Sky Lights by Barclay Baker Page B

the click he was hoping for and the door opened effortlessly to reveal a long narrow corridor. A row of six identical doors faced him. His heart sank. They would be here all night at this rate.
    But luck was on their side and the doors were all labelled and unlocked. The first one said INVERTEBRATES , the next MISCELLANEOUS SMALL MARINE LIFE , the third AMPHIBIANS and the fourth REPTILES .
    ‘This must be it,’ said Skylights, opening the fourth door and advancing tentatively into the lab. ‘Put the light on,’ he said. ‘It’s pitch black in here.’
    As O’Mullins flicked the switch on the wall, the place flooded with light. There were benches with test tubes, various sizes of glass beakers and numerous pieces of scientific equipment. One wall was lined with reference books, another with glass cabinets containing small preserved lizard-like creatures, a few labelled skeletons and odd bones. But there was no sign of crocodiles. They backed out of the room. There were only two more possibilities. The fifth door was labelled MARINE ECO PROJECT , DUNDEE DIVISION.
    ‘Fingers crossed,’ said Skylights opening the door and switching on the light. An incredible but very welcome sight met his eyes. The biggest crocodile imaginable was lying on its back taking up the full length of a bench. Nose to tail the animal must have measured nine or ten metres. It was a monster. Approaching the bench Skylights saw that the animal had been cut open. The skin of its belly was pinned out for easy access to its organs. He looked inside the cavity. He was devastated. He stamped his feet, and let out a wailing howl, like a toddler having a temper tantrum. O’Mullins stared, his mouth agape. He’d never seen Skylights behave like this before.
    ‘It’s gone,’ Skylights whimpered. ‘The stomach has gone, and so has my one chance to get Hook. All this trouble and no stomach!!!! Aaah. aaaahhh.’ He sank to the floor and rolled about, clutching his own stomach as if in agony. ‘It’s not fair, it’s not fair. It’s an injustice. Why? Why? Why?’ he sobbed, kicking the floor with his heels. Afraid to interrupt his companion’s tirade O’Mullins spoke softly. ‘Look at this, Skylights!’ He stood at the other side of the lab, pointing to a deep container. ‘What’s this in here?’
    In a grey metal tray lay a haggis shaped object. It was much bigger than a haggis, a different colour from a haggis, and, unlike a haggis, it wobbled to the touch. It was very definitely a stomach, attached at one end to a weird shaped oesophagus and, at the other, to a very small intestine.
    Skylights jumped up from the floor, grabbed O’Mullins by the arms and kissed him on both cheeks. ‘Well done, me messmate! That’s it. That’s the stomach that holds Hook’s DNA. Billions of blisterin’ barnacles! That’s brilliant! Now all we have to do is get that giant water balloon out of here and back to Edinburgh, in one piece.’
    ‘Is that all?’ said O’Mullins, with just a touch of sarcasm. ‘It must weigh a ton.’
    ‘Now,’ said Skylights, looking around the lab, ‘we need to find a suitable container to transport it. It will be heavy so something with wheels would be good.’ His eyes came to rest on a bright orange wheelie bin in the corner of the lab. The label said HAZARDOUS WASTE.
    ‘The very thing,’ he said. ‘Help me, O’Mullins.’ O’Mullins moved the bin close to the bench and together they tipped the giant gelatinous blob of a stomach into it. It landed with a splat. The skin burst and the contents spilled into the bottom of the wheelie bin. Skylights quickly slammed down the lid. But not before a wisp of the foulest smelling aroma escaped.
    ‘No matter!’ he said. ‘We’ve got what we came for.’
    Two white overalls hung behind the laboratory door. Skylights snatched one and handing it to O’Mullins said, ‘Put that on. We’ll not be able to fly to Edinburgh carrying a wheelie bin so we’ll need to hitch a