Diamond Sky (Diamond Sky Trilogy Book 1) (16 page)

She moved closer still and without giving him any warning,
she reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder. To her surprise, she found
that she could indeed feel. It was not like touching something in the material
world. The spectre projected its self image dressed in a smart suit. To
Emmy’s
touch, this did not feel like she thought it ought
to. It did not feel like cotton or fabric, it was neither rough nor smooth and
the resistance that it offered seemed like she could push right through it if
she so wished. Then the sensation altered dramatically.

They were suddenly alone in an even greater void. The other
energy, the circle of kangaroos, even the field itself; all had vanished. In
the distance a single point of light appeared and then started to grow
exponentially. For the first time in her astral state,
Emmy
could feel temperature. The light was warm and inviting. As the light took up
more and more space, she realised that it was not growing, but opening. It was
a doorway.

‘Not yet,’
said the spectre of the man.

He took a step back and as her arm slipped from his
shoulder, the astral world to which she had grown familiar reappeared. The
light and the warmth vanished back into the ether. She looked up at him with
amazement. He had spoken to her. All that she knew no longer held true. This
was her most convincing proof yet of actual life beyond the one that she knew.
She tried to speak, but found it just as impossible as before. She looked to
the spectre for guidance.

He placed a finger over his mouth. Did this mean he did not
want her to speak? She waited for further clarification and he slowly shook his
head. It meant that neither of them could speak even if they wanted to. The fact
he did so earlier, could only be related to when they had touched. A product of
that different world she had glimpsed, which was twice removed from the reality
that she knew. What else could this ghostly being teach her?

She decided to challenge him.

Follow me
she mouthed and then willed her entity to
rise up, high above the fields. The ghost followed, but kept its distance all
the while to prevent any further physical contact. His form degenerated back
into the shapeless energy of before as he moved at speed alongside of her. She
took him up into the stratosphere and then plummeted back down to Earth, all
the while seeing if he could track and match her movements. He displayed little
trouble in keeping up with her.

The next place she led him to was the town. She could have
taken him to any city in the world, but she chose Jackson’s Hill. This was not
because of convenience; it would have required no more effort to travel to
Buenos Aires or Kathmandu. She had taken him to this town because she still had
unfinished business with its inhabitants on this night.

They stopped outside of the
Sly Fox. Both had
returned to their human projections and
Emmy
gestured
for the man to enter the pub.

He refused.

She swept her arm down towards the door a second time. A second
time he refused to take up her offer and his once welcoming features became
stern and serious. She smiled teasingly at him then passed through the door and
into the tavern.

She remembered the layout of the bar, which was just as well
because she could not see it. Like every other place she visited in her astral
form, it had only a defining shape and lacked the detail and colour that the
material world gave it.

Judging by the amount of energy in the bar, she guessed
there was roughly the same number of customers as before. She hoped that her
projection would be visible to them, but like the second energy in the field
they did not react to her. Disappointed, but not defeated, she carried on
through the building and into the rear garden.

The plot stood adjacent to the town’s primary power
generators. She continued on, but found her path blocked by the ghost of the
unknown man. He raised his hand and held it palm facing outwards in a gesture
instructing her to stop. How did he know what she had planned; could the dead
also see the future?

She shrugged or at least performed an action that was an
approximation of a shrug. The stranger understood and responded by
re-emphasising his own gesture.
Emmy
was not going to
be deterred so easily. Although she was unable to interact with material
objects whilst in her astral form, she had a growing theory that certain places
may offer an exception to that rule. She was composed entirely of unbidden
energy and it was just possible that if she crossed into a place of high energy
in the real world, a reaction may take place.

The power generators glowed before her with the intensity of
a mini sun. It was raw electrical energy not compressed and imprisoned inside
of a solid form.
Emmy
smiled at the ghost with a
gleeful mischief before willing herself directly into the heart of the
generators. She then reached out with all of her consciousness.

I am energy; I am electricity.

I am energy; I am electricity.

