03. OMEGA FILE 451 Loch Ness, Scotland

OMEGA FILE 451：Loch Ness, Scotland
'I want you to take the next plane to Scotland,' said Arla. 'Then get up to Loch Ness. '
'Oh, great,' said Hawker. 'Are we looking for the Loch Ness monster—old Nessie?'
Jude laughed.
'Don't laugh,' said Arla. 'You are looking for a monster. '
'Oh, come on, Arla,' Jude said. 'You don't mean that. '
'This photo came by email from Edinburgh,' said Arla. 'Look...' He turned to his computer and opened a file. 'It's a night-time photo and not very good.'
Hawker and Jude stared at the photo on the computer screen. They could see water, and something big and grey, half in and half out of the water.
'It's got arms and a head,' said Hawker. 'But what is it?'
'It kills sheep, cats, and dogs,' Arla said. 'And perhaps small children next. People in Fort Augustus are screaming at London, and London is screaming at us. Go and find it. '
'What do we do with it when we find it?' asked Jude.
'Kill it,' said Arla. 'Before it kills you.'


Hawker and Jude waited for a minute, but Arla turned away and began to read his emails.
'Are you telling us everything, Arla?' asked Hawker.
'Of course.' Arla put his hands on the table. There were only two fingers on his left hand. 'I always tell you everything. You know that.'
'Huh!' said Jude.
*　　*　　*
They took a plane to Inverness, then drove along the side of Loch Ness to Fort Augustus. It was a grey November day—grey sky, grey water, grey hills.
Hawker looked across the loch. 'It's easy to believe in monsters here,' he said. 'Loch Ness is about 200 metres deep. The third deepest lake in Europe. Did you know that? A hundred monsters could live down there.'
'How are we going to find this thing?' asked Jude.
'Talk to people in Fort Augustus first,' Hawker said. 'Then take it from there.'
They talked to people in their hotel, and to people in the streets in Fort Augustus. Everybody had a lot to say.
'It killed Mrs Fraser's dog,' said one woman. 'She has a house down by the water. The monster came into her garden one night. Her little dog went to look, and the monster killed him—just like that. '
'Killed six of my brother's sheep,' said a man called Dugald. 'He's very angry about it.'
'Can we meet your brother?' asked Jude. 'Ask him some questions?'
Dugald's brother, Archie, lived at Invermoriston, about nine kilometres up the loch. He was a big man, with black hair and blue eyes. He was not very friendly at first.
'Who are you?' he asked. 'Are you army people?' '
'No,' said Hawker. 'Why do you ask that?' '
There's an army laboratory in the hills above the loch. Lots of strange people there. And lots of boats on the loch at night. Coming and going.'
'Mmm. Interesting,' said Jude. 'But tell us about the Loch Ness monster and your dead sheep.'
'It wasn't Nessie. Nessie doesn't kill sheep,' Archie said. 'This... thing... broke their necks.'
'Did you see it?' asked Hawker.
'Well, I saw something big, but it moved very fast. It was back in the loch in seconds. And it was nearly dark.'
'Right,' said Hawker. 'Now, we'd like to look at your dead sheep, please. And then we need a boat. Where can we get a fast boat, Archie?'
'What do you want a boat for?'
'We're going to catch this thing,' said Jude, 'and stop it killing your sheep.'
For the next four days Hawker and Jude went up and down Loch Ness in Archie Campbell's boat. They talked to everybody around the loch. 'When you see this monster, please ring us. Any time. Day or night. Our mobile phones are always turned on.'
They slept a little in the day, and were out most of the night in the boat, with their guns, cameras, mobile phones, a big flashlight, and litres of hot coffee. Once they thought they saw the monster just north of Invermoriston. Another night a call came from a little place called Foyers. They got there at six in the morning. It was dark and cold, and everything was very quiet. They sat in the boat, looking up and down the loch.
'Look,' whispered Hawker. 'Down there, by the trees.'
Fifty metres away there were some tall trees by the side of the loch. There were some sheep under the trees—and something big and dark. Suddenly the sheep began to run.
'Start the engine,' said Hawker. 'Let's get down there.'
When they got to the trees, they found five sheep with broken necks, but no monster.
'It just kills, and goes away again,' said Jude. 'Horrible. '
The next night they were near Urquhart Castle when they saw two other boats. It was three in the morning.
