"Good luck in school." I waited until he left before speaking. "Okay, David, you wanted to know why the array's not working, let's see how well informed you are."

"Zack, I don't have time for your games."

"Pay attention. A few years back, a federal court ruled the Navy could no longer use its high-intensity LFA sonar system. Do you remember the reason the system was shut down?"

"Who cares?"

"LFA is low frequency active sonar, David, the optimal word being active. The Navy's signal would have blasted hundreds of thousands of square miles of ocean with enough sound to deafen, maim, and even kill whales."

"And this has what to do with Loch Ness?"

"Jesus, David, wake up! Loch Ness is essentially a long, giant trough. Everything reflects off her walls, every wake, every sound, every ping. And every monster hunter before you has made the same mistake in hunting the beast with sonar."

"Which is?"

I shook my head in disbelief. "Active sonar, David! The creature's sensitive to sound. The pinging from your buoys is scaring it off. It's hiding along the bottom somewhere, or in its lair, wherever that might be. And it won't come out again until you—"

"Switch the array from active to passive! Gotta go!"

I lay back, listening to the dial tone, wondering what wheels of fate I had just set in motion.

Dr. Wyckoff and I returned to Loch Ness in 1975, this time armed with both sonar and a time-lapse strobe system, the latter capable of taking underwater photographs every 35-40 seconds. Even with our new technology, I was still worried about getting good shots. Because of the high saturation of peat in the water, the range of an underwater camera is very short, due to reflection and scatter of light.

Our breakthrough came on a late overcast afternoon on June 20th. Without warning, our boat's sonar detected a large object crossing our starboard beam—one minute it was there, the next… gone. It was just enough contact to set off the camera. Most of the photographs were too obscured in silt to see, but in one shot, you can clearly make out a long-necked creature that resembles an extinct plesiosaur or elasmosaur! We sold the pictures to Nature Magazine, then, with the help of Sir Peter Scott, applied to both Houses of Parliament to get this elusive creature protected under the conservation act. Unfortunately, I had to return to Boston (to defend and protect the American patent system) but with the photos, I felt certain other scientists would join the battle, continuing our work. To my dismay, the scientific body remained skeptical, and for the most part, stayed away.

—DR. ROBERT RINES, ACADEMY OF APPLIED SCIENCES MEMBER: NATIONAL INVENTOR'S HALL OF FAME

Chapter 27

Inverness Castle, Scottish Highlands

The high court of justiciary, case number C93-04, is now back in session, Lord Neil Hannam presiding. All rise."