Dinosaur brain hack, p.1
Dinosaur / Brain Hack, page 1
THE NEXT FILES
DOUBLE PUZZLER
DINOSAUR
And
BRAINHACK
by
G L Keady
ALSO BY
G L Keady
DREAMRAIDERS
SONS OF STEEL
CHANNELING BO
THE INCARNATE
Axis Stone Mysteries
SUICIDE BLONDE
LEG MAN
SMUGGLER’S HOLE
HORSE ARM CASE
GOD’S DOOR
THE SACRED THREE
THE GIRL WITH THE LUNATIC FRINGE
CAT STREET
THE ZIGGY STARDUST DEAD RINGER
Sons of Steel Saga
FUTURES END
CYBERWARS
DARK ENERGY
BLOCKCHAIN
AL AND THE ID
TABLETS OF DESTINIES
DOMINION
ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD
The Next Files
EIGHT DRAGONS & MIN MIN
LANG SUYAR & BLOOD OF THE AZTECS
BUNYIP & HELLHOUSE
Published in Australia in 2024
by Big Island Publishing
Copyright © Gary Keady 2024
The right of Gary Keady to be identified as the moral rights
author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance
with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) AD. 2000
This book is copyright.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study,
research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act,
no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission.
Enquiries should be addressed to the publishers.
All rights reserved.
No portion of this work may be copied by any means without
prior written agreement of the publishers.
Big Island Publishing
PO Box 3027, Tuross Head, 2537, NSW, Australia
www.bigislandpublishing.au
ISBN:
E-book: 9871763642607
Print: 9871763642614
Edited by: Canon Doyle
Cover design: Brandon Evans-Keady
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
BRAINHACK
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Hitos
Portada
CHAPTER
ONE
Torrential rain hammered down outside—it was definitely not a night for venturing out. Instead, Jax decided to immerse herself in research on potential Next File contenders. Her brother Digger, who also worked on The Next Files television programme’s research and field team, had skilfully digitised and organised all the files accumulated over the years at NewsLine, filtering out those that didn’t meet the criteria. He had meticulously categorised them into seven distinct groups according to their dictionary definitions:
Paranormal: extremely unusual and beyond explanation by current scientific understanding.
Monsters: bizarre or terrifying, predominantly imaginary creatures.
Aliens: entities from beyond Earth.
Occult: related to mystical, supernatural, or magical powers, practices, or phenomena.
Spiritual: concerning the human spirit or soul, rather than material or physical aspects.
Unexplained: not described or understood.
Genetics: changes in DNA that result in physical or mental mutations.
As thunder clapped and the rain got even heavier, Jax snuggled into her king-sized bed, pulling her knees up under the covers and placing her laptop on her lap. She needed to decide which category to dive into. The flickering bedside lamp added a mysterious vibe to her apartment as the storm raged outside. Naturally inclined towards adventure, she thought, “Hmm, a perfect night for monsters.”
The ‘monsters’ folder opened, revealing six hundred more folders, each with a unique title. Jax shrugged, not sure which to pick, and then selected the first one, saying to herself, “This is as good as any.”
The file was titled Amabiki Maru. She started reading, letting herself get totally absorbed in the story. In 1943, the Japanese navy depot ship Amabiki Maru, along with a fleet of four destroyers, was anchored in Dakataua Bay off Talasea in New Britain, getting ready for an attack on Rabaul, 247 kilometres away. At 0300 hours, the Amabiki Maru was lowering its first landing craft into the choppy waters. But things didn’t go as planned. The Allies, who had been tipped off, sent RAAF and USAF bombers to hit the Japanese fleet. The Amabiki Maru took a torpedo hit while launching its first Daihatsu landing craft #43. This craft, with a 60 HP diesel engine and a range of 93 kilometres, carried 20 marines and was loaded with food supplies and weapons, and armed with two light machine guns.
The torpedo strike set the Amabiki Maru on fire, and the jib for the landing craft collapsed, causing #43 to crash into the sea, with many of its crew thrown overboard.
With the engine busted, the seven remaining marines struggled to keep #43 from capsizing in the chaos. They drifted away from their burning mothership and the fleet. Without power, they were pushed by waves onto a coral reef. Hurt by the sharp coral and scared of sharks, the marines had to make a tough choice: stay with the falling-apart craft being pounded by the waves or swim to shore. They chose the latter and disappeared.
In 1993, a Japanese film crew led by Hiro Tanaka went to Talasea in New Britain to shoot a documentary about the Japanese wartime occupation. While exploring the remote areas of Talasea looking for WWII relics, Tanaka met an indigenous tribe of Papuans who shared the harrowing tale of the survivors of landing craft #43.
Tanaka’s producer and girlfriend, Akemi Kawai, who was travelling with him and now living in Sydney, had sent the account of the expedition to Newsline.
Jax was hooked. The rain had eased, and the thunder was now distant. She eagerly opened the document.
