She dragged out her words, either from a possible brain injury or maybe due to grogginess from sleep. It was impossible for Lucas to tell which it was. He took a step closer and the kangaroo reacted by thumping one of its substantial feet on the ground. The noise startled Lucy. They did not call these animals boomers for nothing. At first, she seemed surprised by the animal, but then recognition flashed across her face.
‘Whoa there,’ she said. ‘It’s okay. Lucas is a friend, he won’t hurt you.’
She pushed herself up onto her feet and placed a hand on the side of the animal, which she then used to stroke it with. Amazingly, her nurturing had an effect and the animal did briefly relax only to tense back up when Lucas took another step forward.
‘I don’t think he likes me,’ the policeman said.
‘Do you blame him?’ replied Lucy. ‘How would you feel if a stranger pointed a gun at you?’
He remembered the snake and how it had reacted to the gun. Like any hostage situation, it was not wise to antagonise the hostage taker. Lucas very slowly crouched down and placed his weapon on the floor. The effect was immediate. As if some magical spell had been broken, the animal reverted back to a more natural behaviour. It quickly lost interest in Lucas and even Lucy as it started to graze on the grass as if neither of them were there at all.
‘Amazing, isn’t it?’ said Lucy.
Lucas nodded, but he was mostly dumbfounded by the ease at which the situation had resolved itself. His preconceptions had been wrong. The animal’s behaviour now made sense to him. It was protecting her. But if the animals were benign, why was Ned almost killed by them?
He glanced down at the shotgun by his feet. Ned was a hunter and his prey of choice was kangaroos. They were defending themselves. Of course, this was still far from explaining how they had suddenly become so aware.
‘I’ll take you back into town,’ said Lucas. ‘That is if it’s okay with your new friend here.’
Lucy laughed.
‘That won’t be a problem, but you are right; he is my friend. Last night was the most amazing experience of my life. There were dozens of them here and each one was the same. It sounds crazy, but I am starting to believe that this place really has been visited by aliens.’
Now that, Lucas really did find hard to believe.
Chapter 18
Lucas told Lucy about the fire whilst driving her back into town. She took the news well, considering she might have died had she not camped out. It even left her wondering if this could be taken as evidence that her dad was still looking out for his little girl. After the previous night’s experience, her mind was opening up to all sorts of possibilities.
They called by the pub to collect her stuff, which was largely undamaged, before driving on to the station.
‘Here is my humble place of employment,’ he said, as they crossed the threshold leading into his office. ‘I just need to pick up a few things and then I’ll show you where you’ll be staying. There is a small apartment annexed out the back. It’s not very big, but it is comfortable. I consider it to be one of the better perks of the job.’
He then left her for a moment whilst he went into an adjacent room, where she could hear him hold a muffled conversation with a woman. When he returned, he seemed to be in higher spirits.
‘Good news,’ he told her. ‘I just heard that we should have the power back up and running by tomorrow arvo. In the interim, we can run the whole place off portable generators. Karl, our fire marshal, is picking them up from Alice as I speak.’
Lucy politely nodded. She imagined if it had been the water supply that was lost, Lucas would have suggested everyone go down to the river to wash with equal enthusiasm. He seemed to have a knack for always finding the simplest solution.
‘Tomorrow afternoon,’ she repeated, allowing her disappointment to show. ‘I was hoping I would be able to have a shower before then. I did sleep rough last night.’
‘Oh,’ said Lucas, with a hint of embarrassment in his voice. He realised that he too had endured a restless night and could do with freshening up. ‘I suppose I could maybe heat up some water on a gas stove. A shower is out of the question though.’
‘Thanks.’
He showed her through to the apartment in the back. The furnishings had come with the place and revealed little, if anything, about the policeman’s character. The single bed was a different matter. It was clear to Lucy how isolated and lonely Lucas must have been. She wondered if his inviting her to stay with him had something to do with this loneliness.
‘Where will you be staying under this arrangement?’ she asked.
‘My office has a couch, which is very comfortable,’ he lied. ‘I actually slept on it last night. You’re not the only one to have skipped their usual bedtime routine.’
He smiled at her in a way that did not marry well with his authoritative position. This was not the first time she had noticed that he sometimes seemed a little nervous around her.
‘Well, I hope I am not putting you out,’ she replied.
‘Not at all.’
He left her to get comfortable in her new lodgings. She had a feeling that it would not be long before he was back. She expected she would be seeing a lot more of the friendly neighbourhood policeman during the remainder of her stay.
***
Emmy was content to take a back seat role while Charlie inducted Mike into their astral club. He did a good job in her place. He was professional, succinct and most importantly; did not give too much away. Whilst the soldier struggled to keep control of his consciousness in the lower stratosphere, she received a call to go and see her grandfather.
‘I’m just popping out for a few minutes.’
Charlie absentmindedly acknowledged her with a slight tilt of his head, but Bradley was completely oblivious that she even existed. She rather liked the idea of being invisible to the Americans.
