Analog SFF, September 2009

by Dell Magazine Authors

  Victor quickly explained what had taken place, although he did not mention the hikers. The deputy frowned. “You need to be checked out. We have an emergency care team nearby—"

  "Wait a minute,” Helki said, tired of being in the dark. The two dead snakes were still in her hands. “Before we go anywhere, you need to tell us what's going on. We heard the explosion, but we don't know anything else."

  "Isn't it obvious?” Frank asked. “It was ecoterrorism. Some kind of bomb destroyed the cooling station and killed everything within miles. God knows how many casualties we haven't even found yet—” He broke off, then forced himself to start from the beginning. “This morning, an alarm went off at ski patrol headquarters, indicating that there was a fire at the cooling station. At first, we didn't take it too seriously. There have been false alarms before—"

  "What about the operating crew?” Victor asked. “Wasn't there anyone at the lake?"

  "Not that early in the morning,” Frank said. “It took us a while to assemble a team to check it out. At worst, we thought that we might be dealing with arson or vandalism, the sort of thing we've seen in the past. When we got close enough, we saw that the station was in ruins, but the fire had gone out on its own. We were about to investigate, but when we found dead birds and animals on the ground, it made us nervous about staying. So we called the sheriff's department."

  "When we got the call, we sent out a few fire trucks,” the deputy said. “They've got biohazard gear and equipment for detecting chemical agents. When we swept the region, we found nothing. No contaminants, no residue. As far as we know, the forest is clean. Except for twelve bodies and a ton of dead animals, there seems to have been no environmental impact at all."

  "What about the red stuff in the lake?” Victor asked. “Do we know what that is?"

  "We're doing tests,” Frank said. “Whatever it is, it doesn't seem toxic. As of now, our focus is on finding witnesses and survivors. That's what we were doing when we came across your vehicle."

  Helki was still trying to grasp the scale of the attack. The emotional core of her brain had closed off, as if her reservoir of feeling wasn't deep enough to respond to what had happened. “Do we have any idea who did it?"

  "As far as we can tell, the bomb was detonated by cell phone, which is consistent with ecoterrorism,” the deputy said. “Red paint was sloshed around the scene, which we've seen before. But the casualties? I've never seen anything like it. If it was a chemical attack, the agent has dispersed without a trace. Nothing in the bodies. Nothing in the air. No sign of how any of this was done."

  "Maybe the point was to leave nothing behind,” Frank said. “If I were an ecoterrorist, I wouldn't set off a weapon that would leave the forest uninhabitable. Maybe they've developed an agent that causes one round of casualties, then evaporates cleanly. The opposite of a dirty bomb. Green terror."

  Helki knew that this was pure speculation, but it frightened her anyway. Looking at Victor, she found that he would not meet her eyes. She knew that they needed to mention the hikers, but forced herself to hold back. Before they said anything to the police, she wanted to be sure that they were on the same page.

  "I need to get back to Lake Molluk,” Helki said. “My family must be worried sick."

  "You'll need to come to the crisis command center,” the deputy said. “After you've been checked out, you can go.” He headed for the cruiser. “Are you all right to drive? If not—"

  "We'll be fine,” Victor said quickly. “We were knocked out for a while, that's all."

  The two men waited in the police car as Helki and Victor headed for the Land Rover. Climbing into the driver's seat, Helki sat for a moment behind the wheel, remembering their last desperate scramble for the car, an effort that had saved their lives, although she wasn't sure why. Finally, she started the engine and followed the police cruiser down the road.

  The forward motion, taking them back to civilization, seemed to clarify her thoughts. Helki felt a purifying rush of anger. “Why did they do it? They acted as if they were the only ones who cared about the natural world, and now twelve people are dead. And the snakes—"

  "I know. It's insane.” Victor looked out at the pines. “Or maybe it was inevitable."

  "Inevitable?” Helki found it hard to focus on the road. “It was murder. They planned it and carried it out. Maybe they didn't expect human casualties, but they must have known that animals would die."

