And then it spoke to her.
‘The police are here.’
‘What?
She was shocked to feel a sensation as the words left her lips.
‘The police are here. Lucas has just pulled up and he has the Americans with him.’
Realisation dawned. It was Charlie. He had pulled her out too soon.
‘Send me back, quickly!’
She closed her eyes and recited her mantra, willing her consciousness to separate once more, but to no avail. She climbed out of the matchbox and followed her partner to the control station.
‘Emmy, relax; you’re okay,’ he told her. ‘You’re probably just in shock from being pulled back so abruptly.’
‘You don’t understand. I found what we have been looking for. I was about to make contact and you ruined it.’
He rolled his eyes, not quite believing her.
‘Contact; are you sure? You can’t even communicate with me when you’re...’
The colour drained from his face as abruptly as his voice had cut out.
‘Charlie, what’s wrong? You’re starting to scare me.’
He remained motionless; paralysed by fear. She followed his gaze until it stopped at a bare wall. This had to be some sort of joke, except neither of them was laughing. Then she lowered her eyes and saw what he did. The observation monitor was still turned on and it clearly displayed the energy signatures of three individuals. She and Charlie were not alone. For once, she would be glad for her grandfather to make an unscheduled appearance. Looking around the room, this was clearly not the case.
The anomaly displayed almost identical characteristics to their own digital doppelgangers. It was roughly the same size and intensity of light and it was within three feet of them. At first, it was static, but as it began to move, the lights flickered before power to the entire lab went out. It took just moments for the back-up generator to restore electricity, but by then the readings had returned to normal. Just two figures were displayed on the screen.
‘She followed me. I cannot believe that she actually followed me. Don’t you see what this means?’
She shook Charlie until he became responsive.
‘This is getting dangerous,’ he said. ‘We should suspend any further trips until we can figure out what we are dealing with.’
‘I already know what we are dealing with,’ she replied. ‘Like I already said; I was about to make contact. I saw her.’
‘How do you know it was a she?’
‘I just told you; I saw her. I saw what she would have looked like when she was human. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my whole life. Believe me, coming from someone who has looked at our galaxy from the outside in; that is not a claim I make lightly.’
‘It was able to transmogrify into a past form; how is that possible? This implies that it retains all of its life’s memories after death.’
‘Less of the “it”; I already told you, I saw a woman. She was beautiful too. It was impossible to place an accurate age on how she looked. It was like she was in perfect health and suffered no emotional worry or care whatsoever. If we can find her, she may be able to tell us who she is.’
‘Was,’ corrected Charlie. ‘Do not forget that whatever you encountered it was not human in any sense that we understand.’
‘She,’ Emmy added, a little testily.
‘Okay; she, but I stand by my word. Just because she can take on human form does not make her human. How could she even be capable of sentience without a body?’
‘We can think outside of our bodies. It takes a lot of effort and our thoughts do not always make sense, but they are thoughts nonetheless. We retain our sense of self.’
‘That’s different; we’re still connected to our bodies via an ethereal cord. Memories are stored in our synapses. It is a physical system that is intrinsically dependent on the material world.’
A door slamming at the end of an outside corridor signalled the impending arrival of others.
‘That could be Lucas,’ said Charlie. ‘His car pulled up just a moment ago.’
‘Shut everything down and do not breathe a word of what happened tonight,’ said Emmy.
‘Do you think I’m stupid? If I mentioned half the things we have talked about I could end up getting committed. I’m beginning to wish that we’d never started these experiments. I mean, what are you going to do if our two friends see this ghost of yours?’
‘We’ll worry about that later. Right now, we have to try and get them back on side.’
She left the lab and intercepted Mike and Bradley in the corridor. Neither man was particularly steady on his feet and she could smell alcohol in the air.
‘Where’s Lucas?’ she asked.
‘He didn’t stick around,’ replied Mike. ‘Told us he didn’t want to disturb the professor.’
‘So what did you guys do to warrant a police escort?’
‘It was just small town hospitality. Some folks around here do have that, you know. The guy just did us a favour, that’s all.’
She did not believe them. She knew Lucas much better than to think he would not have sussed these two out as trouble the moment he met them.
‘It sounds to me that he was more likely doing the town a favour by getting you two out of it. You should try and sleep off the effects of the grog, because I cannot allow you anywhere near my equipment if you are under the influence.’
‘We were just on our way to bed.’
He staggered a few steps closer and Emmy side stepped out of his way before placing her hand on his shoulder to spin him back around. It was like having a pair of teenagers staying over.
‘Your rooms are the other way.’
He gave her a brief wave-come-salute and then staggered back the way he had come, taking his friend with him. Charlie joined Emmy in the corridor and she locked the laboratory door behind him. Then when she was absolutely sure that the Americans would not be coming back, she retired to her bed for the night. With the excitement of her discovery still not abated, sleep did not come easily.
