She found neither his attitude nor his information helpful. “Why do they come here? What do they want? To catch and dissect us?”

  “No, I don’t think so. They do that sometimes, but I’ve never met a group that came here deliberately. You have to understand, these landings are fairly rare. They have been increasing in frequency lately, but they are still unusual. Maybe once or twice a year they crash somewhere on our planet.”

  “Crash? They always crash?”

  “I believe so, yes. It can look like a landing—but I don’t believe it. They’re trapped here somehow when they come. They don’t want to be here. Of that, I’m certain.”

  Malena wasn’t sure how their motivations could help her defeat them or find Tanner, so she saved the rest of her questions for later. Haak’s answers had been mostly based on hunches anyway. She was willing to entertain them as he was the veteran, but she didn’t accept them completely.

  The visitors had come down on a remote area of Cuba and set up camp with a huge barrier to protect their base of operations. Then they’d rolled out these flying machines to locate and capture specimens. Human specimens.

  They sounded pretty organized to her.

  -15-

  Malena walked to the dead machine. Her boots splashed in the muddy stream. She held her accelerator in her hands, aiming at the metal monster.

  “We have to hurry now,” Haak told her. “They’ll know we knocked out one of their machines. They’ll come to find out what happened.”

  She couldn’t argue with that logic. “What do we do to get through the barrier?”

  Haak pointed to the wrecked machine, which now sat in the water with wisps of hot vapor rising from it. The water lapped at the metal plates and gurgled over the dead claws.

  “If we could get into that thing, and if we could figure out how to fly it, we could use it to go right through the barrier. But we haven’t got the time for that, even if it’s possible.”

  She put one boot on the upper plate and gave it a push. It felt very solid under her heel. It was heavy, and the metal was thick and strong enough not to give a millimeter.

  “Don’t mess with it,” Haak said. “That’s very dangerous.”

  Malena snorted at him. “Not more dangerous than when it was alive.”

  “This is your first piece of broken X, isn’t it? Let me help you live longer. If you ruptured the containment field around the generator—around the element-X container—it could implode and swallow us both. This could even happen now—at any second.”

  She looked at him. “Implode?”

  “Yes, it seems to suck in all matter around it. Have you ever seen pictures of underground explosive tests governments supposedly perform on nuclear weapons? They leave big craters. Big holes. That’s all that’s left after they try to open up one of these damaged systems. A crater.”

  She touched her headset thoughtfully. She frowned. “So, this thing on my head is dangerous?”

  “If the field containing the X were ruptured—very much so. It would open a hole in space. Your head and the upper half of your body would be sucked in instantly. The rest would then counter-react a nanosecond later and the lower half of you would fly apart.”

  Malena took her hand off the headset. Somehow, thinking about it being wrapped around her head now bothered her. It felt itchy, but she resisted the urge to touch it.

  She took her foot off the hull of the crab machine, and Haak sighed in relief.

  “I don’t want you to get the wrong idea,” he said. “These systems are stable when the generators are undamaged. But you’ve definitely damaged this item.”

  Convinced, she returned to the barrier and ran her hand over it again. “Let’s get through it,” she said.

  “Mud has to cover you completely,” he explained, “and it has to stick. Unfortunately, just painting the stuff on isn’t good enough. Have you got the little black egg I gave you?”

  She searched her pockets. She almost panicked for a second, then found the tiny device.

  “Here it is,” she said holding it out to him.

  “Keep it in your hand. Come over here. The mud is very thick in this spot.”

  “What do I do?”

  “Sit down here in this muck. Hold the egg to your chest and squeeze it hard to activate it. Make sure you pull your legs up to your chest first.”

  She frowned in the night and hesitated. “What the hell for?”

  “It will form a cocoon around you. A mini-force barrier. I will fill the cocoon with mud and roll you right through the barrier. It will never know you are inside.”

  Malena felt her face twist in disgust. Fill a cocoon with swamp mud? With her inside? This sounded more than messy.

  The device was a mini field-generator. The cocoon was almost too small for Malena to get her entire body into it. After she managed to crunch herself and her equipment down small enough to fit inside the encapsulating field, she had to stay curled up into a fetal position. Haak told her to touch the top of the barrier with the black stone, and it opened.

  “Thanks,” she said, hearing her voice echo inside the tiny space she was trapped within. “I was about to suffocate in here.”

  “Ah,” Haak said, looking down at her. “About suffocation…that is a very real concern now that we are moving on to the next stage. You must take this canister of oxygen and begin breathing with it. When I submerge you into the mud, it will fill quickly. Do not use the oxygen until you must do so. You only have about four minutes of air. Do not waste it.”

  She stared up at his dark silhouette. Just being in this position, crunched up with her knees against her chest and her accelerator hugged to her shins, she already felt claustrophobic. The process of being submerged in mud, then rolled around while she sucked calmly at her few gulps of air—it was going to be hell.

  “Wait,” she said, “when I get to the other side, how do I get out?”

  “Stop squeezing the egg-shaped thing. It will dissolve the barrier.”

  “How will I know when you’ve managed to push me onto the other side?”

