The Exodus Towers #2

Tania leaned against the wall of the steel room, next to the tourist map of Belém. She had her head down against her chest, her arms folded across her stomach, and one leg tucked up behind her.

For a second Skyler thought she slept there, on her feet, but when the door closed behind Karl, Tania said. “They’re here, Zane.”

Skyler looked to the sat-comm unit on the table. On the screen were the faces of Zane and Tim, and Skyler felt as if he’d not seen them in months. It had been weeks, in truth. Both the older man and the younger looked tired.

“Good morning, gentlemen,” Zane said. “Tania has filled us in.”

Tim leaned in toward the camera. “Thanks for the supply delivery, by the way. It’ll buy a bit of time, at least.”

“More will be on the way soon,” Tania said. She hadn’t budged from her place against the wall, and hadn’t looked up at Skyler, either.

Christ, I should have kept my damned mouth shut. Skyler had an urge to cross the room and take her hands in his, tell her not to blame herself. But deep down he wasn’t sure he’d mean it. What good was a lie to comfort a liar?

With the thought came a deep and twisted stab of guilt, as if he’d wronged her instead of the other way around.

“Tania says you found something in the rainforest?” Zane prompted.

“I did,” Skyler replied, grateful for the shift in focus. He crossed to the map, aware of Tania as she moved a few steps away, presumably to give him space. At least, the others would think that. “Here,” he said, drawing a circle on the laminated chart with a dry-erase pen. “If I had to guess, I’d say it’s one of the pieces Tania saw approaching with the shell ship above us.”

“There were five, right?” Tim asked.

“Five that I could see,” Tania said.

Skyler tapped the circle he’d drawn. “It carved a long, shallow tunnel when it landed, and sits half-submerged at the far end. There were, well, a number of subhumans surrounding the area. Humming some kind of chant.”

“Singing,” Karl muttered. “A chorus.”

“Half-submerged?” Tania asked. Her gaze fell on the map now, her sulking mood forgotten with the news of a discovery. “So you entered the tunnel?”

Skyler nodded. “What I saw in there has given me nightmares since,” he told them all. The silence that followed was absolute. “The side of the vehicle has a hole in it, or some kind of door. Point being, it’s open. The whole place is shrouded in some kind of haze, but I managed to get close enough to see inside.”

“What was in there?” Karl asked, his voice a gruff whisper.

“A subhuman. Kneeling in front of some kind of … altar, I guess. Hexagonal in shape, and lit from within in red.”

“Red?” Tim asked. “The tower groups that left last night were lit as well, we’re told. Was the color the same?”

“The same as one group,” Skyler said. “Each group had a different coloration, but the red group went to this place, from what we can see.”

“Four groups,” Tania said, almost to herself. “I saw five ships, but only four groups of towers departed. Maybe they’re not connected?”

“Or maybe one ship didn’t make it to the surface,” Tim said, his excitement palpable.

Zane put a hand on the youngster’s shoulder to quiet him. “What do you mean, the subhuman was kneeling?”

“On its knees,” Skyler answered. He held up a hand before anyone balked at his sarcasm. “On its knees, with its hands outstretched. Grasping that hexagon thing with both hands.”

“Weird,” Karl said.

“There’s more. The subhuman was being coated with some kind of …” He inwardly recalled the scene, as he searched for the right words. “Some kind of armor, or second skin. I can’t explain. All I can tell you is, the subhuman was already half-covered when I found it, and when it turned to me …” He shivered.

Tania asked the question. “What did you see?”

Skyler looked at each of them in turn. “That red laser light, coming from within. Where eyes should have been.” Even describing it made him shudder. The creature had only looked at him, and yet it filled him with more dread than any subhuman encounter he’d had before.

“Do you think it was—”

Skyler held up a hand. “I’m not going to speculate; it’d be a waste of our time. My advice? We go out there, in force, and make a judgment based on what we find. Maybe get those towers back so the camp can keep progressing.”

No one spoke.

“It’s been almost a week since I saw the damn thing,” Skyler added. “The only rampant speculation I’ll make is that there may be more of them, these transformed subs, and now aura towers have moved into the area as well. What that means is anyone’s guess. My gut tells me the longer we wait the harder it will be to do anything about it.”

“No,” Tim said. “Not necessarily. If we wait a month maybe the towers will run out of power, or these beings will die off, or leave. There’s no way you can know—”

“Right,” Skyler said. “That’s the reaction I expected. Let me know when you’ve all finished debating.” He turned for the door.