I am energy; I am electricity.

The world around her exploded and in an instant she found
herself back in her lab. For a moment, she could still feel the electricity
surging through her body. It made her feel powerful. She was a Goddess. With a
wave of her hand she could smite all who opposed her.

‘
Emmy
, are you okay?’

Charlie came running towards her.

‘Of course,’ she replied. ‘Why wouldn’t I be? That was my
best trip yet. What I’ve found out changes everything about what we are doing
here. The military will not get a look in once we go public.’

He looked at her as if she was crazy.

‘
Emmy
, have you seen yourself;
what happened?’

She was puzzled by his reaction, but when he ran his finger
down her nose and then showed it to her, she understood. His fingertip was
black with soot from her face. All she could do was laugh, but Charlie was not
amused.

‘This is no joke,’ he told her. ‘You should see your hair;
it is like a five dollar perm. It does not make any sense. You appear to have
been electrocuted, but all of the equipment is operating as normal. I cannot
figure out what has caused this reaction.’

‘I can,’ she replied. ‘My little practical joke worked. I
fried the bar’s power supply.’

She twirled a lock of frazzled hair in her fingertips.

‘And myself by the look of it,’ she giggled.

‘Practical joke; are you kidding me? Earlier you said that
you were out for revenge and this is now all just a joke to you?’

‘Stop already; you’re beginning to sound like Pops. All I
did was turn out the lights on a miserable little outback bar. I’m sure they’ll
have everything up and running again in no time. Apart from a few spilled
beers, what harm could I have possibly done?’

***

The force of the blast blew out every window in the bar.
It was like being caught in the updraft of a supersonic jet. Lucas looked on in
horror as the spot where he had stood just moments earlier was showered with
deadly shards of razor sharp glass. If not for Jimmy’s warning, it would have
torn him apart.

‘Now do you believe me?’ asked Jimmy.

Lucas was unable to reply. He could not even look at the
boy. From what he could gather, the explosion had come from behind the bar. As
soon as it happened the street had been plunged into darkness and he guessed it
was the power generators that had blown.

The fire truck had a large searchlight fitted and the
marshal shone this on the doors of the pub as the drinkers exited. They were
confused, afraid, but thankfully, unharmed. Mindy was the last to leave.

‘Is everyone out?’ Lucas asked her.

‘I think so,’ she replied. ‘I can see flames through the
back. You have to do something before they reach the bar.’

Lucas signalled for the fire marshal to take the truck round
the back whilst he and the volunteers ran through the pub to get to the fire.
Glass was strewn across the floor; some from the windows, but most from dropped
drinks. The building itself appeared untouched. Outside was a different matter.
Flames ten feet high engulfed the generators and loose power cables swung in
the wind like angry snakes ready to strike.

‘Everyone hold back and concentrate on protecting the pub,’
Lucas ordered. ‘Karl will take care of the main fire - we just have to keep it
from spreading.’

The volunteers did as instructed and attacked only the outer
edges of the blaze, not allowing it to take hold of the beer garden fence or
surrounding trees and shrubbery. It did not take long for the fire marshal to
get into position and it soon looked like they had it all under control. Then
one of the overhead cables broke loose and swung into an exposed upstairs
bedroom of the pub.

Lucas knew this was where Lucy was staying and he tried to
remember if he had seen her on his way in. As far as he could recall; he had
not. He looked up just as a spark ignited the curtains and plunged the room
into an inferno. Without time to plan or even think, he grabbed an extinguisher
and ran back into the bar before sprinting up the stairs two at a time and
along the landing to where the door to the guestroom was located.

There were few locked doors in the town of Jackson’s Hill, and
this one was no exception. Lucas turned the handle and pushed the door open.
Straight away he could see that the fire was spreading rapidly. From the
curtains, the flames had taken hold of a wardrobe and were now starting to
consume the bed. Lucas pulled the pin on the extinguisher and forcefully herded
the flames back out from where they had come like a riot cop would use a baton
and shield to quell a disturbance.

