In which a rock is not just a rock

Caleb woke the next morning to the sound of light rain on the roof of the campervan. He turned over and pulled his thin duvet tighter around him. He didn’t particularly want to get out of bed. But then again, the missing ray-gun needed his attention. And the bed wasn’t actually very comfortable. And the sheets felt clammy. So, he got dressed under the covers and once it sounded as though the rain had eased off a little, he stumbled out of the door to go and find the bathroom.

“Is this your Grandpa’s towel?”

It was Flora. She was standing on the edge of their pitch looking smug. She had an orange towel in her hand.

“Er, yes, where did you find it?” Caleb managed, trying to get his brain to wake up properly.

“Over on the Dinosaur Walk. I’ll show you if you like.”

“OK, just give me a moment.”

Caleb completed his mission to the bathroom, washed his hands and face and returned to Flora. She had draped the towel over the back of a chair. Grandpa would be happy about that, he thought. Though not if it got wet in the rain. He quickly popped it through the door of the van and told his dad he would be back soon.

“Come on,” Flora said, reaching out a hand and threatening to drag him in the direction of the shop.

Caleb kept out of reach and tried to move up a gear or two, but his limbs were still feeling stiff. He settled for walking slightly fast. Which really just made it look like he still needed the toilet.

Flora remained a few paces ahead, her walk something between a skip and a dance. “You are slow,” she giggled annoyingly.

“I haven’t had any breakfast,” said Caleb.

“I was up hours ago,” said Flora. “The morning is the best part of the day.”

“Right,” said Caleb. “Even when it’s raining?” He wasn’t convinced.

She approached the entrance to the Dinosaur Walk, but didn’t go in. “Round here,” she said and led him past the T-Rex, skirting the outside of the wood near the drive. The museum had just disappeared from sight behind them when she took a sudden right-hand turn into the trees on a barely discernible path. Just when Caleb thought he could make out one of the dinosaurs and the main path ahead, she stopped.

“It was here, on the ground.”

Caleb looked down. He wished she had left it there for possible clues, but he couldn’t say as much.

“Was it folded?”

“No, just like it had been dropped.”

“Was it pointing in any direction?”

“How can a towel point?”

“Was it long ways, like this, or sideways?”

“Hmmm, more longways, along the path.”

“Why would anyone come on this path?” mused Caleb.

“If it was Dale and his gang, this is a shortcut they use to get to the pit and then back to the village.”

Caleb thought about their first experience of the Dinosaur Walk and the kids they had seen disappearing into the trees. That would fit with the direction they had been heading that time too. “Do you know where they live?”

“No, but I expect Tess does.”

“I’ll ask her.”

“But why does it matter now that you have the towel back?” Flora had a sneaky smile on her face. “Unless you are looking for something else?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact we are.”

Flora looked back hopefully.

“I can’t tell you, I’m afraid,” said Caleb.

“I can’t help you find it if you don’t tell me what it is.”

“OK… but all I can say is that it was a machine belonging to my Grandpa.”

“A machine?”

“Just a machine used for looking at fossils.”

“A machine for looking at fossils?” She sounded doubtful.

“Yes,” said Caleb. “Exactly that.”

“Maybe they were trying it out in the pit.”

“I doubt they would have known what it was.”

“Perhaps they aren’t as stupid as they look?”

“Do they look stupid?” asked Caleb.

“Some might say that,” Flora conceded. “Though we shouldn’t judge by appearances.”

Caleb didn’t want to debate that point, preferring to keep focused on the plight of the ray-gun. “Let’s go and have a look.”

They joined the main path and followed it round to the top of the stairs. Nothing looked amiss below.

“I doubt they would have left it here even if they had used it,” commented Flora.

“Sure, but there may be other clues.”

Caleb descended the stairs looking around carefully as he went.

“What are we looking for? Footprints? How will we know if they are theirs?” Flora asked, without pausing between questions.

“You don’t always know what clues you’re going to find until you find one. Be patient.”

When they reached the bottom, Caleb walked around the perimeter taking in every detail. His eyes moved from the muddy floor to the shiny wet surface of the cliff.

“Look, that rock…” Caleb pointed. “It’s balanced on the shelf there. Why would anyone do that?”

