The Gastropoda Imperative, Peter Barns [story books to read txt] 📗

island where it had all started, thinking hard. The aliens were dead at last, he had killed them all. But instead of exhilaration, he felt somehow empty.

Piers had sat in the tree, watching as the aliens came out of the ground, worried that the twenty chickens he’d left wouldn’t be enough. And he’d been right to worry, because it was only the fact that the aliens left alive had gone on to eat the dead ones, that had made his plan a success.

But on the island, perhaps not?

Piers feared that the aliens on the island were still alive.

“I need a boat.”

The voice caught Piers off guard and he jumped. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw a man standing behind him. The man’s face was hidden by a long shadow but the moonlight glinted off his bald head. Piers stood up and faced him. The man glanced down at Piers’ legs when the tin cans rattled. He said nothing, just stood quietly, waiting. There was something about the man - a hidden strength and confidence that caused Piers to smile.

The man smiled back, raising his eyebrows in an unasked question, then nodded towards the island.

“You want to go to the island?”

“Yes, I do.”

“The aliens might still be there.”

“I know.”

Piers frowned. The man hadn’t questioned or laughed at his statement. “You’ll need a metal boat if you want to go to Flat Rock Island.”

The man shrugged and raised his eyebrows again.

“I’ll take you,” Piers said, surprised by his own unexpected impetuousness.

The man held out his hand. “I’m Conal,” he said.

Piers shook the man’s hand and turned away. “There’s a metal boat farther down the quay, “he said. “I know where they keep the key.”

The man followed him, his footsteps light and sure.

***

Conal listened in fascination as Piers talked about the aliens. It never ceased to amaze him how people twisted facts to fit their own understanding of the world and what was taking place around them. The man obviously had some mental problems, which might account for the way he’d worked out his own theory of Flat Rock Island’s legacy. He seemed convinced that it was some government facility that was in contact with an alien civilisation. According to him, the aliens had killed all the scientists on the island and escaped onto the mainland, where they had killed his mother and various other people.

As the small craft bounced its way over the waves, Conal tried to push the shock of learning that the Syclers might have somehow reached the mainland from his mind - something he didn’t doubt must have taking place, after listening to Piers’ description of the creatures he’d poisoned.

But Conal had enough on his plate at the moment, looking for the girl, Lyra Harrison. She was the one who held the answer as to who had tried accessing the computer file, and maybe, with a bit of luck, what was in it.

Conal had turned up at Sea View Holdings an hour ago, being received by Mrs Harrison and her sister with a certain amount of suspicion. Not that he blamed them for that, when a stranger turned up on their doorstep at eleven o’clock at night asking about their computer and what they knew about a hacked file.

His Tirolean Enterprises security identity card seemed to ease the tension a little, and when he made it plain that he was only trying to find out who had accessed the file so they wouldn’t get themselves into trouble with the police, he was invited in.

“I’m here unofficially at the moment,” he said, spotting the worry in the younger woman’s eyes. “Just to find out what happened, so that Mr Drewsbeck doesn’t feel he has to take this to the police. I’m sure there must be a simple explanation as to what went on.”

“Will you excuse me for a moment,” the older woman said, disappearing through the lounge door. She was back in a few minutes, a serious look on her face. Sitting down on the arm of the younger woman’s chair, she took her hand. “Yes,” she said, “it’s as I thought. Lyra must have found Lexi’s trunk in the cupboard. There was one of those thingamajigs you stick into the front of the computer and keep pictures on. I found it in the bedside cabinet after she died and put it in with her clothes for safe keeping, just in case any of her family showed up. It’s gone now. I do hope Lyra’s done nothing silly.”

When Conal heard the name Lexi, his interest sharpened. Lexi Mills had been the Invertebrate Zoologist at the project. The scientist who had dreamed up the whole proposition in the first place. Interesting.

“So I’m guessing that Lexi lodged here with you while she was working over on the island?” Conal said.

“Yes. The whole three years. She was such a lovely young girl. Always so full of energy. Such a shame she died in an accident the way she did.”

“Look, I know this is a real imposition,” Conal said, “and don’t feel that you have to say yes, if you’re in any way concerned. But is it possible for me to have a quick look at your computer? You can watch what I do. I just want to check and make sure that I’m in the right place.”

The two women looked at each other and the younger one shrugged.

Conal was ushered upstairs to a low ceilinged bedroom decorated in bright yellow. Ducking, to avoid hitting his head on the coombed ceiling he walked over to where an old PC tower sat on the floor beside a small desk.

After checking that it was okay with the two women, Conal sat down and switched the computer on, waiting impatiently while the hard drive wound itself up to working speed. Once the familiar green desktop screen flickered into life, it didn’t take him long to access the Window’s log files and discover that this was indeed the computer that had been used to try to access the file.

