They looked up at the sky, and then at the rock slide for a while, and then they turned their backs on us, and returned to the interior of the cave.
Still Mae did not move. She had been motionless for almost a minute already and in that time she hadn't even blinked. Now the men were gone, and-
Another figure came around the corner. It was David Brooks. He moved awkwardly, stiffly at first, but he quickly became more fluid. I had the feeling I was watching a puppeteer perfect his moves, animating the figure in a more lifelike way. Then David became Ricky. And then David again. And the David figure turned and went away.
Still Mae waited. She waited fully two more minutes, and then finally withdrew the camera. She jerked her thumb, indicating we should go back. Together, we crept away from the rim, back down the mound, and moved away silently into the desert night. We gathered a hundred yards to the west, near our vehicles. Mae was rummaging in her backpack; she pulled out a clipboard with a felt marker. She flicked on her penlight and began to draw.
"This is what you're up against," she said. "The cave has an opening like this, which you saw. Past the bend, there's a big hole in the floor, and the cave spirals downward for maybe a hundred yards. That brings you into one large chamber that is maybe a hundred feet high, and a couple of hundred feet wide. Single big room, that's all. There are no passages leading off, at least none that I saw."
"That you saw?"
"I've been in there," she said, nodding.
"When?"
"A couple of weeks ago. Back when we first started looking for the swarm's hiding place. I found that cave and went in there in day-light. I didn't find any indication of a swarm then." She explained that the cave was filled with bats, the whole ceiling covered with them, packed together in a pink squirming mass, all the way out to the entrance. "Ugh," Bobby said. "I hate bats."
"I didn't see any bats there tonight."
"You think they've been driven away?"
"Eaten, probably."
"Jesus, guys," Bobby said, shaking his head. "I'm just a programmer. I don't think I can do this. I don't think I can go in there."
Mae ignored him. She said to me, "If we go in," she said, "we'll have to set off thermite, and keep doing it all the way down to the chamber. I'm not sure we have enough thermite to do that."
"Maybe not," I said. I had a different concern. "We're wasting our time unless we destroy all the swarms, and all the assemblers that are making them. Right?" They both nodded.
"I'm not sure that'll be possible," I said. "I thought the swarms would be powered down at night. I thought we could destroy them on the ground. But they're not powered down-at least not all of them. And if just one of them gets past us, if it escapes from the cave ..." I shrugged. "Then this has all been a waste of time."
"Right," Bobby said, nodding. "That's right. It'd be a waste of time."
Mae said, "We need some way to trap them in the cave."
"There isn't any way," Bobby said. "I mean, they can just fly out, whenever they want." Mae said, "There might be a way." She started rummaging in her backpack again, looking for something. "Meanwhile, the three of us better spread out."
"Why?" Bobby said, alarmed.
Chapter 18
"Just do it," Mae said. "Now get moving."
I tightened my backpack, and adjusted the straps so it wouldn't rattle. I locked the night-vision goggles up on my forehead, and I started forward. I had gotten about halfway to the mound when I saw a dark figure climb out into the night.
I dropped down as quietly as I could. I was in a thick patch of sagebrush three feet high, so I was reasonably well concealed. I looked over my shoulder, but I didn't see either Mae or Bobby; they'd dropped to the ground, too. I didn't know if they'd separated yet. Cautiously, I pushed aside a plant in front of me, and looked toward the mound. The legs of the figure were silhouetted against the faint green glow. The upper body was black against the night stars. I flipped down the goggles, and waited a moment while they flared blue, and then saw the image resolve.
This time it was Rosie. Walking around in the night, looking in all directions, her body vigilant and alert. Except that she didn't move like Rosie, she moved more like a man. Then after a moment, the silhouette changed into Ricky. And it moved like Ricky. The figure crouched down, and appeared to be looking over the tops of the sage. I wondered what had brought it out of the mound. I didn't have to wait long to find out. Behind the figure, a white light appeared on the western horizon. It grew rapidly in brilliance, and soon I heard the thumping of helicopter blades. That would be Julia coming from the Valley, I thought. I wondered what was so urgent that she had had to leave the hospital against orders, and fly out here in the middle of the night.
As the helicopter approached, it switched on its searchlight. I watched the circle of blue-white light as it rippled over the ground toward us. The Ricky figure watched, too, then slid down out of sight.
And then the helicopter roared over me, blinding me for a moment in the halogen light. Almost immediately it banked sharply, and circled back.
What the hell was going on?
The helicopter made a slow arc, passing over the mound but not stopping, then coming to a stop right above where I was hiding. I was caught in the blue glow. I rolled onto my back and waved to the helicopter, pointing repeatedly toward the lab. I mouthed "Go!" and pointed away.
The helicopter descended, and for a moment I thought it was going to land right beside me. Then it abruptly banked again, and moved away low to the ground, heading south toward the concrete pad. The sound faded.