***
After several hours, Janaina called Grant and McCabe over. She stared at the pistol hanging at Grant’s side.
“I’ve been trusted with adult toys,” Grant said.
“I am half relieved,” Janaina said, “and half terrified.”
“That makes two of us.”
She led them both back to Dixit’s work area.
“I have completed the analysis of the white larva,” Dixit said.
McCabe put his hands together in mock prayer. “Please tell me it isn’t from a giant fly.”
“Most certainly not,” Dixit said. “It is an immature form of the pterosaur.”
“That can’t be right,” Grant said.
Dixit pointed to two identical charts on his tablet. “The DNA, it is an exact match.”
“There are similar examples in nature,” Janaina said. “Parasitic wasps lay eggs in crickets. The larvae mature within the cricket before driving it to its death.”
“A pterosaur isn’t a wasp. But that idea might explain…”
Grant pulled what was left of the pterosaur carcass out of the cooler by the table. He examined the tip of the bill. Gripping the bill with one hand, with the other he probed the hole on the end of the bill with a finger. He pulled and extended a bone tube from the lower bill.
“That would be the ovipositor,” Janaina said. “The pterosaur could fly over an ant, hover over its head, and then with one snap down, the egg is inserted through a hole small enough to heal over.”
“And when the larva matures?” McCabe asked.
“It pops out of the ant’s head like a jack-in-the-box,” Janaina said. “At the ant’s expense.”
“How does the ant manage with this thing in its head?”
“An intruder like this is generally benign. If it killed the ant too early, it wouldn’t have time to mature. Some of them even control the host, like the parasitic wasps do.”
“Larvae maturing inside ants,” Grant said, “would mean that pterosaurs would not need nests, an evolutionary advantage in a place where an ankylosaur might wander by and devour the eggs.”
“And that explains the size of the ants,” Janaina added. “Larger ants carry the larvae to a larger size, and live long enough to reproduce other ants.”
“Great little science class, kids,” McCabe said. “But what good does knowing all that crap do us?”
“It means that one poison will kill both a larvae and a pterosaur,” Dixit said. “And the same genetic similarity that keeps ant antibodies from attacking the larvae means that the ant is vulnerable as well.”
“You’ll mix us up an all-purpose killer?” McCabe said.
“Excepting humans of course?” Grant added.
“In the same way that you can spray a garden plant, kill the insects, and still eat the fruit. I have isolated a genetic weakness the animals on the plateau have that we do not.”
“Then get mixing,” McCabe said. “The next attack may come at any time.” McCabe made a beeline for Griggs to share the news.
Dixit opened a big box and began to rifle through tubes of liquid chemicals. Grant bent his head to Janaina’s ear.
“Can I have a minute with Dixit?” he whispered.
“Yes,” she said. “As long as you are saving me from shaming you into making an apology.”
Grant stepped over to Dixit. Dixit pointedly did not look up from the sample box.
“Say.” Grant paused as he realized he didn’t remember Dixit’s first name, which made him feel even worse. “I am so sorry for embarrassing you into going out to the Bobcat. If I’d have just gone, Katsoros wouldn’t have felt like she needed to go with you, she’d be alive, and you would have avoided a near-death experience. With only one person down there, the ankylosaur might not have even attacked. I feel like hell, and there’s no way to make it up to you, but I want you to know that I wish that I could.”
Dixit turned and looked Grant in the eye. Grant expected to see fury. Instead he saw sorrow.
“Your frustration was quite warranted,” Dixit said. “I must have appeared such a coward. I wanted to go on each expedition, to gather my own samples. But Ms. Katsoros would not permit it. Her orders kept me here doing the science, covering up all the secrets. I have a sick mother, and great debts, and that gives Transworld mighty leverage over my actions.”
Now Grant felt even worse about acting like a jerk. He could barely meet Dixit’s gaze.
“I should have found a way to tell you,” Dixit continued. “To tell everyone. Perhaps in that way I am the coward after all.”
“Not in the least.”
