I appreciated, and I no longer think of you as an icy, aloof,
intellectual snob. In fact I think we are friends. Am I right?’
Kevin nodded. He was forced to look up into Melanie’s black, marble-like
eyes.
‘Friends talk to each other,’ Melanie said. ‘They communicate. They
don’t hide their feelings and make others feel uncomfortable. Do you
know what I’m saying?’
‘I think so,’ Kevin said. He’d never considered the idea his behavior
was capable of making others uncomfortable.
‘Think so?’ Melanie chided. ‘How can I explain it so that you know so!’
Kevin swallowed. ‘I guess I know so.’
Melanie rolled her eyes in frustration. ‘You are so evasive, it drives
me bananas. But that’s okay; I can deal with it. What I can’t deal with
is your outburst at lunch. And when I tried to ask you what’s wrong, you
gave some vague comment about `overstepping the bounds’ and then clammed
up, unable to talk about it. You can’t let this fester, whatever it is
that’s bothering you. It will only hurt you and impede your
friendships.’
Candace nodded agreement with all that Melanie had expressed.
Kevin looked back and forth between the two outspoken and tenacious
women. As much as he resisted expressing his fears, at the moment he
didn’t think he had much choice, especially with Melanie’s face inches
away from his own. Not knowing how to begin he said: ‘I’ve seen smoke
coming from Isla Francesca.’
‘What’s Isla Francesca?’ Candace asked.
‘It’s the island where the transgenic bonobos go once they reach age
three,’ Melanie said. ‘So what’s with smoke?’
Kevin stood and motioned for the women to follow him. He walked over to
his desk. With his index finger he pointed out the window toward Isla
Francesca. ‘I’ve seen the smoke three times,’ he said. ‘It’s always from
the same place just to the left of the limestone ridge. It’s only a
little curl snaking up into the sky, but it persists.’
Candace squinted. She was mildly nearsighted, but for vanity reasons
didn’t wear glasses. ‘Is it the farthest island?’ she asked. She thought
she could just make out some brownish smudges on its spine that could
have been rock. In the late-afternoon sunlight, the other islands in the
chain appeared like homogeneous mounds of dark green moss.
‘That’s the one,’ Kevin said.
‘So, big deal!’ Melanie commented. ‘A couple of little fires. With all
the lightning around here it’s no wonder.’
‘That’s what Bertram Edwards suggested,’ Kevin said. ‘But it can’t be
lightning.’
‘Who’s Bertram Edwards?’ Candace asked.
‘Why can’t it be lightning?’ Melanie asked ignoring Candace. ‘Maybe
there’s some metal ore in that rocky ridge.’
‘Ever hear the expression lightning never strikes the same place twice?’
Kevin questioned. ‘The fire is not from lightning. Besides, the smoke
persisted and has never moved.’
‘Maybe some native people live out there,’ Candace said.
‘GenSys was very sure that was not the case before choosing the island,’
Kevin said.
‘Maybe some local fishermen visit,’ Candace suggested.
‘All the locals know it is forbidden,’ Kevin said. ‘Because of the new
Equatoguinean law it would be a capital offense. There’s nothing out
there that would be worth dying for.’
‘Then who started the fires?’ Candace asked.
‘Good God, Kevin!’ Melanie exclaimed suddenly. ‘I’m beginning to get an
idea what you’re thinking. But let me tell you, it’s preposterous.’
‘What’s preposterous?’ Candace asked. ‘Will someone clue me in?’
‘Let me show you something else,’ Kevin said. He turned to his computer
terminal and with a few keystrokes called up the graphic of the island.
He explained the system to the women, and as a demonstration, brought up
the location of Melanie’s double. The little red light blinked just
north of the escarpment very close to where his own had the day before.
‘You have a double?’ Candace asked. She was dumbfounded.
‘Kevin and I were the guinea pigs,’ Melanie said. ‘Our doubles were the
first. We had to prove that the technology really works.’
‘Okay, now that you women know how the locator system operates,’ Kevin
said, ‘let me show you what I did an hour ago, and we’ll see if we get
the same disturbing result.’ Kevin’s fingers played over the keyboard.