Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

"SO, WHAT DO you think?" said Dr. Jonathan Greyson from the computer screen.

Dr. Riley Stine was on a video chat with him. It was supposed to be a virtual job interview, but it wasn't much like any job interview she'd ever had before. She laughed, shaking her head at the screen. "It sounds amazing," she said.

Dr. Greyson raised his eyebrows. He was wiry, his dark hair pulled back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. He was wearing black-rimmed glasses. "Why do I feel as if there's a ‘but' coming?"

"Well, it's only…" She let out a laugh. "You do know I'm a primatologist, right?"

"Yes, Dr. Stine, that's what we've been discussing," he said, amused. "It's the reason you came to my attention. I know your contributions in Africa were significant, and it's really unfortunate that the money ran out and they couldn't keep the entire staff on. That entire research project was essentially gutted, and it's appalling, in my opinion. I can guarantee you, if you come here, that doesn't happen."

"Right," she said, "because you're swimming in corporate money."

"This project is actually a personal investment by Anderson Scott," said Dr. Greyson. "It's not even related to Harmonia." Anderson Scott was one of those one percenters, an eccentric billionaire who did capricious things with his money, like fund scientific research. He owned Harmonia, a huge website that shipped everything in the world anywhere in the world. "And that's why, honestly, we have to be so tight-lipped about it. If you take the job, I promise that I can fill you in on the rest of the details."

This was why it was a strange job interview. It was more of a job offer , really, and Dr. Greyson was practically begging her to come aboard. He'd spent the first part of their conversation complimenting all her work with chimpanzees and quoting the papers she'd published, like he was her fan-boy or something. It was flattering, of course. She had never met this man, and he knew so much about her theories and research, about the things she was the most passionate about.

She was in a tight spot. She'd been studying chimps in a very large enclosed area—hundreds of acres—that simulated a natural habitat. It had been her dream job. She'd worked there for five years. Then the funding fell through. It was deemed that they weren't uncovering anything new in their research, that all there was to know about chimpanzees was already known, and the entire project's funding was cut down by two-thirds.

Now, she had nothing. No prospects for further jobs and not a lot of savings or anything either. She'd lived onsite in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and so, now, she didn't even have a place to live. She was currently staying in her parents' guest room, at the ripe age of thirty-one.

This job that Dr. Greyson was offering, it was like a dream come true. A steady, hefty paycheck that didn't need to be approved by a committee, and the freedom to work without the typical pressures in her field.

It was only… it wasn't chimps. It wasn't primates.

"I don't know anything about amphibians," she said.

"I do," said Dr. Greyson. "I don't need you for that. I've got the biological side of it all nailed down. That's my expertise. That's why Anderson Scott hired me for this."

"But… what else is there? I don't even want to study salamanders."

"Not a salamander," he said.

"But you said—"

"I said similar," he said. "Honestly, I really wish I could tell you more, but I am bound by an ironclad NDA and until you sign one there is no way I can give you more information."

"Well, I can't agree to this job without knowing what it is ," she said.

"Well, you can't know what it is until you agree to the job." Dr. Greyson had a sort of impish smile. It made him look boyish and even a little attractive.

She shoved that thought aside. She couldn't let that distract her. "You seem very eager for me to come aboard."

"Oh, I am," he said. "And you don't want to turn this down. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. This is discovery on the ground floor, a species we didn't know existed."

"Well, okay, but a new species of salamander?"

He just chuckled. "Would I want you if that's what it was?"

"Why do you want me?"

"Because you have knowledge of what are some of the most highly intelligent and highly social creatures."

She sat up straight. "Wait a minute… you're not saying that the salamanders—"

"I haven't said anything," he said, grinning from ear-to-ear. "Because I'm bound by the non-disclosure. So, I disclose nothing. But you want to see this, Dr. Stine. Believe me, you want to. You want to come here and do this work. This is the find of a lifetime."

A society of salamanders?

Or some sort of amphibians? How could that be? Most amphibians didn't even have internal fertilization. Some species just left their sperm and eggs to mingle as they may in a body of water. Some species, the male left his lying around and the female found it and tucked it up inside. There were a few amphibians that had sexual intercourse that led to internal fertilization. And there were a few that gave birth to live young. But most simply left their fertilized eggs lying around somewhere and went on with their lives. Mammals and birds were highly social creatures, but amphibians? They were one of the least social class of animals.

It wasn't an accepted idea, but it was a strong theory that much of the social bonding that mammals and birds experienced derived from the mother-child bond. Without that, species didn't have the right chemicals to form social connections.

This didn't make any sense.

