'Maps/ Trask said, turning to Jimmy Harvey where he sat at a keyboard. 'Jimmy, see if the computer has an even smaller-scale map of that area, and blow it up on the wall there/
'I've been working on it/ said the other, tapping a key. 'Consider it done/
The wall screen turned blue, if not entirely blue. For in the specified area there were the dotted outlines of reefs and other irregular shapes: islands or islets, and a legend identifying them as Heron Island and the Bunker and Capricorn groups, the latter because they lay on or close to the Tropic of Capricorn. Other lettering at the top of the map said that this was The Capricornia Section of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
And very quietly, Trask said, 'So, not necessarily a ship after all/
But, looking sick, the locator David Chung could only shake his head and remark, 'What a fool he is who has no faith in his own God-given skills!'
Trask might have denied it, but lan Goodly beat him to it. 'Not at all/ the precog said. 'When we use talents like these, it's against nature. I mean, even we appreciate that what we're doing isn't, well, mundane. Is it any wonder we're sceptical of our results? Or that we occasionally fail to see their significance?'
And then Trask said, 'You're right, lan, and I was on the point of making much the same remark. But as I've already said, this isn't a skills contest. How we get there doesn't matter a damn, only that we get there. Where these monsters are concerned, the end always justifies the means. Any means/
'Huh!' said Lardis. 'And in Starside, whenever a man ascends to a vampire Lord and becomes Wamphyri, they have much the same saying — it's not the route but the getting there. In that respect, and except that their evil has been made ten times as great, these monsters are much like men, you know/
'Because they were men/ said Trask. 'And God knows we're none of us pure. Very well, now let's get on — but as soon as we're done here I want the Duty Officer to contact our aide in Prime Minister Blackmore's office. We need authority for liaison with someone high in the administration of the reef marine park. We need to know who or what is out there on those islets in the Bunker and Capricorn groups…' A moment's pause and he turned to Goodly:
lan, you and Lardis were in the other chopper party. And just like David here I know you, too, have a problem. Time now to have it out in the open, get it cleared up.'
The precog stood up, tossed a pamphlet attached to a tourist map onto the table. 'I picked this up at the Skytours helipad,' he said. It's a freebie: a give-away route map into the Macpherson Mountains, and a colour brochure describing the wonders and benefits of the Xanadu health and pleasure resort. But that's not all I picked up. There was — or I should say there may have been — something else, when we flew over the place.'
Sitting at the table (feeling more than a little useless, and wondering what he was doing here), Jake remembered the odd, strained look on the precog's face — the way his hands gripped his seat's armrests — after they'd descended to have a closer look at the resort. And now his interest focussed more definitely on Goodly as he saw once again the same nervous tension in the man's face and attitude.
'The thing is,' Goodly went on, 'I have precisely the same problem as David. The location: all that unhampered sunlight. I just can't see how the kind of creature we're looking for could exist up there… if that's what it was about.' Seeing Trask's face, he held up a hand placatingly. 'Yes, all right, I promise I will get on with it. But there are complications…
'First: as we were descending toward the place, so that we could get a better look at it, our pilot/tour-guide mentioned a fire that occurred during the El Nino back in 1997. And I found some of his descriptions vivid and perhaps evocative: the place was like a tinderbox… it went up like so much kindling, et cetera.
'Also, while we've been here I've heard quite a lot of talk about the Great Fire of Brisbane, and what with this awful heat and all—'
'You saw a fire?' Trask cut in.
Goodly nodded. 'But I didn't see its cause, and I couldn't tell when it was happening. I mean, it could have been a mental response to what the pilot had said. For example, when someone says "do you remember" this or that other thing, you are made automatically to see it, relive it, in your mind's eye. Do you see? It could be that our pilot had evoked just such a response in me. And Ben, if this was one of my things, then it was only the very briefest glimpse. Smoke, and leaping flames… gouts of yellow fire roiling up to a night sky, and a full moon hanging there… and someone shouting, "To me, to me!"'
Listening to him, Trask displayed a kind of amazement, as if he'd only just realized something that should have been obvious for a long time. 'How long have I known you?' he said. 'It sometimes seems that I've known you forever. And yet I've never thought to ask you — do you sometimes see the past?'
The precog raised an eyebrow, said, 'I remember the past, just like anyone else.' And then a wry chuckle. 'It's just that I sometimes remember the future, too!' But he was serious again in a moment. 'That's what we have to consider, Ben. The future. And we know just how devious that can be — or is it perhaps my talent that's devious? I've never been able to figure it out.'
'Okay,' said the other, 'so you don't know whether it was the past or the future. It's just one of those times when your talent leaves you in doubt. But there's one clue, at least.'
'Oh?' Again Goodly's eyebrow.
'You said it was night-time when Xanadu went up in flames, and—'
'Not Xanadu,' Goodly stopped him. 'Just a handful of weekend or holiday homes, on the false plateau where Xanadu stands now.'
'Whatever,' Trask waved a hand. 'But you did say there was a full moon?'
'Yes.'
'Well, that… is one hell of a clue!' He turned to Harvey where he sat at the computer keyboard. 'Jimmy, can you get into the local libraries on that thing?'
Harvey looked up from where he was working and smiled. But before he could say anything Trask said, 'I know, don't say it: you're way ahead of me. The newspapers? For the fires of'97?'
Harvey nodded towards the wall screen. 'On the screen, just about any time… now!'
And: Gadgets and ghosts! thought Jake, as headlines sprang into life on the big screen, and Harvey brought the small print into focus. The location, date, and time, everything was there, written into the report. And Trask said:
'Good! Now then, Jimmy, can you cross-reference that date with phases of the moon?'
It took but a moment, but then Trask's shoulders sagged as he slumped into a seat and said, 'Damn it all to hell! The last thing I wanted. A bloody full moon!' And looking at the precog: 'So maybe you can see the past, and not just remember it, after all…'
'And maybe he can't/ said Jake. It was the first time he had spoken, and now everyone looked at him. And after a while:
'Well, go on then,' said Trask.
'Shouldn't we take the next step?' Jake said. 'The same as we did with David Chung? I seem to have been hearing about synchronicity, coincidence, and what have you ever since I collided with this outfit. So couldn't this be exactly the same thing? I mean, just because there was a full moon on the night in question back in '97, that doesn't mean the precog wasn't seeing the future up there at Xanadu. Or aren't there going to be any more full moons? Me, I'm wondering when the next one is due.'
Trask frowned, stared at Jake, then turned again to Jimmy Harvey. 'Do it,' he said.
And in a very short time the answer was up on the screen.
'Three days' time!' Trask husked then, open-mouthed, staring at the date and full-moon symbol. And Goodly cautioned:
'But does it mean what we're thinking? Are we going to do it, or is it our old friend El Nino again? Will it result from us attacking the place and burning out a nest, or from a freak of nature, a terrible disaster? I still can't see how it's possible for our quarry to exist up there.'