  "I'm not excusing it,” Victor said. “I'm just trying to understand it. Environmental radicals have spent years attacking property. They spike trees and burn down ski lifts, and what happens? Nothing. It's all insured. If you torch a resort, the owners just build a new one. I can see why some activists might decide that outright terror was their only option. A last resort."

  "But how can you not wear leather and then carry out an attack that kills thousands of animals? It doesn't make any sense."

  "You remember what the deputy said. This was a clean attack. No trace of chemicals or toxins. If you were an ecoterrorist, you might decide that a few thousand casualties were acceptable for the sake of the larger cause, but you'd draw the line at permanent ecological damage. Maybe this was a test. They developed a clean weapon and released it in an isolated area to see if it dispersed. And if they were watching to see what the effects would be, they're probably pleased by the outcome.” Victor paused. “So what do we tell the police?"

  "I don't know,” Helki said. “They'll want to know why we didn't speak up before. If we'd known what the hikers were planning to do—"

  "There was no way for us to know,” Victor said. “Nobody could have foreseen this."

  Helki didn't respond. Through the windshield, she saw a scattering of white tufts in the field ahead. It took her a second to realize that it was a flock of sheep that had been struck dead where it stood. The sheep lay close together, thirty or forty in all, like lumps of cloud that had fallen from the sky. There was no sign of the shepherd. Looking at the flock, Helki felt the prick of fresh tears.

  A second later, she saw something in the forest beyond the field. She braked sharply. The vehicle lurched to a stop, sending them rocking forward in their seats. Victor was staring at her. “What is it?"

  Helki turned off the ignition. Up ahead, the police cruiser stopped, reversed itself, and pulled up alongside the Land Rover. The deputy rolled down his window. “Is something wrong?"

  "I saw something in the woods,” Helki said. She pointed through the windshield, halfway hoping that what she had seen would be gone, but it was still there. “A pickup truck."

  The deputy turned to look. A private road, barely wide enough for a single vehicle, ran along the edge of the field into the woods beyond. Across the entrance, a rusted chain stretched between two posts, a sign hanging from its sagging center: NO TRESPASSING. Three hundred yards further down, behind a clump of pines, stood the pickup truck, only its tailgate visible from the main road.

  "We've seen this truck before,” Helki said. “On our way to the lake, we passed some hikers in the forest. A jeep and pickup truck were parked nearby. When we came back, they were gone."

  Frank was studying her face. “You think that they could have been a part of this?"

  "It's possible,” Helki said. She didn't elaborate, but when Frank turned to Victor for confirmation, he nodded.

  "All right,” the deputy said. He got of the car, its door pinging softly, and knelt to examine the ground. A moment later, he rose. “Fresh tire tracks. They must have replaced the chain after driving through."

  The deputy unhooked the chain and bore it off to one side. Climbing back into the cruiser, he eased onto the private road, driving between the posts. Helki followed, tires grinding in the dirt, her hands clamped tightly on the steering wheel. After two hundred yards, they halted. The pickup had come clearly into view. A woman was seated in the passenger's seat.

  Frank and the deputy emerged from the police cruiser, their eyes fixed on something on the road. Helki set th
e parking brake and got out, followed by Victor. Through the pines, the lake was visible in the distance. Dead birds and insects lay on the ground, along with something else.

  Ten feet from the pickup, the blond hiker was stretched out in the dirt, his face turned toward the sky. He was dead. His heels had dug shallow hyphens in the soft soil, as if he had convulsed on the ground before his death.

  The girl was slumped in the cabin of the truck, her eyes closed. She was not moving. As the deputy ran up to the blond hiker's body, Frank approached the truck, not taking his eyes from the girl.

  A bundle lay in the bed of the pickup, covered with a tarpaulin. To Helki's surprise, instead of going immediately to the girl, Frank reached over the side and pulled the covering away. Underneath, there was a jumble of tents and bedrolls. Fishing around, Frank found a soda bottle full of red liquid, which sloshed against the sides of the container when he shook it.

  "Red paint,” Frank said quietly. “The same kind that we found at the cooling station."

