Hornbull strode across the stage toward the podium with his usual confidence, leaving a splattered trail in his wake. Not blood, but a thick black stuff that rested in twitching droplets. He stopped at the podium and held it with both hands, baring his open chest for everyone to see. It was Hornbull's acceptance speech for the employee recognition award he'd earned, shortly before he and Ben had departed for their new post on Rhamnusia. Ben wasn't sitting in the same spot he'd sat during the real event. Here he sat alone at a round table near the front, giving him a clear view of the rhino's pulsing lungs and beating heart.
Hornbull started his speech. It came out in spurts as black blood spilled from his maw. A 'thank you' here. A 'joke' there. The rest was a muffled buzz abandoned by his memory. Ben watched him talk with a sweet drink resting on the table, gradually becoming aware of pins and needles in his arms. Hornbull's diatribe about Rhamnusia's impeccable quarantine system ended with an unfavorable comparison to the conditions of the older Mars colony.
"But there are no bacteria in Mars, and so the invaders arrived, and from the moment they ate and drank, our microscopic allies began to work their overthrow. Even as I watched them they were doomed, dying and rotting even as they went to and fro. It was inevitable."
Frost began to form on his skin beneath Ben's fur. It froze Hornbull's ragged flesh into icicles.
"By the toll of a billion deaths mammalkind has earned his birthright of the earth, and it is his against all comers; it would still be his were the Martians ten times as mighty as they are. For neither do animals live nor die in vain."
Ben opened his eyes to the cryotube's glass door rising to free him. His brain was a little foggy and his eyes couldn't see much further than the confined of the cryotube, but he didn't feel as terrible as he thought he would. How long had he been asleep? And why did he vaguely remember being stabbed?
He shifted his arm to push himself up, and that was when the pain hit him.
The gasp came out sharp and misty. The cheetah looked down and gaped at the medical tube protruding from his vein, just above the dressing covering his bite mark. Where the dickens did that come from?! He looked down the tube to the black box he was connected to.
Oh, hell no. If Mansa and the others knew about this, they would have woken Ben up to tell him. A longer look at the device assured him it was inactive, and he slowly and carefully pulled the line out. It hurt, but he trusted this device he would have left it be. Blood dripped from the needle tip and he set it down. He did the same with the needle in his other arm. Two more needles on other parts of his body received the same extraction.
If Mansa had in fact sanctioned the device, Ben would accept the ass-chewing like a champ. He just had to find him first.
Ben rubbed his eyes. His sight was almost back to normal, and he could make out green. A lot of green. He smelled dirt and flowers.
Ben slowly sat straight up in the tube, bleeding from four places. Trees. He was surrounded by trees. A whole jungle of them. Despite the chill in his muscles, his jaw dropped.
"What the…"
Nick woke up feeling cold all over, except for a spreading warmth across the front part of his body. He blinked back chilly tears and looked down at the rabbit. She'd fallen asleep clinging to him just as tightly as he'd clung to her.
The fox turned his head to check the world outside. When he'd gone under, it had been a hellish world of steam, flashing lights, and a relentless countdown to oblivion. Now he saw the red sea of a sky in sunset.
He didn't dare believe it. Not yet. He carefully freed himself from Judy's arms and sat up in the pod. Looking straight ahead he saw the forest of Rhamnusia.
All pods of the Type 337 Emergency Escape Vehicle were open. To Nick's left, Bogo and Ewetani stirred in their tubes. To his left, Ben sat upright and stared at his surroundings in disbelief.
It worked. Just as she'd said it would. The EEV was officially his new robotic best friend.
He felt Judy sit up alongside him. "Nick… Did it work?"
With a grin he cupped her face and directed her bleary gaze to the sky above. "What do you think, you gorgeous little genius?"
She didn't answer. Tears tricked down her face and she hugged him tighter. Nick held her back and let her cry. He had no idea how long it had taken the EEV to ferry them back to the planet, but it felt like seconds ago when they'd been fighting against the clock, hunted by a fully upgraded Hunter. Nick wished for a few beers himself.
