s shoulder and stuck the phone in her face.
She turned and frowned. “What?”
“You’re handling this one.”
Chapter Fifteen
For Quentin, the second night of camping in the wilderness typically allowed more sleep than the first. But on this night every slight sound set him on edge. The forest floor was alive with scurrying creatures, most of them probably rats and small marsupials, but some sounding like they had more than four legs—large spiders or scorpions, most likely.
So when the SAT phone chirped, he flinched and shouted a curse, waking the others. He crawled from the shelter and stumbled to the fallen tree where he had placed the phone to maximize the chance of picking up incoming calls. Lindsey was right behind him.
He fumbled with the phone’s buttons in the dark. “Hello, this is Quentin.”
“Quentin, this is Ashley. I can barely hear you. Can you hear me?”
“Ashley!” Quentin turned to Lindsey, but her face was just a shadowy oval in the darkness. “I hear you. Are you okay? Is Bobby okay?”
“Well, we’re alive. Look, it’s really a long story, and I’m worried I’m going to lose you, so first there’s some really important stuff I need to tell you. Can you still hear me?”
Quentin held the phone out and tapped it to activate the speaker. “Yes, go ahead.”
“Well, we have to come there. To the hanging village. And we have to do it soon. You’re at the hanging village, right?”
For a moment Quentin was at a loss for words. Lindsey remained silent, but she gripped his arm, her nails digging into his skin.
“Um, no. We plan to arrive there tomorrow morning.”
“Okay, can you just stay at the village until we get there?”
“Ashley, how could you possibly—”
“Listen! I’ll tell you what I can. First just promise you’ll stay there with the villagers until we get there. Promise!”
“Okay, I promise.” Quentin pulled from Lindsey’s grip and started pacing.
Ashley went on. “We’ll get t
here as fast as we can. We were kidnapped. They took us… compound… Rico.” Her voice started breaking up.
Quentin rushed back to where he’d had a better signal. “Ashley! Are you there?”
“I’m here, but I can hardly hear you. They took us to this place in Puerto Rico and they made… Lamotelokhai into… then things went really… got out in time but the whole building… and Robert were still inside… gotten out.”
“Ashley!” Quentin stepped up onto the fallen tree and held the phone as high as he could. “Ashley, are you there?”
“I hear you. I just need to know you’ll be at the village, okay?”
“We’ll try to wait there, but what’s going on? How are you going to get here?”
“We’ll get there, don’t worry. It’s because of the Lamotelokhai.” She paused and Quentin heard Bobby’s indistinct voice in the background. Then Ashley went on. “Okay. We have to kind of put the Lamotelokhai back together, from twenty-four packets of data it created as a backup. That’s why we’re coming there. The people who took us divided it up into pieces. And, well, just about everyone died. We’re lucky to be alive. But we have to come there. You’ll be there, right?”
“We’ll be there.”
Lindsey spoke up for the first time. “Ashley, I don’t know what’s going on, but you and Bobby be careful, okay? You two are our family. We love you.”
There was a moment of nothing but static. “We love you guys, too. We’ll call again when we can. Maybe there will be a better signal. See you there.” The line went silent as the call ended.
Quentin lowered the phone and stared at the screen. It said 4:42 AM. He stepped down from the fallen tree, powered the phone off, and set it back in its place on the log.
He and Lindsey stared at each other in the almost complete blackness.
Sinanie broke the silence. “Mbakha-mo-f-é wofekha amo-mémo?”
Samuel spoke to him in his language, presumably trying to explain how phones worked, although as far as Quentin knew, Samuel had used a phone only once.
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