Inga gave her a wink, slapped her bar towel over her shoulder, and stalked off.
“Thank you,” Shig told her, lifting his wine to study the rich red color through the backbar lights.
“You’re welcome. Like I said, it’s decision day, and I’m hoping to get on your good side. So, drink up. I want your inhibitions to be befuddled by alcohol so I can get a better deal.”
Shig’s bushy brow lifted. “Befuddled by a half a glass of wine?”
“Shig, the way I figure it, the reason you only drink a half glass is because a full one would put you under the table. Anything that would make you blotto drunk would upset your hard-won moksha, so you compromise on a half-glass . . . that you normally don’t finish anyway. So, bottoms up. Drink that and, in your stupefied state, say yes to my proposal.”
Shig tilted his head, uttered a Buddha-esque chuckle, and took a full swig of the wine. This he swished around in his mouth and swallowed. All of which, Kalico decided was about as radical as Shig got when it came to a drink.
“What do you need?” Shig asked.
“What will you charge me to rent me your A-7? I’m thinking in terms of scientific equipment for compensation. Working microscopes, centrifuges, chromatographs, spectrometers, that sort of thing.”
Shig pursed his lips, still working his mouth with the taste of the wine. Then he said, “I can only think of one place where those kinds of equipment might be found. I would assume that you have been in contact with the Maritime Unit? Is there something more than the sick children that’s gone wrong out there?”
“Children? As in plural?”
“All of them, from my understanding. And then there was the murder.”
Kalico stiffened. “What murder? I’ve had Tallia O’Hanley monitoring the PA and hospital bandwidths. She said there’s been nothing broadcast, and they sure as hell haven’t answered any query I’ve sent their way. So, spill it.”
“Ah.” Shig nodded. “As I understand it, they’re using their own hospital frequency for privacy. You might wish to inquire more of Raya, but apparently all of the children are showing signs of infection from some sort of single-cell-based organism. Some of the children are turning green, some exhibit neck swellings, and most troubling of all, one little boy appears to have somehow murdered and then dissected one of the adults. Their clinician was wondering if it could be TriNA taking possession of the child’s cognitive abilities.”
“Pus in a bucket, why haven’t I heard of any of this?” But she knew. She’d been too damned busy with the disaster at Corporate Mine. That and her insane obsession with Dek and Talina. As black as her mood had been before, she really wanted to kick herself now.
“There is more. According to Raya, some sort of slime has crept into the submerged bay and apparently eaten two people.” Shig played with his wine. “I don’t know any more than that.”
“Slime?” Kalico asked.
Shig hunched his shoulders. “You now know as much as I do. Raya said she thought they were all coming apart out there, that the communications have been getting more and more strained.”
Kalico accessed her com, asking, “Hospital please. Raya Turnienko.”
“Roger that.” Two Spot’s voice answered.
Kalico waited, sharing glances with the curious Shig for close to thirty seconds.
“Turnienko here, Supervisor. What can I do for you?”
“You’ve been in contact with the Maritime Unit. Shig tells me that they’ve had a murder? A couple of people eaten by slime? Kids infected with TriNA? That it sounded like things were falling apart?”
“Roger that. I assumed you were in the loop. They asked for a secure frequency to protect patient privacy.”
“Negative on the loop. But that’s about to change. And this time they don’t have a say in it. Anything you can add to that?”
“Just that they haven’t answered my inquiries for the last couple of hours. Either no one’s in the com center, they’ve decided not to respond, or they’ve shut down com for some reason.”
“Thanks, Raya. I’ll take it from here.” To Two Spot, she said, “Patch me through to the Maritime Unit.”
“Roger that.” A pause. “Patching. You have a clear channel, Supervisor.”
“This is Board Supervisor Aguila to the Maritime Unit. I have an urgent communication for Scientific Director Michaela Hailwood. Repeat: I have an urgent communication for Scientific Director Michaela Hailwood. Please respond that you have received this communication.”
Nothing.
Kalico repeated it. And then again.
Nothing.