  He laughed. “You will stop rolling like a barrel. Also, you can sense me and my position. I’ll be several feet away, on the other side of the wall.”

  “Okay,” she said, “I’m ready.”

  “You choose this moment to speak lies to me?” he asked, then chuckled again. “No one is ever ready to be buried alive in mud.”

  She didn’t share his humor on the subject. She also didn’t have time to answer as he rolled the egg over so she was on her face. Mud began to bubble and flow into the tight space. She felt panic rising up within her. The liquid was cold and things wriggled inside it. She made tiny sounds of horror and clamped her eyes shut. She pinched the breathing canister in her mouth and held her breath.

  Within seconds, she was coated from head to foot in thick, slimy mud. As he had predicted, she did not enjoy the experience.

  She felt like vomiting when he began to roll the sloshing mess toward the barrier. She thought she felt a strange sensation when she went through the force field. An odd tickling swept over her skin.

  Trying not to panic, keeping her eyes and mouth clamped shut, she drew in panicked little hitching breaths of air from the canister. Her left hand pinched her nose shut, trying to stop the stuff from creeping into her sinuses. Her other hand was clutching the black stone. She’d lost her grip on her accelerator, but could feel it banging around at the bottom of the cocoon, injuring her shins.

  She rolled over once, twice. It felt very strange—sickening. The mud was foul and cold against the bare skin of her neck. She wanted to release her grip on the stone and free herself, but she fought the urge. She had to know if she was through the barrier completely.

  She reached out with her mind, seeking Haak and his collection of trinkets. He was there, a collage of tiny dots of X. She gauged the distance between herself and Haak—it had to be ten feet or more. She must have rolled through the barrier.

  She opened her hand letting the egg sit in her flat palm. She expected the mud to fall away instantly—but it didn’t.

  She waited a second—then two or three more. Nothing. Panic gripped her mind. Something was wrong. Somehow, it hadn’t worked right. The black stone was still maintaining the field around her despite having been released. She dropped it, figuring that perhaps it needed to be out of contact with her skin entirely.

  Still nothing. No change. The cocoon had stopped rolling. She lay on her back, squirming and sucking at the hissing canister. Was she going to die in an alien ball of mud?

  She writhed and slammed her hands against the walls around her. It was all she could do not to gulp mud in panic. She felt around herself, trying to find the stone. When she finally did, she picked it up and pressed it against the wall of the barrier. She’d done that before to open the top and pour mud inside in the first place.

  This trick worked. She could feel it draining out. She used the stone like an eraser, running it around herself. In moments, the entire thing disintegrated. She was left gasping and choking on a pile of crushed reeds.

  When she managed to get one eye open, she looked for Haak. He was there at the barrier, watching her. His dark form was only a ghostly shadow in the darkness. He’d extinguished all sources of light.

  She knew he could see her with those twin stone eyes. She raised her fist and extended one middle finger.

  Haak chuckled. “I see you made it,” he said. His voice sounded muffled, as though she were talking to someone who sat inside a car with the windows rolled up.

  “Yeah, but the cocoon wouldn’t let go. I almost drowned.”

  “It takes a few seconds to dissipate.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me that?”

  “It must have slipped my mind. Now, give me the stone.”

  She stared at him warily. She struggled to her feet, walked to the barrier and touched it. She could feel the thrum of it under her fingertips.

  “What for?” she asked. She wasn’t feeling terribly thrilled with Haak at the moment.

  “So I can get through as you have. The stone will go through by itself. Just toss it.”

  She did as he asked, and he caught it neatly out of the air. She marveled that his night vision could be so perfect. The stones on his eyes were amazing—but she wasn’t sure she would like trying them. The thought of walking around with your eyes shut and using alien artifacts to see the world fulltime made her uncomfortable.

  Haak put the stone in his jacket and turned away. He began splashing away downstream.

  “Hey!” she called, hammering on the barrier with her fist. It made a tiny, thumping sound.

  “I’ll get help,” he said.

  “Aren’t you coming through?”

  He threw his hands wide. She could barely make out the gesture in the blackness. “Who would fill my cocoon with mud for me? Who would roll me through?”

  Malena’s jaw sagged open. She ran her hands over the barrier between them. “How am I supposed to get out of here?”

  “You must find a way. Find the source of the barrier and switch it off. I will be prepared to help when you do. I have another team coming from the Dutch territories to the south.”

  She stared after him. “Are you kidding?”

  “Hurry,” he called back over his shoulder.

  She could barely see him now. He was some distance away and trotting. She couldn’t believe it.

  “They’re coming,” he called. “You should head deeper into the swamp. They won’t expect that.”

  Feeling a sudden bolt of fear, she closed both her eyes and felt for contacts. He was right: there were several machines approaching from various angles.

  She turned around and ran into the dark swamp toward the center of the domed area. She stumbled, splashed and panted with exertion. With every step, she cursed Haak and her own gullibility. He’d trapped her inside the barrier, hoping she’d find a way to turn it off.

  She now suspected she knew why Haak had survived while the rest of his team had perished. He was in this for himself. Haak was the sort of man who always looked out for number one.