Shutting the computer down, he swung around in the office chair and nodded. “Yes, there’s no doubt that this was the computer used. So I’m guessing that Lyra must have found the pen drive as you said, and tried to read what was on it.”

The younger woman’s hand shot to her mouth, her forehead creasing into a worried frown. “Has she done something illegal? Oh I do hope she hasn’t got herself into any sort of trouble with the police. She can be such an impetuous girl at times.”

“No Mrs Harrison, don’t worry. Your daughter is not in trouble at the moment. In fact she might have done me a big favour. Do you know where she is? I really need to talk to her about this right away.”

Relaxing somewhat, Mrs Harrison let out the breath she’d been holding. It was obvious to Conal, that since his appearance, the poor woman had been worrying herself sick that her daughter had been doing something that might lead to a court appearance.

“She’s spending the night at a friends house. I’ll ring them and you can speak to her,” she said.

They all trooped back downstairs to the lounge, and while Conal sat drinking a lukewarm cup of coffee, Mrs Harrison went to phone her daughter. She reappeared with a frown on her face.

“She’s not there at the moment but I talked to Willow - she’s the daughter of the woman whose house Lyra is staying at? She said that Lyra had gone over to the island for a beach party with Troy, but shouldn’t be too long now.” Mrs Harrison smiled, raising her eyebrows and rolling her eyes. “I think Lyra and him are seeing each other at the moment.”

“So why the puzzled look when you first came in Macey?” her sister asked.

“Oh nothing. I suppose I’m just being a bit silly. It’s just that Willow and her mother sound exactly like each other.”

Conal nodded and stood up. “Has Lyra got a mobile on her?”

“Oh of course. How silly of me.” Walking to a chair by the door, she picked up her handbag and rummaged around inside. Taking out an old shell type mobile, she flicked it open and dialled a number. Smiling across at Conal, she held the phone to her ear. Her smile faded to a frown. She closed the mobile. “Sorry, the number is unobtainable at the moment.”

“Yes,” Conal,” said. “If they’re on the island, it’s quite possible that they won’t be picking up a signal there. Look, I’ve taken up enough of your time already, Mrs Harrison. Why don’t you tell me where I can find Willow and I’ll go and wait for Lyra there.”

Conal’s visit to Willow Palmer’s house had soon confirmed his suspicion that Mrs Harrison hadn’t been talking to Willow’s mother at all when she’d called the first time. Willow was obviously covering for her friend.

Lyra and Troy were off at a party on Flat Rock Island, which was the last thing Conal wanted to hear. From the little Conal knew about the Syclers that had escaped to the mainland, there was no doubt that they presented a real danger, but there was nothing he could do about that right now, it would have to wait until morning when he could get through to the Old Man in Japan. Anyway, from what Piers had said, they were hopefully all poisoned and dead by now. The ones on the island were probably dead too - having run out of food years ago.

Conal watched the island growing in size as it got nearer, not knowing why he was driving himself to find the girl the way he was. He had no explanation, other than the cold spot that had now permanently settled itself on the back of his neck.

***

As Piers steered the boat across the choppy sea, he hummed to himself, feeling happy for the first time in years. Not only had he killed all the aliens and avenged his mother, he’d also met someone who believed in their existence. Even if the man did insist that the Syclers - as he called them - had been bred by scientists on the island and were not aliens, at least he believed Piers had seen them.

Piers smiled to himself, thinking about their destination. It was obvious to anyone what had been happening on Flat Rock Island. The aliens hadn’t been bred there - as Conal believed - nothing was further from the truth. Piers had read the book and seen the film. Nobody could mistake the concrete pad with its big lights spread around the perimeter as anything other than the landing strip featured in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Flat Rock Island and Devil’s Tower were one and the same.

The aliens had landed and somehow managed to escape on to the mainland. After that the government had panicked and killed the ones on the island, along with the scientists. It was obvious.

Piers had tried to warn people about the danger they were in, but nobody had listened. They all thought he was mad, especially Troy and his friends. Well never mind that, he’d be able to show them all now. He’d have the last laugh.

Piers’ thoughts drifted to the last time he had visited Flat Rock Island, five years ago. Perhaps he should tell Conal what he’d seen in the labs that night. It might change the man’s mind about where the aliens came from.

No, Piers wasn’t convinced that he could trust the man that far yet. He’d learnt the hard way how people suddenly turned on you for no apparent reason. He’d keep it to himself for now and see what happened.

Conal turned to look back at him and Piers saw the big smile on the man’s face. Piers nodded and smiled back. Somewhere in the darkness above his head, a seagull screeched.

Piers hoped that it wasn’t a bad premonition.

Chapter 26

The odour was overpowering for a Sycler. The creatures had been bred to consume all organic materials - they could even ingest plastics - but the scent of faeces and flesh drove them into a frenzy.

Since their food source had been cut off five years earlier, the Syclers had survived by eating every living creature and plant on the island, including themselves in the end. Their