“Wait,” Tania said.

When he stopped, she moved to the map and studied the spot he’d marked, as if it allowed her to see the place. “Skyler’s right. Karl, open the gun locker, and put out a call for volunteers. As many as want to go and that we have environment suits for. We’ll bring one tower. I don’t want to risk more than that.”

Karl’s eyes darted between her, Skyler, and the screen. “You sure?”

Tania nodded once, her mouth a hard, thin line. Skyler guessed she was anything but close to sure, but he wasn’t going to argue. He couldn’t help but wonder, though, if her unilateral action was really a peace offering to him. Either way, it signaled a change in her, a flash of decisive leadership, and he’d take it.

“Okay then,” Karl said.



Elias approached Skyler as he cleaned his sidearm. Skyler greeted the man with a friendly wave, and in answer the immune only managed a slight smile.

“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” Skyler asked, setting the weapon aside.

“It’s that obvious?”

The man offered his left hand to shake, the right being in a spray-on cast, and Skyler clasped it. “Thanks for your help,” he said. “I’m sorry about Davi and Wilson.”

Elias kicked the dirt around his feet. “You rescued us; it’s you who deserves thanks.” He spoke so softly Skyler had to lean in to hear the words. “All this fighting, it’s not in me.…”

“I understand,” Skyler said. He gripped the man’s shoulder. “Where will you go?”

Elias ran a hand across his scalp, smoothing strands of hair across the bald space. “Home,” he replied. “It may seem stupid, but I wish to bury my family, to live somewhere I had happy memories.”

“Not stupid,” Skyler said. “I wish you well. You’re welcome back here any time.”

He lingered. “I wondered if I might take one of Gabriel’s trucks. It’s a long way.”

Skyler winced, internally. Only four of the vehicles remained in functional shape. And though the colony now had nine motor homes, and an entire city to pick through for more, Gabriel’s leftovers were armored, fast, and known to be reliable.

Elias sensed the hesitation. “A motorcycle would be better on these roads, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

At that Skyler grinned. “Actually, a bike I can help you with. Fully charged, even.” Skyler provided him with a description of where he’d left it.

The quiet man thanked him again and wandered off. Skyler finished strapping on his gear and walked across camp toward the tower yard.

He took a route that brought him near the black vehicles Gabriel’s people had left behind. Without a word, the other immunes fell in with him, as if they had some silent agreement. Ana, Vanessa, and Pablo were all decked out in scavenged combat gear, and Skyler couldn’t help but feel a rush of pride.

Not a word passed between them. Skyler walked on, with the three immunes on either side of him. Everyone they passed stopped their work to wave, or simply stare. We must look like quite the badasses, Skyler thought. He fought to keep a smile off his lips. People had died here, less than a week ago. Many of the colonists had lost friends, or even loved ones. And then there was Ana.…

She walked in lockstep with Skyler, at his right. Her face and posture exuded grim determination, as if the prospect of more combat could keep her brother’s death from her mind. Maybe it could. Skyler feared the loss might only continue to increase her reckless behavior. For the immediate future, he thought the best place for her was right next to him.

Twenty people had gathered by the tower yard, looking every bit the ragtag posse they were. About half of them wore environment suits, but Tania he saw had opted for plain clothes. It surprised him that she’d eschew the extra protection of the suit, and he wondered if it was just a show of solidarity for the rest of those going without. More surprising was the handgun she wore in a shoulder holster. He resisted the urge to ask her where she’d gotten it, or when she’d learned to fire it.

The mood of the crowd changed, flickers of hope or concern, perhaps both, as he strode up with his three armed-and-outfitted immune friends in tow.

A large water pail sat in the dirt near the group. Skyler flipped it over with one foot, then stood on top of it.

“You’ve all heard by now, I’m sure,” he said. “We’ve seen scant few subhumans since arriving, and now we may know why. I found something in the forest, past the reservoir. A crashed Builder ship, we think. And it seems to have drawn the creatures to it. It’s tempting to just let them be, but with a good portion of our missing towers now there, we need to go find out what we’re dealing with. If possible, we’ll bring those towers back.”

Grim faces stared at him. Grim, tired, and yet amazingly determined.

“The camp’s success depends on it,” Tania added.

Skyler went on. “Form two groups. Those with suits in one, the rest with the tower. These people with me are immunes, former captives of Gabriel. Some of you may have met them over the last few days. They’ll be with me, scouting ahead, roving between groups as needed.”

