Darkest Night

by James Cherry

  Before paying the driver, Doctor Burch turned to Ayako and said, “We can get some sleep and come back in the morning since the labs are closed.”

  “No, let’s go in. I work better when it is quiet anyway,” insisted Ayako.

  The doctor looked at Ayako in confusion. They wouldn’t be able to get in the lab with the doors locked.

  The other professors at the University usually eyed Doctor Burch with cynicism and skepticism, but were still willing to offer minor help on his various projects. He had free run of the labs, archives, and library during the day. However, the doctor speculated that the professors helped him less out of respect and more out of pity. It didn’t really matter to him, as long as he was allowed to continue using the facilities.

  Getting in at night, unsupervised, was a whole different ball game. He did not want to break in and risk losing his research privileges at the University.

  “Just how do you propose that we get in?” asked the doctor.

  “Cell phone please? Let me call Doctor Shelia Stacey. She will let us in, especially when I tell her of the find we made,” replied Ayako.

  “Shelia hates me,” exclaimed the doctor. He felt a twinge of panic as he didn't want to be anywhere around the old woman. To be truthful, the old bat scared the hell out of him.

  “No, she just dislikes you. When she sees this evidence though, I believe that she will start to see that you are not the ‘nut-job’ as she likes to call you,” replied Ayako with a grin. She continued, “Besides, she highly respects me and have been friends for years. She will help me.”

  Doctor Burch shrugged indifferently and said, “If you say so, but I still think we should sleep on it. The lab will still be there tomorrow.”

  Ayako nodded and said, “Yes, it will, but I have been waiting for days to find out the results. Every day that goes by is a risk for spoilage and skewed results. I am going to do this tonight.”

  "Cell phone please?” Ayako asked again and she held out her hand.

  Doctor Burch reluctantly relinquished his cell phone and paid the driver. He knew better than to argue with that strong willed woman.

  They sat and waited patiently on a bench in front of the lab with their gear stacked haphazardly to the side. It took about a half-hour for Doctor Stacey to arrive and the woman showed up in pajamas covered by an antiquated overcoat, and her hair was adorned with curlers. Her facial wrinkles, missing front teeth, and the mole on her bulbous nose, gave her the frightening appearance of a Halloween witch. While he didn’t particularly like the sixty-eight year old, he respected her sharp mind and wealth of knowledge.

  Doctor Stacey was a professor of biochemistry at the University and had been Ayako's mentor. The two women had formed a close friendship during Ayako's time as a graduate student.

  Doctor Burch suddenly chuckled at the sight of the old woman. He whispered into Ayako’s ear, “Looks like she forgot her dentures again. You could drive a Mac Truck through that gap in her teeth.”

  Ayako elbowed Doctor Burch in the ribs and whispered, “Be nice.”

  She quickly hopped up from the bench and walked toward Doctor Stacey with arms outstretched. The two women embraced for a long moment before Doctor Stacey took a step back from Ayako in order to look her up and down, as if inspecting a prized possession. The old woman nodded in approval and said in a raspy voice, “You look good Aya. It is so good to see you again after all these years.”

  Ayako nodded and smiled. She replied, “You look good, too, Shelia. It’s been a long time.”

  As the women made small talk, Doctor Burch slowly got up and hesitantly moved towards the two women. Doctor Stacey turned to glare at him and her eyes narrowed in disgust. She growled, “Bah, I see you are still hanging around Crypto David.”

  “Well, nice to see you, too, Shelia,” replied Doctor Burch sarcastically.

  Doctor Stacey sneered and turned her back on him. She grabbed Ayako’s arm and led her to the front door of the lab.

  Ayako halted at the front door and looked back at Doctor Burch. “Would you grab that cooler?” she asked.

  “Sure,” he replied.

  Doctor Burch grabbed a small ice chest and his backpack and he dejectedly shuffled in behind the two women. He waited patiently for the old bat to unlock the door and flip on the light switch. After what seemed an eternity, the hallway lights slowly flickered on, one at a time.

