by Michael Todd
“I’m sure that you’ll want to see this.” He nodded emphatically. “After Lynch killed that locust, I took specimens for testing. I set them up to run throughout the day and only saw the results now. When I tested the critter’s armor, it seemed to react badly to acid, but after a whole day in the stuff, it simply…soaked it up and changed color in doing so.”
Kennedy narrowed her eyes. “That’s odd.”
“I thought that too, so I decided to compare it to some of the exoskeletons I’d saved to take back to the lab. This is where it gets weird, because when I tried to compare them under a microscope—”
“Wait.” Kennedy narrowed her eyes. “Where do you keep a microscope? I don’t think that was a part of the approved gear for this mission.”
“Oh, it’s a part of my HUD’s operating system,” Sal said cheerfully.
“My HUD doesn’t have a microscope.”
“Well, why would you want one, anyway? It won’t help you shoot any better. Maybe they tailor the HUDs for scientists differently than they do for gunners.” He shook his head. “Anyway, my point was, when I put the two pieces together, they joined together on their own. Not only did the two pieces fuse together, but the piece that hadn’t been in the acid changed color to match the one that had. In a few minutes, both of them soaked up acid.”
Kennedy nodded thoughtfully. “So you think that the eggheads back at the Staging Area might be able to find a way to make this into some sort of self-repairing armor for the rest of us to use?”
Sal sighed. Of course, that was the first place her mind went. “Well, yeah, I guess that too, but you haven’t thought about the ramifications of an animal with this sort of self-repairing function fused into their DNA. Don’t you think that maybe an animal with that kind of ability might be able to recover from simple gunshot wounds? And maybe, instead of disappearing a few minutes after being killed, it might be able to get up and walk away instead?”
The full realization dawned on Kennedy a few seconds later, and her eyes widened. “Oh, shit. You might want to bring that up with the lab guys back at the Staging Area.”
“Exactly.” Sal nodded, then shook his head again. “But…no, that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about either.”
She rolled her eyes. “What did you want to talk about?”
“I collected a blood sample too,” Sal said, “and I put it in a solution that separates all the elements in the blood according to mass. At the bottom, I found what looked like a diluted form of the goop that started this whole mess. When I tried to scan it, none of the scanners worked. I even put it through a Geiger counter.”
“Don’t you think that’s the first thing that they did when that thing got to Earth?” Kennedy asked.
“Well, yeah, of course,” Sal said, talking faster so she didn’t have the opportunity to interrupt him again. “Anyway, I got different results when I put the light that it gave off through a spectrum analyzer—basically, determining the different rays this thing gives off. Lo and behold, the goop gives off very slight radio signals.” Sal grinned, but the sergeant looked at him like he’d performed a very unimpressive magic trick.
“This couldn’t wait until morning?” she asked, sounding annoyed. “Because it sounds like it could have waited until morning.”
“Shut up,” Sal snapped, “and give me your phone.”
She drew it from her pocket. Sal snatched it, barely noticing her annoyed expression. “See, you people complain that radio signals don’t work in the Zoo, but you never asked why. Neither did I, to be honest. I simply took it as writ that the alien goop would play havoc with all kinds of electronics anyway. But once I asked the question of why, I realized that since this forest is literally soaked in the goop, everything around gives off radio signals, which is why you get so much interference over such small distances.”
“So, you found a way to fix our comms? I mean, that is useful, but—”
“No,” Sal snapped. “I mean, yes, kind of, but that’s not the point. Still, shut up.” He toyed with the phone and added a few readings from his HUD to the device. “What are the plants with the highest concentration of the goop?” He didn’t pause long enough for her to answer. “The Pita plants. Especially the flowering ones. So, if you rerun the scanning from your phone to pick up the stronger signals of the radio waves that the goop gives off, you’ll be able to…” He finished and handed the phone back to her. The screen showed a topographical map of the area but with a few changes. Three different red lights now pinged a few miles from their current location.
“Be able to track the Pita plants down from a distance.” Kennedy finished his sentence for him. Sal, glad that she had finally gotten the point he’d tried to share, nodded and grinned.
“That’s some fine work, Jacobs,” she said with a nod. “I mean, we’ll still have to test and see if your theory works. There might be shit out there that has a higher concentration of the goop in them than the Pita plants, but it’s worth a shot.” She nodded. “We’ll head there in the morning to see if you’re right.”
Sal grinned. “There’s only one way to be sure. Of course, if it’s a giant monster that kills us all, you won’t be able to yell at me for being wrong, anyway.”
“If it’s some other useless plant or bug that doesn’t kill us, rest assured that I’ll yell at you plenty.” Kennedy grinned, and he wasn’t entirely sure if she was kidding. “Either way, you should probably get some sleep. We’ll get an early start tomorrow. I need you bright eyed and bushy tailed.”
Sal nodded. “Will do, Sarge.”
“Sleep well, Jacobs,” she said as he turned his back.
“You too, Kennedy,” he replied without looking around.