Bogo's massive form crossed their sight as he raced to Ben's tube. Ben held his bleeding arm and stared. "Mansa, what the heck?"
Bogo grabbed the same arm. "When did you take this out?"
"J-just now. What was that machine?"
"Some kind of extractor that double crosser set up."
"Double crosser… what the hell is going on?!"
As Bogo began to explain, Nick climbed out of his cryotube, glancing at Ewetani as he did so. The black sheep made no move to get up, instead hugging her knees and sniffling softly. Nick felt his own grief growing stronger. His comrades. A couple of them had served with Fangmeyer. And that Manson guy who turned out to not be such a prick after all. All those people dead, and nothing they'd done up there had been enough to save them. And Flash… Nick would be feeling that for a while. If fate kept being a dick and one of Finnick's salvage jobs went south, Nick would have no-one left.
"Carrots?" He called. Instead of dropping to the grass, Judy strode along the stretch of metal behind the pods until she reached the big machine that contained all the life support systems to sustain the cryotubes after evacuation. She sat cross-legged before a keyboard and monitor and started typing. "Minerva? You awake?"
The computer chittered."Good evening, Miss Hopps. Upload was 100% successful."
Judy wiped her wet eyes. "Minerva, give me the last report please."
"The self-destruct system detonated on schedule. The laboratory has been completely destroyed. I calculate that theVidarwas also destroyed in the blast. No other survivors estimated."
Judy set her jaw and fell silent for a few seconds. Nick looked down at a patch of dry dirt in the grass. "I expected that."
"The emergency call was received by the nearest company installation. A rescue team is on its way."
Judy and Nick traded glances. They'd known this would happen. Of course, a distress signal would be sent out. Standard procedure when an EEV is activated.
"What's the ETA?"
"Two minutes."
Damn.Nick thought they'd had more time.
Judy voiced similar displeasure. "Dang it. What's the latest update on Clawhauser?"
That made Bogo and Ben look in her direction. Nick looked up, too. Dark dread tightened within his chest. Flash- no, Ash, had lied about so much. He wouldn't put it past the sloth to-
"The extraction was successful. The most recent bioscan at 1700 hours confirmed no more traces of Plagiarus Praopotens in the patient's system."
Judy brought up a report on the monitor and read it thoroughly. It all looked like gibberish to Nick, but what Judy saw made her laugh and sob at the same time. "Cheese and sprinkles, it worked."
If the Brainiac bunny believed it, then it had to be true. Nick covered his face and sat down when his legs weakened. Just out the corner of his eye, Bogo and Ben came over to see the results for themselves. He listened to their reactions- pure relief, just like his own.
"Wait, Minerva. Where is the pathogen now?" Judy asked.
"The pathogen is still stored in the sample tube within the device, Miss Hopps."Minerva said."Be advised that the pathogen has reactivated and begun reproducing since the cryostasis was shut off. Extreme caution recommended."
Nick followed Judy to Ben's cryotube where the device still lay. "Stay back, Nick." She ordered before climbing into the tube. Nick listened with bated breath as she pressed a few buttons. A sliding sound. The lightclinkof something being detached. She slowly rose back into view, eyes wide and haunted and fixed on the metal tube in her paws.
Ben and Bogo cautiously approached. Ewetani approached but stopped at a distance. Judy held the tube so they could see the little window running the length of container.
"… It's black." Ben breathed. "I didn't think it'd be black."
The hackles on Nick's neck rose just from him looking at the sample. Looking through the tiny dark window felt like staring into the abyss. Like coming face to face with death. That's what this thing was. A Pandora's box without the spark of hope to make it ever worth opening.
"What do we do with it, sir?" Judy held it tightly with both paws, as if it were a nuclear warhead that would blow just by dropping it.
"Destroy it." Bogo said instantly. Manson's blood still stained his face. "Wedestroyit."
"How?" Nick asked.
"I don't know."
"If I may," Ewetani finally spoke. Either hypersleep had been punishing for her or she was fighting back insanity. She had that wide-eyed look of pure trauma on her face. "The synthetic may have sent a report to the Company before his destruction. Bellwether will hunt you down if she finds out you had the pathogen and disposed of it…"
"Then I've got a larger test tube for her mouth, 'cause that sample isnotcoming with us to Earth."
