Castaway Odyssey (Boundary Series Book 5) by Eric Flint & Ryk E. Spoor

Author:Eric Flint & Ryk E. Spoor [Flint, Eric & Spoor, Ryk E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781476781815
Publisher: Baen Books
Published: 2016-10-04T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

“That’s funny,” Xander muttered to himself.

“In my experience,” said a deeper, rougher voice behind him, “those words either mean a discovery, or trouble. Usually both. What’s funny?”

Xander turned to face the sergeant, who was slowly and cautiously making his way over to one of the portable seats they had pulled from the shelter, hobbling with the help of one of the expandable crutches they’d found in the medical kit. “Well, you remember you told us to expand that app that Tavana had made?”

“You mean, I reminded you that burrows can often have two ends, and some of the ones near the edge of our little perimeter might have their other ends on the outside. You were the one who figured out that we should probably have something keep an eye on the ground outside all over, and look for things that changed.”

Xander looked sharply at the older man, who just gave him an easy grin. “You would’ve made your ‘advice’ more clear if I hadn’t caught it on the first try,” Xander said.

“Probably. But part of being a commander is interpreting what people mean; it’s my job to see how well you do that. But we’re off the subject. What’s funny?”

“The ground, Sergeant. Take a look at the feeds.”

There was a pause, and then Campbell sat down in his seat with a grunt that was not all from pain. “I’ll be damned.”

He knew what the sergeant was seeing. If nothing had changed significantly over the last few days, the enhanced-reality view through the omni should look pretty much like it did to the naked eye. The app was tied into everyone’s omnis, so it could even allow for things like the foot traffic back and forth across various parts of their clearing.

Instead, there were large blotches of blue shading to green all over the ground. To Xander’s eye, they looked most prominent in the areas where the excavator seemed to have done a more thorough job.

“What does it mean, Sergeant?”

“Not a clue. Let’s go take a closer look. If I read this right, it’s saying that those areas are a little higher than they were after we graded ’em off. Right?”

“Yes. Not much—a millimeter or so, maybe—but ground doesn’t grow.”

“Not normally, no. And I’m not seeing any ground cover of the ordinary sort on those areas, which is what would normally be growing after you clear an area.”

They reached the center of one of the largest areas and both of them knelt down. “I don’t see anything different in ordinary images,” Xander said after a moment.

“No more do I. Looks like the same white rock that’s under most things here.” Sergeant Campbell pursed his lips, then poked at the ground. “Hard. Damp, but that’s no surprise. Hmmmm…Ah! Let’s see what a magnified view has to say. What was that code…Got it!”

“Got what?”

“Modern retinals with a good omni hooked into them can do a damn sight better than regular eyes. Basically I can turn mine into pretty good microscopes. I don’t know if I can give you the same app, but I’ll bet Tavana could whip one up.

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