Minutes to Burn

Chapter 47

Wordlessly, Derek handed the larva off to Diego and split off from the others. "I'm gonna check out the purse seine," he called over his shoulder. "Which farmhouse?"

"It's got a healthy tear," Justin said. "Plus the rope is old and cracking."

Derek stopped but did not turn around. "Which farmhouse?" he repeated.

Justin was silent for a moment before answering. "Last one down on the west side of the road."

Derek started walking again. Cameron followed him a few steps toward the road, but when Derek still didn't turn around, she realized he wanted to be alone and fell back.

Rex walked by her side, several feet behind the others. "Something is going on with your squad," he said softly. "And things on this island are going to get more complicated."

Cameron looked dead ahead, her face blank.

"I'd like to know I can count on you," Rex continued.

"You can count on me to uphold my orders, and to act in the best interests of my-"

Rex waved her off, his arm painting a short, angry stroke in the night air. He pulled ahead, leaving her to walk alone.

They reached base exhausted. Justin collected an armful of wood, sticking close to the tents, then dumped it next to the fire and tried to wipe the grime off the front of his shirt. Tank stoked the flame with the freezer bolt. He raised a branch in front of him, gripping it tightly at the ends, and snapped it in half with a grunt. He added the two pieces to the fire.

They all tried to ignore the enormous corpse to the side of the logs. Somewhere inside it were the mangled remains of Tucker.

The larva cooed in Diego's arms as he set it down near the fire. "It's getting heavier," he said quietly.

When he straightened up, Szabla was standing right beside him, tap-ping the spike in her hands, her eyes gleaming. Aside from Cameron, the others didn't yet notice; they clustered around the far log, talking in hushed voices.

Diego eyed the spike, taking a step back. Szabla stepped toward the larva and Diego snatched it quickly away. He tried to sidestep Szabla, but suddenly Savage was there in his way.

Cameron looked at Savage's eyes, gone dull in the night, and was alarmed by what was lacking in them. She walked over, the others fol-lowing.

"I'm not dealing with another one of those." Szabla pivoted and pointed the spike at the large body.

Diego stood quietly for a long time, holding the larva and staring off into space. It pulsed in his arms, squirming through the crook of his elbow. Its true legs pinwheeled in the air, searching for footing, and he turned it to his chest, the soft prolegs clinging to his shirt.

"Even your boy Frank judged the offspring to be dangerous," Szabla continued, more calmly. "He was picking them off one by one. But he didn't kill one because it was cute, because it appealed to him and amused him. That's a benefit of its appearance. You coddle it until it metamorphoses. Why do you think it was so easy to spot? It doesn't hold us to be a threat."

Diego set the larva behind him on the grass and stood before it pro-tectively. His face had the hard, grim cast of a statue's. Rex shifted on his feet, intense discomfort clouding his features. Diego made a noise of disgust from deep down in his throat.

"A lot of animals exist in symbiotic and parasitic relationships in nature," Rex said. "Flying in under the radar, taking advantage of other species' needs and weaknesses."

"Like those feeder fish that hang out on sharks?" Justin asked.

"Or like cuckoo birds," Rex added softly. "Cuckoo birds lay their eggs in other birds' nests. The parasite egg usually requires less incubation and hatches first. Then the chick throws the other eggs out of the nest so it can get the foster parents' full attention."

"And the mom takes care of that motherfucker since she doesn't know it's not hers," Szabla said. "I was bio queen undergrad, so don't be pullin' no wool on my ass."

"You don't understand the full workings…" Diego's throat was dry, so he paused to lick his lips. He looked down at the larva, lying peace-fully in the grass, its prolegs wide and momentarily unflexed.

"A lot of animals persist because they inspire a foolish protectiveness in others," Rex said.

Diego glared at Rex, his eyes flickering with the light from the fire. "Don't you dare side with her," he growled.

"I'm not siding with anyone," Rex said. "I'm merely attempting to analyze the situation from all sides. We need to be able to discuss this reasonably. Let's start by demystifying the phenomena. The larvae are appealing because of specific, definable attributes-large heads, large eyes, a capacity for attention. They're fascinating. These characteristics conventionally enhance parental investment; here, they serve to increase other species'-most notably humans'-tolerance, favoritism or identi-fication…take your pick. Let's be aware of this and act accordingly. We can't be victim to our softer instincts when dealing with these creatures."

