“Dust bunnies two-point-oh,” Charlotte said.
“That experiment worked. The dust bunnies thrived both underground and aboveground.”
“Just like humans,” Harry said. “True, we’re not quite as nimble at crossing through low-psi and high-psi environments. But then, the dust bunnies have been adapting to this environment ever since they came out of the Alien labs. We humans are catching up fast, however.”
“The experts have been telling us for years that something in the environment here on Harmony is encouraging the evolution of our latent psychic senses,” Charlotte said.
Alice crossed her arms. “I’m very glad dust bunnies survived, but I hate knowing that the Aliens were experimenting on them.”
Drake summoned more information with his thoughts. Another crystal glowed in the far corner. Once again information was transmitted via dreamlight.
“There are experiments and then there are experiments,” he said, sorting through the dream data. “The Aliens were lonely.”
Alice frowned. “Weren’t there plenty of other Aliens around?”
“Yes,” Drake said. “But there were no creatures of another species on Harmony that were capable of bonding with the Aliens.”
Understanding lit Alice’s face. She smiled. So did Rachel.
“It would be like moving to a world without cats or dogs or other animal companions,” Harry said. “Damn lonely when you think about it.”
“They probably didn’t realize how badly intelligent life needs to connect with other species,” Rachel said. “It’s one of the ways that we define ourselves as human. We need to know on some level that we’re a part of the ecosystem, not separate from it.”
“Here on harmony the Aliens discovered that they were psychically isolated from all the other creatures on the planet,” Drake said. “You’re right, Harry. It would have been a very strange and disturbing kind of loneliness.”
“They missed their connection to the animal world,” Alice said. “So they set out to bioengineer a species capable of bonding with them.”
Drake searched for more information. “But in the end they abandoned Harmony and the dust bunnies, too. The Aliens never figured out how to adapt.”
“It’s weird,” Alice said. “But I’m getting the hang of this place. You just sort of think about the information you need and it comes to you in the form of a waking dream.”
“Dreamlight is probably a universal language for intelligent life,” Drake said. “At least it’s effective for communicating information between the Aliens and us. Evidently the Aliens dreamed just like we do.”
“Huh.” Harry studied the crystals around them. “So this pyramid is a kind of information storage and retrieval device?”
A dazzling excitement flashed through Drake. “It’s the most spectacular find ever made on Harmony. An ancient computer housing a database loaded with the secrets of the Aliens. The researchers back at Foundation headquarters are going to go wild.”
“Zara Tucker was right about one thing,” Harry said. “In the long run, this thing will be worth a fortune. No telling what technological and medical breakthroughs may come from it.”
Pride sparked in Alice. “And it was my great-grandfather, Nicholas North, who not only discovered it but also the tunnels that make it possible to navigate the territory inside the fence.”
Charlotte laughed. “Don’t forget the best part: that, thanks to your great-grandfather being a very clever pirate, you own half of whatever this computer turns out to be worth.”
Drake looked at Alice, his silvery eyes heating. “As well as half of everything else that remains to be discovered on Rainshadow.”
“The money will be nice,” Alice said.
Drake smiled. “But it’s not the best part about your inheritance here on Rainshadow.”
“No,” Alice said. She tightened her grip on the diary and looked around at the others. “The best part was being involved in this discovery. Just knowing that I have some history here on the island and now some history with you three and Jasper and Fletcher and some of the others in Shadow Bay—that’s the best part.”
“Welcome to the family,” Rachel said.
Chapter 46
“YOU CAN’T BLAME ME FOR MY CONCLUSIONS, MS. NORTH.” Ethel Whitcomb removed her reading glasses and closed the folder Drake had given her. She looked at Alice across the width of a First Generation antique desk. “I had every reason to believe that you were involved in the murder of my son. Frankly I’m not inclined to change my mind. Aldwin Hampstead and Zara Tucker may have confessed to the actual act, but as far as I’m concerned you bear a great deal of the responsibility.”
“How can you say that?” Alice demanded.
They were in Ethel Whitcomb’s study. Alice was seated in a chair near the window. Houdini was huddled on her shoulder, fully fluffed but watchful. She knew that he had picked up on her tension. The Whitcomb butler had tried to insist that dust bunnies were not allowed inside the mansion, but Drake had fixed the man with a single look, saying nothing. The butler had mumbled something about making an exception for helper animals and hastily showed them all into the study.
Drake had ignored Ethel’s cool invitation to take a seat. Instead he had walked across the room and placed the folder containing the confessions and a record of the various criminal charges on Ethel’s desk. Then he had stayed out of the way. Thus far he had remained silent, watching Ethel through his mirrored glasses.
Alice knew that the only reason Ethel had agreed to the meeting was because she had expected that only Drake would be present. She had been shocked when Alice had walked into the room at his side. Now Drake’s icy stillness and steady, unreadable gaze were making Ethel nervous. She hid her unease very well but Alice was not deceived. In his present mood, Drake would have made a specter-cat nervous.
“I don’t care what the police and the FBPI choose to believe,” Ethel said. “I know that you seduced Fulton into an MC as part of a plan to convince him to finance your search for a treasure on Rainshadow.”
“Fulton is the one who set out to seduce me,” Alice said. “And for the record, he offered a full-blown Covenant Marriage, not an MC. The Marriage of Convenience was my idea.”
“I don’t believe that for a moment.”
Alice raised her brows. “Well, to give him his due, he never expected that the marriage would last very long because his partners had assured him that after he inherited my share of whatever was discovered on Rainshadow, I would suffer a convenient accident. But in the end he lost his temper when I told him I wanted a divorce and he tried to murder me.”
“That is an outrageous lie,” Ethel said. She pushed herself to her feet. “What he saw in you, I’ll never know. There is no doubt in my mind that my son is dead because of you. Get out of my house or I will call the police.”
Alice looked at Drake. “I told you this meeting was a waste of time.”
“The meeting isn’t over yet,” Drake said. He did not move, but the atmosphere heated with dangerous energy. “We aren’t going anywhere until we have all reached an understanding on a couple of points.”
Ethel glared at him. “There is nothing more to understand, Mr. Sebastian.”
“You will stop harassing my wife.”
“You mean your mistress.”
“Alice is my wife,” Drake said. His voice was lethally soft. “In our family, we take marriage very seriously.”
“It’s an MC, not a real marriage,” Ethel said, her voice very tight.
“It’s a real marriage as far as I’m concerned, and that’s all you need to know. If you continue to send your goon squad investigators after Alice, you will find yourself dealing with me.”