Chapter 11 #2
The way her eyes narrowed told him she didn’t think too much of that argument. “That’s still better than a couple of days. Anyway, have you noticed anything unusual happening around the times when these spikes occur?”
Ben’s thoughts immediately went to the portal, to the times when the unicorn — and more lately, the griffin — had appeared, to Sidney’s psychic flash yesterday. But he couldn’t exactly share any of that information with Marjorie.
“What kind of unusual?” he asked, hoping he sounded noncommittal and not as if he was hiding the mother of all secrets from her.
“Electronic interference, for one thing. My equipment has been going haywire at certain times. Car alarms going off for no reason. Street lights flickering. That sort of thing.” She stopped there and was quiet for a moment, almost as if she was thinking of something else and trying to figure out the best way to phrase it.
“Or…maybe people acting strangely? Reporting headaches, disorientation, anything like that?”
Marjorie sounded almost diffident as she asked the question, and he thought he could understand why.
It was one thing to be dealing with physical phenomena…
electrical glitches and cell phones dropping out, waves and patterns that could be easily measured.
People’s reactions to those phenomena were an entirely different ball of wax, however.
He thought of how Sidney had been able to see into Rebecca Morse’s mind…
or even how she’d been able to communicate with the unicorn on a very basic level.
“I don’t know for sure,” he said slowly.
“But you know how small towns are — people don’t always talk about anything that sounds too out of the ordinary. ”
Marjorie nodded and didn’t look too disappointed.
“I figured as much. The thing is, these readings are so significant that I’m probably going to have to file a report when I get back to Davis.
The university has protocols for this kind of anomalous data, especially when it involves potential safety concerns for a populated area. ”
Ben’s stomach knotted with sudden worry, although he tried his best to continue to look neutral and noncommittal. “What kind of safety concerns?”
“Electromagnetic fields of this intensity could potentially interfere with pacemakers, insulin pumps, that sort of thing,” Marjorie replied, not looking too perturbed by any of those possibilities, as if it was all still an abstraction for her and not much more.
“And if the source is something geological — maybe some kind of unusual mineral deposit — there could be other implications.” She shrugged.
“I don’t want to alarm anyone unnecessarily, but I also can’t in good conscience ignore data like this. ”
No, probably not. He hadn’t even thought about what the power outages might mean in a broader sense, how they might affect the health and well-being of the people of Silver Hollow. “So…what happens when you file your report?”
She slid the iPad back in her satchel and said, “It depends on what the review committee thinks. They might send a larger research team to do a more comprehensive study. Or they could contact other agencies — USGS, maybe even some other federal departments if they think there’s a broader environmental concern. ”
Ben’s brain went into overdrive, immediately running through all sorts of worst-case scenarios. If UC Davis sent a research team, how long would it be before they discovered the portal? And if some other federal agencies, like the USGS or the EPA, got involved….
He thought about Agent Morse and her partner, already sniffing around town. Adding more investigators to the mix seemed like a surefire recipe for disaster.
“How long do you think that would take?” he asked, trying to keep his tone casual.
Marjorie shrugged. She didn’t look too concerned about any of this, but then again, none of it affected her directly except in terms of the research she was conducting.
“Hard to say. Could be weeks, could be months. The bureaucracy moves slowly unless there’s an immediate threat to public safety.
” She glanced at her watch. “Speaking of which, I really do need to get on the road soon. But if you notice anything else — anything at all that might be connected to these electromagnetic surges — would you mind giving me a call?”
“Sure,” he said immediately, although he told himself he reserved the right to keep future developments on the down-low if he thought it might cause Marjorie to bring in any more federal agencies.
“Thanks,” she replied. “I could definitely use a local contact if this turns into something bigger.”
Ben managed a weak smile, his mind still spinning with the implications of everything she’d told him. “Sure,” he said. “I’ll keep my eyes open.”
She ducked her head in a sort of half-nod, then lifted the satchel onto her shoulder and headed out the door.
After Marjorie was gone — and he’d heard her dusty old Toyota Highlander start up outside — Ben stood for a long moment in the living room, trying to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do with this information.
On the one hand, maybe having scientists study the portal phenomenon would lead to a better understanding of what was happening and how to stabilize it.
On the other hand, the more people who knew about the thing’s existence, the more likely it was that someone would try to exploit it — just like Victor Maplehurst had attempted to do with the forest that surrounded the otherworldly gateway.
And then there was Sidney to consider. How would she react when she learned that her psychic episode might have been documented as part of Marjorie’s data? Could the electromagnetic surges the town was experiencing potentially draw even more outside attention to Silver Hollow?
Ben picked up his phone to text her, then put it down again. This wasn’t the kind of news you delivered via text message or even by a phone call.
No, he needed to talk to her in person.