Eighth Fire (19 page)

“They’re not after you are they?”

“No. I see one every few seconds fly out of the
opening ahead, land on the wall and fly off with one of the
bugs.”

“Be very careful. It only takes a few stings to
kill you and hornets are typically very aggressive toward humans.
Whatever you do don’t get into their flight path, stay far enough
away so they can’t smell your breath and do not kill or injure any
of them. Now having said that is it possible to get a look at the
hive?”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Mark inched forward
holding the light over his head. He stayed close to the wall that
the hornets weren’t landing on. “There’s some kind of barrier about
ten yards beyond the opening. It looks like giant ribbons of
cardboard, like the kind old egg cartons are made with.” He looked
up. “I see the opening in the ceiling and that’s where the smoke is
going. I can hear ‘em.”

“All right now. We have to figure out how to get
rid of them. You didn’t happen to pack any bug spray did you?”

“I can just cut my way through; I’m wearing the
bee suit.”

“That bee suit was designed for bees, not
hornets. Hornet stingers are quite a bit longer.”

“I’m also wearing armor.”

“That’d be all right if it were iron, however
it’s a high tech cloth designed to resist cuts and punctures, but
it’s sewn together. A needle will penetrate it by separating the
threads. So will a stinger.”

“I understand. Any suggestions?”

“I’m looking at an inventory of everything you
took with you and it doesn’t look like you have anything that would
work to drive them away without destroying the nest.”

“What about smoke?”

“The smoke canisters you have most likely won’t
work. They’re designed to be nontoxic, although as a last resort
you can use them to set the base of the hive on fire. There is an
off chance a bug bomb might work.”

“I’ll try one.” Mark threw a bug bomb near the
area where the hornets were collecting bugs. It had no effect on
them. “Bug bombs don’t work.”

“I’ve got the people out here brainstorming what
to do and I’m going to brainstorm with you. Hornets react strongly
to smells.”

“Okay. Can we make a smell of whatever eats
hornets?”

“Ducks and skunks eat dead ones. I don’t know of
anything that eats live ones.”

“Bruce Spencer, back at school, developed a
smoke ring gun with a world record range. I can use that to project
different smells at the hornets until we find something that works
and then use a lot of it to drive the hornets away, at least
temporarily.”

“That’s a good idea. Start making your way back
to the guano pit. They should just about have the zip-line up. I’ll
send someone back to the school to see about the smoke ring
gun.”

“I’m on my way back.”

Mark left the duffel bag and the bee suit near
the seesaw trap. Getting back to the guano pit was much easier than
it had been coming. He knew what to expect and which way to go.

When he arrived one of the Native American
warriors was waiting for him on the other side of the pit. The
warrior smiled and said, “Glad you’re close. Just put your foot in
the loop and step up to grab the trolley handles. Press the button
on the right side handle when you’re set and facing the way you
want to go.”

Mark did just that and a moment later he was on the
other side of the pit. He grinned, “That’s great!”

Mark could see that the warrior was wearing a
headset and was standing next to the ledge by a large dolly with
oversized wheels which was tethered to a cable.

“I wish I had one of these in the first
place.”

“If you would have had this kind of equipment,
you would have crossed over the pit and taken the wrong path.”

The warrior sat down on the dolly and said, “Put
your feet in the stirrups, lay down and lock your wrists into the
loops like this.”

Mark did as he was shown.

The warrior said, “Here we go,” and pushed a
button on the top of the dolly.

Mark gripped the loops when the cart started
moving up the slope. A couple of moments later they were at the top
of the pit slide.

A golf cart was waiting for them. Back at the
entrance he saw that the command post had been moved to just
outside the cave. Mrs. Shadowitz started approaching when they
pulled up. She said, “We’re still collecting a number of things.
The earliest you’ll be able to go back in and tackle the hornet
problem is tomorrow.”

