by Peter Knyte
‘Well I’m told it will probably be around lunchtime,’ replied Riley. ‘It’s longer than we’d like, but the weather looks set to remain fair for the day, so the trail should still be strong enough for the dogs to follow.’
‘I’d like to come along when they get here if that’s possible.’ I asked, still half expecting that rebuke in response.
‘We thought you would, in fact that’s why we came to collect you,’ he replied.
‘Thankyou Sergeant Riley,’ I responded, gratefully. ‘And thanks also to whoever picked up my gun and provided me we with me the . . . fresh bullets.’
‘Well, it was Shelby here that picked up your gun for you and gave it a good clean, But it was Mr Fraser who kindly supplied the bullets.’
‘They’re not strictly legal anymore,’ Fraser chipped in, ‘So I’m afraid I’ll have to ask for any you’ve got left-over to be returned, once we get this creature.’
‘Is there time for me to quickly check on my crewmates before we have to leave?’ I asked, reluctant to miss the opportunity to find out how they were doing while I was here.
They had no objection at all, but rather than accompanying me, they offered to go and get some breakfast arranged in the hospital cafeteria.
Hughes didn’t go with them, but I soon figured out why once we started to see the crew. They were in a bad state and according to Hughes, who’d clearly asked his people to monitor their condition, if medical help hadn’t got to them when it did there wouldn’t be a man or woman amongst them still alive. Those that had struggled hardest were still critical as they’d driven the poison around their systems all the faster, while in comparison those that had either realised what was happening, or who had succumbed while already asleep were still very ill, but had now started to show signs of recovery.
The majority were still on some kind of drip to help get the poison out of their systems, but the worst off were so badly affected they were also on artificial respirators.
According to Hughes’ medical advisors, there were probably just over a hundred whose condition was still life threatening, but at the other end of the spectrum there were a similar number who would likely be awake within the next twenty four hours, and possibly able to return to the ship within a week or so.
It all made me realise how reckless I’d been the previous night. If things had gone badly the Captain would’ve been alone for several days, a captain without a crew.
Hughes must’ve guessed what was going through my mind.
‘Yes, you were very foolish last night,’ he conceded solemnly. ‘Riley said you were like a man possessed going after that thing, a maniac chasing a monster across the rooftops completely unconcerned about your own life or safety. . .
‘But he also said, when that monster became visible to him and his men, after you put those first burning bullets in its back, they all took a step back until they saw you not only defy the horror of it, but make it turn-tail and run for its life!
‘The story of how you single-handedly chased that creature down and nearly killed the thing has made the search teams realise two invaluable things.’
‘That we need to get close to kill it?’ I ventured.
‘No Ashton,’ he replied wistfully. ‘That it can bleed and that it’s afraid to die.’
There was nothing more to be said after that so we made our way to the cafeteria, to join Fraser and the police officers.
I hadn’t realised quite how hungry I was until I saw the breakfasts they’d just been given, but as good as their word, they’d also arranged some food for us, which was brought out a few minutes later.
I knew now that they didn’t expect it of me, but once we’d finished our breakfasts I offered them all my sincerest apologies for being so reckless the night before, which they accepted with good grace.
It was still fairly early in the morning by the time we finished our breakfast and headed back to the boathouse in the park where Jenkins and Fraser had set up their new base of operations.
Another meeting had been arranged for later in the morning to go through everything we now knew about the monster that was on the loose, ahead of the specialist dog handlers arrival at lunch time.
We knew we’d probably have to go over some of the detail again with them, in order to get their take on it before they advised us about how best to deploy the dogs they’d brought with them.
That left more than enough time for me to go and brief the Captain on how things were progressing, as well as facing the music about my actions of the previous night.
I was pleasantly surprised by how well the work was progressing on the ship as I rode up in one of the cradles. They’d already, in the space of only just over a day, managed to get the ship back to being square and level with no trace of a list. I’d also noticed that they’d started to get the crushed framework on the starboard-side of the ship cleared away, a lot of which now lay in a mangled and untidy pile near the lakeside, ready for the reconstruction to begin. Even some of the trivial bits which I’d imagined would be left until last appeared to have been repaired, including the bent propeller blades on one of the three remaining operational engines, which had now mostly been straightened out.
As for the Captain, I almost didn’t recognise him when I finally found him down in engineering, he looked completely recovered, rested and even refreshed.
He was working closely with Bradbury to oversee the works being done, and they’d obviously relocated to the engineering section where detailed schematics of the ship had been fastened to a series of display boards in one of the larger areas.
‘I appreciate what you’re saying Mr Bradbury,’ the Captain was saying as I turned up. ‘But I would feel much more comfortable if you could at least get all the main struts on the starboard side reconstructed first, even if it’s a fairly rough job.’
‘Are you absolutely sure that’s what you want sir?’ Replied Bradbury, patiently. ‘My men can construct the struts the ship needs on the lakeside, but the work will be nowhere near as accurate as getting them properly re-cast from your blueprints at Mr Hughes avionics factory, and for the sake of a few months wait the end result would be a heck of lot lighter and stronger if it were done in the factory.’