“Two Spot? Are they hearing this?”
“Yes, ma’am. Signal’s fine. If there’s a problem, it’s on their end.”
“Son of a bloody bitch,” Kalico growled.
“What do you want to do?” Shig asked mildly. “Anything you need from us, is yours.”
Kalico frowned down at her half-eaten lunch. “I’d say your A-7, but the last thing I ever want to do is make that run from the ramp to the Pod door.” She cocked her head. “It’s too far to fly out there in an airtruck. Not without a recharge at the beach pad. No, I need something small, light, that has the range . . .”
“Dek’s airplane?” Shig suggested.
“That would work. It’s light enough and has vertical take-off and landing.” She frowned. “The only problem is that Dek is out at Two Falls Gap with Talina. And there’s no telling if he’s sane enough to fly it safely.”
“Manny Bateman can fly it.”
Did she dare? Tempting as it was, Kalico slowly shook her head. “It’s Dek’s plane, Shig. Even if this was a full-fledged emergency, which we can’t be sure it is, I still wouldn’t be brazen enough to commandeer a Taglioni’s private property.”
“Let me see what I can do,” Shig said, sliding off his barstool. “If you need our A-7, it’s yours on demand. We’ll work out the rent later.” He flicked fingers at the third-full glass of red wine. “See, how incredibly clever you are? A single swallow, and all my inhibitions are gone. Plied as I am with alcohol, I’m putty in your fingers.”
As he walked away, Kalico muttered at his retreating back, “If I’m so fucking clever, Shig, why do I have the feeling that I caused whatever disaster is unfolding out at the Maritime Unit?”
80
Talina unlatched the door to the Two Falls Gap dome. Stepped wearily inside. Dek limped along behind her. He carried his rifle balanced with the weight of the barrel over his shoulder, his hand on the gun’s high comb. They were both filthy, sweat-streaked, with their clothes smudged by roots and dirt.
Talina shot Dek another of her “you’re an idiot” looks. Then gave him a weary smile. “You ever do that again, and I’m breaking your legs.”
“Blade monster almost did. You hadn’t made that last shot, he’d have hit me square instead of quartering. Even if the blades hadn’t got me, a man with a broken leg won’t last ten minutes among the roots.”
“Wish we had another bottle of bourbon.”
“Makes two of us.” Dek waited for Talina to rack her rifle at the door, then placed his Holland & Holland beside it. “I’m ready for a hot shower. How’s the food situation?”
“Whatever you left for breakfast the other morning is long cold, spoiled, and fit for the compost pile. Have to cook up something new.”
Dek glanced across the dim room. “The light’s blinking on the radio.”
“I’ll check it. You go start that shower. Then I’ll join you.”
“Got it,” he told her.
Talina watched him limp his way across the room and exhaled a weary breath. They’d made it. Had a couple of close calls—not to mention having to sleep on a basalt outcrop at the foot of the cliff—but they were back to the dome.
As night had settled around them—and who knew what sort o
f flying people-eating creatures might come under the cover of darkness—she had asked, “So, Dek. Here we are, sitting out on top of a pile of unforgiving bedrock with empty bellies and no guarantee that we can make the climb up that cleft again. Let alone that either one of us will survive the night. Are you really going to look me in the eye and tell me you’d rather be here than back at the dome with a full stomach, enjoying slow sex in a soft bed?”
His forehead had lined. “Is that a trick question?” He had pointed up at the narrow band of night sky visible beyond the sheer gorge walls. “That should be obvious. You can’t see the stars from our bed inside the dome.”
She’d had to laugh. But then, that was Dek. What made him charming. Just as—on that return trip—she’d had to forgive him for his insane blade-monster hunt. Didn’t matter that the thing would have killed him. She’d been there, was able to fire six rounds into the creature’s body as it charged. The monster had turned and staggered sideways across the roots to collapse into a thrashing heap of flippers, gushing blood, and slashing blades. As it died, the hide had flashed all the colors in the spectrum, the stalk-mounted eyes going dim.