Some in the group offered waves and nods to the newcomers.

“Bring a little food, but don’t go overboard. We’ll have to come back by evening since the suits are air-limited.”

He gave them all a long, deliberate look. “Remember, subhumans or not, the rainforest has plenty of dangers. Snakes, jaguars, and so on. Keep alert, and keep quiet when possible. We’ll leave in five minutes.”

A few of the volunteers darted off toward their tents, presumably to fetch more supplies. The rest shuffled into two groups, one designating members to handle the movement of the aura tower.

Exactly five minutes later, Skyler turned and began their march. The rest of Camp Exodus came out to watch, forming lines along either side of their path. Some offered words of encouragement, but most were silent. They simply stared, their expressions a blend of gravity and hope.
Belém, Brazil

7.MAY.2283

AT THE EDGE of the unnatural cloud, Vanessa nudged Skyler and pointed off to their right.

Half-obscured by the dense haze, amid a ghostly forest canopy, an aura tower loomed. He saw the traces of red light first, washing across the grooves on its surface as if a flame burned within the huge black object.

The tower had come to rest right at the point where the cloud became unnaturally thick.

Skyler called a halt.

He glanced left, but if another of the red towers sat in that direction, he could not see it through the haze or the dense forest.

By now the strange droning hum of subhumans had become a constant background noise. The creatures, however, remained obscured within the mist. Skyler reminded himself that most of the members of their party had never seen one of the creatures up close, much less fought one. The visibility within the cloud would only make things worse.

He called the leaders of the two ad hoc “squads” into a tight circle, urging the rest of the colonists to spread out a bit and stay alert. Tania joined, too, as did Ana.

Skyler leaned and spoke in a hushed voice. “If everyone goes in, and we’re attacked, we’ll end up shooting each other as much as the subs. Worse, people will lose their sense of direction.”

Everyone nodded.

“I think,” he went on, “we should form a wedge here. We immunes will go in and try to draw them back out. No one shoots until we’re behind the line. Understood?”

“What do we do with our tower?” one of the group leaders asked.

Skyler peered over their heads and did a quick survey of the ground around them. The wayward red-lit towers had carved a path through the rainforest, uprooting small rubber trees and monstrous kapoks alike. Some were just scattered splinters now, as if exploded from within. At least our path home is obvious to everyone. But as the towers neared the crashed ship they’d spread out and formed what appeared to be a circle around it, leaving patches of thick forest between their divergent paths.

He pointed where two large trees stood to either side of the forged path the group now stood on. Both trees were tucked within the embrace of strangler figs and together looked like two pillars guarding the entrance to the area. “Keep the tower between those trees,” he said. That would put it sixty meters or so away, he guessed, leaving plenty of room for the colonists to work within the aura it provided, without having the tower too close to the action. The last thing he wanted was to spark another defensive system, as the poorly aimed rocket had done the previous night. “Those not in environment suits will form a second firing line between here and there, in case the rest of us need to retreat. If we’re overwhelmed, anyone who can should rally at the tower.”

That last brought a pang of fear to the face of the suited squad leader, an expression the man quickly tried to hide. The other seemed content with the plan. For Tania’s part she still wore a mask of determination and cold confidence, a face she’d maintained throughout the entire march. If Skyler hadn’t seen how she handled herself in Hawaii, he might have questioned her comfort level. Once again he eyed the gun strapped under her arm. This time he arched an eyebrow at her. She simply returned the expression, questioning the fact that he would question her.

He let it go. “Have your people fan out, take what cover they can, and when everyone’s in position we will go in.”

Both squad leaders nodded. Tania did as well.

“Right, then,” Skyler said. “Ana, Vanessa, Pablo … with me.”

A breeze picked up and stirred the silent army of trees around them into a swishing morass. The haze that blanketed the crash site shifted with the change in wind, pushed into the colonists’ positions. With a wave from Skyler, the two groups moved back a few more meters and hunkered down again.

Skyler crept ahead into the cloud and crouched, gripping his gun lightly with both hands. Ana fell in beside him without a word, and a few meters to his right, Vanessa and Pablo paired up as well.

In no time the thick haze enveloped them. A glance back provided no evidence at all that the colonists waited just ten meters away. Soon Vanessa and Pablo became ghostly shapes at his right, and Skyler made a point to move closer lest they get separated.

