Close Encounters (9 page)

“Okay, what’s going on? Why don’t you like the armlets? They’re just jewelry.”

He continued to glare, his gaze shifting from me to the gold bands and back again. Frustration and—I frowned. Worry? Anxiety? Whichever it was, the emotion poured off him in waves.

Puzzled, I tilted my head and studied him. “Max, any theories on why he doesn’t want me wearing the armlets?”

“Nothing statistically valid, Kiera. Maybe he’s picking up a scent on them he doesn’t like. Or maybe he’s simply jealous of the Buri and wants to keep you to himself. He could see the gift as a threat to his ownership.”

“Huh.” I knelt in front of him and took his face in my hands so we were eye to eye. “Listen up, cat. It doesn’t matter if the Buri adopt me. You’re still my family, and nothing is going to change that.”

He stared at me a second longer, his feelings changing to disgust, then flopped to the floor and stretched out, effectively shutting me off.

Once again, I studied an armlet as I returned to my bunk. Not even the zorfa’s ass had ever given me a gift, and we’d been together almost a cycle. That Thor had done so warmed a place deep inside me, even if it was part of some adoption ritual. “Max?”

“Yes, Kiera?”

“What do you think this mother-of-pearl stuff is?”

“It appears to be from the shells of the crustaceans my cameras have picked up at the edge of the lake. I’ve seen hundreds of different colors, but in structure they are similar to clams.”

“And the green stones in the center of the flowers?”

“Quartz. Of good quality, and sliced extremely thin, but in and of itself, not valuable. This planet seems to have an overabundance of it. The gold, however, is of a very high grade. Combined with the workmanship, I’d say they are worth a fortune.”

I let my eyes drift shut. “They aren’t for sale,” I murmured. Letting the images Churka had shown me play through my head, I smiled. Well, I’ll be damned. Thor had a hammer after all. It was my last thought before sleep claimed me.

I
only managed six hours of sleep, but when Max woke me mid-afternoon, I felt rested, refreshed and starved. My stomach rumbled loudly as I climbed out of bed and headed for the food unit. I was determined to visit the Dynatec camp today, but my innards came first.

While my prime rib cooked, I moved to the other end of the hut to dress, pausing as I caught sight of the armlets. I didn’t want anyone on the Dynatec crew to see them, and yet I didn’t want to take them off, either. Long sleeves looked like my best option, in spite of the heat.

It only took a few minutes to don a lightweight syntec khaki jumpsuit, and by then my food was ready. The aroma made my mouth water. In celebration of finishing the DNA studies on the Buri, I allowed myself a glass of wine.

I had been too tired that morning for the implications of the tests to really sink in, but now I could think of little else. I mulled the problem over in my mind as I mopped up the last bite of gravy with a thick slice of fresh bread and popped it into my mouth. “Okay, Max. We’d better talk about this DNA stuff.” I leaned back and picked up my glass, swirling the deep red wine in the bottom of the flute. “The Buri didn’t simply materialize full grown. They had to come from families, from mothers and fathers.”

“You didn’t.”

I scowled. “Not funny. But even if you’re right and they were created in a lab, where are their makers? Where are the geneticists and the labs? Where did the original genetic material come from that made them?” I shook my head. “It wouldn’t make sense to create seventy individuals and then drop them on a planet for no reason, especially with the ratio of males to females being
so
uneven.”

“It’s only one theory.”

“And not a very good one.” I sipped the wine. “Can’t you do better than that?”

“Well, I do have another, but I must warn you, there is insufficient data to prove its validity.”

“Spill it.” I finished the wine, then stood and carried my dishes to the recycler.

“An epidemic.”

I stopped, my head tilted to one side as I considered the possibilities. “It would have to be deadly to wipe out all but seventy Buri. And, since none of our bunch are related to each other, their population would have needed to be fairly high to start with. But we’ve seen no signs of buildings, except the new ones in the Buri village.”

“It’s possible they burned any buildings where deaths occurred, and then the survivors moved to a new location. Over a ten-cycle period, the jungle would have reclaimed the scarred areas, making them impossible to find. And it would also explain the age of the current dwellings.”

“Well, at least that one sounds logical.” I resumed my seat at the table. “But I still think the age of their buildings has a direct correlation to the arrival of Dynatec’s exploration team. Did you mention an anomaly in their physiology this morning, or was I so tired I imagined it?”

“You didn’t imagine it. And that brings me to our third possibility.”

“I’m listening.”

“The Buri may not have originated on Orpheus Two.”

I dropped my forehead to my hands and groaned. “Come on, Max! You said it yourself. These people are low tech. I’ll admit their ability to maintain a culture and a high quality of living indicates a great level of evolution, but they still use spears, for Luna’s sakes. Now you want me to believe they built a spaceship and arrived here from another planet?”