"I second that." Ben said.
"Maybe it can't be destroyed at all." Ewetani spoke weakly.
"I say we hide it 'till we're back on theAvellanosand then blow it out the airlock." Judy said. "If Bellwether wants it that bad, she can get it back herself."
Nick crossed his arms and looked to his superior. "Fucking A. Unless you got a better idea, boss."
Bogo shook his head. "I'll put a second affirmative on top of that.
"And it's best if no-one touches the extraction device. It could still be contaminated."
"Got it."
Judy pressed a button to close the cryotube. "Minerva, sterilize cryotube 5."
"Yes, Miss Hopps."The tube filled with a white mist.
Nick heard vehicles incoming. He turned to see three big crawlers break through the foliage, felling trees left and right. "Aaaaand the cavalry's arrived."
The crawlers came to a stop. Armed mammals in white and black uniforms leapt out.
Judy tucked the sample into the waistband behind her back rushed up to Ewetani, fists pressed together in a pleading gesture. "You can't tell them. You know what this pathogen will do. If Bellwether gets it, we're all-"
"On your knees!" A masked, helmeted elephant snapped. "Don't do anything stupid."
They all obeyed, included Ewetani. Nick noted how three of them had focused their aim solely on the fox.
Bellwether came out the third crawler, flanked by two guards. She strode straight up to Ewetani without a care.
"Get up, honey." She said sweetly.
Ewetani shakily stood up. "I swear, I did everything you told me. This wasn't my fault. It was that Hunter, it-"
Bellwether held her face and wiped away a smudge under her eye. "I'm just happy you're okay. Let's get you back, and you can tell me all about it."
Nick's lip curled as he watched the white sheep escort her niece back to the third crawler with an arm wrapped tight around her shoulders. As crappy as his past was, his mother had been loving enough for him to tell the difference between affection and performance. He just hoped Sharla had enough backbone to keep her mouth shut.
Once her niece was inside, Bellwether came back out and regarded the remaining four mammals with a supercilious glare. "You're pushing it, Bogo, you know that?"
"I just want to know what my men are dying over." Bogo said with the dirtiest look Nick had ever seen him give a mammal.
"And you will." Bellwether replied with a smile. "Just as soon as you tell me everything you've been hiding from us." She stepped aside to let the company security forward. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you to search them first."
Nick figured they'd search the fox first. This time he hoped they would. A wolf patted him up and down before relieving him of his corps issued belt. A boar did the same to Bogo before moving to search Ben. Nick winced at the excessively rough handling. "Hey, easy! Don't make me howl, asshole."
The wolf took the bait and struck him with his rifle. Nick fell sideways against the rabbit.
"Hey!" Judy shouted. Nick held Judy in an embrace as they lost balance and fell to the grass with the fox half on top of her. Despite the stars dancing in his eyes he made sure one paw found itself on her butt.
"Sorry, Carrots." He muttered and blinked away the lights.
"You okay?" She asked, eyes flicking to the aching cheekbone where he'd been struck.
Nick kissed her own cheek and stroked her finely shaped rear. It felt soft and perfectly round. "I am now."
Judy gaped at him. She had to have felt what he'd just done.
"Beverycareful." She almost snarled under her breath.
Nick kissed her face again. "Scout's honor."
The wolf pulled him back upright and away from Judy, and a deer began searching the bunny for anything she shouldn't be carrying.
He found nothing.
Nick let himself be marched to one of the other carriers, wondering what the hell he was going to do with the vial of liquid death hidden in his paw. At least they only had to worry about the vial. If Judy hadn't thought to sterilize the extractor when she did, if one of these bozos touched a part of it that had been contaminated…
But she'd thought of it. The danger had been smothered in its crib. Sure, they'll figure out there's a missing vial eventually, but Nick felt sure he'd have thought of a plan by then.
Bellwether watched as the wayward Bogo and his cohorts were escorted one by one to the crawler. It took off at once, heading straight for the excavation site, leaving another path of vegetative destruction in its wake. Bellwether scowled at the mess. Ah well. Trees grew back all the time.