It had taken all of Talina’s skill to get around the frenzied root mat and drag the half-stunned Dek up and over an intervening clump of knotting and bunching roots.
Then had come their stumbling retreat across an excited forest floor to make for the safety of the basalt bedrock.
But Dek was fully himself. And more.
“They know now,” he’d told her. “And yes, woman-I-love, it was worth the risk. There at the last, it was the quetzals who saved me. I’m not certain if it was Rocket or Demon or maybe both, but I wasn’t the one who threw myself sideways at the last instant. We have a workable compromise.”
And he’d given her a wink. “One as good as making a new pot from a shattered one. And thank you. While you paved the way, I had to figure out a novel strategy that let me put your pavement on a different road.”
On hearing that, Talina had grinned, feeling, for the first time since Cap died that she wasn’t entirely on her own.
Hearing the shower water come on, she stepped over and grabbed up the mic. Keyed it. “What have you got, Two Spot?”
“Tal? That you?”
“As Kylee would say, well, duh.”
Silence. Then: “Oh, right. That’s that girl out at Briggs’s place. Dek there? I need to talk to him.”
“He’s here. He’s in the shower. Anything I can help you with?”
“Maritime Unit’s offline. Kalico was wondering if she could get Dek to fly her out in his airplane. Can’t set a shuttle down on the Pod, and it’s too far for the airtrucks. Dek’s airplane has vertical takeoff and landing capabilities, and it has the range.”
“Got it. I’ll go ask.” She checked her watch. “It’s too late to get back today. Ask Kalico if this can wait until morning. We’ve had a tough couple of days. Let us get a meal and a night’s sleep.”
“Roger that. I’ll tell Kalico. Have a nice meal. Off.”
Talina pulled her tangled and filthy hair back, arched an eyebrow at the now-silent radio. For a half second she wondered if she was right to have volunteered Dek’s help and airplane, only to smile at herself for being a fool. Of course he’d fly Kalico out. Like he’d said. That was being the man he wanted to be.
And, besides, after the blade monster and two days in the forest, what the hell could a little trouble at Maritime Unit amount to?
81
The entire Pod shook as the Underwater Bay flooded.
Michaela—with a killer headache—clutched the table with her good hand, as if it would keep her from disaster. The entire cafeteria jolted, chairs rattling, the sound of cookware and utensils clattering in the kitchen. Might have been a quake the way the Pod rocked. Her people at the table tensed, grabbing on to steady themselves.
Her first thought: The supporting pilings had given way just as Kel said they would. But the Pod didn’t drop, it stabilized after the first hard shake. As it did, a puff of air blew in from the central hallway. Michaela’s ears reacted to the pressure spike.
“What the hell was that?” Kel demanded, leaping to his feet.
Michaela’s headache was forgotten as chairs emptied and people rushed for the hallway. Cradling her broken arm, she hurried after them. The reaction by the parents was instinctive; they went pounding up the stairs to the second level, calling the children’s names as they went.
Not that Michaela blamed them.
Kel, however, rounded the landing, staring at the open hatch to the tube. Walked forward and froze. From his posture, every muscle had gone tense.
“In the name of God, no!” he cried. “What have you done?”
Michaela crowded up behind him, stared over his shoulder. Through the hatch she could see down the stairs. Not more than a meter down, the tube was plugged with a blue-green mass. More to the point, it was already sending tendrils up the risers and treads where Felix and Sheena stood, eerie, beaming smiles on their faces. A hatchet hung from Felix’s right hand.
At Kel’s cry, the kids turned. Through her smile, Sheena said, “It’s all right, Daddy. Our friends are coming now.”
Michaela gaped, trying to understand. “How did this happen?”
“Sheena?” Kel cried. “Do you have any idea what this . . . ?” Kel couldn’t finish, mouth working in stunned silence.
The little girl, her skin a sickly green in the light, stared up at her father. “It’s the Song. Don’t you hear it? Now it’s free.”
Free? What the hell did that mean. Michaela’s brain seemed to stagger, unable to synthesize what she was seeing. Slime? How did it get past the hatch? It just . . . it couldn’t be here!
