Panspermia Deorum (37 page)

“I do, and I
need to do that with some urgency. Please put him on the line.”

“It’s not quite
as straightforward as that. We have to get him to a hotspot in the
bush where we can connect you. I ask for your patience as we
arrange this. It shouldn’t take more than a few more minutes. Now,
before you speak with Eugene, I have to ask you not to discuss
anything which is related to our programme. I’m sure as a former
head of a highly complex technical organisation you know that
certain information must not fall into the wrong hands.”

“Yes, yes, of
course. Can we just get on with it? It’s a personal matter I want
to talk to my son about.”

“Very good, Mr
Delacroix, I advise you to keep the conversation as brief as
possible as the connection could drop out at any time.”

“Fine.”

“I understand
we can transfer you now, please hold.”

Dead space
prevailed for about thirty seconds.

“Dad?”

“Eugene? Hello?
I can barely hear you.”

“Yes, there
aren’t many transmitters near here. Anyway, what can I do for
you?”

Julien sensed
that something didn’t gel. The last call he’d had from Eugene was
in relation to getting back to Lyon.

“Well, it’s
really the other way around. An old university pal of yours
contacted me and asked about you. Brendan or Brandon somebody. He
wants to hook up with you again. He’s got a new job, I think, and I
told him I would check when you could be back home. I didn’t
mention where you were, but I know you were planning a break
sometime soon. Your mother was hoping it might be for your
birthday.”

“That might not
be possible, Dad. Everybody is working flat out here. I’ll let you
know when I can make it back to Lyon. In the meantime, let Brendan
know I’ll give him a call then.”

“Ok then, Mum
sends her best wishes and Sophie has settled into her apartment
close to the city centre. Take care, and try to call me regularly
like you used to. Bye for now.”

“I will, and
thanks for getting in touch, sorry about forgetting to tell you I’d
be out of reach for a while.”

Julien picked
over the bones of what had been said and just as important, what
had not. Eugene had spoken of Brendan deliberately, rather than
Brandon. He wouldn’t make such a mistake, and, considering Eugene
had asked him to track down Brandon Mitchell, he hadn’t asked for
more specific information on his whereabouts. He obviously wanted
to avoid anyone else knowing. Julien thanked the consulate staff
and asked them to expect another request to contact Eugene if he
remained out of reach for much longer.

“I hope this
doesn’t become the norm for me to keep in contact with my son. But,
if it does, you can expect me here every week.”

His parting
remark was digested without words, merely an awkward smile. When
Julien had left, another call was made to Leonard Schuster.

“You had better
get this situation sorted out immediately. This Delacroix person
has tentacles reaching into high places. If you can’t resolve your
concern with his son, I won’t get this department involved any
further. I’ll advise Delacroix to come and see you in person.” He
clashed down the handset.

*

Zlatan spotted
an old water stand pipe at the rear of the fuel station. It creaked
as Zlatan turned the valve to the open position. The flow of
tainted water was little more than a dribble. After their hasty
clean-up, he and Lydia tentatively approached the front door of the
dwelling which was an adjunct of the office. As soon as the door
opened it was slammed shut again. Zlatan whispered into Lydia’s
ear.

“Quick, head
for that place over there, it looks like a barn or a stable. The
man in the house was alarmed by our presence, even though we didn’t
get a chance to say anything. Maybe they’ve seen deviants before,
or been told about them being dangerous.”

“But we aren’t
dangerous, are we, Zlatan?”

“Not yet, but
that will change. I should be able to warn you in time. I didn’t
want to mention this until I could feel the process beginning
again, but I suppose now is as good a time as any. If we get to a
point of extreme hunger or thirst, we must separate.”

“But why? I
thought we were friends.”