“And you may feel remorse at Ms. Katsoros’s death. Do not. You did not know her as I did. She was an evil woman. And while she promised all would return from this expedition, I have no doubt she would have left here to their death anyone who did not promise silence. And she did not trust you at all.”
The tension in Grant’s neck eased as a bit of his guilt slipped away.
“That helps. But Dorothy still felt bad melting the Wicked Witch.”
“Come again?”
Grant realized they didn’t share the same cultural touchstones. “Never mind.”
“Also, permit me to apologize to you for my initial rudeness. You have proven yourself to be a true man of science.”
Grant shook Dixit’s hand. “Find us the right poison. Who knows when the next animal attack will come.”
Suddenly, the scream of a pterosaur ripped through the air overhead.
Chapter Twenty-One
High above, the sun backlit five pterosaurs in a tight V formation. They tucked their wings to their sides and dove. In unison, they let loose a chorused shriek.
“Get cover!” McCabe shouted. He fired a burst from his rifle at the pterosaurs. Bullets passed through the formation. The pterosaurs stayed on target for the container.
Dixit dropped his tablet and ran for the sleeping container. Janaina and Grant were right behind him. Just as Dixit got to the doors, Riffaud burst out in a t-shirt and boxer shorts, rifle at the ready.
Up on the berm, Griggs sent a spray of bullets at the diving dinosaurs. The formation flicked around them and the bullets flew by.
Dixit and Janaina jumped into the container. Grant remembered the pistol that beat against his hip with every step. He drew it and stood in the container doorway, knowing that he was halfway between heroic and ridiculous, ready to fend off a dinosaur attack with a revolver.
Riffaud stood beside McCabe. They aimed skyward and fired. Tracers lanced the air. Griggs joined in from the berm, laying down a leading edge of lead across the pterosaurs’ paths.
The dinosaurs’ wings snapped out to full extension. As if all one, the group wheeled left and climbed. They shrieked and it sent a chill up Grant’s spine. The dinosaurs crossed the compound’s edge and turned to make another pass. The flock screamed in time with every beat of their wings.
“Track the noisy bastards as they come in,” McCabe ordered. “Open up at four hundred meters.”
The pterosaurs turned toward the compound, then dove in again. The three soldiers kept their weapons aimed at the dinosaurs, with fingers ready against the triggers.
A split second before the pterosaurs came into range, a sixth one rocketed in from the north at ground level. Its bill skewered Griggs through the back and plucked him off the berm. With a snap of its head it threw Griggs’s body at McCabe’s feet, and then zipped over the far berm. The pterosaurs above scattered and broke off the attack.
That made no sense to Grant. The pterosaurs had the advantage in numbers, had sidelined Griggs. Why break off now?
The earth under his feet shuddered. Then the sleeping container flew up into the air. One door swung open and backhanded Grant to the ground. The container landed on its side with a crash and the center buckled like a sheet of aluminum foil.
A giant soldier ant’s head protruded from a hole where the container had been. It snapped its mandibles together and scrambled
above ground.
Beside McCabe and Riffaud, two more ants burst from the ground. McCabe whirled just in time to jam the barrel of his rifle between the ant’s spread mandibles and fire. Bullets ripped the ant’s head in half and it sprayed reddish ooze all over McCabe. Its momentum carried the rest of the ant forward and it pinned McCabe to the ground.
The second ant lunged for Riffaud. He dodged left and sent a spray of bullets into the creature’s side. Rounds rippled along the ant’s three segments and the impact drove it on its side. Six legs jerked in death throes as the body shuddered.
Janaina and Dixit crawled out of the damaged container’s open door. Slick, bright blood plastered Dixit’s hair to the side of his head.
A second ant crawled out of the hole near Grant. He rolled over on his stomach and aimed at the ant’s center segment. He fired and hit it dead on. The ant didn’t flinch.
The two ants charged after Janaina and Dixit. Grant fired again and the shot went wide.
