“Like I told you before, Administrator. Anything out of the ordinary crops up, you’ll be the first to know.” As he turned, she had a brief glimpse of the tech crew he was working with before he clicked off. They were all human.
Something small and beige was smacking against her window, trying to get inside. A pensive glance showed a creature the size of her open palm. It had multiple translucent wings, a stout sausage-shaped body, and a single large compound eye stretched across its front. Yellow splotches decorated the smooth abdomen. It had no thorax or neck and no visible legs.
The third smack was hard enough to prompt the window to respond with a small defensive electric charge. Stunned, the would-be intruder drifted backward, hovered a moment in the damp air, and then whirled around to whir back into the trees and the rain. She continued to stare at the place where it had vanished. Mulling over its disappearance unexpectedly prompted a new line of contemplation.
Sentients, like the native fauna of the Viisiiviisii, were always moving in and out of the forest, their paths and purposes often concealed by the vegetation and the constant rain. The Fluvan varzea was an excellent place in which to hide methods and motives. Suppose the Deyzara weren’t behind the sabotage of the two missing skimmers? Suppose another party, knowing that Deyzara technicians had worked on both craft and also aware of the involvement of Deyzaran-run companies in exploring a certain section of the southern Viisiiviisii, decided to exploit that knowledge to make it look like the Deyzara were responsible? Who would benefit from such a deception?