Diamond Sky (Diamond Sky Trilogy Book 1) (17 page)

‘Let’s see how you like this,
ya
bastard!’

He floored the gas pedal whilst steering directly towards
the animal. It looked straight at him, but made no attempt to get out of the
way.

This was going to be too easy. His
ute
was fitted with a bull-bar, which was designed to withstand a collision even
with an animal as large as this kangaroo. The odds were now firmly back in the
huntsman’s favour.

Just moments before the coming impact, the beast finally
made its move. It pounced forward, propelling itself directly at the
ute
. Ned knew all too well what kind of damage these animals
could inflict with their feet and the windscreen would offer no greater
resistance than the driver’s side window had. Once more he had fallen into a
trap.

He was already committed to the collision and rather than
try to swerve or escape the vehicle, he held his foot firm on the pedal and
prepared to be reunited with his beloved Jake. As the giant paws of the beast
filled his field of vision, he closed his eyes.

No impact came.

He opened his eyes to an empty highway in front of him. In
his rear view mirror the big red watched him go. Rather than try to jump into
the
ute
, it instead jumped over it. He had heard crazy
stories of kangaroos that could leap three metres high, but never believed it,
let alone think he would ever witness it. Yet this animal had just cleared his
entire vehicle in a single bound.

For the rest of the journey he made sure to keep one eye on
the rear view mirror. The town was in complete darkness when he made it back.
The air was filled with smoke and the acrid scent of burning. Ned did not even
notice.

He parked the
ute
on his lawn,
leaving him with the shortest possible journey to his front door. Once he got
inside of his house, he locked the doors, covered the windows and sat at the
foot of his bed with his spare rifle in his hands. He had no intention of
sleeping.

Chapter 17

Lucas worked non-stop through the night. The fire was
only the beginning of his problems. With there being no power in the town, he
found that he constantly had to assuage the fears of the residents. The
doorbell never stopped ringing, from people with problems ranging from being
worried about their businesses to the more simple matter of distributing
candles to those without. By the time he finally managed to put his head to a
pillow the sun was already
rising
in the East. A
little over an hour later, Val arrived to start her shift.

The secretary placed her handbag down by her desk and then
went into the kitchen to make a brew. Not being one to let something as trivial
as a power cut deter her, she had earlier boiled some water on a gas stove at
home and filled a thermos. She made English tea for herself and black coffee
for her boss. This was the closest thing Lucas had to an actual vice. Whilst Val
placed the drinks on the table to cool, Lucas began to stir.

‘Sleeping in the office again,’ Val said, disapprovingly.
‘You’re beginning to make a habit of it.’

It was only the second time in eighteen months he had done
such a thing. The first time was because a burst pipe flooded his bedroom,
leaving him with no other option.

‘It’s no big deal,’ he told her. ‘I can hear the door better
from here. If I have prevented any casualties from last night’s fire then it
was worth such a small sacrifice.’

‘You should hire yourself a deputy. It would help take some
of the burden off you.’

‘And what would this deputy do the other three hundred and
sixty four days of the year? Last night was a one off – I hope.’

She noticed a hint of trepidation in his voice and manner.
Being able to read people was just one of her many invaluable skills. It often
paid to have her sit in on interviews (Lucas did not like the word
“interrogation”) as she could notice things that would never occur to him.

‘You said
if
you avoided any casualties. Nobody was
hurt, were they?’

Lucas lifted his mug and blew on it to cool the liquid
inside.

‘Do you remember the girl I picked up on Friday; the one
from the city?

Val nodded. She had not said so, but she suspected Lucas had
a soft spot for this out-of-towner. It had been a long time since Lucas had
last been on a date. She thought it was not just his professional life where he
was in need of a partner.

‘Well, she has been staying in Mindy’s spare room. Last
night the entire upper floor of the Fox was gutted. I managed to stop the blaze
from spreading downstairs and after a clean-up the pub should be up and running
as normal.’

‘Was she hurt?’

Lucas shrugged. Another reason he slept on the couch was
because he was waiting up for any news of Lucy’s whereabouts.

‘That’s the thing; she was not inside when the fire started.
Mindy said the girl had been in for a drink earlier and that she saw her
talking to
Emmy
. The phone lines will likely be down
for a while, so I will call by the observatory personally to see if she stayed
there.’

Val was surprised to hear that
Emmy
had been in the bar and also a little curious.

