More ‘bailarines terribles’ reported by hikers

Three more reports were filed with Wells Town Royal Police this week by hikers claiming to have witnessed the so-called ‘bailarines terribles’ in the hill country outside of town, far from populated districts or even footpaths. Authorities were quick to dismiss the sightings as either misunderstandings or hoaxes. This year’s spate of reports are the first of their kind in over sixty years in the British Virgin Islands. Most experts reject even the much older reports, which range from the early twentieth century back to precolonial times. For several hundred years, as the stories go, the dense jungles around Wells Town were plagued with the ‘bailarines.’ To modern readers, these accounts sound like something out of a film directed by George—

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“Ah hell,” Sam said.

He flipped through the rest of the section, but only the A pages were there. He and Dani scanned the room, but the remainder of the paper was nowhere to be seen. Its ashes were probably among those in the burn basket in the next room.

Sam glanced at the top edge of the section’s front page. The date was from over a year ago, in the early springtime.

“This paper was printed a few months before Pierce disappeared,” Sam said. “Maybe around the time these people got started trying to reactivate Rigel.”

“These reports out of Wells Town must be connected to the project, somehow,” Dani said. “According to the faxes we found, Watchdog was monitoring that location, and all the others, for something called Rigel activity. I’m guessing the term bailarines terribles is another name for that same activity.”

“But this says the old stories go back centuries,” Sam said. “Rigel obviously wasn’t around all that time.”

“What if Rigel is a project based on something that was already happening in real life?” Dani said. “Something rare, like whatever this article is talking about. Rigel could have been … I don’t know … some project to study it and use it. Like for a weapon.”

Sam nodded. “That would be a good reason for Watchdog to keep an eye on places like Wells Town. Places where the real-life version might happen. They could watch for it, and if they ever saw it, they could try to prevent anyone from using it to relaunch the project.”

Sam’s eyes tracked over the article stub again.

“Bailarines sounds Spanish,” he said. “The terrible bailarines, whatever that means.”

“Ever take a Spanish class?” Dani asked.

“I had a semester in fifth grade. I don’t remember much of it. How about you?”

Dani shook her head.

Sam’s gaze dropped to the article’s cutoff point.

“It’d be a nice clue to know what movie director they’re talking about,” he said. “George Lucas is the only George I can think of, but it doesn’t make much sense.”