The Purloined Pictograph (The Adventures of Tremain & Christopher Book 2)

by Terry Marchion

  Tremain smiled as he stared at his friend. To see him this excited was a good thing. Perlmutter's eyes grew wide as a sudden thought hit him.

  "I say," he said as he struggled to sit up again. "You two should join us!" He looked at Christopher. "You're on break soon, aren't you?" Christopher smiled as he nodded. Perlmutter clapped his hands together.

  "Excellent! You can use this as research! Maybe you'll find being on a dig much more enjoyable than being in a stuffy old laboratory, eh?" He chuckled as he jabbed an elbow in Christopher's direction, clearly teasing Tremain.

  "Hollis, that's an excellent thought." Tremain said. "I'll just have to clear it with his mother."

  "She'll approve, there's no reason not to. This will be a wonderful experience for her son." He gave Christopher a wink. "It's settled.” He slapped the table. "I have to go get a list of equipment together."

  He heaved himself from the table and headed for the stairs.

  "I'll see you both when we set off!"

  Chapter 3

  The morning the expedition departed was a gray one. The dark clouds overhead were in stark contrast to the mood in the Hawking building. Hollis gave a short speech to the people who had collected to see them off. Even the news crews were there taking their pictures, videos and interviewing staff. Jenkins stood with his professor, fully recovered, beaming in pride, as it was his discovery that was the impetus for the undertaking. Perlmutter finished his speech, took a few questions and promised to keep everyone updated with semi-regular posts on the campus archeology blog.

  Tremain and Christopher stood in the back of the crowd, the former smiling and being genuinely amused by his friend's theatrics. Christopher, however, was paying attention to everything and everyone. The large trucks were all packed with gear, the buses were ready to take everyone to the train station. A special cargo car had been chartered by the Tyndall Foundation for just this occasion. Tremain looked around, curious. He hadn't seen anyone from this organization. He thought they would have been most eager to oversee the proceedings. Maybe Hollis had found the perfect donor after all. Tremain chuckled to himself. Good for him. He bent over to Christopher, who was watching as the final parcels were loaded onto the transports.

  "Guess we'll see how this all shapes up in a few days."

  Christopher nodded, eyes never leaving the proceedings.

  "My mother said she'd be here to see what kind of people we were going to be associating with, but she hasn't shown up yet." Tremain snorted at that statement, knowing his sister, would never fail to follow through. He turned to see her just as she pushed through the throng of people.

  If anyone would have seen Tremain and Davina together growing up, they would have been hard pressed to tell they were siblings. While Tremain had dark hair that seemed never to be tamed, his sister's hair was more manageable, curlier, with highlights of red in it. All natural, she always explained, not out of a box. She was fairer of complexion, while Tremain was more olive-skinned. Their temperaments were polar opposite as well. Tremain was the curious, steady one as children, always getting into some trouble or other, while his sister tended to be the more volatile of the two, following to make sure Tremain didn't get into any serious harm, but blowing up at him if she was ever included in any punishment. But her anger, while fierce, didn't last. Before long, they'd be laughing together about something completely different.

  She saw them and waved, hustling over, her face full of concern.

  "Tremain, I would never have believed all these people would have shown up." She gave her son a warm embrace from behind. Christopher didn't seem to notice, but he did mumble ‘hi mum’ as she did so. "I almost couldn't get through. Once they heard who my brother was, well, they moved out of my way, didn't they?"

  Tremain smiled at her.

  "Davie, you are a singular woman." He patted her on the back. She released her son and turned on her brother.

  "So, what sort of danger are you going to drag my Christopher into?" Her eyes were piercing as she stared at him. Being the older sister, she seemed to take much pleasure in trying to intimidate her younger brother. As children, it worked, well, most of the time. As adults, though, she usually failed.

  Tremain returned her stare, giving a snort of mock indignation.

  "Dear sister of mine, you are completely mistaken. Hollis is the one running the show. He's quite competent, I assure you." He waved his hands in the direction of the podium. "Had you been here earlier, you would have heard his speech. Very moving." He threw his hands up. "Well, I guess you'll see it all on the news tonight. The camera crews were busy."

  She grabbed Tremain's arm and pointed a finger in his face, almost touching his nose.

  "Don't brush me off, little brother." She waggled her finger. Tremain had trouble keeping his eyes from following the painted nail as it moved back and forth in front of him. "You know as well as I do that trouble seems to follow you wherever you go." She dropped her hand and pulled at his lab coat lapels. "Just promise me you won't get into any."

  Tremain held up both hands in supplication.

  "I promise. Besides, we'll only be observing. We won't even be there but a day or two. He patted her arm, then turned and walked down to the trucks, to give Hollis a final send-off.

  Davie turned to her son. She took him by the shoulders and looked long and hard at him. He squirmed.

  "Mom, what's the deal?"

  She shook her head, and patted his shoulders, smoothing out the fabric of his sweatshirt.

  "You're growing up, that's all." She looked at him with pride and not a little affection in her eyes. "One day you're this little boy, sitting in my lap reading books together, next thing I know, here you are, traipsing around who knows where with your uncle." She sighed and shook her head. "What would your father think?"

