Minutes to Burn

They gathered in the clearing outside the lava tube except Savage, who stood staring out into the forest, one foot resting on a gnarled tree root that rose out of the ground like an arm from a grave. He raised a wedge of plantain to his mouth, thumbing it against the side of his Death Wind.

He was a good distance off from the others as they circled, speaking in lowered voices so that he wouldn't hear them. Cameron watched Derek with concern, her mind reeling with all she'd just witnessed. She wondered why Derek didn't order Savage over.

The forest blurred before Cameron's eyes then focused, pinpoint sharp. "I hate to sound like a broken record here," she said. "But we have one objective, and that's to fulfill the mission. No more, no less. Any-thing that doesn't help us meet that goal is irrelevant."

"I'm the AOIC here," Szabla said.

Cameron looked at her a long time before speaking. "Yes, Szabla," she said. "We know."

Diego had wrapped the remains of the larva in his shirt to carry back to base. He stood with his feet a little too far apart, gazing blankly through the trees. "Smooth-billed ani," he said. The others looked and saw nothing, but then a black bird burst from a branch, shooting through the understory.

"How the hell do you notice that stuff?" Tucker asked.

Diego smoothed his mustache with his thumb and index finger. "No puedo ver las hojas," he said. "I don't see the leaves." His voice was smooth and sorrowful, like a slow-rushing river. He looked at the opening to the lava tube, shaking his head sadly.

Rex walked over to a puddle trapped on the concave slope of the basalt at the base of the lava tube, his hand digging in his bag for a sam-ple jar. He filled it, tilting the jar to take in the water, then held it up to the light. When viewed through glass, rather than against the black stone, the water was tinted red. Cameron watched him put the jar in his back-pack with the others and return slowly to the circle, a thoughtful expres-sion on his face. When he saw her looking at him, he shook his head, puzzled. "Dinoflagellates in the water."

Diego's brow furrowed. "How did phytoplankton get all the way up here?"

Cameron turned her attention back to Derek, who was a sickly white.

"You all right, LT?" Justin asked.

"Yes," Derek said sharply. "I'm fine. Everything's fine. We're gonna finish forest recon, find a slab of bedrock, and muster back at base at 2000. I want the fourth GPS site picked before we turn in."

"I want assurances that there won't be any more predatory behavior like that," Rex said.

"Fine," Derek said. "You have my assurance. Anyone who acts other than under direct orders will answer to me." He raised his eyes-tired, flat points of green.

"What about him?" Diego said, indicating Savage with a jerk of his head.

"I'll handle him."

"This is my survey," Rex said. "You know."

Szabla's eyes were intense with dislike. "You've made that clear," she said.

Derek glared at the small group. "Let's roll out."

They shuffled into movement, paired off, and headed into the forest. Tucker passed Savage without slowing, and Savage followed him into the underbrush.

Szabla paused by Derek, studying his face as if trying to get a read on it. Her whisper was barely audible to Cameron, certainly not to the scien-tists. "Look, LT, I think those things might-"

"Roll out, Szabla," he snarled. He did not look over at her.

She lingered for a moment by Derek, clearly wanting to say some-thing else, but he didn't acknowledge her, not even when she jerked her neck to the side to crack it. Justin waited patiently at the brink of the foliage. When she finally came, he let her take point.

Derek and Cameron stood alone in the clearing, dusk spreading the shadows around them into planes of black. The ground rumbled slightly, but the movement didn't escalate into a full-blown earthquake. Derek didn't even seem to notice.

"You all right, Derek?" she asked.

"Fine," he said sharply, still averting his eyes. "I'm gonna bust Sav-age's ass if he touches another baby."

Cameron drew her lips together and out, concerned. She had shared Derek's visceral reaction watching the thing die on the ground, but Derek seemed to be slipping down the slope of his emotions.

She cleared her throat uncomfortably. "It's not a baby, Derek."

His laugh was empty. "No shit. I didn't call it a baby."

They stood there dumbly with the whistle of the wind through the trees and the calls of strange animals all around them. Cameron watched a star spider make its way up a mossy log. She cleared her throat uncom-fortably. "Look, Derek, I know this must be hard, in light of-"

"You don't know anything, all right?" Derek said gruffly. He turned away from her, clenching his jaw. "Let's go."

Cameron took note of the pulse beating in his temple before turning and starting the trek back to camp, her canteen bouncing against her hip like a trophy kill.

Chapter 41