“How’s Frank?” Nate asked, dragging his attention around.
“What’s wrong?” Kouwe said, seeing his face.
Nate shook his head. He wasn’t ready to talk yet. “Where’s Kelly?”
“Outside, speaking with Sergeant Kostos. We came down here to report in and make sure everything was okay. Then we’ll head back up again. How are things down here?”
“The Indians are keeping their distance,” Nate said, standing. He moved toward the door, staring at the sinking sun. “We’ve finished setting up the treehouse as our base. Manny and Private Carrera are scouting the area.”
Kouwe nodded. “I saw them crossing back this way just now. What about communications with the States?”
Nate shrugged. “Olin says the whole system is corrupted. But he believes he can at least get the GPS to read true and broadcast a signal. Maybe as soon as tonight.”
“That’s good news,” Kouwe said tightly.
Nate recognized the tension in the other’s voice. “What’s the matter?”
Kouwe frowned. “Something I can’t exactly put my finger on.”
“Maybe I can help.” Nate glanced to the laptop, then unplugged the device from the solar cells. With night approaching, juice would not be flowing anyway. He checked the laptop’s battery and then tucked it under his arm. “I think it’s time we all compared notes.”
Kouwe nodded. “It’s why Kelly and I came down. We have our own news.”
Again, Nate saw the worried look on the professor’s face. As Nate stood up, he was sure his own expression mirrored Kouwe’s. “Let’s get everyone together.”
The pair ducked out of the cabin and into the late afternoon sunshine. Free of the stifling cabin, they felt almost chilled by the slight breezes. Nate crossed over to where Kelly and Sergeant Kostos were talking. Manny and Carrera had joined them.
A few steps away stood one of the Ban-ali tribesmen. It took Nate a moment to recognize him. It was their guide from earlier. He had washed off the black camouflage paint, revealing brown skin and a crimson tattoo on his bare chest.
Nate nodded to Kelly as he stopped beside them. “I heard that Frank is doing better.”
Her face was pale, distracted. “For the moment.” She noticed the laptop under his arm. “Were you able to learn anything about your father?”
Nate sighed. “I think everyone should hear this.”
“It’s time we put a plan together anyway,” Sergeant Kostos said. “Night is coming.”
Kouwe pointed to the three-story dwelling in the towering nightcap oak. “Let’s get everyone up to the dwelling.”
No one objected. In short order, the group mounted the long ladder and headed up the tree. Tor-tor remained below, on guard. Nate glanced down as he climbed. The jaguar was not alone down there. The Ban-ali tribesman stayed at the foot of the ladder, plainly assigned to their group.
Reaching the top of the ladder, Nate climbed onto the decking of the abode. The entire party clustered on the deck or stood inside the doorway to the lowermost level, a communal room. Above, the two other levels were a honeycomb of smaller, more private chambers, each with its own tiny deck or patio.
The tree house had clearly been some family’s domicile, commandeered for their use. Personal touches abounded: bits of pottery and wooden utensils, decorations done in feathers and flowers, abandoned hammocks, tiny carved animal figurines. Even the smell of the place was not the deserted mustiness of the tiny cabin, but the subtle scent of life. Old cooking spices and oils, a hint of bodily odors.
Anna Fong crossed to him. She had a platter of sliced figs. “One of the Indian women dropped off some supplies. Fruits and cooked yams. Bits of dried meat.”
Nate remembered his thirst and took one of the moist fruits, biting deep into it, juice dribbling down his chin. Wiping his lips with the back of his hand, he asked, “How’s Olin doing with the GPS signal?”
“Still working on it,” she said in a hushed, scared voice. “But from the amount of swearing, it doesn’t sound good.”
Kostos raised his voice from the doorway. “Everyone gather inside!”
As he stepped aside, the party moved into the common room. Inside, Nate saw the other platters of food. Even a few pails of a dark liquid, smelling of fermentation.
Professor Kouwe examined one pail’s contents and turned to Nate in surprise. “It’s cassiri!”
“What’s that?” Kostos asked from the doorway as he closed the flap.
“Cassava beer,” Nate explained. “An alcoholic staple of many native tribes.”
“Beer?” the sergeant’s eyes brightened. “Really?”
Kouwe scooped up a ladleful of the dark amber liquid and poured it into a mug. Nate saw bits of slimy cassava root floating in the pail. The professor passed the mug to the sergeant.
He sniffed it, nose curling in disgust, but he took a deep swig anyway. “Ugh!” He shook his head.
“It’s an acquired taste,” Nate said, scooping a mug for himself and sipping it. Manny did the same. “Women make it by chewing up cassava root and spitting it into a pail. The enzymes in their saliva aid in the fermentation process.”
Kostos crossed to the pail and dumped the contents of his mug back into the pail. “I’ll take a Budweiser any day.”
Nate shrugged.
Around the room, the others sampled the fare for a bit, then began to settle to woven mats on the floor. Everyone looked exhausted. They all needed a decent night’s sleep.
Nate set up the laptop on an overturned stone pot.
As he opened it and turned it on, Olin looked at it hungrily, his eyes red. “Maybe I can cannibalize some circuitry for the communication array.” He shifted nearer.
But Nate held him off. “The computer is five years old. I doubt you’ll find much to use, and right now its contents are more important than our own survival.”
His words drew everyone’s attention. He eyed them all. “I know what happened to the other expedition team. And if we don’t want to end up like them, we should pay attention to its lessons.”
Kouwe spoke up. “What happened?”
Nate took a deep breath, then began, nodding to the open journal file on the laptop. “It’s all here. My father’s expedition heard rumors of the Ban-ali and met an Indian who said he could take the research team to their lands. My father could not resist the possibility of encountering a new tribe and took the team off course. Within two days, they were attacked by the same mutated species as we were.”