“Hear me out before you dismiss this idea. During my tests on the Buri, it occurred to me that their size and denser bone structure would seem to indicate that they evolved on a planet with a heavier gravity than Orpheus Two. Otherwise, there’s no evolutionary reason for their massive scale. And you mentioned their resemblance to the Ashwani, yourself.”

“Uh-huh. And their spears are really magic wands that allow them to move through space with a single wave.”

“Don’t be facetious,” he reprimanded. “We both know a lack of technology doesn’t mean a race is primitive. Their lifestyle could well be a choice they’ve made for reasons that are unknown to us. Besides, I didn’t mean to imply they landed ten cycles ago. What if a group of Buri arrived on Orpheus Two hundreds of cycles ago, and for some reason couldn’t leave again?”

“You mean like a crash, or a disabled ship?” I dropped my hand to the table and drummed my nails on the surface.

“Then where’s the ship?” But my mind was working at high speed now, and I didn’t wait for an answer.

“Suppose the ship never landed on the planet? The early colonization ships from Old Earth weren’t designed to land. They were too big.” I jumped up and paced the length of the hut, excitement curling in my chest.

“This could be it, Max.” I waved one hand. “Okay, here’s the scenario. The Buri are on a colonization ship from Ashwan. When they’re near the Orpheus system, something goes wrong. People have to flee in rescue pods. At least one pod makes it to Orpheus Two, stranding the survivors. Maybe the colonization ship is pulled into the sun, leaving no trace of its existence. The survivors would have to scavenge the pod they arrived in to make it through the first few cycles, and thus, there’s no pod left to find. And with no technology available, their descendants would be reduced to starting all over again, even if they kept some higher-level skills.”

I stopped pacing and sighed. “But that still doesn’t explain why none of the Buri are related.”

“It might if you combined it with my second theory.”

“The plague one?”

“Yes. It’s common knowledge that simple viruses can become deadly if a race with no immunity is exposed to them. There are even examples in the history of Old Earth. Measles, for instance. The disease was a common childhood ailment among Europeans, and yet it wiped out thousands of Native Americans when the Anglo Saxons first brought it to the Americas. And then there’s the last plague, which wiped out the entire population of Old Earth. Scientists believe it was a mutated form of avian flu.”

“Okay, I see where you’re going with this.” I lifted a hand to rub my temple. “So, the Buri survivors were doing fine. Orpheus Two has everything they needed to live. Food and water are abundant. They reproduce, and eventually reach the stage where they can once again work metal and build adobe dwellings. The population increases. Then, whammo. A little over ten cycles ago, an Orpheus bug grabs them and wipes out ninety-five percent of the race, leaving only seventy Buri to carry on.”

I plunked down heavily on the bench, my legs suddenly weak. “Did you find any common antibodies in their systems?”

“Yes, but there’s no way to determine what the antibodies are fighting. It could be anything.”

“Did the little boy and the fetus have them too?” I held my breath.

“Yes.”

My eyes closed in relief. “The parents are passing the immunity down. The Buri will make it.”

The relief was replaced with anger as the implications hit me. “That means Dynatec is responsible for the Buri that went missing. Max, I want you to transmit this information to your archives immediately, and send the boss a red alert. I want him to see this as soon as possible.”

“Kiera, this is only a theory. We can’t prove its validity.”

“No, and I don’t believe it happened exactly the way we’ve outlined. That would be too easy. But when you take the pieces we
can
prove, parts of the theory start to add up. Especially the part that says the Buri may not be native to Orpheus Two. That’s major, especially if they
are
descended from the Ashwani. And in the event that something happens to us, it will put the next agent Alien Affairs sends ahead of the game.”

“Do you really believe Dynatec would arrange an accident knowing the repercussions of such an event?”

Max, being only two cycles old, is a mere babe in AI terms, and tends to be a bit naïve when it comes to humans. “Take my word for it. Whatever they’ve found is so important they’re willing to kill off an entire race to get their hands on it. They aren’t going to quibble over one agent and her ship.”

“Sending.”

I gave a curt nod. “And while you’re at it, see if the boss can get his hands on the original log from the Dynatec exploration team. The company may not have realized what they had right away. I’d like to see if there are any hints we can pick up from it.”

“Yes, Kiera. Anything else?”

I hesitated. “Is Second Lieutenant Karle at the camp? I’d like to check in with her, see if she’s found anything that might indicate what the company is after on Orpheus Two.”

“No, she left this morning with the mapping team.”

“Okay, I’ll wait until she gets back before I head over there. Where’s Redfield?”

“He went into the jungle several hours ago.”

“Alone?”

“He appeared to be alone at the time he left, but Captain Frisk and the Dorn woman are also missing.”

