The Rosetta Man by Claire McCague

Author:Claire McCague
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction Humor, Humorous Science Fiction, funny, first contact, alien invasion, extraterrestrial, telepathic powers, alien translator, alien landing, extraterrestrial communication, new zealand, Australia and Oceanian, animals, research, green peace, government organizations, multinational politics, psychic powers, Amazon Kindle, literature, reading, E-Book, Book, Books
Publisher: EDGE-Lite (an imprint of Hades Publications, Inc.)
Published: 2015-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

The sound had a shape: an uneven floor, walls and a low, solid ceiling, distinct from trees, overhangs and sky. The others were quiet, resting and digesting, but a twist in his guts had woken him. He released himself into flight. A slight movement, small but sharply defined, caught his attention. He chose his approach, making less sound than the wind. He closed on the flutter of life with absolute precision and swiftly kicked it forward to snap it from the air, crush it with fine teeth and taste its death.

Estlin woke feeling the sharp satisfaction of catching a bug on the wing. It made him want to spit.

He raised a hand to his mouth. He did not remember falling asleep. The cave around him was loud and airborne. The waetapu were awake, but quiet.

“What did you dream about?” Malone asked from across the aisle.

“Bats,” he said, and shrugged at Malone’s confusion.

Closing his eyes, Estlin listened to the shape the engine noise had in the cabin. He remembered Sanford’s notebook, which he’d tucked in a webbed seat pocket. His fingers found it, but extracting it required his eyes. He flipped through the physicist’s notes. The diagrams and equations were beyond him, but he kept trying to diligently read them and not simply let his eyes skiff across the pages.

It took him a surprising length of time to realize the curiosity was not his own.

* * *

“What’s that?” Wilhem Behnke lifted his chin. “To the right. Two o’clock.”

Harry squinted into the continuum of bright sky meeting brighter water to find the vessel the pilot had spotted. The co-pilot’s seat came with a view that was hard to appreciate without aviator shades. The stopover on the Arctic Sunrise had lasted three hours. Beyond the course correction, Behnke had needed much of that time to eat, refuel, do a point-by-point check on his whirlybird and stretch out for a brief nap.

“A destroyer and a carrier,” Jeanette said. She was tucked in behind them and had brought her binoculars. “The carrier reads 6111. It’s South Korean. The Dokdo. ”

It was a short-decked carrier, designed for vertical take-offs only. Harry could see that the Dokdo was alive with small figures, moving with direct, collective purpose. Four white helicopters were winding up, their rotor blades a flashing blur.

“Is that a welcoming committee?” he asked.

“Shiesse. What is wrong with you?” Wilhem re-gripped the control stick. “Does anyone speak Korean?”

“They haven’t made radio contact?” Jeanette asked.

“Nothing,” Wilhem confirmed.

Harry watched the helicopters rise, long banners of white unfurled below them. “Look at that.”

“What the hell?” Wilhem twisted for a better view, holding his course and speed. “Are they surrendering?”

“White’s a funerary color,” Jeanette answered, from behind them.

The sight of the banners billowing in the light made Harry feel the loss of Yidge acutely. He reached for Wilhem’s camera, slipping the lens cap off.

“Can I borrow this?” he asked belatedly.

“Go for it.”

The camera had a hefty zoom lens and took both hands to lift and steady. Harry located the helicopters in the viewfinder.

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