“Right,” my father said. “So, we return with the masks, and then investigate what’s going on here.”
We fell into a tense silence as we sat down and rummaged through our bags for our water canisters. We took deep gulps, along with a few bites of the nuts and dried fruit we had brought with us, to help regain our strength, and then donned our backpacks once more and prepared to climb back down the ladder.
I was thankful at least that the mist in this area wasn’t yet thick enough to affect us. Then I shuddered at the thought that a few hours from now, it could be.
We had to be quick.
As my uncle took the first step down the ladder, and I waited in line, I stole one last look at the sky behind us, at theghostly green shadow of roiling mist. And that was when I noticed something else.
A black dot in the sky, hovering quite close to our level—perhaps less than a quarter of a mile away. I would have brushed it off as a large bird almost immediately, were it not for its glinting surface.
“Hey,” I said, staggering back and grabbing the arm of the first person within reach—Jessie. “What’s that?” I murmured, jerking a finger toward the object.
My uncle stalled his descent down the ladder and climbed back up as the whole group turned to look where I pointed. My father stood frozen for several seconds, squinting at the object through the sunlight, and then held his breath and took a step closer to the edge of the platform. I moved next to him, watching as the thing grew closer.
“Is that a… drone?” my uncle whispered, coming to stand behind me.
My face scrunched in confusion. “Huh? Look at the size of that thing. There’s no way that’s a drone!”
My uncle shook his head, his eyes darkening. “I’m not talking about a drone bee. I’m talking about adrone. It’s tech they had in the old world—there’s a section about them in one of those ancient TechNow magazines at the back of the library. A piece of flying, unmanned machinery.”
As it drew closer, I realized what he was talking about. Its surface was dark and metallic, its shape smooth and cylindrical. It made a dull whirring sound, and now I could make out two bright red lights fixed to the front of it, reminding me eerily of eyes.
I heard my father’s breath hitch as the thing came to an abrupt stop about ten feet in front of us. We stood still, staring at it, and it almost felt as if it were doing the same.
Then my father’s hand closed hard around my shoulder. “We need to get away from it,” he breathed.
The fear in his voice shook me. I wasn’t sure what went through his mind but my instincts screamed at me to do the same:Run.
FOUR
We racedback to the ladder and scampered down. The moment our feet hit the ground, my father and uncle darted for the nearest shelter. We crept under the branches of a cluster of small trees, keeping as low to the ground as we dared, given the venomous ants that swarmed beneath the brush.
Suddenly my father stopped and held out a hand. The rest of us stilled too, holding our breath and listening for the telltale humming of the drone.
All I could make out were the sounds of the jungle—bees buzzing, birds chirping, monkeys squabbling. An inconvenient cacophony of noise. The sound of the drone had been soft even up above the treetops. It felt like we had no chance of detecting it down here.
“Stay there,” my father whispered, then crept away from the copse of trees until he reached an opening. He carefully peered upward toward the high jungle ceiling. His eyes darted around, squinting, for what felt like an eternity, before he crept back to us.
“I can’t see it. I don’t think it’s followed us down here,” he whispered.
“Why would it follow us down here?!” Jessie asked, alarmed.
My father shrugged, running his tongue over his lower lip. But I understood. I might not know anything about drones, but I had gotten the distinct impression that the thing had sensed us. After all, it had flown in our direction and then stopped right in front of us. When we ran, I had just assumed that it would follow.
“Let’s get out of here,” my uncle said, loosening his collar and taking a deep breath.
We crept back out into the open, where my eyes immediately shot upward, scanning the canopy and confirming the absence of the drone. Perhaps it had no interest in us after all, and we had fallen prey to paranoia again, in assuming it might?—
“Wait,” Robert whispered suddenly.
We all whirled to look at him. My eyes followed his gaze to a tree about twenty feet away, and I gasped.
Sitting atop one of the branches was the dark, cylindrical object.
I quickly realized how my father had missed it. The drone was perfectly still, perched like a sitting bird. Strange metallic feet had sprouted beneath it and curled around the branch, keeping it in place. Its lights were no longer glowing, and if it weren’t for the subtle trickle of sunlight glancing off its sleek surface, I was pretty sure nobody would have spotted it.
“What is it doing?” my aunt whispered.