As the smoke cleared, he feverishly searched for any sign of
the room’s inhabitant. When he found none, he was both relieved and concerned.
If the girl was not here and she had not been at the bar; where was she?’

Chapter 16

Ned turned off the main road onto a dirt trail that would
take him out of sight or earshot of the town and observatory. There was a sweet
spot he knew of down by the billabong, which was perfect hunting ground for red
kangaroos. It had already yielded a fertile bounty for him over the previous
weeks. Kangaroo steak was his biggest seller and because of this, his trips to
the billabong were becoming more frequent.

Apart from his bull terrier, Jake, nobody knew that he came
here or how he sourced his produce. Lucas may have had his suspicions, but Ned
knew that the policeman could not actually prove a thing.

He pulled his
ute
in behind some
bushes a good thirty or so metres from the water’s edge, turned off the engine
and exited his vehicle. He then waited for Jake to follow him out before
removing his .30 calibre hunting rifle.

The gun was not fitted with night vision technology, but
starlight was all the illumination Ned needed. He was a crack marksman and had
been hunting since he was old enough to pick up a rifle. His uncle Donnie had
taught him everything he needed to know.

Before leaving, he always cleaned and checked his firearm to
ensure nothing could go wrong. This night was no exception. The weapon was in
pristine condition and he knew it was going to bag him an impressive trophy;
maybe even one of the large, six foot males.

With Jake at his side, he crouched down behind a bush and
waited. Ten minutes had not passed when the first animal arrived. It was a
female; much smaller than the male of the species and with the head of a young
Joey poking out from its pouch, he decided to let it go. Not through
sentimentality, but because it made good business sense to safeguard his future
stocks. A slaughtered Joey was no use to anybody.

During the following quarter of an hour, more females came.
Some carried young and others did not, but all were much too small for Ned’s
needs. It would take two or three of these to provide as much meat as from a
male of the species.

He decided to change tactics and altered his position in
order to view the billabong from a different angle. He carefully crept around
until he was much closer and could see the full group of animals more clearly.
There were seven females in total, with four young between them. The dominant
male was lying next to the base of a gum tree. Even curled up, he could tell it
was a big one.

Ned had never been presented with an easier and more
tempting target. He braced the stock of his rifle against his shoulder and put
an eye to the sights. The crosshairs centred directly between the animals eyes.
The kill would be quick and painless, but most importantly, it would be clean.
If an animal is under stress when killed, it reflects in the taste of the meat.
Relaxed meat is good meat.

He rested his finger on the trigger and just as he was about
to pull it, the animal vanished. It was as if a shroud had been cast over his
sights. He looked up and saw that one of the females had gotten in the way.
Rather than move, it seemed to settle in this spot and was joined by two of its
sister animals.

He glanced around to see if he could move to another position.
The billabong blocked him to his left and to the right would have left him
exposed and easy to spot by the animals. He could always have just shot the
female to get it out of the way, but that would only alert the male leaving him
with a substandard catch for the night. What he needed was a fresh strategy.

He whistled for Jake. The animal quickly joined him and
having shared many a hunt together, they had an almost telepathic understanding
between them. The dog would creep around the back of the animals and drive one
out from behind in order to give Ned his shot. It was a manoeuvre that had
served him well in the past. In fact, it never failed. Ned once more braced the
rifle to prepare for the recoil whilst Jake got into position.

He could still see the legs of the male kangaroo and he
could also see that Jake was closing in fast. It would only be a few moments
until he got his shot. The night had been still, but a gentle breeze began to
blow. As the huntsman felt the wind on his face he realised that it was coming
in from the East, which put the prey downwind of the canine. The females
confirmed this when they rose up, alert and nervous. They began to part
cautiously, leaving Ned once again with a clear view of the male. It too must
have smelled the dog, but it remained relaxed and off guard.

