Alien Virus (15 page)

For some reason, the beings followed the
trail left by the substance–processing machine, which led them into
the area of space occupied by Frank’s Universe. Frank and his race
were within a hairs–breath of being wiped out by the alien
invaders. But at the eleventh hour, they discovered a
defence
mechanism of their own which would repel the
mindless aliens. Soon, that mechanism became a means of immunity;
and with no hosts to occupy, the alien virus (as it could now be
called) moved swiftly away from their area, onwards and upwards,
searching for life in other galaxies.

Arriving at the Earth’s Solar System, it was
drawn to our planet like flies to a light. As it filtered through
the atmosphere in its billions upon billions of parts, it dropped
into the oceans and onto the land masses. All the parts that fell
into the oceans were immediately
neutralised
, though not destroyed by the salty sea
water. But the parts falling on land infiltrated the water supply
in many lands and soon found their way into the food chain. Once
inside animals – including man – they acted like alien parasites,
taking over the organism and eventually eating it alive. Man was
easy meat. By eating animals, he took in the virus from the
affected meat, and so in turn became infected. All the current
diseases of Man could be put down to one cause: the virus. But in
ten thousand years, Man had still not discovered that truth.

Frank and others from his race had been
telling Man about the virus for centuries – with mixed success. At
times, they seem to be making great headway and managed to convert
many areas into virus free zones. Then there would be an outbreak
in another area, which would spread like wildfire. It was generally
a case of one step forward and two back. But they couldn’t give up.
For the sake of mankind, and all other races in the Cosmos, they
had to keep on task – however small their success.

Over the years, more and more beings from
Frank’s Universe had come to Earth to help out. Then races from
other areas of space heard about the plight and volunteered their
assistance, driven by the thought that this alien virus could
threaten their own Universe.

But in the end, if they could not stop the
virus, they all knew what they would have to do: completely destroy
the Earth and everything on it – the virus included. It was the
very last resort, but one they were not afraid to carry through.
Audrey hoped it would not come to that.

***

Twenty

Frank liked Orkney straightaway – and so did
Audrey. It had a good feeling for both of them from the moment they
landed in Stromness. They admired the narrow cobbled streets, and
the old stone buildings. And they loved the proximity to the sea.
But most of all, they liked what wasn’t there – the troubled and
intimidating atmosphere of the cities. In Orkney, they felt relaxed
and very much at home.

But as they approached Kirkwall, Audrey
began to think about the others and she started to feel a little
concerned about how Frank would be received when they reached Eday.
Frank seemed to sense this.

“Everything’s going to be fine – don’t
worry. What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

“They could kill you,” she answered.

“You know they wouldn’t – it’s not in their
nature. The worst thing is they’ll reject us – reject me, I mean.
But Tony won’t – he’s seen too much.” Audrey nodded. She knew Tony
was dedicated – but she also knew he would rigidly stay true to
what he believed was correct. As he did when Frank left for
London.

As they drove into Kirkwall, Audrey thought
again about their reception on Eday. No, the worst thing that could
happen wouldn’t be Frank dying another death on this Earth – it
would be to never see Frank again.

*

That morning, a car drove down the narrow
track towards Mill Bay, and stopped outside Harry and Jo’s house.
Inside, Jo stopped what she was doing, and looked out of a window
to see who the visitors were. She got a shock.

“Harry,” she hissed, “It’s the Police.”
Harry peered through the window and nodded to himself.

“Okay, stay calm.” We’ve not broken any
laws…”

“What about the salt?” The police were
already knocking on the door.

“It’ll be all right – they’ll never find
it.” The door knocked again, more urgently this time. Police visits
were rare. With no policemen on the island, officers had to come
over from Kirkwall. And they would only do that if they knew of any
suspicious activity. “You go – better if it’s a woman.”

‘Gee, thanks,’ thought Jo as she opened the
door. There were two officers. A tall one with his cap hiding any
hair he might have, which Jo thought would probably be red, in
keeping with his eyebrows and freckled complexion. The other was
shorter and harder–looking, with black hair and eyebrows that met
in the middle. It was the dark–haired one that spoke first.