Another ant launched itself from the hole. Riffaud dropped his rifle to his hip and fired on automatic. Ant legs snapped as the bullets grazed the earth. The ant dropped to the ground. Its stubs flailed in the air and the mandibles snapped in frustration in Riffaud’s direction.
The ants hunting Janaina and Dixit closed within meters. Grant aimed with both hands and pumped two rounds into the head of one ant. It staggered and paused.
Riffaud turned and sent another burst of rounds into the other ant. Reddish ooze exploded from cracks in its exoskeleton.
A sixth ant sprang from the hole behind Riffaud. The ant lunged. Its mandibles clamped Riffaud’s arms to his sides at his waist. The ant lifted him with the slightest movement of its head and squeezed. Riffaud cried out and his rifle clattered to the ground.
The ant Grant had wounded grabbed Dixit by the ankles in its mandibles and pulled. Dixit hit the ground hard, face-first. The second ant scurried past and clamped on Janaina. It lifted her off the ground like plucking a flower.
The ant carrying Riffaud turned and retreated down the hole. Riffaud’s head slammed into the top of the tube and he went limp. The ant carrying Janaina headed for the same hole.
Grant took aim at the second ant’s head, conflicted at stopping the creature and risking shooting Janaina. He re-aimed at the ant’s last segment. He pulled the trigger.
The ant carrying Dixit sprinted ahead. It blocked the shot and Grant’s bullet pierced the ant’s head. The ant dropped Dixit and crashed on its side.
Janaina’s ant disappeared underground. Her scream echoed from the hole in the earth. She already sounded a hundred miles away.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Grant cursed himself for not firing the pistol sooner, better, faster. He raised himself off the ground and went to Dixit. Dixit lay face down, still. Grant rolled him over.
Wide, white eyes darted back and forth. His hands and feet shook, but the rest of his body stayed rigid. He wasn’t bleeding, nothing looked broken. He was in some kind of shock. And understandably so.
“Dixit. It’s dead. You’re okay. Everything’s going to be fine.” He gave him a shake. “Dixit!”
Dixit’s eyes focused on Grant. “I’m alive?”
“And uninjured. Somehow.”
Grant went over to McCabe. He didn’t move. The ant carcass looked to have crushed him.
McCabe opened his eyes. He gritted his teeth in pain as he inhaled. “Get this damn thing off me.”
Grant laid his hands against the ant carcass. It felt surprisingly cold, and smooth as a polished sea shell. He dug in his heels and pushed. The thing didn’t move.
McCabe closed his eyes. “Damn it.”
Grant saw Riffaud’s rifle on the ground. He picked it up and pointed it at McCabe’s midsection. McCabe opened his eyes.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Grant thrust the rifle barrel down at McCabe. It crossed over his stomach, under the ant and into the ground. Grant squatted, grabbed the buttstock with both hands, grunted, and heaved. Muscles in his back stretched like harp strings. But just when he feared they were about to break, the ant rolled off of McCabe. Grant leaned against the rifle and looked down at McCabe with a satisfied smile.
“Thanks,” McCabe said.
Then he grabbed the rifle with both hands and yanked it out of Grant’s grasp. He smacked Grant in the chest with the buttstock and sent him staggering back.
“And don’t ever use a firearm for something that stupid again.” McCabe sat up and moaned in pain. He ran a hand along his side. “Damn ant broke my rib.”
Grant offered him a hand up. McCabe gave him a derisive look and used the ant carcass as a support instead. He walked over and checked Griggs, but the gaping hole in his body left no doubt that he was dead. McCabe looked over at Dixit, who’d transitioned to sitting up.
“Is he okay?” McCabe said.
“Shaken, but not hurt from what I can see.”
McCabe picked up his rifle, dropped the magazine, counted rounds and reloaded. “Did you see those bastards? Coordinated attack. Flying dinos distracted us then the ants came up from below.”
“Seriously?”
“I’ve been in combat since I was eighteen. I know tactics when I see it. The dinos aren’t afraid of us—the attack in the jungle proved that. And they had more of an advantage here, coming fast from above. They could have dived in and shredded us.”
