Diamond Sky (Diamond Sky Trilogy Book 1) (32 page)

Chapter 37

Ned sat in his battered
ute
,
parked by the turnoff to the observatory road. He thought of Jake and of the savage
beasts that had taken away his companion, his friend. On that night, the
monsters held the upper hand. Now he was the one that would be able to pre-empt
their every move. In the Sly Fox, people talked about the visions as being a
precursor to the apocalypse. Others blamed the supposed alien visitors at the
observatory. Ned did not know which to believe. All he saw was opportunity.

The confusion and intermittent pain was too much for most to
cope. Ned found that alcohol helped. It numbed the pain and dimmed the clarity
of the hallucinations, allowing him to more easily discern the difference
between that which was real and that which was not. He still received the odd
flash and that is what drew him back to the billabong. The vision was telling
him where he had to be. The fact that fate was sending him back there could
mean only one thing – revenge.

Across town, Jimmy was just leaving the house. His mother
had played music at full volume all morning. He tried arguing with her, but she
told him that it was the only way to block out the voices in her head. In the
end, he gave up arguing and grabbed his jacket then went outside for a walk to
clear his mind. Since the rest of the town started to get the visions too, his
no longer caused him so much concern. If anything, he was getting off lightly,
as everybody else saw only bad things. Then there were the headaches. Jimmy had
not experienced these, but more and more people in the town complained of pain
and dizziness. People were staying indoors, trying to rest their minds as much
as possible. As such, the streets were empty.

He passed the police station before carrying on down the
hill towards the Sly Fox. Another theory amongst the locals was that getting
blind drunk would also stop the visions, the voices and whatever other crazy
stuff people were experiencing. Just on the corner by the pub, he saw somebody.
The figure turned around and Jimmy saw that it was actually him or at least
another vision of what would soon be him. Once he saw himself move from the spot,
he quickly jogged over to try to find out what he had been or would be looking
at.

This was a new development. Normally what he saw of the
future would be identical to what he would eventually see when time caught up.
It was sort of like a future memory. The fact he was now on the outside of the
vision, effectively watching his life in the third person seemed to be
significant. It alerted him to a greater sense of urgency to the vision. He
wondered if anybody else was experiencing this.

The ghost like image of himself moved through the grounds of
the pub and headed toward the cordoned off area around the damaged generators.
He took a quick look over his shoulder to make sure nobody was watching and
then followed.

The vision did not last for much longer. He watched as the
image of himself climbed under some tarpaulin and then vanished from sight.
Whilst he tried to figure out what had compelled him to this place, the sound
of large, powerful engines startled him. He quickly ran to take cover under the
tarpaulin, before peeling back the corner to take a peek outside.

He could see three military trucks. Two took the turning
onto Main Street, whilst the third carried on toward the observatory. One of
the vehicles pulled up directly outside of the Sly Fox. He saw about a dozen
armed soldiers emerge from the rear of the vehicle and each one of them wore
what appeared to be some sort of radiation suit. It was like something out of
his favourite videogame; Call of Duty and Jimmy had never seen the like of it
before. He wondered what the threat could be - so dangerous that it warranted a
force of this size.

Chapter 38

Emmy
could have stayed in bed
forever. Despite enduring so much pain and loss, she had never felt so complete
in her entire life. After everything she had been through, she could finally
imagine a life beyond her work. This was thanks largely to the girl lying next
to her; the girl who presented her with so many tantalising possibilities.

‘You are full of surprises,’ she said.

‘Believe me; I am even more surprised than you are,’ replied
Lucy. ‘I guess this means I have been living a lie my whole life.’

Emmy
rolled onto her side and
offered her new lover a concerned look.

‘What makes you say that?’

‘Isn’t it obvious? I mean, I had no idea, but when I look
back it seems like it has always been there. I feel like such a fool.’

‘Don’t beat yourself up over it. For all we know, you might
not even be gay.’

It was now Lucy’s turn to speak through facial expressions.
She stared back at
Emmy
with wide eyes and arched
eyebrows.

‘I’m just saying,’ said
Emmy
. ‘So
there’s a spark between us; you don’t have to let it define your whole
personality. Perhaps the next person you fall for will be a guy. You just don’t
know.’

‘You seem to. What are the chances of you ever sleeping with
a man?’

‘That’s different; I’ve had my whole life to explore and
come to terms with my sexuality, whereas this has all happened so quickly for
you. We should probably take things slowly, just in case.’

‘I think it’s a bit late to suggest we slow down.’

Lucy ran her fingers across
Emmy’s
naked midriff, tickling her as she went. The scientist giggled and playfully
pushed Lucy onto her back, then straddled her.

‘If you are sure you want to take this further, I will be
glad to oblige. I can do things to your body that a man could not even dream
of.’

