Read Online The Creeping Kelp by William Meikle, Wayne Miller - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: William Meikle, Wayne Miller
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immediately that he was somewhere in the depths of the fort—nowhere else he’d ever been had that distinctive paint job on the walls.
“This place has become the centre of operations for the outbreak . That’s what they’re calling it, for want of a better term. The whole upstairs is crawling with soldiers, but they gave me a quiet room down here to set up a temporary lab and I had some stuff brought over.”
She looked Noble in the eye and obviously saw something she didn’t like.
“You shouldn’t be on your feet.”
She made to turn him back to the room and the bed, but he stood his ground.
“No. I’ve been lying down long enough. And it sounds like you think you’re on to something. Show me.”
They walked through empty corridors, the only sound, Noble’s increasingly heavy breathing. By the time they reached the office where Suzie had her makeshift lab set up, he was leaning heavily on her shoulder and the cold sweat was back.
He slumped into a chair beside her laptop.
“I told you to stay in bed,” she said. The concerned look was back, but he waved her away.
“I’ll be fine after a coffee... you do have coffee, don’t you?”
She moved to a trestle and showed him a glass jar perched on a Bunsen burner.
“It’ll be a lab special... and instant.”
“It’ll do,” he said, but his gaze had already been caught by a taller jar on the edge of the trestle. It was nearly a foot tall, solidly sealed at the top... and completely full of thrashing, wriggling kelp.
“Did you get a new sample?” he asked.
She saw where he was looking.
“Nope. This is the one that you collected.”
I only collected a fraction of this thing.
“What have you been feeding it... rats?”
She came over and handed him a steaming mug of coffee. He took to it like a drowning man to a life belt.
“Not rats... plastic.”
As he drank and let the warmth creep through him, she told him about what else had been found in Lyme Regis, about the total lack of plastic anywhere the kelp had passed and of eye-witness accounts of Perspex sheets being carried away over the horizon. Something stirred in the back of Noble’s mind, something he should be remembering, but it wouldn’t come—the memory was too raw, too tender to yet be touched. And he was too tired to attempt to bring it forward. Instead, he reminded Suzie why they had come to the lab.
“You said it showed something more than instinct?”
She nodded.
“I was re-reading Ballantine’s journal, about when they were shouting at the lab specimen.”
Noble laughed softly.
“You’ve been shouting at it?”
Suzie blushed.
“Just a little,” she said. She went over to the specimen jar to cover her embarrassment. As she walked, the kelp seemed to track her movement, sidling across inside the jar.
“It knows you,” Noble whispered.
Suzie nodded.
“And watch this.”
She walked up to the jar, so close her nose touched the glass.
“Be careful,” Noble shouted.
She took no heed. She shouted at the kelp.
“Down, boy.”
It retreated across the jar, pressing against the far side from her and didn’t move until she stood away.
“That’s all we need,” Noble said sarcastically. “A new household pet.”
“I haven’t tried being nice to it yet,” Suzie said. She was still blushing. “It didn’t feel right.”
The thought was so incongruous, Noble couldn’t help but laugh again. Suzie looked at him as if he were mad.
I might well be.
He went back to the coffee. He finished the cup and put it down on the desk beside him. At the same moment, the kelp inside the jar went into a frenzy of thrashing, so violent that the jar started to walk across the table.
Suzie stood back, a hand at her mouth.
“It wasn’t me,” she said. “I think something’s happening.”
A second later, an alarm went off and an accompanying blast of gunfire echoed around Nothe Fort.
July 22nd/23rd - Weymouth
----
Derek Gelwyn revved his souped-up Escort,
“This place has become the centre of operations for the outbreak . That’s what they’re calling it, for want of a better term. The whole upstairs is crawling with soldiers, but they gave me a quiet room down here to set up a temporary lab and I had some stuff brought over.”
She looked Noble in the eye and obviously saw something she didn’t like.
“You shouldn’t be on your feet.”
She made to turn him back to the room and the bed, but he stood his ground.
“No. I’ve been lying down long enough. And it sounds like you think you’re on to something. Show me.”
They walked through empty corridors, the only sound, Noble’s increasingly heavy breathing. By the time they reached the office where Suzie had her makeshift lab set up, he was leaning heavily on her shoulder and the cold sweat was back.
He slumped into a chair beside her laptop.
“I told you to stay in bed,” she said. The concerned look was back, but he waved her away.
“I’ll be fine after a coffee... you do have coffee, don’t you?”
She moved to a trestle and showed him a glass jar perched on a Bunsen burner.
“It’ll be a lab special... and instant.”
“It’ll do,” he said, but his gaze had already been caught by a taller jar on the edge of the trestle. It was nearly a foot tall, solidly sealed at the top... and completely full of thrashing, wriggling kelp.
“Did you get a new sample?” he asked.
She saw where he was looking.
“Nope. This is the one that you collected.”
I only collected a fraction of this thing.
“What have you been feeding it... rats?”
She came over and handed him a steaming mug of coffee. He took to it like a drowning man to a life belt.
“Not rats... plastic.”
As he drank and let the warmth creep through him, she told him about what else had been found in Lyme Regis, about the total lack of plastic anywhere the kelp had passed and of eye-witness accounts of Perspex sheets being carried away over the horizon. Something stirred in the back of Noble’s mind, something he should be remembering, but it wouldn’t come—the memory was too raw, too tender to yet be touched. And he was too tired to attempt to bring it forward. Instead, he reminded Suzie why they had come to the lab.
“You said it showed something more than instinct?”
She nodded.
“I was re-reading Ballantine’s journal, about when they were shouting at the lab specimen.”
Noble laughed softly.
“You’ve been shouting at it?”
Suzie blushed.
“Just a little,” she said. She went over to the specimen jar to cover her embarrassment. As she walked, the kelp seemed to track her movement, sidling across inside the jar.
“It knows you,” Noble whispered.
Suzie nodded.
“And watch this.”
She walked up to the jar, so close her nose touched the glass.
“Be careful,” Noble shouted.
She took no heed. She shouted at the kelp.
“Down, boy.”
It retreated across the jar, pressing against the far side from her and didn’t move until she stood away.
“That’s all we need,” Noble said sarcastically. “A new household pet.”
“I haven’t tried being nice to it yet,” Suzie said. She was still blushing. “It didn’t feel right.”
The thought was so incongruous, Noble couldn’t help but laugh again. Suzie looked at him as if he were mad.
I might well be.
He went back to the coffee. He finished the cup and put it down on the desk beside him. At the same moment, the kelp inside the jar went into a frenzy of thrashing, so violent that the jar started to walk across the table.
Suzie stood back, a hand at her mouth.
“It wasn’t me,” she said. “I think something’s happening.”
A second later, an alarm went off and an accompanying blast of gunfire echoed around Nothe Fort.
July 22nd/23rd - Weymouth
----
Derek Gelwyn revved his souped-up Escort,
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