At the point where the humming sound only came from the left and right, rather than ahead, Skyler called a halt with a subtle tick-tick sound. He pulled Ana gently by the sleeve until they were next to the other pair, and whispered to all of them.

“They’re on either side of us now. I suggest we halt here, and go that way.” He motioned in a line perpendicular to the direction they’d been going. “First sub we run into, we put it down and then retreat back to the others, and see how many follow.”

Pablo’s brow furrowed. “Suppose we find none, or go a long way. Everything looks the same in here.”

“If we keep the compass needle—”

A low, guttural sound killed the words in his mouth. It came from his left, behind Ana.

The girl reacted with incredible speed. She whipped around and brought her rifle up in one motion, a split second before a bony, filthy subhuman emerged from the swirling mist. It dove toward Ana, outstretched hands so dirty that for one terrible heartbeat Skyler thought they were coated in that black armor.

Ana fired two rounds. One missed. The second went through the throat of the creature, which clutched at its neck even as it crashed into the young girl.

Ana sidestepped, shouldering the sub off her and turning all at once. The being fell to the ground and lay there writhing.

Skyler had only just begun to raise his weapon when Pablo shouted. Another subhuman appeared in the cloud, from the opposite direction. Pablo squeezed a fully automatic burst, his gun chattering as bullets peppered the creature and the ground around it. At the same instant, Ana put a second round into the brain of the one that lay at their feet.

Vanessa began to shoot, though at what, Skyler couldn’t see. He felt trapped between two fights. Another shadow emerged from the mist, again by Ana. Then a second appeared just behind it, loping on all fours. The young woman fired in rapid succession, trying to divide her attack between the two. It served only to make her miss both.

Skyler found his wits then. He whipped his gun up to his shoulder and felt it slap against his collarbone as brief plumes of fire erupted from the barrel. His salvo took down the first creature while Ana managed to wing the second just before it reached her. The sub collapsed as one leg went useless beneath it. Skyler put a round in its back before it hit the ground.

Pablo’s gun barked in successive attacks. Vanessa hissed curses in Portuguese as she did the same.

“To the line!” Skyler shouted. “Back to the line, now!”

He gripped Ana by the shoulder and pulled her, but the girl twisted and wrenched free. She dropped to a knee and raised her weapon again, ready for the next assault.

Not this time, Skyler thought. He gripped her combat vest by the collar and yanked, hard. The girl scampered back to keep from falling over, a grunt of surprise escaping her lips.

Another subhuman appeared, just a vague shape in the cloud. Skyler fired one-handed and the shape retreated. Unsure if he’d hit it or not, Skyler flipped his gun from semi to full automatic. As he marched backward, pulling Ana with one hand, he pulled the trigger of his gun and held it down. He swept the barrel across the cloud, in the direction the subs had come from, at chest level.

Pablo picked up on the tactic and did the same on his side. Vanessa moved backward in a crouch, firing sporadically at phantom shapes when they emerged.

With a click, Skyler’s gun ran empty. Eighty rounds in less than five seconds. Pablo’s followed a heartbeat later. By then Ana had relented and moved backward on her own, firing as Vanessa did.

“Run,” Skyler urged, when he heard Vanessa’s clip deplete.

He turned toward the direction in which they’d come, and sprinted. Part of him became aware that the surreal humming sound had stopped. What replaced it gave him an odd sense of reassurance. Subhuman grunts and growls. Shrieks and snarls, from behind. That was normal. That he could fight.

Vanessa sped past him, a natural sprinter, Skyler noted. Pablo struggled to keep up, a few paces behind his left shoulder. Ana …

Skyler glanced over his right shoulder. Ana’s vague shape receded behind him, and he slowed. Her gun still clattered off rounds in bursts of two. “Ana, dammit! To the line!”

She began to move backward in modest steps. Skyler couldn’t see the creatures she fired upon, but her gun moved in quick arcs, stopped, fired, then moved again. He had taken a step toward her, intent to force her to retreat, when her clip finally emptied.

She turned and ran then, and Skyler thought he saw the hint of a smile on her lips. She’s addicted to danger, he thought.

Shapes formed behind her. Skyler drew his handgun from his hip, aimed, and fired. Pat, pat, pat, pat. The Sonton pistol rattled off bullets with mechanical ease. Ana reached him and together they sprinted for the waiting wedge of colonists. Skyler could hear snarls behind him. Snorts and even the whimpers of wounded and fallen subs.

