The cold air of high altitude roared past the dropship and sounded animalistic in Nick's ears. The vessel rocked in the turbulence, bouncing him against his harness. Eventually he started a contact and spoke into his headset. "Carrots. We just set off. What's the situation?"

"Bloodwork came back clean for all three of us. Minerva was right. So long as it's dormant, it can't be transmitted."

"How's our patient doing?"

"He's fine. Scared, but I gave him some medication to keep his stress levels down."

"You got pills for that? You could have told us before we left." Nick crossed his legs. "Commander Ray-of-Sunshine could use some right now."

He side-eyed the tense buffalo beside him, who didn't even seem to be affected by the turbulence. He stared ahead at the blank screens on the other side of the M577 APC they sat in. They were one of a handful of passengers of an impromptu flight commissioned by order of the commander. Their destination: Lake Kitticaca. The site of Sharla Ewetani's supposedly world changing discovery.

"Sorry, Nick. Anything wrong? I thought you weren't going to call until you were planetside."

"Nothing, uh… Just wanted a little talk. How're you doing?"

"I'm not the one with one and a half ears, Nick."

"I'm serious. You're the only one of us who got off without a scratch so… I realized we never really checked on you."

"Oh…"Judy paused. Nick was starting to feel stupid when she replied with;"Okay, urgh… yeah, I'm ok. I've got my work to keep me focused, and I signed up for counselling. We'll start once I'm back on Earth. I don't know how I'm going to explain my issues without violating that NDA."

"Yeah, when are you leaving, again?" Nick felt himself tense like Bogo at the subject being brought up. He'd known from the start that Judy wasn't staying forever, but he'd never expected to be dreading her imminent departure. He'd miss their banter. Her smarts. The way her purple eyes gleamed as she pored over her photographs…

"In a week, once I've filed my report and passed the data on to the Company. They'll take over the case from there."

"Great, great. I bet investigation won't last long, given that all the perps involved in the murder are dead. That and they got their very own alien to obsess over."

"Yeah, I wonder why they were so disappointed that Ben didn't get impregnated. With all those aliens we killed, they'd need a farm truck to carry all those specimens."

"Yeah, I was gonna tell you when we got back." Nick glanced at Bogo. "We heard a rumor on our way to the dropship. You know how we left those corpses where they were? Well, apparently when the hazmats went in to collect them, they were gone. No blood trails. No bodies. Just acid damage. Every one of them, gone without a trace. Smellwether was so pissed she picked up her teacup, poured it right there on the floor, and locked herself in her office."

"The Hunter must have cleaned up before it left. Probably for the best."

"Thing is, the cleanup happenedafterthe Hunter left for the dam."

The headset fell quiet as Judy processed this. Nick had already considered the implications himself, and felt sick at the only possible answer.

"Nick… you don't think…"

"I think we need to talk to Sharla Ewetani as soon as possible." Nick said. "You sure we got the right sheep?"

Nick heard Judy typing at some keys."Flash said she had a senior position in the Company's Bioweapons Division before becoming an Executive Officer. That, plus being one of the founding families, makes her a pretty good candidate."

"Someone that high up the food chain, I didn't think she'd agree to speak to us."

Corporal Wolford, the pilot guiding the ship through its descent, made an announcement through the intercom.

"One minute to touchdown. You at the wheel yet, Trunkaby?"

"10-4, Wolfie." Private Trunkaby called from the driver's seat. He turned his head to scrutinize Bogo and Nick. "Brace yourself, sir. We're touching down in t-minus 60 seconds."

Bogo simply nodded and gripped his restraints.

Nick tightened his own harness. "Carrots, we're about to touch down. I'll call you back once we've talked to the doc."

"I just hope we're right about our theory."

"Carrots, you've been solving cases since you were a little farm girl. You got this figured out. We both do."

"Okay. Just be careful, Nick."

T-minus 60 seconds later, the dropship dropped the APC off in a flat grassy plain one kilometer from Lake Kitticaca. The tank rumbled and shook as it drove, but it was steady enough for Nick to lift up his harness. Bogo did the same and immediately began checking his handgun.

"Sir?"

Bogo aggressively took out the magazine and checked the position of the bullets.

"Sir?"

Bogo stopped and glared at Nick.

"If I may venture an opinion, you don't seem in the right mindset for a negotiation."