“No one is likely to believe this, but I have just returned to Sydney from Papua New Guinea. We were told by locals near Talasea, New Britain, about a chilling account of the infamous vanished crew of landing craft #43 during WWII. After being shipwrecked at night on a reef, four brave surviving marines were trying to reach the Japanese base at Talasea but took a wrong turn, heading instead towards the Dakataua Caldera. The locals claimed that when the marines reached the mysterious, seemingly bottomless lake, they were attacked and eaten by the lake monster Migo, which is said to live in these waters. When Hiro asked for a description of the Migo, they showed him both ancient and recent artworks depicting something like a dinosaur. Driven by a desire to film the Migo, Hiro, undeterred by the crew’s natural fears, ventured to the caldera with just me and a native guide.”
Jax closed the file and searched for more information on Hiro Tanaka. She found out that he had indeed captured what he claimed to be the Migo on film at Dakataua Caldera. A palaeontologist from Sydney University had viewed the footage and identified the creature as an exceptionally large saltwater crocodile, not a surviving mosasaur from the Cretaceous period as Tanaka had insisted. But Tanaka disagreed with the scientific assessment. His documentary, which featured both the footage of the creature and an animated sequence, was broadcast on the NHK TV Network in 1994.
As Tanaka fought for scientific recognition of his discovery, Jax saw a reflection of her own struggles and frustrations. Inspired by his persistence, she decided this was definitely a Next File.
When Jax entered her office at Newsline, she found Digger and Doc deep in conversation about the weekend’s NRL games, both fervently supporting the South Sydney Rabbitohs. They quickly shifted focus upon noticing Jax, eager to discover if she had pinpointed their next investigative case. Savouring the moment, Jax seated herself behind her desk and calmly took a sip of the freshly brewed coffee she had picked up from Tilly on her way in.
Doc, a tall Filipino Australian and quite the handsome figure, got up and positioned himself on the edge of Jax’s desk, looking her directly in the eye before asking, “So?”
Jax proceeded to brief them on the Migo case, and they concurred that it seemed like a promising lead. Jax knew that the prospect of an expedition to Papua New Guinea would appeal to Doc, but for Digger, it was the empathy he felt for Hiro Tanaka’s plight and how his career had been overshadowed by scientific scepticism that resonated more. Doc, however, was sceptical, insisting that their cases needed to be driven by hard facts.
“Just like the bunyip case?” Digger asked facetiously.
“Or the Eight Dragons, Lang Suyar, and Min Min cases? Hmm, Doc Pragmatic Lee?” Jax countered with a snide smile.
Doc stood up and, while moving back to his desk, retorted, “Okay, I’m outnumbered. Let’s find out just what inhabits the Dakataua Caldera.”
“Cool,” Jax said, hopping up. “Digger, you start on the logistics... Doc, see if you can find Akemi Kawai in Sydney. If she’s around, we’ll definitely need to chat with her. I’ll go get the thumbs-up from the big boss.”
As Jax zipped through the corridor towards Carter’s office, she bumped into Tilly. “Why’re you rushing like that, girl?” Tilly asked.
Jax flashed a big smile at her former au pair. “I’m off to get the OK to head to Papua New Guinea and chase down a monster.”
Tilly arched an eyebrow, her face full of character. “What kind of monster, honey?”
“A mosasaur, called Migo by the locals. It’s basically a man-eating ten-metre dinosaur that lives in a caldera.”
Tilly waved her hand like it was no big deal. “Oh, is that all? I thought it might be something actually scary.”
Jax loved Tilly’s quick wit. “Catch you later, Tilly.”
“Just let me know when you’re off so I can sort out the boys’ laundry,” Tilly called after her, adding under her breath, “They’re gonna need plenty of clean undies if they bump into that dinosaur.”
Reaching Carter’s office, Jax nearly collided with her producer Janet coming from the other direction. They paused for a quick chat. “How’s Bunyip shaping up?” Jax asked.
Janet pushed a stray blonde hair out of her face, looking a tad worn out. “Just wrapping the final edits,” she sighed. “When you’ve got a hit show, the station’s all over you for the next episode—like, yesterday.”
“They’re probably scared of losing ads,” Jax suggested.
“Most likely. So, what’s up?” Janet asked, her eyes lighting up.
“Let’s head in; I’ll fill you in on my pitch.”
They both walked into Carter’s office. He looked up with a smirk. “Here comes trouble.”
After Jax laid out her fifteen-minute pitch, she got the go-ahead. “When are you heading out?” Janet asked.
“Give me a day to sort it. First, I gotta chat with Akemi Kawai, if she’s still around. It’s been like thirty years since she sent us the Next File,” Jax explained.
Janet rose from her chair. “Just let me know, so I can line up a crew…”
Jax stopped her. “Actually, let’s keep it raw, like we did with Bunyip—Blair Witch style.”
Janet nodded, pumped. “Totally worked. Cool, if Des is good with it…”
“Yep, all set here. How are you planning to get in?” Carter inquired.
“Digger’s figuring it out, but I’m guessing chopper. No way am I hiking through miles of jungle, been there … done that.”
