Free Through Glass Darkly Episode 1 by Peter Knyte Page B

probably choose to hole up somewhere quiet?’ Asked the Fire Chief again.
    ‘Actually, yes that would make sense.’ I conceded, though it hadn’t occurred to me until he’d suggested it. ‘We have no idea how much rest they need, either in the Expanse or in our world, but I can tell you that on one occasion in the Expanse we did discover an entire shoal of Lamphrey and another creature we named a Leviathan apparently asleep or unconscious, and by killing our engines and slowly gliding into them we were able to completely surprise them.’
    ‘Were they visible to the naked eye while they were asleep?’ Asked the police captain.
    ‘No, I’m afraid not,’ I replied. ‘In fact that was one the things that tipped us off about their ability to be invisible without really exerting themselves.
    ‘We knew before we went into the Expanse that they could make themselves entirely transparent by changing the way their skin or shell reflected light, so that rather than just bouncing off, the light was broken up and reflected back into a part of the spectrum that we couldn’t see. But it was only when we stumbled across this sleeping group in the Expanse that we realised this must be a general defence mechanism they employ all the time to avoid being spotted by their natural rivals or enemies in the Expanse.
    ‘Naturally if they can manage to remain this way even when sleeping or unconscious, we reasoned it must be fairly easy for them to maintain.’
    We talked some more about the creatures, how fast they could move, whether they could climb or swim or fly, and any number of other things, all the while trying to plot areas on a map of the city that could be likely hideout areas or hunting grounds.
    ‘As for what you’ll see through the scopes,’ I explained. ‘It will take a bit of getting used to. The scopes will allow you to see partially into both the infrared and ultraviolet bands of the electro-magnetic spectrum, which is going to make the ordinary world look rather bright and unnaturally colourful. You’ll be able to see the body heat of colleagues, or even just a hot cup of coffee. In winter this would make the scopes a lot more effective because the ground and buildings would be so cold in contrast, but now in July, the background heat will create a lot of confusion, which we’re sure the creature will be aware of and deliberately choose to reflect light into that bit of the spectrum.
    ‘Similarly with the ultraviolet, even on a cloudy day the UV levels at this time of year will be quite high during the day, and again the creature is likely to adapt to this added camouflage.
    ‘Now this doesn’t mean the creature won’t show up at all, it just means it’s going to take your men a day or two to get used to the scopes before they’ll be able to spot when there’s something else in the picture that they can’t see with the naked eye.’
    ‘And there’s no way of fitting out our men with a fancy set of the lenses that you’re wearing?’ Asked the Police Captain bluntly. ‘To give them a better chance of seeing this creature.’
    It was Fraser that decided to butt in and answer that one, even though he’d been the closest to a natural Lensman out of the three of them that I’d given a demonstration to, he reassured Platt in no uncertain terms that he wouldn’t wish that particular gift upon his worst enemy.
    I wasn’t seriously expecting them to trust me enough to let me help out with the search, but Fraser surprised me again when we got around to talking about how the search should be conducted, when he suggested to Jenkins and the others that it might be worthwhile letting me tag along with each of the teams for a while just to help them get accustomed to the scopes that we were outfitting them with.
    They didn’t look too convinced about the idea to begin with, but on a whim I suggested they each have a go with the scopes before making their minds up, just so they could get an idea of how tricky