"Good-bye." "Enjoy your stay." "The foundation for whom I work supports a botanist... named Robert Campbell, once of some note." "But on separating from his wife and longtime research partner, he'd withdrawn his station deeper into the bush." "Until last month's message, no one had heard from him in three years." "He asked for an assistant and a gas chromatograph... and pointedly refused to say why." "I'm surprised they sent a woman." "For Dr. Campbell." "Please, don't lose it." "Wait a minute." "Aren't you coming?" "I'm afraid he was adamant about that." "Tanaki will guide you from here." "Wh-- Come on, you." "Go!" "Yuck!" "Come on!" "Whoa." "Careful." "Are we here?" "Huh? Okay, ready?" "Here you go." "Indian? Oh, boy!" "Who are you?" "Who am I?" "Who are you?" "I asked you first." "You're Dr. Campbell, right?" "I know who the hell I am." "I'm asking who you are." "Crane." "No, no, toucan." "No, that's my name." "Toucan?" "How odd." "Crane." "Dr. Rae Crane." "I do wish you'd make up your mind." "Where'd you go?" "Maybe it's best we talk in the morning." "This is from Ornega." "How about a place to sleep?" "Ornega?" "Are you from Aston?" "He sent you?" "I tell you they sent a girl." "They sent a girl?" "Yes." "I'm not a girl!" "The hell you're not." "I'm your research assistant." "The hell you are." "Where's your mask?" "I don't have a mask." "I just got here." "No one comes in here without a surgical mask." "God knows what bugs you're carrying." "Jahausa, get her a mask." "This is as close as we get, Tonto." "Not for me, you hussy, forthe Indians." "Hussy?" "Hmm." "One outsider coming in here with a common cold can decimate an entire tribe." "And what about your shots?" "What about a place to sleep, goddamn it?" "To sleep?" "Sleep?" "Oh, sleep." "Well" "Yes, of course, please forgive me." "No need foryou to leave 'til tomorrow." "I must tell you how grateful I am." "I've been waiting forthese." "They get lost in the forest, you see." "The forest is so vast and they're so very small." "Dr. Campbell? No, no, no, Palala, back to the boat." "Hey!" "Back to the boat." "You had no right to unpack that equipment." "Where you going?" "No, no, no." "He's loading the boat." "No, no boat." "Only those boxes are staying." "No, no, come on." "Come on, up, up." "Up." "Down." "Luggage down." "Put it down." "Hey, do me a favor and ask him to put my luggage down." "Sorry, I forget women like to carry their own now." "I think I should introduce myself." "You're the so-called research assistant from Aston." "You remember last night?" "Do I appear senile?" "Drunk." "Intoxicated, yes." "There's a difference?" "The peach palm festival is their religious ceremony." "Are those bags too heavy?" "Shall I call Palala back?" "No." "I'm not getting on a boat..." "no boat." "I'm afraid it's the only available transport." "You certainly can't remain here." "Why, because I'm not a man?" "Because you're not one ofthree men." "I requested Dr. Alan Sealove." "Ifhe was unavailable, Dr. Gregory Hoffman." "I'm published more extensively than Dr. Sealove." "I hold degrees from CCNY, Berkeley and Cambridge." "I'm the recipient of the Thurman Award... in '82 and '86." "The first and only time it's ever been given to the same person twice." "Is there anything else you'd like to know about me?" "Do those boots come with a manual?" "No." "I thought of snakes." "When's the last time you did field research... orwhen's the first time?" "I did a month in La Selva." "Awhole month?" "Palala." "Palala! You didn't need me." "You needed a caddy." "Palala will carry your bags to the boat." "You send me back on the basis of my gender, that's called sex discrimination." "Look, I understand your reservations." "I heard about yourwife." "My wife?" "Good God, she left me." "I wish you'd follow her example." "Are we finished?" "You have a boat to catch." "No boat!" "I want a meal and a bath." "This isn't a hotel." "I'll leave when I'm ready." "I know, after a meal and bath." "I'm not a 19-year-old grad student working up a resume." "I don't expect to be treated as if I were." "I'm hungry, I'm tired... and I've been in these clothes for more than one dance." "Palala will see that you get some breakfast." "I said, and a bath." "Unbutton your shirt." "Excuse me?" "You want to bathe in theirwater supply, you'll take a medical first." "Sit down, here." "Is he gonna watch?" "Don't you want a nurse present?" "I'll risk it." "Well, I