"This isn't about 'softer instincts,'" Diego barked. "Goddamnit, don't you see?! This has nothing to do with sentimentality. The larvae shouldn't be protected because of affinity or compassion, but they also shouldn't be killed because of fear. Who knows what benefits we can derive from studying them?" His eyes moist, he pounded a fist into his open palm. "We need to know more. We need to discover more. We can't stop this amazing process now. We have no idea where this is headed."

"That's exactly my fucking point," Szabla said.

The larva squirmed in the grass. A seam had opened up in its cuticle, just behind the head.

Diego snapped the band from his ponytail, ran his hand through his hair, pulling hard, then banded it again. When he spoke, his voice was shaking. "Do you really want to turn this incredible thing into a dead end?"

"It might be incredible if we had guns and boats and the luxury of a little fucking distance," Szabla said. "But we don't. We're stuck on an island, weaponless, with no extraction set, and people are dying." She raised a hand to scratch her cheek, her arm crossing her chest so her biceps stood out like a tennis ball. "This ain't no science project. It's us versus it. And guess whose side I'm on."

A ripping sound drew their attention back to the larva. It had pulled itself free of its old cuticle, squirming out of the shell of its former self. It rippled forward, its new skin moist and an even more vibrant green.

Taking a deep, sorrowful breath, Tank pulled himself to his feet. He walked slowly over and stood behind Szabla and Savage. Justin looked from them to Diego and Rex.

They all glanced over at Cameron.

"What!?" she said sharply. "Why are you looking at me? Szabla's the AOIC."

Szabla clicked her teeth together, keeping her mouth closed. She squinted, drawing the skin tight across her high, hard cheekbones.

"What would we do to it?" Justin asked, though he didn't really want an answer.

The larva wormed up against Diego's leg and froze. Tank averted his eyes. "Cam?" Tank asked softly. He ran a shaking hand over his head, taking a deep breath.

Cameron felt all their eyes on her, felt the presence of the larva by the fire even though she couldn't bear to look at it. Even Savage was waiting on her response.

With the slightest movement, Cameron shook her head. "We're under orders," she said. "To assist Rex on his mission."

Szabla raised a hand, quivering with rage, and pointed to the large mantid body by the fire. "We are the fucking mission now."

Cameron looked to Rex. "What'll it be?"

Rex took a moment, gathering himself.

"Don't you dare," Diego whispered. "You could be single-handedly forcing a species into extinction."

Rex crouched, pinching the papery shell of the larva's old cuticle between his fingers. "Let's quarantine it," he said. "Keep a close eye on it until we get word back about the virus tomorrow."

"Well, I'm afraid you don't have the luxury," Szabla said. She advanced toward the larva. Diego stepped forward to block her, but she shoved him roughly aside. He stumbled and went down. He looked to Cameron, appealing to her with his eyes. Rex looked furious but held his tongue.

"Szabla," Cameron said. "If you're altering orders, I think we should wait for Derek to-"

"Zip it, Cam," Szabla barked.

Justin stepped forward and helped Diego to his feet.

Cameron pointed to the larva. "That's an entirely new creation," she said. "Something that's never lived before. Ever. I don't think you can just decide unilaterally to kill it."

"I'm the senior officer right now," Szabla said. "I can decide whatever the fuck I want."

"Look, Szabla, I'm only saying-"

"Why are you having such a reaction to this, Cam? To this thing?"

"Back off, Szabla," Justin said. "She's just arguing chain of com-mand."

"Not with that face, she isn't. This ain't her normal stain-in-her-school-dress-following-orders crap. This is different."

"You don't have a right-the authority or the right-to do this," Cameron said.

Szabla turned sharply and faced Cameron. "Step back, girl," she said. "That's a direct order from your superior officer. Need I be more explicit?"

Cameron felt her face growing flushed with the heat from the fire and her blossoming anger.

"Step back," Szabla repeated.

Cameron stepped back.

"Goddamnit," Rex said, glaring at Cameron. "Why can't you think for yourself?"

"It's not my job to think for myself," Cameron said, her voice sounding distant and foreign. "We're a military squad, not a think tank."

The larva raised itself up, its thorax nearly perpendicular to the ground, its head tilted and attentive. Cameron felt a wave of nausea wash through her and her knees buckled, just slightly. Justin steadied her with an arm around her waist, which he dropped once she got her legs under her again.

"Mammy! Bring Miss Scarlet her smelling salts," Szabla said derisively.