Mark was at once relieved and disappointed. He’d
felt sure that whatever he might need to determine how to get past
the hornets would be waiting there when he got back, but on the
other hand he wasn’t delighted with the idea of sleeping amid so
many dangers if he didn’t have to.

“Yes ma’am.”

When she got closer she fanned in front of her
nose with her hand. “And get cleaned up. It seems you have a
predilection for perfuming people, including yourself, with some
pretty peculiar pungencies.”

Mark looked down. “Yes ma’am, I will.

“Ma’am, I’m wondering why we don’t just use
hornet spray?”

“There are many reasons. Aside from the fact
that hornets are beneficial and we really don’t want to kill them
unless it is absolutely necessary, we simply can’t get a sufficient
amount down there to kill them all. We could kill a sizable number
of them, but not nearly enough to matter.”

“How many of them do you think there are?”

“That chimney they’re living in is at the very
least a half mile long and you saw how wide it was. We’re
estimating their numbers in the hundreds of thousands, maybe even
in the millions.

“Another thing is that most of them should be
dead this time of year and they’re not. They’re thriving. We’re
convinced we’ve found an undiscovered species.”

“I understand. How do you think Xocotli got past
them?”

“Good question. We haven’t been able to
satisfactorily answer that yet. The speculation is that the hive
wasn’t this well developed two thousand years ago.”

Mark had no idea how he was going to get past
the hornets, but he also knew it wasn’t impossible. He wondered
what the thing would be that actually worked.

The next morning the command post air was filled
with the smells of breakfast. Mrs. Shadowitz was sitting at a table
sipping a cup of coffee while a blueberry topped bagel sat on a
small plate in front of her. A lot of people were there with some
sort of food or drink in one hand while they walked around checking
various things with the other. She motioned Mark over.

“A number of people came up with an impressive
assortment of ideas and I think quite possibly the best one was
from your friend Nick. It’s a remotely controlled machine with
several functions. We’re going to let you try that one first. If
that doesn’t work we’ll let you try each of the other ideas in
succession beginning with yours, the smoke ring gun.”

She pointed to a stack of duffel bags. “Six bags
full of ideas and gadgets. It could take a week or longer to get
through them all.”

Mark smiled and said, “If I know Nick, I doubt
I’ll have to use any of the rest of them.”

“I hope you’re correct.” She handed Mark a
headset. “Grab the first bag when you’re ready and you can take one
of the carts down. Let us know when you are just past the seesaw
trap.”

“Yes ma’am.” He put the headset on. “Hello.”

A different headset voice from yesterday said,
“Loud and clear.”

Mark looked to his left and waved at the
radioman. “I’ll try not to break this one.”

The radioman waved back. “If you do, there’s a
couple more packed in your bag. These transmit video too.”

“Good idea.”

Mark grabbed the first bag and drove off in the
cart. It didn’t take long before he was back to the seesaw trap.
Someone had left a couple of under car creepers on the ledge next
to the parallel rocks. That made traversing the cramped space
between the rock-faces a lot easier.

“I’m on the other side of the seesaw trap.”

The radio voice said, “The first thing you’re
going to try is a radio controlled vehicle to deliver a plugging
agent into the bottom of that nest. If that proves successful then
you’ll use the vehicle to get through the part of the nest that
blocks the passage. Following that you’ll use the vehicle to scout
and seal the other side of the nest if necessary.”

“Other side?”

“Hornets nests are usually bi-lobed with the
support structure right in the middle. It’s the support structure
that’s blocking the passage.”

“I didn’t know that.” Mark removed the vehicle
and control handset from the top of the bag. “Okay, I’ve got the
vehicle out.”

“There should be a container of canisters.”

They were right on top. “I’ve got them.”

“Find and insert the ones labeled urethane A and
urethane B into their respective A and B compartments on the top of
the vehicle.”

“Okay… done.”

“Turn the vehicle on, drive it under the nest
and fill ‘er up. The right joystick controls the movement of the
vehicle. The left joystick controls the direction of the nozzle,
the lights and the camera. The left trigger activates the
nozzle.”

