Verita

by Tracy Rozzlynn

  I let out a long exasperated sigh as he continues. “Yeah, apparently she was bitten by something out in the field, but didn’t realize it. She seemed fine when she first got back, but that afternoon she stayed late working in the lab, and late this morning her team found her dead.”

  My eyes fly wide with horror. It was just too close to home. It could have happened to anyone of us.

  “What was her name?” Ryan’s voice is panicked, and I realize Kelly’s been out in the field.

  “Sue… Suzan… no wait, Suzie. Yeah that’s it. Her name was Suzie. Why? Do you know her or something?”

  I’m disturbed at the kid’s lack of sympathy. He’s obviously more interested in adding to his gossip than the fact that he might have just delivered devastating news. He actually looks disappointed when Ryan lets out a sigh of relief and shakes his head no.

  I feel a guilty wave of relief wash through me. I’m sad that someone died, but I’m glad it wasn’t anyone I actually knew.

  Chapter 13

  Two days later, I find out the real story from Dr. Brant, and I feel the full impact of what happened. I did know the girl, sort of. Suzie was the botanist I met on my first day here. She hadn’t been bitten or scratched. She had been working with a plant extract, trying to determine if it had any useful properties. No one’s exactly sure why, but instead of following testing protocols, she decided to test the extract on herself.

  Every botanist available has been brought in to study the plant to determine exactly what happened. Apparently the plant has anesthetic qualities, and Suzie just happened to be allergic to ketamine. The plant extract caused her to go into anaphylactic shock while she was all alone in her lab with no one to help.

  Dr. Brant now suspects it’s what was slipped into my drink, and I can vouch from firsthand experience that the extract is tasteless and odorless. Dr. Brant points out that now we know what the plant looks like. Unfortunately, it is a common weed found all around the perimeter of the base. Following her advice, I head over to the hospital and get myself an EpiPen. At least if I ever experience the plant’s effects again, I can prevent it from killing me.

  Although I suspect it’s no longer necessary, I’ll be having a serious chat with my team about the seriousness of breaking protocol and self-experimenting. I feel a chill run along my spine as I realize how easily it could have been Ryan that had the reaction. At least Molly no longer has to worry about getting blamed for being the tattletale.

  All morning work is canceled for the next day. A funeral is held on the far edge of the airfield. It’s not on the map, but that is where the cemetery will be. Everyone is cremated when they die to avoid future overcrowding. So Suzie’s final resting place is a silver canister buried in the ground, marked only by a small stone plaque. Attendance isn’t mandatory, but it seems like the entire base is there. I don’t know who knew her, but most of the faces I see are grief-stricken, and many of them are tear-streaked. And at least for today, I know the grief shown is heartfelt, and not simply an act on anyone’s part. Seeing the plaque somehow drives home the point that this is real: anyone of us could meet our end tomorrow. None of us are immortal, and I should be thankful to have my friends healthy and whole around me.

  Suzie’s death makes me determined to do what I can to keep as many people safe as possible. Fortunately, I couldn’t have hoped for things to go better with the cameras. It only takes a few days to get better footage of the creature. It has the body of a panther, but the snout of a wolf. Jake dubs it a ‘pan-wolf’ and the name sticks. From what we can tell, there is only one pan-wolf. That encourages us to think that he is only passing through and not territorial. It also makes us realize we need to act fast.

  Andi has already finished the new tracker, so we make a quick trip into the field and place the remote control dart gun. We then secure an enux to a rope in the center of the field. It’s not happy about the restraint, but if everything goes according to plan, it will remain alive. We then take turns watching the monitors in pairs.

  It’s approaching midnight when Ryan and I finally see what we are looking for. The pan-wolf has responded to the enux’s cries of distress, and is now stalking it. I move over to the dart gun controls and wait for it to enter my sights. Ryan hops up and starts waking everyone.

