CAGED ANIMALS [2]

Pretty much. The Kuruni kept themselves to themselves most of the time, but they had occasional contact with the outside world. It must have started with a trader or something; maybe even one of the security guards here picked it up when the Kuruni came to call and took it back into the city with him.'

'Shit,' Logan said. 'Guess the girl must be feeling pretty bad knowing she's the cause of all this.'

Sam's brow wrinkled in a frown. 'It ain't her fault.'

'I know that,' Logan said. 'I just meant, if she hadn't come back to the village …' His voice tailed off and he smirked. 'Hey, you got the hots for her or something?'

'Give me a break,' Sam muttered. 'She's just a sweet kid is all. She don't deserve all the shit she's had to put up with.'

'Guess none of us do,' said Logan.

'Yeah, well, some of us create our own problems.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

Sam's frown faded, and he waved a hand, as if to dismiss his own comment. 'Nothing, man. I'm just tired. I was thinkin' of me more'n you. All this shit, it's made me realize how much we blame other people for our own fuck-ups. If I ever get out of this, I'm really gonna straighten my life out, y'know?'

Logan nodded. 'You and me both, man.'

There was silence between them for a moment, then Sam said, 'So what's been going down here?'

Logan shrugged. 'Nothin' much. West's been analyzing blood samples.'

'What about the people we rescued? They OK?'

'Not really.' Logan grimaced. 'West had to lock them up.'

Sam sat upright with a jolt. 'Why'd he do that?'

Logan hesitated, then said, 'Come see for yourself.' Although Sam really didn't want to get vertical again, he followed Logan through the base until they came to the laboratory. West was there, talking to Purna.

'Where's Yerema?' asked Sam.

Purna turned to look at him. She looked drawn, but she was holding it together pretty well. 'She's resting.'

'OK if I show Sam the patients?' asked Logan.

West waved a hand in a vaguely affirmative gesture. If anything, he looked more worn out than Purna did. 'No problem. But be careful.'

There was a second door on the far side of the laboratory, which until now had always remained closed. Logan punched a code into a keypad on the wall beside the door and the door opened. He led Sam down a short flight of steps and then along a dingy corridor to another door. This one too he opened by punching a number into a keypad.

'Heavy security,' said Sam.

'Yeah, except for the fact that the walls in this place are paper thin,' said Logan, rapping on the wall next to the door and producing a hollow sound that gave the impression it was constructed of nothing more substantial than thick cardboard.