Amazonia

  "Let's get a closer look," Manny said.

  Carrera pocketed her small field notebook and grabbed up her weapon, the shovel-snouted Bailey. She eyed the massive tree with a frown, plainly not pleased with the idea of getting any closer to it. But she led the way, marching toward the tangle of roots and the gurgling stream.

  Manny watched the Indian cross to a huge eddy pool, shrouded by thick roots and rootlets. The water's surface was glassy smooth, with only a slight swirl disturbing it.

  The Indian noticed he was being observed and nodded in the universal greeting of hello, then went back to his work. Manny and Carrera watched from several yards away. Tor-tor settled to his haunches.

  Crouching, the tribesman stretched his pole and the flanks of bloody meat over the still pool.

  Manny squinted. "What is he--?"

  Then several small bodies flung themselves out of the water toward the meat. They looked like little silvery eels, twitching up out of the water. The creatures grabbed bites from the meat with little jaws.

  "The piranha creatures," Carrera said at Manny's side.

  He nodded, recognizing the similarity. "Juveniles, though. They've not developed their hind legs yet. Still in the pollywog stage. All tail and teeth."

  The Indian stood straighter and shook the meat from his spear. Each bloody chunk, as it plopped into the water, triggered a fierce roiling of the still pool, boiling its surface into a bloody froth. The tribesman observed his handiwork for a moment, then tromped back toward the pair who stared at him, stunned.

  Again he nodded as he passed, eyeing the jaguar at Manny's side with a mix of awe and fear.

  "I want to get a closer look," Manny said.

  "Are you nuts, man?" Carrera waved him back. "We're out of here."

  "No, I just want to check something out." He was already moving toward the nest of tangled roots.

  Carrera grumbled behind him, but followed.

  The path was narrow, so they proceeded in single file. Tor-tor trailed last, padding cautiously through the tangle, his tail twitching anxiously.

  Manny approached the root-ringed pool.

  "Don't get too close," Carrera warned.

  "They didn't mind the Indian," Manny said. "I think it's safe."

  Still, he slowed his steps and stopped a yard from the pool's edge, one hand resting on the hilt of his whip. In the shadow of the roots, the wide pool proved crystal clear--and deep, at least ten feet. He peered into its glassy depths.

  Under the surface, schools of the creatures swam. There was no sign of the meat, but littering the bottom of the pool were bleached bones, nibbled spotless. "It's a damn hatchery," Manny said. "A fish hatchery."

  From the branches spanning the pool overhead, droplets of sap would occasionally drip into the water, triggering the creatures to race up and investigate, searching for their next meal. Tricked to the surface, the beasts provided Manny with a better look at them. They varied in size from little minnows to larger monsters with leg buds starting to develop. Not one had fully developed legs.

  "They're all juveniles," Manny observed. "I don't see any of the adults that attacked us."

  "We must have killed them all with the poison," Carrera said.

  "No wonder there wasn't a second attack. It must take time to rebuild their army."

  "For the piranhas, maybe..." Carrera stood two yards back, her voice suddenly hushed and sick. "...but not everything."

  Manny glanced back to her. She pointed her weapon toward the lower trunk of the tree, where the roots rode up into the main body. Up the trunk, the bark of the tree bubbled out into thick galls, each a yard across. There were hundreds of them. From holes in the bark, black insects scuttled. They crawled, fought, and mated atop the bark. A few flexed their wings with little blurring buzzes.

  "The locusts," Manny said, edging back himself.

  But the insects ignored them, busy with their communal activities.

  Manny stared from the pool back to the insects. "The tree..." he mumbled.

  "What?"

  Manny stared as another droplet of sap drew a handful of the piranha creatures to the surface, glistening silver under the glassy waters. He shook his head. "I'm not sure, but it's almost like the tree is nurturing these creatures." His mind began racing along wild tracks. His eyes grew wide as he began to make disturbing connections.

  Carrera must have seen his face pale. "What's wrong?"

  "Oh, my God...we have to get out of here!"

  6:30 P.M.

  Inside the cabin, Nate sat hunched over the laptop computer, numb and exhausted. He had reread many of his father's journal notes, even cross-referencing to certain scientific files. The conclusions forming in his mind were as disturbing as they were miraculous. He scrolled down to the last entry and read the final lines.

  We'll try tonight. May God watch over us all.

  Behind Nate, the whispery sweep of the cabin's door flap announced someone's intrusion.

  "Nate?" It was Professor Kouwe.

  Glancing at his wristwatch, Nate realized how long he had been lost in the laptop's records, lost to the world. His mouth felt like dried burlap. Beyond the flap, the sun was sliding toward the western horizon as the afternoon descended toward dusk.

  "How's Frank?" Nate asked, dragging his attention around.

  "What's wrong?" Kouwe said, seeing his face.

  Nate shook his head. He wasn't ready to talk yet. "Where's Kelly?"

  "Outside, speaking with Sergeant Kostos. We came down here to report in and make sure everything was okay. Then we'll head back up again. How are things down here?"