won't." "Aaah." "Deep breath." "Now I understand why you've been so secretive about your research here." "Again." "You've found the cure forthe common hangover." "Aaah." "Look up." "Left." "Right." "Open your mouth." "There's nothing wrong with me." "Say"ah." Ah!" "See your carnet." "My what?" "It's in your passport." "Yourvaccine card." "Oh, God." "This is completely unnecessary." "Principle cause of death among aboriginals is imported disease." "What do you see?" "I thought we did the eye examination." "Come on, you won two Thurman Awards." "Show off." "What am I analyzing?" "Did you run a baseline?" "No." "Next time run a baseline to calibrate the machine." "There's a glucose solution specifically forthat." "Is that the substance you're analyzing?" "Yes." "What is it, a plant extract?" "Full marks." "Continue." "Okay." "We're looking at... 49 compounds." "Okay, what we've got here is" "Where was I?" "Okay, 49 compounds." "No, no, nope." "Nearly all of these are identifiable." "In short, nothing new." "Is this why you wanted the chromatograph?" "You said nearly all identifiable." "Yeah." "Just this one,peak 37." "Looks like an acid derivative." "Although those side" "You must have really thought you were on to something." "I'm sorry." "Can it be synthesized?" "Uh-uh." "This one's mother nature's kitchen." "End of story." "Why?" "What is it you think you've got?" "I don't think." "I know." "Share it." "What's the problem?" "Even as a child he didn't like to share." "It's deep-seated, I suppose." "What is it, a secret?" "I'll cross my heart and spit on the floor." "You said, breakfast and a bath." "Palala." "Are you saving it for Sealove?" "Don't." "He's not coming." "Then I'll settle for Robinson." "You were lucky you got me and last year's chromatograph." "I give up." "I believe our deal was bath, breakfast and boat." "I didn't come here to make deals!" "Then why did you come here?" "I'll leave the chromatograph forthe time being." "I'm asking you a question." "You have no idea, have you?" "Aston's considering pulling your funds and shipping you out." "I'm your judge and jury." "Winslow would never permit that." "Ah, Winslow!" "Winslow retired last year." "Ifyou hadn't cut offincoming, you would have known." "Who replaced him?" "Me." "You don't send progress reports!" "You move your damn station wherever and wheneveryou like!" "You don't submit a record of expenses!" "And you don't respond to requests for information!" "So here I am!" "So here I am! Put this on." "I want to show you something." "I've seen it." "Put it on!" "Please." "Follow me." "This is Kalana, wife ofJahausa, mother of Imana." "Palpate herthroat." "I'm not a medic." "Good God, woman, must everything be a full-scale debate with you?" "Just do it." "Feel anything?" "Nothing." "Six months ago she came to see me, lumps on herthroat." "I sent her downriverwith a Franciscan missionary to the hospital there." "She made her own way back, took her a month." "The nodes were double the size." "Dapsuia." "Two injections ofthat sample you tested... and the lumps disappeared within a week." "No boosters, no side effects." "That's just swell." "What am I supposed to report to the foundation?" "Dr. Campbell showed me a cured patient... who claims a history of undiagnosed, undocumented lumps in herthroat?" "Hey!" "Ow!" "You" " I'm tired of" "Here it is, her scan report." "She brought it back." "That's delightful." "I'll bring it with me." "Arrange forthe van." "Stage two, anterior and posterior lymphomas." "Here, check her biopsy report." "What for?" "It could be anybody's." "Okay." "You think I'm lying?" "I think you're a man who's allowed his personal problems... to get in the way of his clinical judgment." "That's what I think." "Stay here." "Stay?" "Stay." "He talks to me like a dog." "500,000 scientists in this world... and I end up with Dr. Mengele with a ponytail." "Now what?" "Good God." "Feel that?" "What is it?" "A supraclavicular node, malignant." "How do you know?" "I gave it to him." "Transplanted tissue." "I gave it to them all." "You will biopsy the lot." "I insist." "That is your control group." "This lucky bugger gets an injection by nightfall, and tomorrow morning you will examine him." "Come on, I'm not proposing marriage." "I'm asking you to biopsy a family of rodents." "Spend 12 hours in a luxurious hammock." "You don't have to think,just nod." "Where's the ball?" "No ball." "There." "What