“We’re coming!” he shouted ahead, though he couldn’t see the others yet. “Get ready!”

He burst through the edge of the cloud three steps later, Ana right beside him. Twenty guns pointed straight at them. Forty terrified eyes. Skyler ran straight for the middle, where Pablo and Vanessa had taken cover. He dove past them, into the dirt.

All hell broke loose.

Twenty guns of every shape and caliber thundered to life as the filthy creatures sped out of the cloud and into the trap.

The noise was deafening. Skyler rolled in the dirt, came to a knee. His pistol went back into its holster, and he yanked a fresh clip for his rifle from the bandolier built into his vest.

The roar of weapons firing in concert blotted out all other sound. The barrage was so intense and effective, it bordered on ridiculous. Even still, Skyler jumped back to the line and added his own weapon to the mix. To his right he caught a glimpse of Tania, standing behind two crouched men, her pistol raised in outstretched hands as if she’d learned how to shoot from a sensory thriller, which was probably near the truth. She fired with careful, deliberate aim. He wondered if she’d hit anything, how she’d react if she did, but then he realized that wasn’t the point. She was doing her part and earning respect, he realized, nothing more.

Subhumans streamed from the cloud, only to fall a step later. Some collapsed dead, shot in multiple places. Others simply tripped over their own slain comrades and flailed on the ground as they tried to get up. Bullet holes erupted across their bodies until they lay still.

More came. They seemed to never end, and Skyler started to hear colonists on the line reloading. “Conserve ammo!” he barked, doubting anyone could hear him. He could barely hear himself.

And then, as quickly as it had begun, the flow of enemies trickled and stopped. The forest went silent, save for the few colonists who had the wits to reload in the lull. The carnage before their wedge was absolute. Skyler guessed at least forty in the dirt and leaves before them. Someone off to the left hacked, then vomited, a horrible sound to hear coming from within an environment suit. The colonist backed away from the line and sought help from the backup squad to get his helmet off. Another person on the front line, somewhere right of Skyler, let out a laugh born of adrenaline and fear.

“We did it!” someone shouted.

Others began to cheer, to congratulate one another.

“Shut up,” Skyler hissed. “Keep quiet!”

They weren’t listening, though. People began to high-five, to hug.

Idiots!

The black-clad subhuman slipped out of the cloud like a ghost. It made no sound at all, and moved with a cold ruthlessness that chilled Skyler to the bone.

The armored creature was among the colonists before they even realized it. It swiped at the nearest person with a flat hand, the speed of the attack a blur. Skyler saw the poor man’s suit and neck tear open, as if sliced by a knife. The man fell dead, the creature already on its next victim.

Someone screamed. Skyler heard a gunshot and he cried out for restraint. The black-clad sub was in their midst, and shooting at it would only put their own people at risk. His call went unheeded, though. People panicked, firing wildly. All the while the dark enemy slashed and punched. In the space of a second, three more colonists fell.

A bullet finally found the enemy. Skyler saw a spark fly from the being’s chest as the round ricocheted off. No penetration then, but the subhuman did recoil, almost fell. It seemed surprised, and Skyler saw its “eyes” flare with red light. In that moment of respite, the colonists closest to the creature, the ones still alive, leapt or crawled away in terror. They retreated toward the tower, and he felt a pang of relief to see Tania moving with them.

Other colonists sensed the opening and began to barrage the creature. Skyler joined in, and the monster bucked and shrank under the fire. Then it turned and raced back into the cloud.

It’s vulnerable, Skyler found himself thinking.

Another scream arose from the crowd of colonists, a shriek of terror that stopped as abruptly as it started. The noise came from the left, and Skyler spun in that direction in time to see one of the colonists topple over and a black shape recede into the cloud.

“More than one!” Pablo shouted. He fired blind into the cloud where the subhuman had vanished. Others did the same.

Two, at least, Skyler thought. And they’re using the cloud for cover now. “They’ll pick us to pieces!” he yelled over the sporadic crackle of gunfire. “Retreat to the tower, away from the cloud!”

Everyone, even Ana, fell back at the command. Many turned and ran, but some walked backward, their weapons still trained on the edge of the unnatural cloud, Skyler among them.

Five people remained at their original positions, motionless lumps in the dirt.

A new wedge formed, and Skyler fell into line next to Tania. Her face was pale despite her dark complexion. Her eyes were wide and unblinking. She held the pistol in two shaking hands.