Rex glared up at the stars, his hands on his hips. Tank ran a hand over his sunburnt scalp.

"Who's gonna…" Justin's words were choked with phlegm. He cleared his throat and started over. "Who's gonna do it?"

Savage studied the fire, knowing the answer before he even raised his head. He closed his eyes in a long blink, bouncing his head once in a nod, then rose.

When he seized the larva around the base of its head, air escaped it in a screech, and Cameron felt herself sucking shallow breaths to keep from breaking. Savage walked right in front of her, the larva squirming and squealing in his grip, and seized the spike leaning against the log beside her.

A figure cut from the shadows and a hand fell across his wrist, pale in the darkness. Savage jerked away and dropped the larva, drawing back the spike until he saw it was Derek.

"What are you doing?" Derek asked, stepping over the log. His eyes were cold and glassy, the skin on his face stretched tight with stress and fatigue.

His eyes narrowed on Szabla's until she looked away. He crouched above the larva and ran his hand along its side, over the bumps of its abdominal segments.

Derek looked at Diego, and Diego shook his head.

Rex said, "I didn't want them to…They wouldn't listen."

The pulse in Derek's temple worked like a spasm. His fingers, thin and pale in the moonlight, continued to stroke the larva's back.

"Derek," Szabla said, attempting to soften her voice. "We can't afford to follow scientists' orders anymore. We're playing in a different game here."

Derek stood and walked to Szabla, leaning forward until his face was inches away. Cameron did not recognize his eyes at all. Savage took a step over so that he was standing behind Szabla.

Cameron rose uneasily to her feet. "Easy, LT," she said.

The scientists watched quietly. It was as if a spell had been woven around the camp, and everyone hesitated to speak for fear of shattering it.

Szabla finally took a small step back, not giving up much ground. She turned and faced Cameron, and then Cameron noticed Derek's eyes on her as well, and she realized that everyone was looking to her, waiting for her move.

She inhaled the sharp island air, gazing at the perfect black beyond the edges of the fire. Something small fluttered overhead. The seconds stretched themselves out into what seemed like hours.

Cameron stepped over and stood behind Derek, her shoulders squared, her elbow brushing his. Justin followed suit, and then Tank, and then Szabla took another step back and sat on the log. Savage twirled the spike around his hand like a bandleader's baton and turned his back. Szabla's mouth contracted in a straight line and she scowled at Cameron, her eyes lit with disappointment and anger.

Derek exhaled deeply, his shoulders settling. "Rex?"

Rex turned to him, his face ashen.

"The first order of business is putting the larva in a safe place," Derek said. He glared at Szabla. "For us and for it. Then, we secure the island and determine if there are any more adult creatures here. Are we agreed?"

Rex started to speak but had to clear his throat and start over. He spoke in a brisk, scientific voice; that seemed to help him regain control. "Yes. Whatever occurred here in the formation of these animals was anomalous enough that I believe we can proceed cautiously with the assumption that there is only one lineage. Of the ten surviving offspring that Frank noted, he captured eight, and Savage killed one. That means there could be another out there somewhere, if it survived."

"Don't female mantises eat the males after they mate?" Cameron asked.

"Some," Diego said. "Not all. Female Galapagia obstinati have been known to."

"Well, let's hope we got a Gloria Steinem motherfucker," Szabla said.

"Would it have metamorphosed?" Cameron asked. "The surviving larva?"

Rex said, "I would think so. Especially since they evidently mated."

"Gentlemen," Cameron said, looking at the two scientists. "You're gonna have to help us out here. What are we up against? If there's another one out there, we need to know its habits, strategies, any weak-nesses we can exploit."

Diego and Rex exchanged a long look. "Neither of us are entomolo-gists," Diego said. "Do you have any way of contacting one?"

"Yes," Rex said. "I can ask Donald to."

"We don't have time to wait," Cameron said. "In the meantime, what do you know?"

"Well," Diego began slowly, "we'll have to continue to assume these animals have behavioral traits in common with the mantid the virus infected and altered."

"And?" Cameron urged. Derek stood silently beside her.

"They don't hear as humans do. They can only detect ultrasound, which filters to them through a slit on the mesothorax, so they generally need movement or vibration to sense prey. They tend to be stationary hunters. They await their prey, taking advantage of camouflage and their lightning strike."

"So if we move to pursue it, we'd be the ones at a disadvantage?" Cameron asked.