was in the tin?" "Hmm?" "The boys, you were giving them something from the tin." "Candy-coated ants." "Oh." "You want some?" "The tin is inside on the table." "I'll pass." "What about you?" "What is it?" "Freeze-dried ice cream." "I'll pass." "Come on, the astronauts eat it." "Doesn't taste like ice cream." "When's the last time you had a double-dip?" "The palate remembers." "That woman, Kalana, she called you something." "Dapsuia." "Dapsuia." "What's it mean?" "Medicine man." "That's me." "Don't they have one of their own?" "What?" "Medicine man." "I gave Alka-Seltzer to a kid with a bellyache." "You did what?" "Alka-Seltzer cured him with one belch... but it was the plop-plop, fizz-fizz that dazzled them." "The medicine man was understandably pissed off." "I had taken his stick." ""Stick"?" "His self-respect, his place." "He just took off." "My intentions were well-meant." "You take the hammock." "I'll sleep in the greenhouse." "Well, if I need anything I'll let you know." "You will?" "Good." "Thank you." "Dr. Campbell?" "Already?" "My name is Dr. Crane." "Rae Crane." "Just in case you need to address me directly." "I thought I'd just call you"Brooklyn."" "I'm from the Bronx." "Oh, well, Bronx." "Doesn't quite roll offthe tongue, does it?" "Good night." "What the hell are you doing?" "Covering my ass." "Aaah!" "I don't want you accusing me of playing switcheroo... with your control group." "I get it." "Peach palm festival, day two." "No, no festival." "Just a bedtime story." "You're staring at me." "Pajamas." "I haven't seen pajamas in... a long time." "Oh,Jesus!" "What is it now?" "Oh, God!" "Oh, it's all right." "That's Henry." "He keeps the place free of rats." "Come on, old dear." "Come on." "Look, I'll sleep with lizards and guinea pigs" "I understand." "A girl has to draw the line somewhere." "Come on, old dear." "Sweet dreams." "Go to hell." "Probably." "No." "Do you?" "Why do you think that?" "That's very funny." "Dr. Campbell!" "Dr. Campbell!" "Dr. Campbell!" "Hurry, Campbell!" "Imana." "Get stuffed, both ofyou." "Campbell!" "Jesus, Campbell." "I know." "You know?" "You know?" "You found the cure for cancer and all you can say is," ""I know"?" "What is it?" "Bromeliad." "A flower." "How'd you find it?" "Get dressed." "Okay." "I came here six years ago." "Why?" "A freak tribe." "No cancer." "What about the woman you showed me?" "Jahausa married outside the tribe." "Kalana is an Exoti." "Then it's genetic." "No, no, no, it's environmental." "The tribes have always intermarried." "But as far as I can tell, the bromeliad doesn't grow anywhere except here." "So the Exoti don't use it." "Kalana still doesn't put it in the food." "She says it tastes bad." "So they eat this flower?" "Ingest it." "Snuff and sometimes chewing tobacco." "It's in most oftheir food." "Grows wild 100 feet up in the canopy." "Ten stories up?" "Mmm." "On the top shelf ofthe pharmacological superstore." "It lives off a tree." "I'd seen the old medicine man up there gathering for his juju kit." "And there it was." "There's only one fly in the serum." "I can't reproduce it." "What do you mean?" "None ofthe new samples work." "I have very little ofthe original serum left." "That's what I mean when I say I can't reproduce it." "Wait a minute." "I don't understand." "What don't you understand?" "I found a cure forthe fucking plague ofthe 20th century... and now I've lost it!" "Haven't you ever lost anything, Dr. Bronx?" "Your purse, your car keys?" "It's rather like that." "Now you have it, now you don't!" "Your notes are gone?" "I have my notes." "I followed my notes." "Your notes must be wrong." "They're not!" "Then explain it." "I can't." "Okay." "The first thing I do when I get to I.A. is I get Dr. Crouse... and his people can set up a real lab down here." "There's nothing wrong with this lab!" "We've got everything we need." "Look." "This is major league." "You need help." "I promise you will get full credit." "You think I give a damn about the immortal textbook quote?" "Dare I insult you with a history lesson?" "Better still, how about subtraction?" "Nine million Indians in the Amazon." "White man brings measles, flu, polio and chicken pox." "Now you've got 200,000 Indians." "Without using your fingers, how many did we shove in the hole?" "It's not like they'll be unvaccinated." "These people would be working for Aston." "All precautions would be taken." "You don't remember Mocara." "Do