“Morning… Mrs Shaw, isn’t it?”

“Yes… what’s the problem?”

“Oh, no problem – just a routine enquiry.”
With the Police these days, there was no such thing as a ‘routine
enquiry.’ “Can we come in to talk?” To say no would be an open
admission of guilt, so she let them in with a smile.

“This is my husband, Harry,” she said. He
was going to shake hand, but realized they had no intention of
doing so. He kept his hands in his pockets.

“What can we do for you?” Harry asked.

“Are you familiar with the new sodium laws,
Mr Shaw?” Harry could feel the tension in the air increasing. He
tried to remain calm.

“Yes, yes I have. About time they were
brought in.” Jo nodded in agreement. Feigning to side with the
enemy seemed the best strategy in this situation.

“Exactly what we think, sir. And in line
with the new legislation, we’re required to check all the farms in
the area for salt supplies.” The second officer then spoke.

“It’s just precautionary – we don’t want the
substance to fall into the wrong hands, you understand.” Harry
nodded and said ‘Of course’. The dark–haired policeman then
continued.

“Do you own all the outbuildings here
sir?”

“Yes, they’re all part of the farm. We’re
one hundred per cent organic here, so naturally we wouldn’t have
any salt here. But go ahead and check them out for yourself…” The
taller officer nodded, as if to say ‘that won’t be necessary, sir.’
But the rat–faced one answered.

“Thank you – it won’t take long. Do we need
a key to any of the barns?” Jo reluctantly went to get a set of
keys from the kitchen, and handed them over to the taller officer,
who accepted them apologetically. When they’d left, Jo turned to
Harry.

“
Now
what do we do?” He looked out of
the window, thinking, watching the policemen open the first
shed.

“Admit robbery and assault?”

“Harry, this isn’t funny – we could go to
jail.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I don’t believe for one
minute that this is a ‘routine call’ – someone’s tipped them
off.”

“Who would do that?”

“Oh, one or two names come to mind. The
thing is, we need to phone Tony to warn him. But I don’t want to do
that just yet – they may be able to trace the call.”

“But what do we say if they find the salt?
What then?” Jo was clearly very worried.

“Plead ignorance. The salt’s in barley bags,
remember? If we’d bought the barley in good faith, how would we
know that anything but grain was in it?” This calmed Jo down. Once
she knew how to deal with a situation, she was fine – she could
give it her all.

“You’re right – I’m sorry for being so
neurotic. We don’t even know they’re going to find the salt, and if
they do…” She was interrupted by another knock on the door.

“Could you come with us please?” the dark
officer was at the door, looking more serious than ever. Harry and
Jo followed obediently. In one of the
b
yres
, the taller officer
was standing over six bags of salt that had been hidden in a Barley
sack. “Could you explain this, Mr Shaw?”

“Oh my god!” exclaimed Jo.

“What the…?” Harry burst. “Where’s my
Barley? I paid three hundred quid a
tonne
for that seed!”

“You’ll have to give us the name of our
supplier, Mr Shaw.” Harry had no problem with that. The man who had
sold him the seed would probably sell his own mother down the
river, if the price was right. He’d tried to palm Harry off with
inferior grain in the past, and had made ‘mistakes’ in his prices
on more than one occasion.

“I’ll get the details,” said Jo,
helpfully.

“We’ll have to confiscate this illegal
substance, of course…”

“You can keep it, but I want compensation
for my grain.” Harry was playing the angry victim now – the unjust
seeking vengeance. The taller officer answered him.

“If the matter goes to Court, we would hope
to seek a conviction. You may be able to get compensation then –
but we would need you to give evidence in Court.”

“ No problem,” replied Harry. “That bastard
has cost me a fortune.” Jo gave a copy of their invoice to the
taller policemen, who left apologizing for the inconvenience, and
promising he would do what he could for them. Jo and Harry watched
them drive away, and then turned to each other.

“That was close,” Jo said.

“Mmm… I wonder who grassed on us?”

