Copyright (c) 1996

                         CRYPTOZOOLOGY
                        by Michael Hahn

     Darien McIntyre checked his watch for the fourteenth time, and
cursed himself for doing it.  He'd spent more than eighteen months
researching this final phase, and the last few hours were almost
unbearable.
     He checked the equipment again, more to kill time than ensure the
operation would go smoothly.  The night vision and infrared cameras
were ready, both still and video.  He checked the links to the motion
sensors, ran through the software diagnostics on the coordinating
computer, then did a visual inspection of the other two equipment sites
along the north shore of the lake.
     He settled back into his modified duck blind in a small stand of
trees near the water's edge, and glanced at his watch again. 
Eleven-eighteen p.m.
     Two years ago, when he'd first presented the idea to his faculty
advisor, he'd received something less than an enthusiastic response. 
Fortunately for Darien, his advisor had done his own thesis on Bigfoot.
Darien had laid out his plans, performed the preliminary work, then
embarked on the final phase, the goal of which was the capture of his
elusive subject.
     Darien liked research.  Long, quiet nights in a library didn't
bother him; neither did the long days obtaining records and permits
from a somewhat-less-than-sympathetic bureaucracy.  He had chosen his
target spot with care, taking the local population as well as the
geography into account.  Requisitioning the equipment he needed had
turned out to be the most difficult part of the entire project; the
same arguments that had sold his faculty advisor were less than
effective on the department head.
     Again Darien was fortunate.  The department head owed his advisor
a couple of favors, and despite his reservations, he agreed to release
the equipment.
     He glanced at his watch again.  Eleven-forty-five.  Darien brought
all his monitoring programs to a high state of readiness, took the
cameras off standby.  His research had indicated the eight-year-old in
the house by the lake was a good little boy during the past year.
     Darien was ready to prove the existence of the elusive flying
reindeer.

                              -end-