On her way to the office she passed Sammy in the corridor. The Aboriginal appeared even more sombre than usual. She had noticed that his cleaning rounds seemed to be taking longer than they normally did, as if he was reluctant to leave the building.
‘Is everything okay, Sam?’ she asked, with genuine concern.
‘I’m afraid,’ he replied.
‘What are you afraid of – are you in some sort of trouble?’
He shook his head.
‘Not afraid for me. I’m afraid for you and them other white folk. The spirits are restless. A big change is coming and I do not think it will be good.’
‘How are the spirits restless; have you seen a sign?’
Emmy was a woman of science and did not waste her thoughts on religion or superstition, but she did have respect for the Aboriginal belief system. She viewed the stories and the songs from the dreamtime as a way of interpreting the natural world rather than alluding to a genuine period in history. The indigenous culture contained a wealth of natural history that would make any museum curator envious.
‘When a snake bites its own tail, it will devour itself. When man can see his future behind him, he will do the same.’
She shook her head in confusion.
‘The future must not take the place of the past,’ he added, rather unhelpfully.
She held up her hands.
‘I’m sorry, Sam, but my head is not really with it today. I have to go and see Pops, but perhaps we can catch up later. If I don’t see you before you finish your shift, just come and see me the next time you are in. Is that okay?’
The Aboriginal nodded and then went back to mopping the corridor. For the sake of her sanity, Emmy tried to put their bizarre conversation to the back of her mind and carried on to her grandfather’s office. She raised her hand to knock on the door, but heard his voice before she got a chance to complete the action.
‘Come in,’ the professor said.
Her grandfather was sitting at his desk when she entered. There was an open reference book in front of him, which appeared to be on animal biology and he was
holding a syringe.
‘Roll up your sleeve,’ he instructed.
‘You want to take a sample of my blood?’
Although surprised by his request, her response was merely a question and not an objection. Whilst she waited for him to explain himself, she rolled up her sleeve as he had asked. Before responding, he inserted the needle into her forearm and took a small amount of blood. He left it to her to find some cotton wool to place over the small pin prick he had made.
‘I will be taking a specimen from everyone who has used that machine of yours. Each of you has had varying levels of exposure and I want to determine what effects this has had on your bloodstream.’
‘To what ends? Charlie and I have taken rigorous precautions and I can assure you that we have not suffered any ill effects.’
‘That is precisely what I hope to find.’
She took another look down at his desk. Under the book on animal physiology she could see the corner of a manila file. All that was visible was part of a word she deduced would have read as “classified” had it been in its entirety.
‘Is there anything else?’ she asked.
‘That is all.’
He waved her away and as she left, she could not help but feel he was deliberately withholding something from her. She walked back down the corridor and with each step her unease increased. When she got to the end, she looked down at her forearm and ran the fingers of her other hand across the small pinprick left by the needle. Just what was the old man up to?
***
Lucy called in to see Mindy after lunch. The bar was closed, so in place of her scheduled shift she helped the landlady clean up the mess left of the guestroom. It sent a shudder through her body, seeing how differently things could have worked out had she stayed in her room the previous evening. There was a very good chance that it would have been her last. Still, the fire and resulting power cut seemed trivial next to her encounter with the kangaroos. She felt that her experience was significant, but the reason why was still a mystery to her.
‘It was fortunate that you were not here when the fire started,’ said Mindy.
‘Yes,’ replied Lucy. ‘I have Dr Rayne to thank for that.’
Mindy glanced up, but did not pass comment. Lucy sensed that the landlady knew something, but was holding back.
‘I think that maybe I will go up to the observatory later and pay her a visit,’ she added.
This time Mindy was unable to hide her curiosity.
‘Is that where you stayed last night; at the observatory?’
‘Oh, no. When I say that I have Dr Rayne to thank for last night, I mean that she inspired me. When I was a little girl, my dad used to take me camping every summer. There is no place I feel safer than under the stars. I bet the views from the observatory are incredible, aren’t they?’
Mindy shrugged.
‘I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been up there myself. Dr Rayne and her grandfather tend to keep to themselves. There are a lot of rumours going around at the moment about what they do at that place and if I were you, I would not get involved. This is a small town and you don’t want tongues to start wagging.’
Was she referring to the alien rumours? Lucy was not so sure, she wondered if this was more about Emmy than the building.
‘Lucas goes to that place quite often, doesn’t he? I’m sure if anything untoward was going on then he would know about it.’
Mindy stopped what she was doing to address Lucy directly.
‘Lucas is a good man and people here have a lot of time for him. Even he, however, cannot sway public opinion with regard to some things. I am not saying that anything bad happens at the observatory, just that some people here have a very old fashioned world view and it would make it easier for you if you did not dwell too much on that place.’
‘I’ll just take your word for that. Just so long as you don’t try and tell me that they have aliens up there. I mean, you don’t believe any of that talk, do you?’
‘No, I don’t believe in aliens, but if the rumours were true it would do wonders for this place. I’ve heard about a town north of Alice that claims to be the E.T. capital of the Southern Hemisphere. That place gets a lot of tourists. Of course, it is also on the main highway and cannot be bypassed when travelling between Adelaide and Darwin, unlike here.’