'Those boats again!' said Hawker. 'We heard their engines last night. And the night before. Who are they? Let's go and see.'
Quietly, their boat moved nearer. There were four men in each boat—men in grey, young men with hard faces. They watched Hawker and Jude, and said nothing.
'Hullo,' said Jude, with a friendly smile. 'Who are you?'
A tall man in the nearest boat answered. 'Army,' he said. 'Who are you? What are you doing out here at this time of night?'
'We're visitors?' said Jude. 'Looking for Nessie, of course. What are you doing?'
'There's no monster in this loch,' said the tall man. 'Go back to your hotel and go to bed.' The two army boats moved away, down the loch.
'Nice,' said Hawker. 'Very friendly.'
Arla phoned them every morning. 'Get on with it,' he said. 'Before this thing kills someone. '
'We can't get near it,' Jude told him. 'This loch is thirty-six kilometres long and two kilometres across. There are only two of us, and we're not getting any sleep.'
'You can sleep later,' said Arla. 'Just catch this thing.'
'We met some army people last night,' Jude said. 'What are they doing here? What do they do at their laboratory?'
The phone went quiet. Then, 'What laboratory?'
'The army laboratory in the hills above Loch Ness.'
The phone went dead. 'Well, well,' Jude said to Hawker. 'He doesn't know. Or he's not telling.'
The monster came out of the loch and killed sheep nearly every night. Everybody around the loch wanted to help Hawker and Jude, and their mobile phones never stopped ringing. A lot of people thought the monster was Nessie, but Archie knew it wasn't.
'Nessie never killed anything in fifteen hundred years,' he said. 'This is something different, and it's going to start killing people soon. Look, you need some sheep.'
'Sheep?' said Hawker. 'Do you mean sleep?' He was very tired after ten nights on the loch.
'Of course!' said Jude. 'Clever Archie. Can you get us some old sheep then? Or perhaps we can use Hawker. He's nearly an old sheep by now.'
'Oh, shut up,' said Hawker.
They found a good place between Invermoriston and Urquhart Castle with some trees by the water, and took their six old sheep there. For three nights they watched, but no monster came. The men in grey were out every night too. They were never far away from Hawker and Jude, but never came to speak to them.
On the fourth night Hawker and Jude arrived at their sheep place later than usual. It was a warm, rainy night—soft Scottish rain that never stops.
When they turned the engine off, everything was quiet—just the rain whispering on the loch. Hawker got out of the boat and stood with the flashlight, watching and listening. Jude sat in the boat, with her gun in her hand.
'Where are the men in grey?' whispered Hawker.
'Don't know,' Jude whispered back. 'Behind us, I think. '
Then everything happened at once. There was a sudden noise of boats' engines behind them, and at the same time something moved in the water in front of them. A head and two long arms came out of the water.
'Light!' shouted Jude. 'Quick!'
Hawker turned on the flashlight, and at once the monster stood up and ran at Hawker through the water, its long arms going for Hawker's head.
'Get down, Hawker!' screamed Jude. In a second Hawker was under the water, and then came the sound of Jude's gun—once, twice, and then a third time.
When the monster stopped moving, Hawker and Jude went to look at it. It was a greeny-black colour, bigger than a man, and with very long arms and legs. It had a small head on a long neck. It was a strange, horrible thing.
A minute later, the men in grey arrived in their two boats. They got out and came to look at the dead monster.
'Oh dear,' the tall man said. 'Poor old Nessie.'
'That', said Hawker, 'is not Nessie. So what is it?'
'Visitors, aren't you?' said the tall man. 'Where from?'


Hawker and Jude stared at him and said nothing. Then Jude took something out of her pocket and held it up, in front of the tall man's eyes.
He looked at it. 'Oh,' he said. 'I see. EDI. Don't see many of those. OK, what do you want to know?'
'What—is—that—thing?' said Jude.
The tall man looked unhappy. 'It is, or it was, one of the army's new fighters. It got away from our laboratory, and we just couldn't catch it.'
'But it was alive... a—a living thing,' said Hawker.
'You can make a lot of living things in a laboratory these days,' said the tall man. 'Genetic engineering is getting very clever. This fighter can run all night, live under water, see in the dark. But it's new. We haven't got it right yet.'
'And it's programmed to kill anything, is it?' said Jude.
