Dale had no choice but to follow.

It opened up once you got past the entrance—indeed, the Beehive was as big as a small warehouse inside—though the ground still squished, and there was a horrific smell of blood, shit, and urine.

Nevertheless, Dale was impressed by the rows of chambers rising around him…all shapes and sizes, from shoebox to piano crate. All but a few gave off enough yellow light to provide illumination. Most were still sealed, their sides encased in what appeared to be thick plastic. Some were newly opened, though, with moist, squishy fragments of the sealant spilling onto the dirt floor. “I don’t remember it being this big,” Zack said.

“All the walls seem to keep changing,” Williams said. “Why should your Beehive be any different?”

“And this section here is all new,” Zack said, pointing to the larger units.

“New in the past four days?” Makali said. Zack nodded. “Well, I guess we know this is an active site.”

“The question,” Wade Williams said, “is why? Is Keanu just creating some kind of Noah’s Ark? Replicating two of every kind of animal?”

“They started with Pogo Downey,” Zack said quietly. He moved off several steps. Downey had been a member of Zack’s Destiny team and was an old colleague of Dale Scott’s. He hadn’t realized that Pogo had died and been turned into a Revenant.

“Does that mean we’ll see that Bynum character again?” Williams asked.

Dale had to remind himself: the man Zhao had gunned down.

“Don’t think such things,” Valya hissed.

At one end of the Beehive, a passage led elsewhere.

“Where does this lead?” Makali said, clearly eager to explore further.

“That was how we entered the Beehive and the habitat from Vesuvius Vent,” Zack said. “Allowing for the fact that it all might have changed, there’s a decent-sized tunnel that runs probably twenty-five meters to a kind of airlock. We called it the Membrane.”

“I have to see this,” Makali said. Without waiting, she vanished down the other passage. Zack said, “Maybe some of us should wait here.”

“Great,” Dale said, “I vote for anyone but me.” It wasn’t a sense of adventure that drove him; it was the desire to walk on dry ground.

He caught up with Makali quickly. And Zack was right behind him.

The tunnel was just like the Beehive proper, only smaller. There were yellow chambers here, mostly small ones, though not all. And no inactive or recently opened ones.

Zack said, “These weren’t here before.”

After two mild turns, they reached the end of the passage. There were chambers here, too, at least a dozen of them, all human-sized, all open. What drew Dale’s attention, though, was a shimmering curtain that seemed composed of plastic bubbles.

“This is the Membrane,” Zack said.

“What’s beyond it?” Makali said.

“Vacuum. A big passageway, the base of Vesuvius Vent. A ramp and the surface.”

“And the wreckage of Venture and Brahma,” Dale said. Zack didn’t react.

Makali approached the Membrane, reaching out for it. “Is this all right?”

“I don’t think you can hurt it by touching it. Or vice versa,” Zack said.

“Too bad we don’t have EVA suits.”

“We’ve got pieces of one,” Dale said. “But, seriously, what good would it do?”

“Well,” Makali said, “just for science, I’d like to get another look at that Marker Zack and Pogo found on their way in. We got imagery, but we didn’t get close to solving it. And I think it held a lot of important information.”

Dale tuned out of the conversation. His eye had been drawn to a chamber a few meters back…the largest in this part of the tunnel.

As he watched with paralyzed fascination, the yellow side bulged and split, unleashing a torrent of fluid that spilled on the ground—and revealing a large snake-shaped creature that seemed to be wrapped in oilskin. “Zack!” Dale shouted.

The creature immediately began thrashing around like a cat in a bag. Now Dale saw that it had appendages—four short ones. It was vocalizing, too, though the cries were muffled.

Zack arrived, with Makali a step behind. “Give it room!” he shouted.

Dale retreated back toward the Beehive proper. Williams and Valya had come to investigate. “Stay behind me,” he ordered.

The creature scraped its hands or feet on the wall of chambers, and savagely rubbed its head, too, peeling the covering from its mouth and eyes. Dale wondered what damage and pain the process caused—

But such concerns vanished when he recognized the creature. “Is that a fucking crocodile?”

The general size, shape, and snout suggested so. The animal flopped on the ground, writhing again, working to continue peeling away the covering.

It gave Zack a chance to slip past, joining Dale, Williams, and Valya. “Makali,” he said. “Come on!”

Makali was slow to react. “Don’t study the fucking thing,” Dale said. “Get over here!”

Before she could reach them, however, the creature roared and snapped to attention.

It looked at Zack, dismissed him, then, long tail swishing, turned toward Makali. “Give it some room!” Zack shouted.

Easier said than done, Dale thought. Especially since the croc started slithering toward Makali.

The Aussie woman retreated, but Dale knew she didn’t have a lot of room…and she had no way out. “Please do something!” Valya said, grabbing Dale’s arm.

In fact, they had nothing, could do nothing, except stay several meters behind the croc—which was now making terrifying guttural noises—as it stalked Makali.

Zack was looking at the various pods around them. “Goddammit, about half of these look ready to pop—”

“We can’t leave,” Dale said, wishing with all his might that they could.

“Why is Keanu doing this?” Valya said.

“Who knows?” Dale said. Valya’s tendency to whine and moan was the major reason he had stopped seeing her, a close second only to his desire to sleep with younger women.

Zack was grim. “Dale, I want you to call Harley Drake. Let him know, uh, he’s got a lot of company heading his way.”

Dale had just reached for the Tik-Talk when he and the others heard a horrific thrashing from down the passage. “Oh, God!” Valya said.

“Shit.” Dale could see Zack steeling himself. Then he plunged forward, on the trail of the croc and Makali. Dale followed. It was dangerous and stupid, but better than hanging back and doing nothing.

When they reached the end of the line, the passage just this side of the Membrane, they saw the rear half of the croc, still in its flaking second skin, sticking out of a large Revenant pod.

Fresh fluid covered the ground…and in the middle lay a large wrapped-up creature that could have been a cow or a big dog. It wasn’t moving, though. “Where is Makali?” Zack said.

“I’m guessing inside that chamber,” Dale said. “She probably ripped it open, pulled out what was inside—”

Valya and Williams reached them. All four crowded against the farthest reach of the passage as the croc suddenly thrashed its way out of the open pod, tail whipping so close to Dale’s face that he felt the breeze.

The croc uttered a series of snorts and snaps and then, to Dale’s amazement, turned away from them and skittered up the tunnel, heading away from the Membrane and toward the Beehive proper, and likely the habitat beyond.

Zack was already diving into the damaged chamber, calling, “Makali!”

But only for a few seconds. Covered with slime, he backed out of the chamber, gagging and gasping for breath. Valya and Dale used their shirts to wipe his face.

“Is she in there?” Williams said.

“Didn’t see her. It opens up, but it’s dark and filled with…” He didn’t need to finish the statement: filled with fluid.

“What happened to her?” Valya edged toward the chamber and gingerly stuck her head in. Like Zack, she couldn’t tolerate more than a few seconds.