Anaya put her arms around her until she stopped sobbing.
“I’m really sorry,” Anaya said into her ear.
Petra nodded, forced a smile. “This is good news.”
Anaya smiled back. “Very good news.”
“We’ll need to do some safety tests,” said Dr. Weber, “to make sure this stuff isn’t too harmful to humans, but this is a huge breakthrough. I’ll get the results out through our government channels. With luck, we can ramp up production as soon as possible.”
“I’d like to place the first order,” Pearson said. “Can you keep making it on-site?”
“Not in very big quantities,” Dr. Weber told him. “But enough to arm a few of your men.”
Petra stared through the window at all the dead bugs. Vines were already nosing at them, entangling them. The lips of the pit plant opened as the water strider was dragged toward it.
“We need to prep the biodome for the cryptogens now,” said Colonel Pearson.
“What?” Petra looked at him, confused, then turned to Anaya, who didn’t look confused at all. “What’s going on?”
“They’re coming tomorrow,” her friend said.
“How come no one told me?”
Anaya looked pained, and Petra knew the answer: that she was too grief-stricken, that she’d find the whole idea too upsetting. And they were right.
“You’re actually letting them come here?”
“We don’t have much say in the matter,” Pearson said.
“And what, they’re going to live in there?” she said, pointing through the observation window.
“It’s the right atmosphere for them,” Anaya said.
“That’s great you’re making them so nice and cozy. Should we put chocolates on their pillows?”
“I know you don’t think that—” Anaya began.
“This is insane! We have a pesticide!” she said. “We can kill everything now. What do we need the cryptogens for?”
“Because there’s worse coming,” Anaya said.
“And Terra might be part of it! I can’t believe how trusting you are.” She turned to include Pearson. “All of you. This is a big mistake. The best thing you can do is blow them out of the sky before they even touch down.”
ANAYA LAY IN BED, unable to sleep.
Tomorrow she was going to meet them.
Tomorrow she was going to come face to face with Terra and the other two cryptogens. Her thoughts ricocheted from excitement to hope to outright terror. Every time she glanced at the pale blue numbers of the clock, she recalculated the countdown to the landing. Nine hours, sixteen minutes.
She closed her eyes, tried yet again to breathe deeply and let her thoughts blur into sleep, but they were too insistent.
All yesterday, crews had prepared the biodome and the landing site. The entire area had been sprayed with pesticide and herbicide to make sure it was safe. The protocol for moving the cryptogens from their ship to the biodome had been finalized.
She thought again about how she’d only ever seen distant glimpses of the cryptogens. She had no idea how she’d react when the time came. She hoped she could hold it all together and not flip out.
Yes, she wanted to meet Terra, this being who’d shared space in her mind. And she was hopeful this meeting would give them what they needed: allies, and a weapon.
But as she lay here, sleepless, she was getting more worried. What if she’d been wrong about everything? What if Petra was right, and she’d been tricked? What if Terra wasn’t coming to help them but to destroy them? She wasn’t only putting herself at risk: there was Dr. Weber, Mom and Dad, Petra—everyone else on the base. Everyone else on Earth.
“I want to be there.”
Petra’s words from the next bed surprised her, but she kept her eyes closed. Maybe it was best to say nothing, pretend she was fast asleep. After Petra’s outburst at the biodome yesterday, the two of them hadn’t talked much.
“Anaya?”
Nice smooth breaths.
“A-nayyyyy-a. I know you’re awake.”
“How do you know?” she said, opening her eyes.
“Your breathing. It’s the way people breathe when they want someone to think they’re asleep.”
Anaya had to smile. “That’s good to know.”
“When they arrive, I want to be there with you.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea, Petra.”
“Worried I’ll go crazy and try to kill them?”
“Something like that, yeah.”
“I know I’ve been saying some harsh stuff—”
“No,” she replied. “You haven’t. I’ve thought about every single thing you’ve said.”