'No, no,' the tall man said quickly. 'Not this one. This one just kills small animals with four legs—sheep, dogs, cats, things like that.'
'Well,' said Jude, 'that is nice to know.'
'And where are the other monsters?' asked Hawker. 'For killing men, women, and children—things like that.'
The tall man smiled. 'Can't answer that, I'm afraid. Talk to your people in Brussels. Well, we must get back. Lots to do, you know. Thanks for your help. Bye. '
The men in grey put their dead monster in one of the boats and went away up the loch into the dark and the rain.


□　□　□


'And what did Arla say about it all?' I asked.
'He was so angry!' Hawker said. 'He went crazy! He didn't know about the monsters, you see. Or the laboratory. The army didn't tell anyone in Brussels.'
'And Arla liked to know everyone's secrets,' said Jude.
'Did the army make any more monsters?' I asked.
'Not in Scotland,' said Hawker. 'The British army closed their laboratory after that. The Americans and the French made some monsters years later. They were smaller, like big cats, but with eight legs.'
'Where are they now?' I said. 'You don't hear anything about them.'
'Of course not,' said Jude. 'People don't want to hear about monsters.'
'They're in Antarctica. Or in a place deep under the ground,' said Hawker. 'Nice and secret. Just waiting for the next war.'
'And so there isn't a Loch Ness monster, and never was one,' I said.
'Nessie?' said Jude. She looked me in the eyes and did not smile. 'Of course there's a Loch Ness monster. She's a blue-grey colour, has a small head, a very long neck, and is about fifteen metres long... Go and look at all the photos of her on the Internet.'
奥米茄文件第451号：苏格兰，尼斯湖
“我要你们坐下一班飞机去苏格兰，”阿拉说，“然后赶往尼斯湖。”
“噢，太好了，”霍克说，“是让我们去找尼斯湖怪兽——老内西？”
祖德笑了起来。
“别乐了，”阿拉说，“你们真的是要去找一个怪物。”
“哦，行了，阿拉，”祖德说，“你说的不是真的吧？
“这张照片是从爱丁堡用电子邮件发过来的，”阿拉说，“看……”他转向电脑，打开了一个电子文档。“这是晚上照的，不太清楚。”
