Minutes to Burn

"Yes, but I've arranged it all after we hit Baltra-it's just the airports that are tangled in military red tape. Boating between islands is a logistical pain in the ass, but not a political one." Rex turned to face the others. "In all, it's an eight-day trip-two days transport out, four days on Sangre, one day back. If all goes well, we'll be back for New Year's. Your job is to make sure I don't get shot, stabbed, or drawn and quartered in Guayaquil, to get me through the airports without any cavity searches, and to help me blanket Sangre de Dios and get the gear in place."

"Aren't there scientists out there already who can do this?" Cameron asked. "And save us the trip?"

"That's a very good question, Miss…" Rex looked at her expectantly.

"Chief," Cameron said. "Kates. But Cameron will do just fine. And a straightforward answer without the condescension."

Rex whistled. "Lo siento mucho."

"No problema."

Rex suppressed a smile as he leaned forward. "All right, Cameron. The reason the scientists there can't take care of it is because their funding, as you can imagine, has gone to even further shit as a result of the economic turmoil, and they can barely afford upkeep, let alone cutting-edge technology. Shipping's gone to hell, so we can't send the equipment down to them. We can hardly get through via phone, fax, or E-mail just to find out what the hell's going on. On top of all that, they're fleeing the islands in droves."

"Why?" Cameron asked.

"Because they're not as courageous as we are." Rex smiled. "Or as stupid. 'The few, the proud…'"

"That's the Marines," Szabla said.

Rex waved her off. "Same difference."

Tucker was listening intently. "Why's Sangre de Dios so important?" he asked.

"Because it sits over a network of fissures running south from the Galapagos Fracture Zone and, more significant, fissures running inland from the East Pacific Rise-it's near the source of both major forces that affect movement of the entire Nazca plate."

Tank watched Rex blankly. When Rex finished speaking, Tank turned to the others. "English?" he said.

"It's near where shit is the most fucked up," Szabla replied.

"Because of that," Rex continued, "it's our canary in the coal mine." He noticed that Tucker was jotting notes in a small pad. "That's C-A-N-A-R-Y."

Tucker looked at him self-consciously, then slid the pad back into his pocket. "Just thought it would help keep me up on things," he said.

Rex flashed a grin. "Indeed."

"I'm sure you're all aware of the severe ozone deficiency in that region." Donald stood and crossed to a large cabinet, pulling it open. "You'll need to take every precaution down there. Protective contacts, SPF one hundred lotion." He pulled out several tubes of sunblock and waved them at the soldiers. "Get it everywhere-webs of your fingers, insides of your ears; if you part your hair, rub it along the exposed line of scalp." He held the tubes out to Derek, but Derek waved him off.

"We're covered," Cameron said. "Customary operating supplies for missions in ozone-poor regions."

Derek clapped his hands once and rose. "We'll be lifting out at 2300 from the base. Any other questions?"

"Yeah," Savage said, thunking his bootless foot on the table. His voice was gravelly with phlegm, so he cleared his throat and spit in the corner. "You think we could see about getting me another boot sometime soon?"

Cameron walked out of the women's room on the third floor of the New Center and headed down the hall toward the stairs, her boots loud on the tiled floor. Sealed with yellow police tape, the elevator doors were now used as a bulletin board. Cameron stopped for a moment and glanced at the flyers advertising lecture series and research trips.

One section of the doors was dedicated to the tropical ozone problem. Her eyes flickered over the papers, trying to condense the information.

Evidently, tropical regions had always suffered the highest penetration of UV radiation. Since the Initial Event, ocean surface heating from tectonic activity had only compounded the problem. It had spawned hurricanes that, in combination with aberrant weather patterns, had evolved into hypercanes, massive hurricanes that were so tall they reached into the stratosphere. Because of their elongation, hypercanes pumped water from the ocean surface directly into the stratosphere, introducing massive amounts of HO and HO2. This accelerated the hox catalytic cycle, a natural process that broke down ozone and removed it from the stratosphere. It took a full year for the ozone balance to normalize after a hypercane, and one had been occurring every three to four months. For the past five years, the flyer warned, people, plants, and animals near the equator had been absorbing unprecedented amounts of UV radiation.