Lucy was turned on - it felt right. She wished she could
stay in bed with
Emmy
forever, but there were still
challenges facing them. She was concerned about the radiation and if she was
infected.

‘I want to,’ she told
Emmy
, ‘more
than anything. It’s just that I’m scared. What if your grandfather’s prediction
comes true and I go mad like the others?’

‘I think you are going to be okay. Your father told me that
he was protecting you. I do not know how, but I am sure he has kept you safe.
We should get dressed and call Charlie. The sooner he and I get to work on a
cure, the sooner nobody
need
worry.’

‘What about...you know?’

Although the body of Lucas had completely dematerialised
along with the professor, there was still the problem of Sammy and Mike’s
corpses in the laboratory. The two women had been caught up in such a sandstorm
of passion that they failed to report that there had been further killings.

‘We’ll worry about that when we need to. First we have to
find that cure.’

As they were putting on their clothes they heard a noise
from outside. It was too loud to be from an automobile. It was the sound of a
helicopter - a method of transport particularly favoured by the military. Once
dressed, they went out to the courtyard where their fears were confirmed by the
sight of a large military helicopter in the process of landing. Two soldiers
leapt out of the transport before the blades even stopped spinning. They both
wore full body radiation suits, but
Emmy
knew they
were soldiers because they carried large assault rifles, which were being aimed
directly at her and Lucy.

‘It’s okay,’ she called out, whilst raising her arms in the
air. ‘This place is now secure.’

‘Get on the floor,’ one of the soldiers shouted.

‘Excuse me,’ she replied, taking a step forward.

‘Ma’am, get on the floor now or I will have no choice but to
use force.’

She did not dare call his bluff and nor did Lucy. They both
obliged and lay face down on the pavement with their arms spread out in front
of them.
Emmy
heard more footsteps, but was unable to
determine how many as she could not get a clear look without raising herself up
a little and risking the soldier’s ire.

After lying in fear for what seemed like an eternity, she
was finally ordered back to her feet. She was then roughly grabbed by a soldier
who handcuffed her hands behind her back.

‘Ouch!’

The soldier extracted the blood from her arm without permission
or warning. His comrade did the same to Lucy and they both quickly analysed
their stolen specimens on small portable devices that
Emmy
was not familiar with.

‘Clear,’ shouted the first soldier.

‘Clear,’ shouted the second soldier.

They waited and then after two more soldiers had come out of
the observatory and waved what
Emmy
presumed to be
another “clear” message, the girls were roughly spun around to face the
helicopter once more.

An older, larger man had now exited the craft. He was
dressed in military uniform and had stars on his shoulders. He did not bother
with a radiation suit and the soldiers holding the women soon removed their
masks.
Emmy
thought it likely that the psychic
radiation would not show up on a standard Geiger counter and that they had
taken the clear blood samples to mean that the site was safe. Such bad planning
and lack of foresight did not bode well.

The general briefly conferred with one of his subordinates
before approaching the two prisoners.

‘You are Dr. Rayne, I presume?’

She nodded. He did not even acknowledge Lucy.

‘I have been informed by one of my men that there are three
bodies inside. Two of them are American Servicemen and the other an unknown
Aboriginal male. Would you care to comment?’

She said nothing.

‘Very well.
You are not obliged to
co-operate willingly, but you will co-operate.’ He then turned to two of his
men. ‘Take them inside. Before we start the interrogations, I want to find out
exactly what we are dealing with here. Once they are secure, I want you to make
contact with units two and three then report back to me directly.’

The two soldiers offered the general a comically obedient
salute and then dragged the women back inside the building where they were
placed in separate rooms.
Emmy
had suspected this day
would come, ever since her grandfather involved the military. She held little
hope the outcome would be anything less than catastrophic.

***

Storm clouds gathered in the skies above Jackson’s Hill
and by late afternoon it was beginning to get dark. The tarpaulin kept Jimmy
hidden from view, but he knew it would only be a matter of time before he was
found. He watched on in horror as people he had known his entire life were
dragged from their homes and herded into the military trucks like cattle. Once
full, these vehicles left the town to a destination he could only guess at. A
small number of soldiers remained behind to patrol the streets.

As with the circumstances leading him to the temporary
safety of the tarpaulin, Jimmy was blessed with another ghostly echo to guide
him to safety. He waited until the coast was clear and then followed the vision
through the alleyways of the town’s suburbs until he came to
Armareth’s
garage. There were rumours spreading about
Davo
during the previous few days and some people went as
far as linking him to the Coppersmith killings. None of this seemed relevant
anymore. For all Jimmy knew, the entire population of Jackson’s Hill was being
taken away to be shot.