“They did attack Griggs.”
“Because he was the only one on high ground, the only one the ants couldn’t burrow underneath and surprise. The dinos wanted the ants taking the risk to kill us.”
“But they didn’t kill us. They took Riffaud and Janaina alive, tried to take Dixit as well. If they wanted them dead I’m betting those mandibles could have cut them in two. We saw them do the same thing with phoberomys at the bridge. Taking prey alive.”
McCabe stepped toward the hole in the ground. “Then I’d better go get Riffaud while he still is.”
“And Janaina,” Grant reminded him. “But alone against who knows how many ants at the other end of that tunnel? You’ll end up dead.”
McCabe raised his rifle across his chest. “I only need to get through enough of them to rescue Riffaud.”
“What if instead we can get through all of them?” Grant turned to Dixit. “How close are you to perfecting that poison?”
“The formula is untested, but I am certain that it will work, even at low dosages with external contact.”
“You expect me to bet my life on that shaky endorsement?” McCabe said.
Grant waved McCabe off. “Dixit, how much can you make?”
“Four, perhaps six liters with the components we have on hand.”
“How fast will it kill?”
“Seconds, perhaps.”
“That’s a damn long time to be staring down a charging ant,” McCabe said.
“You’d have to stare the ant down longer without it,” Grant said.
“It still falls upon us to deliver the poison,” Dixit said.
“Yeah, where’s an aerial tanker when you need one?” Grant said. “We could spray it all over them.”
“We still could,” McCabe said. “We could use a chaff tube. Coat all the chaff with the poison. Light it. Boom. Everything that touches some of that confetti dies.”
“That would work,” Dixit said.
“The colony will be underground,” Grant said. “We can’t fire chaff over it. We’ll need to go into it, find Janaina and Riffaud, and get out.”
“You take care of the poison,” McCabe said. “I’ll take care of the delivery system.”
Grant had an idea about how to sneak the three of them in and out of the colony alive. They weren’t going to like how he was going to do it.
Chapter Twenty-Three
An hour later, Dixit had five liters of death split into two plastic containers. Grant felt guilty that they were about to destroy such scientific wonders. Though not guilty enough to sacrifice himself and Janai
na to spare the murderous things.
McCabe arrived with the chaff tube. A strap tied off at both ends of the tube let him sling it over his shoulder. He’d salvaged a cell of the Bobcat’s battery and wired it to the charge at the tube’s base. The battery hung from his belt with the ignition switch from the Bobcat wired in as the on switch.
“Let’s make this thing lethal,” McCabe said.
He disconnected the wires and propped the tube straight up. With his knife he punched a series of holes in the lightweight cover at the tube’s end. Dixit took one container and poured the poison through the holes. When he finished, McCabe picked up the tube and shook it like a maraca.
“Whoa,” Grant said. “Is that safe?”
“Don’t sweat it, Dino Doc. Nothing except electrical power to the igniter is going to set this off.”
He and Dixit did the same procedure to a second tube and set it beside the tunnel entrance. “This one’s the defensive weapon. If any survivors come charging out of the tube after us, boom, we blast them.”
“There’s still the problem of sneaking in,” Grant said. “The first ant that sees us will send a chemical alarm and hundreds will scramble to the nest’s defense. But I have a way around it.”
He grabbed the antenna of a dead ant. Half the head was still attached. He dragged it over to the group.
“Ant eyesight is poor, not needed since they’re underground so much. Janaina explained how the ants communicate with pheromones to let other ants know who they are or what is going on outside the nest. We’re going to disguise ourselves as ants. With smell.”
He scooped a handful of ant internals out of the ant’s shell of a head. Then he spread the gooey mess all over his chest. The smell screwed straight into his sinuses and stayed there. His eyes watered.
“Preserve us, that is an awful smell,” Dixit said.
“You sure that will work?” McCabe asked.
“During the attack, you were covered in ant blood by the first ant. The rest left you alone. You were pinned under the body, but still in plain sight and alive. I think the stink masked your own smell.”
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