Message from Gondwana

by David Wiley

CHAPTER 6

  Lani tried to focus on a lichen-like plant brought in by Bax and Juls. They had found it growing amidst a bunch of much larger and more vigorous plants. Somehow it had enjoyed a clear space almost a meter in diameter. The prospectors suspected a potent chemical arsenal keeping it unscathed and brought it in for testing. After a few false leads, Lani thought she had the lichen's major weapon pinned down, a toxic enzyme sporting high concentrations of copper.

  Her hand hesitated over Alfie's endlessly gaping mouth as she looked over to what she thought of as her environmental monitor. On one side, the screen displayed a running tally of the volatiles present in the air around the lab building. Most of them seemed to be those that she and Hoover had identified as background chemicals with only a few sporadic alarm chemicals. There were a few others that she suspected were related to reproduction, such as the flowers that seemed to attract the flutterbys. The other half of the screen displayed the electrical signals relayed from the four working multiprobes. The fifth had been split open within a day by a vine which secreted hydrofluoric acid and then crushed what was left of the hardened titanium case. What that vine would do to humans—she shuddered. Unfortunately, the electrical signals picked up by the probes seemed minor ones controlling how the individual plant responded to environmental stimuli, such as turning to track the sun. The vine that had crushed the fifth multiprobe, however, showed several big peaks in electrical activity before the crushing; hard to say whether it was cause or effect.

  The base was quiet at the moment. Lani, Emma, and Kiet, were working hard to catch up on their sampling analysis. Having swamped the biochemists, the collection crews were taking a break, puttering around the facility. Bax had dropped by the lab twice with flimsy excuses to see Lani.

  Lani had Hoover pipe the view from the outside camera to one of her other monitors. For once, both of the flitters were parked together during the day, their white surfaces tinged blue in the reflected glare from Draco. A considerably improved Mumson had taken advantage of the flitters inactivity and was outside trying to fix the dents in the leading edge of Bobbie's fuselage caused by another run-in with seed dispersal. Mumson slowly, lovingly, ran a powertool over the pitted surface. He must be roasting, even with the increasing breeze, but seemed to enjoy being back outside. Soren's lanky form leaned against the wall. He was acting as Mumson's assistant and, Lani suspected, keeping an eye on him. Lani sighed. Her analyses could not wait, especially since tonight was poker night and she did not want to be late to the game. She had a long ways to go to earn back the money she had lost. Damn her pale skin and her teammates who could spot the slightest sign of a flush.

  She was waiting for Alfie to finish spitting out the analysis of the copper molecule when she noticed a flash from the corner of her eye. Her head jerked around to the monitor showing the scene outside the building.

  "Oh, no," she circled a finger on the screen to zoom in on several redvines probing inquisitively towards Bobbie and the figures outside. It looked like a few other types of plants were joining in, among them the wicked spike snares. "Mumson, c'mon," she pleaded though he couldn't hear her. Their engineer stood frozen, the tool still gripped in his hand. Flames shot from Soren's flamethrower, but there was no way he could hold off that many vines at once.

  Feet pounded in the corridor outside her lab, Chen and Candece racing past. On the monitor she could see other figures spilling from the other hatch. They had grabbed the flamethrowers that they now kept ready near the hatches on the outside of the building. There was a distant booming she finally recognized as the loudspeaker outside. She flipped on the monitor's sound and flinched as Professor Jonze's bellow filled the room, trying to shake Mumson out of his paralysis. Lani cringed. As she flicked her thumb to slide the volume bar down on the screen, her eyes caught sight of the other monitor displaying chemical and electrical levels. Nothing much on the electrical, but the chemicals? "Blag, blag, blag!" she cursed, watching the alarm volatiles skyrocketing.

  The other humans had reached the melee outside and flames were everywhere, twisting as the wind kicked up. If they weren't careful, somebody was going to get burned. Lani glanced back at the monitor. The electrical signals had started to increase on the four individual plants that bore the meters. Maybe it was a reaction to all the chemicals being pumped out? She saw the humans had beaten off the plants and were turning to wrestle Mumson back towards the other hatch. Good, everyone was safe. She could—wait! She watched a slender figure pursue the retreating vines back across the edge of the slab. Candece wielded her flamethrower continuously. She was going to overheat it. Jonze's voice boomed again, seeing the same thing. The other figures turned back and, after a moment's hesitation, led by Bax, they ran after Candece who continued wading into the mass of vines that had dared to threaten her lover, despite shouted orders from Jonze.

  "Bax, no!" Lani screamed at the screen. There were too many vines, their flamethrowers could never get them all, the alarm volatiles were continuing to climb, and there was not even a trace of any of the calming chemicals. They had completely disappeared and—

  Lani raced down the corridor, palmed the door to the control center, and slammed it open as soon as the lock clicked. Inside, Jonze, clutching the microphone, was now trying to talk sense into Candece over the loudspeaker, while the Geek watched, helplessly zooming the camera to follow the furious but foolish charge of the humans.

  "Give me that!" Lani commanded and held her hand out for the microphone. Surprisingly, Jonze gave it to her. Lani could see the knot of humans, well away from the edge of the slab, now halted and surrounded by weaving vines.

