No
fingerprints, physical evidence, witnesses, or anyone left alive. Nothing.”
At
their approach, the other team members stopped the examinations, note taking,
and sample gathering. Introductions complete, Ragnar led Janesh and Miranda to
an area where eight feathers lay scattered amid large blood splotches. He
picked one up and the three watched as his hand movements caused it to appear
and reappear. “Anything you can tell us about this extraordinary feather,
Miranda?”
“I
have a source examining it right now. We have yet to form a final conclusion
but I’ve received interim reports. I emphasize however, our analysis is
tentative and incomplete. Either that feather is natural or it’s genetically
engineered. We’ve learned it has the identical genetic sequence the paste does.
No creature exists in the natural world with such a DNA marker. If it’s genetically
engineered it represents a technological advance beyond anything known today.
Only a handful of individuals throughout the world have the ability. My contact
is making discreet inquiries and the process of elimination should reveal who.
I
imagine the inventor or his agent enveloping himself in some type of shroud,
net, or blanket to which the feathers attach rendering him either invisible, or
able to project a false image, or both. Knowing only birds have feathers, some
type of contraption attached to the feet would produce the prints we’ve seen.
That begs two questions. How could such a technologically sophisticated
individual not know birds have four toes? And why go to such elaborate and
clumsy lengths? When I can answer both I will submit my final conclusions.”
“Have
you considered it might be a full-sized creature?” Ragnar asked. Miranda
paused.
“I
can’t of course rule it out. But to go from a feather to an autonomous,
full-function, bio-engineered creature represents a leap orders of magnitude
beyond what we know today. No. When faced with two competing theories, I must
give great deference to the simpler explanation, however odd or remarkable it
may be.”
Janesh
reached for the feather. “Can I try a lo-tech approach?”
“Of
course. Be my guest.” Ronan and Duncan needed just three sniffs to set their
tails wagging.
“Hunt.”
Noses to the ground, they made a beeline for the opposite wall. There they
veered at an angle for sixty feet before milling about to and fro trying to
reacquire the scent. They widened the search area, picked it up again by the
near exit, lost it twice more, moved back and forth from where the bodies hung
eight times then made another beeline back to their starting point. At the
wall, they stopped, froze, and stared at it.
“Maybe
they’re confused by the strange location.” Ragnar suggested.
“No.”
Janesh replied. “They’re not confused, I am. Why didn’t they exit the building
to the street or the parking lot? Why are they staring at the wall?” He called
them back, presented the feather, and again bade them hunt. They repeated the
pattern.
Janesh
walked to the wall the dogs stared at with Miranda and Ragnar close behind. He
ran his hands over the surface searching for cracks, fissures, anomalies,
anything that might indicate it hid another purpose or feature. “You wouldn’t
happen to have a mobile x-ray device, would you?” he asked Ragnar.
“No,
but I have something just as good.”
Two
team members needed fifteen minutes to place a transmitter on the wall
surrounded by collectors. In his hands Ragnar held a tablet-sized display. He
pressed the send button. “The transmitter is now sending sonic pulses through
the wall. Anything inside the wall or large density changes will reflect the
sounds back to the collectors and form an image.” Miranda and Janesh looked up
from the device not comprehending the display. “Well?” Ragnar’s tone held
finality.
“Nothing.
It’s just a wall nothing more. Maybe the dogs are confused.”
“No.
The scent trail they followed is as real
fingerprints, physical evidence, witnesses, or anyone left alive. Nothing.”
At
their approach, the other team members stopped the examinations, note taking,
and sample gathering. Introductions complete, Ragnar led Janesh and Miranda to
an area where eight feathers lay scattered amid large blood splotches. He
picked one up and the three watched as his hand movements caused it to appear
and reappear. “Anything you can tell us about this extraordinary feather,
Miranda?”
“I
have a source examining it right now. We have yet to form a final conclusion
but I’ve received interim reports. I emphasize however, our analysis is
tentative and incomplete. Either that feather is natural or it’s genetically
engineered. We’ve learned it has the identical genetic sequence the paste does.
No creature exists in the natural world with such a DNA marker. If it’s genetically
engineered it represents a technological advance beyond anything known today.
Only a handful of individuals throughout the world have the ability. My contact
is making discreet inquiries and the process of elimination should reveal who.
I
imagine the inventor or his agent enveloping himself in some type of shroud,
net, or blanket to which the feathers attach rendering him either invisible, or
able to project a false image, or both. Knowing only birds have feathers, some
type of contraption attached to the feet would produce the prints we’ve seen.
That begs two questions. How could such a technologically sophisticated
individual not know birds have four toes? And why go to such elaborate and
clumsy lengths? When I can answer both I will submit my final conclusions.”
“Have
you considered it might be a full-sized creature?” Ragnar asked. Miranda
paused.
“I
can’t of course rule it out. But to go from a feather to an autonomous,
full-function, bio-engineered creature represents a leap orders of magnitude
beyond what we know today. No. When faced with two competing theories, I must
give great deference to the simpler explanation, however odd or remarkable it
may be.”
Janesh
reached for the feather. “Can I try a lo-tech approach?”
“Of
course. Be my guest.” Ronan and Duncan needed just three sniffs to set their
tails wagging.
“Hunt.”
Noses to the ground, they made a beeline for the opposite wall. There they
veered at an angle for sixty feet before milling about to and fro trying to
reacquire the scent. They widened the search area, picked it up again by the
near exit, lost it twice more, moved back and forth from where the bodies hung
eight times then made another beeline back to their starting point. At the
wall, they stopped, froze, and stared at it.
“Maybe
they’re confused by the strange location.” Ragnar suggested.
“No.”
Janesh replied. “They’re not confused, I am. Why didn’t they exit the building
to the street or the parking lot? Why are they staring at the wall?” He called
them back, presented the feather, and again bade them hunt. They repeated the
pattern.
Janesh
walked to the wall the dogs stared at with Miranda and Ragnar close behind. He
ran his hands over the surface searching for cracks, fissures, anomalies,
anything that might indicate it hid another purpose or feature. “You wouldn’t
happen to have a mobile x-ray device, would you?” he asked Ragnar.
“No,
but I have something just as good.”
Two
team members needed fifteen minutes to place a transmitter on the wall
surrounded by collectors. In his hands Ragnar held a tablet-sized display. He
pressed the send button. “The transmitter is now sending sonic pulses through
the wall. Anything inside the wall or large density changes will reflect the
sounds back to the collectors and form an image.” Miranda and Janesh looked up
from the device not comprehending the display. “Well?” Ragnar’s tone held
finality.
“Nothing.
It’s just a wall nothing more. Maybe the dogs are confused.”
“No.
The scent trail they followed is as real
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