known research scientist. The speculation had become a topic between all of the science/mathematics magazines and had increased the interest in Karpinen and his equations. Karpinen was set to run an experiment based on his equations for anyone interested on May 30th. After a quick check, the Chameleon found that most of the scientific publishing world and many of the scientific labs were sending people to Minnesota.
The Chameleon had to stop the demonstration. She was not an expert in physics but she was skilled enough to recognize a quantum leap in technology. Some aspects of gravitational control showed by the equations would put this human race at close to equal footing with the Users. She had to find out what Karpinen knew and who he told. She then had to destroy the work in such a way as to give the impression that the whole thing was a scam.
The first thing she did was tell her reporters to be very careful with the story. Reminding them of the cold fusion fiasco of a few years ago, she told them they had to be supercritical of the event. There was only a week and a half left before the demonstration. She had her staff detectives make an emergency physical review of Karpinen's home. While waiting for the report, she would travel north preparing for the sabotage.
May 27th. The Chameleon finally received the detective's reports. She was staying a half a day's drive from Karpinen's home. The farm looked isolated. The phone and power lines seemed easy to compromise.
* * * *
Jones was nearly finished with Blythe. He had tried to stop the takeover of Blythe's companies but after the Coffee Klutch drew first blood, the Wall Street sharks chewed apart his companies. His last act for Blythe was to arrange some physical act against Karpinen. He had put it off until now knowing that the police would zero in on both him and Blythe. His thoughts were interrupted by the conversation at the booth behind him.
“The motel is already full. I counted stringers from Scientific American, Nature, and Popular Science.
I glanced over the check-in-counter at the motel and the last room was reserved for Professor Schmitt from Argon National Labs.'
“I interviewed Professor Manning at JPL last week. I asked him about Karpinen. He didn't say anything ... But you know Manning. He was interested.'
“This is going to be the biggest scientific event of the decade and no one in the mainstream media has come out with it yet. Even if Karpinen is a fraud, there has to be something there. Otherwise, Manning, Schmitt, and all those others would be tearing him apart by now.'
“I think that might be the reason the networks haven't broken the news yet. No one knows for sure yet so we are all holding our breaths until we know...'
Jones thought, “To-hell-with-Blythe.” He paid his check, got into his car and drove away. Later that night, Blythe put a 9 millimeter Glock to the side of his head and pulled the trigger.
* * * *
Tabitha came over at daybreak. Some juice and toast and we started setting up. I jacked the main body of the Contraption onto a dolly. We were rolling it to the corner of the yard so it would be easier for everyone to see it work.
A car pulled up and this slinky brunette slide out. “Hello. I am Jennifer Cosgrove from the Benton Publishing Group International.'
“I am sorry but the demonstration is scheduled for the day after tomorrow.'
“I am not here for the demonstration. I want to talk to you.'
Suddenly, I noticed that the crows on the fence line were watching the woman. From the corner of my eye, I saw a quizzical look come on Tabitha's face. I watched the woman closely and started to notice things. “I am sorry but I really don't have time to talk now. We are setting up.'
I took a few steps away from the Contraption. She moved as well to stay facing me. Her body swayed sexily but something was not right. It was as if her joints didn't bend the same as everyone else. In high school, I had a friend with severe arthritis. She didn't move the same as everyone else. This woman reminded me of her.
“It will only take a few minutes. We need a proofreader of your caliber at Benton.'
“I am sorry but you will just have to come back afer the demonstration.” Faster than I would have thought possible, the woman took a gun out of her bag. I rolled to the ground. When I stopped, I threw the puukko. Before my knife hit, the woman stood with an astonished look on her face and gun dangling from her fingers. Tabitha's throwing knife was sticking out of her left chest. My knife took her in the throat.
* * * *
The Chameleon struggled to live. The genetically engineered body could have handled one piece of metal penetrating her body but two were too much. She should have skipped regulations and brought a User weapon instead of this primitive planet's gun. This planet was just ... The biomechanical chip inside the Chameleon's body registered the fact that her body had stopped functioning. A message was sent to the Chameleon's ship. The automatic destruction sequence started. A thousand message pods were sent expelled in random directions with the details of everything the Chameleon did and the ship plunged itself into the surface of the sun.
The message pods traveled until they sensed a ship belonging to the Users near. Out of the thousand pods twenty made it to User ships. The data was analyzed and sent to the regional control ship.
The Chameleon gone! What could have happened? This was a primitive planet. A sanitation squad needed to be sent. All links to the Users the Chameleon left had to be severed and revenge taken.
* * * *
I looked at Tabitha. “How did you know?'
“She didn't look right. I don't know ... Something about her didn't add up. I had my hand on the knife before she reached for the gun.'
I looked back at the woman. Something was definitely wrong. The blood coming from the wounds was not the right shade of red. Her body seemed to be deflating. I reached down and touched her arm. It was too limp. I picked it up. The bones in the arm were deflating. “God, the woman's bones are not bones.” I continued feeling the arm. “I think they are some kind of tough inflatable skin. An organ in the body must pump fluid in and the skin/bones become rigid and take form. Look at how the outer skin is loosing form. This creature ... this woman is a creature...'
“What are we going to do?'
“I don't know. No one will believe what has happened.'
“We've got to hide the body.'
“I'll check the car. You check the purse.'
I found a piece of paper with the letterhead of a near by Holiday Inn. Tabitha found a door card key in the purse.
“Let's put her in the car and park it at the hotel. We will leave the body in the car and let the authorities try to figure everything out.'
“Good. But we will need to not leave fingerprints.'
I looked at the body. It had become a puddle of flesh on the ground. A brunette wig was lying next to where the head had once been. “Tabitha. Can you drive her car? If you put the wig on, people might think it was her behind the wheel.'
We had trouble moving the creature's body into the car. It was like trying to move a 40-gallon plastic bag half filled with water. You would get your hands under an edge and lift. All of the internal fluid would flow to the end of the bag and you would be lifting just the flexible outer layer. Every time we lifted a section away from the two knife wounds blood, or whatever it was, would gush from the openings. We finally oozed the creature into the passenger seat where she flowed to the floor.
The drive to the Holiday Inn parking lot was uneventful. Tabitha left the car at the far end of the lot and limped across the street to where I waited with the pickup. I drove to a payphone. Dialed 911. “There is something strange in the parking lot at the Holiday.” I hung up and drove home without saying a thing.
Two hundred people showed up for the demonstration. We watched the crowd for anything unusual.
Chapter 11
