Anna searched higher. “So the returning sunlight stirs them back to life?”
“Or the freshening of their food source.” Elle waved to a swirling cloud of gnats and buzzing flies. “The Arctic, even here on the ice cap, is not a lifeless void. In fact, it’s notoriously buggy. Just try walking through the Alaskan tundra. The mosquitoes alone will suck you dry. Out on the ice cap, decaying algae, rotted fish, and the bodies of dead seals, walruses, birds, even polar bears, all attract hordes of ravenous insects.”
“Is that what we’re smelling?” Harper asked. “Dead animals?”
“Yes and no,” Elle answered. “It’s thesarkophágosthemselves that are giving off that scent, wafting it through the cracks up there, using the reek of decaying carcasses to attract their insect prey.”
“But how can they survive in all that scalding mud?” Jason asked. “I’m sweating even standing this close.”
“Their stalks must have some crystalline protection. Incorporating silicates or carbonates. I wager thesarkophágosget additional sustenance from that mud, too, as it constantly refreshes this cavern, rising up from down deep. Maybe the species even incorporates photosynthesis during the summer months.”
“Still, that’s not all that feeds them,” Seichan interjected, as she pointed to one of the hillocks of rock.
Jason shifted a step to get a better look. He wished he hadn’t. And it wasn’t just that one spot. As if washed up onto distant shores, bones accumulated along the edges of those islands like driftwood, all covered in a sulfurous silt blending with the rock. He recognized the horned skulls of caribou and muskox. The tusked remains of a walrus. There were also human skulls, many dozens if not hundreds. Along with cages of ribs, long femurs, chains of vertebrae.
“Clearly those big animals didn’t venture down here on their own,” Seichan said.
Even Elle looked stricken. “The caretakers must have beenfeedingtheir garden, too.”
“What about the bodies back at the camp?” Harper asked. “The dried growths sprouting from those mummies looked a lot like what’s planted here.”
“Maybe that’s the danger everyone warned about,” Elle said, looking worried now. “Maybe their spores can be contaminating, spreading seeds into fertile soil.”
“Into us?” Anna asked.
“Possibly any warm flesh. But I don’t see any germinating bodies at the moment. Maybe only at certain times of the year does the species become dangerous. Such an action might serve to spread the species, utilizing a host to carry those germinating spores to other lands.”
“If so, no wonder it was deemed hazardous,” Gray said. “If this escaped and spread...”
“It would be the very definition ofinvasiveininvasive species.”
“And the men back in that camp?” Harper pressed.
“While their flesh might have fed that early growth, without sunlight, without access to insects and other nutrients, the rest eventually withered away.”
Seichan turned from the sight. “We should get back up. We’ve wasted enough time. There is no way out this way.”
Elle hung back. “We’re still missing something.”
She motioned to a pair of copper boats to the left that Jason hadnot even noticed. There were also a bunch of corked water jugs and sets of thick leather clothing draped over a copper rack, including little caps.
Jason realized the outfits matched what the tiny figures had worn in the plant-extraction diorama.
Elle waved over at the collection of gear. “Clearly the Hyperboreans harvested this field to concoct their medicinals. They must’ve found a way to live in harmony with this species.”
“It’s something we can explore later.” Gray waved for her to follow. “First, the world needs to know about this place. About the wonders and dangers hidden down here.”
She nodded and turned away with clear reluctance.
Jason remembered the duty assigned to him. He lifted his camcorder and edged down the bank, dropping to a knee. He studied the digital viewfinder as he scanned over the fetid field. He zoomed in on the closest plant, a yard or so away. He filmed its shivering movement, its lolling fleshy lobe.
Gray scolded him, “That’s enough. Let’s—”
The catch in the commander’s voice was the only warning.
Through the viewfinder, he captured a snap of movement. A vine shot out, like a striking snake. It hit Jason under the angle of his jaw as he jerked back. Something stabbed deep—it felt like the sting of the largest murder hornet.
He fell back as the vine dropped to the stone. It writhed for a moment, then slowly retracted toward the plant. It left a crimson oily trail across the stone, dribbling from its thorny tip.