“Really?”
She nodded. It was true. “And if I didn’t have Terra talking to me, I’d probably think exactly like you. But I trust her, Petra. I really do.”
“She saved your mom.”
“It’s not just that. What she says makes sense to me. And yes, maybe they’re really good at messing around in people’s minds, but I can’t help believing her. I know none of this is super convincing.”
Even though it was dark, she could tell Petra was listening carefully. There were a few moments of silence before her friend replied:
“I want to meet them, too, you know.”
“You sure?”
“I’m part them. It’s like they’re our creators. Oh God, I hate how that sounds!”
“I know what you mean.” She’d had the same thought, more times than she cared to admit. “Half of whatever we are comes from them.”
“Right. So I want to meet the other half of me.”
Anaya still wasn’t entirely convinced. She knew how good her friend was at speeches.
“How do I know you’re not coming to hurt them?” she asked Petra bluntly.
“You’ll have to trust me. If you can trust an alien, can’t you trust me?”
“Fair enough.”
“Anyway, whatever’s going to happen, good or bad, I want us to be together. It’s bad enough Seth’s not here, but the two of us, at least we can stick together.”
Anaya reached across the gap between their beds and met Petra’s hand halfway. Since that terrible day at the school field, back on Salt Spring, the one thing that always made her feel safer was having Petra and Seth with her.
“I hope he’s okay,” Anaya said.
“I still try to talk to him every day,” her friend replied. “He’s never there. But this morning, it was weird—I felt like maybe I reached him.”
Anaya leaned closer. “You heard something?”
“Not really. But it was kind of like the way you pretended to be asleep.”
Anaya gave a sniff of amusement. “I’m sure if he heard you, he’d talk back.”
“Hope so. He should be here for the arrival. Anyway, I’m going to be there.”
“Pearson might fight you on that.”
“I’ll convince him he needs a backup translator,” Petra said.
“In case I get eaten.”
“Exactly.”
“That might work,” said Anaya. “Good idea.”
“Remember the way we were on the eco-reserve, how we beat the vines and killed the pit plants, all of us, together?”
Anaya squeezed her friend’s hand. “We were awesome.”
“I want us to be like that again,” Petra said. “I want us to win.”
AS DARKNESS SLOWLY BLED from the sky, Seth tore a strip of meat from the water strider. It had made the mistake of jumping onto his boat, and before it could strike, he’d cut off its needle nose, then finished it off with a sonic sledgehammer.
He’d given up trying to find Esta. Careening around in the fog, he’d twice almost collided with wreckage that would’ve torn out the bottom of the boat. He couldn’t risk it.
All night he’d motored north at a snail’s pace, staying clear of land, too afraid to try to dock anywhere in the dark. The fog had lifted, but once he’d reached the Strait of Juan de Fuca, he’
d been hit by a strong wind from the west. It had chilled him to the bone and made steering difficult. The wind blew him one way, and the tide pushed him the other, so it was like being churned in a washing machine. Water slopped over the sides; spray soaked his pants. It was almost dawn before he’d reached calmer water. He was cold and exhausted.
He swallowed more of the dense meat from the bug’s underbelly. It was strange, but he felt like he could feel the energy dispersing through his body, into his blood and his cells, making him stronger. And maybe making him different, too? More like the cryptogens?
It made sense, didn’t it? When the black grass arrived, he’d started to change. If sniffing the pollens could make his feathers regrow, imagine what eating all this meat could do.
When he heard the voice in his head, his heart leapt—and just as quickly sank. This voice didn’t have the familiar taste and smell of Esta; it didn’t have her light. This voice was faint and clumsy.
—Seth? Seth? It’s Petra.
He knew who it was. Instinctively he looked northeast toward the haze hiding Vancouver, but he made no reply.
It was strange to have Petra in his head again. It felt like it’d been a long time, though he knew it hadn’t, really. The salty taste of her silent words gave him a pang of sadness and longing.
