The Loch

Chapter 26

I was back in my hotel room an hour later, my laptop set to the sonar array's Web link. Using my touchpad, I could zoom in on each section of the Loch, obtaining real-time data on any biologics passing by the pinging buoys.

Before I could begin, however, I was interrupted by a knock on my door. Not another reporter …

I peeked through the peephole, then opened the door for a stocky waiter with short, dirty blond hair and matching beard. "You must have the wrong room, bud. I didn't order room service."

"Compliments of your father, sir." He handed me a card.

Now what was Angus up to?

"Set it by the desk, please."

He pushed the cart of food inside, then noticed the laptop screen. "Hey, is this some sort o' sonar array? We're studyin' these things in university. My professor, he writes for the Fish an' Fisheries journal, the one put out by Edinburgh, St. Andrews, an' Leeds."

"I've read it. They do nice work."

"Yeah, they're pretty intense. I helped compile information used in one o' their special issues, it wis about how fish are smarter than scientists once thought. Ye know, steeped in social intelligence, cooperatin' wi' each other when it comes tae spottin' predators an' catchin' food. Stuff like that."

"So you're a marine biologist posing as a waiter?"

"Jist an undergrad tryin' tae pay my way through university." He extended his hand. "Ed Homa. It's a real pleasure tae meet ye, Dr. Wallace."

I shook his hand. "I was just about to take a peek in on Loch Ness. Want to watch?"

"Aye, that'd be amazin'."

I sat down at the desk and clicked on the northern third of the Loch, focusing my search from Lochend south to Urquhart Bay.

"So, Doc, where do ye think Nessie might be hidin'?"

"I'm not searching for Nessie. It's schools of fish I'm after, beginning with the salmon population. As I'm sure you know, they prefer the surface waters."

"Aye, sure."

Finding nothing, I clicked to another section of grid, then continued, one after the next, unable to find any fish.

"Uh, so where are they?"

I ignored him and moved on, focusing my search south toward Invermoristion.

Still nothing.

I shut the laptop fifteen minutes later, having failed to locate a single school of salmon. "Bizarre."

"Whit's bizarre?"

"They're not out there… or maybe they never arrived."

"Whit never arrived? Ye mean the salmon?"

"Yes. It's as if they're avoiding Loch Ness."

"Whit about the other species?"

"I can't be sure about the deepwater species. The array still has blind spots along the bottom. Still I—"

The phone's ring cut me off "Wallace. Oh, sorry, David, guess I forgot about you. Uh, yeah, hold on."

I turned to the waiter. "Sorry, do you mind?"

"Oh, sure. Hey, Doc, thanks."

"Good luck in school." I waited until he left before speaking. "Okay, David, you wanted to know why the array's not working, let's see how well informed you are."

"Zack, I don't have time for your games."

"Pay attention. A few years back, a federal court ruled the Navy could no longer use its high-intensity LFA sonar system. Do you remember the reason the system was shut down?"

"Who cares?"

"LFA is low frequency active sonar, David, the optimal word being active. The Navy's signal would have blasted hundreds of thousands of square miles of ocean with enough sound to deafen, maim, and even kill whales."

"And this has what to do with Loch Ness?"

"Jesus, David, wake up! Loch Ness is essentially a long, giant trough. Everything reflects off her walls, every wake, every sound, every ping. And every monster hunter before you has made the same mistake in hunting the beast with sonar."

"Which is?"

I shook my head in disbelief. "Active sonar, David! The creature's sensitive to sound. The pinging from your buoys is scaring it off. It's hiding along the bottom somewhere, or in its lair, wherever that might be. And it won't come out again until you—"

"Switch the array from active to passive! Gotta go!"

I lay back, listening to the dial tone, wondering what wheels of fate I had just set in motion.