Talina glanced at Valdez. “Given the data in Aberash’s armor, we’ve got a general idea where we’re heading. That’s about a kilometer to the south.” Tal pointed. “That’s off the bedrock, in what we call deep forest. The trees are huge, one hundred to a hundred-fifty meters high. It’s going to be dark, the root mat’s thick. This is unknown territory. Whatever killed your friends will probably still be out there. Our job is to figure out what it is, and if it’s a threat to Southern Diggings. That’s all our job consists of.”

“Roger that,” Valdez said. She was a young woman, looked to be in her early twenties, short-cut black hair, said her family came from Colombia back on Earth.

“No matter what,” Muldare told her, “you don’t shoot until you’re told. Doesn’t matter if it looks like you’re about to die, you wait for our order.”

“You got it, Sarge.”

“Sarge?” Dek asked, checking the charge on his ornately engraved rifle for the fourth time.

Muldare grinned inside her helmet. “Inside joke, Dek. They started calling me that when we were training. Said I was like a clap trapping drill sergeant.”

Talina ensured she had a round in the chamber, then slung her rifle. “We get through this, we’ll have Kalico make it permanent. Come on. Let’s go. We don’t have that long before dark, and we want to be back before then.”

Talina set off down the slope, soil and rocks sliding under her feet.

Down in her gut, Demon was squirming. She could feel Rocket, tense as a compressed spring as he rode on her shoulder.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“Dangerous,” Rocket’s voice came from just behind her ear. “Unknown.”

Talina glanced at Dek, saw that he, too, had a grim set to his expression. He was murmuring under his breath. Meant he was talking to his quetzals, too.

As they entered the forest, it was to wind past a curtain of vines hanging down from above. Talina pulled her knife, ready to slash at anything that tried to snag her, bite, or attack. Then, with the barrel of her rifle, she pushed the closest—a frilly blue-green thing—out of the way. The only reaction was a scurrying of chittering invertebrates as they fled up the stem.

Stepping past, she led the way onto the root mat.

“Sure wish Flute was here,” Dek said nervously.

“That makes two of us,” Muldare agreed as she stepped out to the side. “Let me take point, Tal. I’d rather that anything we encounter hit my armor first. Trust me. There’s things here you won’t recognize.”

“You got it,” Talina said, letting the marine pass.

“Who’s Flute?” Valdez asked.

Dek told her, “Our quetzal.”