‘I appreciate your care and attention to detail,’ replied the Captain, ‘But right now I think it’s more important to get the ship airworthy again as soon as possible, even if that means it won’t be quite as elegant as it was before.’
With that Bradbury seemed to have enough to be getting on with, so with a nod to me on his way out he left us to it.
As it turned out the Captain had already heard about our encounter with the creature the night before, but had not yet received a detailed account, so after I’d updated him on the condition of the crew I gave him the details about our encounter with the creature.
I often had difficulty reading what the Captain was thinking, and now was no exception. There was still a part of me expecting a rebuke of some form, but instead he seemed only concerned to know why I had acted the way I had.
‘I know, like many of the crew you’ve had to go head to head with these creatures before Ashton,’ he began, with a note of concern in his voice. ‘But for you to go off and chase one these things down by yourself! That doesn’t sound like you at all, and it makes me wonder whether something else is going on?’
I’d kept my description of events from the previous night completely neutral, but the Captain had seen through me in a heartbeat, and now without pushing, he’d given me the chance to talk about it.
I still hesitated for a moment, more out of my own discomfort with what I was about to say than anything else.
‘I think it was the morgue that tipped me over the edge,’ I began, not wanting to look him in the eye as I spoke. ‘I’ve seen what these creatures do to people before, and I know it’s bad. And I know we’ve lost crewmates before, and I can’t imagine the fear and the pain that anyone facing these things in their last moments must go thr
ough. But these people were already dead, many had already been killed by these creatures while we were in the Expanse, and yet somehow it found them in the morgue and it destroyed them again.
‘I don’t pretend to understand it Captain, but it made me angrier than I thought I could ever be. There was a part of me that just wanted to taste that things blood in my throat, just wanted to see the light die in its eyes, irrespective of the cost.’
‘And when you see it again?’ He asked simply.
‘I don’t know,’ I had to admit. ‘I feel . . . I feel different. Changed somehow, released almost. It’s strange now that I try to describe it, because I feel calmer and more focused that I ever have, and yet even now I feel that smouldering pit of anger burning within me, and it seems natural.’
The Captain seemed to think about this for several moments before finally responding to me.
‘I’m not sure I fully understand what it is you’ve experienced Ashton, but I can see you are indeed changed, and right now that change seems to be working to our advantage,’ he said, before hesitating again. ‘I trust you’ll come to me if you start to struggle with what’s happening to you.’
I reassured him I would, and thanked him for his understanding.
We talked some more about the hunt for the creature, and I mentioned the scent dogs that were being brought in to try and follow the trail from the most recent murder scene, as well as from the point where the creature’s blood was discovered.
I also asked about the repairs to the ship, but it was still obviously early days.
It was almost time for the briefing by the time I finished talking to the Captain, so I headed back down to the lakeside.
CHAPTER 15 - RECRIMINATIONS
I reached the briefing in good time, so had a minute or two to exchange a few words with Riley and his men while everyone else turned up. There were another seven dedicated search teams like Riley’s, many of whom I’d been introduced to when I first joined the search, but I could only remember one or two of their names. In addition to the search teams there were a dozen or so detectives and associated other police officers who were allocated to the search in other capacities, and finally Chief Wright was also there with a couple of his people and a scattering of others I guessed must be from other bits of the city’s officialdom.
To begin with it seemed as though it was going to be much the same as several of the other meetings I’d been allowed to attend. But where I’d either been ignored or barely tolerated previously, I was now greeted and welcomed like a comrade in arms. Even the people I’d not met before came over to exchange pleasantries or introduce themselves.
It was the same once the meeting got underway, at every turn someone wanted to know whether I agreed, or had any additional insight to offer.
I knew it must all be related to what had happened the previous night, but whatever they now thought of me, I still viewed the evening as a failure, and a failure that could’ve so easily been a success if I hadn’t made the mistake of jumping down onto that already unstable rooftop. The more I thought about it the more idiotic I realised I’d been.
I could’ve just stood where I was and shot the thing with every bullet I’d got, reloading until I’d run out or it had died. Or I could’ve just shot out its grip on the rooftop and let the fall to the pavement below kill it. Even if I’d just kept it pinned where it was until help and other guns arrived. . . But instead I let my anger rule me, and as a direct consequence it had gotten away.
I realised I’d been wallowing in my own regret and ignoring the briefing that I was there for, so deliberately pulled myself together. Jenkins was part way through recapping what we knew about the creature in order to make sure everyone in the room was on the same page, but then the leader of one of the other search teams piped up with something I’d not heard before.
‘I don’t know if it’s relevant,’ began the leader of team two, another Sergeant by the name of Stoker. ‘We were questioning some of the rough sleepers a few blocks over from where this thing struck last night, and they mentioned some young woman in a fancy uniform that had been hanging around.
