Artemis Fowl_ The Opal Deception - Eoin Colfer [81]
“She was checked. I was there. When Scalene escaped, Opal was still catatonic. There’s no way she could have planned it.”
“And yet, she did,” mused Artemis. “Could that Opal have been a double?”
“Not possible. They run DNA checks every day.”
“So the Opal under surveillance had Koboi’s DNA, but little or no brain activity.”
“Exactly. She’s been that way for a year.”
Artemis thought silently for over a minute. “I wonder how far cloning technology has developed underground?”
He crossed briskly to the main computer terminal and called up LEP files on the subject.
“‘The mature clone is identical to the original in every way, except that its brain functions are limited to life support,’” he read. “‘In greenhouse conditions, it takes one to two years to grow a clone to adulthood.’” Artemis stepped away from the computer, clapping his hands. “That’s it. That’s how she did it. She induced that coma so that her replacement would not be noticed. This is impressive stuff.”
Holly pounded a fist into her palm. “So even if we did survive the attempts on our lives, all talk of Opal’s escape would be seen as the ravings of the guilty.”
“I told Chix Verbil that Opal was back,” said Mulch. “That’s okay though, because he already thinks I’m raving.”
“With Opal on the loose,” continued the Irish youth, “the entire LEP would be on the lookout for a plot of some kind. But with Opal still deep in her coma . . .”
“There is no cause for alarm. And this probe is simply a surprise, and not an emergency.”
Artemis shut down the holographic projection. “So we’re on our own. We need to steal that final charge and detonate harmlessly above the parallel stretch. Not only that, but we need to expose Opal so she cannot simply put her plan into action all over again. Obviously to do this we need to find Opal’s shuttle.”
Mulch was suddenly uncomfortable. “You’re going after Koboi? Again? Well, best of luck. You can just drop me off at the next corner.”
Holly ignored him. “How long do we have?”
There was a calculator on the plasma screen, but Artemis didn’t need it. “The orebody is sinking at a rate of sixteen feet per second. That’s eleven miles per hour. At that speed it would take approximately nine and a half hours to reach the parallel stretch.”
“Nine hours from now?”
“No,” corrected Artemis. “From detonation, which was almost two hours ago.”
Holly walked rapidly into the cockpit and strapped herself into the pilot’s chair. “Seven and a half hours to save the world. Isn’t there some law that says we get at least twenty-four?”
Artemis strapped himself into the copilot’s chair. “I don’t think Opal bothers with laws,” he said. “Now, can you talk while you fly? There are a few things I need to know about shuttles and charges.”
CHAPTER 10
HORSE SENSE
Police Plaza, Haven City, The Lower Elements
Everybody in Police Plaza was all talk about the Zito probe. In truth it was a bit of a distraction from recent events. The LEP didn’t lose many officers in the field. And now two in the same shift. Foaly was taking it hard, especially the loss of Holly Short. It was one thing to lose a friend in the line of duty, but for that friend to be falsely accused of murder was unbearable. Foaly could not stand the idea that the People would forever remember Holly as a cold-blooded killer. Captain Short was innocent. What’s more, she was a decorated hero, and deserved to be remembered as such.
A com screen flickered into life on his wall. One of his technical assistants in the outer office appeared. The elf’s pointed ears were quivering with excitement.
“The probe is down to sixty-five miles. I can’t believe the humans have gotten this far.”
Foaly opened a screen on his wall. He couldn’t believe it either. In theory, it should have been decades before humans developed a laser sophisticated enough to puncture the crust without frying half a continent. Obviously, Giovanni Zito went right ahead and developed the laser without worrying about Foaly’s projections for his species.
Foaly almost regretted having to shut Zito’s project down. The Sicilian