For a long minute no one spoke. All guns were trained on the shrouded forest, and the bodies that lay in the shifting border of the cloud. Parakeets and macaws began to settle back into the dense canopy above, chattering as if nothing had happened.

The cloud shifted and pulsed. It pulled in and then pushed back out, with no rhythm that Skyler could discern. At one point, the thick haze sucked inward a significant distance, enough to reveal the shadowy forms of two more red-lit aura towers off to either side of the first one they’d spotted.

Skyler heard murmurs of fear from the group, and focused back on the scene of the battle. In the retreated haze, two humanoid forms stood. Dark shadows within the cloud, like blurred photographs. Skyler’s finger tensed on the trigger of his gun by pure instinct, but before he could shoot—before anyone could—the cloud pulsed outward again, and the beings were gone.

“They’re staying close to that murk,” Vanessa said.

Skyler raised his own voice. “Everyone reload, prepare to concentrate fire.” He had started to double-check his own weapon, when Tania spoke up.

“No,” she said. “Belay that.”

He turned his head slowly until their eyes met. “What?”

Tania’s wide-eyed gaze remained on the cloud where the two creatures had stood. “It isn’t wise to continue this.”

“We’re hurting them,” he said. “We should press the attack.”

Tania’s lips tightened. She shook her head. “We leave, Skyler,” she said sharply. “We’re outmatched by these creatures, physically and tactically. We need to rethink this. A better plan.”

With a shift in the breeze the cloud receded again. The two dark shapes at the cloud’s edge remained there, unmoving, watching. Waiting, Skyler thought. He had to remind himself that inside they were subhumans. Unless the Builders’ altar had rewired their brains somehow, the creatures would still move and act in primal, predictable fashion. Not that he’d ever seen subhumans just stand around like this, biding their time. But if these two were constrained to the area of the cloud …

“Everyone stand down,” he said. A silence fell over the colonists. Then Skyler raised his gun.

“What are you doing?” Tania asked.

In answer, Skyler lined up his holo-sight on the chest of one enemy and fired a single round.

The creature stumbled backward a step, one arm flailing about for balance. The other sub dropped to a crouch, moved left a step, then right. When the one Skyler had shot recovered, both of the augmented subhumans moved back farther into the cloud until their forms vanished.

If that had been a grenade, Skyler thought, eyeing Ana’s weapon. We can beat them.

“They’re stuck in the circle,” someone said. “Just like us in the aura.”

“Leave them alone, then,” Tania said. “Skyler, this is too risky. I won’t have it.”

Skyler walked to her and leaned in close. He lowered his voice. “We can’t ignore this place forever, not if you want to explore that ship. Not if you want those towers back.”

She remained steadfast. “For almost three months we’ve ignored it. A little more time to develop a plan and revise our arsenal can’t hurt. The colony can survive without the towers.”

“Can I speak with you?” Skyler asked her.

He led her by the arm a short distance, until they stood by the aura tower parked at the rally point. Once the colonists were out of earshot, Skyler stopped and turned Tania to face him.

“The violence here,” he said, “it’s unspeakable, I know. But Tania, if we wait it will only be worse. We should press the attack, now, before more of these advanced subhumans are created.”

She shook her head.

Skyler went on, undeterred. “You saw it recoil from that bullet. They’re not invincible. Plus they’re trapped. Ana has grenades, we can dart in, dart out—”

“No,” Tania said. “No. This site is off-limits for now. We need a better approach. To continue now would only result in more losses on our side. The dead from your battle with Gabriel are still being mourned.”

“My battle with Gabriel?”

Her eyes flared. “You initiated the combat. We were coming down to negotiate.”

“Right. By sacrificing me. Never mind that your sneak-attack aircraft had already failed.”

“So your life is worth more than those who died that night?”

He barked a laugh. “You tell me! You’re the one dealing in human f*cking resources.”

Tania slapped him across the cheek. Not hard, but enough that it stung. Her hand immediately shot to cover her own mouth, as if she’d surprised even herself by the action. “I’m sorry,” she said in a meek voice from behind her cupped hand.

“Hell,” Skyler said as he rubbed at his jaw. “I probably deserved it.”

The scientist steadied herself. A vein in her neck pulsed with anger, frustration. “We’ve been through this already, Skyler, and I apologized. I don’t know what else to do.”

“Just forget it,” he said. “It’s in the past.”

Tania’s lips parted, as if she wanted to say something more, but she relented.

