Ultimate Thriller Box Set - Crouch Blake. Страница 11

“What happened?”

“Dad came in, caught it with a blanket, let it outside. He said it must have come in through the window. I didn't open my window again until I was eighteen.”

They shared a small laugh, which felt even better than the smile.

“Well, now you're taking care of the biggest bat in the history of the world,” Andy said.

“Gotta face your fears sometime. Besides, I think Bub's a wee bit too big to get tangled in my hair.”

“You don’t find him terrifying?”

“At first I did. Now I’m more intrigued than scared. Aren't you just a little bit curious about him?”

Andy rubbed his upper lip. “It's hard to be curious when breakfast is coming out of your nose.”

“Just think about it for a second. Every person on earth, no matter what country or culture, has some kind of idea of the devil. But no one has ever seen him before. Don't you want to know more about him?”

“You think he's really Satan?”

“Actually, I find that pretty hard to believe.”

“So what is he? An alien or something?” Andy asked.

“That's hard to believe too. But of the two, I'd buy the alien theory more than the biblical one. His physiology is just too strange.”

“An alien, huh? So is he the kind that flies around with Elliot, or the kind that eats Sigorney Weaver?”

“I don't know yet. He seems friendly.”

“Maybe that’s because he’s locked up. I wonder how friendly he’d be on the other side of the Plexiglas.”

Race entered the Mess Hall with Dr. Harker. They were in mid-conversation and Sun caught the end of it.

“...for what you've done with her. I still can't accept why you're here, but—”

“No thanks needed, General.” A frowning Harker cut him off. “It's my job.”

Just visited Helen, Sun guessed. Both looked grim. Harker retained the look; she probably scowled in her sleep as well.

Race, with the poise of any good leader, quickly hid his feelings with a good ole boy smile. “Good, we're all here. Before we get started with the intros I'd like to announce that the Jacuzzi should be operational again by tomorrow. The same rules apply as with the pool, swimming suits are mandatory. You got that, Frank? We have ladies present.”

Dr. Belgium gave Race a nod without turning his attention from the brewing coffee.

“Good. Now I think all of you have met Andy Dennison by now, except for Julie. So let's start with you.”

Harker had a long, hound-doggish face and a droning voice which left no doubt that she didn't kindly suffer fools. Sun learned after only a few meetings with her that Harker considered everyone a fool.

“I’m Dr. Julie Harker. I came on in 1980 to oversee the medical well-being of the Samhain team, including the dispensing of medication and monthly physicals. I've also been monitoring Bub's vitals since my arrival, and have been attending to the treatment of General Race's wife Helen.”

It didn't surprise Sun that it was the exact same speech she'd given to her a week prior, right down to the nasally inflection.

“Thank you, Julie,” Race said, and Dr. Harker took a seat and removed a nail clipper from the chest pocket of her lab coat. She began to snip away at a hangnail. “How about you, Frank?”

“Hmm? Oh, sure.”

Dr. Frank Belgium touched the fresh cup of coffee to his lips and took a large slurp.

“Frank Belgium, molecular biologist. I'm the gene guy. I've been mapping Bub's genes. Hard, very hard. As you may know, or, well, maybe you don't, it took ten years for the human genome to get sequenced, and we've only got 23 pairs of chromosomes, and less than 25,000 genes. We've isolated 44 pairs of chromosomes in Bub. Hard work. Hard hard hard.”

Belgium took another loud slurp of coffee.

“But he's from earth. I'm sure. Bub has the same twenty amino acids as all life on this planet. Why is this important? Well there are about 80 different types of amino acids, and all can create proteins, but nothing on earth uses those extra sixty. All life—plant, animal, bacteria—uses different combinations of those same twenty, and the reason is because we all evolved from one common ancestor. That's why all living organisms share genes. Everyone in this room, on this planet, shares 99.9 percent of the same DNA. We share 98.4 with chimpanzees, 98.3 with gorillas, all the way on down to blue-green algae.”

Sun glanced at Andy. He was being drawn in by Frank's words, the same way Sun had been upon first hearing them.

“Now,” Belgium continued, “if life started several times, rather than just once, we'd probably find different amino acids in different things on earth. But we don't, we all have the same genetic code, and Bub shares it as well.

“What I'm doing, is mapping sequences in Bub's genome to find out what on earth he shares the most genes with. Very hit or miss when we're not sure where to look. It’s kind of like searching for a single sentence in a single book in the Library of Congress.”

Frank shrugged and drank more coffee.

“What do you believe Bub is, Doctor?” Race asked, glancing at Andy while he spoke.

“I think, well, I guess I think he's a little bit of everything. A mutation. Maybe he's a member of a prehistoric race that became extinct... since he's intelligent it would reason that we've never found fossils of his kind, perhaps they cremated their dead, or buried them at sea. Or maybe he's a genetic experiment. Maybe our own government created him.”

“In 1906?” snorted Harker.

“Dr. Harker, what proof do we have that he's actually been here since 1906? Were you here when he arrived? How do we know that we're not caught up in some crazy conspiracy to help test the latest in biological weapon technology?”

“At least that would stir things up a bit around here.” Race gave a wide Southern grin.

“How about an extraterrestrial?” Andy asked. “Isn't there any possibility Bub is from another planet?”

Frank shook his head.

“Even if we discounted the problems associated with space travel from another galaxy, it would be a zillion to one, a gazillion to one, that life formed on another planet with the exact same genetic make-up as life on earth. It would be easier for the same lottery number to come up every single night for a hundred years...”

“Unless it was intentional.” Father Thrist cleared his throat and crossed his arms. “Unless God created Bub the same way He created man and all life on earth. That would explain Bub's genetic code without the need for evolution, molecular engineering, or space travel.”

Frank raised an eyebrow. “I thought demons and angels had no physical presence. They're ethereal, only existing in heaven and hell.”

Thrist laughed. It was the first time Sun had seen mirth from the terminally serious priest.

“All of my life, people have questioned my beliefs because there has been no physical evidence to substantiate them. Now here we have something that is clearly a demon, or even Satan himself. Something we can see and touch. And everyone is looking for a new answer, rather than the answer that Christianity has had for two thousand years.”

“Judaism has had it for over three thousand,” Rabbi Shotzen said, wagging a finger.

Thrist gave him a sideways glance. “All around is proof of God's creation. Me, you, trees, birds, the earth, the universe—but since the beginning of this century mankind has worshiped the god of science, rather than our Lord Jesus Christ. Now here is something science cannot explain, yet you refuse to believe. Andrew,” Thrist gave the linguist his full attention. “What was your reaction when you first saw Bub?”

“Fear,” Andy answered.

“But what did Bub represent to you? When you saw him?”

“A devil.”

Thrist nodded. “Everyone who sees Bub recognizes a devil. They are concerning themselves with the how and the why, but the 'what' has been answered. Bub is a devil. Where do devils come from, Andrew?”