  They walked briskly down the hall and into the lab. Testing equipment adorned the walls, tables, and just about everywhere else imaginable. Vials and tubes were stuffed into recesses, books and binders jammed into cubbyholes, and computer terminals lined one wall. The place was an organized mess.

  Doctor Burch set to work immediately and unpacked the blood samples from the ice chest. He began testing the blood first and inserted a vial on a centrifuge while Ayako placed droplets on a microscope slide. Doctor Stacey joined in and performed tests in which Doctor Burch had no clue as to their purpose.

  After a couple of hours, Doctor Burch finally had enough. He wasn’t trained in the kinds of tests the women were performing and knew that he would not be needed further. He decided to get some rest.

  He moved to Ayako and said, “Aya, I guess I will head home if you don’t need anything else from me tonight?”

  “No, I think I can manage from here. I will call you if we find anything,” replied Ayako.

  “Just watch your back, make sure the old hag doesn’t cast some kind of spell on you,” Doctor Burch whispered.

  Ayako narrowed her eyes and smacked Doctor Burch on the side of the head hard enough to water his eyes. She quietly reprimanded, “She is my friend, and you need to be a little more respectful.”

  He chuckled as he reached for his phone to call a cab.

  ***

  Something pulled Doctor Burch from a deep sleep and violently yanked him away from his blissful dreams. He remained perfectly still and strained his ears, but he could only hear the thumping of his own heart in the dead quiet of the night. Believing it was just his imagination, he began to drift back to sleep when he heard the telltale sound of his refrigerator door shutting.

  The doctor sat bolt upright in his bed, all of his senses straining to determine the source of the noise. This time he heard the scrape of metal on wood, the sound of a drawer opening. The hair on the nape of his neck stood on end and he reached behind his nightstand for his baseball bat.

  With the comforting feel of the bat in his hands, he swung his legs off the bed and slowly stood. He grimaced as the floor creaked under the pressure of his weight, and he froze.

  He heard the drawer close and the rummaging continue indicating that whoever was in the kitchen apparently did not hear the creaking floor. Satisfied he was unheard, the doctor became emboldened and he tiptoed into the hall and peeked into the kitchen.

  He relaxed.

  Ayako stood in the kitchen looking haggard and bleary-eyed. The bottoms of her eyes were puffy and blue as if someone had hit her in the face. She gingerly sipped a cup of coffee as she attempted to stay awake.

  The doctor was alarmed at the sight of her worn look. “Aya. Damn, you need some sleep,” he said.

  “I need to fill you in on our findings from our research,” replied Ayako.

  “Why didn’t you just call me?" the doctor asked.

  “I did try and call you. You must have been dead asleep," Ayako replied.

  “I am so sorry Aya,” the doctor said as he waved towards a chair, “Please sit down.”

  She shook her head and said, “Not now.”

  The doctor was perplexed. He asked, “So what did you find?”

  After taking a sip of coffee Ayako replied, “We found something very interesting. All the cattle that were attacked by the creatures had Mycobacterium Paratuberculosis, better known as Johne’s Disease. These cattle were basically starving to death due to mineral deficiencies. The disease causes hardening of the intestinal walls so the intestines were not able to absorb the necessary minerals r
equired for the cattle to survive."

  “Nothing else?” asked Doctor Burch as he leaned back in disbelief.

  Ayako shook her head.

  “Then why come all the way out here to tell me? Couldn’t this have waited until morning?” the doctor asked in annoyance.

  Ayako stared hard at the doctor for a few heartbeats, then relaxed and took another sip of coffee. Realizing that the cup was empty, she placed it down on the table and replied, “This is important. And besides, your house is much closer than mine. I really needed some sleep, so I decided to come here.”

  The doctor nodded in agreement and said, “Well, you know you are always welcome to stay in my guest room.” He lifted his chin in the direction of the hallway.

  Ayako smiled in appreciation and said, “Back down to business.” She paused for a moment before continuing, “Based upon our tests, we know now that the diseased cattle wasted away from mineral deficiencies and became too weak to defend themselves.”

