SHIFT

Chapter 1: Endangered

Martina Cain

University of England

The sun shone through the high set window, its rays cutting through the air until it reached the large desk at the back of the room. The soft sounds of piano drifted in gentle waves over bookshelves, empty chairs and a dying houseplant. A large wooden door at the front of the room opened with a small creak, and a woman entered, focusing on the open book in her hand.

The woman's dark and frizzy hair was cut short, and her eyes, almond both in shape and colour, scanned the worn pages in front of her. Without breaking her focus, she reached out and felt along the surface of the desk until she found a pencil she'd tossed away in an earlier fit of frustration. She began to write notes in the margins of the page and sat up on the desk. As she did so, she knocked an unfamiliar thick envelope to the ground. Its soft thud caught her attention and she pried her eyes from her task.

The lines on her face deepening, the woman reached down and picked the letter up, turning it in her hands. It was addressed to her: Martina Cain, in cursive handwriting. It was not unusual for Martina to receive letters and parcels at the university, and so she opened the envelope and tipped the contents onto her desk beside her.

Martina first noticed the map. It was your ordinary map of the world, except for the many lines and markings that had been drawn on top of it. Markings in Iceland, Africa, Japan, Australia and more. Next, she unfolded a piece of paper, on it read:

'Ms Cain,

You have been chosen to join a team of explorers to find strange and exotic species for the Shift. Your skills as an anthropologist will assist the team greatly on its missions.

I know you have been wanting more from life, and more is exactly what I offer you. Accept, and your life will be changed forever. It is not your ordinary tiger or rare bird that you will seek, it will instead be species which are thought to be gone forever. Species which we had previously given up hope of ever finding.

Please meet the team in Hobart, Tasmania in three days. I trust that they can count on you.

- Z'

Martina read the letter several times. It was not uncommon for people to explore the world in search of exotic animals for the Shift, but this was something else.

The letter was not wrong. In fact, it had hit quite the nerve for Martina. She had been working at the university for several years and, to be perfectly frank, she had grown bored of the every day monotony that included classes, exams, and research conducted behind the screen of a computer.

Martina placed the letter back onto the desk, and as she did she saw one more item: a plane ticket. Staring at it, she pulled her phone from her pocket. She had some phone calls to make.

...

Arno Nkosi

South African Institute of Conservation

The slow breaths of the white rhinoceros felt warm on Arno Nkosi's arm. Its head lay in their lap, blood dripping from the wound in its face. Tears rolled down Arno's cheeks and they spoke softly to the Rhino, who had been brought to the Institution in the hopes that it could be saved. Unfortunately, the poachers had removed its horn with very little care and had hacked away at the poor creature's face with saws and machetes.

Those bastards left her to die slowly, Arno thought.

White rhinos were on the edge of extinction, and Arno worked as part of a team working towards saving them. As this rhino lay dying, her magnificent horn sat in a poacher's backpack mere metres away. The poachers had been arrested not long ago, but that did not matter. The harm was done and the rhino would not survive.