“We are, but in
times of stress, second phase survival will kick in. I might attack
you, in fact I will attack you. I would be out of control,
responding to stimuli which cannot be resisted. As long as we stay
nourished and hydrated this phase could take weeks or even months
to begin. That’s why we have to avoid Alphas, before we become
Alphas ourselves. At present there is no way humans can prevent
this inner struggle being resolved. The chances of Beta
characteristics prevailing in this schizophrenic battle are not
good. It can happen but the odds are pretty slim.”

“I don’t think
I can handle the thought of becoming something like that. I ate the
rodents, but as soon as my hunger was satisfied, it was revolting
to think about what I’d just done. I don’t want to go on. Why can’t
we hand ourselves in to someone who will help us?”

“That won’t
stop what is happening inside us, Lydia. Just keep faith in me for
now. The humans might make a breakthrough.”

“But you talk
about humans, we are humans, surely, or am I going nuts
already?”

“We’re in
transition, you have to accept that, no matter how scary it
is.”

Zlatan and
Lydia were typical of a small minority of escapees from the
exclusion zone. However, there were already reports of transition
of others in pockets of bush dwellers who’d been infected
indirectly by fauna and flora. Settlements such as Aborigine
enclaves were effectively spreading this sperm of the gods.

The quarantine
methodology of the exclusion zone was useless in the face of the
ease with which the virus was capable of species jumping. Barbed
wire fencing and checkpoints were irrelevant to insects, birds,
mammals, marsupials, and especially plant seeds blowing in the
wind.

*

Following his
coded conversation with Eugene, Julien ramped up his search for
Brandon Mitchell. He put out feelers in all universities within the
defined London area. Registered students’ details could be bought
easily, despite it being illegal. The hunt was made a lot simpler
because they were looking for a German name. Therese Kohl was
located in the cloisters of the London School of Economics.

Julien flew
over to London without delay, having been thoroughly interrogated
by Elise. “Eugene needs some information and it’s a bloody site
less inconvenient for me than for him to fly from halfway around
the world. Just relax, Elise. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Fraulein Kohl
was perplexed when she was asked to leave a lecture. She was even
further confused when the receptionist said that the man who blew
the asteroid out of the skies wanted to meet her.

“Let me
apologise for springing this request on you without prior contact.
It’s Therese, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I am
Therese. I am pleased to meet you but I cannot imagine why you are
here.”

“Don’t worry,
there’s nothing sinister about it. My son used to work with Brandon
Mitchell and I’m led to believe he is, or was your boyfriend.”

“Ah, yes,
Brandon the Invisible.”

“Oh, does that
mean he’s no longer your boyfriend?”

“Not exactly,
he’s more like my penfriend, he’s never here. Just a moment, is
your son Eugene Delacroix?”

“Yes, that’s
him. Brandon worked for Eugene.”

“I know.
Brandon was furious with him for kicking him out of your company.
He said at first he would contest it as unfair dismissal, but
Brandon often says he will do things and most of them never happen.
I don’t think he will want to speak with either you or your
son.”

“I can
understand that, Therese, but I believe there might have been some
misunderstanding. I was never involved in their spat, but I’m
confident I can help Brandon if I can spend a few minutes
explaining something to him.”

“Good luck with
that then, he is working in Japan. I can give you his phone number
but I am not optimistic that he will talk to you.”

“I see. Well,
I’ll have to take that chance. It’s worth it for me to at least
try. I promise you that if he doesn’t want to hear what I have to
say, I’ll just leave it at that.”

“You give me
the impression that this is something important, but you haven’t
said what it is.”

“I don’t
actually know the details, and if I did, I couldn’t tell you.
Eugene says it is to do with microbiology and Brandon would benefit
from speaking with him. It is obviously important because my son is
working on this virus problem in Australia. That’s all I can say.
If you think it would be better that I don’t speak with him, I must
accept that.”

“I suppose I
could call him and ask if he wants to contact you.”

“That would be
much appreciated. When could you do that for me?”

“Well, with the
time difference it would be best to do it now. I’ll call him.”

Brandon took a
lot of convincing before Therese passed the mobile to Julien.