‘One of the tramps thought she must work at a big hotel somewhere, because she was dressed like a bellhop or lift operator or something.
‘He was probably drunk, but he swears he woke up with her leaning over him like she was going to rob him or something, that’s when one of our patrol cars came round the corner and she ‘melts away’. His words not mine.’
‘Could this be someone else from your ship?’ Asked Jenkins, looking a bit confused.
‘I don’t see how it could be.’ I had to answer, a bit nonplussed. ‘If it were someone from the Khan why wouldn’t they have come forward and made themselves known . . . unless.’
‘Unless what Mr Hall.’ Jenkins urged. ‘If you’ve thought of something, we need to know what it is so we can at least rule it out.’
‘Could it be a saboteur from the ship?’ I asked as much as suggested. ‘We’d imagined they’d all been killed trying to defend the ship when it was attacked in the Expanse. But what if one of them was still closeted away when the Captain discharged the Arc capacitors. They had an antidote to the poison they used on the rest of us, so would’ve been fully mobile. But could they have descended in one of the cradles without being seen by the people on the ground, or got off the ship in some other way?’
My mind was racing to figure out whether it could be possible, but there were just too many unknowns.
‘And what about the melting away?’ Stoker reminded us all. ‘How do you explain that?’
‘Perhaps for now we should just put this report to one side,’ suggested Captain Platt, bringing us back to the topic at hand. ‘Even if this woman is one of your saboteurs, she’ll just be trying to hide out until the heat dies down. She was probably just after the homeless guys overcoat to disguise herself with, but she’s not the priority right now.’
He was right of course, for the moment whoever this young woman was it wasn’t relevant to our search. We had to focus on getting the creature first, we could worry about catching a traitor later.
The dog handlers had arrived while we’d been talking, and after the usual introductions we outlined the situation to them.
They were aware of the manhunt going on already from the press and the details that had been mentioned over the phone when arranging for them to bring in their dogs to help out, but they didn’t know the city, so we had to spend a while going over the maps and talking about how we could best utilise their time.
They’d brought a bloodhound and a coonhound with them, both of which would work best alone, and had been trained to follow a trail no matter where it lead. If the trail lead up to a rooftop we just had to get the dogs up there and they’d keep on tracking. And if they lost the scent they’d immediately start casting around until they found it again, all we had to do was keep up.
With so many people there I was expecting the meeting to drag on while everyone had their say or asked questions, but as soon as Jenkins was sure we all knew what was going on and who was going to be where we were ready for the off.
Platt had somehow managed to get nearly a dozen of the city’s radio patrol cars temporarily allocated to the hunt, and now he outlined how he intended to use them to throw a net around the creature in order to ensure there was no repeat of it escaping again. Both of the dog handlers would be supported by one search team, and that team would relay where the dog was leading them to the nearest radio car, which would in turn relay to Captain Platt who would then coordinate the other search teams in the area in order to try and head the creature off if it tried to make a run for it.
One dog would start with the murder scene, the other would start with the blood trail where it had come down from the warehouse roof. If we were lucky all eight teams would gradually converge until we had the thing surrounded.
It sounded like a good plan, and as we headed out of the meeting to make our way over to where the dog
s would try and pick up the creatures scent I was hopeful that we’d have it this time.
As it was Riley’s team who had come closest to getting the thing the previous night, it had been decided he should have first try at following the creatures trail from the warehouse where its blood had been discovered. This was considered the freshest trail and the most likely to lead to the creature, so it was a pat on the back for Riley for his team to get to follow it. I didn’t question whether I’d be allowed to go along with them again, I just quietly joined Riley and his men as though I never doubted my presence would be wanted.
The dog handler, a man by the name of Truant or Trent, I couldn’t tell which from the way he said it, had a farm truck that looked older than he was, which he indicated he’d follow us to the scene in.
I thought nothing more of this as we all got into our own car, but I had to smile when we pulled around in his truck in order to follow us, and we saw Truant behind the wheel while his dog sat upright in the passenger seat beside him, looking out through the windscreen at us like it was the most normal thing in the world.
In no time we were back on the scene, and I was pleased to see that an officer had been stationed next to where the blood had been found in order to make sure it was preserved as well as possible until the dog got there.
I was feeling a bit edgy again as we got out of the vehicles, eager to find the creature and hopefully finish the job this time. But I was still curious to see how the dog handler was going to get his dog going after the scent.
As it turned out, it was all in the leash. As we got out of the cars I turned to watch Truant for a second, and after both him and his passenger had gotten out of his truck. He simply reached into the back of his truck to get a long leash out, at which his dog went from being a sleepy eyed and slow moving thing, to suddenly being the picture of rapt attention and energy. It immediately came over to Truant’s feet and sat bolt upright looking straight up at his masters face. Truant in turn stood with the leash behind his back for a moment to return his dogs gaze for a second, before bringing the leash back into sight and encouraging his dog to follow.