by Curtis, Gene
After hours of crawling, the area just ahead narrowed enough that he couldn’t get through by going straight, but which way should he turn? Both ways looked the same. He stopped and listened. Off to the right he thought he heard the barely audible sound of a water drop splashing into a pool. And there was a faint odor of something he had hoped he would never smell again; rotting flesh.
Just as he was about to start crawling to the right he felt the rock under him rumble. He spoke into the ring, “Um… was that an earthquake?”
“Sure was. Just a three point eight though, nothing to worry about. Little tremors like that happen all the time.”
“I’m glad you’re not worried.”
As he crawled the odor became stronger and the occasional drip of water grew louder. A few minutes later he could see what he hoped he wouldn’t.
“I think I’ve found Mr. Giancoli’s body.”
“Be careful.”
The body was lying on a rock slab separate from the continuous formation Mark had been crawling on and it was just barely submerged in a pool of rust colored water. The upper stone was lying across his back and head. Mark kept his distance while examining the scene for any clues as to what might have happened.
Mark spoke into the ring, “The only thing I can think that may have happened is that the stone slab fell on him.”
“Try pushing the duffel bag across with the staff and see what happens. See if you can spot what triggered it.”
Mark pushed the bag and nothing happened. “The bag is across and I didn’t see anything.”
“Is there any way for you to go around?”
“Maybe, if I get in the water. It looks like it might go around.” He used the staff to probe the water. “It looks like it’s only about four feet deep.” He eased into the water. “It’s cold!” He started easing his way around the slab and his teeth started chattering. Just before he was at a good point to climb out, his staff warned him of a sudden drop-off. He avoided it.
Once he was out he chattered, “I’m-m-m-m o-o-out.”
“You might try a meal pack heater to warm up.”
The heaters were water activated. After he was warmed up a little he looked around and saw he could stand. “I can see how this thing works now. It looks like a tandem seesaw, one over the other. When someone climbs onto the lower one it shifts, forcing the upper one to come down on the person.” He looked closer at the top seesaw. “I think it resets itself after a depression on the other end on the top one fills up with dripping water.”
Mark dumped the contents of the plastic meal pack and used the container to fill the other end of the slab with water. After several trips the device reset itself and the water ran out of a channel on the end of the top slab. “I was right. It resets itself after the cavity fills with water.”
It took some time for Mark to roll the body into the water pool while being careful not to activate the trap again.
The front of Mr. Giancoli’s shirt and pants waistline had small holes. Mark carefully felt the surface of the bottom slab and found several small holes. “It looks like Mr. Giancoli was stabbed by several spikes concealed in the holes of the bottom slab. He wasn’t wearing his armor so he got stabbed and bled to death.”
“I understand. Continue on and we can worry about recovering the body later.”
The only way Mark could go was along a narrow passage. It wasn’t long before the passage opened into a large room. He looked the room over with his binoculars and decided not to enter just yet.
“I’ve just come to a room. It looks like the walls are alive with insects.”
“What kind of insects?”
“I’ve never seen anything like them. They’re about the size of a blow fly and they look like tiny scorpions without tails.”
“Pseudo-scorpions. That might not be so bad; almost all of them are harmless to humans. What color are they.”
“They’re a pinkish gray.”
“Okay. Rarely, vary rarely; some of the pink varieties swarm when they’re extremely hungry or when it’s their mating season. Normally they just eat other bugs, but you need to prepare to act if they do swarm on you when they discover you’re there. The bee suit and the armor won’t do much good unless you tape up all the seams and that’s very hard to do by yourself. Only a handful of them need to get through in order to immobilize you. Can you get a close look at one?”
Mark eased closer so he could see some on the closer wall and looked at them through the binoculars again. “I can’t quite get them into focus, but it looks like they have red and black stripes on their backs and I’m not sensing hunger from them or anything else in particular.”
“Um… I’m not familiar with markings like that. Hold on while I have someone check the database.”
Mark pulled out the bee suit and put it on. He used duct tape to seal the junctions of the different parts. The neck seam was the hardest to seal so he used extra tape to help ensure he had done an adequate job.
The radio voice said, “It’s like I thought, this is a new species and we don’t have any idea on what to expect. The good news is that you get to name it.”
Without hesitation Mark said, “Giancoli. Name them Giancoli.”
“Giancoli it is. All right, there has to be a food source in order for them to survive down there so that means there has to be another entrance from the outside into that room. Most likely it’s located near or in the ceiling. Let me know when you get your bee suit on and taped up.”
“I’ve already got it on and taped.”
“Good job. Toss a smoke canister from your rescue kit into the room and watch what happens. I’ve got scouts dispatched to look for the smoke and locate the chimney. If we can locate it we can send down enough food to keep the bugs busy enough to leave you alone. If they start coming out after you, most likely they won’t, but if they do then get back to the water.”
