Part 9 (1/2)

Kelsey thought for several long seconds. ”Didn't you say the military was attaching tiny radio transmitters to bees? What about doing that?”

Alyssa considered. ”Yeah, I guess you could,” she said. ”Good thinking.” She paused. ”But there are other problems, too. In real life, when someone is missing, the police take one of their dirty socks or something and have a bloodhound smell it. Then the bloodhound begins tracking them. But the bees don't know they're supposed to swarm around any scent you put under their noses, just the scent they've been trained with. So are you going to spend a week or two training them to swarm for each particular person? By the time they're trained it will be too late.”

Kelsey frowned. ”How come we didn't think of that before?”

”Probably because it was a cool idea and we were amazed that it was working. I mean, the project will still be awesome. But not awesome enough. The judges will see the problems with using this in real life.” She shook her head. ”There's another thing we should have considered. You can load a bloodhound into a car and drive it fifty miles away, but how are you going to do that with an entire beehive?”

”So ... what are you saying?” said Kelsey in disappointment. ”That we shouldn't finish the project?”

”No. We should still do it. The judges will still be impressed. It's just that we have to come up with a second part. A part using individual bees, like they did at Los Alamos. We have to think of some other cool thing we can train them to do.”

”Like what?”

”I have no idea,” mumbled Alyssa. Then she brightened. ”But I did find out today that Ryan Resnick knows a lot about conditioning,” she said. ”I'm thinking of asking him to help.” She paused. ”I think you know his sister, Regan.”

Kelsey nodded.

”What do you think of her?”

”She's nice. Real friendly, but kind of weird in a way, too. I can't really explain it. And she seems to know a lot of things I don't think they teach in school.”

Interesting, thought Alyssa. Ryan's sister sounded a lot like him. These two were definitely unique. For some reason a TV show popped into her head in which a brother and sister from another planet were attending school on Earth. Nah, she thought, they weren't that odd.

”I know what you mean,” said Alyssa. ”Ryan can be a bit strange sometimes also. But still, I think I ...” She paused for several seconds. ”I think I like him.”

”Like him, like him?” said Kelsey.

Alyssa smiled. ”Yeah,” she admitted. ”A lot, actually.”

”Really?” said Kelsey with tremendous interest. She raised her eyebrows. ”Do you think he can really help the project?”

”Maybe. He doesn't think the same way everyone else does. Maybe that's what we need.” She paused. ”I'll ask him for ideas and see what happens. In the meanwhile, we can practice training bees one at a time. I got a bunch of them from Mr. Grace on my way home from school. They're in the refrigerator.”

”The refrigerator?”

”Yeah. If you lower their body temperature they become dazed, so you can strap them into tiny harnesses without them getting away or stinging you. By the time we get back they should be numb enough for us to work with.”

”By the time we get back from what?” said Kelsey.

”From our experiment. Like I said, it still makes sense to finish our project like we planned.”

”What's the point? Isn't it too late now?”

”Maybe,” said Alyssa. ”But it's supposed to stay in the high fifties until about seven o'clock tonight. If it gets too dark for this to work, so what? We'll still get some practice for tomorrow and have a nice hike. I hate this house. The less time we spend in it, the better.”

Kelsey nodded. ”Yeah. You can say that again.”

”Let's get out of here,” said Alyssa, rising from her chair. She and Kelsey left the kitchen and began gathering what they would need for their immanent test.

A few minutes later they heard a surprised shriek coming from the kitchen-from their grandmother.

”Alyssa,” she shouted angrily just after her scream had stopped. ”Could you come here for a minute?”

Kelsey turned toward her sister and grinned. ”Let me guess,” she said. ”You didn't tell Grandma about your new pets.”

Despite being in a bad mood, Alyssa laughed. ”Uh-oh,” she said, rus.h.i.+ng off toward the kitchen. Her grandmother had lived a long time, but Alyssa was willing to bet she had never found forty bees in the fridge before. ”Coming Grandma,” she shouted, a broad smile still on her face. ”Whatever you do, make sure you don't eat any of those. I need them.”

CHAPTER 16.

From Bad to Worse

Regan listened as her parents discussed strategies for rescuing Ryan. But as clever as they were they could think of no way to cross the glowing molten sea. Finally they gave up.

Regan had never seen her father cry, but he did on this occasion. His son was in grave danger and he was powerless to help him. Her mother just became strangely silent and her eyes burned with a frightening rage.

Thirty minutes later the predators returned.

One by one they came, until more than a dozen different species were represented. Along with the gray wolf-things they had faced there were armored creatures, clawed creatures, and creatures with eight-inch fangs. There were reptilian creatures the size of hippos with heads crowned in twenty-inch spikes. Carnivores that lumbered like bears but had the faces and teeth of a Tyrannosaurus rex. Hairy spider-creatures the size of small dogs that shot bolts of electricity at the barrier. Tentacled animals with razor sharp claws at the end of each of their ten snake-like arms. Brightly colored creatures that expanded like accordions and shot poison at the barrier from glands on their throats. Large, furless predators with kangaroo-like legs whose powerful kicks would surely have broken through the barrier had not the electric shocks discouraged their attempts. Animals with powerful tails ending in ma.s.sive b.a.l.l.s of thick bone that could be used as devastating clubs. And even animals that launched projectiles, like porcupine needles, from slots in their heads.

And every single one of them had a common goal: get inside the barrier and kill anything human. The approach of nightfall did nothing to discourage them and their growls and roars and hisses and clicks and screeches and snarls were unrelenting. Each tried to throw themselves through the glowing green barrier and each received a harsh shock for their efforts. This seemed to only make them that much more eager to reach the humans.

Miguel and Cam were still lying on the ground about twenty yards from the rest of the expedition. The group thought leaving them alone, away from loud voices and at a range that wouldn't tempt them to weaken themselves by contributing to any conversations, would be helpful as they began to recuperate. And they were right, especially since the remaining, healthy members of the expedition were at each other's throats. Their endless bickering was loud, and savage in its intensity.

Regan knew the team was falling apart, just when they needed each other the most. Her father was detached, as if he didn't care anymore, and her mother was more combative than Regan had ever seen her, sticking up for her husband and family.

Strangely, the wildlife seemed to ignore Cam and Miguel. The predators focused on the main group. None of the a.s.sorted beasts tried to throw themselves at the barrier near the two members of security. Only when Amanda Resnick brought them food and checked on their bandages did a number of the snarling beasts peel themselves away to stalk that part of the barrier-leaving as soon as she did.

Regan wanted to check in on her brother in the worst way. But she was afraid of distracting him at just the wrong moment. That was the last thing he needed. Besides, he had said he would contact her to report.

She lifted her yellow and black backpack and wandered to the opposite end of the s.h.i.+eld to be alone. She plopped down on the ground and pulled a small white wrist.w.a.tch from the front pocket of the nylon bag. It showed the time in Pennsylvania. A place to which she would never return.

She frowned and thought of Ryan once again as the incessant arguing between the adults became even louder.

She would wait five minutes, no more. Then she would contact her brother.

CHAPTER 17.