Foundation has authorized any research projects here on the island.”
“I don’t understand,” Karen said. “Dr. Tucker made it clear that we were signing up as research assistants at a Foundation-approved excavation project.”
“Dr. Tucker is not affiliated with the Foundation,” Drake said. He started walking again. “Officially she isn’t even alive. She was declared dead three years ago.”
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Karen said. “A woman named Dr. Tucker is running the project here on Rainshadow. She’s got lab equipment that carries the Foundation logo. Her security people wear Foundation uniforms.” She glanced down at her shirt. “Pete and I were issued Foundation gear.”
“Zara Tucker is a brilliant but mentally unstable scientist,” Drake said. “She spent a full year working in the Sebastian labs. She also has a way of convincing others, usually males, to do what she wants them to do.”
“You’re telling me,” Karen said grimly. “I’ve seen the way men respond to her. Even Pete thought he was in love with her for a time. He wanted to be her hero. They all do.” Karen glanced at Alice. “You know how some women just seem to have a talent for making men fall all over themselves to please them?”
Alice hid a rueful smile. “Oh, yeah.”
Drake’s jaw hardened. “Keep talking, Karen.”
“Well, the good news/bad news is that after a while Tucker’s charm seems to wear off,” Karen said.
Out of the corner of her eye Alice saw a pained expression come and go across Drake’s face. But he said nothing.
Karen did not appear to notice.
“Personally, I knew there was something a little weird about her from the start,” Karen said. “But, hey, she’s some giant-brained scientific type, right? They’re probably all a little weird. I figured she was really, really focused on her research project. In any event, it wasn’t like I could just walk away from the excavation ruins.”
Drake glanced back over his shoulder. “Why not?”
Karen waved a hand to indicate the dark woods. “It’s somewhere out there in the frickin’ Preserve. Ten steps outside the ruins and you’re lost. The only people who can come and go on a regular basis are the security guards. Besides, Pete and I had signed those contracts and the money was really good. We planned to get married and buy a house when the project was finished. Anyhow, a few weeks ago Dr. Tucker really started losing it.”
“Define losing it,” Drake said.
“She was temperamental from the beginning, but when it became obvious that the Chamber was overheating, she became full-on whacko,” Karen said. “That’s when two of the security guys took off. That made her crazy for a time.”
“What happened to the security guards?” Drake asked.
“Pete and I heard them talking just before they left. They knew the situation inside the Chamber was deteriorating. We heard them making plans to take the boat that they kept in Deception Cove. They used it to bring in supplies.”
“There’s no boat back there except the one we arrived in,” Drake said.
“I’m assuming they got off the island.”
“How many guards are left?” Drake asked.
“Only one, the boss of the security team. His name is Quinton. Pete and I are pretty sure that he and Dr. Tucker are lovers. Well, he thinks he’s in love with her, at any rate. I doubt if Dr. Tucker has ever loved anyone but herself in her entire life. Quinton is definitely under Tucker’s spell, though. I think he’d do anything for her. He pretty much proved it by sticking around after the other two guards took off. Now he’s trapped here on the island, same as everyone else.”
Drake looked back at Karen again. “How did you get away?”
“With this.” Karen took a small crystal flute out of her pocket. “Pete managed to steal it. Dr. Tucker found a few of them when she excavated the underground ruins. The two guards used them to bring in supplies. They used one to get away the other day.”
Alice took a closer look at the flute. “What is it?”
“Alien technology,” Drake explained briefly. “Harry told me that they turned up a few of these in the aquarium. The flutes can be used to navigate the Preserve to some extent, but their usefulness is limited because they have to be tuned to specific locations.”
“In other words, if you don’t know where you’re going, you can’t get there using a flute, is that it?” Alice said.
“Something like that,” Drake said.
“This one was tuned to the cove,” Karen said. “This morning when I escaped I was able to follow the frequencies.”
“Will it work in reverse?” Alice asked. “Can we use it to find this ruin you’re talking about?”
“No,” Karen said. “Not any longer.” She looked at the flute, despair in her eyes. “I barely made it out of the Preserve. The psi levels are too high inside the fence now. They interfered with the tuning. I made it as far as the fence, but the flute gave out entirely when I went through the barrier. Now it’s gone flat. Listen.”
She blew gently on the crystal flute. There were a few faint jarringly discordant notes and then nothing at all.
Drake stopped and took the flute from her. He turned it in his hand, examining it carefully. “Chief Attridge’s wife, Charlotte, might be able to retune it. There’s another man on the island who has a talent for tuning, as well. Calvin Dillard. We may have some options.” He put the flute in his shirt pocket and started walking again. “Tell me about the research project that Tucker is running.”
“All I know is that Dr. Tucker is excavating an underground Alien ruin right here on Rainshadow,” Karen said. “There’s this big crystal pyramid down there. Lot of energy inside, at least there is now.”
Drake pushed through some low-hanging branches. “What’s going on down there?”
“When Dr. Tucker found the Chamber, it was shut down. There was energy inside but it was locked in the crystals that form the walls of the pyramid. Dr. Tucker used two other crystals she called the Keys to release the power.”
Alice glanced at Drake. “Sounds like the two missing crystals.”
“Got to be those damn stones.” Drake led the way through a tumble of boulders. “She stuck the two crystals inside the ruin to kick-start it, and now she’s got a slow-rolling chain reaction going, one that is so strong it’s affecting the entire island. Idiot. How do people like that get PhDs?”
Alice cleared her throat. “I suppose one might ask how people like that get past human resources departments, pass background checks, and manage to obtain security clearances at companies like Sebastian, Inc.”
Drake shot her an annoyed look. At least she assumed he was annoyed. The wraparound glasses made it impossible to read his eyes.
Karen was oblivious to the byplay. She continued with her tale.
“A chain reaction is exactly how Dr. Tucker described the situation,” Karen said. “She’s getting panicky, I think. She says the only way to shut down the Chamber is to remove the two crystals.”
“So?” Alice said. “Why doesn’t she do that?”
“She can’t,” Karen said. “No one can go into the Chamber for more than a minute or two at most now. She’s been sending Pete and me into that light furnace every day for the past couple of weeks. She puts a rope around us and pushes us through the gate. But it’s so dark in there you can’t see anything, and the energy is a full-blown storm. We can only take it for about a minute and then we go unconscious. The bitch drags us out, gives us a few hours’ rest, and sends us in again.”
“I’m surprised she didn’t leave the island while it was still possible to get off,” Alice said.
“She waited too long,” Drake said. He led the way through some scrubby bushes. “She was so obsessed with her revenge that she couldn’t bring herself to cut her losses. Now she’s trapped here on Rainshadow.”
“Just like us,” Alice observed.
“Don’t forget Pete,” Karen added anxiously. “I promised him that if I got out, I’d try to get help.”
Drake automatically glanced at his watch. He appeared irritated again when he realized it was still stopped. He looked up at the sky. Alice did the same. The cloud cover was heavier and darker than ever.
“We need to move faster,” Drake said. “We have to make it to Shadow Bay by sundown.”
No one argued.