you?" "You're too young." "Some overeager son-of-a-bitch found a painkiller in the jungle." "Fifteen cents to make a five dollar bottle." "Aston was onto it like a fly to dung." "All very scientific, all precautions taken." "Swine flu killed the entire village." "Much regret, so sorry." "But the eager beaver still ended up with his ten cents on the dollar." "This isn't a painkiller." "This is the cure for cancer." "These people don't need a cure for cancer." "Ask them." "There's a road coming into the area." "You're finished." "Aston can stop that." "Aston will need the road." "They'll make sure it leads right up to my palapa." "How can I help -- How can you go back when I need you here?" "What!" "No, no, no, no, no!" "I'm a damned good biochemist." "I'm not a field researcher." "I haven't done this work foryears." "I'm not qualified." "I know." "Too many foundation fund-raisers." "Too many subcommittees." "Take two guinea pigs and call me in the morning." "When you're old and gray, you'll put lilies on my grave... and wish you could thank me." "Well, I'll thank you now, but I'm still leaving." "How?" "Campbell, I'm not your prisoner." "No, you're my research assistant." "You're not afraid ofheights, are you, Bronx?" "Right foot, pick it up." "Aaah!" "There we are." "You give the counterweight a good yank... and up you go, all right?" "Well, come on." "I want you to see." "Whoo!" "Ohh!" "Come on." "Ahhh!" "All right." "Dr. Bronx." "Left leg first." "Now the right." "Okay, there you go." "Aaah!" "All right?" "Come on." "Oh, God." "Think of Neil Armstrong." "All right." "I'll give you one week." "Did you hear me?" "They're not in abundance." "Ifyou find one, pop it in the bag." "Aah!" "Are you gonna tell me what they look like?" "Yes, like... this." "Whateverthis flower needs to fertilize, it gets it up here." "Whether it's an enzyme... being transported by an insect to the pollen... or God knows what leaking out ofthe tree." "Could be anything." "It could be everything." "That's the beauty ofthis system." "You can't beat it." "You can only wipe it out." "Is that the road?" "You see the river?" "No one can remember it ever being this low." "What about all the rain?" "Every year it rains less." "Less rain forest means less rain." "The Indians have asked me to pray for a deluge." "Do you pray, Bronx?" "There's so much smoke." "I didn't know the road was so close." "Yes, well, death is inevitable, Dr. Bronx." "But it's considered bad form to discuss it over a man's sickbed." "All right?" "Closing your eyes won't make it disappear." "Neitherwill talk." "Let's go." "You're a lunatic!" "I'll show you a shortcut! Oh, God!" "Oh, God!" "When was it made?" "What?" "The eighth sample." "When was it made?" "Data sheets, green notebook, top left." "You don't smoke, do you?" "No, I quit." "Good God, why?" "They've been missing from the last 3 shipments." "I suspectJahausa's got something to do with it." "Your other left." "Last one." "Hmph." "Okay, look." "Here's the original extract, the one that works." "Here's the eight subsequent ones that don't work." "You notice anything?" "I'll give you a hint." "It's missing from every failed sample." "Peak 37." "Did you vary the solution?" "Hmm." "Do you think the bromeliad... changes chemistry during its life cycle?" "It's not impossible." "But all these samples are dated within two weeks of each other." "Maybe the first batch was contaminated." "Maybe peak 37 is a fungus." "I screened every sample, including the first one." "Yeah, well, maybe you used a dirty test tube." "Who knows?" "There's got to be a thousand variations on this plant extract... and we've got to test every single one." "I tell you, we need help." "We're looking at too many possibilities." "Isn't that what science is all about, eliminating possibilities? Well?" "You said you needed help." "Jahausa, can you tell them I need them to break it from the root?" "Keep that root." "All right, how we doing?" "Tell her if she breaks the leaves, it's easier." "If she breaks them-- See, they're too big." "Imana, what are you doing in my way?" "How you doing?" "This is excellent." "Are you breaking them from the roots?" "Okay?" "It's Kalana." "I don't understand." "I'm sorry." "Dapsuia." "He wants to know ifyou have a date forthe prom, euphemistically speaking." "Why are they staring at me?" "They've never seen a virgin ofyour maturity." "What?" "I had to give them some