  I don’t have to wait long for the pan-wolf. It creeps toward the edge of the grass and prepares to pounce. I take aim, hit the button, and a dart shoots right into its shoulder. It recoils from the pain. I hit the button a second time and hit it in the side. The creature starts to stagger.

  We head out on our first night field visit. The tension we felt placing the cameras doesn’t compare to what we feel now. We can’t see past what our handheld floodlights illuminate, and we know we’re walking toward danger. Molly stays back at the field lab and monitors the pan-wolf for us. She would never have admitted it, but earlier I could tell she was scared – really scared. The relief that filled her face over my suggestion that she remain behind only confirmed my suspicion. It’s her job to notify us if the animal begins to stir. If it does, she has to hit it with another tranquilizer.

  We don’t want to risk losing our chance, so we run as fast as the floodlights will allow. There are twelve soldiers with us this time. It’s a bit of overkill, but Dr. Brant insisted. I have given them all tranquilizer guns and clearly explained that their real bullets can only be used as a last resort. I hate having to trust that none of them will get trigger-happy at the sight of the animal.

  We quickly reach the pan-wolf and are relieved to see it is still out cold, but breathing. Ryan quickly grabs what looks like a large spiked horseshoe out of his bag – another one of Andi’s inventions – depresses a button on it, and jams it into the ground around the animal’s neck. He then grabs a few larger ones and jams them into the ground around its torso, then repeats the same steps around the legs. Feeling the animal is secure enough, Ryan steps aside so I can attach the tracker.

  Jake and a soldier walk over and release the enux. It quickly flees into the woods.

  Ryan and I quickly busy ourselves with taking pictures, measurements and blood samples. After we have collected everything possible, Ryan and Jake remove the restraints and we all back away from the pan-wolf. Once we can no longer see it, we confirm with Molly it is still out cold, and we run. No one speaks again until we are back in the lab.

  “He’s a lot bigger than the cameras indicated,” Ryan points out.

  “And he’s still quite young. Based on his proportions, I’d guess he still has another hundred pounds before he’s fully grown,” I add.

  “Knowing all this, can someone please explain to me why we didn’t just kill it?” one of the soldiers huffs in an annoyed tone.

  I turn and face the soldier who had spoken. My eyes narrow on his him. “Jason, is it?” He nods. “In training, aren’t you told to know your enemy?” I give him a questioning glare.

  “Yeah, but this isn’t an enemy, it’s an animal. It can’t think.” He puffs his chest out and puts his hands on his hips, but I’m not about to give into his intimidation.

  “I’m not going to debate the animal’s intelligence. Instead, think about this: how much good would it do us to kill the animal if he’s part of a pride? We’d never find out we assumed wrong until someone came face to face with the next pan-wolf, and by then it will be too late. Instead, we’ve placed a tracker on the animal. We can easily keep our distance, as well as watch where the animal travels. If and when the animal becomes a problem, we’ll use the tracker to locate it and euthanize it. Now can you see why we didn’t just kill it?” The tone of my voice is defiant, challenging him to retort.

  “Yeah, that makes sense.” He drops his head to the ground, embarrassed by his public scolding.

  In a much lighter tone, I address the entire group, “Well everyone must be tired after tonight’s activities and the lack of comfortable pods. So, thank you to everyone for your help tonight. Because of your help, the entire base is safer. Please
feel free to go home to your pods and get a good night’s sleep. Don’t forget to reactivate your watches. They should now alert you if the pan-wolf is within a mile radius.”

  The soldiers nod back at me and head out the door.

  “Brett, he’s waking,” Molly warns.

  I walk over to the monitor, and the four of us watch as the pan-wolf shakes his head and stumbles to his feet. It looks around, dazed and confused, then disappears back into the woods.

  “All the samples have been properly stored; let’s get some sleep,” Ryan advises as he stretches and yawns.

  We all follow his advice and drag ourselves to bed.

