Dedication
To the Friends of the Rain Forest
You know who you are!
Prologue
Field Director Missa Volk stared over her lab table at Edrad Dennison when he burst into her hut, waving a sheaf of documents. The quondam main office of the LabCor field research unit was strewn with datacubes and tapes, amidst imperfectly squared pillars of plastic printout sheets. Moving with remarkable grace for such a big man, Dennison threaded his way hastily through them to thrust a handful of documents at her, narrowly avoiding upsetting one of those pillars. Uneasily, she took the papers.
“Here!” Dennison exclaimed. “You wanted proof. Here it is. Our marvelous experiment to benefit humanity—all warm-blooded creatures—has all gone horribly wrong. I told you so, dammit, and you’ve paid no attention. But now I have evidence. You must pay attention to that.” He smacked the top of the sheaf with a huge hand.
Volk eyed him warily, then glanced over the top sheet of the report. In a very patient voice, she said, “You’ve made a mistake, Dennison. There’s nothing wrong here.”
“Nothing wrong?” Dennison asked, disbelievingly, his wiry eyebrows nearly touching in the center of his face. “Look at that.” Leaning forward, he flipped the first page out of her fingers and pointed to the second. Volk recoiled from his thrust, then read the paragraphs he indicated. “I’ve supplied full calculations. I’ve given you charts, figures, again and again. There are significant discrepancies between our projections and the actual results. It is no mistake. The nanomites have approximately double the effectiveness we estimated, and are running completely out of control. We’ve got to stop everything to search out and destroy the ones that have gotten away. What happens when they reproduce?”
“Nonsense,” Volk said lightly. She handed back the sheets, waving away the suggestion of discrepancy with her long, slim hand. “Everything is perfectly under control, Ed. In fact, I’m pleased with the progress we’ve been making.”
“What?” Dennison stared at her.
“You heard the director,” said Morganstern, a man of medium height with a powerful stocky build and deep tan skin that made him look as if he were made of polished teak. He leaned forward over the table. “There’s nothing to clean up or fix.”
“No,” Dennison insisted. “We have to …” His booming voice trailed away and he stared. “You’re stonewalling me, Missa. This is a dangerous matter. You can’t just let this go. We have to get help from somebody, now!”
Volk stood up. Dennison, towering above her, seemed somehow less substantial a being. “Ed,” she said, long suffering evident in her voice, “do you want to jeopardize our grant? We’ll never reach the next contract stage with LabCor if we start making waves about something that just isn’t that important.”
Dennison gaped. “Is that all you can think about, money? In that case, I’ll have to go to the Inspectors General myself.”
“You can’t,” Morganstern protested, shocked.
“I will.” The scientists glared at one another across the table. Volk was the only one who looked calm.
“Ed, Lionel, please. Don’t you believe in our project? When we started out, you were one of the most energetic supporters we had. Don’t deprive us of your help.”
“I don’t care what else you say,” Dennison said, crossing his arms across his chest. “It isn’t going the way we planned. Things have changed. We have to report this situation to the Galactic Environmental Protection Association and LabCor and ask for help. You can’t let this project run out of control. People will die if you do.”
“People will die if we don’t continue with our work,” Missa Volk said. “They die every day. You know that. Isn’t it part of the problem?”
“Yes, but this time it’s going to be us! And what about the rest of the colony? And the ottle population? We’re visitors on their planet.”
Missa Volk narrowed her green eyes at him. “You’ll do what I tell you, Ed. Everything is fine, under control. You step outside this group with classified information and I’ll see to it that you never create a more significant chemical reaction than mixing baking soda with vinegar. I am in charge of this project!”
“Then do something!” Dennison exclaimed. He pounded the table with a fist. Volk stared at his hand. “Dammit, people will die if you let it run unchecked. Here, I’ve documented all the instances where human subjects have been exposed to overdoses of the nanomites. You’ve seen for yourself what’s happening to them. Don’t pretend you haven’t.”
Volk eyed him coolly. “And just what is it you want me to do?”
“Stop the project,” Dennison said flatly. “Withdraw the remaining doses, isolate the ones we know about, and start policing the area for any leaks where the natives might have been exposed.”
“Out of the question,” Morganstern spoke up. “LabCor will be sending an inspection squad out here within the month. We can’t risk any appearance of impropriety.”
“Impropriety?” Dennison exploded. “Look, if you’re not going to do something, I will. I’ll blow the whistle.”
“How dare you?” Morganstern demanded. Volk grabbed her assistant’s arm.
“No,” she said to Dennison. “You do what you have to do. If you feel that you’d rather jeopardize the grant for fifteen of your fellow scientists, destroy our project, our careers and standing in the research community—our dreams—you go right ahead.”
“You’re damned right I am going ahead,” Dennison said, and strode with much dignity out of the hut.
“What are you doing?” Morganstern asked Volk in a harsh whisper. “He’ll be on the net in two minutes, pulling down a medical inspector. We can’t afford exposure. Our contract calls for absolute confidentiality …”
“Don’t worry,” Volk said. “I saw this coming. Hampton tipped me off days ago that Ed was getting edgy. I have already anticipated his attempts to send a message to the Galactic Government. The lines are cut off and they’ll remain off until I’m good and ready to restore them.”
“And after that? We need those comm lines, too. He can wait a day or two before bringing chaos down on our heads.”
“After that?” Volk said grimly, her lips pressed together. “Dennison won’t be in any shape to send a message.” She raised her eyes to meet Morganstern’s and nodded significantly. He looked surprised, then after a moment’s consideration he nodded back slowly, as if entranced. “See to it,” she said.