The Relic Page #11

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No answer. Pendergast glances at the computer screen, sees graphs and

complicated notations. He scrolls down, leans closer. He can't figure

it out. He slides into Margo's chair, fascinated. Then...

MARGO (OS)

You have a warrant to look at that?

Pendergast leaps up. Margo has appeared in the doorway behind him, a

cup of coffee in her hand.

PENDERGAST:

Special Agent Pendergast. FBI.

Forgive me. I guess I was snooping.

What is this?

MARGO:

An invention of mine. It's a

computer program designed to

describe the characteristics of a

given species from a reading of its

DNA. I call it the Genetic Sequence

Extrapolator.

PENDERGAST:

How does it work?

MARGO:

With a DNA analysis from a fossil

you can use this program to tell the

species and sex of the animal,

whether it was nocturnal, what it

ate, how it hunted, how big it

was...

(abrupt)

You aren't here for a lesson in DNA.

PENDERGAST:

No.

(a moment)

I came to talk about Dr. John

Whittlesley.

Margo turns to put down her coffee. She takes a moment to compose

herself. When she turns back, her voice is quiet.

MARGO:

Somehow, when all this happened... I

knew it would come back to John. Is

he really dead?

PENDERGAST:

Maybe not.

MARGO:

If he were alive he'd have contacted

me.

PENDERGAST:

You have time to talk?

INT. MUSEUM HALLS - NIGHT

Pendergast and Margo walk together though various exhibits and halls.

They pass dioramas of ferocious wild animals that have been tamed and

stuffed behind glass.

PENDERGAST:

Dr. Whittlesley was last seen in

Belem, Venezuela a week after the

rest of his expedition disappeared.

A taxi driver drove him to the

harbor where he boarded a cargo

boat. That boat washed up in my

district. Everyone on board was

killed.

MARGO:

And John?

PENDERGAST:

Disappeared. His body wasn't among

the victims.

MARGO:

I don't understand.

PENDERGAST:

The people killed were mauled and

their brains were eaten. Just like

Beauregard. One part of the brain

was extracted with surgical

precision. The hypothalamus and

thalamus to be exact.

Margo pales.

MARGO:

John couldn't have anything to do

with a horrible thing like that. He

was a fine man despite his

problems --

PENDERGAST:

You loved him.

MARGO:

(a moment, taken aback)

Yes. Once. We met at Columbia. John

held the Cadwalader Chair in

Statistical Paleontology when I was

a grad student there.

PENDERGAST:

You were going to be married.

MARGO:

How did you know that?

PENDERGAST:

I ran an internet search on Dr.

Whittlesley. Got a list of his

scholarly articles and the

engagement announcement in the

Times. I also found a record of your

restraining order.

MARGO:

That was two years ago. John was

still in love with me.

(she looks down)

He wouldn't leave me alone.

PENDERGAST:

You were afraid of him, weren't you?

MARGO:

He was afraid of himself. He tried

suicide once. He was ill. Manic

depressive. He had wild emotional

highs and lows. Not a happy

affliction for a scientist. He'd

been revered in our community. By

the end he was a joke.

PENDERGAST:

Tell me about the last expedition.

What was he looking for?

MARGO:

A legendary monster called Mbwun.

PENDERGAST:

A monster?

MARGO:

Yes. He developed his own theory

that he called the Calisto Effect.

It held that evolution wasn't always

gradual or driven by natural

selection. The environment would

sometimes cause sudden and grotesque

changes which could result in a

"monster species". It made no sense.

But he felt he had evidence that

Mbwun was such a monster, living in

isolation on the tepui for thousands

of years.

PENDERGAST:

What happened?

MARGO:

No one knows. The Kothoga who live

on the tepui are cannibals.

Margo's voice catches again. Pendergast reaches for his handkerchief

but she shakes her head, determined to keep control.

MARGO:

No. I'm all right. I won't let this

affect me anymore. John wouldn't get

help. His ego endangered the lives

of others. His theory came first.

PENDERGAST:

What if Whittlesley arrived on the

tepui and no monster was there? Was

he desperate enough to create one?

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