excuse." "You should have said she's engaged to be married." "Really?" "It's to be Mrs. Bronx?" "It will be, next winter." "I don't approve oflong engagements." "We would have liked to marry earlier, but it wasn't convenient." "Ah, a marriage of convenience." "You probably know him or his family." "Tom Falon?" "Tommy Falon!" "Good God, he's 95 years old!" "You'll inherit before the honeymoon's over." "I take my hat offto you, girl." "His son." "Oh, his son." "No, I don't know the son." "But I can well imagine." "Good stock, good contributor." "Met at a fund-raiser, did we?" "What's the difference where I met him?" "Don't get your knickers in a twist, Mrs. Bronx." "Just remember, breeding is no substitute for intelligence." "Often the death ofit." "What do you have, an unlimited supply ofthat stuff?" "The saliva speeds up the fermentation process." "Pass." "You might as well." "We can't test this lot for another 72 hours." "It'll go by just as fast ifwe're testing the local fungus." "I told you." "I screened every sample." "There is another possibility." "Which is?" "A six-pack of peach pernod... and you were drunkerthan a skunk when you did the tests." ""Perno." The"D" is silent." "Ifyou're gonna hang with the Falons, you better get it right." ""Perno." Uh-huh." "Thank you, Doctor." "Shall I write it down foryou?" "What ifthe missing step isn't here in the lab?" "Your medicine man... the first day you saw him collect the bromeliads." "What ifhe did something you instinctively copied that first time... and haven't done since?" "What ifit's in the harvesting?" "I counted at least three"what ifs."" "You don't start an investigation with"once upon a time"" "Exactly what are you going to investigate?" "Not what." "Who." "Your merry men must know where the medicine man is." "We should go and question him." "As you yourself pointed out, you're scarcely a qualified field researcher." "And as you've pointed out, research is a process of elimination!" "Don't you presume to tell me how to follow up." ""Question the medicine man." Good God." "Don't you think I questioned the son of a bitch? Ocupado. ¡ Ocupado!" "Vaya con" "Somewhere else!" "Relax, they know not to urinate in the water." "That's not my concern." "It should be." "Urine attracts the spiky candiru." "It's a tiny fish that enters any available orifice." "Can't you blow a whistle?" "Maybe they'd like to fetch golfballs." "The spikes are angled backwards and have to be surgically removed." "It's a hell of a procedure." "I came to apologize." "Are you serious?" "I lost my temper." "About the spikes?" "No, about the medicine man." "Goddamn it, the spiky candiru." "Good God, where? I have to admit, I've never actually seen one this far upriver, but it's not a bad idea to keep your knickers on." "Well, all gone." "Satisfied?" "I didn't mean to jump down yourthroat this afternoon." "I accept your apology." "Let's forget it." "The medicine man wouldn't answer my questions until I got up to leave... and then he spoke one word." "Mocara." "The swine flu epidemic?" "You told me." "Ah." "Well, the, uh-- He was afraid, you see." "In Mocara their medicine man had shared forbidden juju magic... with the eager beaver... and swine flu... was the gods' punishment forthat indiscretion." "All right, he wouldn't talk." "He might talk to me." "Awoman?" "What do you want to do, sit on your hands and pray for peak 37?" "We could takeJahausa." "He could plead our case." "You could say you're sorry." "I don't think he knows it was me." "I meant, sorry forthe Alka-Seltzer." "I thought you meant Mocara." "Aaah!" "Dapsuia!" "Imana!" "Imana!" "Dapsuia!" "Imana!" "Same story as the mother." "Supraclavicular node, non-tender, adherent to the surrounding tissues." "How big would you say?" "One centimeter." "I'd give it two." "You can't, and you know it." "It's so close to his windpipe... he'll choke to death before the cancer kills him." "It's not a weed, it's a tumor." "It can wait." "It's not a tumor, it's a child." "The child can wait too." "You use the last bit of the working serum and we have nothing." "You can't use the last ofit." "We know the molecule." "A picture, a ghost in a machine!" "For Christ's sake, use your head!" "The boy won't die in the next 48 hours." "If one ofthose beakers sprouts peak 37, you can give samples away for Christmas." "I'll help you wrap." "Suppose the new serums don't work?" "You said yourselfyou found the cure