Holes in the Ground by J.A. Konrath, Iain Rob Wright Page B

minds.”
    “Okay,” Sun said. “Then I’ll ask again, what have you learned so far?”
    Gornman made a face. “Nothing conclusive yet, but tests are ongoing. It’s just a matter of time until—”
    “So you have nothing.”
    Gornman folded her arms.
    “We know that the thing does not sleep,” Dr. Chandelling said, scratching at his pockmarked chin. “We know that it feels pain, but not always. It can’t be killed. It doesn’t seem to get sick. We bombarded it with a few simple strains of flu and chickenpox. It contracted neither.”
    “You can try every virus you have,” Sun told them. “Nothing will have any effect. The only thing we found that hurt Bub was radiation—and even that didn’t finish the job.”
    Dr. Chandelling nodded rapidly. “Yes, yes. I read your debriefing after Samhain. I heard that you hit Bub with a huge dose of rads. I would be very excited to hear your experiences first-hand.”
    “It’s not something we’re particularly comfortable talking about,” Sun said, “but we’ll share what we know. That batling you have locked up is part of something bigger. It can’t be a coincidence you caught it nearby. We need to figure out what Bub’s game is.”
    Gornman shook her head slightly. “You’re over-reacting. Deus Manus has kept watch over thousands of dangerous creatures for thousands of years. We are more than equipped to handle a single batling.”
    “Bub isn’t a giant spider or an imp,” Andy said. “He wanted to enslave mankind. And he had the means to do it. If that batling knows what Bub knew, and has his abilities, you all better put on some long rubber boots because we’re in some seriously deep shit.”
    Gornman frowned. “The mistakes at Samhain were a combination of human and technical error. That can’t happen here. We’re much more technologically advanced than you were, and our staff is more experienced. It takes years to be inducted into the Order. Many, such as Dr. Nester here, are groomed since college to be inducted. The batling will be contained. The only threat to this operation is newcomers who don’t understand the protocol.”
    Andy leaned forward on the table like an angry cop doing an interrogation, except he was the one being scrutinised. “I couldn’t care less about your
Order
. But if you treat that demon like it’s just another attraction in your crazy little zoo, it’s going to kill you, me, everyone here, and the whole goddamn world.”
    “At ease,” Kane ordered. Then he addressed Gornman. “Andrew and Sun Dennison-Jones are here at the insistence of the President. They have full access to anything they need, and you’ll listen to what they’re saying. That’s an order.”
    Gornman didn’t seem to like it. “What about that straggler you brought in with you? The English boy?”
    “How do you even know about him?” Kane asked.
    “It’s my job to know what’s going on around here, Austin.”
    “No, Dr. Gornman, it is not. That is
my
job, and you may address me as ‘Sir’ or ‘General’. Now go and wait in my office.”
    Gornman popped up from her seat, spun around and marched away with her heels clicking on the tiled floor.
    Andy winced.
For a psychiatrist she seems to have some serious emotional issues.
    “What’s with the Manx man?” Sun asked around. “What do you know about him?”
    Dr. Chandelling sat up in his seat and grinned. “He’s very interesting, very fascinating. He’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before. Every test we run on him comes up implausible. He has cells, but no DNA, either in the nucleus or mitochondria. He has blood, but we can’t type it. No antibodies, no antigens, no leucocytes, no platelets—just plasma and red cells. He doesn’t eat, sleep, or…you know, go to the toilet. He’s just
there,
chatting away happily in that strange language.”
    Andy rubbed a fingertip against the bridge of his nose and had a quick think. “Don’t you find it a bit weird?”
    “It’s