Mark tossed in the canister and watched the bugs start scurrying all over the place. “The smoke is filling the room. I don’t see where it can get out.”
“Can you see anything like a breeze stirring the smoke?”
Mark scanned the room. “The only place the smoke looks disturbed at all is at the exit on the other side of the room and it isn’t much.”
“Does it look like any of the bugs are coming after you?”
“No. There are a few by the opening here, but they’re not paying any attention to me and I’m only sensing a mild irritation from them.”
“That’s good. Try easing into the room a little, but be prepared to run back to the water if you have to.”
Mark eased into the room taking care not to step on any of the few scattered about the floor. The ones near where he stepped darted away. “They’re not interested in me at all.”
“Ummm… that’s not good. According to the prophecy the next death is supposed to be insects.”
Remembering his experience in the labyrinth last year he asked, “What eats these bugs?”
“Pseudo-scorpions are arachnids and arachnids are typically eaten by birds and wasps; mostly by wasps.”
Mark shook his head and scowled. “I’m glad I’ve got the bee suit on.”
“I can almost rule wasps out. We calculate that you’re about a half-mile underground and no wasp colony has ever been found that far down. A foot or two down is common and then only in holes that already exist. They need heat in order to fly.”
“Now that you mention it, it is a little warmer down here than I expected.” Mark took the thermometer out of the rescue kit. “It’s seventy-eight degrees down here.”
“That must mean there’s a thermal vent down there somewhere. The temperature should be about fifty degrees.”
Mark continued to examine the room for the bug’s food source.
He saw something zing out of the opening ahead, briefly land on the wall and then zing back into the opening. A few seconds later it happened again.
He pulled out his binoculars and waited fo
r it to happen again. “Well, it’s not wasps. It’s hornets, very large hornets.”
“They’re not after you are they?”
“No. I see one every few seconds fly out of the opening ahead, land on the wall and fly off with one of the bugs.”
“Be very careful. It only takes a few stings to kill you and hornets are typically very aggressive toward humans. Whatever you do don’t get into their flight path, stay far enough away so they can’t smell your breath and do not kill or injure any of them. Now having said that is it possible to get a look at the hive?”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Mark inched forward holding the light over his head. He stayed close to the wall that the hornets weren’t landing on. “There’s some kind of barrier about ten yards beyond the opening. It looks like giant ribbons of cardboard, like the kind old egg cartons are made with.” He looked up. “I see the opening in the ceiling and that’s where the smoke is going. I can hear ‘em.”
“All right now. We have to figure out how to get rid of them. You didn’t happen to pack any bug spray did you?”
“I can just cut my way through; I’m wearing the bee suit.”
“That bee suit was designed for bees, not hornets. Hornet stingers are quite a bit longer.”
“I’m also wearing armor.”
“That’d be all right if it were iron, however it’s a high tech cloth designed to resist cuts and punctures, but it’s sewn together. A needle will penetrate it by separating the threads. So will a stinger.”
“I understand. Any suggestions?”
“I’m looking at an inventory of everything you took with you and it doesn’t look like you have anything that would work to drive them away without destroying the nest.”
“What about smoke?”
“The smoke canisters you have most likely won’t work. They’re designed to be nontoxic, although as a last resort you can use them to set the base of the hive on fire. There is an off chance a bug bomb might work.”
“I’ll try one.” Mark threw a bug bomb near the area where the hornets were collecting bugs. It had no effect on them. “Bug bombs don’t work.”
“I’ve got the people out here brainstorming what to do and I’m going to brainstorm with you. Hornets react strongly to smells.”
“Okay. Can we make a smell of whatever eats hornets?”
“Ducks and skunks eat dead ones. I don’t know of anything that eats live ones.”
“Bruce Spencer, back at school, developed a smoke ring gun with a world record range. I can use that to project different smells at the hornets until we find something that works and then use a lot of it to drive the hornets away, at least temporarily.”
“That’s a good idea. Start making your way back to the guano pit. They should just about have the zip-line up. I’ll send someone back to the school to see about the smoke ring gun.”
“I’m on my way back.”
Mark left the duffel bag and the bee suit near the seesaw trap. Getting back to the guano pit was much easier than it had been coming. He knew what to expect and which way to go.
When he arrived one of the Native American warriors was waiting for him on the other side of the pit. The warrior smiled and said, “Glad you’re close. Just put your foot in the loop and step up to grab the trolley handles. Press the button on the right side handle when you’re set and facing the way you want to go.”
Mark did just that and a moment later he was on the other side of the pit. He grinned, “That’s great!”
Mark could see that the warrior was wearing a headset and was standing next to the ledge by a large dolly with oversized wheels which was tethered to a cable.
“I wish I had one of these in the first place.”
“If you would have had this kind of equipment, you would have crossed over the pit and taken the wrong path.”
The warrior sat down on the dolly and said, “Put your feet in the stirrups, lay down and lock your wrists into the loops like this.”
Mark did as he was shown.