‘You say that Dr Rayne was with her. I haven’t known her to
frequent the pub. Not since...’

‘Last night she made an exception,’ Lucas interrupted. ‘From
what I hear, it did not end too well either.’

The policeman was good friends with the scientist and whilst
he would certainly not label Val alongside some of the town’s more narrow
minded inhabitants, he was still quite protective when the subject of
Emmy’s
personal life came up. He took his mug over to the
sink and added some cold water to hasten its cooling.

‘At least have breakfast first. You have to keep your energy
levels up.’

Lucas shook his head before downing the beverage in one go.

‘I don’t have time; maybe later. Right now, finding the girl
is my number one priority. Karl is arranging for some portable generators to be
brought in until we can get the main grid back up and running. If he calls by,
let me know.’

‘Very well, you may also want to call in on Ned on your way.
I passed his place coming in and his
ute
is in a
terrible state. It looks like it has been driven through a war zone and then
abandoned on his front lawn. It could be joy-riders taking advantage of the
blackout.’

‘Not likely,’ Lucas replied, ‘but I will look into it.’

The policeman put on his hat and went outside to start the
car. As he took his seat he ran a hand over his chin. He had a thick covering
of stubble; the first time he had not shaved in as long as he could remember.
Perhaps Val was right about needing someone to ease the burden. He could at
least use the cover to enable him a vacation. He decided that once the mess
caused by the power cut was sorted, he would look into hiring some help.

***

Emmy
woke up feeling like shit.
A hangover would have been a welcome substitute for the guilt, which was the
real cause of her discomfort. What had she been thinking? She only hoped her
little stunt did not cause too much trouble at the bar. Unfortunately, that
hope was quashed as soon as she made it to the kitchen and found her
grandfather waiting for her.

‘The Gods have woken, I see,’ said the professor.

‘Gods?’ she queried.

‘Well, isn’t that what you think you now are; a God. That is
certainly the impression I got after last night’s little stunt.’

She sat down and rubbed both hands across her face.

‘You know about that?’

The professor nodded. He then waited for her to offer up an
explanation.

‘It was just a joke,’ she said. ‘There are some real pigs in
that town and I thought they needed to be taught a lesson. I’m sure no harm was
done. We checked over all of the equipment before we finished up and it was
working fine.’

The professor shook his head with disappointment.

‘Sometimes I am proud of your single-mindedness. Others
would see it as a selfish quality, but it is one that has served me well over
the years and I think it will serve you well too. Today, however, I am inclined
to agree with the naysayers. Did you really think there would not be
consequences to your actions? You started a fire, which could have destroyed
the entire town. You’re very lucky nobody was hurt.’

Emmy’s
shoulders dropped. She
genuinely had no idea that her actions could have such far reaching
consequences.

‘There was a fire?’ she asked.

‘Like I said, you were lucky nobody was hurt. I spoke with
the fire marshal this morning and I will consult with Lucas later.’

‘But, what
makes
you think it was
me?’

‘Do not take me for a fool, child. I checked the logs. You
took an astral journey into town and for reasons I do not wish to contemplate,
caused an enormous spike of energy centred directly on the towns power
generator.’

She wondered if she had actually committed a crime. Technically,
she had an alibi. She had been at the observatory at the time of the incident
and Charlie could verify that. Morally, however, she was on much shakier
ground. There was no denying that it was her fault.

‘What will you tell Lucas?’

‘Don’t worry, I will not say anything to jeopardise the
work. In fact, there is much to be pleased about. Charlie tells me that you
pushed the equipment to its limits last night. An actual out of body physical
interaction with material objects is no trivial feat. It is nothing short of
incredible. Although, between you and I; it may be in our best interests to
keep this information from our American friends until further analysis has
taken place.’

Emmy
nodded almost unconsciously.
She appeared to have escaped retribution, but until she knew exactly how much
information Charlie had given to her grandfather, she would have to be
cautious. The most important question was whether or not the old man knew about
the ghost. He did not mention it, so she assumed that she was in the clear; for
the time being, at least.

***

Lucas slowly walked around Ned’s beaten up
ute
. The damage was immediately obvious, but the cause was
not. It looked as though a gang had set to it with cricket bats. The glass from
the driver side window was missing and thick indentations covered the bodywork
on all sides. The most telling piece of damage was a foot long, half inch thick
gash along the front left wing, which was smeared with what appeared to be
blood.