  We spend the rest of the week cataloging and testing our samples. I urge everyone to take the weekend off, but they refuse, and keep working right beside me. I should feel guilty about ignoring my friends, but they don’t seem to notice. It appears that everyone in our group is dating now, and seriously dating at that. It’s an effort to get everyone together for dinner. However, Andi, being the social butterfly that she is, makes everyone promise to keep every Thursday night dinner available. Unless we’re away in the field, we’re expected to join everyone else in dining hall B.

  I breathe a sigh of relief in the middle of the week: the tracker shows the pan-wolf move out of our territory.

  The next day, Dr. Brant pays us a visit and informs us that her lawn is the envy of the other field managers – and it isn’t even fully in yet.

  “As soon as it goes to seed you can start the next patch,” she informs Ryan.

  “Actually I already have some seed harvested from the test patch. It’s not much, but it will do for the area I had in mind,” Ryan says hopefully.

  She nods her approval. “Great; you and your team can start on it tomorrow.”

  “Actually, I can take care of it today while everyone else finishes up with the pan-wolf samples.” He quickly adds, “We’re almost done, anyway.”

  “Even better. But, once Ryan finishes with the seed and everyone else finishes with the pan-wolf work, I want you all to take a few days off. I appreciate all your hard work, but I don’t want you to burn out either.”

  “We will. Brett’s been asking us to take a day off too, but we all wanted to finish the pan-wolf samples first,” Molly explains. I smile, touched by her defense.

  “Well enjoy your days off. I’ll see everyone again on Monday and not a moment before.”

  She smiles and walks out the door. I notice Ryan follow after her. He must have some more questions about the grass.

  “Thanks, Molly,” I whisper, and turn to finish up the samples. I’m more than ready for a few days off.

  It’s Thursday night, so I meet everyone for dinner. I’m surprised by how large the group has grown now that everyone’s dating. Jeremy is finally smiling again because he’s now dating Jennifer. Molly somehow met Alex in the last week. I wonder when she found the time and how it managed to get serious enough to bring him to dinner with us. I’m happy that everyone has met someone, but selfishly I’m also a bit disappointed. I liked our little circle of friends just the way it was, and I didn’t want it to change.

  But there’s nothing I can do about it, so I smile and act as happy as I can while hoping that, eventually, our group will get back to normal, more or less.

  Chapter 14

  Our team’s hard work has paid off. On Monday, we’re the first team given approval to move beyond the original square mile area. So instead of brooding over my lovesick friends ruining our group, I dive back into work. The rest of the team is so excited at the opportunity that they barely notice the amount we’re working. I take an occasional day off here and there to spend time with Brody, but for the most part, I am all about work.

  We decide to start with the square mile to the west of our original area. From the satellite pictures we have available, it looks like there’s a large river that cut the square in two and the area is covered in trees. That’s a plus: we’ve seen enough fields for a while and are ready to explore some forest.

  The exploration pattern we follow is designed to bring us to the river. One day, when we are nearly there, I hear a cooing noise above us.

  “Ssh!”

  I gesture towards the trees. My heart leaps with nervous excitement. We’ve found my violet eyes.

  The branches above us are filled with a mix of creatures, some white and blue, some white and purple. In the face, and especially in the tail, the creatures resemble domestic cats, but they have the hands and feet of a monkey. The full grown ones are large, the size of an orangutan, but a lot cuter. A small purple juvenile jumps down the branches of his tree to the ground and bounds over to us.

  “Stay still; he’s not showing any aggression,” I order.

  I’m startled to hear the creature purring. He stops and sits a few feet in front of us, just looking.

  “Remember: don’t make direct eye contact or show your teeth. To most animals they’re aggressive expressions,” Ryan reminds us.

  “He looks so cute,” Molly mumbles through her closed mouth and sighs.

  The creature walks towards us and sniffs each of our shoes. He stops in front of Shane, but instead of moving on to Jake, the creature stands up on his hind legs, sniffing up Shane’s leg towards his waist. Just as the creature reaches out his hand, Shane yells, “Get off of me!” and hits the creature back with the butt of his rifle.

