Her open mutiny so stunned Dr. Whittaker that Anders was able to get a word in.
“We can’t get far, not carrying Langston. I suggest we move back into the bog where there’s water. True, there isn’t a lot, but fire and water don’t mix.”
“Into the bog?” Dr. Whittaker scoffed. “So we can sink along with the van?”
“While Anders and I have been foraging,” Dr. Calida said, “we’ve located some stable areas-islands, you might say. There’s at least one that’s large enough to hold all of us.”
Everyone fell silent as they contemplated this option, then Dacey spoke up.
“There’s something else we need to consider,” she said. “Smoke. Even if the fire doesn’t reach us, eventually smoke will. Langston is having trouble breathing already. He’s not going to handle poor air quality well at all, even if we rig him some sort of filter.”
“Smoke rises,” Anders mused aloud, “so our tree house will be a weak point then. If we move out into the bog, we’d be at ground level, the fire might go around us, and yet we wouldn’t have to move anything-Langston or Dad’s artifacts-more than a hundred meters or so.”
Virgil nodded. “I like that. You and I are the only ones who have actually seen the fire. I’ll admit, I’m just not comfortable sitting here waiting up in a tree and hoping the fire doesn’t come this way.”
Dr. Whittaker nodded. His hand wrapped around the piece of worked flint he held so protectively.
“Very well. I don’t much like the idea of settling on ground that could give under us at any minute, but hopefully we won’t be out there for very long. Maybe the SFS will finally get its act together and do its job.”
Anders turned away, swallowing a sigh. The SFS was doing its job. He didn’t doubt for a minute they were out risking their lives, fighting that raging crown fire to the north. He also didn’t doubt that they didn’t have time to worry about seven missing people when the lives of so many others were at stake.
“Slow the fire?” Karl said. “We don’t have the equipment to put out a forest fire.”
“Slow,” Stephanie repeated. “Not stop.”
Jessica cut in. “Stephanie, don’t you think we’d do a lot better calling this in to the SFS?”
Stephanie shook her head angrily. “I don’t. Remember what they said when I asked about keeping up the search for Anders and his group? They’re stretched too thin already. The SFS is a great organization, but Jess, look at the map. You’ve been following the updates. The northern fire is now officially a crown fire. Every time they think they have it blocked, some bit skips ahead of the fire line. Hayestown and the Painter settlement are seriously threatened. How do you think the residents of those areas would react if the SFS suddenly pulled out a team saying, ‘Sorry. We’ve got to go rescue a bunch of ’cats’?”
Jessica pushed her lips together in a tight line. “I get it. But do you think just the three of us can do anything?”
“Yes,” Stephanie said. “And it doesn’t have to be just us three. Karl, we’re going to need to figure out where the fire is in relation to the treecat colony. Can you move us away from here?”
Karl nodded, but as he started the air car moving, Lionheart bleeked loudly and pounded at the window with his hands.
When Stephanie-who had been about to make a call on her uni-link-looked down at him, Lionheart very gently moved his paw to press the latch that operated the door. Ever since the treecat had learned how to open them, they’d routinely kept the doors locked from the master control. Stephanie frowned. She didn’t want him to go out there, but…
“Karl,” she said, “unlock the door so Lionheart can get out. I think he wants to get closer to those treecats. Maybe he can tell them that we’re going to do our best to help and not to be afraid.”
Karl bit his lip. “Steph, I’ve been checking and the fire has definitely crossed east of us. He’s not going to be safe out there.”
Stephanie felt her heart twist, as if someone had taken it in two hands and wrung it. Then she looked at Lionheart.
“It’s dangerous out there,” she said. “Are you sure?”
Lionheart bleeked and touched the door latch again.
“Let him go out,” Stephanie said. “He’s a person and deserves that chance to make his own decisions…”
Tears welled up in her eyes as she opened the door so the treecat- her treecat, no matter what she said to others, her best friend-could go out. Air thick with smoke set them all coughing. Lionheart sneezed.
“Be careful,” Stephanie said. “Please, be careful.”
The treecat nodded once, as if he understood every word. Then he stood up and made the “wait” gesture.
“He wants us to wait,” Stephanie said. “So he’s not going to run off.”
Relief washed over her as Lionheart raced to where the ’cats up in the branches were watching uneasily.
Behind her, Stephanie thought she heard Jessica sniffle as if suppressing a sob.
It’s a good thing I can code in without seeing the pad, Stephanie thought miserably as she finished pulling the contact information from her uni-link.
“Chet,” she said. “Where are you all?”
“We’ve just gotten our gear,” he said, “and we’re heading toward my truck to go to the fire line. Christine and I are going out to help, but Toby’s been told he has to stay back in a safe zone and pour drinks.”
“Creeps,” came Toby’s voice from the background.
“Listen,” Stephanie said. “I’ve got an offer for you. It’s a heck of a lot more dangerous, though, so I want you to think carefully.”
“Go ahead,” Chet said. Stephanie had the impression he was angling his uni-link so Christine and Toby could hear.
“We’ve just discovered-as in like five minutes ago-a clan of treecats on the move from the southern fire. We’re going to try to help them get out, ’cause from what I’m seeing here, I don’t think they can move fast enough on their own. Would you come and help? Bring the gear you were issued, especially any bladder bags and shelters. Were you given fire-suits?”
“All of us,” Chet said, “but Toby only got the suit, none of the other stuff.”
“Still, that’s enough to work with,” Stephanie said. “Can you come-and can you sort of ‘forget in the excitement’ that you didn’t tell anyone of your change in assignment?”
Chet’s expression showed that he was aware Stephanie was acting without orders.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked.
“I am,” Stephanie said. She thought about a night three years ago when she had ventured out into a thunderstorm, knowing her parents would not quite approve. “Sometimes it’s better not to ask; that way, no one told you that you couldn’t do it.”
There was a murmur of voices, then Chet was back on. “We’re coming. Christine insists on leaving a delayed message for her folks, but they won’t get it unless she isn’t back by midnight tonight to deactivate it. That’s okay?”
“Fine,” Stephanie agreed. “One way or another, this is going to be over long before nightfall.”
The smoke was thick, even near the ground, but it was choking when Climbs Quickly scampered up the trunk of the tree to join the People who huddled there.
They were younglings, he saw, not kittens, but not much older than a full season’s turning. Knowing how his own Bright Water Clan dealt with such evacuations, he guessed that these had been sent out ahead of the main body of their clan-considered too young to help with evacuating the slower ones, young enough that they might be a danger to themselves as well as to others.
Certainly their behavior showed that assessment had been perfectly accurate. Looking apprehensively over at the air car, they stayed huddled in the choking smoke, blinking green eyes at him as if he were a death fang or snow hunter.
‹ Get down closer to the ground,› Climbs Quickly ordered. ‹ The air is less smoky. What are you doing up there anyhow? Surely your parents taught you better.›