Chapter 11
Lucas managed to persuade the animal handler to hold off from sending the snake to Alice Springs. He picked up the animal on his way back to the observatory after calling by Main Street to perform a quick errand. The snake was held in a secure protective cage, but the policeman did not want to take any chances with it. He locked the cage safely in his boot just in case the creature got any ideas about trying to escape on the short drive up the hill.
When Lucas arrived, the professor was the only resident of the observatory to be out of bed. Despite his attempts to avoid embarrassing the old man over the Americans behaviour, the professor managed to figure out that something had happened anyway.
‘I hope this is a social visit and not about my houseguests,’ the professor said, as he met Lucas in the courtyard.
‘I was actually hoping to ask your advice on something. Why would I be worried about your houseguests?’
The professor turned his head towards an empty space in the drive.
‘They took their car out last night. They came back, but it did not. I figured there must be a reason behind this.’
‘Maybe they had a few drinks and did not want to drive home. I am certainly not one to complain about folks acting responsibly for a change.’
The professor accepted the policeman’s bluff. He invited his friend inside and led him to his study. He did not ask any questions when he saw Lucas take the animal container from the boot of his car.
‘I guess you are wondering what is in the box,’ said Lucas, placing it onto the great man’s desk.
‘If it is important, you will tell me. I find conjecturing over something one cannot possibly know the answer to is a waste of time. When one reaches my age, there is nothing more valuable than time.’
‘In that case, I will cut straight to the point. It is a snake.’
‘And why exactly do you think I would be interested in a snake;
is it a new species?’
‘As far as I can tell, it’s just a common brown. There is something different about it, though, something that is not quite right.’
‘Go on,’ urged the professor.
‘Well, it started yesterday. Maggie’s boy, Kyle, was bitten. The doc says that the kid’s going to be okay, but when I talked to his mother, she said the strangest things. It was as if she believed the animal had some sort of vendetta against her. I thought the idea crazy at first, but when I saw the snake for myself, I could understand why she thought what she did. It is like no animal I have seen before. It is as if it knows what you are thinking.’
Lucas tried to read the professor’s facial expression to figure out if the old man believed him, but the aged and disease ravaged visage gave nothing away. He often wondered what it would have been like to have known the professor in his younger days, before the accident. It was said that his intelligence was matched only by his athleticism. To suffer the company of such fools as the Americans was the ultimate insult.
‘If you are concerned, I better take a look at it. Biology is not my forte, but I do have a rudimentary understanding of animal physiology.’
‘Not here,’ said Lucas. ‘We need to take it to a more secure environment.’
‘Are you worried that it might escape?’
‘No, I am more worried that we won’t.’
***
Mike woke with a pulsating hangover. It felt like his brain had swelled up, fat and bloated, pressing against the inside of his skull. His recollection of the previous night was beyond hazy. He remembered talking to some girl. She was pretty, but he did not think he made much of an impression. Then he had lots of drinks bought for him by the locals.
How did he get home?
He glanced out of the window and the Hummer was not in its spot. Then he remembered the cop. The cop had hassled him over the girl. It started to come back to him. This same arrogant cop had then given him and Bradley a lift back to the observatory.
What time was it?
He glanced at the clock by his bedside; eight forty five.
Shit! The cop had told him to move the car before nine or he would be given a parking ticket. He quickly threw on some clothes and then banged on Bradley’s door.
‘Hurry up and get ready. We have less than fifteen minutes to get into town.’
Two minutes later, the two were hurrying down the corridor, all the while hoping that the cop would also have slept in. The cop had not slept in – he was at the observatory too.
‘Captain Peters and Lieutenant Schwartzmann, I am surprised to see the pair of you are still here,’ said Lucas. ‘Don’t you two have things you should be doing?’
Mike glanced at his watch. They now had less than ten minutes. Even if they ran flat out they would never make it in time. Not even his old drill sergeant from the academy could get him moving that fast. Of course, they only had to beat the cop. If he was distracted elsewhere, he would never know if they were tardy. Well, he would know because he had seen them, but he could not post date a parking ticket that was for sure.
‘I’m heading back into town now if either of you boys needs a lift,’ offered the cop.
Mike considered rejecting the offer. If he was going to get a ticket, he would rather do so without also having to witness the cop’s smug satisfaction as he wrote it out. The temptation to punch the guy’s head in would be too much. The jail time would be a fair price to pay, but giving up his distinguished career would not. Then again, the lawman did show some form of hospitality by giving him the lift the previous night. Perhaps he would show some common sense and leniency.
‘If it’s no trouble, officer,’ Mike replied.
‘No trouble at all.’
Lucas drove slowly as he took the soldiers into town. Too slowly; they had not even driven this cautiously when there was a threat of roadside bombs in Afghanistan. Mike wondered if it was to spite them or if the guy really was just the most cautious goody-goody policeman in the whole of Australia. He should have just walked. There would certainly have been no danger of the cop beating him back.
