by Des Hunt
The final page was an aerial view of the island showing a ring of movement detectors. They were concentrated in the part that had fallen in 1914. The graph at the bottom showed there had been no activity for ages.
Robbie logged off, and settled down to the boring wait again.
It was half an hour later when he woke up, annoyed with himself for sleeping. He didn’t know whether there’d been a call or not. And it would happen again if he didn’t find something to help pass the time.
Soon after he’d arrived, he’d seen two cardboard boxes stacked in the corner of the wardrobe, but had thought no more about them. Now he decided to have a closer look — they might contain some games or books or something.
The top one was all clothes of a style Robbie had seen only in photos. He wondered why Jim hadn’t thrown them out — nobody would ever wear them again. There wasn’t anything to indicate whether they had been Jim’s or his father’s. From the state of some of them he decided they’d probably both worn them.
The second box was much heavier and took all his strength to drag out into the room. The top layers were jigsaws — boring! Next came several boxes of games. He might have been interested, but they required more than one player and he didn’t think Jim would stop mending the back fence to come and play with him.
There were books at the bottom. He sorted them into two piles — those he might read, and those he wouldn’t. When he’d finished the piles were very uneven; he’d decided only three were worth a closer look.
He’d started repacking the box when he noticed a thin, flat book at the bottom, It was an exercise book the same colour as the cardboard. On the cover, underneath the printed words This sketchbook belongs to was the name Allan Walker. Below the name in big capitals was written PRIVATE — KEEP OUT. Robbie realized this was what he had really been looking for — something more than just worn or, used by his father, something he had created.
The first page was a sketch of the shearing shed. The style was different to the one Robbie remembered, but it showed the flair that had won his father a scholarship to university and several prizes for his designs. The following pages were other views around the homestead, including some of White Island. There were also sketches of the bush and Paradise, looking very much like it did today.
Then there was one that made Robbie’s heart stand still. Across the two middle pages was a drawing of Puku. It was beautiful. Every marking was shown, almost every scale on the reptile’s back. Even without colour the animal seemed alive. Robbie never doubted it was Puku. He knew tuatara could live to a very old age, so why not a kaweau? Both father and son had met and played with the same animal.
Quickly he turned to the remaining pages, hoping for more drawings, maybe of some babies. But, the remaining pages were blank. Puku was the last of the drawings.
Robbie was in tears when he closed the book. Not tears of grief but tears of love and joy. He now understood why his father had argued with his brother; why he had felt so strongly about Paradise. He was so proud of his father: he’d discovered the kaweau and had been brave enough to keep it secret. A secret he truly kept forever.
Robbie closed his eyes, squeezing out the last of the tears. “Thanks, Dad,” he whispered. “I love you so much.”
Chapter 15
Robbie hit the jackpot with the second call in the afternoon. Instead of the sound of a voice, he got the shriek of a modem.
“Yesss!” he hissed as he pulled up a chair. “Now Mister Richardson, let’s see what you’re doing.”
The first set of messages was the usual set of codes connecting Richardson to his Internet Service Provider. Straightaway Robbie had his user ID and password. They could be useful even if he got nothing else.
Richardson then connected straight to a site without using any searches. That meant he knew exactly where he wanted to go. The site was http://www.totall.com/ RANDES.
The title RANDES showed for a moment and then a request for a user name. Richardson replied: MOTUROA RICH. Next was the password: imR1CH.
Then came garbage. Screen after screen of symbols that were simply nonsense. The link was encrypted. Everything was in code. Robbie would never be able to read it.
He watched it for more than an hour, hoping for something that would make some sense. Finally it did. The simple message — Goodbye! Have a nice day — flashed on the screen. Then he disconnected.
The whole thing annoyed Robbie. He had spent all day waiting for something to happen. And when it did, he couldn’t do a thing with it. He realized then they were stupid to think Richardson was going to make illegal deals without some form of protection.
He sat for a while wondering what to do. Finally he decided to ask Price, then remembered he was away in Tauranga for a couple of days. But he might have his mobile. He tried, and got voice mail. “This is Price. Leave a message if you want.” Robbie did.
With nothing better to do he logged on using his school ID. He searched for Noel Richardson hoping to find Richardson’s email address. If he knew that, he’d also know the provider and could log on as if he were Richardson.
He found it in a site for an association of emu breeders: [email protected]. The provider was tenInet.
A few minutes later Robbie Walker was logged on as if he was Noel Richardson. He had a vague idea he might be committing a crime, but he tried not to think anymore about it.
There was one item of email. Robbie barely paused before opening it.
Subject: Re: Brazilian Hawk-headed Parrot
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 98:03:08 +1300
From ‘AviaMania’
Moturoa Rich wrote:
> Dear Mike,
> Any books on this species in Australia?