—Seth, if you hear me, we’re on Deadman’s Island. It’s safe. As safe as it gets, anyway.
If he’d heard this news a few days earlier, it might’ve moved him more. Too much had happened. After the superstore, after all those hostile, horrified faces, he’d known he had no place in the human world. So why would he return to Deadman’s Island? Even if Petra said it was safe, it was still run by the same kind of people who’d ripped Esta away from him.
—We got attacked by giant water bugs. My mom died.
He swallowed and throttled up, hoping the engine noise would drown the voice in his head.
—Please come, Seth.
He steered away from Deadman’s Island, putting more distance between the two of them, wanting her voice to fade.
—Seth, are you close? I feel like you’re there.
Her voice was crackling now. Good. She’d never been very good at telepathy.
—I miss you, Seth.
Another sharp tug at his heart, and then she was gone. He was glad. He didn’t want to be tempted.
He gunned the motor, not knowing where he was going. The boat shook, and he realized it was his hands on the wheel, gripping so tight they were trembling.
He wiped the tears from his face, startled by the sounds he was making, halfway between cursing and sobbing.
Sharply he turned the wheel and aimed the boat north again, toward Vancouver.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“YOU’RE SURE YOU GOT the time right?” Colonel Pearson asked irritably.
“It wasn’t exact,” Anaya told him. Did he actually think Terra had given her Pacific Daylight Time? “The sun was in the middle of the sky. That’s what it looked like to me.”
It was half past noon. For almost two hours, Anaya had been anxiously waiting inside the trailer that had been set up as a field office at the landing site. Outside, flags marked the perimeter, along with sensors that measured radiation and toxicity in the air. A van waited nearby to transport the cryptogens to the biodome, whose roof Anaya could see curving above the trees in the distance.
Inside the trailer, it was a small group. Anaya was glad that Petra had managed to convince Pearson she should be there. Her friend sat on one of the plastic chairs in front of the windows, her tail restlessly tapping against the floor. Anaya wondered if she was regretting her decision; she looked nervous, her eyes darting across the sky. Dr. Weber paged through a binder of notes. There was a radio operator present and two other soldiers. Anaya wasn’t happy about having soldiers at all, but Pearson was adamant. At least they were only armed with spray canisters of pesticide, in case they ran into any cryptogenic bugs. Along the wall hung a row of orange hazmat suits, one for each of them when they went outside. Not for the first time, she wished Mom and Dad were here.
“You all right?” Dr. Weber asked her quietly.
“A little nervous.”
An understatement. At breakfast she hadn’t been able to eat a bite, and she still felt like she might throw up. She took a sip of cold water and let it sit in her dry mouth before swallowing.
“Anything?” she heard Pearson ask his radio officer.
“Nothing’s entered our airspace yet, sir.”
Anaya wasn’t surprised. She doubted they’d see anything on their radar. The cryptogens had managed to park a city-sized spaceship in orbit for years without being detected.
“And you haven’t been contacted?” Pearson asked her.
“I’ll tell you as soon as I am.” She was starting to get worried, too. Had she got the time wrong? Had Terra changed her mind? Had something terrible happened?
In a quiet, singsong voice, Petra said: “The aliens are running just a little bit late.”
Anaya had to laugh, and everyone else did, too, except Colonel Pearson, whose scowl lines merely deepened.
Finally, inside her head an amber light pulsed. She breathed damp soil.
—Coming.
Anaya felt her pulse sprint. Terra’s silent voice was not as clear as usual—like a radio tuned slightly off station—but the urgency emanating from that single word was unmistakable. Terra sounded frightened, too, and Anaya didn’t know whether this should reassure or worry her.
—We’re ready, she replied, and then Terra’s presence flickered out in her head.
“They’re on their way,” she croaked.
“Still not getting anything,” the radio officer reported.
“Suits on,” Pearson said.
