The Second Wave Read online

  John walked up to her to join her at the window. He didn’t want anyone to overhear what they were talking about next. If he had to do this job to prevent his going to prison, he would, but he would take hold of as many cards as he could.

  “What do you mean by before, woman?” he asked.

  “When I was in the darkness. I only heard and felt then. Now I can see it all and it is beautiful, but it is so very,” for a moment she searched for the right expression, “confusing.”

  She lifted her head to meet his gaze, now that he stood close to her. “I want it to be like before again. I want to go home, John.”

  “And I will get you there, like I said. But we have to stay here for a little while longer.”

  He needed Eugenia to stay on this planet, away from both the police and the Chinese and probably the Turks—Celem’s death might have stirred them enough to look for him, too. When the coast was clear again, he’d get her where she wanted to go. Then he’d leave this place as well.

  * * * *

  Chapter 23: Caught in Amber

  John was home when Peter and Luke returned from their trip to the waterfall. The experiments had taken up nearly the whole day, the sun was beginning to set now.

  Peter flung the useless protection suits on the ground and Luke picked them up instantly with much practised patience, folding them while he followed Peter into the living room, then placed them on the sofa’s armrest. John sat in the recliner and watched the scientists’ return.

  Peter was ecstatic. “Unbelievable, John! Quite, quite extraordinary!” He gesticulated excitedly, walking in circles first around the sofa, then around the chair John was sitting in. John didn’t reply, he merely watched in amusement. Peter needed no prompting, though. “I never would have believed it myself, were it not for the R.U.T.E. Historian Society. Which reminds me to speak to our librarian right away.” He stopped in his tracks to whirl around and addressed Luke, who still stood in the middle of the room like a nervous first grader waiting for the school bus, “Luke, my boy, where is the library?”

  “Next to the school.”

  “Of course it is. And where exactly is the school?”

  Luke gave him a detailed description and Peter dashed off, leaving his former assistant and his house mate alone. He came back after a minute, though, to fetch the suitcase with the equipment and readings.

  Luke Reyes didn’t like John. So much was obvious from his behavior around him, John gathered. He didn’t know what Peter had told him, but he sincerely doubted the professor was capable of bad mouthing anyone, so it probably wasn’t an abundance of information that made the botanist feel uneasy around John. It wasn’t until he saw the two of them interact just now that he realized what was going on. It almost made him laugh. When Peter disappeared for the second time, he raised an eyebrow at Luke. “R.U.T.E. Historian Society sounds like a club I don’t want to be a member of.”

  “It stands for random unrelated time events,” Luke explained stiffly. “We think we found one at the waterfall. It’s what made the children age.”

  An awkward silence followed. Finally Luke cleared his throat, “Well. I should be going. The protection suits need to get checked back in.”

  “You were Peter’s assistant before you two came here, isn’t that right?” John asked casually enough.

  Dr. Reyes picked up the suits. “I wanted to work at the research centre in Ryde, but at the time I applied they weren’t hiring botanists. All they had open was a position as Dr. Wagner’s assistant, so I took the opportunity.”

  “And did you fall in love with him right away?”

  The suits almost fell to the floor again, but Luke gathered his senses quickly. He straightened his back.

  “I don’t like you,” he huffed in annoyance instead of answering the question.

  “We’re not together,” John told him.

  The tension in the room dissolved instantly.

  “Oh,” said Luke after a heartbeat. “Peter didn’t mention…” His voice trailed off. He wasn’t sure what Peter had or hadn’t mentioned.

  “He wouldn’t, would he?” mused John. A remark that made Luke’s face lighten up ever so faintly.

  “No. No, he wouldn’t.”

  “Go now. And good luck with that.”

  Luke, more confused now than annoyed, all but fled.

  * * * *

  Two stone throws away from the stables was the forest, which stretched out until the mountains began in the North. The dusking sun now painted its treetops a glowing orange and basked the mountains in warm light.