Chapter Thirteen
An early start meant much earlier than Sal expected. The rest of them woke up before he did, and Kennedy had spared him the trouble of explaining the mechanics of his idea—and probably insulting a couple of them at the same time. She’d given them a condensed version of what had happened. He assumed she’d skipped the part about the animals resurrecting. There was no need to have them more irked by the place than they already were.
When he stepped out of his shelter, Addams greeted him with an enthusiastic pat on the shoulder. “Let’s hope your hunch pays off, Doc.” He grinned. “If it does, we’ll all walk away from this place rich men…and woman.” He winked at Kennedy, who smirked and rolled her eyes.
They detoured from the path toward the blinking red lights on Kennedy’s map to stop at the water again. No one evidenced surprise at the fact that there was no sign of the beasts that they’d killed the afternoon before. Sal and Kennedy exchanged a nervous glance, but he still didn’t think he should mention his theory. Sal kept a wary eye out for panthers with snake venom and a vengeful attitude while he refilled his canteens.
Lynch’s suit was working again, and while his metal arm needed some grease, they were good to march again. This time, they didn’t simply walk blindly toward Ground Zero. They at least had a heading.
The mood had definitely improved from the day before. Sal was undecided about the priority to collect the plants rather than study everything the goop did to the desert. Davis had said that the Pita’s flowers funded this whole operation, so perhaps it was something of a necessary evil.
Then again, he did feel that forcing him to be there was evil too. A lesser evil to keep a larger evil in place didn’t sound right to him. But if he received some cash at the end, it wasn’t so bad. Working at the lab had been comfortable but not challenging, and it didn’t pay well at all.
He struggled with the logic or morality of the situation, so he decided to simply focus on getting out alive and hopefully paid enough that he didn’t have to live in squalor when he returned to California.
He might even splurge and get hotdogs for a change.
It was good that he could laugh at his own misfortunes, Sal thought to himself. He had to. Depression was the only other option.
They
pushed through the flora with Cortez leading and Lynch bringing up the rear. Despite the good mood induced by the thought that they might hit pay dirt today, they remained on high alert. They had officially moved into the danger areas in the Zoo, where some of the more dangerous animals had set up their nests and dens. They would be more aggressive, especially if the team came too close to the creatures’ young.
Kennedy had laid it all out for them the day before. After the encounter with the panther-like creatures, they walked warily to avoid attack. Lynch seemed more comfortable than the rest. He honestly looked like he would enjoy a scuffle or two before they reached the Pita plants.
Sal simply hoped that the plants were there to justify the slight change in their trajectory.
The route through rough terrain and thicker undergrowth slowed them more than it would have otherwise, and the four and a half miles they needed to travel took longer than anticipated. For the first few hours, they literally climbed through the densely matted flora. By the time they were about two hours in, the sergeant finally retrieved the map to try to find a less difficult route. There weren’t many since the tree growth overcame any attempts at road building into the Zoo within hours. After a few turns and twists deeper into the jungle, they were finally close.
“We’re approaching the marker,” Lynch said, and they slowed their pace. “I can’t help but notice a distinct lack of pretty blue flowers that glow in the dark.”
Sal lifted the visor on his helmet and brushed a few droplets of sweat away. “Like you said, we’re close but not there. The Pita plants grow in bunches. You won’t find them spread around the area.”
Kennedy nodded, but he could tell she too had second thoughts about taking the data at face value. It had been an experiment, and perhaps the sensor needed to be tweaked. It was still a good idea and definitely something they could exploit, but it was possible that the sensors in the sat phone were simply too weak to accurately detect low-spectrum radio waves.
Sal paused and studied their surroundings. He couldn’t shake an odd feeling that nagged at him. He wasn’t sure what it was—like something was watching him? It felt as if they were being followed or something. He glanced quickly behind him with little result. There was no sign of even the monkeys they’d seen the day before. It could be that they weren’t that active in the area. Or something in this area scared them off.
Or they simply preferred an area where water was easily accessible.
He turned and peered into the foliage to find a source of the unsettling sensation in his stomach.
“Would you stop that?” Lynch growled as he struggled to adjust the squeak from his suit’s metal arm. “You make me feel like something’s following us.”
Sal shrugged. “I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something out there.”
“There are all sorts of things out there,” Lynch said and looked around. “But I know what you’re talking about. Something doesn’t feel right, and I don’t like it.”
Sal shook his head. “It’s probably nothing.”
Lynch nodded. “Probably. On the off chance, though…” He finished his sentence by raising his weapon to hold it closer, and they kept on moving.
“I see something, guys,” Cortez announced over the open comm line.
“Something bad?” Sal asked before Kennedy could answer.
“Nope,” he replied cheerfully. “Definitely not bad. I think you guys should get over here now.”
Sal and Lynch shared a look and picked up the pace. Cortez had scouted ahead with Addams, and the three moved to the locations marked on the HUDs. It was a tough climb through a veritable forest of vines dripping from overhanging branches, but after a few minutes they caught up.
Cortez grinned and nodded his head toward what appeared to be a clearing. Trees seemed to distance themselves from the area, and a little more sunshine peeked through the leaves of the few branches.
Their prize clustered in this space and Sal studied them as his heart thudded a little. They had found the Pita with their diamond-shaped leaves and bright blue flowers with five petals each and a trio of yellow stalks in the center.
