Page 33 of Taurus's Quest
What would it be like to have those lips caressing other parts? To have those big hands?—
“Earth to Circe.” Taurus snapped his fingers, and she startled.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Lost in thought.”
His lips curved. “I’ll bet you were. Can’t blame you. That book was pretty boring and not useful, if you ask me. We already know how the device was found and the fact people recreated it best they could. Guess we should have specified in the library that we only wanted ancient texts.”
“The one thing that I do find interesting is the fact there’s no mention of any stones being recovered from the wreck where they discovered the Antikythera.” She might have been mooning, but that didn’t mean she completely missed everything he said.
He traced his finger down an itemized list. “You’re right. Either they didn’t bother marking it down or someone went down to the wreck at a later date to retrieve it.”
“One has to wonder if it’s special looking,” she mused aloud. “I mean, a plain rock, even if found in a seabed ruin, wouldn’t be what most divers would bother collecting.”
“Could be someone went there intentionally seeking it or, during their exploration, touched it and felt compelled to keep it.”
“Compelled?” She frowned at his choice of word.
“Hear me out. According to my sources?—”
“You mean seers.”
“Andreas came in contact with this rock, and next thing you know, he’s sabotaging your work and trying to kill you.”
“You think a rock possessed him?” She didn’t hide her dubious note.
“Or infected him. Could be this rock is a chunk of meteor, maybe from the same place as the asteroid, and had enough alien matter to influence someone.”
“I guess it’s possible some microbes survived entry into our atmosphere,” she replied slowly, brow furrowed in thought. “But that said, if it were in the water, wouldn’t any alien organisms have already spread?”
“Maybe it requires a certain type of host.”
“I can’t believe you’re suggesting an alien infection.”
“Got a better theory?”
She didn’t, and quite honestly, given what she’d experienced with Andreas, was it really that farfetched, especially compared to everything else she’d recently encountered?
“Let’s say for a second Andreas was somehow under the control of an extraterrestrial parasite, would it be contagious?”
“It’s a possibility we should look into. I don’t suppose you know who he liked to hang out with?”
Her nose wrinkled. “No. While he often asked, I never joined him for after-work drinks.”
“But other people did.”
“Yes. A few, like Theo and Calliope. Demetrius, when he was in town. He travels quite a bit giving lectures.”
“Here’s another question for you. Let’s say Andreas tampered with the data at your observatory. Would that affect the data at other locations?”
“I’m not sure. I know there’s been changes in how we share information. Movement toward opensource sharing of data.”
“Open meaning it could be changed.”
“I don’t know, as it’s not my field of expertise. But it is odd no one at any other observatory has raised questions. Maybe the Antikythera is wrong, and nothing needs to be done.”
“Do you really believe that?”
Logic said the conspiracy couldn’t be so widespread. Her gut… “I think we’re in danger.”
