Death and The Divide Read online

  “You should take a look. Might have some bearing on your seagull and dolphin stories from yesterday.” He continued to his desk.

  She scrolled the British news site and discovered a frightening story. Fifty whales had apparently attacked each other and died, then washed ashore in Mobile, Alabama yesterday. Marine biologists from the state’s unit at the University in Birmingham had investigated the occurrence but hadn’t released any revelations to the cause. The report went on to describe the grisly scene - normally peaceful whales had ripped each other apart, covering the beach with blood and flesh. No one would speculate on why.

  She shivered at a posted picture of the mutilated corpses littering the beach. No one could mistake the fins and tails protruding from gaping mouths. She copied the piece and forwarded it to Dr. Manson. Did these events tie together? Cross-species madness leading to mass murder?

  “Dr. Manson?” she called, hoping he’d shed some of his genius on this situation and give her some ideas she could pass on to Carol.

  “Focus on the gorillas, Miss Moralez. As long as this stays in the South, it’s none of our business,” came his gruff reply. “On the other hand, the government of Rwanda is paying us a great deal of money to stop the untimely deaths of their precious mountain gorillas. Stick to the relevant matter.”

  She let out a silent sigh. Until the scanner spit out its report in two hours, she had little to do for the mountain gorillas of Rwanda. If these strange massacres were related and she proved a parasite as the cause, it would be a fantastic discovery. Such a study would make a tremendous PhD paper and put her name on the map of famous parasitologists. She had dreamed of this sort of break. A way to leave the comfortable nest of basking in Dr. Manson’s famous glow. And yet, putting forth her own theories frightened her. What if she made a mistake and caused more harm than good? Maybe she’d accomplish more as an assistant. She shook off that doubt and pushed it to the back of her mind. She could at least poke around in previous research and current news stories for more information.

  Unfortunately, when the beep of the scanner interrupted her private research two hours later, she had little more than when she started. Whatever was happening had occurred independently and abruptly. All the more frightening.

  Her comm buzzed, vibrating against her wrist. Her mother.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  “Ria, have you heard from Lola this afternoon?”

  “No, why?”

  “She called me this morning and said she might need me to meet Conner at the after school pick up. She never called back, and now I can’t reach her.”

  “You know how absentminded she can be. She probably forgot. If the school didn’t call one of us, I’m sure everything is all right. They have our links as backups.”

  Her mother’s sigh drifted through the connection. “I hate to say it, but you’d be a better mother to that boy than she is. I think she acts like he’s her little brother. Sometimes when she takes him out, I’m afraid she’ll get distracted and lose him.”

  Ria couldn’t laugh. That had actually happened one time, but she hadn’t told her mother. She’d picked Conner up at a restaurant where he’d patiently waited after Lola went to the restroom then forgot he was with her and left. He had the staff call Ria to pick him up. Thank goodness even at eight years old he was a smart and resilient kid.

  “I know, Mom, but she is his mother, so that’s not up for discussion.”

  “You should have your own child, Ria. You know they’re talking about having a stricter allocation policy soon. At least look for a boyfriend so you can head in that direction.”

  Here we go. Ria gritted her teeth. Her mother never lost a chance to rub in her single, childless state. She loved Conner so much and wanted more grandchildren. Ria’s career path hadn’t allowed much time for personal pleasure, however. Until she had her PhD and a decent job, she didn’t want to think about such things. She’d experience her maternal fixes through interaction with her nephew.

  “I have to go, Mom. I’ve completed my current project and have to send it out before Dr. Manson yells at me.”

  “That man! He doesn’t know how lucky he is to have you.”

  “Right, Mom. I’m sure he does. Say hello to Dad for me.”

  “All right, sweetie. Call me later.”

  She and Dr. Manson wrapped up the final analysis of the gorilla parasite, scanned it, and sent the package via SatNet to their contact with the Rwanda government. The constantly threatened mountain gorillas would be saved one more time, and she actually got a pat on the back from her grumpy boss. A successful end to the day.