Flora followed his gaze. It didn’t look remarkable. “People often balance rocks on the beach.”

“Yes, but that is to make something fun and interesting. That is just a rock.”

“Exactly what I was thinking,” said Flora.

“Someone may have been using the machine to look at it.”

Flora lifted the rock down. Caleb made a move to stop her. “Sorry… were you going to dust it for fingerprints?” Flora asked sarcastically.

“No, it’s just worth checking more carefully before moving anything,” explained Caleb.

“I can’t see any fossils. Why would they have looked at this rock?”

“The machine can help you see if there are fossils inside, so they may have been testing it.”

Flora raised her eyebrows, interested.

“Look,” said Caleb, “there are some fragments over here, as though someone has used a hammer to break a rock open.”

“They are not meant to do that in here,” said Flora, pointing to a sign that read, “Do not chip away at the rock face or remove any rocks or fossils”.

“It does look like someone was using the machine in here,” mused Caleb.

“Well, I guess it points the finger of suspicion even more at Dale and his friends. There are footprints in the mud here, but they are hard to make out.”

“How old are they?” Caleb asked. “Dale and his friends, I mean.”

“About 15,” replied Flora. “They’ll have adult shoe sizes then, won’t they?”

“Maybe. Some of these look a bit smaller. I’m a size 6. I’d guess those are size 7 or 8 trainers.”

Just then Caleb’s attention was attracted by the sound of falling earth. He looked up. Not far away, near to the word “Beware”, a little of the rock face had given way and fallen to the ground. As he watched, a few more fragments fell.

“Strange,” he said to himself. Why would that be happening now? There was no evidence of other rockfalls. He touched the rock face further away and it seemed firm.

“Do these rocks erode very fast?”

“No,” said Flora. “It’s not like the cliffs that face the sea. This quarry was dug years ago and the cliffs are protected from the wind and rain by the trees. I hardly ever see rockfalls here. Someone must have been chipping away at them.”

“Maybe,” said Caleb. “But maybe not.” Another theory had just occurred to him.

*

Back at the campervan, Caleb ate bacon and eggs with Dad, who had succeeded in cooking it over the gas burner in the van and was very pleased with himself.

“Dad, can some frequencies of light make things vibrate?”

“Hmm, not light, as far as I know. Microwaves do, that’s how they work – in a microwave oven, I mean. They vibrate the water in the food, giving it energy. Light and microwaves and radio waves are all the same thing: electromagnetic waves. It’s just that they vibrate at different frequencies. The faster the vibration the more energy.”

Caleb had heard this before. “But apart from microwaves, do other waves cause atoms to vibrate?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t think radio waves interact with the air they are passing through, they don’t need to – they can travel through a vacuum. As can light. That’s how we can see the stars. The odd thing is that some waves can’t pass through solid objects, like radio and light, whereas X-rays can. You’ll have to ask your grandpa.”

Caleb was getting a bit lost. But nothing Dad said disproved his theory. The rays from the machine must be making the rock vibrate, which is what caused the rock falls. Using the machine to look at cliffs was dangerous. He would need to tell Grandpa before someone else got hurt.

“Will we see Grandpa again today?” he asked his dad.

“Yes, he was going to be let out when they had put a cast on his foot, hopefully by lunchtime. Then we’ll go and pick him up.”

Nothing to be done till then, Caleb thought. Unless he tried Tess first. Yes, the ray-gun might cause another accident – he had better tell her without delay.

*

“So you think Dale and his gang have the machine?” said Tess. Caleb had gone to find her as soon as the shop opened.

“I think it’s very likely,” replied Caleb.

“And you think we should go and warn them?”

“Yes.”

“But that will mean accusing them of theft.”

“Not necessarily. We can say, ‘If you have taken it, do not use it on a cliff face as it is dangerous.’”

“Well, I do know where Dale lives. But I can’t say I relish the thought of speaking to his parents. His Dad is a nasty piece of work. It’s common knowledge that he wants to get his hands on this land, which is why he doesn’t stop Dale making a nuisance of himself.”

“We could put up posters near their house, offering a reward and with a note about the danger of using it.”

“Yes, that’s an idea. Would your Grandpa pay a reward?”

“I expect so – though not a big one.”

“Well, that will give you kids something to do in the rain. You can use the shack. You’ll find paper in the drawers and loads of pens.”

