Death Message

Chapter Twelve

As a preamble to their journey, the couple affectionately embraced, holding tightly, they kissed, and without uttering a word, set out in search of the next clue. They hiked briskly, at first, Brad in the lead, both of them admiring the natural beauty of the geological manifestations surrounding them. Every so often, he would check the compass and verify the direction they'd taken against the path he'd plotted back in camp. About thirty minutes into the trip, Brad heard a strange sound and stopped to listen. Nothing, it was gone. He turned and looked back at Maggie who was still walking about fifteen feet behind him.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That noise."

"No, what did it sound like?" Maggie asked, closing the distance between them.

"A high-pitched tone."

"Didn't hear anything. Maybe it was my stomach growling. How about taking a break and having lunch?"

Brad shrugged. Perhaps it was his imagination. "Why don't we go for another half hour? We can find some shade and you can rustle up some grub."

"Okay Duke," Maggie laughingly replied.

Brad pivoted back in the direction he was heading and continued. He hadn't traveled more than twenty feet and heard the noise again. This time, there were two short sound bursts.

"I heard it that time," Maggie called to him from about eight feet away. Brad stopped where he was, but Maggie continued walking until she pulled up beside him.

"I think it's coming from your carrying case."

Brad removed the cloth bag from his shoulder and held it up to his ear. Nothing.

"Doesn't the computer beep when the battery is getting low?" Maggie asked.

"Yes, but it has to be turned on."

"Maybe you left it on when you put it away?"

"The computer automatically shuts down when you close the top."

"You've got me then," Maggie replied.

Brad sat down on the ground and put the carrying case on his lap, pulled the computer out, and opened the top. The system was turned off. Brad depressed the ON switch, and the screen came to life. He keyed in the command to perform a battery check.

"The battery's fine," Brad said, looking up at Maggie now standing in front of him. He put the computer back, removed the disk, and began inspecting it. As soon as he flipped it over, Brad noticed the change. In place of the map of the Australian continent, there was a full-color picture of a rock formation. So vivid, lifelike, and three-dimensional was the view, it amazed him. Gripping the disk in both hands, he pushed the disk away from his face as far as his arms would reach. Brad stared at the image. It looked familiar, very familiar. He slowly lifted his eyes above the plane of the image on the disk. There, no more than two hundred yards in front of them was the geological formation that appeared on the disk. Brad was stunned. How was this possible? Other than some ground debris, the photograph on the disk was identical to the cluster of stacked boulders he was staring at.

"Maggie, you're not going to believe this. Here, look," Brad said and handed Maggie the disk. As she was taking the disk from his hand, she remarked, "Nothing would surprise me anymore." She was wrong. Maggie looked at the disk, then at the profile of the boulder formation, then the disk, then back at the pattern, then back at the disk, and then at Brad.