  Through the cabin's dirty windows, which were rolled up, the girl remained motionless. Helki opened the door. As she did, she saw that the monkey wrench icon was still hanging from the rearview mirror.

  At the sound of the door, the girl's eyes opened. She looked weakly from side to side, only her eyes moving, her head slumped against the seat. A low moan escaped from her throat.

  Frank set down the bottle of paint and hurried over to the cabin. The girl stared at the newcomers, as if unable to remember if she had seen them before, but her eyes finally locked on Helki.

  "Helki,” the girl said weakly. At the sound of her name, Helki felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a surprised look on Frank's face as the girl murmured a string of incoherent words: “The fountain. Helki, you need to stop him. I didn't know. Lake Molluk—"

  "Lake Molluk?” Helki asked. She felt a rush of fear. “What about Lake Molluk?"

  The girl closed her eyes, head rocking, as if she were caught in a delirious dream. She spoke Helki's name again, then fell into unconsciousness. Helki took her by the shoulder and shook her, but the girl said nothing more. The message, whatever it was, would remain incomplete, but Helki had heard enough. All the while, Frank watched her closely, his eyes narrow with suspicion.

  * * * *

  III.

  After calling for an ambulance, the deputy knelt by the blond hiker and began performing chest compressions, although the boy seemed beyond the point of saving. Helki and Victor helped the girl out of the front seat, laying her on the ground with her feet elevated. As they wrapped her in a blanket, she did not move or respond, breathing shallowly, her eyes jumping behind closed lids.

  "Lake Molluk,” Helki said to herself, watching as the deputy tried to revive the hiker. She wondered if the girl had been trying to warn her of a second attack. The first attack, as devastating as it had been, had been in an isolated location. The resort at Lake Molluk, by contrast, had thousands of people, including—

  Helki pulled out her cell phone. Dialing her husband's number, she waited for it to ring, but the call died without going through. She was trying again when Frank plucked the phone from her hand. “We need to talk."

  "Give me back my phone,” Helki said fiercely. “I need to get my family out of here. You heard what the girl said—"

  "I heard her say your name,” Frank said. “She knew you. You need to tell me why."

  Helki took a breath, forcing herself to remain calm. “We ran into three hikers near the lake. They may have overheard my name."

  "Three hikers?” Frank's eyes were drilling into her face. “There are only two here."

  "There was a third man,” Victor said, coming up to where they stood. “His car isn't here now.” He related what had happened with the three hikers, leaving out the details of their subsequent exchange over whether or not to report the encounter. “We thought that it seemed strange, but not urgent enough to report right away. Maybe it was the wrong call—"

  Frank looked down at the unconscious girl. “So when you saw the hikers, they were coming back from planting a bomb at the cooling station. They didn't count on meeting anyone in the woods, but after leaving you behind, they decided to go ahead with the plan. One man went to Lake Molluk, maybe to prepare a second attack, and the two kids came here. When the bomb went off, they were caught in the blowback. Does that sound plausible?"

  "I don't have enough information to say,” Victor said. “Why are you asking us?"

  "I just want to be sure that there isn't anything that you aren't telling me,” Frank said. “If I remember correctly, you weren't too happy about the development at Lake Yomigo. Am I right?"

  Instead of replying, Victor went up to the deputy, who was growing tired, and took over the chest compressions. The deputy rose, perspiring, and checked the pulse of the girl who was lying nearby. She was breathing, but still unresponsive. As Victor continued to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the deputy went over to the truck and rifled through the glove compartment, coming up with some papers and two cell phones. Helki turned away, focusing on the body of the blond hiker. She could feel Frank's eyes on the back of her head.

  When he had finished his search of the pickup, the deputy rejoined the group. “I've got identification and vehicle registration,” the deputy said. “They drove here from Arizona. As far as I can tell, their cell phones were new and prepaid. No record of incoming calls. One outgoing call on the boy's phone. It may have been the call that set off the bomb.” He trailed off, sensing the tension in the air. “Is there something that I should know?"