“Thanks,” said Caleb. “Here’s Beth now.”

Dad had gone to collect Mum and Beth from the B&B in the campervan and had just driven past on the way back to their pitch.

When Caleb left the shop, he found Flora waiting around outside.

“What are you going to do now?” she asked.

Flora was OK to a point, but at this particular point Caleb just wanted to be left alone.

“Er, nothing much.”

“You can come and see my caravan if you like.”

“Thanks, but I need to start working on something.”

“Really? In the rain?”

“Yes, Tess wants me to make a poster.”

“That sounds fun, can I help?”

Caleb knew he didn’t have anywhere else to go except to the shack and if he went, Flora would follow anyway. So he figured he may as well let her in on it. She knew most of what was going on anyway.

“OK, I suppose. I’ll just go and get Beth and then meet you in the shack.”

He quickly explained the plan to Beth without Mum and Dad overhearing and off they ran together.

Once in the shack they found the papers that Tess had stowed in a drawer and another drawer full of marker pens and pencils and crayons.

“We could each make a poster,” suggested Caleb, “but each one needs to say the same thing. Let me write an example.”

Caleb wrote ‘REWARD’ in capital letters across the top of a piece of paper and £100 underneath it. Then he left a space for a picture and wrote below that, ‘Missing fossil viewing machine. Please report to museum with information. If found do not use as it is dangerous.’

“£100 isn’t much,” observed Flora. “Rewards are usually in the thousands.”

“I know, but I can’t commit Grandpa to something higher without speaking to him.”

“Can Grandpa even afford £100?” asked Beth with concern. She had often seen him counting his coins before going to town to buy second-hand clothes.

“I don’t know, but the main reason we are doing the poster is to warn people of the danger. I don’t expect anyone is going to come looking for the reward.”

“But if you made the reward big enough you might get the machine back as well. And then everyone would be happy,” said Flora.

She had a point.

“You’re right, but I can’t promise more money without speaking to my Grandpa. And I don’t want my parents to know what is going on or they would stop us trying to recover it.”

“Let me go and talk to my Dad.”

Before they could say anything, Flora had gone. Caleb settled down to drawing a picture of the Resurrection Ray-Gun. Beth had said he had better draw it for all three posters as he was the only one who had studied it close up. The first one came out looking too short with the shoulder rest the wrong shape, the second one too long. The third one was about right, though now it came to it he couldn’t remember much of the detail.

“That looks good,” said Beth.

Caleb wasn’t convinced. “I guess we don’t want it to look too accurate in case people try to copy the idea. Here you are, we can each trace this one.”

Just then Flora came back.

“Dad says you can put £1,000.”

Caleb gasped. “What did you tell him?”

“That your Grandpa had lost his fossil viewing machine.”

“But even the best binoculars would hardly be worth that.”

“I said it had sentimental value.”

“Flora, you’re a brick – as the Famous Five would say!”

“Thank you. I know.”

An hour later, three similar but different posters were finished. On each one the last line had been done in heavy bold with the word dangerous outlined in red.

“It looks like a gun,” said Flora with concern.

“It isn’t a gun,” said Caleb, knowing full well she had a point.

“It’s more like a laser,” said Beth.

“Exactly,” said Caleb. “A laser gun, but not for doing anyone harm, just for shining an intense light on fossils.”

“Would it be better to make it look less like a gun?” asked Flora. “As long as Dale and his gang recognise it, it doesn’t matter if it is a bit inaccurate.” Caleb showed her the other picture he had made.

“They all look like guns,” she said.

“Let’s take them to Tess,” said Caleb gathering together the three finished posters. They quickly packed up the scraps of paper and pens and set out for the shop. Caleb held the posters close to his chest to protect them from any lingering rain. When they got to the shop they spread them out on the counter.

“Very good!” said Tess. “I’ll go and put them up during my lunch break. There is a wall right opposite Dale’s front door. I think the sun will be coming out again soon.”

She paused, and glanced at Caleb. “It looks like a gun.”

Caleb sighed. “It’s not a gun, it’s like a laser, for viewing fossils.”

“Ok, if you say so.” And with that she flipped over a sign that read, ‘Gone to lunch, back 2pm,’ and headed out of the door.