“Thanks, Juri,” Kalico called, rising and stepping to the side. “Here, Inspector General. Juri will hold. You can get out of your seat for a closer look.”

As the shuttle hovered a hundred meters above the waves, the view through the side window was of crystalline water so transparent the spotty patches of vegetation could be seen where the reef lay so closely beneath the surface. Even as the IG pressed against the glass, a long torpedo-like shape raced across the rounded bulk of the Maritime Unit’s sialon hull. It lay on its side, perhaps seven or eight meters below the surface, and just at the edge of the dropoff where the water turned a most remarkable deep and translucent blue.

“You say that the slime ate the duraplast pylons?”

Kalico pointed. “You can see where the foundations were drilled into the reef. Life on Donovan has evolved a carbon polymer as an analog to terrestrial bone. So, yeah, most Donovanian life can digest duraplast. The Maritime Unit disregarded what they called algae. Made the mistake that it was like algae back on Earth. What they didn’t get was that the green slimy stuff was intelligent, and it wanted the Maritime Unit for its own purposes. You can see a bit of it, especially around the windows. That’s the green moss-like stuff.”

“You’re telling me there’s an intelligent organism living inside that sunken station down there?”

“We could seal you in a hostile-environment suit and drop you down there on a cable, if you’d like. Your choice, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Even if we got you back, there would be decontamination, and even then it’s not a sure thing that you wouldn’t be somehow compromised.”

“According to your report, you tried to salvage the station?”

“Brought two shuttles out, but it was already collapsed. And after what we learned from the boy Felix’s body, we’re not sure that any kind of recovery wouldn’t end in an unforeseen disaster.”

“But you don’t know for sure? With the combined lift from additional shuttles available from Turalon, you might still—”

“Inspector General,” Kalico said pointedly. “Look down there and pay attention. You are about to make the same mistake I and the Maritime Unit made. You’re underestimating the threat posed by the slime. See how easy it is? Like the rest of us, you’re thinking it’s just a simple algae.”

“Perhaps.”

“If that’s your take away, Inspector General, you’re already doomed.”

“But I—”

“Supervisor?” Juri jerked around in his seat. “Got a call from Two Spot. It’s that guy, Chad Grunnel? They just brought his body into the hospital. Raya confirms, he was murdered last night.”

Kalico took a breath and glanced at the IG. “But then, not all deadly life forms on Donovan are indigenous.”

Chapter 31

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