Diego nodded.

"We might have to risk that," Justin said.

Cameron waved him off. "We'll argue later. What else?"

"They need the shade," Rex said. "They're hesitant to leave the forest understory during the day. Especially to hunt-they have a hard time in the hot sunlight. I'd imagine that's truer now than ever before, given the UV. But at night, they'll roam anywhere. They'll also be attracted to light at night, like most insects."

"How about the eyes?" Cameron asked. "Will blinding it help?"

"I'm not going to help you figure out how to maim this animal," Diego said.

"You bet your ass you are," Szabla said.

"We need this knowledge," Cameron said. "We'll decide later if and how we're going to deploy it."

"Yes," Rex said. "Blinding it will help. And taking out a single eye will compromise its depth-of-field perception. Their antennae are also strategically essential."

Szabla took a breath and exhaled deeply. "Couldn't we poison it? Use some venom from indigenous snakes or something?"

They looked at Diego. "There is one poisonous snake here," he said reluctantly. "But it's a sea snake and quite rare."

"Anything else that could harm it? Or that it'd be afraid of?"

"Well, aposematically colored insects-red and black ones-often sequester unpalatable substances from their host plants, so animals seek to avoid them. But I don't know. If we're basing this assessment on the physiology of mantids, we have to remember mantids have iron digestive systems. They can eat anything-paint, rubber, lighter fluid. In lab, I even saw one eat an insect straight from a cyanide jar."

Rex nodded. "I'd guess we'd need something stronger than snake venom."

"So how would we kill it?" Szabla asked. She glanced down at the spike at her side. "I mean, how'd you take it, Savage?"

Savage told them.

"What's so funny, Szabla?" Cameron asked.

"Nothing. It just figures," she said. "It just figures."

"If there is another," Rex said, "let's hope it's a male. They're smaller, and they tend to be less aggressive. It's too bad they're such a solitary order. If it was a bull seal, we could just round up a bunch of females and it'd come running."

"Could we lure it with bait?" Cameron asked.

Rex grimaced. "Well, we've just figured out why we haven't run across any feral dogs or goats since we arrived. And even though mantids are known for eating prey larger than themselves, I'd guess a cow would be too large. It could kill one, probably, but would have a hard time eating it."

"Sea lions?" Tank asked.

"They've wisely retreated off the island to the tuff cones," Rex said. "Plus we'd have a bitch of a time dragging one up near the forest. I'd say the only reasonably sized prey is us." He smiled. "I volunteer Savage."

"Anything else you can think of?" Cameron asked. "Anything at all?"

"They'll only eat live bait," Savage said. They all looked at him, surprised. "I've seen one eat a deer mouse. Started with the whiskers. Ate its whole face off before it got through to the brain and killed it."

"Imagine that," Justin murmured. "An insect eating a fucking mam-mal."

Cameron looked to Rex, hoping to gauge the accuracy of Savage's story. He nodded. "I once saw one devour a gecko from the tail up. Hard, tireless mastication-combing the flesh, grinding the bones. Took over an hour. The gecko was alive for at least half of it."

Justin was pale. "Let's hope there aren't any more adults."

"Let's keep busy while we're hoping," Cameron said.

"We'll sweep the forest at first light." Derek swayed on his feet, then caught himself.

"Why not now?" Cameron asked.

"You want to go trekking through a predator's natural environment in the dark with bright lights to attract its attention? Use your goddamn head, Cam. We'll wait for first light, then see if there's another adult kicking around."

"If we locate it, are we cleared to kill it?" Szabla asked.

"Yes." Diego started to protest but stopped as soon as Derek held up a hand.

"But none of you are to lay a finger on any of these," Derek contin-ued, walking over to the larva and picking it up. "I'll be keeping him with me tonight. Safely locked in a cruise box. Szabla, since you have so much excess testosterone to burn, you can stand first guard." He disappeared through the flap of his and Cameron's tent.

"We're assuming that there's only one lineage of mantids, but remem-ber that's only an assumption," Rex said. "We have to be observant of the wildlife, see if we notice anything else that appears abnormal." He pressed his fingertips to his closed eyes. "We'll need to keep our eyes peeled for the four remaining larvae as well. Bring them back and keep them under observation."

"How do you know they haven't metamorphosed already?" Justin asked.

Savage raised the spike and pointed to the enormous slumped corpse beside the fire pit. "We'll know soon enough," he said.