  Frank tersely related what he had been told. When he was finished, the deputy looked at Helki. “What did the third man look like?"

  "Tall and bearded,” Helki said. “He was wearing a Yaqui emblem on his cowboy hat. Old clothes, no wool or leather. He had a shotgun with a strip of bandage tape along the barrel. His name may be Russell."

  The deputy asked a few more questions about Russell's appearance, then relayed the description over the radio. “All units will be alerted,” the deputy said when he was done. “If he's here, we'll find him."

  "What about evacuating the resort?” Helki asked, afraid that they weren't taking the risk seriously enough. “If the second attack is anything like the last one, thousands of people are going to die—"

  "Security is on high alert throughout the resort,” Frank said. “We can't do anything else. If we evacuate without good reason, we're just going to start a panic.” He fixed her with the same suspicious gaze as before. “Or is there something else that you'd like to tell me?"

  "Nothing that you haven't already heard,” Helki said, refusing to be intimidated. As she spoke, the ambulance drove up, lights flashing. Two paramedics got out, shouting questions, as Victor stood aside. After checking the blond hiker for vital signs, the lead medic shook his head. As the two hikers were loaded into the ambulance, the girl's eyes opened and came to rest on Helki's face. Helki remembered their wild expression long after the ambulance doors had shut.

  Before leaving, one of the paramedics gave Helki and Victor a cursory medical exam. “You're good to go, but you'll need to report to a hospital for a more thorough checkup,” he said when he was done. “We've seen acidosis in some of the survivors. You may need to receive further treatment."

  Victor, who had lapsed into an exhausted silence, perked up at this. “Acidosis? Are you sure?"

  But the paramedic was already turning away. After consulting with the deputy, the two medics got into the ambulance and drove off. Helki was left beneath the pines, unable to think of anything but the possibility of another attack. Nothing else mattered. She had to get back to her family.

  In the end, Frank agreed to let them drive back to Lake Molluk, but insisted on coming along in the Land Rover, as if reluctant to let them out of his sight. Victor was standing to one side, apparently lost in thought. Helki nudged him gently. “Listen, we need to go—"

 
"Just a minute,” Victor said. He turned to Frank. “I have a question. When you got to the cooling station, it looked as if it had caught fire after the bombing, but it wasn't burning, right?"

  Frank climbed into the Land Rover. “That's right. The fire went out on its own."

  "I may know why.” Victor opened the trunk and rummaged around for a few seconds, finally emerging with a gas lighter, the kind with a long nozzle that was used to light barbecues. He headed for a fire pit a few yards away. The pit, installed for campers, was a shallow depression lined with bricks, about a foot below the ground. Standing over the pit, Victor pressed the button on the handle of the lighter. A yellow flame appeared at one end.

  "Let's see if I'm right,” Victor said. He lowered the tip of the lighter into the fire pit until the flame was below the surrounding ground. As Helki watched, the flame winked out immediately.

  Victor pressed the button several more times. Although Helki could hear the ignition mechanism clicking, it refused to light again. When Victor removed the lighter from the pit and raised it a few feet above the ground, however, a fresh flame appeared as soon as he tried to light it.

  "Carbon dioxide,” Victor said. “It's heavier than air, so it sinks to the ground and gets caught in depressions like this. When carbon dioxide levels are high, it's impossible to light a flame."

  Helki considered this new piece of information, which explained why the fire at the cooling station had gone out. She remembered the roar that she had heard after the explosion, and how she had been overwhelmed by panic when she tried to approach the lake. Finally, she remembered what the girl in the pickup truck had said a moment ago. The fountain—

  The last piece fell into place. Helki knew what had happened. “A limnic eruption."

  "Yes, I think so.” Victor clicked off the lighter. “I wouldn't have believed that it was possible, but—"

  Frank was leaning out the window of the Land Rover. “What are you taking about?"

  "This wasn't an act of terrorism,” Victor said. “The hikers blew up the cooling station, but they didn't mean to kill anyone. The deaths around the lake were caused by something else."