CHAPTER
TWO
Doc paced the office, with Digger and Jax watching him like spectators at a tennis match. “There have been a number of magnetometer readings of the caldera, mostly from aircraft,” he explained, sounding like a professor giving a lecture. “That’s not unusual for volcanoes and craters, but the readings from Dakataua Caldera are intense. This suggests a couple of things: first, there’s still radiation being emitted from deep within Earth’s crust, likely from vast volcanic fissures under the caldera. Secondly, this might indicate a temporal anomaly.”
Digger perked up. “Are you suggesting there might be a portal over the caldera?”
Doc stopped pacing and faced them. “Well, yes... I suppose. It’s been suggested by a number of prominent scientists, though of course, never proven.”
Jax chimed in, “It’s well-documented that UFOs are often seen over or emerging from active volcanoes. The most noted are Popocatepetl in Mexico, Mount St. Helens in the USA, and Colima Volcano in Mexico.”
“And Mount Etna in Italy, and Mount Shasta in the USA,” Digger added.
“And why would that be? Are they suspected of using a portal caused by the volcanic activity?” Doc asked.
“Maybe, or it’s speculated they might use the powerful magnetic fields to refuel,” Jax suggested.
“Some ancient astronaut theorists believe the Great Pyramid at Giza wasn’t just a monument or a crypt but a charging station for spacecraft,” Digger proposed. “Supporting that, there was never any lampblack found on the ceilings of the Great Pyramid...”
“Nor in any of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings,” Jax added.
“Ah,” Doc said, “the Baghdad Battery theory.”
“It’s true,” Digger continued, “it was an Aussie who asked to handle the clay pot on exhibit in the British Museum. He squeezed a lemon into it, touched a small globe at the end of the copper rod inside, and when it lit up, proving it was a battery and had been mislabelled, we realised there was a lot more to the Ancient Egyptians than we’d previously thought.”
The three of them paused, pondering the implications. Then Doc asked Jax, “Are you suggesting that a creature might have somehow come through the portal and plonked into Dakataua Caldera?”
Jax shrugged her shoulders. Just then, the phone rang on Doc’s desk. He answered it—it was Akemi Kawai, and she was indeed still in Sydney. He quickly set up a meeting with her for 7 PM at the Friend in Hand Pub.
Despite being his favourite watering hole, the pub was a solid choice for the meeting, usually quiet on a Monday night. Doc was already at the main bar chatting with John, the bartender, when Jax walked in and joined him.
“Thought Digger would be with you,” she said, sliding onto a bar stool.
“He’s running late,” Doc answered, “something about his new bike. Want a drink?”
“Yep, I’ll have a beer, thanks. What sort of bike did he get?”
“I introduced him to my buddy at Harley; he bought a Fat Boy.”
“How much did that set him back?”
“About forty grand and change.”
“He could’ve got an SUV, even an EV for that?”
Doc raised an eyebrow. “Not if you like the wind in your hair.”
“Fire all of your guns at once and explode into space, a true nature’s child,” Jax quoted with a smirk.
“Yep, born to be wild,” Doc added, completing the next line from the iconic Steppenwolf song. They shared a knowing smile, their mutual taste in classic rock adding another layer to their camaraderie.
Just then, an incredibly stylish Japanese woman entered, stopping and posing as if right off the front cover of Vogue Magazine, and peered over her sunglasses at them. Jax nudged Doc, who was fetching her beer, and murmured, “Look what just breezed in.”
Doc turned, holding the beer, and nearly spilled it. “Is that?”
“I think so,” Jax confirmed.
Doc approached her and led her to a table. Jax joined them, and Doc made introductions before leaving to get Akemi a gin and tonic from the bar.
“Thank you for coming, Akemi. Do you mind if I call you that?” Jax started.
Akemi removed her sunglasses and swapped them for prescription glasses with hip frames. “No problem, Jax,” she replied in a mid-Atlantic accent. “It took thirty years to get a reply to my letter to your station. It doesn’t matter, my project aired on NHK anyway.”
“I apologise for that oversight. My colleagues and I...”
Akemi cut her off, “No need to explain. I’m a fan of The Next Files.”
“That makes things easier,” Jax smiled, relieved, as Doc returned, handing Akemi her drink and taking a seat.
“Akemi was just saying she’s a fan of the show,” Jax filled him in.
“Yes, you are all wonderful in it,” Akemi said warmly. “You mentioned on the phone you’re interested in our expedition to the Dakataua Caldera.”
“More so the Migo,” Doc admitted.
“It’s intended to be the subject of a Next File,” Jax added.
A subtle smile appeared on Akemi’s attractive face. Despite being in her early fifties, she looked more like she was in her early thirties. Tall for a Japanese woman, with an hourglass figure, a black bob, shapely legs, and a genuinely friendly demeanour, Jax noticed Doc’s evident attraction. She thought to herself, “She’s got a bit of an eccentric vibe... maybe it’s that, plus the pretty, exotic librarian look, that gets to him.”
“So you intend to go to the Dakataua Caldera?” she asked with a concerned look.