  The workmen were using the last sunrays to finish up their tasks. There were only very few exterior lights they were able to use after sunset, but inside the forest it was more or less fruitless anyway. They barely saw in broad daylight, and the electrical torches they had on them merely cast a dim, yellow light. When the last works and repairs at the village were finished, Simon Jones went on to start building the next colony on the other side of the mountains. He decided they’d need all the trees that needed to be chopped down to make room for another village anyway for firewood and as building material. It was a logical decision to use the created space around the foot of the range as a building site. His plan was to blow a passageway through one of the mountains to the sea at the other side. This way they could set up fishery science and aquaculture.

  Fifteen men worked in the forest each day—hewing trees, cutting away shrubberies, and clearing the glade of undergrowth. The trees were then chopped up and dragged back to the village by horse carts, where they were distributed to the households to be used as firewood.

  They were nearly one mile into the woods by now. Foreman Ueno took a look at his watch. It was time. He up his hand and gave a loud whistle; the sign that they were done for today.

  “Pack it in, lads,” he shouted. “See you all tomorrow morning. And Erik!”

  From among the group of people gathering their things, a man looked up, “Yes, foreman?”

  “Don’t forget your tools again.”

  “No sir, I won’t.” The last time he forgot, he had to go back into the woods in the dead of night. It was freezing cold, and he roamed the spot for almost an hour before he finally found the utensils under the detritus of some chopped up timber.

  Erik took out his flashlight, charged the dynamo, and made his way back to where he knew he had left both the chainsaw and an axe. But first he needed to take a leak somewhere discreet.

  The forest was large, larger than they could assume. They had no pictures of the area from above; they made their discoveries of the land as they went along. The trees at the edge of the forest were younger, smaller, but the deeper they delved the more ancient the flora became. Huge, thick-boled trees stretched far into the sky, crowns interwoven with one another, effectively creating a lightproof roof. The ground was covered in mosses, fungi and debris—and they were the first human beings to step on it.

  Foreman Ueno shook off the philosophical mood that overcame him when he, once again awestruck, paused in packing his belongings together to gaze at the forest around him. He tied the saddlebag of the horse he used today close, when Erik came rushing towards him, shouting his name.

  “What is it, Erik?” he asked. Ueno was tired. He wanted to go home, have dinner and lie down.

  “Come and see, foreman! And radio Mr. Jones—he is going to want to know about this!”

  “What is it, Erik?” he asked again, this time with an impatient edge in his voice. But Erik couldn’t tell; he wasn’t sure what he had found, he only knew he had never seen anything like it before.

  “Well, shiver me timbers!” Ueno exclaimed once Erik had finally succeeded in dragging the man to the location in question.

  Between dried up leaves and moss lay the carcass of an enormous beast. It was perhaps seven feet long, the shoulder height an estimated five feet. The skin was covered in short, stubbly fur that was smeared with blood, dirt, and intestines. It had a relatively small head, compared t
o the rest of its body, but a long snout and huge, sharp teeth. It was missing one of four soft paws; obviously something had ripped it from the dead body. It was impossible to tell what it was exactly, the decay process was too advanced to recognize anything familiar. But it was quite undoubtedly not a cow, neither was it a horse—the only big animals the settlers had brought with them from Earth.

  * * * *

  “We have no idea what causes the time events.”

  Selena Moralez, the librarian, agreed to speak at the agora later that evening, after Peter had explained to her in great detail what they had encountered in the cave. The agora was no more than a circle of stone benches in the centre of the colony, arranged around a fire column. No roof or canopy obstructed the view of yet another starlit sky.

  Most people came to the meetings that were held every other night. To keep tabs on everything, to stay in touch, and to discuss important decisions with their mayor. Rochester was the man in charge, but he believed that governing anything, be it a school or a colony, could only be successfully accomplished, if people worked together in an environment of mutual respect and trust. Together they decided to stay on Alternearth despite what had happened to the children; for the sake of the people on Earth who needed a new home sooner rather than later.

