What had this trailer been built to study?
Set in the wall was a small bookshelf, the books held in place with a Velcro strap. She scanned the titles: Modeling Adaptive Biological Systems, Vertebrate Behavioral Dynamics, Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems, Dinosaurs of North America, Preadaptation and Evolution…It seemed like a strange set of books to take on a wilderness expedition; if there was a logic behind it, she didn't see it.
She moved on. At intervals along the walls, she could see where the trailer had been strengthened; dark carbon-honeycomb strips ran up the walls. She had overheard Thorne saying it was the same material used in supersonic let fighters. Very light and very strong. And she noticed that all the windows had been replaced with that special glass with fine wire mesh inside it.
Why was the trailer so strong?
It made her a little uneasy, when she thought about it. She remembered the telephone call with Dr. Levine, earlier in the day. He had said he was surrounded.
Surrounded by what?
He had said: I can smell them, especially at night.
What was he referring to?
Who was them?
Still uneasy, Kelly moved toward the back of the trailer, where there was a homey little living area, complete with gingham curtains on the windows. Compact kitchen, a toilet, and four beds. Storage compartments above and below the beds. There was even a little walk-in shower. It was nice.
From there, she went through the accordion pleating that connected the two trailers. It was a little bit like the connection between two railway cars, a short transitional passage. She emerged inside the second trailer, which seemed to be mostly utility storage: extra tires, spare parts, more lab equipment, shelves and cabinets. All the extra supplies that meant an expedition to some far-off place. There was even a motorcycle hanging off the back of the trailer. She tried some of the cabinets, but they were locked.
But even here there were extra reinforcing strips as well. This section had also been built especially strong.
Why? she wondered. Why so strong?
"Look at this," Arby said, standing before a wall unit. It was a complex of glowing LED displays and lots of buttons, and looked to Kelly like a complicated thermostat.
"What does it do?" Kelly said.
"Monitors the whole trailer," he said. "You can do everything from here. All the systems, all the equipment. And look, there's TV…" He pushed a button, and a monitor glowed to life. It showed Eddie walking toward them, across the floor.
"And, hey, what's this?" Arby said. At the bottom of the display was a button with a securitv cover. He flipped the cover open. The button was silver and said DEF.
"Hey, I bet this is that bear defense he was talking about."
A moment later, Eddie opened the trailer door and said, "You better stop that, you'll drain the batteries. Come on, now. You heard what the doc said. Time for you kids to go home."
Kelly and Arby exchanged glances.
"Okay," Kelly said. "We're going."
Reluctantly, they left the trailer.
They walked across the shed to Thorne's office to say goodbye. Arby said, "I wish he'd let us go."
"Me, too."
"I don't want to stay home for break," he said. "They're just going to be working all the time." He meant his parents.
"I know."
Kelly didn't want to go home, either. This idea of a field test during spring break was perfect for her, because it got her out of the house, and out of a bad situation. Her mother did data entry in an insurance company during the day, and at night she worked as a waitress at Denny's. So her mom was always busy at her jobs, and her latest boyfriend, Phil, tended to hang around the house a lot at night. It had been okay when Emily was there, too, but now Emily was studying nursing at the community college, so Kelly was alone in the house. And Phil was sort of creepy. But her mother liked Phil, so she never wanted to hear Kelly say anything bad about him. She just told Kelly to grow up.
So now Kelly went to Thorne's office, hoping against hope that at the last minute he would relent. He was on the phone, his back to them. On the screen of his computer, they saw one of the satellite images they had taken from Levine's apartment. Thorne was zooming in on the image, successive magnifications. They knocked on the door, opened it a little.
"Bye, Dr. Thorne."
"See you, Dr. Thorne."
Thorne turned, holding the phone to his ear. "Bye, kids." He gave a brief wave.
Kelly hesitated. "Listen, could we just talk to you for a minute about - "
Thorne shook his head. "No."
"But - "
"No, Kelly. I've got to place this call now," he said. "It's already four a,m. in Africa, and in a little while she'll go to sleep."
"Who?"
"Sarah Harding."