霍克和祖德一起看着电脑屏幕上的照片。他们看见了水，还看见一个灰乎乎的庞然大物从水中探出半个身子来。
“它有胳膊，还有一个脑袋，”霍克说，“可它是什么呀？”
“它杀羊、杀猫、杀狗，”阿拉说，“或许就要杀小孩了。奥古斯都堡人向伦敦政府求助，伦敦政府又向我们求助。去找到它。”
“找到了怎么处置它呢？”祖德问。
“杀掉它，”阿拉说，“在它杀死你们之前。”
霍克和祖德又等了一会儿，但阿拉却转过身去看电子邮件了。
“阿拉，你把所有的情况都告诉我们了吗？”霍克问。
“当然。”阿拉把手放在桌子上。他的左手只有两个指头，“你们知道，我什么时侯都会向你们说明一切的。”
“嗬！”祖德应道。
＊　　＊　　＊
他们乘飞机到因弗内斯，然后开车顺着尼斯湖的岸边去奥古斯都堡。那是阴霾的11月的天气——灰色的天空，灰色的湖水，灰色的山。
霍克放眼朝湖面望去。“的确很容易相信这儿有怪物。”他说，“知道吗？尼斯湖有大约200米深，其深度在欧洲排第三。说100个怪物躲在这儿也有人信。”
“我们怎么找到它呢？”祖德问。
“先和奥古斯都堡人谈谈，”霍克回答，“然后再抓它。”
他们找旅馆的人谈了谈，又和奥古斯都堡大街上的人谈了谈。一说起怪物，每个人似乎都有一堆话要说。
“它吃了弗雷泽太太的狗。”一个妇女说，“她住在湖边的一幢房子里。一天夜里怪物闯入她的花园，她的小狗出来咬它，怪物就把它弄死了——就是那样。”
“我兄弟的六只羊被它弄死了，”一个叫杜格尔德的人说，“为此他很恼火”。
“我们能见一见你兄弟吗？”祖德问他，“问他点儿问题，可以吗？”
杜格尔德的兄弟阿奇住在距湖九英里处的因弗莫利斯通。他是个大块头，长着黑头发，蓝眼睛。一开始他并不友好。
“你们是什么人？”他问，“是当兵的吗？”
“不是，”霍克回答，“你为什么要问这个？”
“湖上面的山里有一个军事实验室，那儿有许多奇怪的人。一到夜里湖上就有许多船，来来往往。”
“嗯，挺有意思。”祖德说，“再给我们讲讲尼斯湖怪兽和你死掉的羊吧。”
“那可不是内西，内西才不会杀羊呢，”阿奇说，“那个……东西……扭断了羊的脖子。”
“你看见它了？”霍克问。
“喔，我看见一个庞然大物，但它移动的速度很快，几秒钟时间它就钻回了湖里。那时天还未黑透。”
“知道了。”霍克说，“现在请让我们看看你那些死羊吧。然后我们还需要一条船。阿奇，知道到哪儿能弄条快船吗？”
“你们要船干吗？”
“我们要抓这怪物，”祖德说，“以免它再杀死你的羊。”
接下来的四天里，霍克和祖德乘阿奇·坎贝尔的船在尼斯湖上转来转去。他们和每个居住在湖畔的人攀谈。“见到怪物就请打电话通知我们。白天黑夜，什么时侯都行。我们的手机会一直开着的。”
他们白天睡一会儿，夜间的大部分时间乘船出去，带着枪、照相机、手机，一只大手电筒和几升热咖啡。一次，在因弗莫利斯通北部，他们以为自己见着怪物了。另有一天夜里，他们接到一个电话，是从一个叫福耶斯的小地方打来的。他们早上6点赶到那儿时，天还是黑的，天气很冷，四周静悄悄的。他们坐在船上，在湖上四处张望。
“看，”霍克轻声说，“那儿！树丛边上。”
50米开外的湖边有一些高大的树木，树下有一群羊——还有一个庞大的黑影！突然羊群跑动起来。
“发动马达，”霍克说，“我们赶过去。”
当他们赶到树林时，只发现五只被扭断脖子的羊，但没看见什么怪兽。
“它杀死它们就走了，”祖德说，“太可怕了。”
第二天夜里，他们在厄克特城堡附近看见另外两只船。当时是凌晨3点钟。
“又是那些船！”霍克说，“昨天夜里我们听见它们发动机的声音。前天晚上也听到了。船上是什么人呢？我们去看看吧。”
他们悄悄地把船移近了，看见每只船上有四个人——四个身穿灰色衣服神情严肃的年轻人。他们望着霍克和祖德，一言不发。
“你们好！”祖德友好地微笑着说，“你们是干什么的？”
近处的那艘船上一个高个儿男人回答说：“军人。”他说道，“你们呢？这个时候你们在这儿做什么？”
“我们是观光的，”祖德说，“当然，是找内西的。你们在做什么呢？”
“这湖里没有怪兽，”高个儿男人说，“回你们的旅店睡觉去吧。”两只军用船开向湖的深处去了。
“不错，”霍克说，“真够友好的。”
阿拉每天早上都和他们通电话。“继续找。”他总是说，“在它杀人之前找到它。”
“我们无法靠近它，”祖德对阿拉说，“湖面有36公里长、两公里宽，而我们只有两个人，不让我们睡觉了吗？”
“觉以后再睡吧，”阿拉说，“先找到这傢伙。”
