"I'll be twenty-six in two months."
"My lord, for the sake of time, I'm going to read the highlights of Dr. Wallace's credentials, just so the court understands why we've summoned this witness." Retreating to his table, Max removed several sheets from another manila folder and began reading aloud.
"Graduated with honors from Washington High School in New York… at the age of fifteen. Accepted an academic scholarship at Princeton, where he played football and graduated with honors while earning both a bachelor's and master's degree in marine biology. Received his doctoral degree from the University of California at San Diego… all this before the ripe old age of twenty-three. In the last four years, Dr. Wallace has authored three papers published in Nature and Science and has patented two underwater hydrophonic devices, including one that was used successfully six months ago to locate a giant squid, this in the waters of the Sargasso Sea. In 2003, Dr. Wallace was listed among the Top 100 scientific minds in the world and was on his way to earning a second doctorate from Florida Atlantic University while he taught courses and lectured. Am I leaving anything out, Dr. Wallace?"
"You forgot to mention I had a crush on my tenth-grade math teacher."
That one drew another stern look from the judge. "Last warning, Dr. Wallace. If you insist on making a mockery of my courtroom, you'll be doing it from a jail cell."
The ridiculousness of my predicament got to me then, and I started to snicker.
The judge banged his gavel and cited me for contempt.
Max jumped in before I could extend my jail sentence to two nights. "Our humblest apologies, my lord. As you can see, the witness is a bit unnerved at having to testify at his own father's murder trial."
"Get to your point, counsel, or I shall dismiss this witness and toss you in jail along with your client."
I winked at Max, enjoying a small token of revenge.
"Dr. Wallace… the accused claims to have witnessed John Cialino dragged below by a large water creature, a creature often referred to as the Loch Ness monster. As a doctoral candidate at Scripps, didn't you once author a scientific paper on this same species?"
"No."
"No?" Max strode back to his table, returning with a Xeroxed copy of a report. "I have it right here, Loch Ness: A New Theory. Written by Zachary Wallace, Scripps, 1999. You are Zachary Wallace, yeah?"
"Listen, Mr. Rael, I don't know how you managed to obtain a copy of this document, but it's essentially an unpublished dissertation."
"Why unpublished?"
"My dissertation committee rejected it."
"Rejected? On what grounds?"
"On the grounds that legitimate scientific bodies aren't interested in chasing legends, and they don't like their doctoral candidates chasing after them, either."
"Still, the report certainly makes a good case for Nessie's existence."
"The paper merely highlights Loch Ness's uniquely isolated ecosystem and—"
"Oh, I think it does a wee bit more than that. If I may," Max thumbed through the dissertation to a previously marked page, "And I quote, The true mystery of Loch Ness lies in its relationship with the North Sea and the Great Glen. The Great Glen was forged 380 million years ago when a sixty-mile fault line fractured, creating a huge trench that split the Highlands geology from southwest to northeast. From this gorge, present-day Loch Ness was created, when a massive glacier advanced through the Great Glen some twenty-thousand years ago. As the ice melted and sea levels rose, Loch Ness may have actually existed as an arm of the North Sea. This theory is backed by recent discoveries of sea urchin spines, clamshells, and other marine material made in deposits recovered from the bottom of the Loch. However, once the glacier fully retreated ten thousand years ago, the land rose in an isostatic rebound and the waterways separated, perhaps trapping a few large sea creatures in the process.' End quote."
"Yes, Mr. Rael, this is the mantra recited by most Nessie theorists, that the retreat of the glaciers from the last ice age trapped ancient sea creatures in Loch Ness. But if you had bothered to read on, I go to great lengths to shoot this theory down. Ten thousand years is far too long for a small colony of large predators to remain isolated in a Loch, and inbreeding alone would have terminated their existence some time ago."
"Ah, but then you go on to state… hang on, hang on… ah, here it is, 'A deep-dwelling sea creature repudiated to be as large as Nessie would avoid traversing the shallows that lead out of Loch Ness and the Bona Narrows to the Moray Firth. The solution to returning to the North Sea may, in fact, lie in the Loch's unique geology. While the surface of Loch Ness lies fifty-two feet above sea level, its depths remain more than seven hundred feet below sea level. The bottom of this trough is flat and smooth, covered in a layer of sediment, twenty- five feet deep. At its northernmost section, Loch Ness is blocked by glacial sediment, however, it is now believed its northern basin may extend beyond Inverness and all the way to the Moray Firth. It is therefore likely that the extreme depths of the Great Glen do not stop at Loch Ness, but may in fact, continue north into the sea by way of a deep underground aquifer."' Max stopped reading. "Aquifer? That's an underground river, correct?"
"A river running through stratum… through rock, yes."
"And do you still stand by these words, Dr. Wallace?"
"It's just a working theory."
"A working theory from an accomplished scientist. Now let's look at your working theory about Nessie." He turned to the next marked section. "Again I quote, 'It is my opinion that the animal referred to as Nessie, if it exists, is an undiscovered species of sea creature, perhaps even a mutation. Even in this day and age, large, extinct land and water creatures are being discovered all the time, thanks to advances in technology and our ability to gain access to hostile environs. The giant Muntjac of Laos, the two hundred pound Saola, a cowlike beast, and the discovery of six new species in the Andes Mountains all being examples. Though most probably of the same species, Nessie is not, however, the same animal confronted by Saint Columba in 565 A.D., back at a time the theorized Loch Ness aquifer may have been open to the sea. In fact, our timeline suggests the modern-day Nessie is a rogue, an animal that became trapped and cut-off from the Moray Firth, not millions or even thousands of years ago, but post-Saint Columba and fairly recently at that, most likely within the last hundred years.'"
I looked around, amazed at the number of people nodding their heads in agreement.
"Dr. Wallace, could you clarify this last part for our jurors?"
"What part?"
"About the monster being less than a century old."
"Again, it's just conjecture."
"Humor us."
I took a deep breath, fighting to maintain an even temper. "The Great Glen… it's a seismically active area. The last major earthquake took place in 1901 and was so violent it actually cracked the bank of the Caledonian Canal. The epicenters of these earthquakes are usually around Lochend, located at the northern end of Loch Ness, precisely where a theorized aquifer running northeast into the Moray Firth might lie. It's possible debris from the 1901 tremor sealed off the aquifer's underground access into Loch Ness, theoretically trapping one or more of these creatures, assuming they even exist."
"And the other evidence you cite, Dr. Wallace, the theory regarding man-made explosions?"
I glanced at Judge Hannam, relishing the fact that he too was clearly losing patience. "Is this going somewhere, Mr. Rael?"
"Aye, my Lord, in fact this specific inquiry provides us with a clear reason the creature surfaced in February to attack John Cialino."
"Go on then, but be quick about it."