Bogo slowly slid the magazine back inside the gun, and then clipped it in placed with a heavy whack of his hoof.

"Do I seem in the right mindset for your sarcasm?"

Nick's ear hurt as it flattened against his skull. "Sorry, sir. It gets worse when I'm scared."

Bogo's glare lost some of its fire. He returned the gun to its holster and gripped his knees. "It's alright, Wilde. I'm scared, too."

The APC hit a bump, making Nick bounce in his seat, and he soon felt it slowing down.

Trunkaby's apologetic voice came from up front."Lakeside's a little rocky, sir. I've advise staying in your seats."

"How far are we from the site?" Bogo asked.

"About a thousand meters, sir."

The APC came to a stop about a couple minutes later.

When Nick left the vehicle, he noted how the clouded sky drained some of the color from the environment, making the foliage lining the bank look sickly. They saw the campsite up ahead, a small village of metallic yurts and vehicles.

Nick knew something was wrong the moment he set eyes on it.

Judy realized Ben had disappeared as soon as her conversation with Nick was finished. Flash had been too focused on studying the blood sample to see where he'd gone.

She found the feline in the cryochamber, two doors down from the main lab. His tail lashed side to side as he pushed a couple of buttons on the panel at the foot of the freezer, prompting the curved glass lid to rise from the bed with an electric hum.

"What're you doing?" Judy asked.

"I'm going in the freezer until we get this thing out of me." Ben's expression was hardened. He pulled off his jacket and tossed it on the counter with a sharp jerk of his arm. "The pills only do so much. It's better this way."

Judy paused, thinking about Ben's decision. It didn't take long to realize he was right. She walked to the counter, climbed onto the chair and tugged at the jacket, keeping it from sliding to the floor.

"I'll wake you up once we hear back from Nick and Bogo."

Her acceptance of his decision seemed to ease Ben's agitation. He seemed less rushed as he removed his watch and removed his inner jacket, leaving a white shirt. He stopped to check the thick dressing on his forearm, where Hornbull's 'offspring' had taken a chunk out of him.

She didn't worry about what Bogo would say. He would understand. Ben eased himself into the pod and Judy pressed a button, prompting the glass to lower itself over him. Ben never took his eyes off the ceiling or took his paw from his chest.

"Hopps?" She could still hear him through the glass.

"Yeah?"

"If I can't be cured… or this thing turns out to be too dangerous to keep around… make sure you ask Mansa before you kill me."

Judy snorted. "Whatever you say."

"Ask him first." Ben said drowsily as hypersleep set in. "Or he'll kill you."

Judy watched him fall asleep, and then left to return to her analysis.

She told herself that it all fit. The ship collision. The Hunter ship crashing on Rhamnusia. She and Nick had talked it over and over and over. All she could do was hope that Nick would wield that information carefully.

Norman Lambert, a deer bearing the pale uniform of corporate security, obeyed his superior's gesture to come over to the yurt closest to the lake shore.

"Trouble, sir?"

Fred Razorback, the boar in charge of keeping the lake site safe, pointed at the APC parked several meters from the campsite's border. "Take a couple scouts and check the perimeter. Make sure those grunts aren't snooping around."

If Razorback wasn't his superior, Lambert would have rolled his eyes. "What do you want us to do? Use harsh language?"

"Don't be smart, Lambert. Just remind them who has jurisdiction here."

Lambert muttered, 'Yessir." And set off. Brandon and Wade would be finishing their break soon. He'd take them.

In the yurt farthest from the lake shore, Nick eyed Sharla Ewetani like a hawk. She was sitting on a sofa across from Bogo, who glared at her from his chair on the other side of the short round table. Nick stood by the exit, feeling like he was back in the interrogation room back on Earth. Only this time he wasn't the perp. He wasn't the edgy sheep acting like she'd done something wrong.

"I'm sorry, Commander, but that information is classified."

"Under Special Order 777, I know." Bogo said grimly.

"How do you-"

"Minerva told us. The computer in Hopps's lab. She was analyzing a fluid found at the scene of Mark Green's murder and detected an unidentified chemical."

Ewetani swallowed. "A chemical?"

"When she tried to study it further, she was blocked by the special order."

Ewetani glanced at Nick, as if expecting him to say something, then looked back at Bogo. "Does she still have this sample?"

