Szabla and Savage. Justin looked from them to Diego and Rex.
They all glanced over at Cameron.
'What!?' she said sharply. 'Why are you looking at me? Szabla's the AOIC.'
Szabla clicked her teeth together, keeping her mouth closed. She squinted, drawing the skin tight across her high, hard cheekbones.
'What would we do to it?' Justin asked, though he didn't really want an answer.
The larva wormed up against Diego's leg and froze. Tank averted his eyes. 'Cam?' Tank asked softly. He ran a shaking hand over his head, taking a deep breath.
Cameron felt all their eyes on her, felt the presence of the larva by the fire even though she couldn't bear to look at it. Even Savage was waiting on her response.
With the slightest movement, Cameron shook her head. 'We're under orders,' she said. 'To assist Rex on his mission.'
Szabla raised a hand, quivering with rage, and pointed to the large mantid body by the fire. 'We are the fucking mission now.'
Cameron looked to Rex. 'What'll it be?'
Rex took a moment, gathering himself.
'Don't you dare,' Diego whispered. 'You could be single-handedly forcing a species into extinction.'
Rex crouched, pinching the papery shell of the larva's old cuticle between his fingers. 'Let's quarantine it,' he said. 'Keep a close eye on it until we get word back about the virus tomorrow.'
'Well, I'm afraid you don't have the luxury,' Szabla said. She advanced toward the larva. Diego stepped forward to block her, but she shoved him roughly aside. He stumbled and went down. He looked to Cameron, appealing to her with his eyes. Rex looked furious but held his tongue.
'Szabla,' Cameron said. 'If you're altering orders, I think we should wait for Derek to-'
'Zip it, Cam,' Szabla barked.
Justin stepped forward and helped Diego to his feet.
Cameron pointed to the larva. 'That's an entirely new creation,' she said. 'Something that's never lived before. Ever. I don't think you can just decide unilaterally to kill it.'
'I'm the senior officer right now,' Szabla said. 'I can decide whatever the fuck I want.'
'Look, Szabla, I'm only saying-'
'Why are you having such a reaction to this, Cam? To this thing?'
'Back off, Szabla,' Justin said. 'She's just arguing chain of com-mand.'
'Not with that face, she isn't. This ain't her normal stain-in-her-school-dress-following-orders crap. This is different.'
'You don't have a right-the authority or the right-to do this,' Cameron said.
Szabla turned sharply and faced Cameron. 'Step back, girl,' she said. 'That's a direct order from your superior officer. Need I be more explicit?'
Cameron felt her face growing flushed with the heat from the fire and her blossoming anger.
'Step back,' Szabla repeated.
Cameron stepped back.
'Goddamnit,' Rex said, glaring at Cameron. 'Why can't you think for yourself?'
'It's not my job to think for myself,' Cameron said, her voice sounding distant and foreign. 'We're a military squad, not a think tank.'
The larva raised itself up, its thorax nearly perpendicular to the ground, its head tilted and attentive. Cameron felt a wave of nausea wash through her and her knees buckled, just slightly. Justin steadied her with an arm around her waist, which he dropped once she got her legs under her again.
'Mammy! Bring Miss Scarlet her smelling salts,' Szabla said derisively.
Rex glared up at the stars, his hands on his hips. Tank ran a hand over his sunburnt scalp.
'Who's gonna…' Justin's words were choked with phlegm. He cleared his throat and started over. 'Who's gonna do it?'
Savage studied the fire, knowing the answer before he even raised his head. He closed his eyes in a long blink, bouncing his head once in a nod, then rose.
When he seized the larva around the base of its head, air escaped it in a screech, and Cameron felt herself sucking shallow breaths to keep from breaking. Savage walked right in front of her, the larva squirming and squealing in his grip, and seized the spike leaning against the log beside her.
A figure cut from the shadows and a hand fell across his wrist, pale in the darkness. Savage jerked away and dropped the larva, drawing back the spike until he saw it was Derek.
'What are you doing?' Derek asked, stepping over the log. His eyes were cold and glassy, the skin on his face stretched tight with stress and fatigue.
His eyes narrowed on Szabla's until she looked away. He crouched above the larva and ran his hand along its side, over the bumps of its abdominal segments.
Derek looked at Diego, and Diego shook his head.
Rex said, 'I didn't want them to…They wouldn't listen.'
The pulse in Derek's temple worked like a spasm. His fingers, thin and pale in the moonlight, continued to stroke the larva's back.
'Derek,' Szabla said, attempting to soften her voice. 'We can't afford to follow scientists' orders anymore. We're playing in a different game here.'
Derek stood and walked to Szabla, leaning forward until his face was inches away. Cameron did not recognize his eyes at all. Savage took a step over so that he was standing behind Szabla.
Cameron rose uneasily to her feet. 'Easy, LT,' she said.
The scientists watched quietly. It was as if a spell had been woven around the camp, and everyone hesitated to speak for fear of shattering it.
Szabla finally took a small step back, not giving up much ground. She turned and faced Cameron, and then Cameron noticed Derek's eyes on her as well, and she realized that everyone was looking to her, waiting for her move.
She inhaled the sharp island air, gazing at the perfect black beyond the edges of the fire. Something small fluttered overhead. The seconds stretched themselves out into what seemed like hours.
Cameron stepped over and stood behind Derek, her shoulders squared, her elbow brushing his. Justin followed suit, and then Tank, and then Szabla took another step back and sat on the log. Savage twirled the spike around his hand like a bandleader's baton and turned his back. Szabla's mouth contracted in a straight line and she scowled at Cameron, her eyes lit with disappointment and anger.
Derek exhaled deeply, his shoulders settling. 'Rex?'
Rex turned to him, his face ashen.
'The first order of business is putting the larva in a safe place,' Derek said. He glared at Szabla. 'For us and for it. Then, we secure the island and determine if there are any more adult creatures here. Are we agreed?'
Rex started to speak but had to clear his throat and start over. He spoke in a brisk, scientific voice; that seemed to help him regain control. 'Yes. Whatever occurred here in the formation of these animals was anomalous enough that I believe we can proceed cautiously with the assumption that there is only one lineage. Of the ten surviving offspring that Frank noted, he captured eight, and Savage killed one. That means there could be another out there somewhere, if it survived.'
'Don't female mantises eat the males after they mate?' Cameron asked.
'Some,' Diego said. 'Not all. Female Galapagia obstinati have been known to.'
'Well, let's hope we got a Gloria Steinem motherfucker,' Szabla said.
'Would it have metamorphosed?' Cameron asked. 'The surviving larva?'
Rex said, 'I would think so. Especially since they evidently mated.'
'Gentlemen,' Cameron said, looking at the two scientists. 'You're gonna have to help us out here. What are we up against? If there's another one out there, we need to know its habits, strategies, any weak-nesses we can exploit.'
Diego and Rex exchanged a long look. 'Neither of us are entomolo-gists,' Diego said. 'Do you have any way of contacting one?'