forthe plague ofthis century." "It belongs to the human race, not one sick kid." "Dapsuia." "Come on, give me that syringe." "It'll be my sleepless night." "Jahausa's taken his son to the medicine man." "When she woke up they were both gone." "She wants me to bring them back." "Medicine man?" "Kalana, where's the medicine man?" "What is she saying?" "She's sayingJahausa's a fool fortaking the boy to the old man." "Who can show us where the medicine man is?" "Palala." "Palala!" "Palala can show us." "Can't hearyou!" "Get out ofthere." "Ifwe leave now, we can catch up." "Can't hearya!" "You got some history." "Fine." "It's history." "What are you gonna do, drag it around the rest of your life?" "If that man has answers, we need them." "I can't hear" "Can you hear me now?" "Aaah!" "What is it?" "Headache." "Keep your eyes on the ground." "You won't change focus, you won't get a headache." "You might have mentioned it earlier." "Oh, didn't I?" "I thought I did." "Palala." "No, no, I've got something better." "Give it." "No, no." "What is it?" "Yoco tree." "The bark is 3% pure caffeine-- cures headaches, fatigue, aches, pains, neuritis, neuralgia." "Drink it." "It'll keep you on your feet 'til dinnertime." "Pass." "Drink it." "Pass!" "Drink it, or Palala will force you on your back, close your nose, while I pour it down your gullet." "Isn't that right?" "Uh-huh, gullet." "Go ahead." "Aaah!" "Whoa!" "What's the name ofthis bark?" "It's called yoco." "Yo-co!" "This would knock Maxwell House right offthe shelf, ifthe narcs wouldn't stop me at the border." "Ahhh!" "Oooh!" "This isn't a hallucinogen, is it?" "Which peak is his?" "None of the above." "The old man lives at the base of the gorge." "Downhill!" "Yeah!" "Hey, we gotta talk about marketing this stuff!" "Yoco-Cola!" "Cola, Yoco-Cola!" "Hey, of course you'd have to add sugar." "Yourversion tastes like sh" "Oh, man!" "They don't spit in this one, do they?" "Spit, no." "But-- Don't tell me." "Really, don't tell me." "Yo-Caf." "Yo-Spresso." "Yo-Caf!" "Yo-Spresso!" "Hey, have you broken it down yet?" "Whoa!" "Look at that!" "If I were the medicine man, I would have taken that penthouse." "Why does he live at the bottom?" "To get away from the constant gabbing." "Oh, sorry for disturbing you." "You all right?" "I'm okay." "Go ahead." "I'll catch up." "That Yo-Cola sounds too much like a kid's drink." "I'm more interested in the mass marketing" "I'm more interested in the mass marketing ofthis drink forthe adults, like a continental suave thing." "Um, is it difficult... to process that yoco bark? Bronx?" "Where are you?" "I'm all right." "Don't play silly buggers." "Where are you?" "I'm all right." "I'm all right." "I'm okay." "Stay where you are." "I'm gonna lower a harness." "Palala." "Secure to the tree." "You've been to the circus, huh?" "This is a piece of cake compared to the triple." "You can tell your kids you worked without a net." "They're not gonna believe you." "Here we go." "Use your left hand." "You can reach the harness." "Come on, reach back forthe harness." "Aaah!" "No!" "It's all right." "It's all right." "Don't cry." "Look, I promise you." "When this is overyou can cry all you want and I won't say a word." "Now come on, reach for the harness." "No, I can't do it." "Change of plan." "Mohammed goes to the mountain." "Palala." "The triple is easier." "All right, here I come." "How are you?" "No!" "It's okay,just let go." "I can't climb up." "You don't have to." "We'll go down together." "It's a hell of a shortcut." "Aaah!" "Look, if I wanted to kill both of us, I could have found easierways." "Now come on." "Roll!" "Let go!" "Come on!" "Let go!" "Rae, let go!" "Come on, roll!" "Come on!" "Okay." "All right, you're okay." "Descending down." "Come on." "Come on." "There you go." "Come on." "I think I hate you." "Whoa!" "Faster, let it go." "Come on." "I can't look." "Come on, don't look." "I can't look." "Work your hands." "What happened?" "Nothing happened." "What happened?" "What happened?" "Stay calm." "Calm down." "What do we do now?" "This is a rescue?" "This is a rescue!" "What's the matterwith you?" "What am I supposed to do, call 9-1-1, you idiot?" "Help!" "Help!" "Calm down." "Give me your hand." "This isn't a rescue." "This is a suicide pact." "You idiot!" "Calm down!" "Give me your hand!" "When I get ahold ofyou-- Just give me your hand." "What for?" "What are you, crazy? Oh, oh!" "Well done." "Don't