Lucy smiled.
‘Well, at least I came and I don’t regret it either. When I get home I will be sure to tell people all about Jackson’s Hill. I’ll even mention the aliens; if that helps.’
‘It won’t.’
***
The front door opened before Lucas’ hand even connected with the woodwork. He stared at Jimmy in open-mouthed disbelief, wondering if this was another of the boy’s apparent premonitions.
‘I saw you coming up the drive,’ said Jimmy, putting the policeman’s mind at ease. ‘I take it that you have come about last night.’
Lucas nodded. It was a tricky situation. Technically, Jimmy had done nothing wrong, but something clearly was not right with the boy.
‘Am I in trouble?’ Jimmy asked.
‘No, you’re not in trouble,’ Lucas replied. ‘I am a little concerned though. You saved a lot of lives last night, but what is puzzling me is how you knew. The fire marshal ruled out arson and he is also adamant that there was no electrical fault with any of the generators. There is no logical explanation as to why the explosion occurred and yet you somehow knew what was about to happen.’
Jimmy looked down at his feet. Lucas could tell that the boy was distressed, but he had to ask the question.
‘Jimmy, how did you know? It is important that you tell me, no matter how strange the answer may be.’
Jimmy looked up at him with innocent eyes.
‘I saw it.’
‘What do you mean, you saw it?’
‘I saw it in my head. Just like you can now see it in your head too.’
Lucas considered the boy’s answer for a moment.
‘Like I can now see it too,’ he repeated. ‘Do you mean like a memory? When I think back to last night and picture the fire; that is how you saw it?’
Jimmy’s face brightened.
‘Yes, that’s how it was,’ he said. ‘I remembered it. I remembered it before it happened. It seemed so real and that is why I had to warn you.’
‘Have you had any more of these memories? I mean, ones that have not happened yet.’
The boy twisted his face under the sheer weight of the question. Jimmy was not one of life’s great thinkers and had no concept of abstract thought.
‘I don’t think so. As far as I know that was the only time it has happened.’
Lucas believed him. Whatever the boy was, he was not a liar.
‘And exactly how long before the fire did you have this memory; minutes, hours?’
‘Not long. As soon as I knew, that was when I came to warn you. Are you sure I’m not in trouble?’
‘I’m certain,’ replied Lucas. ‘If you have any more of these strange memories, make sure to come to me.’
‘I will,’ said Jimmy.
Lucas returned to the station and began to write up his report. After several failed drafts, he decided to give it another go in the morning. No matter how strong the evidence was, he just could not bring himself to record Jimmy’s actions as being related to some sort of psychic phenomena. There had to be another explanation. Unfortunately for him, he had no idea what that explanation may be.
Chapter 19
Lucy woke up feeling refreshed following her night in Lucas’ bed. The policeman, meanwhile, endured a torrid night on the couch. His sleep was tortured and erratic; peppered with fear and dread. They ate breakfast together and then parted to go their separate ways for the day. Lucas had his job to do and Lucy had an appointment to keep with a new friend. She did not expect her car to be ready (partial power via portable generators had only recently been put in place), but that did not stifle her optimism when she arrived at Armareth’s garage
.
The door was not locked and Lucy entered without bothering to knock. Armareth was working on the underside of her car, but he did not notice her enter due to the loud music coming from his office. It was not the CD player this time, but the radio. She crossed over to the office and turned the volume down.
‘Mr Armareth?’ she queried, returning to the workshop.
‘Please, call me Davo,’ replied the mechanic, emerging dusty and greasy from beneath the vehicle. ‘You’ve arrived at the perfect time. I was just about to take my morning smoko.’
He grabbed a rag from a worktop and as he rubbed the excess grime from his hands, he nodded over to where the kettle was kept. Next to it were two brand new mugs.
‘You really have been busy,’ said Lucy. ‘Why don’t you sit down and I’ll bring them over when they’re ready.’
Once the kettle boiled, she poured two drinks and then joined the mechanic in his office.
‘I’ve got so much to tell you,’ she began. ‘I’m no longer staying at the Fox. The fire cleaned out my room, but it is okay, because I did not lose anything of value. Last night I stayed at the station with Lucas and the night before that I had the most incredible experience of my life.’
The mention of the policeman elicited an eyebrow raise from Armareth.
‘You spent the night with Lucas? I did not realise you two had become so close.’
Lucy blushed.
‘Oh, no, it’s not like that. When I say that I stayed with him, I just mean that he put me up. There’s nothing going on between us.’
The mechanic nodded, but he did not entirely believe her.
‘Anyway, like I said; it is the night before last that I want to tell you about.’
‘The night of the fire?’
‘That’s right, although I was far away from any danger at the time. I actually spent the night in one of the fields between here and the observatory.’
Lucy noticed that her companion twitched slightly at hearing the observatory mentioned, but she decided not to read anything into it. She figured that like the rest of the town, he was probably convinced they were hiding an alien craft up at that place.
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