that the Gairloch peninsula, up on the northwestern coast, has been auditioning for Ghostbusters III . There's been sighting after sighting of manifestations of some sort. Some of the witnesses do indeed call them ghosts, others say they don't know what the manifestations are, but they glow in the dark."
"And where and when do these hauntings occur?" Joseph asked.
"Day and night," Laika said, her eyes scanning the report. "Town and country, inside and out. There doesn't seem to be any pattern."
"The lack of a distinct pattern," Joseph said with mock solemnity, "often signals the presence of the most meaningful pattern of all."
" The Book of Joseph ," Tony said. "Chapter nineteen, verse eight. Over how wide an area are these things being seen, Laika?"
"Apparently the whole peninsula. About ten miles north to south and another five or six across."
"That's nothing," said Joseph. "A few hoaxers could cover a territory like that easily enough."
"These things have also been seen floating thirty feet in the air," Laika added.
Joseph snorted. "Never underestimate the skill of a determined hoaxer— or the imagination of a terrified witness."
"There's one thing that makes the sightings a little more complex," said Laika, "and that's an MI5 report the CIA intercepted and Skye got ahold of. It states that the night before all this started, a treasure hunter uncovered a luminescent and radioactive cloth that had apparently been buried for several hundred years. The next night the manifestations began. Curiouser and curiouser. But here's the kicker. The rays emitted aren't like any known radioactivity."
"Of course not," Joseph said. "They're obviously ghost -producing rays. I suspect what was opened here was Pandora's Box." He chuckled. "Look, there's no such thing as scientific infallibility, any more than there is papal infallibility . . . no offense." He nodded deferentially to Tony, and Laika hoped he wasn't going to rise to Joseph's Catholic-baiting.
But Tony didn't. "None taken," he said in a chilly voice.
"As long as human beings are running the tests," Joseph went on, "mistakes are going to be made, and I suspect that's what happened here. They just got the results wrong. The glow and the radioactivity are probably just from a phosphorescent mold, or something."
"You think scientists at Edinburgh University would make that simple a mistake?" Tony asked. "Not recognizing mold ?"
"Well, whether they did or not, we're going to be doing some archeological investigation during the next few days," Laika said. "There's a partly ruined stone circle on the peninsula that's called the Mellangaun Stones. It's what's known as a number three status for these things—'ruined but recognizable.' However, there's already an archeological party doing a dig there. But two miles west there's another circle. This one's in far worse shape—a number four. 'Badly ruined.' The MacLunie Stones, named after the farmer who discovered them. There was a dig done there, but in the late eighteen hundreds. The current MacLunie has been given enough money to persuade him to allow a small team from Princeton to do a dig there, without disturbing the stones."
"I don't know squat about archeology," Tony said.
"There's a small box of books on the subject with the luggage," Laika said. "Also, I had a course in it in college, as Skye reminds me here."
"One of your native American culture courses?" Joseph asked.
Laika nodded. "We should be able to fake it well enough. After all, it's only a cover. One of us stays at the site, while the others investigate the phenomena. There'll be tools and supplies when we land in Inverness."
Chapter 10
W hen they touched down at Inverness Airport just before noon, they found a van waiting for them. It contained archeological tools and supplies, along with detailed notes on how to use them and how to construct a dig site that would pass investigation by experts. Along with the gear was the usual assortment of
"And where and when do these hauntings occur?" Joseph asked.
"Day and night," Laika said, her eyes scanning the report. "Town and country, inside and out. There doesn't seem to be any pattern."
"The lack of a distinct pattern," Joseph said with mock solemnity, "often signals the presence of the most meaningful pattern of all."
" The Book of Joseph ," Tony said. "Chapter nineteen, verse eight. Over how wide an area are these things being seen, Laika?"
"Apparently the whole peninsula. About ten miles north to south and another five or six across."
"That's nothing," said Joseph. "A few hoaxers could cover a territory like that easily enough."
"These things have also been seen floating thirty feet in the air," Laika added.
Joseph snorted. "Never underestimate the skill of a determined hoaxer— or the imagination of a terrified witness."
"There's one thing that makes the sightings a little more complex," said Laika, "and that's an MI5 report the CIA intercepted and Skye got ahold of. It states that the night before all this started, a treasure hunter uncovered a luminescent and radioactive cloth that had apparently been buried for several hundred years. The next night the manifestations began. Curiouser and curiouser. But here's the kicker. The rays emitted aren't like any known radioactivity."
"Of course not," Joseph said. "They're obviously ghost -producing rays. I suspect what was opened here was Pandora's Box." He chuckled. "Look, there's no such thing as scientific infallibility, any more than there is papal infallibility . . . no offense." He nodded deferentially to Tony, and Laika hoped he wasn't going to rise to Joseph's Catholic-baiting.
But Tony didn't. "None taken," he said in a chilly voice.
"As long as human beings are running the tests," Joseph went on, "mistakes are going to be made, and I suspect that's what happened here. They just got the results wrong. The glow and the radioactivity are probably just from a phosphorescent mold, or something."
"You think scientists at Edinburgh University would make that simple a mistake?" Tony asked. "Not recognizing mold ?"
"Well, whether they did or not, we're going to be doing some archeological investigation during the next few days," Laika said. "There's a partly ruined stone circle on the peninsula that's called the Mellangaun Stones. It's what's known as a number three status for these things—'ruined but recognizable.' However, there's already an archeological party doing a dig there. But two miles west there's another circle. This one's in far worse shape—a number four. 'Badly ruined.' The MacLunie Stones, named after the farmer who discovered them. There was a dig done there, but in the late eighteen hundreds. The current MacLunie has been given enough money to persuade him to allow a small team from Princeton to do a dig there, without disturbing the stones."
"I don't know squat about archeology," Tony said.
"There's a small box of books on the subject with the luggage," Laika said. "Also, I had a course in it in college, as Skye reminds me here."
"One of your native American culture courses?" Joseph asked.
Laika nodded. "We should be able to fake it well enough. After all, it's only a cover. One of us stays at the site, while the others investigate the phenomena. There'll be tools and supplies when we land in Inverness."
Chapter 10
W hen they touched down at Inverness Airport just before noon, they found a van waiting for them. It contained archeological tools and supplies, along with detailed notes on how to use them and how to construct a dig site that would pass investigation by experts. Along with the gear was the usual assortment of
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