breath. You might even earn a date with a syringe just like the ones you were carrying in your jacket in that elementary school-you sick son of bitch. You can forget an insanity plea. No jury will accept that from a man with a doctoral degree hanging on his wall. As I see it, you’ve got two options. You can admit what you did, tell me where you hid the bombs, and help us clean up this toxic shit. Maybe then, a jury will have just an ounce of pity for you. Option Two: You can keep speaking in riddles like you’re fucking Nostradamus. If you wanna see where that’ll end you up, I’d be much obliged to show you.”
The Lagoon Watcher tried throwing up his hands. His shackles prevented him from raising them above chest level. “You didn’t even consider the truth for one second. The evidence clearly demonstrates the impossibility of my involvement. I tried to prevent this calamity. It’s the Big Sugar and the Big Cattle and the…”
“Quit sticking the blame on everybody else!” Sneed growled. “You murdered all those people in cold blood.”
“I would never!”
“You took their heads. Where did you put them? In some secret lab of yours? Where did you take the explosives? If you kill any more…”
“Explosives? I don’t know a thing about that. But if that’s the subject we’re on, what about all the rocket exhaust from the launches at the Space Center? How could you blame me-the defender of the lagoon-for what’s going on when you’ve got tons, and tons of airborne debris from these launches seeping into the water? Wouldn’t you think this played a bigger role in triggering the bacterial mutations?”
“Okay Harry, that’s enough.” Swartzman finally waved his friend quiet. Aaron noted that it took bringing up the sore subject of NASA’s launch emissions, which nearly got Swartzman canned, for him to interject. “You’re not doing yourself any favors with these tirades. Pretend this is a research paper and just get to the point.”
Aaron had read plenty of academic research papers-reluctantly, of course. They were about as clear-cut as the user manual for the space shuttle. It didn’t matter that his professor might understand it. Of all the people in the room, only Sneed’s opinion truly mattered regarding Trainer’s fate. Aaron didn’t want anything for the Lagoon Watcher short of an extended stay in the slammer after his kidnapping of Mariella, and his brawl with Moni. Yet, he could see through the political ramblings. He recognized the man’s basic point: there’s no way he could have managed all of this, at least not by himself.
After nearly losing Mariella in the Enchanted Forest following Trainer’s arrest, Aaron knew that the threat against the girl, and Moni hadn’t ceased. He’d love to take the girls windsurfing out there one day and see them laughing and smiling without a fear in the world. Yet the lagoon still reeked of decay.
“A research paper might be kind of ambitious right now, Mr. Watcher. I mean, Mr. Trainer,” Aaron said. His professor rolled his eyes as if Aaron had wasted perfectly good air by opening his mouth. The Lagoon Watcher focused on him with those erratic blue eyes, momentarily calm. “We’ve done some investigating and I know you’ve gotten down and dirty digging for answers too. It can’t hurt to compare notes. Right?” The man nodded as eagerly as a kid who had been asked whether he fancied visiting an amusement park. “So what have you seen in the water?”
“Well, all kinds of fascinating phenomenon,” the Lagoon Watcher began. Already, Sneed crossed his arms and leaned his head off to the side in a sculpture of disinterest, as much as The Thinker is a sculpture of calculating thought. Aaron reassured Trainer by scooting forward in his chair. “Dolphins have become mischievous thieves for their masters. When you see a bird flying all crooked, and following you around town, you know it’s one of their spies. Gators and snakes are like the frontline soldiers. And that turtle you tagged, Herb, it’s a real wild one. It swims like a barracuda.”
“Come on, Harry. We all know you gave that sea turtle lifts on your boat to spook me,” Swartzman said.
“You think I’m giving the turtle rides? I couldn’t even catch it in a speed boat,” Trainer said. The professor covered his face with his hand and sighed. “These enhancements are part of their remodeling of the local species. Now, they’ve started melding two or three species together and finding new tasks for them. They’re crafted to adapt to their environment, however hostile it may be to other forms of life. It’s amazing that it all starts with the little guys.”