Dear Rich
Aussie Mac has book. Very, very expensive, but you might try sourcing something out of Brazil. Columbus is much cheaper and probably has it.
Good hunting
Mike
It made little sense to Robbie. He had a feeling the word “book” was code for bird. But then, he knew nothing about parrots. There could be books on single birds. And they could be very, very expensive.
Without any thought of danger, he accessed http://www.totall.com/RANDES/ and got the log-on screen he’d seen before. He entered Richardson’s ID and password. Then, instead of garbage, he got:
Welcome to RANDES. The international source of information on Rare and Endangered Species.
Please enter your I-Net secure password.
Robbie tried the same password. It was no good. Then the password used to access the provider. Still no good. A flashing red warning message appeared.
This is your final try. Failure will mean your access rights will be deleted. Do you want to continue?
Robbie clicked “yes”. He’d come this far. He might as well try something else. But what? None of the other passwords had been very original. Maybe Richardson had a small memory. After a moment’s thought he entered EMUS4ME.
It worked!
Welcome Moturoa Rich.
This is your 282 access to RANDES
You last logged-on at 2212 on January 16
You last logged-off at 2321 On January 16
After a time the screen changed to:
RANDES Species Selector
VERTEBRATES
Fish
Amphibiàns
Reptiles
Birds
Mammals
INVERTEBRATES
Snails (including seashells)
Scorpions (and other crustaceans)
Spiders
Insects
Others
Robbie clicked on “Birds”. The screen changed to a long list of bird groups. He’d only heard of a few of them before. He chose ratites. Only two birds showed: Moa and Kiwi. Seemed like the other ratites weren’t considered endangered.
He chose Moa, wondering what information they’d have on this extinct species. There was lots. It was s
oon clear the site was much more than a source of information — it was a trading post. There were some books on moa and one caught Robbie’s eye, simply because of the name. His teacher last year had been Ms Buick.
The Discovery of Dinornis by T. Lindsay Buick. Published 1936. Good condition. Price $258 Contact Yankee Dave.
But there were also moa remains. They ranged from single feathers through to complete models. The most expensive was:
Complete feathered specimen of Dinornis maximus ex British Museum. Offers welcomed. Must be at least six figures. Contact Irish Mac.
And on it went — page after page of moa products.
He left the moa and went into the kiwi. Here there were live birds for sale, from several sources, and not just in New Zealand. It seemed there was a worldwide trade in the ancient birds. For Robbie, one source stood out from all the others:
Live North Island brown kiwi to order. Reasonable prices (minimum $100,000). Delivery by air. Anywhere in the world. Contact Moturoa Rich.
At last he had it. Proof! Proof that Richardson was trading in kiwi. Now they could do something about it.
He was about to log off, when he thought of kaweau. It would be interesting to see what they had on them. He backtracked to the title page and chose reptiles. It took a number of selections before he got down to geckoes. And there was kaweau, listed as Hoplodactylus delcourti. An animal he had no idea existed until a week or so ago was well known to those in the business. But what did they have to trade?
He soon found out. There were five entries. The first was a booklet of all printed articles on kaweau, for only $10. There can’t have been much to photocopy. Then came an advertisement for sub-fossil remains, thought to be kaweau bones. They were $2000 for the lot. An expensive pile of bones.
The next ad was much more interesting:
Wanted: Living Hoplodactylus delcourti. Half a million dollars! Yes, that’s $500,000 for a living specimen of this large lizard. Contact Texas Jack. But not unless you’ve got the animal.
“Looks like I’m worth a couple of mil,” said Robbie to the screen, enjoying the game.
He scrolled down to the next entry. Suddenly all the enjoyment went. It was the last thing he expected to see. The very last thing he wanted to see.
Live kaweau or Hoplodactylus delcourti if you like all that Latin stuff. Female and three young. Yes! Real living ones! Recently rediscovered. The only ones in captivity. Believe me, it’s the chance of a lifetime. No collection of geckoes is complete without these. Don’t mess me about. Either take the lot, or none at all. Just five million for the whole family. That’s only five followed by six noughts! Contact Moturoa Rich. But hey! You can call me Moturoa-Even-Richer after this lot sells.
Robbie stared at it. He was absolutely stunned. The date of the entry was today’s. That’s what Richardson had been doing earlier. All that garbage on the screen had been him selling Puku and her babies.
He sat there close to tears for some time. Blaming himself. She’d wanted to leave but he’d stopped her, just so he could get a photo he could’ve taken ages back. How selfish could he be?
Then suddenly he exploded into action. It was only a few hours since he had been with Puku. They might not have taken her yet. There was still a chance. That’s if he was quick enough.