“I’m sorry for
the intrusion, Brandon. I’m really just the messenger. I knew of
your disagreement with my son, but not the detail. He wants to talk
to you about some project you worked on because it apparently has
relevance to this problem in Australia. He isn’t able to disclose
more than that to me, but asked me to find you. He can’t be reached
at present in the outback, but hopefully he will be back in Lyon
soon. Would you be prepared to at least hear what he has to say? Or
do I have to tell him to forget it?”

“I’ll think
about this Mr Delacroix. Give me a number where I can contact you
next week.”

A
s Zlatan and Lydia cowered in the wooden building,
they watched anxiously as the torch beam approached. Through the
cracks in the timber they could only see one person. A man, bare to
the waist, carrying a shotgun, but accompanied by a very large dog.
The man circled the entire main part of the house before heading
for their refuge.

Zlatan told
Lydia to stay put and keep quiet. He then shouted that he was
coming out.

“I not have gun
and we lost. We not want harm you and we only like a sleep place
for a small time. I have hands on head and I going open door.”

“Open the door
but stay where you are.”

The dog had not
made a sound as yet and was ordered to lie down. He opened the door
with one hand and then quickly placed it back on his head. Zlatan
apologised for hiding in the building.

“We not mean to
take anything of you, but you close door in our face without chance
to tell you we desperate. We only ask to sleep.”

“Where did you
come from? Are you running away from the police? There’s nowhere
around here for another five miles.”

“We escape
exclusion zone, we were in danger. They kill us if we go back. We
do nothing bad. But they try to take us back, only because we have
virus. You help us?”

“There’s been
all kinds of talk about what’s going on in that place. I don’t want
to be infected by you, or get into trouble for helping you. I want
you to go, right now.”

“Please, we
need only some hours, we cannot sleep since we escape. We go in
peace just after sleep.”

“I told you to
go. Now beat it.”

The man raised
his shotgun. Zlatan lied to him in desperation.

“My wife is
with baby. I not knowing what to do.”

“There’s a
deserted mine shaft up the road, about two miles from here. You can
shelter there. Now go, I won’t tell you again.”

He gave an
indecipherable command to the dog and it began to snarl. Zlatan
nodded and summoned Lydia to join him. They were ushered on to the
road again and the man retreated to his abode. Zlatan said they
should hurry along the road and find the mine shaft as quickly as
possible. Once they saw the entrance, he made sure it was safe and
told Lydia to stay there until he returned.

“Why are you
always giving me orders? You aren’t my keeper. Where are you
going?”

“I just want to
see if I can find anywhere better than this. A place which isn’t
known by the locals.”

She settled
down and fell asleep within a few minutes. She was awoken by
Zlatan’s return. He was carrying a shotgun and told her to come
outside. On the road was an SUV with the engine running. In the
back she saw the body of both the man and his dog, each without
their head.

“Have you lost
your mind? What the hell were you thinking? It’s a fuel station,
the police will be on to this in no time. You’re scaring me,
Zlatan, maybe we really should split up.”

“I keep trying
to tell you, we
are
losing our minds! That’s what it’s all
about. We’ve crossed over and we have to fight to prevent the onset
of phase two. I burned the heads and cleaned up the guy’s house. We
need to drive to some place where we can dump the car, but we
should keep the bodies as food, and we’re going to need the gun.
Now, come on, forget about going our separate ways. You won’t last
a day on your own.”

“Food! There’s
no way I can eat human flesh, it’s gross. I want to take my chance
on my own. Leave me, and just go in your bloody vehicle.”

“Lydia, you
still don’t get it do you? It’s us or them. When hunger gets to the
point of rage you’ll eat anything. Our only chance is to stay on
the run until we find someone we can trust, either human or
deviant. At this moment they both have to be treated as enemies. If
we can delay phase two of this infection the humans may come up
with a vaccine or a treatment of some kind. If you’re seriously
hell-bent on staying on your own tell me right now, I’m
leaving.”

*