A scream from up the stairs caused her to wheel around. Stumble back, her heart hammering.
“Michaela!” Casey’s cry was filled with panic. “Get up here! Anna’s murdered!”
Turning away from the senseless sight of Felix with his hatchet and Sheena and the slime, Michaela reeled on her feet, raced for the stairs. She took them two at a time, so charged that she barely noticed.
Murdered? Anna? God, don’t let this be true.
At the head of the stairs, she turned toward the knot of people at the clinic door, pushed past Mikoru and Kevina to stare in horror at Anna Gabarron’s body. The woman lay sprawled between the cabinets as if she’d been tossed face-first onto the floor. A tray full of beakers had been pulled down as she fell, broken glass everywhere. The blood that had pooled from Anna’s severed throat remained wet enough to reflect the cabinet drawers beside the woman’s head. Another bloody wound—a slit—marred the small of the woman’s back.
“Where’s my boy?” Mikoru demanded. “Where’s Toni? Who has taken my son?”
Michaela raised her gaze to the shredded isolation tent. Saw blood smears on the slashed plastic, glanced back down to the scalpel that lay in Anna’s blood. Noticed the child’s footprints under her feet as they headed out the doorway and into the hall.
“They killed Anna to steal Toni?” Kevina sounded on the verge of hysteria. “Who’d do this?”
“No one stole him!” Michaela snapped, fighting for control. “Look at the fucking tracks! Barefoot. A big child’s and a small one’s. Toni walked out of here with one of the other children.”
“He was comatose!” Mikoru had her fists knotted. “How could he?”
“You’re saying one of the children killed Anna?” Kevina’s eyes were slitted. “Don’t you dare blame this on Felix!”
“He’s not in his room,” Casey declared hotly as she came pounding down the hall. “Someone let him out.”
“Leave my son out of this.” Kevina turned on the woman, started forward, hands out like claws, as if to rip Casey’s eyes out.
“Hey! Stop it!” Michaela thrust herself between them. “Felix and Sheena are
downstairs. The Underwater Bay is flooded, the pressure hatch was opened. The slime is pooling in the tube. Felix has a hatchet. And I don’t fucking know how they got there! Think, damn it, this is all crazy!”
Yosh and Odinga came at a trot from where the rest of the children had been left, both looking worried.
“Felicity and Sheena are missing,” Yosh announced. “Tomaya says the Song told them to ‘set their friends free.’ Whatever that means. And, it’s like, well, the other kids have been drugged. They’re listless, half-comatose, those swellings on their throats are worse, and I’d swear they’re turning green. Maybe Anna gave them something for their swollen . . .”
“Anna’s dead!” Mikoru shrilled. “Someone stole our son, damn you. We have to find him.”
“Who stole Toni?” Yosh demanded, his face working. “What do you mean, Anna’s—”
“Whoever stole Toni murdered her, you simple fool!”
Michaela raised her good hand, calling, “Hey, ease down. We’ll find Toni. He walked out of here. Look, Mikoru. Look at the goddamned footprints. I tell you, those are Toni’s. He was in here, and he walked out.”
Michaela pushed past the trembling woman, pointing. “Then he walked down the hall with someone else. A girl, I’m betting. They were both barefoot.”
Michaela led the way, pointing out track after track, as they got fainter. All but the girl’s. Her right foot left a splotch of blood with each step. Right to the com center where . . .
In the doorway, Michaela stopped short, took in the damage, and sagged. “This can’t be true.”
Yosh shoved in beside her, broke out in a string of cursing the likes of which Michaela had never heard him utter.
As word of the damage to the com system spread, Odinga stuck his head in, face going ashen at sight of the fractured electronics. “It had to be Sheena and Felicity. Tomaya and Breez insist they left to ‘free their friends.’ They had to have let Felix out. Then Felix killed Anna and—”
“My son never hurt anyone!” Kevina shrieked the words. “He was locked up, you fucking lunatic.”
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