Scattered Graves

camera lens. A large image of the eye appeared in one window of the software. Another window printed a message and played accompanying music—the first line of the song ‘‘Bad Boys.’’

‘‘That’s interesting,’’ said Frank.

‘‘Are we making progress?’’ asked Neva.

‘‘We are,’’ said David, grinning. ‘‘We now have es tablished a dialogue of sorts.’’ He rubbed his hands together.

It reminded Diane of Izzy. She told them she had arranged for Izzy to join the team.

‘‘Did I hear someone mention my name?’’ said Izzy, walking through the door.

‘‘I suppose Andie will let just anybody in here,’’ said Frank. ‘‘You’re going to have to speak with her, Diane.’’

Frank shook his hand and congratulated him. Izzy pulled up a chair and sat down on the other side of David. All the team were there now except Jin. Diane didn’t think another person would fit around the computer.

They tried a photograph of Peeks. Same message.

‘‘What does this mean?’’ said Diane. ‘‘I don’t think this is how the mayor would have it set up.’’

‘‘Maybe you have to hold it longer,’’ said Neva. ‘‘Don’t you have to wait several seconds? And isn’t there supposed to be some sort of laser scanning the eye?’’

‘‘That’s what I was wondering,’’ said Diane.

‘‘You’re thinking of retinal scans,’’ said David. ‘‘Not the same thing. A retinal scan shines a low-energy infrared light into the eye and reads the pattern of blood vessels. We are just reading the pattern of the iris. It only takes a second.’’

‘‘Still, this thing doesn’t sound friendly to Jefferies or Peeks,’’ said Diane.

‘‘No,’’ said Frank, ‘‘it doesn’t.’’

David tried the photograph of Peeks again. Same message.

There was silence around the table.

‘‘Well, watcha gon’ do?’’ asked Neva, giggling.

‘‘It’s still progress,’’ said David, unfazed. ‘‘We know it’s reacting to them. I may be able to use this program to worm my way into some of the others.’’

Diane got up and looked over David’s shoulder at the readout, as if maybe there was something in the lyrics of the song that would help. As she leaned in closer, the readout changed, as did the audio.

‘‘Hello, Dr. Fallon. I’ve been waiting for you,’’ it said in that quirky machine voice.

Chapter 41

‘‘What the hell is that?’’ said Izzy, recovering his voice first.

They all turned to look at Diane. She stepped back and stared at the screen.

‘‘This isn’t normal, is it?’’ said Izzy. ‘‘I know I haven’t been here long, and I don’t know a thing about computers, but is this—normal?’’

‘‘Okay, this is weird,’’ said David. ‘‘Really weird.’’

‘‘It scanned my iris?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘It knows me? How?’’

‘‘Don’t be alarmed,’’ said the voice.

‘‘Well, I am,’’ said Diane, though she didn’t know to whom. ‘‘What does this mean?’’ She looked from Frank to David as if they had done this as some kind of joke.

‘‘We didn’t do this,’’ said David. ‘‘Honest. It knows you.’’ He gestured to the machine.

‘‘What does that mean exactly—it knows me?’’ said Diane.

She looked at the scanning camera. It now looked like a little creature with a big head and one big eye and a neck sitting on small shoulders. She almost ex pected it to tell her she was going to be assimilated.

‘‘Let’s ask,’’ said Frank.

David touched a key and a screen popped up for him to type in. ‘‘How do you know me?’’ he asked.

‘‘You are someone I trust with the information that I have,’’ said the voice. ‘‘If you are hearing me, then my plan worked. It was a long shot.’’

‘‘Talky little fellow,’’ muttered Izzy.

‘‘Who are you?’’ typed in David.

‘‘Who do you think I am?’’ said the voice.

‘‘Is it alive?’’ asked Neva.

‘‘That’s what I want to know,’’ said Izzy. ‘‘Is there someone somewhere listening to us?’’

‘‘Could it be bugged?’’ asked Diane.

‘‘No,’’ said David. ‘‘You know how I check things like that.’’

Izzy looked quizzically at David.