  "The Indians are keeping their distance," Nate said, standing. He moved toward the door, staring at the sinking sun. "We've finished setting up the treehouse as our base. Manny and Private Carrera are scouting the area."

  Kouwe nodded. "I saw them crossing back this way just now. What about communications with the States?"

  Nate shrugged. "Olin says the whole system is corrupted. But he believes he can at least get the GPS to read true and broadcast a signal. Maybe as soon as tonight."

  "That's good news," Kouwe said tightly.

  Nate recognized the tension in the other's voice. "What's the matter?"

  Kouwe frowned. "Something I can't exactly put my finger on."

  "Maybe I can help." Nate glanced to the laptop, then unplugged the device from the solar cells. With night approaching, juice would not be flowing anyway. He checked the laptop's battery and then tucked it under his arm. "I think it's time we all compared notes."

  Kouwe nodded. "It's why Kelly and I came down. We have our own news."

  Again, Nate saw the worried look on the professor's face. As Nate stood up, he was sure his own expression mirrored Kouwe's. "Let's get everyone together."

  The pair ducked out of the cabin and into the late afternoon sunshine. Free of the stifling cabin, they felt almost chilled by the slight breezes. Nate crossed over to where Kelly and Sergeant Kostos were talking. Manny and Carrera had joined them.

  A few steps away stood one of the Ban-ali tribesmen. It took Nate a moment to recognize him. It was their guide from earlier. He had washed off the black camouflage paint, revealing brown skin and a crimson tattoo on his bare chest.

  Nate nodded to Kelly as he stopped beside them. "I heard that Frank is doing better."

  Her face was pale, distracted. "For the moment." She noticed the laptop under his arm. "Were you able to learn anything about your father?"

  Nate sighed. "I think everyone should hear this."

  "It's time we put a plan together anyway," Sergeant Kostos said. "Night is coming."

  Kouwe pointed to the three-story dwelling in the towering nightcap oak. "Let's get everyone up to the dwelling."

  No one objected. In short order, the group mounted the long ladder and headed up the tree. Tor-tor remained below, on guard. Nate glanced down as he climbed. The jaguar was not alone down there. The Ban-ali tribesman stayed at the foot of the ladder, plainl
y assigned to their group.

  Reaching the top of the ladder, Nate climbed onto the decking of the abode. The entire party clustered on the deck or stood inside the doorway to the lowermost level, a communal room. Above, the two other levels were a honeycomb of smaller, more private chambers, each with its own tiny deck or patio.

  The tree house had clearly been some family's domicile, commandeered for their use. Personal touches abounded: bits of pottery and wooden utensils, decorations done in feathers and flowers, abandoned hammocks, tiny carved animal figurines. Even the smell of the place was not the deserted mustiness of the tiny cabin, but the subtle scent of life. Old cooking spices and oils, a hint of bodily odors.

  Anna Fong crossed to him. She had a platter of sliced figs. "One of the Indian women dropped off some supplies. Fruits and cooked yams. Bits of dried meat."

  Nate remembered his thirst and took one of the moist fruits, biting deep into it, juice dribbling down his chin. Wiping his lips with the back of his hand, he asked, "How's Olin doing with the GPS signal?"

  "Still working on it," she said in a hushed, scared voice. "But from the amount of swearing, it doesn't sound good."

  Kostos raised his voice from the doorway. "Everyone gather inside!"

  As he stepped aside, the party moved into the common room. Inside, Nate saw the other platters of food. Even a few pails of a dark liquid, smelling of fermentation.

  Professor Kouwe examined one pail's contents and turned to Nate in surprise. "It's cassiri!"

  "What's that?" Kostos asked from the doorway as he closed the flap.

  "Cassava beer," Nate explained. "An alcoholic staple of many native tribes."

  "Beer?" the sergeant's eyes brightened. "Really?"

  Kouwe scooped up a ladleful of the dark amber liquid and poured it into a mug. Nate saw bits of slimy cassava root floating in the pail. The professor passed the mug to the sergeant.

  He sniffed it, nose curling in disgust, but he took a deep swig anyway. "Ugh!" He shook his head.

  "It's an acquired taste," Nate said, scooping a mug for himself and sipping it. Manny did the same. "Women make it by chewing up cassava root and spitting it into a pail. The enzymes in their saliva aid in the fermentation process."

  Kostos crossed to the pail and dumped the contents of his mug back into the pail. "I'll take a Budweiser any day."

  Nate shrugged.

  Around the room, the others sampled the fare for a bit, then began to settle to woven mats on the floor. Everyone looked exhausted. They all needed a decent night's sleep.

  Nate set up the laptop on an overturned stone pot.

  As he opened it and turned it on, Olin looked at it hungrily, his eyes red. "Maybe I can cannibalize some circuitry for the communication array." He shifted nearer.

  But Nate held him off. "The computer is five years old. I doubt you'll find much to use, and right now its contents are more important than our own survival."