“昨晚我们遇到一些当兵的，”祖德说，“他们在这儿干什么？他们在他们的实验室里干什么呢？”
电话那端沉默了一会儿，然后问：“什么实验室？”
“尼斯湖边山里的军方实验室。”
电话那端又不作声了。“哦，哦，”祖德对霍克说，“要么他不知道，要么他不想告诉我们。”
怪物几乎每晚都要从湖里出来杀羊。住在湖边的每个人都想帮霍克和祖德，他们的手机响个不停。许多人认为这个怪物就是内西，可阿奇却认为不是。
“在这1,500年里，内西从不伤害任何东西，”他说，“这个东西就不一样。它就要开始杀人了。对了，你们得弄几只羊来。”
“羊？”霍克说，“你是说睡觉吧？”在湖上转了十个晚上，他已疲惫不堪了。
“当然了！”祖德回答，“你太聪明了，阿奇。那你能为我们弄几只老羊吗？没准儿霍克也能算一个。他现在差不多是一只老羊了。”
“行了，你给我闭嘴！”霍克说。
他们在英弗莫利斯通与厄克特城堡之间发现了一个水边有树林的好地方，于是就把他们的六只羊带到那儿去了。他们接连观察了三天都不见怪物的踪影。穿灰衣服的男人每晚也会出现，就在离霍克和祖德不远的地方，但从不和他们交谈。
第四天夜里，霍克和祖德比平时晚一些来到羊群那里。那是个温润的雨夜——天空一直飘着苏格兰的绵绵细雨。
他们关掉引擎后，四周便一片寂静——只听见雨滴落在湖面上发出的“沙，沙”的声音。霍克下了船，拿着手电筒站在那儿静静地看着、听着。祖德坐在船上，手里拿着枪。
“穿灰衣服的人哪儿去了？”霍克悄声问道。
“不知道，”祖德轻声回答，“我想可能在我们后面。”
一切都在瞬间发生了。他们身后突然响起船发动引擎的声音，同时他们看见有个东西在面前的水里移动，接着一个头和两个长胳膊露出了水面。
“用手电照一下！”祖德大叫，“快！”
霍克拧亮手电，怪物突然在水中直立起来，朝霍克扑过去，长胳膊伸向他的头。
“霍克，低头！”祖德尖叫。霍克一下子就钻到了水里，然后是祖德开枪的声音——一声，两声，三声。
怪物不动了，霍克和祖德走过去看它。它的皮肤是墨绿色的，比人类高大，胳膊和腿极长，它那长脖子上长着一个小脑袋，看起来怪异恐怖。
一分钟以后，穿灰衣服的人开着那两条船过来了。他们下了船，看着怪物的尸体。
“天哪！”高个儿男人说，“可怜的老内西。”
“这个东西，”霍克说，“不是内西。它究竟是什么？”
“你们就是那两个来旅游的，对吗？”高个子说，“从哪儿来的？”
霍克和祖德盯着他，并不作声。祖德从口袋里拿出一件东西，把它举到高个子眼前。
他看了看。“哦，”他说，“原来是EDI呀。我还没见过多少EDI呢。好吧，你们想知道什么？”
“那——是——什么——东西？”祖德说。
高个子看起来不太高兴。他说：“它是，它曾是军方新研制的一种武器，从我们的实验室里逃出来了。我们一直没抓住它。”
“可它是活的……一个——一个生物呀。”霍克说。
“现在一个实验室能生产出许多这样的活物来，”高个子说，“生物工程越来越先进了。它能跑一整夜，生活在水下，有夜视眼。但它刚研制出来，我们还没有进一步完善它。”
“它被生产出来杀一切生物的，是吗？”祖德问。
“不，不，”高个子马上说道，“这只不是。它只杀四条腿的小动物——羊、狗、猫等等诸如此类的东西。”
“呵，”祖德说，“真是个好消息。”
“其他怪物在哪儿呢？”霍克问，“那些专门造出来杀男人、女人和儿童——诸如此类的？”
高个子笑了笑说：“恐怕我无可奉告。和布鲁塞尔那边说说吧。好，我们得回去了，还有许多事要做。谢谢你们帮我们杀了它。再见。”
灰衣人把死了的怪物抬到其中一条船上，然后两只船向湖那边开去了，最后消失在漆黑的雨夜里。


□　□　□


“阿拉对此有何看法？”我问。
“他非常生气！”霍克说，“他简直气疯了！要知道他对怪物和实验室的事一无所知。军方没有向布鲁塞尔透露任何消息。”
“而阿拉却想知道一切秘密。”祖德说。
“军方后来又制造更多的怪物了吗？”我问。
“不在苏格兰了，”霍克说，“英国军方自那以后就关闭了他们的实验室。几年后美国和法国造出了一些怪物。它们个头小，像大型猫科动物，却有八条腿。”
“它们现在在哪儿？”我问，“你们就再没听到什么消息？”
“当然没有，”祖德回答，“人们总不爱听怪物的事儿。”
“它们在南极，或在地下深处。”霍克说，“悄悄地、安静地待在那儿，等待下一次战争的爆发。”
“这么说，没有尼斯湖怪兽了，而且从来也没有。”我说。
“内西？”祖德盯着我的眼睛，严肃地说，“当然有尼斯湖怪兽了。她有着墨绿色的皮肤，小小的脑袋，极长的脖子，身长大约有15米……去网上看她的照片吧。”