Minutes to Burn

"LT?" Cameron said. One foot resting on a log, Derek stared at the forest from the depths of a stupor. Cameron snapped her fingers sharply. Derek turned slowly, his eyes finding focus. "Weren't you about to send a buddy pair to search through the farmhouses for weapons?" Despite her efforts, irritation found its way into her voice.

"What? Yeah. Yes." Derek jerked his head at Szabla and Justin. "Go search through the farmhouses for weapons."

Szabla tossed the flares on the ground and rose slowly, studying Derek. Another log gave way in the fire, sending a sprinkling of embers into the air. "Is that order coming from you, or from Cameron? Because last I checked-"

"It's coming from me," he snapped. "Get moving. And steer clear of the forest."

Swinging the spike at her side, Szabla headed toward the road. Justin removed a fresh solar cell from his shoulder and snapped it into his elbow light, but did not turn the light on. Cameron tossed him a spike, and he followed Szabla into the darkness.

Using Cameron's transmitter, Rex updated Donald on the day's events. After a lengthy discussion, the two scientists decided to speak the following day when Donald heard back from Samantha. In the mean-time, he promised to contact Secretary Benneton and continue to pres-sure the navy for an early extraction for the soldiers, and appropriate support for the scientists, should they choose to remain on the island to study the animals.

Diego had busied himself with the radio again, keying Morse on the handset in hope of someone's picking up the signal. He looked up when Cameron stood over him. She pointed to the radio. "Hope you're asking Santa for guns in addition to a boat."

"Plenty of guns in Puerto Ayora, just no bullets," Diego said. He keyed the handset, alternating long and short breaks. "But there's plenty of TNT from the ejercito." He looked up sternly. "Only if we need it to protect ourselves."

Backpack slung over one shoulder, Rex walked over, exhaling heavily as he sat on the wet grass beside Diego. The others were talking over by the fire, but only the murmur of their voices was audible. "What do you think?" he asked, jerking his head toward the creature's corpse. Green hemolymph oozed from a crack in its cuticle.

Still fiddling with one of the knobs on the radio, Diego turned to him, his eyes glazed. "I don't know what to think. The brownish-green cuticle clearly serves the purpose of camouflage, so my guess is it doesn't stray far from the forest. Even with its exoskeleton, direct sun exposure would dehydrate it rapidly. It resembles a mantid, and appears to hunt like a mantid, but the proportions are off."

Rex smiled. "Yes, they are."

"No, I mean the thorax is more slender and upright. The raptorial legs are overly developed, as are the grasping hooks and leg musculature. Do you see the strength through the claws and legs?" Diego shook his head. "Like a gorilla."

"That's how it climbs-its size rules out its relying on surface adhe-sion like an insect."

"This isn't an insect," Diego said, setting down the radio handset.

"You mean we can't just burn palo santo branches for repellent and call the exterminator?"

Diego laid his hands on the exoskeleton. "The cuticle's tough, almost impossibly hard, even over the abdomen. My guess is it's female, as the wings don't extend past the tip of the body."

Crouching, Cameron glanced at the wings. "So that's how you tell, huh?"

Diego leaned over and, lifting one leathery forewing, tugged at the delicate transparent underwing beneath it. It slid out smoothly, the fire-light playing through it and casting a yellow glow. Diego had to stand up and walk backward as it continued to unfurl. "The surface area of the wings has increased exponentially in relation to the body."

"Can it fly?" Cameron asked.

Diego released the underwing and it slid slowly back beneath the pro-tective tegmina of its own accord. "Even given the exponential increase in wing size, I doubt it could bear this much weight aloft." He sat back down, rubbing the ends of his fingers with his thumbs. "It's a different organism, almost as though something took a mantid's basic features and reshuffled them." He looked at Rex. "What do you think?"

Rex paced around the body. "Three-segmented ectothermic quadro-pod, filiform antennae, mandibulate mouthparts, tegmina and hind-wings, seemingly asocial. Physically, it's distinctly terrestrial as an adult, even though the larvae are aquatic. I assume those are its larvae."

Diego smoothed his mustache with his thumb and index finger. "I would agree. Even if it can breathe underwater like the larvae, it's not at all suited to aquatic movement."