  His words drew everyone's attention. He eyed them all. "I know what happened to the other expedition team. And if we don't want to end up like them, we should pay attention to its lessons."

  Kouwe spoke up. "What happened?"

  Nate took a deep breath, then began, nodding to the open journal file on the laptop. "It's all here. My father's expedition heard rumors of the Ban-ali and met an Indian who said he could take the research team to their lands. My father could not resist the possibility of encountering a new tribe and took the team off course. Within two days, they were attacked by the same mutated species as we were."

  Murmurs arose from the others. Manny raised his hand as if he were in class. "I found where they incubate those buggers. At least the locusts and piranhas." He described what he and Private Carrera had discovered. "I've got my own theories about the beasts."

  Kouwe interrupted. "Before we get into theories and conjectures, let's first hear what we know for sure." The professor nodded to Nate. "Go on. What happened after the attack?"

  Nate took another breath. The tale was not an easy one to tell. "Of the party, all were killed except Gerald Clark, my father, and two other researchers. They were captured by the Ban-ali trackers. My father was able to communicate with them and get them to spare their lives. From my father's notes, I guess the Ban-ali native tongue is close enough to Yanomamo."

  Kouwe nodded. "It does bear a resemblance. And isolated as the tribe is, the presence of a white man who could speak the tongue of the Ban-ali would surely give them pause. I'm not surprised your father and the survivors were spared."

  The little good it did, Nate thought sourly, then continued, "The remaining party were all badly injured, but once here, their wounds were healed. Miraculously, according to my father's notes: gashes sealed without scarring, broken bones mended in less than a week's time, even chronic ailments, like one team member's heart murmur, faded away. But the most amazing transformation was in Gerald Clark."

  "His arm," Kelly said, sitting up straighter.

  "Exactly. Within a few weeks here, his amputated stump began to split, bleed, and sprout a raw tumorous growth. One of the survivors was a medical doctor. He and my father examined the change. The growth was a mass of undifferentiated stem cells. They were sure it was some malignant growth. There was even talk of trying to surgically remove it, but they had no tools. Over the next weeks, slow changes became apparent. The mass slowly elongated, growing skin on the outside."

  Kelly's eyes widened. "The arm was regenerating."

  Nate nodded and turned. He scrolled down the computer journal to the day almost three years ago. He read aloud his father's words. "'Today it became clear to Dr. Chandler and me that the tumor plaguing Clark is in fact a regeneration unlike any seen before. Talk of escape has been put on hold until we see how this ends. It's a miracle that is worth the risk. The Ban-ali continue to remain accommodating captors, allowing us free run of the valley, but banning us from leaving. And with the giant cats prowling the lower chasm, escape seems impossible for the moment anyway.'"

  Nate straightened up and tapped open a new file. Crude sketches of an arm and upper torso appeared on the screen. "My father went on to document the transformation. How the undifferentiated stem cells slowly changed into bone, muscle, nerves, blood vessels, hair, and skin. It took eight months for the limb to fully grow back."

  "What caused it?" Kelly asked.

  "According to my father's notes, the sap of the Yagga tree."

  Kelly gasped. "The Yagga..."

  Kouwe's eyes widened. "No wonder the Ban-ali worship the tree."

  "What's a Yagga?" Zane asked from a corner, showing the first sign of interest in their discussion.

  Kouwe explained what he and Kelly had witnessed up in the healing ward of the giant prehistoric tree. "Frank's wounds almost immediately sealed."

  "That's not all," Kelly said. She shifted closer to get a better look at the computer screen. "All afternoon, I've been monitoring his red blood cell levels with a hematocrit tube. The levels are climbing dramatically. It's as if something is massively stimulating his bone marrow to produce new red blood cells for all he lost...at a miraculous rate. I've never seen such a reaction."

  Nate clicked open another file. "It's something in the sap. My father's group was able to distill the stuff and run it through a paper chromatograph. Similar to the way the sap of copal trees is rich in hydrocarbons, the Yagga's sap is rich in proteins."

  Kelly stared at the results. "Proteins?"

  Manny scooted next to her, looking over her shoulder. "Wasn't the disease vector a type of a protein?"

  Kelly nodded. "A prion. One with strong mutagenic properties." She glanced over her shoulder to Manny. "You were mentioning something about the piranhas and the locusts. A theory."

  Manny nodded. "They're tied to this Yagga tree, too. The locusts live in the bark of the tree. Like some type of wasp gall. And the piranhas--their hatchery is in a pond tucked among the roots. There was even sap dripping into it. I think it's the sap that mutates them during
early development."

  "My father suggested a similar conclusion in his notes," Nate said quietly. In fact, there were numerous files specifically on this matter. Nate had not been able to read through them all.

  "And the giant cats and caimans?" Anna asked.

  "Established mutations, I'd wager," Manny said. "The two species must've been altered generations ago into these oversized beasts. I imagine by now they're capable of breeding on their own, stable enough genetically to need no further support from the sap."

  "Then why don't they leave the area?" Anna asked.

  "Perhaps some biological imperative, a genetic territorial thing."