“I’ve seen some beautiful things in my life,” Addams said quietly. “The birth of my son. My ex-wife in a wedding dress. Divorce papers. A waterfall or something. But if those don’t beat all.”
Sal nodded. The blue flowers seemed to glow despite the direct sunlight. It was odd that the other flora seemed to lose intensity around these clusters, though. He wondered if their high content of whatever it was that made them so pricey was the reason why none of the other plants seemed to grow around them. The only exception was the moss covering the ground.
“Okay, boys,” Kennedy said. “You know the drill. Collect the flowers and seal them up. Don’t bruise the petals and don’t try to take the plants. If I see any of you try to get greedy, I will shoot that man where he stands, you got it?”
The four of them nodded, and Sal stepped close to Kennedy. “So how close were they to the map coordinates?”
She checked the sat phone. “Less than twenty yards. That’s pretty good.”
He nodded. “It could have been luck, though. I’d like to run another test to compare the data and make sure that this wasn’t a fluke.”
“Well,” she said, “considering that we get paid by the set, I don’t see any harm in trying your new method to find more.”
Sal grinned, and she narrowed her eyes.
“You’re more excited about getting this right than about getting paid for the flowers, aren’t you?” she asked.
He looked away. “Would you judge me if I said yes?”
“Yes,” she said emphatically. “I do judge you.”
“Well, too bad.” He grinned again and moved to join the others who had set up their equipment.
The flowers had no fragrance, but they probably released pheromones whether they were being plucked from the ground or not. The studies confirmed that. There had been no pheromone effects on non-Zoo animals, so the inference was fairly clear. Animals that had been affected by the Zoo were the only ones influenced.
No, he mused as he retrieved containers he’d carried in his pack. The locusts that had caused all this hadn’t simply been affected by the goop. They’d been consumed by it. That was what the studies suggested. The satellite images showed that the massive swarm simply disappeared, and the disastrous spurt in growth began a few hours later.
So had the goop created these animals? He’d always assumed the plants had already been involved in the process of spreading this over the Sahara Desert. What if they weren’t? What if these actually were plants, trees, and animals from an alien planet? How cool was that?
He felt an elbow tap his ribs and looked up, annoyed. Cortez stood beside him. He’d left the flowers and now held his weapon up instead.
Sal turned and saw why.
They were no longer the only humans in the clearing. About two dozen others had appeared. Some wore mismatched armor that seemed concocted from pieces of different models. One simply had the metal arm of an older suit. Others were dressed in faded army fatigues. All of them were armed, though.
Kennedy stepped forward, her rifle at the ready. “Can we help you, gentlemen?”
One stranger stood out from the group because his armor was state-of-the-art—better than what Kennedy’s squad used. The rifle he carried was too. The whole ensemble seemed off the shelf from a mechanized armor and weaponry store.
Either way, he was clearly the leader. The rest seemed to wait for his move since they all seemed as surprised as the squad was to see other humans in the area.
He stepped closer and aimed his rifle at Kennedy. “We’d appreciate it if you would hand over the flowers you’ve collected and leave. This is our territory, and we don’t appreciate intruders.” His accent sounded vaguely German. No, closer to Dutch? Sal remembered that Afrikaans, one of the official languages spoken in South Africa, was a derivative of Dutch, so perhaps that was where h
e was from.
“Well, we’re sorry to intrude on your territory,” Kennedy said and kept her tone civil. “But I’ll need some legal evidence that we are intruders. Proof of residence—a gas bill, phone line, something like that.”
Sal looked over at her. She’d spoken that whole sentence with so little expression that he wondered if she was actually serious.
The tin man clearly thought so, and he raised his gun. As he moved closer, Sal saw tell-tale signs of drug abuse—bright red eyes and something of a deranged look about him. The specialist assumed cocaine, or maybe crack.
“Here’s my fucking legal evidence,” he roared.
Kennedy stood her ground and looked almost bored. “Look, you’re outgunned here. Take my advice. Walk away and live to not fight another day.”
Any other time, Sal wouldn’t have had second thoughts about walking away. The chances of them escaping this fight alive were almost nil. These guys were bullies, pure and simple, and the only way to deal with them was to move and not be tangled in their threats.
But today, he felt different. He’d put a lot of work in to find the Pita flowers, and he wanted some reward for that work, damn it. Even so, he knew his little scalpel was of little use. Guns made things difficult for those who didn’t have one.
Thankfully—or unfortunately—Kennedy didn’t seem inclined to back down. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you boys are all a part of an illegal salvage operation. I’ll have to ask you all to leave the Kudzu immediately pending criminal charges in an international court.”
The sergeant had picked the fight, but her speech had been a distraction that allowed Lynch, Cortez, and Addams to find some cover. Sal followed their example and inched away from the conflict. He felt bad about leaving her, but what could he do? She obviously wouldn’t leave, and he knew he couldn’t drag her. Her armor alone weighed over a hundred pounds.
The leader smirked and shook his head before he turned to his entourage. “Boys, do me a favor and ice this bitch.”