Chapter 16
It was his fastest ride ever between the homestead and Paradise, but later he could hardly remember it. He could remember seeing fresh tyre tracks and wondering whether they only went one way. Then he could remember seeing that something had parked at the seismograph, and there seemed to be no tracks after that. And he could remember the mixed joy he felt when he could see there was no vehicle in the valley.
But most of all he remembered the pain when he found Puku had gone. There was nothing to show, what had happened. It looked the same as he’d left it in the morning. There were no signs that anybody else had been there. If it hadn’t been for the notice on the Internet he would have thought she’d simply returned to the bush, taking her babies with her.
In some ways he wished he’d never seen the message on RANDES because now he felt incredibly guilty. If only he’d let her go that morning, everything would have been all right. Why, oh why had he been so selfish?
* * *
When he got back Jim was in a foul mood because Robbie had gone off without telling him. Plus, he’d been trying to use the phone and all he got were modem squawks. When he’d tried to use his mobile, the battery was flat.
“Damn Richardson. He shouldn’t take up the line for so long. He knows we have to share.”
Robbie said nothing, and went to his room. It wasn’t Richardson at all; he was the one still connected. He logged off. “I think he’s off the line now,” he called out to Jim.
Over dinner Robbie asked: “Do you know of a place called Moturoa?”
Jim thought for a while. “I think it’s one of those islands off the Coromandel coast, past Tauranga. There’s a map of the Bay on the bookshelf. Have a look there.
Moturoa was indeed an island on the other side of the Bay of Plenty. Not all that big, but long. Long enough for an airstrip. That fitted with Richardson’s advert for kiwi. He could fly them to any place in the world. It also explained the cages in the boat. He needed them to ship birds between the island and his farm.
When the dishes were done Robbie tried contacting Price and again he got voice mail. This time he left an urgent message. He tried to hint at a major problem without giving too much detail. Finally he sent him an email which said much the same, except this time he mentioned kaweau by name.
After that he sat for a while wondering what else he could do. Then it came to him. If he got back into RANDES he should be able to delete the adverts. Surely users could remove theft own messages?
He logged onto RANDES and skipped quickly through the start-up screens looking for a delete feature. Yes! There was one. And it was dead easy to use. A moment later Richardson’s kaweau and kiwi adverts were gone. Then it came to him that he might be able to delete other people’s messages. Perhaps he could get rid of Texas Jack’s notice, the one offering half a million for a kaweau. He tried it. The computer beeped several times and a message flashed on the screen.
You have tried an illegal action. Do not attempt that again.
“Ha!” laughed Robbie. “Who are you to talk about illegal actions?” He tried again.
That’s the second time Buster!
Once more and you will be punished. And don’t say I didn’t warn you!
“OK! So what are you going to do to me? Once again he tried deleting Texas Jack’s notice.
Right! If that’s the way you want it.
The computer then took control of the delete function. It was deleting adverts all over the place. None of them were shown for long enough to read. But Robbie could see they covered a wide range of species, most of them birds;
Three minutes later it had finished.
All Moturoa Rich messages have been deleted.
I warned you not to mess with me, Bozo.
Moturoa Rich is now extinct.
Then the screen blanked.
Despite his bad day, Robbie enjoyed the sick humour. He went to bed feeling something had been achieved. It would take ages to replace all the messages. If Richardson did have Puku, then the delay might be just enough for Robbie to do something about saving her. It was a slim hope, still it was all he had and he clung to it as sleep took away his worries for a time.
* * *
Next thing, Robbie thought he was asleep in Paradise. But with Richardson, not Price. And the lizards were now truly giants. Richardson had fed them something that made them bigger. There were lots of them, stomping all over the valley like dinosaurs. The ground was shaking and shaking and shaking.
That’s when he woke to find that it was the bed shaking … and the pictures, and the walls. The whole place was rocking and creaking.
It was an earthquake! Robbie lay frozen in his bed, expecting the
roof to fall in on him. It must have lasted no more than ten or so seconds, long enough for Robbie to become really scared, but not long enough to do anything about it.
When it was over Jim came in. “Now you know what an earthquake feels like.”
“Was that a big one?”
Jim laughed. “No! Just tiny. It might start a few slips. But nothing much else.”
Robbie decided it was big enough for him. He could live without earthquakes from now on.
But what about volcanic eruptions? After Jim left, he went to the computer and logged onto TWIMP. The seismograph squiggles had gone wild. Lines were scribbled from top to bottom of the screen. It would take ages to work out which line belonged to which instrument. Yet, now they were back to normal. The event had lasted only twelve seconds.
He moved to the next screen. It was unchanged. Whatever caused the earthquake had nothing to do with the volcano. Pity about that, thought Robbie. He wanted to see an eruption before he left. Disappointed, he shut down and climbed back into bed.