The Genesis Plague (2010)

delivery instructions for the two messages to ensure completion of two tasks: attempt delivery every minute until a signal is obtained and delivery confirmed; auto-delete the messages upon successful transmission.
    The wheezing was heavier now; his vision, spotty.
    From his pocket, he withdrew a tiny glass vial filled with white powder and uncapped its rubber stopper. With utmost care he sprinkled the tacky granules over the PDA’s keyboard and control buttons. Then he slipped the empty vial back into his jacket pocket, followed by the powered-on PDA.
    He let his arms drop limply to the floor. The room seemed to be crushing in around him.
    Burn in Hell, Stokes, he thought.
    A minute later, darkness crept in from the corners of his vision. Then everything slipped into oblivion.

7
IRAQ
    ‘Keep back from the opening,’ Jason reminded Jam. ‘Let’s not have you catch a bullet with your face.’
    ‘Yes, mother,’ Jam replied.
    Having clambered to the highpoint of the rubble heap that blocked the cave entrance, Jam had pulled away enough debris and stone to enable Camel - straddled beside him - to punch five feet of three-inch-wide conduit clear through to the other side. Not hard for Jason to imagine someone on the other side attempting to put a few bullets through the PVC pipe.
    ‘Good to go,’ Camel reported. ‘Pass the line up.’
    The sand-coloured armoured flex cable hung in long loops from Hazo’s crooked elbow. The slight-statured Kurd passed Camel the business end of the line - a shielded optical lens tip. The cable’s other end connected to a toaster-sized portable command unit that was mostly lithium battery.
    Camel began threading the Snake through the PVC.
    ‘Clear?’ Jason asked.
    ‘Yeah, it’s going through,’ Camel said. ‘Smooth as a colonoscopy. Keep it coming, Hazo.’
    Meanwhile, Meat flipped back the device’s lid, which doubled as the LCD viewing screen, and powered on the unit. The setup was similar to a compact laptop: full-size keyboard, touchpad mouse, some simple controls. From the carrying case, he retrieved what looked like a videogame joystick, plugged it into a port on the unit’s rear panel. With the touch of a button, the halogen floodlight mounted on the Snake’s tip lit up. The streaming video came through bright and clear.
    ‘We have eyes,’ Meat reported. He reached into the case again, grabbed the unit’s headphones and put them on. Then he adjusted the audio level on the integrated microphone.
    Jason came over and crouched beside him to get a look at the images coming back from inside the cave.
    As Camel pushed more flex cable through the pipe, the camera advanced further down the bumpy slope of rocks until it found gravel.
    ‘Hold it there,’ Meat said. He pulled back on the joystick while pressing his thumb on the control button. Like a charmed cobra, the cable curled at the tip (an integrated hydraulic balance kept the camera level). The first clear pictures immediately shone bright and clear.
    ‘We’re in,’ Meat said. Just behind the blocked entry, smooth parallel walls set roughly two metres apart tapered off into the darkness. ‘Not your typical cave.’
    ‘No, it certainly isn’t.’ Jason studied the image, saw no sign of activity. ‘All right, Camel, keep it moving … slow and steady.’
    ‘Hear anything yet?’ Jason asked.
    ‘Nothing,’ he reported. ‘It’s quiet in there. Really quiet.’
    Jam jumped off the pile and helped Hazo feed more loops to Camel.
    A few metres in, Meat spotted something on the walls. ‘Hey, see that?’
    ‘Hold up,’ Jason called up to Camel. The picture steadied. ‘What is it?’ he asked Meat.
    ‘Something on the left wall,’ he replied, squinting tight at the screen. He toggled the joystick to get a better angle, then zoomed out for a wide shot.
    When the picture came into focus, Jason was amazed at what he was seeing: the entire left wall was filled with narrative scenes carved in pristine bas-relief. The central figure depicted in the scenes was a shapely woman holding a cylindrical object that emanated wavy lines. Assembled around her were men and women presenting gifts and food. There was even a group genuflecting as if in worship. Beneath her feet was a repeating pattern of nautilus-shaped swirls. ‘Whoa,’ Meat said. ‘That’s weird.’ He panned side to side. ‘Looks like a mural or something.’
    ‘Sure does,’ Jason agreed. ‘Hazo, come take a look at this.’
    The Kurd passed the