"Never mind that." Bogo leaned forward, hooves pressing into his knees. "This chemical wasn't in the USCM database."

"Or ICC." Nick said.

"The government never heard of it either. Which means that your damn company knew a potentially dangerous pathogen existed and never said a damn thing.Why?"

Ewetani blinked a couple times. She squeezed her own knees.

"Commander…"

"I asked you a question."

"I cannot give you access to that information, I'm sorry."
"Listen you corporate-"

"Damn it, Commander, my hooves are tied!" Ewetani leapt to her feet. "Now please leave. I cannot tell you anything even if I want to."

Bogo glared daggers. "Fine. Then I'll just have to find someone who canmakeyou tell us. Wilde, we're leaving."

He stormed out. Nick followed, but then stopped in the doorway. Ewetani was breathing quietly but heavily. She looked physically ill and out of her depth. Nick wondered what kind of pressure she was under, and what it would to take to release it.

"Miss Ewetani? Aren't you gonna see us to our car?"

"Uh-okay." Eewtani was so shaken she got up and obliged without even thinking. Just as Nick had hoped she would.

My turn, Commader. Just like we planned.

He waited until they were several paces from her yurt. "I've gotta say, you guys spared no expense setting this place up."

"Yes, that's right." Ewetani walked alongside him. Bogo walked ahead of them, purposely ignoring their small talk. "Building Better Worlds. That's what we do."

"So, where's the actual site?'

Ewetani tensed as they walked, glancing nervously at Razorback they passed. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, I see a lot of tents, but no trenches. I'm just asking in case we accidentally ran over any ancient ruins on our way here."

Ewetani relaxed a little. "Oh, no need to worry. The site is underwater. We keep the aqua gear in one of the other yurts."

Nick turned his lazy gaze to the forest edge. A splash of color caught his eye. A tracker bird preening its feathers. Nick guessed the rest of them were perched deeper within the trees, too used to the mammals' presence to chirp their ominous chant.

"Underwater." Nick repeated. "So the Company is spending a gazillion dollars looking for E.T.'s answer to Atlantis."

"More or less." Ewetani was frowning now. "This is a classified facility, Private Wilde, so it may be best if we don't discuss our operations further."

"Hey, I don't see what the big deal is." Nick shrugged. "It's not likethisplace is the classified facility, right?"

Ewetani stopped dead. Bogo stopped too, and turned to glare at them both. "What are you talking about?" She breathed.

"It's a pretty good diversion. Fancy tent, state of the art company tech, even a couple scuba divers taking a dip in the lake every now and then." Nick said. "But there're three things wrong with this set up."

He held up three fingers as Ewetani gaped. "One. The mere fact that you allowed us to just drive right up to your 'classified facility.'"

"Commander Bogo was very-" The sheep stammered as Nick dropped a finger.

"Two." He pressed on. "The level of security here is nowhere near what you'd expect. Not with all the shit that happened over at the colony."

"Our security here is quite-"

"He's not done." Bogo cut her off.

"Thank you, sir. Third, I spy a crawler on the far side of this campsite, along with some very fresh tire tracks. You drove all the way from the real dig site just to blow us off. I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted."

"Insulted, definitely." Bogo said.

Ewetani half-rubbed, half-pulled at her black wool tuft. Her voice was low, her tone wavering between fearful and furious. "You… you are out of line, Private."

"Oh, I'm not the one out of line, Miss Ewetani." Nick said. "Not as far as the armored killers are concerned."

"Keep your voice down!" She snarled. With wide eyes she spun her head round, eyeing the security guards, the scientists, and the trees in quick succession. She pointed to the nearest yurt. "Get in there, for Christ's sake!"

This was usually the part where Nick started smirking, but as he and Bogo entered the yurt full of aqua gear, he didn't feel up to it. There was much more at stake than scoring a couple hundred bucks, and he was about to make that very, very clear.

Ewetani followed them inside and pressed a button beside the door, locking it as soon as it slid shut. "Explain yourself, Private. Right fucking now."

Nick crossed his arms. "What're the chances of an alien spaceship colliding with a small towing vehicle in the great expanse of space? Astronomical. Never should have happened at all. But it did. There's only one thing that could have raised those chances."

"The ship was heading for the same destination." Bogo said. "And it crashed there."