cry." "You were marvelous." "Really, it was the best I've ever seen." "And I've been to the circus a great many times." "You were spectacular." "Really." "Don't cry." "You promised..." "I could cry all I want." "Oh, yes, I did." "Okay." "Go ahead, knock yourself out." "Fortunately, Palala salvaged your haversack." "Careful, that's peach pernod." "I lost it up there." "I'm sorry." "It's okay." "I'm trying to thank you." "That was a good job." "Enough said." "Go easy on it, hmm?" "Why?" "I'm not driving." "Orwalking, apparently." "No wonder why you like this stuff." "Ooo-ooo-ooo, don't make me laugh." "Ow, oh, God, don't make me laugh." "It hurts." "Ow, ooh, ooh." "Hold on, hold on." "Hold still." "What is it?" "It's burning." "It's magic." "Magic, yes, that old black magic... has got me in its spell." "§ That old black magic §" "§ That you weave so well §" "I know." "Terrifying, isn't it?" "§ Those icy fingers up and down your spine §" "My spine?" "Ooo-ooo-ooo!" "§ I'm in a spin Loving this spin I'm in §" "All right, bedtime." "Come on, sing it, Campbell." "Come on, sing us a bar." "Come on." "§ I should stay away §" "§ But what can I do § § But what can I do §" "§ I hearyour name § § I hearyour name §" "§ I'm in a flame § §" "Come on, sing it!" "Get some sleep, Rae." "Don't!" "What?" "Don't call me by my given name." "Don't you like it?" "Yeah, I like it." "Campbell?" "Ready forvisitors?" "The medicine man?" "He's in the neighborhood." "How do you know?" "Call it a hunch." "We might be in the wrong gorge." "Somehow I doubt that." "I mean, are you sure Palala knows where he lives?" "Oh, yeah." "What ifhe doesn't?" "What do we do then? I thought I was dreaming." "Campbell, I thought-- Okay, what's going on?" "It seems there's going to be a fight." "Between you and him?" "Mm-hmm." "He's three feet tall, for Christ's sake!" "You wanted to pick his brains." "Not offthe sidewalk!" "Ever mouth off to the dean... and then need a grant?" "Oh, this is an "eat crow, kiss ass" contest?" "Exactly." "Rememberwhat I told you about taking his stick?" "I think this is about giving it back." "So he's got to win?" "Mm-hmm." "Okay, bend over, take three whacks and cut to the info." "It doesn't quite work that way." "The tricky part is..." "Is what?" "not getting my skull cracked in the process." "Tell him his mother eats army boots." "He's what happens when cousins marry." "For Christ's sake--Aaah!" "I was helping." "Well, don't!" "I don't need an interpreter." "I do." "Don't push your luck, runt." "Campbell!" "Nice kiss." "What?" "What'd he say?" "What'd he say?" "What'd he say?" "What'd he say?" "Back to square one." "Where did I go wrong?" "The eating crow orthe kissing ass department?" "It wasn't a total loss." "My, my." "Isn't it all bright and shiny?" "I cleaned up a little, that's all." "These first four extracts will be ready to test by 7:00." "I'll set my alarm for 6:30." "Incidentally, the blue doesn't come off." "Get drunk somewhere else." "Hey, I live here." "Get sanctimonious somewhere else." "I tried to get drunk atJahausa's, as a matter of fact, but I soon tired ofhearing him pray over his only son." "So I said to myself, why not visit Dr. Bronx... and hertabernacle of empirical evidence?" "I'm not a monster, Campbell." "No, you're not a monster." "If I have in any way labeled you"monstrous"... by gesture or manner," "I sincerely beg your pardon." "I'd like to go to sleep now." "I have an early morning." "I wouldn't bother setting that alarm, Monster Bronx." "He won't make it through the night." "You don't know that." "I picture you at Imana's age... sitting in bed awake, arms crossed, whispering..." ""I don't believe in ghosts." "I don't believe in ghosts."" "Where was I when you were six years of age... and armed against the dark?" "Probably hiding like you are now." "In the jungle or in the bottle?" "To which hideout are you referring?" "Does it matter?" "It's not as difficult as you might think, watching someone die." "After 70 or 80 men, women, infants, you begin to feel quite numb." "When I leftJahausa's hut I was coming here to get the magic serum... to save myself, of course, not the boy." "Which makes me the monster." "You, at least, would save the world." "And the world is not one choking boy... in the middle of a disappearing forest, even though it seems that way here in the dark... against which you are so well armed." "And I have only this." "Enough!" "Give