"All right," she said, her curiosity piqued now. "Send me the contracts to sign."

"That's a yes?" Dr. Greyson's grin somehow got even wider.

She smiled too. "It's a yes."

"Excellent news, Dr. Stine. You're not going to regret this."

TWO WEEKS LATER , Riley was climbing aboard a helicopter bound for the remote site where she'd work with Dr. Greyson. She'd only been allowed to bring two bags, and they were crammed as full as she could get them with all the belongings she thought she could take along.

Even though she'd signed the contracts and received her sign-on bonus (an amount that was much larger than she was used to receiving for work) she still didn't know much at all. She'd tried to initiate another video chat with Dr. Greyson, but he'd been busy and only responded to her via email and text. He was very vague in writing, saying that it wasn't wise to leave a paper trail.

She'd hoped to be able to discuss it on the helicopter, but as she sat down, she realized it was not going to be easy to talk over the sound of the whirring blades overhead. Anyway, the people who'd met her at the airport she'd flown into were all in uniforms that made them look like security guards or army or something. They had guns, which made her nervous.

The man who'd escorted her here had introduced himself as Lieutenant Gary Harris. While she'd been collecting her baggage to meet him, she'd heard him on his phone with someone else, saying that she was "actually not half bad looking, for a scientist chick."

He'd turned and seen her, seen that she'd overheard, and just smirked at her. He didn't even have the decency to look embarrassed.

She did not like Lieutenant Gary Harris.

On board the helicopter was another guard in uniform. This one was a woman named Angela Ramirez. She shook hands with Riley and tried to take her bags, but Riley said that she didn't need a servant. Well, she yelled it over the noise of the chopper.

They had to take a helicopter from the airport because the area they were going to was too remote for any other way in. There weren't roads, just forest, and no navigable waterways either. It was far off from any other sort of civilization, but because it was under the purview of Anderson Scott, it was outfitted with state-of-the art technology, all of it sustainable and green, with a cleared space just for all the solar panels. All of the internet connected to Scott's own internet satellites which he had orbiting the planet. Only a man like Scott could afford to put up satellites just so that he'd have reliable internet wherever he was.

It was beautiful.

She peered out the window of the helicopter at the ground below, and it was like coming back home, to an ancient primordial home, a place that dwelled inside the human ancestral memory. Familiar and yet frightening all at the same time. Civilization has made us soft, she often thought.

Deep down, though, humans were all more resilient than they knew. When push came to shove, humans could fight for their survival. There was a line, one that divided the cushy life of civilization from the life of risk and struggle. For some reason, she liked the feeling of going right up to that line, even the feeling of crossing it. She wasn't sure why, but it gave her a jolt of energy. It made her feel alive, really alive.

She hadn't been happy back in the US, in her parents' comfortable house, where there was always hot water for her shower, where the temperature was never too-hot or too-cold, where everything was easy.

No, she needed a little struggle to feel good about herself. When they got off the helicopter, she filled her lungs with the warm, muggy air, and she looked up at the tall trees dripping deep green leaves, covered with vines and lichens, colorful birds calling to each other, in the branches…

Home, yes.

A new home, unfamiliar, but somehow right.

She was pleased to see that Anderson Scott hadn't gone for some hokey jungle aesthetic with the buildings he'd put up. There was no attempt to make them blend into the surroundings. They weren't made with grass-thatched roofs or anything like that. They were angular and gray, no-nonsense like something from a space station. Everything was lined up in perfect grids and right angles. The area in between it all was a dirt road.

The road stretched up a hill and around a bend.

"That's where the lagoon is and the laboratory," said Angela. "I'll take you up there after you drop off your things in your cabin. If you want to follow me?"

"I have a whole cabin to myself?" The squarish buildings were small, but she hadn't thought that they were meant for only one person.

"Anderson Scott did a lot of studying on what helps productivity and he found that in this sort of environment, where workers own nothing, having a private space is very positive for morale and ultimately to keep workers on task. We all have one. Everyone is the same, no matter their rank or experience," said Angela.

Well, score one for Anderson Scott, Riley guessed.

Her cabin had three rooms. A bedroom, a bathroom—complete with a full-sized soaking tub and shower—and a living room with a kitchenette in one corner. It wasn't huge, but it was well designed, air conditioned, and the high-end attention to detail and decoration made her feel she was staying in a luxury hotel suite. She could get used to this.

She smiled as she looked around. "Yours is just like this?" she asked Angela.

"Similar," said Angela. "They aren't all set up exactly the same inside and they decorate them differently. That's down to not wanting workers to feel like they're living in a dormitory. It should feel personal and homey."