  "Bax! Bax!" Lani saw his head whip around in surprise at her voice. "Use the spray bottle. Stop flaming and use the spray I gave you!" She could see him hesitate. "Do it now!" she willed all the confidence and command she could into her voice.

  She was not sure if it was her voice or that the flamethrowers were overheating and running out of fuel, but she saw Bax grab for the bottle hanging on his belt. "Spray yourself first. Then spray a path back to the slab." She bit her lip, hoping the pressurized canister had enough juice in it. It was considerably smaller than the backpacks for the flamethrowers. The fact that her mix of chemicals might not work never crossed her mind.

  Bax managed to coat himself and Lani prayed she was not just imagining the small circle of space forming around him. He aimed the canister towards the edge of the slab, but a gust of wind caught the aerosol and carried it away. The plants went around Bax and snaked towards the others. Bax timed his next burst between gusts and now Lani could see it was working. The tendrils, vines, shoots were slowing, lying quietly where he sprayed. He started back towards the slab, still working the canister, the others slowly backing after him, their flamethrowers running dry. They were almost back to safety when a blast of wind swirled around them, dispersing the chemicals. A blur struck Kiet, a snare, its spikes sinking deep into his thigh. Bax whirled and sprayed around Kiet's writhing form. The plants withdrew, allowing the others to grab Kiet and drag him up onto the slab after them. Bax played rear guard, spraying any plants that ventured close. The others started across the slab, Candece and Karl dragging Kiet after them. Lani's eyes widened at the dark smear behind Kiet. "Damn spike must have hit the femoral," Jonze voice sounded hoarse and ragged.

  None of them were willing to bury Kiet out among the plants. Due to the expense, only in rare cases was a body shipped back to a home planet. So, after a few platitudes and the push of the fusion reactor's button, all that remained was a pile of ashes and some shaken teammates.

  "It was only 'cause they went after Renny again," Candece tearfully explained. "If they hadn't gone after him, I mean, look, haven't they done enough already? He can barely take care of himself and they go after him and he wasn't doing nothin' to them. Now Kiet's dead and it's all, it's all—"

  Lani cringed. If she hadn't given them a false s
ense of security Kiet might still be alive. She should have realized the problem with the wind. Making matters worse, Candece was roaring drunk and talking about Mumson—Renny—like that when he was right next to her. But he didn't seem to take offense. He put his arm around the miserable Candece. "It's not your fault, Candy. If I hadn't frozen like a rabbit out there, this wouldn't have happened."

  "It's too my fault an' don' you dare keep me from gettin' shit-faced drunk, Renny Mumson. After twenty years you should know better," Candece chugged the rest of her glass.

  "I wonder how long it will be before Kiet's partner finds out back on Little Chicago. He's been—had been together with her for over fifty years" Soren shook his head.

  "I hate this blaggin' planet," Emma complained, running her hand through her short-cropped blonde hair. "It isn't worth my risking life and limb for what Alchemistica is paying me."

  Bax looked at Lani and rolled his eyeballs. Emma Wales rarely ventured outside her lab or her hutch. This was one of the few times the older biochemist had even socialized with the others, if you could call this wake a social event. Kiet's death must have really shaken her.

  Candece glared at Emma. "Oh shut up, you blagger. You haven't been out since we got here. Fat chance of you ever risking anything!"

  "No? Well, somebody has to be smart enough to make sense of those pitiful specimens you bring back in between drinking and screwing your brains out."

  After a few seconds, Lani surprised herself by ending the tense silence. "No, I thought that was Bax's and my job," she said batting her eyes at him. He leaned over and kissed her loudly on the lips.

  "You must be talkin' about Lani with the smarts 'cause it sure isn't you who saved our butts out there," Candece rose to her feet in spite of Mumson's restraining hand. Lani winced. This was not going at all well.

  The Professor's tired voice came from the doorway. "Clam up, you two. Go sleep it off, blag a friend, find a punching bag, or blag a punching bag, I don't care. You're not helping anything right now."

  Emma glared around the room, radiating a cold rage before stalking off. No, she was going to be even harder to work with from now on, Lani sighed. That holographic computer game that had won her this position did not demonstrate how to deal with people like Emma, other than blow them away with a large gun. Somehow Lani did not think that would be acceptable here. Professor Jonze shook her head, "The bar is now closed," she announced to a chorus of groans. "Before anyone else says anything stupid," she added in warning.

  Bax had fallen asleep immediately back at his hutch, his boozy breath ruffling Lani's hair. She lay there, hoping for sleep, but she had not drunk nearly enough to get the visions of Kiet's bloodtrail out of her head. Candece's words stuck in her head. Why had the redvines gone after him? He was not doing anything to harm them. Sure, the alarm volatiles had gone through the roof, but it still should have taken the plants some time to respond, especially if the wind was blowing away from them.

  She slipped out from under Bax's arm, goosebumps on her bare skin. After throwing on some more clothes in her own hutch she padded over to her lab. Alfie opened his mouth as she sat down, infinitely patient. "Nothing for you right now, baby," she patted his head and punched up Hoover on her monitor.