Cobra Guardian: Cobra War: Book Two Read Online Free Page B

settled in, she knew, the micewhiskers would be right behind them, and before long it would take a Cobra to clear them all out.
    Luckily for Jody and her two teammates, they had one. "Have I mentioned lately how grateful I am you came along on this trip?" she asked her father.
    "Once or twice," he assured her. "I was just trying to think of that poem. ‘Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em. And little fleas something something.' "
    " ‘And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum ,' " Jody quoted. "Except that on Caelian, the whole process seems to work backwards."
    There was a double thunk as the airlock door one room over opened and closed, and Jody turned to see Geoff Boulton and Freylan Sonderby walk into the room. "Okay, the house is all scraped," Geoff announced briskly as he brushed at some dust on his tunic sleeve. "Ready to head out as soon as--" He stopped as he suddenly seemed to notice the odd way Jody and her father were standing. "What is it?" he asked.
    Paul gestured silently to the floor. Geoff threw a look at Freylan, and the two young men crossed to Jody's side.
    For a moment no one said anything, but simply stood in their semicircle staring at the dead insects as if it was some sort of funereal viewing ritual. Then, Freylan stirred. "It's the southeast corner," he said. "There's a flange up there that I've never thought looked quite right."
    "And you didn't do anything about it?" Geoff asked, a dark edge to his voice.
    "I thought it was all right," Freylan said with a sigh. "It looked solid enough, just a little oddly shaped."
    "What did Governor Uy tell us when we first got here?" Geoff demanded. "Odd shapes, odd fittings, and odd colorations are the first signs of trouble. Blast it all, Freylan." He waved a hand in disgust. "Come on--show me where it is."
    "You won't be able to reach it," Freylan said, a sort of kicked-dog look in his eyes as he headed back toward the door. "The step stool isn't tall enough. We'll have to find a ladder we can borrow."
    "I can get up there," Paul volunteered. "Let me finish with my tunic and I'll go with you."
    "Go ahead," Jody said. "I'll finish your tunic."
    "What, go out in my underwear?" Paul asked, sounding vaguely scandalized as he gestured to his silliweave singlet.
    "People in Stronghold go outside in their underwear all the time," Jody growled, warning him with her eyes. This wasn't the time for jokes.
    Fortunately, he got the message. "We'll be back in a minute," he said. He gestured Freylan ahead of him, and the two men left the room.
    "I'll do that," Geoff growled, holding out his hand as Jody picked up her father's tunic. "You've got your own to do."
    "I've got it," Jody said firmly, half turning and bumping his arm aside with her shoulder as he tried to take the tunic from her. "You go make sure the packs are ready."
    "Are you mad at me for telling Freylan he screwed up?" Geoff demanded. "Damn it all, Jody, this is Caelian . You screw up here and you get eaten alive."
    "Yes, I remember the lecture," Jody said as she started scraping the bits of green off the tunic. "I also remember that none of us has exactly been the pride of the litter as far as screw-ups are concerned."
    "We've been here eleven days," Geoff growled. "Screw-up incidence is supposed to be on a downward curve by now."
    "It is," Jody said flatly. "And jumping down Freylan's throat isn't going to flatten the curve any faster."
    Geoff hissed between his teeth. "You're sorry you came along on this fiasco, aren't you?"
    "I didn't say that."
    "But you're thinking it."
    Jody didn't answer, but kept working at the tunic. There wasn't supposed to be anything organic in the material for the little green spores to eat, but as the wind blew the spores themselves through the Caelian air, it also blew along microscopic bits of their food.
    And as her father had pointed out, letting even harmless spores get ahead of them was the first step on the road to disaster.
    "I said