  As she turned off her computer, she realized Carol had not called. She checked her desk comm for messages. Nothing. Strange. Her friend had sounded desperate for information yesterday. She reached for the call button then withdrew her fingers. It would cause problems if she contacted a person in the South with the trackers on. Maybe her friend had gotten busy in her investigation and would call tomorrow.

  She reached her apartment building and rode the turbo lift to floor one-twenty-one with her mind bouncing between worry for her friend and ideas for what had caused the animal massacres. Every path her mind traveled seemed to hit a roadblock of biological impossibility. And yet something had cause the aberrant behavior.

  “Stop it, Mom. You’re cheating,” Conner’s high-pitched voice met Annaria when she opened the door to her unit.

  Her nephew and his mother punched the air in a holo-simulated game of Puzzle Pow. Ria shook her head. They really did act more like siblings than parent and child. It appeared Lola had spent another day at home, not looking for a job. But she always had a good excuse.

  “Hey, Ria,” her sister said, laughing as she hopped around looking for projected red balls to bop with her fist.

  Conner had green, but his mother would block his movements occasionally, making him miss. Nothing new there. Lola was a big kid at heart and never recognized her selfishness.

  “Aunt Ria, I got an excellent score on my math game today at school.” Conner gave Lola a playful shove and turned off the simulator. “That’s enough, Mom. I hate playing with you.”

  She kissed the top of his head, laughed, and flopped onto the chaise by the picture window, breathing hard. “You hate losing. But I still love you.”

  Conner grinned, but rolled his eyes, and ran to hug Annaria.

  “No luck today in the job hunt?” she asked her sister, then bent to kiss her nephew’s cheek as he wrapped his arms around her hips.

  Lola grimaced. “The one I told you about at City Center has been filled.”

  Ria started to say that if she’d looked into it a week ago when it was posted, that wouldn’t be a problem. But she’d learned to keep her comments to herself or endure a week of Lola’s hurt tears, with calls from their mother admonishing her to support her sister and not criticize.

  “Aunt Ria, I have to do a report on the history of The Divide. Will you help me? Mom says what happened that long ago isn’t important.” Conner followed her to the galley where she punched in a vend order for a cup of hot green tea.

  “Sure.” She smiled and leaned over to whisper in his ear. “It’s a very important part of our history. Your mom is wrong.”

  He grinned back. “I know. She’s usually wrong about school stuff.”

  “Grab your tech-pad so you can make notes. What do you want to know?”

  He went to the booth and scrambled onto one of the seats. “I looked up the basic history on SatNet. That’s mostly just facts on a timeline about when stuff happened. I don’t understand what really caused it.”

  She took her cup and joined him. “Well, it was a lot of things. To make it as simple as I can, I’d say people in the old United States separated into two groups with different beliefs. They hated each other so much they had a war, and the only way to stop the killing was to erect a huge fence through the center of the country and create two countries. People went to live on whichever side most shared their ow
n beliefs. I’ll give you some links to SatNet sites you can study.”

  “So how did we come to live in the North?”

  She took a deep breath. This topic was more difficult. “Your great grandmother was black. She originally lived in the south. When the differences grew more open, and race was one of those issues, she came north.”

  “Great grandpa was white. He didn’t care what color she was.” He stared up at her with innocent eyes.

  Her heart warmed. Maybe new generations would put aside petty issues like race and see each other based on their internal merits. It would be a blessing for these issues to fade into non-existence. She hoped he never grew jaded by hate. “”That’s right, and your grandfather is from Mexico. We’re a mix of a lot of colors.”

  “Are people in the South mean then?”

  She bit her bottom lip, thinking of her great-grandfather who lost his life to a terrorist bomb from the South. He’d had a farm that bordered The Divide. Constant bombings after the war had devastated that area, and now no one lived there. But she couldn’t allow herself to judge all of them based on that. “No. They just have different beliefs than people in the North.”

