The Reckoning (The Earthburst Saga Book 8) by Craig A. Falconer

Author:Craig A. Falconer [Falconer, Craig A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-09T00:00:00+00:00

30

“Laika no speak. Right, Ray Ray?” the little guy asks as we all head towards the stairs.

“Not unless I ask you to,” I reply. “And definitely don’t reply to anything Porro or Loobnar say. We don’t want these aliens to know any of us can understand them without Maya’s help. At least not yet.”

“Okay,” he squawks. We’ve already been over this, but if anything I’m glad he brought it up again. There’s no harm in being sure.

At the bottom of the stairs, Porro is already standing with the others when we get down.

“I have his ECD,” Santino states, holding it up. “I’ve switched it off, too. Ray, Driver, do you have yours in your pockets? You’ll need them for the automated lens translations to work. The range is fairly short, so if you leave them here and walk more than a little way from the Vita, you will lose connectivity.”

“Got ’em,” Driver replies. “Good looking out, though. Are all you guys ready in case we call you out? Simone, do you have a vial of Bayzen water on hand? Like we talked about, for if we want to demonstrate it to the aliens or test it out for ourselves on anything we find here?”

Santino and Clyde nod, both looking very focused and in-the-zone, while Simone replies by holding up a small vial of Bayzen water.

This is the first I’ve heard of having some ready, but I don’t dislike the idea. If there are any instances of larval sludge or even spores on Eden, somewhere our specially equipped cameras haven’t yet seen, it will be illuminating to see whether the water works here. There’s no logical reason it shouldn’t, but there’s not exactly an abundance of logic underlying the insectoid-spewing sludge in the first place.

What I’m less sure about is this talk of a demonstration. There’s not a lot of time to talk now with Loobnar rapidly approaching the Vita, but I do think it’s worth addressing this.

At the risk of sounding like a Loobnar-like dictator, I share a simple instruction: “Simone, don’t show anyone the water unless I explicitly ask you to. That goes for everyone, okay? Don’t do or say anything that gives these aliens any information we haven’t agreed they should have.”

“I just asked her to have it ready if we do want to use it for anything,” Driver says. “We’re all on the same page here. Cards close to our chests, all the way. We’re here to ask the questions and we’re here to get the answers.”

We really are on the same page, and everyone knows it.

There has long been an unspoken understanding between me and Driver that in the face of a disagreement, I’m ultimately in charge when we’re on solid ground and the reverse is true when we’re in flight. The others tend to look to us as a decision-making duo, but here on Eden we’re both going to be looking to Maya and Porro for a lot of insight and understanding.

All of that is to say this is no one-man show.

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