  Christopher looked down, studying his shoes. When he was very little, his father, a biologist, had left on a small expedition to catalog the plant and animal life on the far side of the continent. His mother had received a few emails, then nothing. The party was never heard from again. Search parties were sent out, but no sign of the group was ever found. Christopher hardly even remembered his father and only knew his face from photos. The moment was broken as Tremain bounded back over to them.

  "Well, I've never seen Hollis so excited. He said he couldn't eat last night." He gave a short bark of a laugh. "Now that's something." He looked at Christopher, noticing the expression on his face. "What did I miss?"

  "I was just telling Christopher how proud his father would have been." Davie replied, a wistful look in her eyes.

  Tremain grimaced.

  "We're only going to be observing the expedition, Davie, not be a part of it. You don't have anything to worry about." He took his sister's hand, looked hard into her eyes.

  She smiled, gave his hands a squeeze and took a deep breath.

  "So, are you coming for dinner tonight?"

  Tremain smiled, slightly panicked, and looked over to Christopher, whose eager expression was one he couldn't refuse.

  He gulped hard.

  "Yes, tonight, I have nothing else planned. I just need to tie up a few loose ends at the lab and I can spend the rest of the day watching you cook for me." Christopher pumped his fist. While he spent almost every afternoon with his Uncle in the lab, the number of occasions they'd actually had a meal together grew fewer and farther apart as the years went on. Tremain rarely left the lab, so his coming to dinner was definitely a cause for celebration.

  "Did you need any help with that?" Christopher asked.

  Tremain gave him a warm grin.

  "I can always use your help." He gave his sister a hug. "Davie, we will join you in a couple of hours."

  She hugged him back, and gave her son a loving squeeze too.

  "Don't forget about me now,” She said as she left.

  Tremain turned to his nephew.

  "Now, Christopher. We have some planning to do." Tremain led his nephew back to the lab, where
they both sat at the desk.

  Christopher noticed it was less cluttered than before.

  "Did you clean in here?" He asked, teasing.

  Tremain looked around, as if he'd not noticed before.

  "Hmmph. I guess the interns are doing their jobs after all." Christopher laughed as he looked around. Yes, even the box of old schematics was gone. The rest of the lab was as chaotic as always, though.

  "Just think, Hollis is going to want to show us everything. You'll be seeing the absolute inner workings of the project. And,” he said, straightening and raising his eyebrows, "if I know Hollis like I know Hollis, he'll be a stickler for doing things the "authentic" way." He laughed. "I almost feel sorry for those students." Still laughing, he stood and started checking on the existing experiments.

  While Tremain puttered around the lab, taking a few notes and muttering to himself, Christopher, turned his attention to the nano blocks, changing them into different patterns using the app on his uncle's tablet. A thought occurred to him.

  "Did the police ever find out who stole the pictograph?"

  Tremain looked up at the question.

  "Did the now? Oh, yes -- Hollis told me they did get back to him, but there wasn't enough evidence to point to any suspects. Everyone seemed to check out." He slowly walked back over to Christopher, deep in thought. "I can only assume it was someone from the outside." He shook his head. "But nobody from the outside knew about it. They didn't even want to look at my footprint app." He threw his hands up. "So the trail has gone cold. I do hope Hollis finds more of those pictographs during his expedition. That way,” he put away his notes in a drawer and faced his nephew. "He can truly put all this business behind him." He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Right. I'm done here. Shall we go face your mother?"

  Chapter 4

  Dinner was interesting, to say the least. Davie, never a great chef, liked to experiment with her cooking. Tremain and Christopher were met with nervous smiles and anticipatory glances. The kitchen, full of aromas of various spices, smelled mouth-watering. They sat down to a salad, which Tremain ate with great gusto. Next came the main course, the likes of which Tremain had never seen. What kind of animal it once had been was no longer identifiable. Covered in a cream gravy with black somethings that Tremain could only assume were peppercorns, or raisins, or some other dark spotty thing. The entire dish, once set on the table, fell away from itself, breaking into smaller portions. A bowl of steamed vegetables came next. Tremain tasted his serving tentatively, looking dubious. Christopher dutifully shoved a forkful in his mouth and started chewing, an audible crunching sound accompanying the action. Tremain hadn't noticed if his nephew had just eaten a fork of vegetables or the main course. He gulped hard and decided to stick to vegetables. They were, at least, recognizable. He could always eat something else later.

  After dinner, over a cup of herbal tea, they decided their own departure would be the day after Christopher began his break from school. Why waste time, Tremain noted. Davie made sure her brother was well aware of any consequences that could and would occur should Christopher come home maimed, disfigured or otherwise harmed.

  "Even if he has a broken fingernail!" She exclaimed. Tremain mollified his sister as well as he could. Yes, there would be no reason for her to worry. It was only a dig. Nothing to be concerned about. Finally she relented and Tremain hurried home, with a renewed resolve to never get on his sister's bad side.

  Their departure was met with blue skies and much less fanfare than the actual expedition. Christopher met Tremain at the lab, bag in tow, and the two of them walked to the train station.