The females were now extremely agitated and had all moved
away from the clearing. Even if the male was somehow ignorant of the dog’s
smell it should have reacted to the rest of the mob, yet it remained perfectly
calm. Ned got back behind the sight, but quickly pulled away again. Something
was wrong. Looking back across to Jake, he soon figured out what that something
was. He leapt to his feet and ran into the clearing, firing warning shots into
the air as he did so.

‘Jake! Jake!’ he screamed. ‘Get out of there, boy. Jake!’

The dog jerked its head up in recognition of its master’s
voice. Had it done wrong or was the master in trouble? Before the dog could
make sense of the calls, it was already too late. The second male was much too
fast. It had ambushed the ambushers. In one bold movement it leapt from where
it had been hiding and pounced upon the dog with bone crunching ferocity. As it
bounced back up from its attack, the momentum of the strike sent Jake tumbling
forward through the dirt. When the dog eventually came to rest, it had two
broken legs and its ribs were in pieces. Death would now be a mercy.

The original male rose to its feet. This was the largest
kangaroo Ned had ever seen. He lowered his rifle and pulled the trigger only
for an impotent click to signal that he had depleted his ammo.

‘Shit!’

He reached into his shirt pocket for the spare bullets. As
he feverishly reloaded, the larger kangaroo, which he took to be the dominant
male, was standing over Jake. Being a hunting dog, his friend would not go down
without a fight. Jake’s body may have been shattered beyond healing, but he
still had one formidable weapon in his arsenal. His bite was more than capable
of tearing a chunk of flesh from the larger animal.

Jake bore his teeth and emitted the most desperate,
sickening growl Ned had ever heard. Avoiding the danger of the dog’s jaws, the
kangaroo grasped the badly beaten canine with its feet before leaping into the
billabong where it held the dog firmly until it drowned.

‘Jake!’

Ned knew the dominant male would not stay in the water for
long. His gun was now reloaded and he did not intend to miss. Jake would be
avenged, even if it killed him. Once the target was in his sights, he squeezed
the trigger.

The blow that knocked his shot off target caught him
completely by surprise. The force of it brought him to his knees and dislodged
the rifle from his hands. As he landed, he instinctively rolled in order to put
some distance between him and his assailant.

When he re-orientated himself, he saw that it was one of the
females that struck him. It was soon accompanied by the rest of the mob and
they were all rounding on the now defenceless huntsman.

Ned was wise enough to know that if one of the beasts timed
its strike correctly, it could disembowel him as easily as he could fillet a
steak. He looked for his rifle, but it was a good five metres from his reach.
By this time, the males had returned from the billabong and the larger of these
bounced over to where the firearm lay. It extended one of its feet and placed
it over the weapon, in the process displaying a six inch, curved, razor sharp
claw. Ned had encountered this weaponry before, but only when butchering the
animals. He had never seen a claw so large and deadly. The animal placed its
toes over the trigger of the rifle and as it retracted its claw a shot was
fired into the night. The dominant male then looked directly into Ned’s eyes;
letting him know in no uncertain terms that it was now the hunter.

***

Lucy had followed the road on foot for twenty minutes
before finding a clearing suitable for her needs. It was a clear night and once
she left the artificial lighting of the town, the stars took over as suppliers
of illumination. For the first time in ages, she felt like she had returned
home.

She walked to the centre of the field and placed her
rucksack on the ground. She then removed a small blanket that she would use to
sit on and also took out the urn, which she placed down beside her.

‘Well, dad,’ she began, ‘here we are. I know it isn’t quite
what I promised when I said I would take you to the outback, but it’s a start.
I have so much to tell you. You’ll be glad to know that I’ve been making
friends. There is a friendly cop who has been helping me out recently. His name
is Lucas. I know what you will be thinking, but it’s not like that. He’s just a
friend. I also met a girl tonight. She left quickly, hopefully not because of
me. There was something familiar about her that I could not quite place and I
think if I see her again, we may become good friends.’