“You mean the bacteria?” Aaron asked.
“No, no, no. I’m talking about the other little guys-the smaller ones.”
Aaron and his professor exchanged puzzled glances.
“You’ve seen them right?” the Lagoon Watcher asked. “The carbon-mechanical hybrids? That’s one name for them. Really, there is no category for organisms, or machines, like this. Herb, how do you think their nervous system functions?”
“There’s nothing unusual in the infected animals besides bacteria,” Swartzman said. “The bacteria are the source.”
“No. The bacteria are their weapons,” the Lagoon Watcher said. “They’re the foot soldiers. They’re not the generals. That would be the smaller guys.”
“If there really is something else in the infected animals, how come we haven’t seen it in their blood?” Aaron asked.
“Are you examining the blood of dead animals?” the Lagoon Watcher asked. Aaron nodded. “Well, there you are. Try capturing a live infected animal. Don’t bother with blood that’s been outside of its body for more than a few seconds. You need to get a piece of live tissue under a microscope. Otherwise the little goobers will scurry off.”
“Oh right, because these hybrid beings are smart enough to know when a microscope is coming and recognize the second their hosts die,” Swartzman said.
“You got it,” Trainer said, without detecting his friend’s strong hint of sarcasm. “They’re real clever. Now do you see how this works? Bacteria are dumb. They can’t control an animal, much less a person. But these hybrids imbed themselves into the nervous system, and the brain. They rearrange the chemistry, and the interior makeup. We’re talking more than just redecorating here. The hosts acquire the same biological preferences as the bacteria. They crave iron and sulfur. They relish baths in sulfuric acid-like what the lagoon is turning into. I don’t understand how they do it, but somehow they tinker with the genetic code, and the hormones get all out of whack. Then the animal takes orders from their hybrid masters.”
His aggravation finally swollen so large that it popped, Sneed smacked his hand on the edge of the table. “Listen old man, blaming your crimes on corporations and politicians is offensive enough, but at least it doesn’t insult my fucking intelligence. Now, making this a yarn about body snatchers? This doesn’t sit well with me. Do you think I’m a complete idiot? Or are you still trying to sucker me into declaring you insane?”
The Lagoon Watcher slumped to his side. He raised his hands so he could bury his face in them, but the shackles limited his reach. Instead, he wiped his nose on his shirt. The man’s theories had been ignored for decades, yet he apparently had never lost the impassioned belief that he stood on the right side. This time, Aaron believed that he did.
Those “hybrids” could serve as the missing piece that fills the enormous hole in this case, Aaron thought. Moni had described a gator with the two snakes growing out of it. Aaron had seen that video of the dolphins with human hands. These mutations went beyond what bacteria alone could do. The murder victims had organs removed cleanly from the inside almost as if they were disassembled from their bodies. Aaron had first compared it to tiny construction workers. Maybe those early impressions were right on the money. If they could remove organs, they could carve off a head just as smoothly.
Sneed signaled to the officer standing behind Trainer. The husky man approached the inmate’s back. If they dragged him out that door, they wouldn’t see him for a long time.
“Hold on a second. I’ve got another question,” Aaron said.
“Will this episode of the X-Files ever end?” Sneed remarked, as he waved the officer back into the corner.
“I only wish it was fiction,” Swartzman said. “I’m afraid that what Mr. Trainer described might be all too real.” Almost giddy, the shackled man tapped his feet. Then the professor delegated the next move to his student. “Didn’t you have a question for the gentleman?”
Despite the gravity of the moment, Aaron couldn’t contain his goofy grin at having his professor finally recognize that he could actually help him in a tight spot. It counted as more than a tight spot, really. The task was stopping a false conviction of one of Swartzman’s friends-the man who had saved his career. And then they had this little issue with the heinous water quality in the lagoon.
