Project U.L.F. by Stuart Clark Read Free Book Online

sir. It’s early.” The original smile appeared again before the man’s head disappeared behind the door. “Have a nice day, sir,” came the call as he sauntered away down the corridor.”
    “Yeah, right,” Leonardson muttered. The bubbles on his coffee spiraled out of control and crashed into the side of his cup. He knew exactly what that felt like.
     

 
     
     
    CHAPTER
    3
     
     
     
     
    “So let me get this straight. You want me to head up an away team. Right?”
    “Exactly,” Mannheim enthused, pointing a stubby digit in Wyatt’s direction, the drink held in his hand sloshing precariously.
    “But why me? I head the division. I have plenty of work here at the zoo.”
    Mannheim let out a short chuckle and turned to look out of the window, his back to Wyatt.
    “Why, always why? Well, since you ask, I’ll at least answer your question.” He turned and began to pace slowly along the wall of glass.
    “You may not be aware that five months from now is the one hundredth anniversary of the occasion when Chicago Zoo became the Interplanetary Zoological Park as you and I know it. Myself and the other directors on the board thought this deserved some kind of…event. At present the shape and form of this event…” He etched quotation marks in the air with his fingers to emphasize the word, “…are undecided.” Mannheim stopped walking, as if this revelation had bothered him slightly, before continuing. “But we did decide on one thing. We decided we would send an away team on a mission and have them scheduled to return slap-bang in the middle of the celebrations.” He turned to look at Wyatt. Whatever response he was looking for, he did not see it on Wyatt’s face.
    “Don’t you see?” he implored, his hand stretched forward, palm upward as if his vision sat upon it in broad view. “We unload the new acquisitions right in front of the paying public. It would be the most extraordinary thing most of them will ever have seen. Think of it, can you imagine how privileged these people will feel, knowing that they are one of the first to lay eyes on these magnificent and strange animals? They’d pay for that alone.”
    “It’s a bit gimmicky, isn’t it?”
    “Of course it is! People thrive on gimmicks. Gimmicks break up the normality of their otherwise dull existence. They are an essential part of memories. Tell me that’s not true.”
    Wyatt thought on Mannheim’s comments for a few seconds, spinning his chair back and forth casually.
    “What about the animals? They can’t be put on show immediately. They need to be studied and given time to acclimatize and we need to identify those that have special needs.”
    “Wyatt, Wyatt, I think you misunderstand me. We’re not displaying these animals immediately. We will follow the normal procedures for transferring animals from the transport vehicle to the holding pens, it’s just that the public will be allowed to see this aspect of our work for the first time.”
    “But…”
    Mannheim silenced him with a raised hand. “I know what you’re thinking. Yes, there will have to be slight modifications. We’re already drawing up plans for the runs from the transport to the pens to be changed to a transparent strengthened polycomposite instead of the reinforced steel fiber runs we have now. This will allow everyone to see the animals as they pass and protect the public. Yes, we’ve thought of that. But I’m diverging from the point here. The point is I’m offering you the opportunity to be involved in all of this. Why you, you ask? Why you?” Mannheim threw his arms up in the air, “Who else am I going to offer this to but the man who heads up the whole division for unidentified life form acquirement. It’s a big event and I want the best man on the job and, quite simply, that man is you. What do you say?”
    Wyatt sat silent for a moment, his elbow on the arm of his chair and his chin clasped thoughtfully between thumb and forefinger. He thought