Read Online Genesis Plague by Sam Best - Free Book Online

answers
my question,” said Cass.
    I gripped her thigh
under the table, then turned to Maria. “ Polychaeta Loasis ,” I said,
repeating the scientific name she gave the slug. “I’m guessing you think it
shares some connection with the organisms that are found around deep-sea
vents.”
    “I know it
does,” she said with confidence. “ Alvinella Pompejana , specifically.”
    “ Alvi -whatsis Pompe- hoosy?” said Flint.
    “The Pompeii worm,”
continued Maria. “Roughly the same size as our new friend, with several other
striking similarities. It can survive temperatures up to almost two-hundred
degrees Fahrenheit near deep-sea vents.”
    “It’s much hotter than
that in the cave,” said Flint.
    “Which is why we need
to get back there as soon as possible and get a specimen sample,” said Maria.
    Levino stood up and
looked at all of us. “So why the hell is everyone sitting around? Go make
history.”



 
     

     
     
     
    R enfield led the way out of the tent. Levino grabbed my elbow
and pointed after Maria and Cassidy as they walked through the canvas door.
    “Are they going to be a
problem?”
    I pulled my arm out of
his grasp. “You’ll have to ask them.”
    He sighed and relaxed
slightly. I could suddenly see the weight of the situation resting on his
shoulders, and I’m glad – not for the first time in my life – that I went into
research instead of administration.
    “This was supposed to
be fun ,” said Levino. “Discovery of a new species, and God knows what
else! It’s why we got into this field to begin with! And now we’re forced into
a foolish race with the other universities, and against men like that damnable
King, who would take this wondrous creature and twist it toward their own
profit.”
    I figured it wasn’t the
best time to remind him that, technically, we were doing the exact same thing,
albeit under the auspices of the expansion of knowledge. I could see his point,
though.
    “I think,” continued
Levino, “that after this little trip, I may resign my station and go back to
the lab.”
    My eyebrows went up in
surprise.
    “If you’d have me, of
course!” he chuckled as he patted my back. “I tell you Paul, regardless of the
stress this whole circus has dumped on me, I feel more alive than I have in a
long time. You don’t get this kind of excitement sitting in an office, reading
over contracts and insurance policies and fretting about what kind of bowtie to
wear to the university president’s yearly staff luncheon.”
    Another sigh, and then
with a deliberate shift in posture, he re-shouldered the stress he had
temporarily pushed off.
    “Shall we?” he asked,
gesturing toward the exit.
     

 
     

     
     
     
    T he sky outside the tent was dark and foreboding. Low, heavy
clouds pushed their way across the sky. Pierre had said that the category three
hurricane wouldn’t make landfall for another two days, yet it looked as if it
was already on Hawaii’s doorstep.
    “It’s a category four,
now,” said Renfield when I asked him about it.
    He stood at the back of
an off-road SUV, digging through a crate of field equipment.
    “They’ve just suspended
incoming air traffic. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did the same for outbound
flights later this evening, if not sooner.”
    “Are they evacuating?”
asked Levino.
    Renfield nodded.
“That’s the only reason they haven’t stopped all air traffic completely. A lot
of folks have already gone, but there are still plenty left who will just have
to weather the storm. Not to mention the ones who refuse to leave.”
    “What about us?” asked
Flint.
    “If anyone wants to
quit,” said Levino with a smile, “they are more than welcome. Except you,
Flint, my boy. The burden of competence, I’m afraid.”
    “Tell me about it,”
grumbled Flint.
    A knowing look passed
between the group; a silent agreement that we would rather be close to a
potential discovery than anywhere else, hurricane or not.
    “Besides,”