He found the garage unlocked and entered without caution.
Sets of keys hung from a rack on the wall. Jimmy grabbed the first set that he
saw and tried them in the ignition of a bike resting on the side. The engine
instantly came to life. His vision had now dissipated, but it mattered not, as
there was only one road for him to take and that was the road out of town.

It made no difference that he had never ridden a motorbike
before. As soon as he placed his hands on the handlebars he knew exactly how to
operate the vehicle. With his enhanced abilities he could learn quickly. He
made it onto the highway without being followed and the road ahead was clear.
Clear that is, until he reached the roadblock and by then there was no turning
back.

***

Emmy
sat curled up in the
corner of the room, waiting. She did not want to risk
laying
on the bed for fear of falling asleep and losing track of time. Not that there
was actually much chance of her resting anyway. If the Americans knew about the
possibilities her machine opened up they would surely use it for evil. Not just
for spying, but they could theoretically replace heads of governments with
pawns of their choosing. Whatever happened, she had to stop the machine falling
into their hands.

The general finally came for her flanked by two bodyguards.
They were both now bereft of their radiation suits. She did not say anything,
waiting instead for them to instigate the interrogation.

‘Dr Rayne,’ the general began. ‘I think you know why I am
here. I received a call from Lieutenant
Schwartzmann
advising me of what happened to your grandfather. He was also concerned that
Captain Peters had somehow become compromised. I asked him to attach
surveillance devices to the phones. When I listened in on your call to Lucas
stating that the lieutenant was dead, I had no choice but to send in a team to
investigate. Then when I heard about this mania infecting the town, it raised
the stakes considerably. The entire area has been placed under quarantine until
we know what we are dealing with.’

She looked up at him, shaking her head.

‘If you know about the radiation, why aren’t you wearing
those fancy suits of yours? Are you not afraid that you will become infected?’

‘Our intelligence tells us that this facility has no
reported cases of infection. This has been confirmed by a blood analysis of you
and your friend; Miss Skye.’

Emmy
could not believe the man’s
arrogance, his stupidity. She was not only a prisoner surrounded by a platoon
of soldiers, but any one of those soldiers could lose their mind at any moment.
Her situation was not improving.

‘So what is your plan?’ she asked.

‘I want to see if this mess you have created has been worth
the cost. You are going to show me exactly what this facility is capable of.’

She did not bother to ask any more questions. Her every word
and move would likely be analysed and she did not want to give her plans away.
The moment they put her into the matchbox, she planned on revisiting her powers
from the night of the fire, but this time making sure to cause an overload that
would destroy the observatory and her machine with it.

More guards were waiting by either side of the laboratory
door, with another four standing sentinel inside. All were armed with
semi-automatic weapons. They were certainly taking no chances. She expected
Charlie to be there; under duress, but the only lab coats she could see
belonged to the military.

‘Do your men know what they are doing?’ she asked. ‘I want
to know that I am in capable hands before subjecting myself to your control.’

‘I’m sure that under your guidance they will do fine,’ replied
the general.

‘That’s not good enough. You see, once I start the
projection I will no longer be able to communicate with anybody on this side.
You will be able to follow my progress to some extent, but communication is
impossible.’

‘That won’t be a problem. You will be able to give them full
instruction. You’re much too valuable to use as a test subject – for the time
being.’

‘So who will...?’

She realised what the general was planning. She took a deep
breath and tried not to let her anxiety show. If she handled this situation
correctly, she could turn it to her advantage. There was no guarantee that Lucy
was completely safe from the radiation and putting her through an astral
projection was the only way to be certain of her immunity.

‘I will do this for you, but I could use a little help. I
take it that you are holding Dr Nguyen. He is free from the radiation like Lucy
and I. It would make things a lot easier if he were here.’

‘I am afraid that is not possible. Dr Nguyen is otherwise
engaged. He is helping us with our enquiries. A team is interviewing him as we
speak.’

A shiver went up
Emmy’s
spine. She
knew full well that interview was likely meant as a euphemism for torture. Her
fear for her friend was compounded by an even greater concern that he would
talk. These soldiers knew about the radiation (to an extent), but what if they
also found out about the ghosts?

‘As soon as this is over, I want to see Charlie. He and I
may be able to help with the radiation problem.’

‘I think that you have helped enough in that respect. Now
show me what you can do.’

The general signalled for his guards to take her to the
control station whilst Lucy was ignobly stripped to the waist and hooked up to
the life support monitors before being ordered to lie on the slab.

‘What do I do?’ Lucy called out, anxiously.

‘Just relax,’ replied
Emmy
.
‘Whatever happens, just stay calm and concentrate on your
breathing.
The most likely outcome is that nothing will happen. These idiots do not
understand the discipline it takes to operate this equipment.’

She set the machine to its lowest power setting and slowly
brought Lucy out of her body by no more than a foot. The general shuffled
impatiently beside her.