  Together they now listened to Selena Moralez’s explanation. She stood next to the column in the middle of the small place, turning here and there to see the faces of her listeners.

  “Some people developed theories,” she continued. “But they were always far out and the society usually doesn’t support them. We know what they are, but we don’t have a clue as to what causes them.”

  “You said those time events are still in existence on Earth today?” asked a man.

  “Indeed.”

  “Do you know of any?”

  “I do,” Selena elaborated. “Not eight years ago, a ship sailed into the harbor in Homer, Alaska. A Japanese whaling ship by the name of Chô Chô Maru. The crew showed signs of disorientation when they landed, especially when they were approached by other people. They wore old-fashioned clothes, spoke in a dialect nobody was fluent in anymore, and when they were asked what year they thought it was, they insisted it was 1432. The Chô Chô Maru indeed disappeared in March 1432, and thorough investigations of both the ship and its crew proved that they were speaking the truth.

  “The matter was hushed up. There is evidence that the sailors were re-socialized, but it is unclear what exactly became of them after that. Rumors say they all committed suicide together, other rumors state that only some felt the need to take such a drastic action, while others began a new life in our century. Whatever happened to them, it must have been a random unrelated time event, because according to the captain of the Chô Chô Maru, the ship was at sea for no more than a month; and yet for the rest of the world, several hundred years had passed by.”

  It was quiet for a long moment after Selena ended her account. Some people, the curious ones, wanted to know more, but since that was leading the assembly off-topic, Selena suggested that those who wished to speak about it were welcome to join her at her house afterwards.

  Rochester, seated next to Summer Paige, leaned towards the doctor and whispered, “Could it be at all possible that what happened to our children is what happened to Miss Gust?”

  Dr. Paige mulled the question over, but discarded the idea quickly. It didn’t make a lot of sense. “If that was the case,” she whispered back, “then Eugenia would essentially still be a three-year-old girl. But she talks and behaves like an adult. No, I don’t think what happened to her has anything to do with this.”

  “Too bad. I faintly hoped we might have a lead at last.” He sighed, giving way to his frustration for a moment, “Any news from her and John?”

  She shook her head. “Sadly no. They talk, but apparently mostly about him.”

  “Do you think this is a good sign?”

  “I think she’s deciding whether she wants to trust him. It could be a good sign.”

  Rochester made a noise as if that information needed some serious pondering. Then, out of the blue, he smiled good-naturedly at her, “You’re jealous of him, aren’t you? You spent all this time nursing her back to health, and she favors him over you.”

  “If I was, I wouldn’t tell you.” She smiled as she told him that, even though the mayor’s observation was spot on.

  Their conversation was cut short, though, when Simon Jones made his way to the mayor and Dr. Paige. He looked slightly out of breath. Pointing first at Rochester than at the doctor, he told them they were needed in the hospital’s lab immediately.

  * * * *

  Chapter 24: Mutation Much

  After a two-minute survey of the carcass in the forest, Ueno had radioed Simon Jones. It took the architect less than ten minutes to get there, a carriage in tow.

  Together they heaved the remains of the animal onto the cart, then carefully wrapped it so that it wouldn’t cause alarm if someone accidentally saw it, and carried it to the hospital. Fortunately, the administrative buildings were immediately next to the North gate of the village, so they didn’t need to drag the carcass through the colony and risk being seen. The last thing they needed were panicky rumors before they even knew what they were dealing with.

  The hospital’s lab was in the East wing, up the stairs and through the vet’s, which proved to be a difficult task, as their burden was heavy and reeked of decay. But they got the body there intact.

  Ueno and Erik heaved it onto the operating table. The stench it emitted made them gag when they uncovered the animal to take a closer look at it in full light.

  “By Jupiter!” mumbled Simon, overwhelmed. “What is this?”

