I watch as the door closes, and then I turn to my two companions. “These rangers are sounding more and more ominous. You wanted to join them, Marina?”
“I didn’t know they were going to do this, okay? I thought that they protected us. They explore the inland wilderness. They work with the planet. Yes, they’re a little secretive, but…” She shrugs. “I didn’t know. I didn’t make the cut. Maybe I didn’t make the cut because I wasn’t willing to do—” She cuts herself off, but I know exactly what phrase she has let drop. I appreciate her refraining from saying it.
“What did you tell that ranger downstairs?” Cleve asks her. “What did that person know about what transpired?”
“Hmm? I told them that Dr. Gupta died because she couldn’t control the briar beasts.” Marina sometimes has an anxious air about her, and she’s had a rough day, but still… something is a little off in her response. Cleve notices it too and regards her silently as she keeps nervously talking. “Yeah, the briar beasts killed her because she didn’t… And there was nothing I could do.” Her words peter out, and there’s an awkward pause that I don’t have the energy to fill and that Cleve strategically chooses not to.
Then it comes out, with a level of biting vitriol I have never heard from Marina before. “Yes, I let Dr. Gupta die. I could have done something, and I didn’t, okay? She deserved it, and you know it!”
“You’re not wrong,” Cleve agrees. But I’m dumbfounded. It’s jarring enough to know that Dr. Gupta is dead, to have seen her corpse. But Marina refused her medical treatment? That’s disturbing. I understand that she was upset on my behalf, but still… Too many things to unpack today. I cannot process this right now.
“The ranger knows that she was doing some procedure on Mariah, but not exactly what. And not the conditions under which it was done.”
“So what would be that ranger’s incentive to steal one of Mariah’s samples if they didn’t actually know about the project? Do you think that was really a ranger? Because anybody could look like that!”
“I don’t think another person could get access to that kind of equipment. Granted, we have Ayumu’s old set, but it’s incomplete and still packed away. I think it was a ranger and they just wanted to have a piece of the research. Some of them are scientist types, like Dr. Gupta was. Like I wanted to be. They do their own analyses out in the field. I think they wanted to know a little bit more about what Dr. Gupta was up to and how they could use that to help them. But like Dr. Gupta, they don’t ask permission.” She’s quiet for a moment, and then offers, “They have an outpost on the outskirts of town.”
I groan, not liking where this is going. “This is not important enough to go raiding some army compound about,” I object. And then I pointedly add, “Cleve,” to make it clear I do not want him going on my behalf.
“They could’ve just asked for permission!” he grumbles.
“Oooooh! What about craws?” Marina suggests.
“No!” I strenuously object. “I am not going to weaponize craws!” Yes, it’s true we gave tasers to Bluebell and Shroomnuts, but that is entirely different.
“Not to hurt the rangers, to get your samples back,” Marina clarifies. “The rangers will be much, much more cautious about hurting local Chiron life. Note how that ranger did not shoot the briar beast. Not a single bullet!”
“Well, that’s Mariah’s call. We’ll do whatever he wants,” Cleve says, and I relax a little. “But what I was more trying to assess was how much we need to keep an eye out. Like whether or not they were all in on this project, which seems kind of hard to believe. Maybe stealing the sample was more a crime of opportunity. But I do think we need to be on alert, just in case.”
“From how Dr. Gupta talked, I don’t think this is something she was working on with somebody else. It didn’t sound like she wanted to work with anybody else on anything! So I don’t think that we need to be worried that every ranger is going to be out to get me, or anything like that. It sounds like this was just an opportunistic move. Maybe they just want to try to understand what was going on with her. And maybe it’s not nefarious. I… I don’t want anybody putting themselves in any additional danger over recovering a vial. There’s a limit to how much somebody can find out from one vial of fluid anyway.”
“Do you still have contacts within the rangers?” Cleve asks Marina, not prepared to completely let this go.
“No, Ayumu and I applied at the same time, but I didn’t get in. But… what about Bella?”
Oh, now there’s an idea. And one that’s a lot safer than sending craws in. The rangers might not even notice Bella. I mean, she’s been floating about in this room for hours—I assume—but I didn’t see her at all until Cleve nodded at Marina’s suggestion. He confers with the shimmerfly and offers her a bit of plant. After her little snack, a rainbow of colors ripples happily across her wings, and then she vanishes.