The warrior said, “Here we go,” and pushed a button on the top of the dolly.
Mark gripped the loops when the cart started moving up the slope. A couple of moments later they were at the top of the pit slide.
A golf cart was waiting for them. Back at the entrance he saw that the command post had been moved to just outside the cave. Mrs. Shadowitz started approaching when they pulled up. She said, “We’re still collecting a number of things. The earliest you’ll be able to go back in and tackle the hornet problem is tomorrow.”
Mark was at once relieved and disappointed. He’d felt sure that whatever he might need to determine how to get past the hornets would be waiting there when he got back, but on the other hand he wasn’t delighted with the idea of sleeping amid so many dangers if he didn’t have to.
“Yes ma’am.”
When she got closer she fanned in front of her nose with her hand. “And get cleaned up. It seems you have a predilection for perfuming people, including yourself, with some pretty peculiar pungencies.”
Mark looked down. “Yes ma’am, I will.
“Ma’am, I’m wondering why we don’t just use hornet spray?”
“There are many reasons. Aside from the fact that hornets are beneficial and we really don’t want to kill them unless it is absolutely necessary, we simply can’t get a sufficient amount down there to kill them all. We could kill a sizable number of them, but not nearly enough to matter.”
“How many of them do you think there are?”
“That chimney they’re living in is at the very least a half mile long and you saw how wide it was. We’re estimating their numbers in the hundreds of thousands, maybe even in the millions.
“Another thing is that most of them should be dead this time of year and they’re not. They’re thriving. We’re convinced we’ve found an undiscovered species.”
“I understand. How do you think Xocotli got past them?”
“Good question. We haven’t been able to satisfactorily answer that yet. The speculation is that the hive wasn’t this well developed two thousand years ago.”
Mark had no idea how he was going to get past the hornets, but he also knew it wasn’t impossible. He wondered what the thing would be that actually worked.
The next morning the command post air was filled with the smells of breakfast. Mrs. Shadowitz was sitting at a table sipping a cup of coffee while a blueberry topped bagel sat on a small plate in front of her. A lot of people were there with some sort of food or drink in one hand while they walked around checking various things with the other. She motioned Mark over.
“A number of people came up with an impressive assortment of ideas and I think quite possibly the best one was from your friend Nick. It’s a remotely controlled machine with several functions. We’re going to let you try that one first. If that doesn’t work we’ll let you try each of the other ideas in succession beginning with yours, the smoke ring gun.”
She pointed to a stack of duffel bags. “Six bags full of ideas and gadgets. It could take a week or longer to get through them all.”
Mark smiled and said, “If I know Nick, I doubt I’ll have to use any of the rest of them.”
“I hope you’re correct.” She handed Mark a headset. “Grab the first bag when you’re ready and you can take one of the carts down. Let us know when you are just past the seesaw trap.”
“Yes ma’am.” He put the headset on. “Hello.”
A different headset voice from yesterday said, “Loud and clear.”
Mark looked to his left and waved at the radioman. “I’ll try not to break this one.”
The radioman waved back. “If you do, there’s a couple more packed in your bag. These transmit video too.”
“Good idea.”
Mark grabbed the first bag and drove off in the cart. It didn’t take long before he was back to the seesaw trap. Someone had left a couple of under car creepers on the ledge next to the parallel rocks. That made t
raversing the cramped space between the rock-faces a lot easier.
“I’m on the other side of the seesaw trap.”
The radio voice said, “The first thing you’re going to try is a radio controlled vehicle to deliver a plugging agent into the bottom of that nest. If that proves successful then you’ll use the vehicle to get through the part of the nest that blocks the passage. Following that you’ll use the vehicle to scout and seal the other side of the nest if necessary.”
“Other side?”
“Hornets nests are usually bi-lobed with the support structure right in the middle. It’s the support structure that’s blocking the passage.”
“I didn’t know that.” Mark removed the vehicle and control handset from the top of the bag. “Okay, I’ve got the vehicle out.”
“There should be a container of canisters.”
They were right on top. “I’ve got them.”
“Find and insert the ones labeled urethane A and urethane B into their respective A and B compartments on the top of the vehicle.”
“Okay… done.”
“Turn the vehicle on, drive it under the nest and fill ‘er up. The right joystick controls the movement of the vehicle. The left joystick controls the direction of the nozzle, the lights and the camera. The left trigger activates the nozzle.”
“Got it.” The vehicle was easy to maneuver into position by using the small view screen at the top of the handset. It took less than five minutes to completely plug the bottom of the nest.
“All right, the nest is plugged.”
“Bring the vehicle back, remove the spent canisters, find and insert a canister labeled H2SO4 into compartment A. You’ll use that to cut through the support.”
The bottom center section of the paper support structure melted away a few layers at a time creating a passage more than four feet long and big enough for a person to crawl through. A moment after the last layer dissolved a mass of hornets swarmed the little machine.