Melting Point by Philippe Cousteau

Author:Philippe Cousteau
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2021-08-03T00:00:00+00:00

Part Two

Chapter Thirty-Two

NUKILIK

(Ursus maritimus)

The Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

After a long flight Red Tail touched down before dawn at the Ark. The bay door closed, and the propellers came to rest. The Endangereds filed out of the craft, doing one last check for stowaways at the insistence of Arief, who wasn’t taking any chances. Murdock’s tank water was drained via a network of hoses into a filtration system. This prevented invasive plants, animals, and insects picked up in Atlantic waters from establishing in the fragile Galápagos ecosystem.

Nukilik was grateful to be able to massage her bruised ribs and battered muscles. More than anything, she was ready for a bath. She had elected not to rinse off while on Escudo Island on account of the damage it might do the sloth’s home.

Nukilik limped down the ramp, favoring her broken front paw. She was exempt from helping to refuel and restock Red Tail, tasks that always immediately followed landing—no matter how tired the gang was. It was critical that the Endangereds always be ready to launch, with full supplies, at a moment’s notice.

She took a seat at the Big Top’s computer station with its giant array of flat screen monitors. The Big Top was a part of the Ark which had been entirely forgotten by the humans who had constructed the place. Its original purpose was as a backup chamber designed to relieve pressure inside the rest of the Ark. The primary pressure control chamber on the other side of the island was identical, but it was visited by humans too often. That left this forgotten space as an ideal common area where the animals could gather without having to worry about humans stumbling upon them.

“Red Tail never received any tracking alerts while we were out,” Arief began, “but review the security footage anyway, will you, Murdock?” The narwhal had just slipped out of the empty aircraft tank and into the saltwater pool at the center of the Big Top. “Nuk, maybe you can do a quick schedule check and track the whereabouts of staff.”

Nukilik sighed. As ready for a cleanup as she was, Murdock was right: this couldn’t wait. There could be no surprises when it came to the whereabouts of the few humans who ran the island. She typed in the name of Dr. Caitlyn Fellows, as well as her primary assistant, Felix Gooding, into the search bar of the spyware program they used. “No hits since we last left,” she reported. “And the poo-bots aren’t logging any behavior anomalies for our habs. Looks like no one noticed our absence.”

“Great,” Arief said while dragging a hose over to Red Tail’s fuel tank. “Now head on up to the medical bay and scrub down. And we’ll get you fully x-rayed and stitched and bandaged.”

“Look at all that blue and purple. You look like a monster from a Pixar movie,” chuckled Murdock. “I’ve got your code name for our next op: Sulley.”

As usual, Nukilik had no idea what Murdock was referring to.

“Murdock!” sniped Arief. “Get on the feeds.

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