Near-Priceless Sights
Kyle Pierman used his hand as a visor as he watched the helicopter shrink into the distance. Feeling a bit silly, he brought his hand down, realizing that he was under a large shadow. He turned around to face the creature casting it, a large male African elephant that had wandered a short distance from the rest of the herd. He felt dwarfed, tiny. He reckoned it was at least the size of his house. Although it wouldn’t do him much good, he felt a little safer rubbing his sonic gun through the fabric of his jacket.
“This one’s late fifties to early sixties,” came a low-pitched voice behind him. It was Dr. von Berk speaking, though not to him but the six-strong group. “It’s on its last set of teeth. Hopefully, before it loses that one, I will have developed the prototype set I’ve been fiddling with. He might well live up to eighty.” He added with a gleeful chuckle.The elephant was moving at a leisurely pace. Kyle thought he could feel the ground shake with each step. Its rough, leathery skin was dry and it seemed almost armored. It was close enough to touch, but Dr. von Berk had warned them not to. He had said back at the hotel: “We may be invisible to the specimens, but they can still feel our contact. It may panic them even more to be touched by something they can’t see. So please, I beg you, ladies and gentlemen — and Duchess — don’t touch the animals.” Each side-to-side swinging of its trunk brought with it a gust of air that was welcome in the oppressive African sun.
“Is that cool enough for you, Duchess?” asked Dr. von Berk, his voice too eager to serve.
“Yes, yes, Doctor. Thank you,” the elderly lady replied in her raspy, expensive voice. “Just a bit more of a breeze, actually,” and she fanned herself for effect.
Dr. von Berk’s fingers flew on a screen on top of his wrist, and the elephant’s trunk swung faster. They were standing in a wide open Savannah plain, flat all the way to the horizon, save for a few hills, and covered by ankle-length grass. A scattering of trees dotted the landscape. Apart from the herd of elephants feeding a few feet off and the one giving them shade, Africa’s most storied wildlife surrounded them, though at a comfortable distance. For this type of Safari, however, any distance was comfortable.
“With that support the Duke had promised us before his passing, we would have been far ahead of schedule by now. That horse riding accident was so unfortunate. It will be an enduring part of his legacy once we develop the new exhibits.”
Duchess Pritchard-Windsor scoffed. “What about the cat show you mentioned? Show me the cat show,” she said impatiently.
Flustered, Dr. von Berk said, “Ah, yes, of course, Duchess. Let us start with that. An excellent choice indeed.” Then he turned to the rest and said, attempting a showman voice, “And now, ladies and gentlemen, the first wonder, the only one of its kind the world over, in the history of time, the Cat Show.”
Although, including Kyle, there were five other visitors, the Duchess had gotten most of Dr. von Berk’s attention. It had started back at the hotel and continued on the helicopter ride. His eavesdropping, which was more a skill that had become instinct than a vice, had told Kyle it was because the resort was desperately in need of a large donation. The other visitors, or guests, as the resort called them, were a pretty thirty-ish woman and three chatty tech-executive-type men. Kyle had a sense he’d met the pretty woman in the big sunglasses somewhere and he tried to remember before dismissing the thought. This wasn’t a pleasure trip.
The elephant shifted slightly to the left, opening a line of sight to a clearing where a trail of dust was rising behind three figures. Dr. von Berk said, “Fix your eyes there, please.”
As the figures closed the distance, it became clear what they were. Kyle shook his head in disbelief. The male lion was in front, and behind it were a cheetah and a leopard on either side. Their disciplined formation resembled a trio of fighter jets.
Dr. von Berk was saying, “They have different speeds and stamina, of course. But here they’re steady at their collective average.”
The leopard halted while the cheetah and lion continued onward. It sank into the golden brown grass until it was nearly undetectable.
“…merely taking its position…”
The lion and cheetah were level, side-by-side for a few dozen feet before splitting off diagonally, maintaining similar speed. It became obvious that their target was the giraffe merrily enjoying the high leaves of a thorny tree. They were trying to flank it.
“…they normally wouldn’t dare to attempt such prey under normal circumstances…”
The lion stopped a short distance off while the cheetah proceeded. It began to nip at the towering hind legs in turn. When one thrashed and kicked, the nimble cheetah veered to the other, over and over. From where they were standing a yard away, straining to look up at it, the giraffe appeared to be doing a demented step-dance. The lion stood watching. One of the visitors, the fit, attractive lady of about thirty, had her phone pointed at the scene, but she was frowning. A lit cigarette was between her lips. There was something about her.
The giraffe’s movements became slower, its kicks feeble. That’s when the lion burst into motion and went for one of the legs, fully extending its jaw before clamping it shut on one of the legs. The giraffe gave off a snort and bent its knee. It was half-kneeling but still taller than most of the surrounding trees. The lion retreated slightly, letting the giraffe get up and stumble away, its bleeding limb almost caving every few steps. The cheetah was nipping its unharmed hind legs to control the direction of its escape.
The lion charged in yet again and brought its jaw to bear on the last back leg. The giraffe collapsed into a helpless crouch. The leopard, so far invisible, exploded out of the brush and raced up the giraffe’s neck like it was climbing a tree, then sank its dagger-teeth into the giraffe’s own neck, right at the point below the face. The neck shook and twisted high up in the air with the leopard holding on like a pole vaulter. Finally, it came tumbling, at which point the cheetah and lion were racing to sink their own teeth in as soon as it hit the ground.
“…a tall order otherwise…” chuckled von Berk.
Once there was only stillness, the lion, cheetah, and leopard settled down to enjoy the kill. Not a single growl emerged from either of them. It was then that Kyle realized how silent the savannah had become. None of the creatures in view — not the kudu, nor the zebras, nor the warthogs, nor the elephants, nor even the birds — made a sound. They all stared at the aftermath of the cat show.
Dr. von Berk spoke in a servile voice. “Pleased, Duchess? And should I have the monkeys fetch those marula fruits I mentioned to you? I believe they’re in season.”
Kyle stepped up to von Berk. “Doctor, before we get to that…” He took von Berk by the shoulder and casually dragged him aside, then Kyle flashed his RAEA Badge surreptitiously.
“Ah, the Responsible Animal Experimentation Agency. How kind of you to grace us at such an inopportune time.” Even at whisper-volume, Dr. von Berk could hardly keep the contempt out of his voice.
“That giraffe seemed to be suffering to me.”
“Not at all, Detective. That is a program we transmit into its brainstem simply to enhance the show. By then it feels and knows nothing.” Dr. von Berk’s smile was forced, pained.
“Then I suppose I can get a copy of the neural logs?” asked Detective Pierman, gesturing his head toward von Berk’s wrist console.
After a beat, von Berk said, “Certainly, Detective.” He shook his arm roughly from Kyle Pierman’s grasp, then stared him in the eye a steely second. He turned his back on him and walked over to the Duchess with an apologetic gait.
Watching Dr. von Berk, Kyle brought a hand up to his earpiece. It was buzzing. He answered.
“Have you located the threat, Detective?”
“No, Sarge, but I may have seen a Code violation or two.” “Let it go. Focus, Detective. Isolate the threat, now.” The gruff voice was stern.
“Understood, Sarge.”
Kyle stared harder at the attractive young woman, who was once again turning around slowly with her phone as if taking a panoramic photo. Where did he know her from?
He was pulled out of that reverie by a shrill scream from the Duchess. He turned around. The three men he’d guessed were tech executives had pulled up balaclavas, and one of them was pointing a rifle at the Duchess, while the other was pointing a video camera.