I checked my weapons. “Point me in the right direction, Max. It’s time I had a little chat with Redfield.”

Crigo had left the hut while I was sleeping, but he hadn’t gone far. He was squeezed under a bush, ears flattened in annoyance as two dragon birds threw sticks and berries at him from just out of reach.

“It’s your own fault,” I told him, as the gorgeous creatures left him to chirp happy greetings in my direction. Every time I walked out the door, there was a contingent waiting for me, usually led by the iridescent green lad. He was getting braver, too, coming closer and closer by the day. “If you’d stop stalking them, they’d leave you alone.”

When I walked to the edge of the clearing, the cat rose and followed. “Okay, Max, which way?”

“If you travel northeast at an eighty degree angle, you should intercept the path he was on.”

“Thanks.”

Junior and Ghost were watching, and as soon as I started off, they fell in beside me. I would have preferred to confront Redfield alone, but the only way to rid myself of my honor guard was to outrun them. Since I didn’t want to get them in trouble by outrunning them, I’d have to put up with the duo and hope they didn’t interfere.

It took the better part of an hour to locate Redfield’s trail, and then another fifteen minutes to find the man himself. It had rained earlier, as it did nearly every day, and the jungle dripped around us in glistening drops of moisture. With every step we made, the scent of rich, damp soil and growing things filled the air.

There was so much life, I didn’t know where to look first. In one tree, I spotted a creature that looked like a long-legged, long-tailed koala bear. It watched us pass with unblinking dark eyes that were nearly buried in the folds of fat around its face.

Another time, we disturbed a catlike animal half Crigo’s size, with long, shaggy fur in shades of light tan, black and white that made it resemble a large dust mop. It hissed at us when Ghost stepped in front of me and raised his spear, then turned and fled into the brush.

Crigo watched it with interest, then thoroughly sniffed the area where it had lain, his lips curling back from his teeth as he inhaled. Without a glance in my direction, he bounded into the jungle to give chase.

Great. All I needed was a bunch of half-breed rock cats running loose on Orpheus Two. Nothing like screwing up the ecology in a big way. On the other hand, I didn’t want to wrestle with a hot and bothered rock cat either, so Orpheus Two would simply have to make room for a potential new species.

We weren’t making any effort to move silently, so Redfield had plenty of warning that he had company. I spotted him through the trees, facing us, a knapsack at his feet. My gaze dropped to the hand resting on the butt of his laser.

“Expecting trouble, Redfield?”

His glance shifted from Ghost to Junior before he swung his upper body to nervously to scan the surrounding jungle.

“It pays to stay prepared for anything on this planet. Make them stay back.”

“Sorry, I don’t speak their language. But I do know they won’t hurt you unless you threaten them. If I were you, I’d take my hand off that laser.”

Behind Redfield, the bushes rattled and another Buri stepped into view. This one had dark auburn hair, and he looked as tense and ready as my escorts.

Redfield hesitated, then slowly removed his hand from the laser, his gaze going again to an area off to our right, and I picked up a feeling of tense awareness from him, like he knew something I didn’t. “What do you want, Smith?”

I smiled. “Want? Nothing in particular. I was out for a stroll and ran across your trail. Thought I’d be sociable, since we’re the only GEPs around.” I lowered my shields further, and was almost bowled over by the frustration he generated. He wanted desperately to talk with me, but something was stopping him, and until I knew what it was, I couldn’t risk saying anything.

“Beautiful day, isn’t it?” I moved closer and gestured at the knapsack. “What are you collecting?”

“Botanical specimens.” He relaxed just the tiniest bit and gave me a “wait until later” signal.

Surprised, I dipped my head in an almost imperceptible nod. “Find anything interesting?”

Again, he hesitated, then shrugged. “Yes, I did.” He pointed to the plant near his foot. “Take a look at this.”

I leaned down and studied the flowers he’d indicated. They were about the size of a large orchid, as inky black as Thor’s hair, and shaped like a trumpet. A cloyingly sweet aroma rose from the petals. Redfield stopped me before I could touch them.

“You don’t want to do that. They’re carnivorous.”

I yanked my hand back. They couldn’t have hurt me, but Redfield didn’t know that. He had no idea I’d been created by a monster. Besides, reflexes are reflexes, even when you’re less prone to injury than the average GEP, and my reaction was spontaneous. “Really?”

“Watch.” He removed a probe from his pocket, squatted, and lightly touched the edge of a petal. Instantly, the filaments I had taken for stamens snapped out, grabbed the metal probe, and tried to pull it down into the flower.

Gently, he disentangled the probe, then stood and pulled out a square of gauze. He used it to wipe down the probe, and then held the material out for me to see. Small bubbles boiled on the surface, and the threads parted, eaten away by the liquid.