  “Whatever it is,” replied Ueno, “it’s not one of ours.”

  Half an hour later both Summer Paige and Mayor Rochester stared at the carcass in similar surprise.

  “By Jupiter!” Rochester exclaimed.

  “Just what I said, Heath,” Simon uttered.

  “What is this? Where did you find it? But most importantly, what is this?” Rochester demanded to know.

  Simon watched as Paige circled the operating table once, twice. “I have no clue,” he admitted. “Maybe an autopsy will give us some insight. That’s why I asked you here as well, Summer.”

  “It’s incredible,” she muttered, her eyes sparkling at the challenge. “Let me just get my kit. I can get started tonight.”

  “Now?” Rochester gesticulated excitedly. “Don’t you want to sleep on it? Maybe it’s dangerous!”

  “It kind of looks like a wolf,” said Erik to no one in particular. He was still around, although nobody seemed to take any notice of him until he spoke. Mayor Rochester’s eyes flickered over the dead beast. “A rather big wolf, don’t you think?”

  Erik shrugged and pointed out. “Alien planet, right?!”

  Summer Paige clapped her hands. “Out. All of you!” she demanded. “I have an autopsy to perform.”

  Whatever feelings of petty jealousy had dominated her thoughts not twenty minutes ago made way for chipper determination now. She loved a challenge. Even if it consisted of a ripped open, rotting corpse of some unknown beast, covered in dirt, larvae, and the sickly sweet smell of death.

  It took Summer Paige all night to shed some light on the carcass before her. She took blood samples and isolated the DNA. Examined the few internal organs that were still intact. Observed and categorized the various insects she found on and in the carcass. Made x-rays, took out the brain for closer study and weighed what was left of the body.

  She was blood smeared but beaming when Rochester and Simon, accompanied by Captain Eleven, came by early the next morning. Eleven was furious at first because nobody had told her earlier, but Rochester calmed her down considerably before they entered the lab.

  Dr. Paige waited until the others had gathered around the carcass, like medical students around a patient. “First of all, we need an entomologist to study and classify all t
he bugs I found in the corpse; they'll have a field day with this! And then I want a second opinion from Dr. Chang.”

  Xiaobo Chang was the colony’s veterinarian, a bitter, obese man with the sense of humour of a wet cat, but an exceptionally gifted doctor.

  “Essentially the basic DNA structure is canine.” The doctor grinned cheerfully.

  Rochester tried to avoid looking at the cut open corpse on the table, or the blood on Dr. Paige’s hands and lab coat. “It really is a wolf, then?”

  “Not a wolf, no,” clarified Dr. Chang two hours later, after studying Dr. Paige’s results closely.

  Summer had taken off the bloody lab coat, but had neither bothered to eat nor to freshen up—she was too excited to share her findings, or rather her and Dr. Chang’s findings. Rochester and Eleven were now joined by Simon Jones, who was keen to find out whether more of these things were about in the forest.

  Dr. Chang pointed at a chart Summer hung up on one wall. It showed numbers and strains of DNA nobody but he and Summer understood. “What we have here before us is a highly mutated life form. This heap of bones and fangs, ladies and gentlemen, was no doubt a canis lupus familiaris not a few centuries ago.”

  When nobody reacted to that statement satisfactorily, Summer repeated in layman’s terms, “It’s a dog.”

  Simon gave a theatrical sigh. “Mutated Shih Tzus in the forest? Really?”

  Dr. Chang didn’t grace this remark with a reply.

  “We scanned the whole planet before we sent the first wave of settlers!” Eleven hissed. “We didn’t register any wildlife. How is that possible?”

  Summer shrugged. “Maybe they have a natural protection field, or a habitat that’s secluded enough to have evaded the scanners. In any case, I don’t think they’ll bother us much—they’re nocturnal and they seem to live on roots, insects, and small animals mostly.”