The Gang of Four by Richard Lawther

Author:Richard Lawther [Lawther, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: obooko.com
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The three stepped into the communal hall taking their drinks with them. As promised, the walls had been given over to large high-resolution photographs of crop circles. More pictures, charts and maps etc covered most of the huge conference-style table that dominated the centre of the hall. Approximately twenty people fussed over the table or studied the pictures on the walls.

‘Who’s in charge here!?’ demanded Ceres in a booming voice that could not be ignored. Every head turned to look, then most turned to look at a woman with short greying hair.

‘No one’s “in charge”, dear, but maybe I can help you? Celia Browning,’ replied the woman, offering her hand.

‘Thank you, Ceres,’ replied Ceres, shaking the woman’s hand. ‘We’d like to see images of all the crop circles that have appeared since Monday, please.’

The woman studied Ceres with an unreadable expression and after a deliberate pause pointed to a wall: ‘Certainly! The most recent are on the wall there: the dates of discovery are indicated, along with their locations. May I ask what your particular interest is?’

‘She thinks we could be crop circle makers, ma’am,’ stated Michael.

‘No, we’re not that!’ replied Ceres looking at the woman, ‘we’re just naïve and bewildered tourists!’ She winked at Celia.

Celia Browning smiled and frowned: ‘Excuse me?’

‘We were talking to the local crop circle makers in the bar,’ replied Russell, by way of explanation.

‘Oh! You mean that reprobate Gerry and his gang. Don’t pay any attention to anything they say. They are not creating all the circles as they would have everyone believe. Just some of them – and they’re obviously manmade! We can tell the moment we step into a circle whether or not it is a genuine one or not.’

‘How?’ asked Russell.

‘The artificial circles show disturbed soil, snapped stems, footsteps. Even the occasional discarded Mars Bar wrapper!’

‘And the genuine ones?’ asked Ceres.

‘Blasted nodes, bent but undamaged stems, undisturbed soil, elaborate weaving of the flattened crop and atmospheric and electrical anomalies.’

A stocky man stepped forward to join the conversation: ‘Perversely a lot of the anomalous features we encounter are manifest in both the genuine and the manmade circle.’ The man had a continental accent.

‘This is Gunter Bosman,’ replied Celia, ‘he heads a research team that is currently studying the circles.’

‘A pleasure, madam, sir,’ replied Bosman.

Ceres, Celia and Bosman continued to chat for a while and Russell gradually drew away to study the pictures on the wall. One quickly caught his eye:

‘What about this?’ he asked pointing at his own and Mr. Waterstone’s creation from Monday night. This image was a daytime shot which rendered the circle even more striking.

‘Yes!’ replied Bosman, ‘a genuine masterpiece, but also a genuine fake. Human-made, unquestionably, but an example of that to which I referred: many who enter that circle report of feeling faint and their phones and cameras begin to malfunction.’

Two pictures to the left was another similarly dramatic image, although this one was a wedge rather than a full circle. It closely resembled Gerry’s image:

‘And this?’ asked Russell.

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