Diamond Sky (Diamond Sky Trilogy Book 1) (11 page)

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 holding 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 the inside of 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.

‘Could a reptile really possess that level of intelligence?’

‘Not intelligence,’ the professor corrected. ‘What it
possesses is insight. It knew the effect the chloroform would have and it also
knew the inner workings of its captive environment. It could not have come to
that knowledge by way of cognitive thought. Something compelled it to act the
way that it did. ‘

‘Could it have been trained? I mean, they have snake
charmers in India.’

‘Nothing more than a clever illusion.
I’d sooner be inclined to believe in an Indian rope trick than the ability to
tame a snake with music. I’m guessing that the answer we are looking for is
likely to be more biological than psychological.’

‘Some kind of smart drug?’

The professor was growing weary of the lesser man’s limp
theories. He needed time alone; time to think.

‘I’m going to my study to see if I can research any
comparable incidents. I want you to stay and take a blood sample. Have a full
forensic analysis on my desk by this afternoon.’

He left Charlie to finish up with the snake. When he got to
his study, rather than look for unusual stories involving reptiles he brought
up the data from
Emmy’s
experiments on his laptop.
There was one possibility that he was not yet ready to discuss with the junior
scientist.

He ran a time lapse analysis of all of the periods when
Emmy
and Charlie were in their astral form. At first, he
saw nothing out of the ordinary. Then as the intensity of the experiments
increased, he did manage to detect an anomaly that had previously been
overlooked. It did not take long for him to see a pattern emerge.