Anaya was glad to have something to focus her. Before she zipped up her hood, the radio officer fitted everyone with a headset. They all did a quick sound check, and after that she was sealed up completely.
Even before she stepped outside, she was sweating. The suit stank of plastic. Her rapid breath through the filter rasped loud and unpleasant. Despite the tinted visor, the sun was hot on her face. Everything looked slightly unfamiliar to her. Grass. Trees. Clouds. She suddenly felt as if she were the alien, peering out at Earth’s landscape for the first time. Her steps were slow and clumsy in the baggy suit.
—This is weird, she said to Petra, looking at the rectangle of her friend’s face.
—Very weird.
—I wish I could ditch the suit.
—Keep that thing on!
Dr. Weber said the cryptogens might be carrying germs. But it seemed unlikely to her that she and Petra could catch something. Wouldn’t they have the same immune system as the cryptogens?
The two soldiers flanked their little group, holding their long spray nozzles at the ready. Anaya could only hope Terra wouldn’t think they were weapons meant for them.
Turning in a slow circle, she tilted her head to the sky. Wispy clouds. A dissolving vapor trail from a passing jet headed east. She really had no idea what shape the cryptogens’ ship would be, how fast it would move, whether she’d even be able to see it.
Rising from the trees bordering the landing site came the quick flicker of mosquito birds.
“Bugs!” she said into her mic.
In a swarm they attacked. The soldiers took aim and released twin plumes of pesticide. The effect was instant: as if the bugs had been coated in cement, they fell dead to the grass.
“Love that stuff” came Pearson’s voice over her headset.
A few mosquito birds limped through the air back toward the trees, only to drop before they reached them.
“Let’s hope we don’t get any more uninvited visitors,” Dr. Weber said.
The soldiers split up to patrol the perimeter of the landing site.
—Did Terra tell you who else is coming with her? Petra asked.
—You mean the other two rebels? No.
It seemed strange that she h
adn’t even thought about it until now.
—I was just wondering, Petra said, if they’re all runners, or if there’s a swimmer, too. There’s no flyers, right?
—No. They’re the enemy!
—I want to see a swimmer, Petra said, but I’m also kind of terrified.
“Something here” came a soldier’s voice over Anaya’s headset.
She looked over to where the soldier stood near the trees, poking at something with his spray nozzle. As she drew closer with the others, she heard a buzzing sound. On the ground was a gory mess blackened by flies. Anaya swallowed. The metallic smell of blood reached her even through her filter.
Her first thought was, Dead animal. But once the flies cleared, she couldn’t make out a leg or a head. In fact, it looked more like a big jumble of loose skin, with a skinny cord sprouting from it.
“It’s a placenta,” she heard Petra say.
“Definitely,” said Dr. Weber. “Something gave birth, and not long ago.”
With the spray nozzle the soldier unfolded and flattened out the placenta to get an idea of its size.
“Maybe a raccoon,” Pearson said.
“Too big,” said Dr. Weber, “and most mammals birth earlier in the year. And they usually eat their placenta, to hide the babies from predators.”
Anaya swallowed. “Maybe this one isn’t worried about predators.”
She met Petra’s eyes and knew her friend was thinking the same thing: whatever had been born, it didn’t come from Earth.
“How can this thing be cryptogenic?” Pearson demanded. “They only dumped eggs, and this definitely didn’t hatch.”
“All along they’ve been evolving,” Dr. Weber said. “This is the next stage. Live births.”
From the forest came a shrill yip that made Anaya’s skin crawl. It sounded like an animal—only not quite right. She stepped back with the others as undergrowth crackled, and something emerged from the trees.
AT FIRST, PETRA THOUGHT it was one of the armadillo bugs she’d seen in the biodome. It had the same dog-sized humped shape. But it took her only a second to realize this thing had hair instead of armor. It did not have spindly insect legs but six thick, furry ones with oversized paws tipped with claws the length of paring knives.
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