  “Wouldn’t the disease cause the cattle to become anemic? Their blood would not be a real healthy meal since it would be low on trace minerals, right?” the doctor asked.

  Ayako thought for a moment before answering, “Yes, they would be anemic, low in iron and other minerals, such as iodine and copper. However, it may be possible that the creatures do not need those minerals in their diet, maybe they need just the protein.”

  “I don’t see how that can be possible. All animals need certain trace minerals in their diet, without them they become sick and anemic. Copper, iodine, and iron are three important minerals," the doctor stated.

  Ayako nodded said, “I agree, but perhaps the minute traces of copper and other minerals that were still present in the blood were enough to sustain this creature. Maybe it ingests other things to make up for the mineral deficiency. We really need to capture one to learn more about its anatomy and behavior.”

  The doctor grinned and said, “I am already working on that. We will attempt a capture at the next new moon. Ron has everything set up to go. He acquired six bola guns and a dozen nets and that should enough to bring down one of the creatures.”

  Ayako nodded and said, “The reports on the blood tests are lying on the table.” She picked up her coffee cup and turned it up, but only a single drop rolled slowly to the edge. She sighed, turned to the coffee maker, and picked up the pot.

  Ayako paused just as she was about to replenish her cup and added, “Oh, by the way, the task of searching through thousands of jaw, foot, and tooth casts in search of a match is more than I can handle.”

  She poured another cup and took a tentative sip before continuing, “Tomorrow, I will create copies of all the evidence we have collected and send them to acquaintances of mine. I will also make copies of our thermal film and I will email them to several scientists whom I believe could shed some light upon the creature in question. With all the extra eyes and brains working on this case, surely someone will come up with something.”

  She set the cup down and rubbed her eyes. “Now if you will excuse me, I am going to bed.” Without waiting for an answer, Ayako turned and shuffled down the hall.

  The doctor watched as Ayako shut the guest room door before he turned and sat down at the table. Picking up the reports he half-heartedly thumbed through the paperwork without really looking at the data. His sleep clouded mind was attempting to sort out all that had transpired, but feeling the lure of sleep begin to wrap him in a comforting blanket, he sighed and placed the papers neatly down on the table and stood from his chair.

  The doctor glanced down at Ayako’s half-empty coffee cup and decided that in order to clear his head he could use some coffee. Grabbing the cup he moved to the coffee maker and topped it off. Dropping in four tablespoons of sugar and equal amounts of powdered creamer, he stirred it and took a sip.

  Satisfied with the taste, he paced around the house, his mind revitalized by the strong brew. Suddenly, it dawned on him that he hadn’t checked his email in weeks. Moving quickly to the computer he switched it on and waited for several agonizing minutes for the machine to boot up. Once the boot process was complete, he clicked on his email icon and waited.

  The message ‘You have 935 messages in your inbox’ soon appeared. He groaned in annoyance as he knew most of the email traffic was from inquiries that had been forwarded from his web site.

  Not willing to sort through mail at the present moment, the doctor decided to update his web page first. As he loaded his web site on one window, he opened a new window on his second monitor, and loaded the web page for his web hosting service. He logged in and made a few updates to his web site to include the information on his newest discoveries in Mexico and pressed the refresh button so that he could review the changes. Satisfied, he logged out and sat back in his chair to relax a bit.

  As he stared at his computer monitor, he felt a swell of pride. His web site was his work of love. Not only was his site useful as a database for his various projects and expeditions, it was a place from where the rest of the world could swap information and view his work in progress.

  With over fifty thousand hits a day, his web site was the most popular cryptozoology site on the Internet. But the web site also caused a bit of a problem, all the damn email. He sighed and went back to his inbox.

  Scanning the headings he started deleting spam and abusive messages from people he knew. One subject line caused him to stop short just as he was about to delete it.

  It said, ‘URGENT. New discovery at Loch Ness.’