"He's obsessive about detail, Anderson Scott, huh?"

"I guess so. I've never met him."

"He doesn't come here?"

"Hasn't since I've been here."

"And how long have you been here?"

"Three years."

Riley shrugged her pack off her back. "You like it?"

"The pay's good," said Angela. "I sometimes think I'm a token female, just to keep the raging testosterone in check within the ranks of security."

"Yeah." Riley ducked into the bathroom, leaving the door open. She took down her ponytail, which was feeling loose, smoothed her hair back and tied it up again. That was better. "I got a taste of Lieutenant Gary Harris and his opinion of the worth of women."

Angela laughed. "Watch out. You're new. They're horny. And the men outnumber us out here. You'll be the third female employee."

Riley came back out of the bathroom. "Is it… allowed? Relationships between people out here? Seems like a human resources nightmare."

"Well, having settled couples tends to make the workers more satisfied with their jobs, I guess is the thinking. There are forms that have to be filled out, but no one gets punished."

"Spoken as if you've filled out those forms?"

Angela shrugged. "I get horny, too."

Riley laughed. "Well, everyone does."

Angela laughed, too.

"Except most types of amphibians. Or, well, they get urges, but not to go at each other ."

"Really?" said Angela. "How do they, um, get babies, then?"

"Some of the species leave their sperm lying around in the water, and the females just gather it up and fertilize their eggs and then lay them. And some females lay unfertilized eggs and then the males—"

"Right," said Angela, nodding. "I guess I knew that. Sorry."

"You're fine," said Riley. "Can we go to the lab? See these… whatever they are? I assume you've seen them?"

"I think there's just one," Angela said. "And no, I haven't see the lizardman up close."

"Lizardman?" Riley was intrigued.

"It's big," said Angela. "It lives in this lagoon up on the top of the hill. Dr. Greyson thinks it's old, like two hundred years old. He thinks… well, he'll talk your ear off about it if you let him."

"Let's go," said Riley, a little breathless. She didn't know why she was excited about this, not exactly, but there was something about this place, about this opportunity, about all of it. She felt almost giddy.

"Let's go," agreed Angela.

They left Riley's cabin, and two of the male guards were loitering around outside. One was smoking a cigar and the other was just standing next to him. They introduced themselves as Peter Mann and Nathan Robinson.

Nathan was the cigar smoker. He was a head taller than Peter, probably six foot five or something ridiculous. He eyed her. "Well, well, Lieutenant's right, you're nicer looking than we thought you'd be."

Riley glanced at Angela. This was bordering on sexual harassment. Was it normal here?

Peter folded his arms over his chest and leered at her. "Nate, you know you ought to keep that kind of stuff to yourself."

"Sorry," said Nathan with a shrug of his massive shoulders. "Didn't mean nothing bad by it."

"Leave her alone," said Angela, giving them both a withering look. She gestured with her head. "This way."

They took off together up the dirt road that led to the laboratories.

Why were there so many security guards, actually? "How much security do we have here?"

"Oh, there are six of us," said Angela.

"Six," she said softly.

They walked on.

Riley licked her lips. "At my last job, there was no security at all. No one with guns anywhere."

"Right," said Angela. She gave a surreptitious glance around, and then lowered her voice. "Well, the, um, the creature, the lizardman, he…"

"What?"

"He's been violent before," said Angela. "Not while I was here, but…" Her voice got even lower. "I think people died."

Riley blinked at her. Well, this was a thing to be finding out right now, after she was already here. Of course, working with animals in the wild, it was never going to be entirely safe. She knew that there had been injuries with scientists and chimps, but in her position, she and the other scientists had not interacted with their subjects. They'd observed them, named them, watched their struggles and alliances and their children be born, but they had stayed out of sight. It was like a one-sided relationship.

This, it wouldn't be like that, and she supposed she'd known that when she'd taken the job. It was the novelty that had excited her. She'd wanted a new experience.

"So, you guys are here to shoot the research subject," said Riley.

"I…" Angela shrugged. "There are some locals who come in sometimes, teenage boys mostly, trying to steal things. We don't shoot them. We usually give them food and other things and send them off. But Dr. Greyson prefers not to to have to worry with that. And if there are animals—other animals—we can protect the site that way."

Riley nodded slowly.

"Don't tell anyone that I said anything to you about the lizardman being violent. I don't think I'm supposed to know."

"So, then I'm not supposed to know either," Riley said softly.

She looked up at the leaves with their dark green foliage, like a canopy over the road. They still seemed beautiful, but now there was something terrible in their beauty, some inherent threat.