  He frowned and cast a sideways glance at her, one brow raised.

  She finished her tea. “That’s enough for now. I need to complete some research and so do you. Have you done your other homework modules?”

  “Yes. I’m going to start working on this report. It’s interesting, but I still don’t understand a lot of stuff about why people couldn’t get along.”

  She had a hard time understanding it, too. “Okay, kiddo. Make a list of questions and we’ll talk more later.”

  Lola wandered in and ordered a glass of white wine from the Servo vend. “Why do they still teach that stuff from the past? It’s morbid. I think we should forget the division and then maybe we could heal. I can’t stand thinking about it.”

  Annaria hit the connector button on her tech pad to link to the more powerful home computer. Her sister was super sensitive. She couldn’t even kill an insect if it invaded their home. “History is important so we understand how everything developed. Maybe we won’t make the same mistakes again.”

  Lola gave a sharp laugh. “Ria, this was the second civil war here. I don’t think we’re learning much.”

  She couldn’t argue with that.

  “I don’t want to remember. Reminds me of grandpa.” Lola leaned against a wall, her dark, silky hair hanging over one shoulder.

  Ria had always wanted straight hair like that instead of her springy black curls that never went where she wanted them. Her sister was thin like their father, whereas Annaria had inherited her mother’s curves. Lola’s long-sleeved tunic looked two sizes too big for her, with its droopy shoulders and the way her hands disappeared up the sleeves. It was the right size. It looked that way because Lola always retracted into herself, like a homeless waif. She’d spent her entire adult life trying to escape unpleasant issues. When their parents argued, she clamped her hands over her ears and ran to her room to shut out the sounds of conflict.

  “It is sad, but children need to know the truth of their past. Maybe this time it will keep such a tragedy from happening again.” She gave her sister a smile. “Don’t let it disturb you. I know you can’t deal with such topics. I’ll help Conner with this project.”

  “Thanks, sis. I’m glad you understand.” Lola sipped her wine, after a few moments, a smile curved her lips. “I’m going to ride in with you tomorrow.”

  Annaria paused in surprise. “Oh?”

  “There’s a position in the art department at the university. One of the professors needs an assistant. I’d like a job that involved in art.”

  “That’s awesome, Lola. You’d be great at that.” She started to ask questions about the position, but stopped. Her sister acted like a skittish fawn when it came to work. If she asked her sister about a job or pushed her, she ran the other way. “I’ve got a new project starting tomorrow.”

  “You finished the gorilla bug?”

  “Yes. Dr. Manson wants to look into some kind of tapeworm a colleague sent him from India.”

  “Yuck.” Lola grinned. “I don’t know how you can work with disgusting creatures like that. Tapeworms. Ugh!”

  Annaria laughed, relieved the tense issue of employment had passed without a blow up. “Seriously. I hate the worm parasites the most. The idea of them curling around in somebody makes me want to throw up.”

  The door chime sounded, and Lola beamed. “That must be Min.”

  Ria shook her head as her sister raced to the door to let him in. She had a view of their extended hug and kiss when he entered. Then Lola took his hand and led him to the kitchen.

  “Hey, Ria,” he said, his Asian features set in happy lines as his gaze followed Lola. He slid his lanky form into the seat opposite her. “What are you working on lately?”

  “I had a parasite yesterday that makes gorillas’ skin peel off, and tomorrow looks like an internal worm of some sort.”

  He faked a gagging sound as Lola handed him a glass of wine. “That’s mondo disgusting.”

  “Sometimes it is,” she agreed, wishing Manson would deal with the worm project himself.

  “We’re going out.” He took Lola’s hand and kissed it. “There’s this tight band over at Bumpus tonight. Want to go along?”

  “No. I have some work to do.” It was her usual answer when invited for outside entertainment. Besides, someone had to stay home with Conner.