  He glanced and the header in order to see who the email was from. “William McKee, I know that name,” the doctor said out loud as he opened the email and read the contents.

  Dear Doctor David Burch,

  I am in urgent need of your help. I don’t know if you remember me or not, but I am a meteorologist with the BBC in Scotland. We met in Argentina at the opening of the Buenos Aries Museum of Cryptozoology two years ago.

  On July 10, I was performing radar mapping around the Loch Ness for a survey of thermal variances in the atmosphere. I had placed six Doppler radar mapping units around the lake and left them on auto-record throughout the night.

  When I returned the next morning to retrieve the data, I noticed that the radar units had picked up a large object with an approximate wing span of 15 meters at a height of four hundred kilometers. This object went down into the Loch and disappeared from sight. At first I thought that it had been a small plane crash, but the trajectory and speed indicated that it was a controlled decent.

  Now, while the above may seem unremarkable, what I am about to say next cannot be coincidence. On July 11, there was a rash of Nessie sightings in the exact area that the object went down in the lake. I managed to see Nessie myself and capture it on film. I would like you to review the film and radar data at your convenience.

  Sincerely,

  William McKee

  Senior Meteorologist,

  BBC Scotland

  Doctor Burch shook his head in disbelief. A flying Nessie would answer the age-old question on how Nessie got to and from Loch Ness.

  Theories existed about underwater caves to the ocean but could never be proven. And the fish population was too low to support a creature of Nessie’s size and the temperature was just too cold in the winter months for a reptile to survive.

  A flying Nessie would solve all those problems. But the doctor mulled over one obvious question. If there wasn’t enough food to sustain a creature that large, then why would it fly to Loch Ness?

  He smacked his forehead in sudden understanding. July 10 was the same night that the team witnessed the attacks in Mexico. It was the night of the new moon. This may well be the same type of creature that they had witnessed in Mexico, only much larger.

  Information from his studies of mythical creatures roiled through is brain. Nessie from Loch Ness, the Lake Champlain Monster called “Champ”, Ogopogo from Okanagan Lake in Canada, and the Bear Lake Monster in Utah. Names and lakes from countless cre
ature sightings scrolled through his mind one after another. A theory began to form in his mind. It was possible that the monsters that attacked Bo and his team bred in large, remote lakes.

  The doctor picked up the phone and dialed Ron’s number.

  After several rings, Ron’s wife answered sleepily, “Hello?”

  “Hi Marge, this is Doctor Burch. May I speak to Ron please?”

  “Sure,” she said hesitantly. “One second, Doctor.”

  After what seemed to be an eternity, Ron picked up the phone and answered cheerfully, “Hey, Doc. How ya doin today?”

  “Just fine, Ron. I am forwarding an email to you that you would be very interested in seeing,” said Doctor Burch.

  “What’s this about?” asked Ron.

  Nervous that Ron would turn his proposition down, the doctor spoke slowly, “It seems that Nessie can fly. I have a theory that Nessie and the creatures that attacked Bo’s Special Forces Team a few years ago may be the same type of creature. And also, the chupacabra in Mexico may somehow be related as well. We really need to go to Scotland for more information.”

  “Well, what are we waiting for? Get the team together and we will fly out to Scotland for a visit,” Ron exclaimed excitedly.

  The doctor was taken aback. He never expected Ron to agree so readily. “Okay, let me round everyone up. I will email you a list of additional gear that we might need.”

  He paused as he rifled through his desk as he searched for a pen and paper. He found what he needed and made a list as he continued, “Looks like we will have to put off our Mexico trip for another time.”

  “That’s fine, I am eager to see if we can make a connection in Scotland,” agreed Ron.

  “Can you arrange to have the radar terminals shipped to Scotland along with the rest of the gear that we used on the chupacabra mission?” asked the doctor.

  “Sure, Doc. I haven’t gotten around to unpacking anything yet. The gear is still packed away in the containers that we shipped them in. I will add the bola guns just for good measure and then have the containers sent to Scotland,” replied Ron excitedly.