I’d said the last sentence casually, without thinking, but Fian answered in a harsh voice. ‘That’s the obvious answer.’
I felt sick. ‘Please no. It’s hard for us Earth kids when we hit the Year Day that makes us 18. Hospital Earth does their best to prepare us for it, but it’s still frightening leaving Next Step forever and knowing we’re totally on our own. Some go a bit wild. Some panic. There’s the occasional one who can’t cope and … But why would Joth do that? He’s got a real family. If he’s not happy here, he could go home, or portal to any one of hundreds of worlds.’
Fian didn’t reply, because a voice spoke on the broadcast channel, finally telling us the news we’d been waiting for. ‘This is Dig Site Command. We’ve pinpointed a definite human life sign in the rainforest. Asgard 6 survey plane, you can return to base.’
I took over control of the plane and flew back towards our dome. On the way, I spotted a transport sled driving along the edge of the rainforest, and made the instant decision to rapidly sideslip off some height and land by it. As soon as we were on the ground, I opened the cockpit and Fian and I jumped down and chased after the sled. It stopped for a second to let us climb aboard. I saw Krath was driving, while Playdon, Amalie and Dalmora were sitting on the bench behind him.
‘Joth’s somewhere southeast of our dome,’ said Playdon. ‘We’re driving east along the rainforest edge, and then we’ll have to leave the sled and go due south into the forest on foot with Dig Site Command guiding us.’
Fian and I swapped our hover tunics for hover belts, while Playdon turned to unlock a box that was sitting on the seat next to him.
‘There are original African animals in the rainforest, as well as some deadly genetically salvaged species,’ he said. ‘We’ve got impact suits to protect us, but Joth doesn’t. I’m carrying a gun, and Jarra and Fian can have guns as well. Amalie, Dalmora and Krath, you’ll bring the hover stretcher and a cover.’
‘Guns.’ Dalmora’s voice sounded grazzed.
I wasn’t surprised that Dalmora was shocked. As a tag leader, I routinely used tag guns to fire electronic tags at rubble that needed shifting, I’d even been trusted to use the dangerous laser guns to cut ancient girders into pieces, but those were just the standard tools used in archaeological excavations. Playdon had never given any of us actual weapons before.
I was Military now, and any fighting was my job, so I took the gun Playdon handed me and attached it to my impact suit. If Playdon thought Fian and I had been trained to use weapons, he was wrong, but I’d only fire the gun if I had to, and I’d make totally sure that no one was between me and my target. I knew Fian would be equally careful.
Krath stopped the transport sled, and Playdon did some checks with a small hand sensor before leading the way into the trees. We were all using hover belts set to maximum height, floating above the tangle of undergrowth and fallen branches. I gave one quick look upwards, at the dizzyingly tall trunks of forest giants and the canopy of leaves high overhead. Where the occasional patch of sunlight found its way through the foliage, it seemed startlingly bright in contrast to the dimmer light below, and I hastily dropped my eyes to concentrate on the obstacles ahead.
‘If an extinct species was dangerous, why was anyone idiot enough to genetically salvage it, let alone let it loose in Earth Africa?’ asked Fian.
‘They did it before Exodus, as part of the Primeval project,’ I said. ‘There were zoos you could visit and see extinct species. They didn’t have enough people to keep them running at the end of Exodus century, so the keepers released the animals. I understand they didn’t want to leave the poor things to starve, but it caused a few problems.’
‘I bet it did,’ said Fian.
Progress became easier as we went deeper into the rainforest. It was darker here and I realized the thick mass of leaves above was blocking the light and starving the new growth on the forest floor. The massive silvery trunks told me these trees were almost all Griffith hybrids, but occasionally we passed a spot where one of them had fallen and true rainforest species were growing to take its place.
The forest seemed almost as safe as the tropical bird dome back in Zoo Europe, but that was an illusion. Our hover belts kept us above the occasional pools of stagnant water. Our impact suits made us immune to insect bites, stinging plants and thorns. Joth would have been blundering through here on foot, an easy target for dire wolves or scimitar cats.
A sudden swaying of leaves overhead had me looking up and reaching for my gun. There was something big up there, but it seemed to be running from us rather than planning to attack. I turned to watch the shaking branches as it moved away, and noticed a distinctive turquoise patch high up on one of the silvery tree trunks.