She glanced down at the urn. Had she really expected a
reply? It was just an urn. Still, she knew that he was listening. He promised
her he always would. Undeterred by the one-sidedness of the conversation, she
carried on.

‘There is also an old man in town that I am helping. He is
fixing my car and in return I am going to make sure he stays off the booze.
There are a lot of colourful characters in this place. I think you would like
it here in Jackson’s Hill.’

She lay back and looked up at the stars.

‘I wish you
were
here. I mean, really here; not just
in spirit. If only you could give me some sort of sign; something to show me
you can hear me.’

She listened to the silence.

‘I guess not. For all I know, I’m going crazy; laying in the
darkness talking to myself. Am I crazy?’

‘Not yet.’

Lucy sat bolt upright. Who said that? She looked around and
there was nobody else in the field. Was it? No, it couldn’t be; that really
would be crazy. Then a rustle from the bushes interrupted her thoughts.

‘Hello?’ she queried. ‘Is anybody there?’

There was another rustle and this time she managed to catch
movement on the edge of the field.

‘Whoever it is, show yourself. This isn’t funny.’

She reached into her bag and pulled out a flashlight. As she
shone it on the bushes she saw yet more movement and then a kangaroo bounded
into the field. It appeared small, like a juvenile, but she could see something
around its belly. It had young. It was not a juvenile, just a female carrying a
Joey.

‘I’ll only be a minute,’ she said to the urn.

She expected the animal to be shy and retreat when it saw
her approaching, but it did not. It even crossed the final distance between
them itself, seemingly inviting her to reach out and stroke it. Its coat was
smooth, but hard; more like wire than fur. She could feel its svelte, muscular
body underneath.

It was not long before another emerged from the same place
as the first. There was more rustling, this time from further away and then yet
another of the animals emerged. Then another came and then another, until they
were approaching her from all sides.

The field was soon filled with the animals. Lucy felt a
little nervous and started to back into the centre of the field. She turned to
look for her blanket when she noticed a large male kangaroo emerge. It was
huge. Stooped down, it appeared not much larger than the females, but when it
rose to its full height it must have been at least six feet tall. It was stood
directly over her blanket and the urn. Then the strangest thing happened. It
looked directly at her. Not only that, but it appeared to be grinning.

***

Ned ran as fast as he could. His greatest worry was that it
would not be fast enough. The kangaroos were right behind him. Occasionally,
one would get close and he would have to quickly alter his course, often having
to backtrack, in order to get away from them. Being able to change trajectory
without notice was the one advantage he had. Kangaroos cannot leap backwards
and their turning circle was large, allowing him to regain ground.

As soon as he saw his
ute
, he began
to tremble. There were only a few more steps between him and safety. He had
left it unlocked and any fear that the door would somehow jam was unfounded
enabling him to throw himself inside of the drivers cab. He kept the keys in
his shirt pocket and was quick to remove them with his shaking hands.

A loud thud hit the side of the vehicle almost pushing it up
onto two wheels.

‘Shit!’

The keys fell from his grasp and landed in the foot well.
There was then a second collision against the side of the vehicle, though this
was not as strong as the first.

‘You can do this, Ned. Just don’t look at them.’

He bent down to retrieve the keys. As he fumbled around in
the dark, he heard a loud crash and felt shards of glass rain down on his back.
The vehicle then began to shake violently and he could feel hot air being blown
in through the window. He soon realised that it was not air, but the putrid
breath of an animal.

Once he found the keys, he rose back up into his seat,
leading with his elbow to deliver a powerful blow to whatever may block him.
The animal retreated just long enough to allow him to get the vehicle started.

The sound of the engine coupled with the glare of the
headlights bought the hunter some more time as the startled animals took cover.
He put the
ute
into reverse gear and backed up as
quickly as he could. When he felt the smooth tarmac of the main road, he
quickly swung his vehicle around and shifted back into a forward gear. Looking
ahead, he could see the road was not clear. One obstacle was in his way. It was
the big one. It was the one that killed Jake.