She turned her attention to the EEV, in particular the computer now serving as Minerva's brain.
"Minerva, did you salvage the data from Hopps's tests?"
"Yes, Mrs Bellwether."
"Good. Open cryotube 5. I want to see what they were hiding."
"Sterilization is not complete. Please wait 4 minutes."
"I'm overriding that. Open it now."
"Under Quarantine law article 5469, I must reject that order."
"Ugh, fine."
Bellwether drummed her fingers on her crossed arms and waited. "Someone get my brandy."
Someone brought said brandy from where it rested on the arm of her personal chair. Two cubes of ice clinked in the glass. She stirred the drink with her finger and the ice cubes spun in a circle.
God, she hated this jungle. Tolerating it was what the brandy was for. She hated the heat, the dirt, and how her usual ensemble of a dress and cardigan made her look ridiculous in this climate. But she wouldn't trade that combination for anything. It's the first thing her peers noticed when they saw that. It's how they recognized her. Dainty Dawn Bellwether. The wolf in the skin of a sheep.
Minerva wasted no time opening the cryotube as soon as the four minutes were up. At her orders, two mammals lifted out the black box while a third brought forth a heavy-duty trolley. They set the box down at Bellwether's height and she took a closer look. Four IB tubes lay splayed out, connected to the device in several places. The blood on the needles looked fresh and wet. Bellwether knew better than to touch them, sterilization be damned. Instead she took a closer look at a small alcove in the corner of the machine. Long and thin, it looked like something was meant to be set in there. She ran her finger along the length of the alcove. It reminded her of the compartments where one would set a battery.
Something had been here but had been removed. Recently. Now she wasdefinitelyhaving a word with those lowlife data thieves.
She stirred her drink again and turned to the masked elephant in charge of this group. She didn't know his name, not that it mattered right now. "They'd taken something from this machine. Whatever it is, it may be biohazardous."
"We searched all four of them, ma'am." The subordinate said.
"Then search them again. And this area." Bellwether took a sip of the cold brandy. "If they left it on the ship, I'm fine with that. If we can't have it, no-one can."
"What about the machine, ma'am?"
"Storage. The boffins can check it out later." She flicked a hoof at the trolley. "I'm heading back. Keep me posted whether you find anything or not."
She returned to her crawler without another word. Sharla hadn't moved from the seat where Bellwether had left her. Bellwether took another drink while she sat down. A moment later the vessel rumbled and got going. She could hear the jungle being ravaged outside. "How're you feeling?"
Sharla didn't look at her. "I'm fine."
"That device is missing a component. What was it?"
"I don't know. Flash was destroyed before I could find out."
"Do you at least know where it is?"
Sharla shook her head.
Bellwether squeezed the arm of her chair with her empty hoof. "Sharla…"
"I. Don't. Know."
"If it's what I think it is, we can't let it fall in the wrong hands."
Sharla slowly raised her head. Her look of terror melted away. "The wrong hands…"
"So, if you know anything you'll-"
"That's it… that why it was there…"
"The Hunter?"
"It wasn't cheating. It was safeguarding itself from contamination. That was a biohazard suit."
Bellwether rested her brandy glass in the holder on the chair arm. "Start from the beginning. You can explain on the way. Anything else can wait until after the breech."
"That's still happening? After what that Hunter has just done?"
"It'll regret it soon enough. All their kind will. If the murals from the pyramid were telling the truth, the temple will make us greater than gods."
Sharla didn't respond to that. Fine, be that way.
Bellwether leaned back, feeling irritable and ill. She'd had a brandy before leaving, and this second one was feeling like a mistake. She felt an unpleasant sensation building in her stomach, not helped by the constant quaking of the crawler crawling over rough ground. The further they travelled, the worse it got. She rubbed her stomach, cursing mentally that she would overestimate herself at a time like this. She didn't even feel drunk. She'd have to have a word with her chef after the breech was done. He must have baked a stomach bug into her potato pie, and from the prickly sensation spreading from her guts, it was going to be a nasty one.