He rapped on the front door of the house. The lounge room
curtain peeled back a little and then moments later Ned cautiously opened the
door. At first, the butcher ignored Lucas; choosing instead to look over the
policeman’s shoulder, his eyes darting nervously from side to side.

‘Is everything okay, Ned?’ Lucas asked.

‘Are they here?’ Ned replied.

‘Are who here?’

Ned ignored the question and stepped back inside. He left
the door open for Lucas to follow, but quickly closed and locked it once the
policeman was inside. His behaviour was nothing short of paranoid.

‘They cut the power, you know,’ said Ned. ‘They blacked out
the whole town. It’s
all my
fault. They won’t stop
until they pay me back for what I’ve done.’

The butcher was pacing back and forth in a state of extreme
agitation. Lucas remained standing in the doorway and removed his hat, which he
then held at waist level.

‘I don’t follow. Are you saying there is a connection
between the fire and what happened to your
ute
?’

Ned looked at the policeman like he had spoken in a foreign
tongue. Was Lucas not listening to him?

‘Who said anything about a fire? I’m talking about the
roos
. They’ve gone rabid. I was ambushed by an entire mob
of them last night. They killed Jake, for Christ’s sake!’

The memory of his friend’s demise was too much for Ned. He finally
stopped pacing back and forth and collapsed into an armchair. He was not a man
to display his emotions so carelessly, but as he sat in front of Lucas with his
head in his hands, the butcher began to weep.

‘Kangaroos did that to your ute? How is this connected to
the blackout?’

Ned began shaking his head.

‘Don’t you see; they’re after me? They want revenge. If you
don’t believe me, go to the billabong and see for yourself. Go and see what
they did to Jake.’

‘Let me get this straight; you were attacked by kangaroos at
the billabong?’

Ned was growing inpatient and ever more agitated.

‘Not attacked; ambushed. There is a difference, you know.
These weren’t normal animals. There was something strange about them. It was
like they could look right inside of your soul. I blame those scientists. They
have aliens up at that observatory and they’ve been experimenting on the
animals, making them smart.’

Lucas knew he was not going to get any more useful
information out of Ned once the subject of aliens came up. He thought the idea
of extraterrestrials visiting his town was ridiculous, but there was something
in the man’s story that deeply disturbed him. Ned said the kangaroos were
aggressive, but also smart. He even talked of an ambush, which fit in perfectly
with Lucas’s own experience of the snake from days before. Could whatever was
affecting the reptile have spread to other animals? If so, the implications did
not bear thinking of. There was also a much greater, more immediate threat for
Lucas to worry about.

‘You said the attack was at the billabong. Was anybody else
there or did you pass anyone on your way?’

Ned shook his head, more calmly this time. His tears had
dried too. He seemed to Lucas, to finally be putting his thoughts in order.

‘Just Jake and me.
If anybody else
was out there, all I can suggest is that you pray, and may God have mercy on
their soul. If those monsters find them, they will not stand a chance.’

Lucas had a terrible thought. He rushed back outside to his
car. Once he got on the main road to the observatory, he frantically scanned
the fields on either side for any sign of the girl. It did not take long for
him to find her. He would recognise her blonde locks anywhere. She was lying on
her side with her back to the road in the centre of one of the fields. He was
too far out to tell if she was injured or even breathing, but he had to prepare
for the worst. Standing directly over her body was a six foot tall red
kangaroo.

***

‘How bad is it?’ asked
Emmy
.

‘You completely destroyed the town’s power supply,’ replied
Charlie. ‘Luckily, nobody was hurt. Karl came around this morning and gave us
the news. He wanted to know if we could spare any portable generators. We
could, but not enough for what he needs. Oh, and you also got your wish. The Fox
is currently closed, although the damage is mostly superficial.’

‘We could not have known this would happen,’ she said. ‘I
feel guilty, but sometimes progress is impossible without sacrifice.’

‘Am I talking to you or your grandfather?’

‘It does not matter. You are merely talking to a scientist.
Surely you cannot fail to see the good that will come out of this. When you put
it into context with what we learned last night, it is a small price to pay.’

‘That’s easy for you to say when you are not the one paying
the price. This will cost thousands of dollars to fix, maybe even hundreds of
thousands. Where do you think they will get the money?’

‘I’ll persuade Pops to help them out. He is worth so much
that he could rebuild this town a hundred times over.’