  "So where are we going? I never did hear where the expedition was headed." Christopher asked while they waited for the train. Tremain pulled out his tablet and brought up a map of the continent.

  Christopher could see the immensity of the city, the largest by far in all the colony reaching from the coastline for miles west, north and south. The line which showed the route they were to take wound westward, over two rivers and into the uncharted regions, deep in the heart of the continent.

  "Well, we can only take the train this far,” Tremain pointed to the last large dot on the screen. "This is the last station we've built that far west. In fact, I had Senator Marcus grant us special access to get there." He traced the line further west. "From there, I've hired an all-terrain vehicle which will take us the rest of the way. Once we're past this line here,” He tapped the dotted line that indicated the uncharted regions. It dutifully enlarged on the screen. Christopher could see many different types of land area dominated by a very large jungle. The line traveled only a short way before ending in an X. "Hollis will have someone meet us to hike the rest of the way into the jungle." He put the tablet away, as the sound of the approaching train grew louder.

  "Exciting isn't it?" He shouted over the train.

  Christopher nodded.

  "So, I was meaning to ask you, Uncle, why didn't we just use the transmitter to travel to the dig site?"

  Tremain's eyes were bright and eager, excited for the trip.

  "Because sometimes we need to slow down and enjoy the ride." He sat back and looked at the landscape as it rolled past the window. "Too often these days, we speed through our lives, not really paying attention to everything around us. I have my lab, you have school. I thought this little train ride would be a great chance for you to see the area we live in. Besides,” He glanced over at Christopher, “we can always use it to get back if we want." He reached into his jacket pocket and produced his rolled-up tablet. "I don't go anywhere without it." He chuckled, Christopher laughed too, as he sat back and watched the view outside the window.

  The last populated stop came and went, Christopher and Tremain remained the only two passengers on board. Tremain went to talk to the engineer, while Christopher watched the only city he'd ever known fall away into the distance. A short time later, Tremain returned and the train picked up speed.

  "I felt the normal operational pace was too slow, so I had the engineer take the mag lev to max speed." He glanced out the window. The landscape was a blur as it shot past them. "Ah." He said and relaxed back into the seat with a sigh. "This is better. It'll only be a couple more hours and we'll be there."

  The coastal features quickly fell away, transforming to hills and valleys. Trees dominated the landscape, but they were moving so quickly now that all Christopher could really see was a blur. Christopher didn't know what the maximum speed of the train was, but if the view was any indicator, it was extremely fast indeed. With his uncle snoring across from him, accompanied by the gentle rocking of the train car, he soon felt drowsy himself and drifted off.

  He woke up to the sensation of the train slowing. Tremain was already up and grabbing bags.

  "Up and at 'em, Christopher,” he said as he stretched. Christopher rubbed his eyes and grabbed for his own baggage. A huge duffel bag and his backpack, quickly slung over his shoulder and he was ready.

  The train slowed and stopped. The two disembarked and waved to the engineer as he walked back to the opposite end of the train. They watched as it slowly moved away, picking up speed as it did so.

  "Well, that was fun. We should take a train ride again sometime." Tremain plopped a straw hat on his head and took a look around them, shielding his eyes from the sun.

  Christopher saw that they were in the middle of an arid landscape. What trees that stood around them were leafless and waved in the slight breezes. A beat-up looking vehicle sat waiting for them. It was big, boxy and at one time may have been of a uniform color, but now was more of a rusty, brownish, blah. Sitting on six very large tires, it had space enough for them and their bags with lots of room to spare. Tremain's face lit up in a huge grin once he saw it.

  "Ah, our chariot awaits!" They piled what bags they had into the very large cargo area and climbed in, Tremain taking the driver's seat. He pushed the start button and Christopher was startled when the entire rig shook from the torque as the electric e
ngine whirred to life. A grinding of gears and a lurch or two later, they were off. Christopher quickly clicked his seatbelt into place as his uncle took them over rises and hills a little too fast and they caught some air. The groaning of the undercarriage and shock absorbers was all Christopher could hear.

  "Uncle, shouldn't we go a little slower?" He grunted as the vehicle topped another rise. "We do want to get there alive and in one piece?"

  Tremain made a noise of dismissal and gave a wave of his hand before quickly clamping it back on the wheel.

  "This is fun, Christopher! Besides, we should be able to get there in a few hours this way."

  Christopher held on for dear life as the rig bounced and bumped. Tremain had made sure the on-board GPS had the destination set, and every once in a while he glanced down to make sure he was on course.

  The bumpy ride lasted well into the rest of the afternoon. Christopher chose to watch the landscape rather than his uncle's driving. As they rode on, the dry, sun-baked landscape gave way to lush vegetation and rolling hills. Before them, the mountains loomed large, the colors of their foliage covered faces bright and beautiful in the light of the setting sun. Soon, Tremain slowed the truck down.

  "Almost there,” he gave a last push on the accelerator and they topped the largest rise yet. Just as the front end of the rig dipped down, Christopher saw their destination.

  Chapter 5

  The encampment looked more like a small tent city than anything else. Nestled in a small valley between one mountain ridge and the next, the small clearing was surrounded by large trees.