*

Kate heard the sound of wheels on the gravel
pathway leading into the chalets, and stopped what she was doing.
Visitors were so rare, anytime they heard a vehicle they was a
sharp intake of breath. She looked out of the window to see an old
woman being helped out of a car by a young, dark man.

“Audrey!” Kate exclaimed. I looked up from
my laptop to see Kate wave out of the window, then throw open the
door. I followed her out, intrigued to meet ‘Frank’. As the two
females hugged, I looked quizzically at the slim, dark, unshaven
figure in front of me.

“Hello, Kevin,” he said with a smile –
how’ve you been?” When we heard that Frank was coming up, I’d
pondered on how I’d react to seeing him. I’d thought that there
would be something about him that would make him instantly
recognizable. Some small thing that would convince me, beyond
doubt, that this really was Frank Peters – the middle–aged academic
I’d met at my local in London. But when I saw him standing there,
and heard his voice for the first time, I could honestly say that
this idea was bollocks. He looked nothing like Frank – not in any
shape or form – and there was nothing in his voice to indicate it
was Frank. Yet Audrey obviously had no doubt about his
authenticity; or was this just the wishful thinking of a mother
after losing her only son? Inside she knew it wasn’t him, but to
have a fake son was better than none – and if he wanted to be her
son, why should she deny him a mother?

So I was friendly, without being familiar.
And I didn’t call him Frank.

“Steve, isn’t it?” he nodded and smiled
again.

“Yes – if you like.”

“Let’s go and find Tony and the others,” I
said, wanted to lose myself in the company of people I knew as soon
as possible.

“Great,” he said. He didn’t have to look
far. Gareth practically flew out of his chalet, then stopped when
he saw what I had seen.

“Frank?” he asked. Steve nodded and smiled.
Not comfortable with Frank’s appearance, Gareth went to greet
Audrey, whom he certainly did recognize. Meanwhile Tony appeared. A
huge grin spread across his face, then he held out his arms.

“Frank!” and he proceeded to hug what to me
was still a stranger.

Sandi had stayed in the background for a few
minutes, presumably not knowing how to react to Steve. While Tony
and Steve were talking, she beamed a big smile at Audrey and then
gave her a kiss and big hug.

“It’s wonderful to see you Audrey!” We’ve
all missed you – especially your cooking, Gareth thinks I’m
hopeless – and all he makes is curry.” Audrey was clearly
overwhelmed by the occasion.

“It’s lovely to see you all again – I didn’t
know it would be so soon. But then Frank came back… Oh, you’ve
never met Frank, have you?” Sandi shook her head. “Frank – over
here.” Steve excused himself from Tony and came over to meet
Sandi.

“We’ve never met – but I’ve heard a lot
about you, she said.” Sandi looked nervous, and I could understand
why. She was never one to stand on ceremony, and this would be
really difficult for her. It was hard enough for me to accept that
the young, dark stranger in front of me was the same man I’d met a
week ago. How was cynical Sandi going to manage? Steve looked at
her closely, almost scrutinizing her, making her more uncomfortable
than ever. Then his face broke into a charming smile,

“We’ll have to get to know each other,” he
intimated. Just then, a phone rang, and Tony went to answer it. I
suggested that we all went into our chalet for a drink and sit
down. Kate put on the kettle, and I opened a bottle of single malt.
None of us could stop looking at Steve. Every time he caught our
eyes, we’d smile then look away for a few minutes. Then Tony came
in.

“Kevin – can I have a word. Won’t be minute
folks – nothing’s wrong.” Once we were outside, I asked Tony what
was the matter.

“I’d just had a call from Harry. The police
have been to his place and found the salt…”

“What! How could they know?”

“Harry thinks they were tipped off.”

“By whom?”

“He doesn’t know. Any ideas?”

“How about Steve Saunders?”

“What? You mean Frank?”

“Yes, ‘Frank’, as you call him. If he’s so
clever at activating dead bodies, why didn’t he just reactive the
one that was killed. At least we’d all recognize him then.”

“He couldn’t – it was too mangled. He was
run over by a car for Christ’s sake!”