"Okay," he said. "One last question. How can you tell if you're close to a snake when you can't see it?"
Her eyes narrowed. "You… you can…"
He waited patiently. From the corner of his eye he saw Takakura's hard gaze trade between the two of them. Then Bobbi Jo replied, un-intimidated, "I don't know, Mr. Hunter."
A nod, and Hunter tightened the strap on the rifle. "You can lead with me." He turned to Takakura. "Just keep your men far enough back not to mar tracks before I can study them. Is that good enough for you?"
Takakura nodded. "Most acceptable. But we shall remain close, in case of a confrontation."
"Let's go," Hunter said to Bobbi Jo, and moved down the slope. She was close behind him, placing her steps carefully. They were halfway to the base when she spoke again.
"So how can I tell if I'm close to a snake?"
Hunter lifted his head to the forest.
"It tells you."
Chapter 5
As they descended the slope it seemed unseasonably hot — a blinding sun blazing in a sky beyond blue — and Hunter felt his blood whitening with adrenaline as he tracked claw marks on stone.
By the time he and Ghost reached the base of the ravine he had already regressed to a pure and primal state of being. He was only dimly aware of Bobbi Jo moving quietly a few steps behind him.
He knew the others were farther back, letting him do his job, holding him with a measure of contempt because they believed no one could do this job as well as the military. But it was enough that they moved without speaking because animals — including their prey — would instantly pick up the alien sounds. And in this terrestrial environment the sound of a soft human voice would have the same effect as a shotgun blast.
No, they had to move as silently as possible if he was going to pick up anything from the forest itself. But he felt slight reassurance because of Takakura s presence. The team leader seemed ready to give unqualified cooperation. For now.
At the base of the slope, Hunter raised a hand and Bobbi Jo stopped, crouching quietly. Then Hunter himself crouched, studying the muddy ground, measuring its solidity, its composition, water-grade level — a dozen elements that would reveal to him a great deal more when he found this things prints.
Overall there was little growth in the area, only scattered vegetation. Scanning, he found a slight pool of water as large as his foot. But only one: a single depression. He placed a hand down to feel the slight ridges concealed by the muddy water.
It was the right age for a track; maybe a day. But the water had already eroded what was important so he would have to go without a direction. Bobbi Jo was moving so silently behind him, despite her boots, that he had almost forgotten she was there. He turned, motioned for her to move to the left, and he moved to the right. Together, twenty feet apart, they entered a long, wide glade covered with tall grass.
It took Hunter five minutes to find the second track angling on slightly higher ground. But it, too, was in poor condition from drainage. It was covered with leaves and he almost missed it but for the deep slicing of claw marks left in the harder soil. Those had not been eradicated by the storm and remained readable.
He turned, looking still and straight at Bobbi Jo, waiting to see if she would peripherally catch his sudden lack of movement, and she did. Slowly, she turned her head and he nodded once.
Not having sight or scent of prey, Ghost roved close behind him, sniffing, searching unsuccessfully.
Hunter moved up the slope and bent to study the old track. He was feeling a slight frustration. There was one long row of a forward pad with claws digging deep for traction, and what resembled the impression of a human heel. The next track on the slope — the left foot — was more than twenty feet away.
This thing had leaped twenty feet with a stride.
No way…
No way that it could have done that…
Even a tiger would have had trouble covering more than five feet on this slope. And it gave Hunter pause, forcing him to recheck, to make sure he hadn't missed anything. But after careful study he was certain. No, the forest doesn't care what you want or what you want to believe…
Clearly this thing had leaped twenty feet.
Hunter tried to convince himself that it was only a temporary strength induced from the overflow of adrenaline that had been coursing through its system at the time. And when Bobbi Jo came up close, he moved forward again. He still couldn't identify the print, but knew it wasn't anything he had seen before.
Maybe something he never wanted to see.
At the Tipler Institute of Crypto-zoology and Paleontology, Rebecca Tanus and Gina Gilbert stared side by side, hands resting on chins, at the plaster cast that had been couriered to them by a military official. The cast, almost sixteen inches long, rested on the table. Their faces only barely concealed the fact that they were profoundly confused.
Rebecca, laboratory director until the return of Dr. Tipler, sighed. "I have a doctorate from Cambridge in ecosystems, a master's in paleontology. I graduated first in my class in historical geology and molecular theory of fossilization. I've spent a year at the most prestigious institute on earth under the tutelage of the greatest paleontologist of our age." She paused, her face only inches from the cast. "And I don't have the foggiest idea what this is."
Gina said nothing; silence lengthened.
With a quick breath that blew a lock of auburn hair out of her eyes, Rebecca continued, "Good grief, Gina. I don't even know where to start." She pondered it, tapping a foot. "Well, it looks human. But it has five non-retractable claws. So, it has claws, ergo — it's not human."
"No," Gina mumbled. "It's not human. But, then, it's not an animal. Because it looks human."
"Uh-huh," Rebecca murmured. She began tapping the table. "So…it's not human. And it's not animal." Her smile had no humor. "I guess that doesn't really leave us a lot to consider, does it?"
Again, silence.
"Okay." Rebecca roused herself. "Let's try and think like the doc. When he can't identify a fossil, he categorizes it according to the number and shape of appendages, size, location, and age. He places it in a category or phylum and begins to find its family. Then he works down from there. Usually it's a related species of some determined genus we're only vaguely familiar with."
Gina joined in. "Okay. Let's do that. Species: Homo sapiens. Age: One week old."
Silence.
"Well, that didn't really get us very far," the older woman mused. "Look at these." She pointed with a pencil. "Those are five single claws. Big ones, too. Five clawed appendages on what appears to be the foot of a species related to Homo sapiens. Not too likely. So what other species has five appendages?"
Gina didn't really need to think. "Well, there's Homo-habilis, Homo erectus. Then there's apes and big cats and bears — grizzly, Kodiak, brown and black — and, oh, most of the lower terrestrial mammals like wolverine, raccoon, chipmunk, squirrel, porcupine—" Her voice assumed a droning tone. "Then there's beaver, mink, skunk, badgers—"
"Okay, okay." Rebecca cut her a glance. "I got it already."
Neither spoke for a while.
"This is what we'll do," Rebecca started. "We know what it isn't, right? So we'll begin at zero and assume it's an unknown species."
"Like the old man does."
"Yeah, like Doc does. We'll take this and run a phosphorescent scan on it for any tracings that might have been picked up by the plaster. The plaster is already contaminated, so unless we find an actual hair or trace of hemoglobin, we'll never get a DNA trace. But let's look for it anyway. We'll start at the top of the list and work down. Then we'll worry about classifying it."