  Lola kissed her cheek. “You should go out and have some fun occasionally, Sis. Life isn’t all about bugs and worms.”

  “Maybe next time.” She smiled and kissed her sister back. She did love Lola. They’d been so close as children, before her sister discovered art and closed off to reality. Living in a world filled with beautiful creations was probably her way of dealing with the sometimes-ugly patches of life.

  “Okay, see you in the morning,” Lola called as she and Min headed out.

  The remainder of the evening passed without further mention of Conner’s history report. He remained in his room, diligently working until time for bed. That was okay by her. She had to admit, their earlier discussion had dredged up unpleasant memories of the past. Maybe Lola was right and they shouldn’t focus on it so much. Of course she couldn’t let her sister know she agreed with her. She chuckled. To distract her thoughts, she spent a couple of hours looking into other reports similar to the seagull and whale stories.

  She startled when her tech-pad alarm went off. She’d set it earlier to alert her to any new reports of mass killings within a species. She swiped the alarm notice, which took her to a news site search page. This time, the occurrence happened in New Orleans. As words scrolled down the screen, she gasped at the headlines. Five Violently Killed on Shrimp Boat, Grisly Scene of Attacks on Local Boat, Crazed Fishermen Kill Each Other…

  Finding a likely accurate source, she pulled up the story. A privately owned boat used for catching shrimp had been found adrift last night by the Republic Coast Guard. Four men on board had been brutally murdered. Apparently, a fifth man had gone overboard and drowned. His battered body washed ashore early this morning. All bodies showed evidence of bite marks with flesh ripped out. Gouged eyes and contusions from blunt objects added to the injuries, and most had died from loss of blood.

  A cold chill swept her skin, and she shivered. This story had not made the normal Southern media outlets. No doubt they didn’t want this news to spread. Fortunately, enough foreign news companies covered the ROA that such incidents couldn’t be completely hidden from the rest of the world.

  But dear God, if this connected to the other killings, this was the worst possible scenario. Whatever had caused the murders had crossed over to humans.

  Chapter Four

  Ria’s hands shook as she fastened her tunic the next morning. She’d barely slept trying to find more information on the shrimp boat disaster, and her troubled mind affected her body. Little more w
as known now than when the original story popped up last night. She couldn’t wait to reach the office and hear Manson’s take on this development.

  True to her word, Lola rose early. Dressed and ready, she accompanied Annaria when she left for work. Ria avoided saying anything about the job, given this auspicious beginning.

  They left Conner at the building’s childcare center so he could catch the tram to his school, then headed for the monorail stop.

  “What a nice day,” Lola said, scanning the blue sky as they boarded the sleek silver pod. A smile curved her lips and she half-closed her eyes as a breeze ruffled her hair. “I might go to the Town Plaza after my interview.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Annaria murmured, half-listening. What would Dr. Manson have to say about the human deaths and possible relation to the whales and seagulls? She gave her sister a quick peck on the cheek and wished her luck when they reached the university stop, eager to reach her office.

  Dr. Manson had already arrived and engaged in a loud discussion with five other people. She recognized two women as biology professors and one man from the Infectious Disease Department of the medical center. The other two she didn’t know, but they wore the gray tunic and pants of government officials.

  A quiver of cold fear shot up her spine at the tone of their voices, the agitated movement of their hands, and their worried expressions.

  “I’m telling you, this is not going to stay in the South. We need to be prepared,” Dr. Borman from Biology said. She pointed a finger at one of the gray-suited men. “Good God, man, it’s now affecting humans.”

  “There’s little evidence that the problem might penetrate the North, but we should know what could have caused it. That’s all,” gray number one said.

  “Might?” Dr. Lee, the other woman, asked. “There is no might. Hopping species, three incidents in the last forty-eight hours, with this beginning it’s going to spread like nothing you’ve ever seen. Tell them, Louis.”