  From there, everything happens in an instantaneous blur. The small creature jumps back with a cry of pain, holding its wrist. We hear a loud fisher cat cry from above, and one of the largest creatures flies out of the tree and lands on Shane’s chest. It pushes off of his chest, simultaneously grabbing his hand and twisting. We all hear a sickening crunch of bone. Shane lets out a wail of pain. The large creature lands with a thud, just behind the small one. Dean raises his gun and takes aim.

  “Everyone stand down and step back three paces now!” I bellow.

  Thankfully they all listen. I quickly grab and unzip my backpack and take out the first-aid kit. I cautiously walk toward the small creature and sit down with my legs crossed, just out of his reach.

  “Brett?” Ryan whispers. I hear the worry and fright in his voice.

  “Trust me,” I whisper back.

  I open the first-aid kit and activate a cold pack. I coo and purr as I did with the cat I had as a child. The small creature responds, looking up. I hold the cold pack up and place it on my wrist, and then hold it out towards the small creature. It reaches out and grabs it. The creature looks surprised and lets out a cry when it feels the cold against his wrist. The larger one growls at me in warning. I look down, not wanting to offend it. The small creature makes some chirping noises and the larger one seems to relax. I watch in amazement as the creature places the icepack back on his wrist. Behind me, I hear Shane whimpering in pain.

  Without warning, the smaller creature climbs into my lap and cuddles against me, the way a small child would. Instinctively I cradle him. He purrs back at me with his large violet eyes and I wonder if they are the same eyes that originally greeted me on the planet. I look around at the rest of the creatures surrounding us. Their stances appear more relaxed now.

  Without turning around, I quietly direct everyone, “All of you take Shane and head back to the base. I’ll catch up shortly.”

  “No, I’m staying – everyone else can head back,” Ryan insists. I can tell by his tone that there is no point in arguing.

  “Fine. Ryan can stay; the rest of you head back,” I sigh. The group backs away and walks towards base. Slowly, Shane’s whimpers of pain fade.

  Ryan steps forward and sits cross-legged besides me. The large creature looks from me to Ryan and repositions himself closer to Ryan.

  The small creature reaches up with its uninjured hand and touches my face. It traces every curve of my features, exploring. Its soft fur tickles so much that I let a giggle escape. To my surprise the little creature giggles back at me. Then it raises its injured hand up to me. I examine it. There do
esn’t appear to be any visible injury.

  His arms and hands are all purple, but he has a small, white diamond-shaped patch of fur right above his wrist that the other creatures don’t seem to have. I gently palpate the wrist. He doesn’t wince, and nothing feels out of place. Fortunately, it looks like he has suffered no more than a bruise. I’m relieved.

  Without warning, the small creature leaps from my lap, and is quickly back up in the trees. The larger creature turns and follows.

  “Time to go,” I whisper, and slowly raise myself to my feet.

  We are halfway back to the base when I hear Ryan say, “Brett—”

  “Not now,” I sternly warn him. Now that I’ve had a moment to consider what happened, I’m fuming. I quicken our pace, and soon we’re at the field lab. I see Shane getting his wrist examined. They must have summoned a doctor while still on the way back to the lab.

  “Nice of you to take care of the monkey instead of me,” Shane snaps, then lets out a long, loud sniff.

  “Can we have a moment?” I ask the doctor. He nods and walks away, but Ryan remains by my side. I ignore him. I need my anger and attention focused on the correct person right now.

  I intentionally drop my voice an octave, a trick my mother taught me. It has the desired effect of making me sound dead serious, and it gives me the tone of authority I want. “You’re off of our team.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Shane growls back at me.

  “I don’t need someone who can’t stay level-headed with us.” I try to sound as calm and unemotional as I can.

  “That monkey thing was climbing up my leg! What did you expect me to do?” He attempts to sound and look confused by my statement, but I’m not buying it.