“I don’t know. Are there more of those blue dragons around?”
“Probably not,” she said. “The thing is, I’ve got four more sites to hit, and if we go all the way back to camp, that means we need to hike all the way back here—and then some—tomorrow. I’m just running out of time.”
“I get it. It’s not a problem for me.”
“You sure? You don’t look like the kind of guy who spends a lot of time sleeping under the stars.”
“You’d be surprised. And, besides, who made it all the way across the Plains of Doom naked and alone?”
“Plains of Doom? Really? More like a big grassy lawn. That’s like the least dangerous place on this entire moon.”
“What are you talking about?” I smiled. “There were a lot of rocks. All over the place. I could have twisted my ankle or something.”
“Well, when you put it like that, I guess I should be impressed.”
“Yeah, you definitely should.”
Kira called in to her folks and told her about the plan. They asked where exactly she was and Kira transmitted her coordinates.
“You’re not far from MU’s station, dear,” Biella said over the comm.
“They shipped out already, didn’t they?”
“Affirmative,” Thastus said. “But I bet they left some shelter behind.”
“Good idea,” Biella said. “Do you think you can get there before dark?”
“I can if I get off the comm.”
“Stay safe, then,” Biella said. “Call us when you arrive.”
Kira flicked off the comm unit and motioned to me. “C’mon, we’re going to need to pick up the pace.”
I hustled to keep up with her. “What was that all about?”
“We may have someplace a little safer than a tree to sleep in tonight. But only if we hurry.”
She took off through the jungle at a jog.
“Hey, wait up!”
As we raced the looming darkness, I tried to orient myself. But it was impossible. I could barely see the sky.
“You sure we are going in the right direction?” I asked.
“Of course,” Kira said.
“You seem pretty confident.”
“Well, yeah. You would be too if you had a topographic memory.”
“You serious?”
“I can look at a map once and then picture it in my mind.”
“That’s a very cool skill.”
“I’m a woman of many talents.”
“So I gather.” I smiled at her, and she smiled back.
The ground continued to slope downwards, and the air felt more humid and cool, as we wound our way deeper and deeper into the jungle. At one point, we had to circle around a massive stone hill that easily stood fifty or sixty meters high.
Eventually Kira had to light up a hand lamp to prevent us from tripping over the serpentine roots and rhizomes which twisted across the jungle floor.
“Is that the river I hear?” I could just barely make out the sound of running water over the din of insects, birds, and other jungle wildlife.
“Yeah, but it’s not the Joodoon. This one doesn’t have a name, as far as I know, but it does mean we’re close to our destination.”
“Which is?”
“Another camp. I’ll tell you about it once we get there. Right now we need to cut the chatter and keep our eyes open.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
The last hour was brutal, not just because of the darkness and the swarms of biting insects that materialized out of nowhere once the sun finally set. Kira steered us through what was effectively a swamp. And, although she claimed it was a shortcut through the last half kilometer of jungle, it seemed like the swamp went on forever.
Great shaggy curtains of moss and lichen hung from trees that rose up like twisted giants in the misty swamp. Strange glowing ferns, twice as tall as me, sprouted glowing blue fiddleheads that looked like snakes poised to strike or grasping tentacles. And I don’t even want to think about those sleek black shapes that slipped across my way-too-thin sandals as I splashed through the fetid water.
Finally, the swamp gave way to more solid ground, which allowed us to pick up the pace a bit.
Soon we reached the unnamed river, which was wider and more slow-moving than the Joodoon. Something big and dark loomed up on the other side of it.
“C’mon, we’re here,” Kira said.
She proceeded to wade into the river and I followed her. The water was cooler than the swamp, and only went up to my calves. I hoped it was washing away the muck and Dynark-knows-what-else from the swamp.
“Check this out!” Kira ran up on the opposite bank and disappeared into the darkness.
I quickly followed her and found myself walking on a wooden surface.
“What is this?” I asked.
Kira aimed her light up and around, and I could see we had entered a massive cave. The mouth of the cave was thirty meters high at least, and twice that in width. Kira’s light revealed that the cave was filled with permanent-looking wooden structures built on either side of a wooden boardwalk that led deeper into the cave. It looked like a little village with a main street.
“What is this place?” I asked.
“I have no idea what its actual designation is, but everyone calls it Ferndell. Up until a week ago, it was teeming with researchers from Marlington University.”
“Were they studying the same thing as you guys?”
“Who knows? We don’t really share that kind of information. But probably.”
“So they just took off and left this camp?”
“Yup.” She aimed her light at a long low building a few dozen meters away. “That’s the bunkhouse. With any luck, they will have left some bunks behind.”
We made our way over and I checked the door. It was unlocked. Kira pushed in front of me and raised her lamp. But she didn’t really need it. As she took a step inside the bunkhouse, light strips flickered on, illuminating the room.
I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the sudden light. At the same time, the environmental systems kicked on, and the low whooshing sound of air blowers filled the one long, narrow room.
“Not bad, huh?” Kira sauntered in and gestured to the row of bunks that