me that bottle." "You're not a murderer." "That's not why she left you." "What the hell do you know about it?" "She left me... because I wouldn't allow her to forgive me." "She very much wanted to." "But I couldn't forgive myself." "Until I do, no one, no one's allowed." "Dapsuia." "We've been invited to a prayer meeting." "I'll make your excuses." "Oh, hi!" "Kalana!" "Kalana!" "Kalana!" "Yes, yes, he's okay." "He's okay, he'll be fine." "What's going on?" "Why is everyone running?" "Palala!" "Time's up." "A miracle without proof is only a miracle." "It do not stop bulldozers." "Look, Ornega, I injected him myself." "I'm not doubting it." "This bromeliad, I've never seen it growing anywhere else." "You can't transplant it to the lab." "I couldn't bring it down 100 feet from origin." "Move your roads through here and we've lost it." "Come on, Roberto, it's not my road." "We need time." "We're testing new samples." "Senor Reyes has been instructed to move the villagers." "If a test is successful in the next 24 hours-- 24 hours!" "The bulldozers are running night and day now." "I'm gonna retest." "It didn't work, Rae." "It's not here." "You promised me a week." "You gave me a week." "Pack your bags, Rae, before the road gets here." "You're always throwing me out." "It's foryour own good." "What do you know about it?" "Quite a bit." "You don't smoke, do you?" "There's got to be a cigarette around here somewhere." "Is this supposed to be me?" "Supposed to be?" "It's a very good likeness." "Take it ifyou want." "No, I'd ratheryou kept it." "I certainly flattered you by idealizing your forehead." "But, ah" "A man in love wouldn't notice the disparity." "A man in love?" "Yeah, Tommy Falon the younger." "Give it to him." "I'm sure he sees your forehead exactly as I've drawn it." "He probably never noticed that your left ear is lowerthan your right ear." "When one is smitten those are the details that" "What are you running?" "A baseline." "What are you using?" "Sugar solution." "The same solution you've used each time?" "No, I ran out." "Why?" "Where'd you get the sugar?" "Aaah!" "Campbell!" "Campbell! Campbell!" "Campbell!" "Campbell!" "Campbell!" "Campbell!" "Damn poortime for having an iron man contest!" "Ow! Have you ever lost anything, Ornega?" "Your car keys, yourwallet?" "It wasn't the bromeliads." "It was the ants." "You're certain?" "I seem to have left the evidence in my other suit." "Campbell?" "Roberto." "Roberto." "It's me, Miguel." "Ah, Miguel." "We can go wheneveryou are ready." "No, no, no, I know what I'm looking for now." "Those little orange bastards exist somewhere else." "Roberto." "I'll find them." "Look at yourself." "It's timeout, my friend." "Six years and all your equipment." "Aston isn't going" "Aston will replace it, all ofit." "And provide him with a research assistant per his request." "Dr. Sealove, if I remember, was your first choice." "Thank you." "You're welcome." "Ifyou're ready, we should go." "Good luck." "Good luck to you." "You'll be in touch? They won't relocate where the government has indicated." "Sooner or later, they'll have no place left." "Then, they'll go where they're told." "He says the medicine man has found a place upriver." "Medicine man?" "You mean Campbell?" "No, that small one over by the trees." "Give me a minute." "Right." "I'll tell him." "He said this was your stick." "He said it's all right now." "He's found a good place." "Ifyou behave yourself, you can go with them." "He said he'll teach you big magic." "He said he's never met a man like you before... and maybe he neverwill again." "I'm gonna need in addition to a new chromatograph... more scopes, calipers" "I'll make sure you get everything you need." "When I reach the city I'll contact Dr. Sealove." "I've reconsidered." "Dr. Sealove is my second choice now." "Well, come on, Bronx." "You think Tom Falon's gonna walk down the aisle... with a woman whose"something blue" is a tattoo on her forehead?" "I want joint publication." "You can have whateveryou want." "What do you want?" "A meal and a bath." "Unbutton your shirt." "Dearest Tom, we're pushing upriver in search of those ants." "With some luck we'll get to them before the lumber companies do." "And about our marriage-- Well, I'm not so sure..." "I'm ready for it yet." "Okay." "Life is strange." "But down here..." "Hey, Bronx!" "it seems..." "Yeah?" "Come on!" "so very precious." "I'm coming!" "" The End ""