Why Not Murder

41. Warning

41. Warning

Maya was travelling alone in her canoe, directly crossing the lake, on her way to Brockton. Marhaven's train service was still not running. Inspection of the damage sustained by upheaval of the track the night Maya rescued Dog revealed that the bridge was already critically compromised. The support structure had rusted and weakened to such a point that the bridge was on the verge of collapse under the weight of a train. The upheaval of the train had brought the danger of immanent bridge collapse to the attention of the authorities and the bridge was being rebuilt. It was at least one hundred years old and had never been inspected previously, contrary to all specifications. The reason for Maya going to Brockton was so that she could hopefully learn more about the growing protest movements taking place across the country and thus gaining some clue as to the identity of the group responsible for the XX Fuel executions.

The lake was calm, vividly reflecting the cumulous clouds overhead. It was enormous, extending more than thirty miles from the northern to southern points, dotted with islands, clustered in groups. The largest bays were long, narrow and eight in number. The center of the lake was round and on the map the lake resembled a huge spider. She was making excellent progress due to the lack of wind and the smooth surface of the water. The water was very clear and looking beyond the surface reflections, she could see down at least fifteen meters. The water was tested every month and except for the area near Brockton, was quite drinkable. She saw schools of fish and occasionally loons swimming underwater. Flickering golden light shone from below and came alongside her canoe. It was a school of golden fish of a type she'd never seen before. She had the distinct impression they were looking at her.

As she approached the island in the middle of the lake she saw there was a large barge moored close to it. There were some figures walking about the island. She went further away from it. Not far from the island there was another boat lowering some kind of device into the water. Scientists, Maya thought. The lake was a magnetic anomaly and scientists had been researching this phenomena for decades with ever more sophisticated equipment. Compasses did not work in the area, particularly on the water. On the island in the center of the lake, compasses would spin in circles. It had been theorized with gaining credence that the lake had been formed by a large meteorite that smashed through the ice that covered all of Canada during the last ice maximum of the current ice age. It had smashed through the ice and penetrated the ground below and was still down there stuck in the surrounding ground. The meteorite was said to be magnetic and the cause of the anomaly. Visitors to the area were told that compasses would not work and warned about the greater possibility of getting lost. Research expeditions repeatedly tried to take samples of the rock at the bottom of the lake but no sample had ever been successfully retrieved. All the divers who had attempted to explore the lake bottom never resurfaced and none of their bodies had been found. The research continued in spite of it all. Swimming near the surface was not dangerous, but no one was sure how far down was too far. Thanks to the weather, Maya was able to cross the lake and reach an island on the far side where she would sleep that night and after landing on mainland the following daybreak, leave her canoe hidden while she walked the rest of the way.

Next day was equally beautiful. In Brockton there were numerous posters regarding the people's grievances and advertising of a protest march to take place that morning. She headed to the city centre and heard the protest before she saw any marchers. Many people around her were dressed entirely in black and wore the same sort of full face and head covering as had the members of the execution teams. People were converging with the parade of marchers. Maya donned her Justice Will Come Tshirt and joined them. She didn't have a sign with her but in fleeting moments of silence in between words of the chorus of 'Change your ways', 'Share the wealth', and 'Jobs', Maya would yell out as loud as possible 'Respect animals!"