Part 10 (2/2)
”What about the Chimera Project?” asked Fatboy, and there was a sudden silence.
Tane winced. They had to be subtle, he thought. Fatboy was as subtle as a bull in a china shop.
”What is the Chimera Project?” Vicky asked after a while.
”We were rather hoping you could tell us,” Rebecca said.
Vicky thought for a minute, then shook her head. ”Never heard of it. It could have something to do with genetics, though. A chimera is what we create if we splice together genes from two different organisms. The University of California created a 'geep' a few years ago, part goat, part sheep, but there was a lot of hoo-ha about that, and you don't hear about that sort of thing very much anymore.”
Tane looked carefully at her. Was she telling the truth? If there was no Chimera Project, then maybe they could just get back to Auckland, cancel the order for the submarine, and get on with spending the six million dollars. That sounded like a good plan. However, he couldn't get three small letters out of his mind: S, O, S, O, and and S. S.
Rebecca said, ”What if you were to genetically splice together two, or more, different cold viruses? To help find your conserved antigen. What if you did that?”
Vicky laughed, a little too quickly this time. ”A chimera rhinovirus. I'm afraid that's just science fiction, young lady.”
The trip back was silent. Even the pilot sensed the mood and cut his usual cheery chatter. It wasn't until they were almost about to land that Rebecca said what they were all thinking.
”Professor Green was lying through her back teeth.”
WATER W WORKS
WTRWKSBTMP1000:2.80,24,341,55,500. 80,24,342,54,499,1.80,24
Rebecca's software, trawling through weeks of gamma-ray bursts, had found the next pattern, but this one made no sense at all. of gamma-ray bursts, had found the next pattern, but this one made no sense at all.
All three of them stared at the characters dotted across the computer screen, trying to see order in the chaos. The early Sat.u.r.day sun cast long streaks of light across the carpets of the lounge of the West Harbor house but did nothing to illuminate the puzzle.
”So you've checked earlier messages too?” Fatboy asked.
”Weeks of them,” Rebecca replied. ”The messages start on the day we visited Dr. Barnes.”
”As if they knew you would visit him that day.”
”Exactly. That can't be just a coincidence.”
”I still don't understand where we're going to get this time transmitter from.” Fatboy frowned.
”Me neither,” Rebecca said with a smile. ”I'd invent one, if I had the slightest idea of where or how to start.”
”SOS means an emergency,” said Tane, whose mind was somewhere else entirely. ”It means 'help, save us,' but from what?”
”Water Works,” said Rebecca, looking at the printout. ”Like on Monopoly. You know, the Electric Company and the Water Works.”
The other two looked at her and she shrugged. ”Still doesn't make much sense, though, does it.”
”Maybe it's a plague,” Tane said. ”Maybe Dr. Green is going to accidentally create some horrible disease and wipe out half of mankind!”
Fatboy asked, ”What if we just went and saw her again? Maybe she'd listen to us if we told her about the message.”
”Maybe she'd deny everything again and have us arrested,” Tane said.
”What are you up to?” It was Rebecca's mother, drifting through the room. They hadn't heard her come in.
”Runescape,” Tane lied quickly.
”What's that?” she asked vaguely.
”It's an online game where you get to be a kind of a character, called an...” He trailed off as she drifted out of the room, not listening to his answer. Tane stared at the computer screen, careful not to look at Rebecca.
”I think we have to involve the authorities,” Fatboy said. ”If it is the end of the world that we are talking about, then that's too big a problem for the three of us to deal with.”
”You're right,” Rebecca agreed. ”But first we have to prove it. So far it's all just guesswork, and as Tane says, maybe we have misunderstood the message.”
”And what if we tell the authorities, and they don't believe us, and they alert Vicky, and we lose our chance to do something about it?” Tane said. ”Then the end of the world will be our fault!”
”Maybe that's why the message said, 'Don't tell anyone,'” Fatboy considered.
Rebecca said, ”We need to know more about the project. I mean, what's it about? What are they really trying to do? I think we need to go back to the island.”
Fatboy shook his head. ”She's not going to admit anything.”
”I know,” Rebecca agreed. ”That's why we have to go when she's not around. When n.o.body's around.”
”Ooooh kaaay...” Tane drew out the words.
Rebecca continued, ”We get in there at night when n.o.body is working, and go through her files. Find out what she's up to, then figure out what to do about it.”
”That sounds pretty reasonable,” Tane said, ”but what about her security? The barbed-wire fences and alarms.”
”Worry about that next,” Rebecca said. ”Are we agreed on the basic idea?”
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