A frosty silence followed, and Skyler decided he’d lost this battle. “Retreat it is, then. Do me a favor, though? Monitor this place. When we do come back, and we will, I’d like to know the situation before we arrive.”

Tania turned back toward the cloud with a grudging nod to Skyler. “If you want to find the equipment to signal back to camp, set it up, and maintain it, I’ll make sure we have people keeping an eye on it.”

Skyler sensed she wouldn’t give any more ground than that, but he pressed his luck anyway. “I’d recommend clearing the trees around here, too.”

“Why? The creatures don’t seem to be moving beyond the circle of towers.”

“Maybe they just haven’t figured out how to move the red towers yet.”

Tania’s gaze whipped back toward the cloud. She hadn’t considered that.

“Anyway,” Skyler went on, “I’m less worried about the ones inside, and more worried about new subhumans entering this place. If the ship in there is slowly converting them into these augmented versions …”

“… and there’s a steady supply,” Tania whispered, “we may never break through to explore that ship.”

“Exactly,” Skyler said. “One way or another, Tania, it’s going to be a battle. You’re just delaying the inevitable.”

Tania stared at him, looking every bit the woman he’d fled Hawaii with. A mix of terror and determination, like two warring armies behind her eyes. “I just … I can’t, Skyler. Not so soon. We’ve lost so many already.”

He stared back at her for a long moment, hoping she might swing in her opinion. The idea of taking on the creatures within that haze didn’t appeal to him much, in truth, but he knew the odds might never be better. When Tania’s expression remained steadfast, he gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Fine,” he said. “We retreat. Do me one last favor, though.”

She squinted at him, waiting.

“Get Karl to show you how to handle that gun.”
Belém, Brazil

8.MAY.2283

THE MISSING AIRCRAFT was found the next day.

A team of scientists came across it while making the trek along Water Road out to the reservoir, and within an hour Skyler arrived to survey the scene.

Bodies littered the ground, each hidden under a blanket of flies. Clouds of the plump black insects took flight when he swung his rifle at them, only to return before he’d completed the swing.

Rivers of ants flowed in from the rainforest floor, their targets being the undersides of the corpses where the flies could not reach.

The revolting smell forced Skyler to tie a bandanna around his face, and even that did little to quell the nausea he felt. Belém, like all cities on Earth save Darwin, was littered with the skeletons of early SUBS victims, so many that the sight of them hardly registered anymore. Rotten flesh was a different matter.

He decided the bodies could wait. They weren’t going anywhere; at least the bones weren’t. The aircraft that rested nearby was much more interesting. As he walked toward it, he felt his right hand twitch at the thought of holding a flight stick again.

Any hope of getting the vehicle airborne vanished as he came closer. A massive hole had been punched into the canopy. “Bird strike?” he wondered aloud. The cause didn’t make any difference—no one alive had the knowledge or equipment to repair such a thing. No one he knew of, anyway.

The rear of the craft lay open, and his boots crunched on an unnoticed line of ants as he ascended into the belly of the vehicle. Skyler knew then that more horror awaited inside. He soldiered on, intent to know what had happened here, and found his answers within the cockpit.

No bird had punctured the window. He found the pilot lying on the floor between the two seats. Ants flowed into his open mouth, which gaped far wider than any human could achieve. Something had pulled the poor man’s jaw open so savagely that the bottom portion had come unhinged.

Skyler gagged, and stumbled from the morbid scene. Outside he emptied his stomach into the dirt and staggered away.

“Only those black-clad subs could have done this,” he told Tania and Karl via radio.

“So they aren’t confined to that cloud,” Karl noted.

Skyler took a swig of cool water from his canteen, swished, and spat it out. “They certainly appeared to be yesterday.”

“Perhaps,” Tania said, “the red towers are what confines them, not the cloud. This attack happened a week ago, before the towers lit up and encircled the cloud.”

“Good point,” Skyler said. “Still, all the more reason to make sure that cloud is monitored twenty-four/seven.”

“Agreed,” Karl said.

Skyler said goodbye and clicked off. He ventured back into the aircraft once, decided nothing within was valuable enough to keep him there, and left. He paused only long enough to close the rear door. Outside, he instructed the scientists who’d found the site to burn the bodies that littered the ground, then return the next day and recover any weapons left behind by the flames. “The guns won’t be reliable,” Skyler told them, “so toss the lot in the river. I’d rather nobody picked one up and tried to use it only to have it fail when actually needed.”