Chapter 56

As Connor had expected, moving with the entire team was even slower than the initial recon. Even descending from the butte before sunrise turned the woods into a fetid, steaming mess, they fell behind schedule before midday.

It was Mosiah, mostly. The old man was wheezing and stumbling by the time the first rays of light turned the loam a pale gold.

But Rudy was having trouble, too, even with Aubriella taking some of his gear.

So they stopped for a break in early afternoon, the woods echoing with distant chittering and clicks.

People paired up and headed off to relieve themselves under watch. Everyone but Martienne and Gregor peeled off armor and T-shirts to wash away sweat and cool off while grabbing a bite.

Modesty or a fatalistic calm—Connor wasn’t sure which kept the two elders of the team fully dressed.

Mosiah didn’t seem to care about his sagging skin or the silver tufts of hair on his back or chest. He chomped on a tube of the salty protein nutrients they all carried, then washed that down with a long pull from his canteen. “It…wasn’t this bad…last time.” He belched.

Connor caught Selen watching him, then glaring at Kalpana, as if some sort of telepathy kept the two women aware of…

What? He hadn’t done anything with either one since finding Toshiko again.

This planet with its bizarre animals and vegetation that wasn’t quite vegetation and the disgusting smells and frightening parasitic lifecycle—it was getting to all of them.

Lem swatted at something that had settled on his hand, then plucked the corpse from his flesh and with tilted head studied it.

What would try to bite an android?

Selen pushed up from the rock she’d been sitting on, flapping her T-shirt in the air to fan herself and dry the material. She gave Kalpana a withering look, then placed a hand on the small of Connor’s back. “We’re behind schedule.”

He pulled his pocket computer out. “About an hour.”

“It’s going to get worse. He’s tiring out.”

Connor glanced back to where Vicente and the Moon twins were slumped against rocks, looking ready to pass out. They’d loaded Mosiah’s cases on heavy-duty wheeled litters that sagged under the weight of reinforced containers.

“No one’s holding up all that well.”

“Lem doesn’t tire. He can take turns with the twins.”

“That’s a good idea, but it’s still going to be dark by the time we get there.”

“Fine. We go on in while it’s dark, put these things back where he wants, then we head back. We can be off this rock by sunrise.”

“You hear all that clicking and chittering?”

“Those lizard things, right?”

“Yeah. Just one could be deadly.”

“You said they were in small groups.”

“That was before we came banging around like an army marching through their home.”

She ran a hand down his arm. It was unnecessary, wrong—a show of ownership probably meant for Kalpana. “We can do this. In and out, then we’re airborne and counting the wings.”

“Dead people can’t spend wings. We need to be cautious.”

Selen dug her nails into his elbow. “Don’t argue with me on this, Connor.”

He brushed her hand away. “This isn’t like you. What happened?”

Her cheeks darkened. “I’m in command of this team. My team. Remember that.”

Rudy had been chatting with Aubriella nearby. He stood, turned his back to Selen, pulled on his shirt, then looked around at the others. “That’s long enough, folks.”

Groans went up all around.

Lem looked down from the top of the mound he’d been standing guard on. “There are three distinct groups of the reptile predators watching us. I counted thirteen in all.”

Rudy scanned the woods. “We stay in a tight formation—two meter separation. Lem, replace Tom on his litter.”

Mosiah let out a deep sigh. “Perhaps we could try flying to the ruins—”

Martienne dabbed her red face with a soaked handkerchief. “If you have forgotten, the landing gear cannot be used more than once until repaired, and that is many hours more of work.”

That comment seemed to sting Drew, who hastily pulled her T-shirt on over the protruding ribs of her torso. As she pulled her armored chest plate on, she flashed a pathetic, apologetic look at Connor.

No one had expected her to finish the work so quickly. No one but her.

He’d have to remind her to cut herself some slack. They were all in this together.

Rudy waved Aubriella forward. “You’re with Kalpana on point.”

The young mercenary’s face lit up. She flashed a salute at the sergeant, blushed, then guffawed and jogged over to where the scout was examining her sniper rifle.

Then the sergeant was at Connor’s side, angled just enough to present nothing but back to Selen. “Lieutenant, that’s the right call: We send a team to scout the ruins and take our time.”

Selen froze halfway to pulling her shirt on. She finished, then yanked her armor up from the ground with a clatter of its segments. “Your opinion is noted, Sergeant.”

“It’s not an opinion, ma’am. We’re doing what the lieutenant said.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

“We do, Captain. And so do you.” Rudy’s face was calm as stone. “Go it alone, or be part of your team.”

Connor cleared his throat. “If we don’t get to the ruins, this is all moot. Let’s go.”

He waved everyone forward, and by the time he turned back around, Selen had hurried away, joining Aubriella and Kalpana on point.

Rudy stayed close to Connor the rest of the day.

It was shortly after the sun set when the older man finally spoke. “She’s losing it.”

The wind seemed to go out of Connor. He inhaled. “It’s this place.”

That seemed to satisfy the sergeant, but the words burned in Connor’s head until they finally came to a stop for the night where the ground sloped down and the last of the trees rose less than two meters overhead.

Rudy had more experience than any of them. He’d lived through worse than most could imagine, and he’d survived.

If he said Selen was losing it, he was right.

The man was going to outlive all of them.

There hadn’t been any of the alien reptile noises for a while, but there were other sounds now: odd hoots and squawks.

A change in the smell had come with the night, too, turning sulfuric.

He moved forward, crouching behind a low mound, feeling silly for bringing his swords as he settled between Kalpana and Selen, who seemed to be generating an impossible coolness in the last of the day’s heat.

Connor pulled out his binoculars and scanned the ruins, not even a kilometer away.

Nothing moved down there, but something about the dark pit…

Scrub brush bent toward them, and a blast of frigid air hit Connor in the chest knocking him off-balance.

Kalpana caught him. “You okay?”

He nodded, shivering. “Just that wind.”

“Wind?”

“You didn’t…?”

Her brow was furrowed in confusion and concern.

Connor chuckled. “It was just a cramp. Don’t worry about it.”

But he couldn’t lie to himself. He’d felt that wind, and now the amulet was burning against his chest again.

Something was wrong—very wrong—but there was nothing he could do about it.