Creatures of God

The Secret Sequence

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An unexpected finding had come up at Dr. Berman's autopsy -- cancer. Specifically, an advanced stage of pancreatic cancer. An insidious form, probably one that the Professor had detected late, and an aggressive form, one that, by the time a diagnosis had been made, had already spread to other organ systems; in this case, the liver and bone systems. Knowing the Professor, Elliot thought, he probably hadn't told very many people. Knowing the tumor type, Elliot knew Dr. Berman probably had been suffering with a lot of pain.

Why didn't you tell me, Doc?

Elliot sank into his former teacher's chair in the control room of the lab. The workspace had been cleaned up considerably since Dr. Berman's death, and now his mentor's desktop seemed somewhat foreign and unfamiliar without its stack of books and half-filled coffee cup. Elliot reached out to touch the surface of the desk. Even the touch did not feel quite right. He changed the way he sat in the chair and briefly looked away.

I'm sorry, Doc.

Elliot's head hurt. He closed his eyes and buried his face into his hands. There was nowhere to hide. He ran his hands over his head and through his hair, stopping at his temples to give them a rub. Eventually his hands slid down his face and into his lap. He held still and took some slow, deep breaths.

Resting quietly, Elliot opened his eyes and blinked. He looked upon a certain space beyond the desk, and remembered. It was there, hidden behind an imagined, displaced chair; the place where he had found his mentor on the day of his death, face down, on the floor. Based on the findings of the autopsy, the assault had been a surprise attack from behind.

Elliot turned around to visualize the space in the control room. He raised an eyebrow and scratched his head.

There isn't a lot of extra space in here...

How could the old doctor not know an animal was behind him, Elliot wondered. An animal strong enough to cause this kind of injury must have been very large. But big animals snort and breathe loudly, and move around slowly and heavily, like hulks. How could a humongous animal have hidden here, before it attacked?

How big was that bite again?

Elliot tapped the screen to the computer monitor and searched for the Professor's autopsy report. Soon, a green holographic image from the autopsy projected into the airspace before him. Elliot flipped through several of the images. The distance between the teeth marks at the laceration was of small-to-moderate size, ten centimeters at best — not mammoth at all.

What kind of animal was this?

Elliot outlined the edge of the image to create an imprint of the bite marks. Then he ran it through the database and received a quick result.

Canine! Of course. The mongrels were the ones who attacked us that night on campus. I'm underestimating their strength, he thought.

The assailant was not of overwhelming size. Thus, he must have been able to hide in the back of the control room; yet, he was strong enough to nearly rip the Professor in half. The realization made Elliot swallow hard.

How did the canine get to the secret underground in the first place? How did it get to the Pathology Department? If an animal could find its way to the lab, it could probably go anywhere in Anderson.

Elliot hesitated. He remembered Alessandro also could travel anywhere in the Center. Were the two ideas related?

Elliot developed goosebumps at the thought.