They reached the bottom of Main Street at exactly eight minutes past nine.
‘I guess I’ll be seeing you,’ said Lucas, indicating for them to get out of his car.
They stepped onto the pavement, but were conscious not to go straight to the Hummer. They each could spot an ambush from a mile off. The cop would most likely just cut them off and issue the ticket anyway. However, in direct opposition to their dire expectations of him, he simply drove away and out of their sight. They were more surprised than relieved.
‘Maybe he forgot,’ suggested Bradley.
‘Maybe,’ replied Mike.
They slowly walked up to their vehicle with a soldier’s fear that a sniper’s bullet could turn out the lights at any moment. Bradley went directly to the passenger side and waited. Mike paused for a moment and looked around, still sure that the sniper had to be out there somewhere. Just as he placed his key in the lock, something on the dashboard caught his eye; it was a small slip of paper. He briefly glanced at it, before scrunching it up and throwing it to the floor. The sniper had gotten him after all.
‘That bastard,’ he said.
‘What’s up?’ asked Bradley, who was resting his eyes and trying hard not to vomit.
‘The cop, he had already written out the ticket. He must have stuck it on the windshield this morning.’
‘Maybe there’s more than one cop here. He could have had a deputy do it.’
‘No, it was him alright. That bastard knows exactly what he is doing. He only gave us the lift to offer false hope. Fucking cops are all the same.’
They got in the car and Mike steered them onto the road leading up to the observatory. The hangover and now the parking ticket had left him in a foul mood, but it was about to get even worse. No sooner had he joined the road when he saw flashing lights in his rear view mirror. He had no choice but to pull over. The cop’s car parked up just behind him and when the policeman got out he was carrying something in his hand. When he got up close, Mike could see that it was a breathalyser kit.
***
The professor asked for a volunteer to help him with the snake. Emmy was much too involved with her research to show any interest in helping her grandfather out. She made her excuses and left Charlie to deal with it. She also figured that her colleague would benefit more from some one on one time with their boss and benefactor.
The young scientist followed the old man into a secondary laboratory, which offered a secure environment in which to study the animal.
‘Why are we looking at a snake?’ asked Charlie.
‘I am hoping the answer will soon make itself clear,’ replied the professor. ‘If what Lucas has told me is correct, we will have to use the utmost caution.’
He motioned for his assistant to take a jar of chloroform down from a shelf. Charlie opened up the jar and soaked three large cotton wool balls with its contents. There was a small hatch built into the side of the snake’s box, which Charlie used to drop the drugged balls inside. After sixty seconds he gave the side of the box a tap with his knuckles.
‘It sounds like he’s out cold. Let’s take a look at him.’
He unlocked the box and then loosened clasps that where fitted to either side of the vessel. As soon as the second clasp clicked into place the lid of the box flew open.
Whether it was instinct or just some long repressed memory from a nature documentary he may once have watched, he could not be sure, but something told him to grab the animal just below its head. The reptile twisted and turned its body, but could not find a way to make its fangs find the scientist’s flesh.
‘What happened?’ asked a clearly puzzled Charlie. ‘That was enough chloroform to sedate an animal twice the size of this one. How can it still be awake?’
The professor ruminated for a brief moment, but the conclusion he came to troubled him.
‘It was holdi
ng its breath,’ he said.
Charlie shook his head.
‘That makes no sense. Why would it hold its breath, unless it knew..?’
He stopped himself from uttering the ridiculous. The professor finished the younger man’s sentence for him.
‘Unless it knew what the chloroform would do.’
‘No way. I must have misjudged the dose, that’s all.’
The professor soaked a rag with a generous helping of the remaining chloroform and passed it to his junior colleague. Charlie placed the cloth over the snakes head and then waited until it fell limp in his hands. Then just to be absolutely sure, he waited some more. He then placed the sleeping creature into a glass tank where it could be better observed. Before closing the lid, he quickly felt to see how thick the glass was.
‘Perhaps we should reinforce it with wire mesh,’ he said. ‘It could be as clever as you and still not get out of that.’
The professor did not reply. Rather than look at the snake, he first moved his motorised chair to the table to inspect inside the animal’s previous dwelling.
‘What do you make of this?’ he asked, inviting Charlie to take over.
The young scientist took the box from the professor and looked inside for himself. The casing on the lock had been peeled back and several deep scratches were evident all around the metal security device. They appeared to have been caused by the animal’s fangs and no marking had been made anywhere else in the box.
‘It was trying to chew through the lock?’ Charlie asked.
‘Not chew,’ replied the professor. ‘Even a boa constrictor could not bite through metal. It is more likely that it was trying to pick the lock with its fangs.’
Charlie was unsure if the professor was being serious or just trying to mess with him. Jackson Fox would not be described by anyone as a practical joker, so Charlie reasoned that he must have been serious.
Diamond Sky Trilogy Box Set: Books 1-3 Page 10