  -16-

  Malena realized that Haak had been right about one thing: she didn’t have much time. The buzzing machines closed in before she could run more than a hundred yards.

  Remembering how she had dodged the first alien machine that had hunted her by submerging herself, she headed upstream, looking for a suitable body of water. She didn’t find a deep pool, but she did find a better spot. The stream opened up into a wide, shallow pond. She threw herself down into it and lay there like one of the countless frogs that peeped and stared at her with bulbous eyes. As a side benefit, the water washed some of the sticky mud off her skin.

  The machines came closer. She sensed their approach with the help of her headset. There were three of them. As they drew near, they slowed down. She suspected they were being cautious. Something had taken out one of their own kind at this very spot. They weren’t taking any chances.

  She thought about ambushing them with the accelerator, but she didn’t think she could outgun all three. She thought maybe she’d been lucky the first time when she’d managed to take down just one. This time might be very different. They might swoop close and tear her limb from limb with those flashing claws.

  So she lay quietly on her back in the shallow pond. When they prowled nearer, she put her head down and submerged herself completely, holding her breath. She pulled the canister Haak had given her to her lips and gently sucked air from it when she had to. She realized as she did so that bubbles were being released. She hoped the visitors wouldn’t notice.

  The machines cruised around, circling the area. They were searching on both sides of the barrier. She watched them with her mind and tried to stay calm, to conserve what little air she had. She suspected being submerged threw off their sensory systems. Perhaps she looked like an aquatic life form to them, like an alligator or a manatee. Just one more vague infrared signature.

  Her headset was an advantage for her, as she could watch them and gauge their relative positions accurately. She could see them, but they couldn’t see her.

  After another minute passed, she knew she was going to have to surface soon. Already, the air in the canister was growing stale and when she opened the tiny valve and shot more into her mouth, the bubbles were fewer. It was nearly empty.

  It took about three minutes, but she finally ran out of air. The last metallic-tasting shot of air faded and her lungs burned. Still, she held her breath and tried to remain motionless. She watched the machines, which were now clustered around the one she’d brought down on the far side of the barrier. They were doing something—she didn’t know what.

  Come on, hurry up! she thought to herself. But there was no one listening to her, and she knew Burke couldn’t help her right now if she tried to contact XCU. She held her breath as long as she could, and when she couldn’t take it any longer, she lifted her face up to quietly gulp more air.

  Something was bumping into her left leg, just above the ankle. She hoped it was a fish, but the odds weren’t good. A fish wouldn’t have been so aggressive or determined. After she’d dared put her nose up out of the water three times to take a breath, the thing attacking her ankle gave up.

  She realized what they must be doing when she caught a faint hint of the fourth machine, the one she’d destroyed. They clustering around it and they were all moving together. They were carrying it between them—they had to be. She held still, hopeful her ordeal would soon be over.

  They drifted right over her position, and her heart pounded so loudly in her temples she felt sure they must be able to hear it. But they kept going, heading toward the center of the region enclosed by the barrier.

  Malena stood up slowly. Her left leg was rigid, as the smart fabric had stiffened up. The bumping sensation she’d felt had been something trying to bite her, she figured. She was glad once again for the strange clothing she’d been given.

  She marveled at her suit as she headed after the retreating machines. It hadn’t torn or even frayed at all since she’d been out here. It was muddy, but otherwise it was in perfect condition, as if she’d just put it on back at the XCU base. The suit itself was a miracle and she was grateful to have it.

  After her close call with the machines, she followed them. She moved inland, toward the center of the enclosed area. She stayed near water each step of the way. Her plan was simple if danger approached: she would dive in and hide. She felt more confident now that she had a proven way to avoid the enemy.

  It was only a few miles to the center of the zone, but it took her hours to reach it. She waded most of the way in the wettest part of the swamp, slogging along quietly, pausing to listen and scan her environment with her mind. Sometimes a contact would buzz her position and she would submerge herself until it was gone.

  There was only a few hours of darkness left when she sensed a new contact to her south. She frowned, thinking about it. There was something familiar about the sensation she got there—then she had it. The contact was faint and almost too familiar to stand out. The scent of the sea is easy to pick up when you first arrive at the coast, but once you’ve been there for days it barely registers.

  The contact was the mirror of her own signature. It was a body-suit, like the one she wore now.

  “Tanner,” she whispered to the frogs and waterfowl. They took no notice of her.

  She wasn’t certain it was Tanner, of course. It might have been another team member—or even a pile of XCU agents’ corpses, still in their gear. But from what she saw, the Cubans had been collecting that gear, not the aliens. The visitors were more interested in dissecting people than they were in our stolen tidbits of technology.

  Following the lead because it was the best she had, she turned south and had to leave the safety of the waterways. After another hour, she reached the area and crouched under a twisted tree to observe the scene. There were no machines in evidence as far as she could tell. They were out beyond the barrier itself, cruising around looking for people. They probably figured their barrier made this zone a safe camp, a base of operations they didn’t have to patrol. She hoped that was the case, as it would make her job easier.