“Got it.” The vehicle was easy to maneuver into
position by using the small view screen at the top of the handset.
It took less than five minutes to completely plug the bottom of the
nest.

“All right, the nest is plugged.”

“Bring the vehicle back,
remove the spent canisters, find and insert a canister labeled
H
₂
SO
₄
into compartment A. You’ll use that to cut through the
support.”

The bottom center section of the paper support
structure melted away a few layers at a time creating a passage
more than four feet long and big enough for a person to crawl
through. A moment after the last layer dissolved a mass of hornets
swarmed the little machine.

“They’re attacking the machine. I can’t see
anything; they’re blocking the camera. I’ll try backing out.”

“Just leave it there until they give up on it.
I’m pretty sure they can’t hurt it.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’m going to see if I can
see them.”

“Be careful. If they start for you, head for the
water.”

Mark moved to the opening of the pseudo-scorpion
room and held the lantern high. “I see them. They’re all over it
and I sense they’re extremely mad.”

“Mad as hornets you say… Sorry, I couldn’t
resist that. It shouldn’t take much longer before they clear.”

“I don’t know. They’ve formed into a ball and
are buzzing like crazy.” He took his binoculars out. “I’m seeing
smoke… Okay. They’re starting to clear–

An intense burning pain began to spread up his
left forearm. He dropped the binoculars and the lantern. “AWH! I’ve
been stung!”

“Get to the water! Quick! The others are coming
after you! They always swarm where one of them stings a
threat.”

“I dropped the light. It’s broken. I can’t
see.”

“I don’t think it’s broken; they’re almost
indestructible. Anyway, try following the wall back.”

He knew the time it would take to find the lamp
might be all the time the rest of the hornets needed to get to him.
He groped for the wall, found it and started moving back toward the
water, back toward the seesaw trap.

“AWH!” Another hornet punched fire into his
back.

He picked up the pace and
stumbled into the water before he realized he was there and fell
in. He thought,
Oh well, there goes
another headset.

He knew he had to stay under
to keep the hornets from stinging his head but the walls under the
surface were smooth, nothing to grab on to. He thought he’d get
under Mr. Giancoli’s body. That should keep him under; only the
body wasn’t there.
Where’s the body? I
couldn’t have sunk that quick...unless it disintegrated. Maybe it
did sink.

He started swimming down, feeling the wall as he
went. After about ten feet the wall rounded away from him. He
followed it around, back up and surfaced in another room.

The walls, ceiling and floor glowed with a faint
blue-green light and he didn’t know which was worse: the stench of
this room or the throbbing blaze in his arm and back.

For the moment he felt relatively safe from the
hornets, but had no clue what danger the water or this room held.
This room reeked like nothing he had ever smelled. It was almost
enough to take his mind off the pain of the hornet stings.

A voice layered with static came from the
headset. “Mark… Mark, can you hear me?”

“Just barely. I thought I broke this thing.”

“We switched to a water proof model. Are you all
right? Where are you?”

“I was stung twice, but I’m okay. The pool of
water goes under the wall and into another room. The walls, ceiling
and floor are glowing.”

“Ah… I don’t think that’s good. Start using your
emergency respirator and stay put until I get back to you.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea either. Mr.
Giancoli’s body is gone. I think the water is dangerous.” Mark
pulled out the respirator which was nothing more than a plastic
facemask designed to let you breathe just the gas from an oxy-cap
without letting it mix with the outside air. He also pulled out a
penlight.

“Oh. I thought you knew. We were able to remove
the body last night.

“You must be using a small light. I’m getting a
very weak video signal. What can you tell me about the stuff that’s
glowing?”

“It stinks. It’s not very bright.” He touched
the end of the penlight to the floor. “And it’s gooey, like
syrup.”

“Can you describe the odor and the color?”

“The color is a blue-green, more to the blue
side I think, and I’ve never smelled anything like this before. I
can’t describe it.”