"Why did it crash?" Nick asked. "I think it had something to do with those eyeless bugs you're so keen on. My guess is that by the time the accident happened, there was no crew left alive to prevent it."

"What does that have to do with our excavation?" Ewetani balled her fists.

"By Miss Hopps's guess… everything. That ship was heading for Rhamnusia for a reason. Whatever lost alien civilization you're looking for out there… belongs to them."

Ewetani looked too shocked to deny any of this.

"You seem like a smart sheep and you seem to know what you're doing." Nick said. "But when those killers find out you're trespassing ontheirclassified facility, I don't think they're gonna settle for a class action lawsuit. I'm just saying."

Ewetani swallowed. Her hoof was trembling as she pointed at him. "You… I don't know where you got this information… but when Bellwether hears of this…"
"She'll what? Arrest him for figuring out the bleedin' obvious?" Bogo asked. "We've seen those creatures with our own eyes. It doesn't take a scientist to see the connection." He turned to Wilde. There was a look of pride in his eyes that gave Nick a rare tingle of catharsis. "Go back to the APC, Wilde. I'll take it from here."

"Yes, sir." Nick saluted him, strode past the stunned Ewetani, and unlocked the door.

Once he was outside, Nick heard a voice being called, over and over.

"Lambert? Lambert, are you listening. Answer your commlink!"

Nick walked around the yurt. Razorback, the boar they'd strode by earlier, was standing at the forest's edge, barking into his headset. "Lambert? Damn it, if you've fallen asleep, I will kick your ass."

"Problem?"

Razorback turned at Nick's question, eyes narrowed. "You seen a dumbass deer, fox?"

The guy reminded him of his boss back when he worked in a Bug Burga. "MIA, huh?"

"Don't be cute, have you seen him or not…"

He trailed off as the air filled with the sound of tracker birds. An entire flock went off at once, high up in the trees. One of the other guards even started fiddling with his motion tracker, looking for a non-existent problem.

Nick's wounded ear started tingling. He unholstered his pistol even as Bogo and Ewetani emerged from inside the yurt.

"What the hell is that?" Bogo demanded. Nick pointed to the trees, and the buffalo immediately understood. "Ewetani, stay inside the camp."

He retrieved a pulse rifle and a motion tracker from within the APC. He passed the tracker to Nick and signaled the fox to follow him into the forest. Razorback followed as well, wielding his own Llamat 39 Submachine gun.

They inched across soft dirt and thick ferns, eyes and ears fixed on anything that may stand out against the greens and browns of the forest. Nick's tracker clicked slower than his heartbeat. So long as the birds stayed still, they wouldn't trigger the tracker. Silently, the three mammals followed the sound of the birds. Nick feared what they would find.

Another bleeping sound, less natural than that of the tracker birds; the motion tracker caught something. Nick stared wide-eyed at the single white dot at the edge of the dark screen.

"One dot. Twenty meters east. Twenty one… damn it, it's gone!" Nick growled. He stuck the tracker further out, but the source of the dot was long gone.

Plip.

A spot of red appeared on the screen. Another drop landed on Nick's pistol and trickled onto his paw.

Nick lowered his pistol and saw the pile of clothes and gore he'd almost walked into. He leapt back with the vilest curse he knew.

Nearby, Bogo and Razorback were gawking at something over Nick's head. "Holy shit…"

Nick looked up straight up. His mouth dried in an instant. He slowly stepped out from under the thing hanging high above him, his brain struggling to comprehend what he was seeing.

It was a deer, hanging upside down like a fish.

Gutted like a fish.

Skinned like a fish.

Before nausea could compel him to empty his stomach into the ferns, he heard a squeak behind him. Ewetani had followed them into the forest, flanked by two more security guards. Her hooves were clasped over her mouth.

"Lambert…" Razorback whispered. He kissed his hoof and crossed his chest with it.

As Nick gaped in black horror at the sight, a patch of cream caught his eye. Not all of the skin had been taken. A portion had been left over Lambert's abs. A series of cuts marred the patch of skin. Nick stepped forward, looking closer.

"Sir, look at his stomach."

Bogo stepped closer, too. "You're kidding me. Those things know English, too?"

"What does it say?" Ewetani couldn't bring herself to get close enough to read the words carved into the skin.

Nick squinted. The Hunter had 'inscribed' the words in long, straight strokes.

"Stay away."