“And?”
Sanders looked smug. “Six out of ten.”
“You must be proud,” I said.
“I just understand people.”
“Do you?”
Before Sanders could answer, Tipton waved at us to put on our headsets. We were close to the site.
“Do you think the pilot will let us land and walk around?” Sanders asked me, before we put on our headsets.
“I wouldn’t bet on it,” I said.
“Want to make a Duke bet on it?”
“Not really.”
“I’m going to try anyway. Watch this.” He put on his headset, and then quickly took it off and leaned in again. “What’s the pilot’s name again?”
“Martin,” I said.
“Got it.” The headphones went back on and he patched back through into the intercom just as Bella became visible, looming in her nest.
“Well, that’s a hell of a thing,” Tipton said, looking at Bella. “And she’s been there for two weeks now, just sitting.”
“Not just sitting,” Satie said. “Making eggs. The first run of eggs are going to hatch in the next week. Lots of little kaiju going to be born, eat their brothers and sisters, and then run off into the woods. Then she’ll make more eggs. She’ll do that a few times before she’s done.”
“And not move a muscle while she does.”
“She doesn’t have to move. She has all her creatures to move for her.”
“How close are we going to get to her?” Tipton asked.
“Depends on your nerves, General,” Satie replied.
Tipton chuckled at that.
“How about you let us out to look around?” Sanders said.
“I don’t recommend that,” Satie said.
“Why not?”
“Jamie knows.”
“I landed here with some scientists about a week ago, and one of them almost got eaten,” I said.
“I don’t mind the risk,” Sanders said.
“That’s easy to say when you’re not being chewed on,” Satie said.
“I’ll pay you ten thousand dollars to land for five minutes.”
“Do you have the ten thousand dollars on you? In cash?”
“No.”
“Then no,” Satie said. “And anyway, what would ten thousand dollars do me here? Kaiju Earth is a socialist paradise, Mr. Sanders.”
“A hundred thousand dollars, Martin,” Sanders said. “Wired to your accounts at home, the minute we get back.”
Satie turned and looked at Sanders, who looked back, a small smile on his face. He was sure he had just found Satie’s price. Satie turned back to his instruments. Sanders turned to me as if to say, See?
The helicopter dropped violently. If we hadn’t been strapped in, we’d have been on the ceiling. Satie took us all the way down and nearly put us on the ground, hard, before he stopped, hovering inches above fallen trees and new green.
Satie turned back to Sanders. “All right, out,” he said.
Sanders looked around. We were still a distance from Bella. “What, here?”
“Here is as good a place as any.”
“Well, if I’m paying a hundred grand, I want to be close to her.” Sanders pointed toward Bella.
“I’m not taking your money,” Satie said. “I’m just letting you out.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I know you don’t. Get out.”
Sanders glanced over to the copilot’s seat. “General Tipton—”
“You’re not talking to him,” Satie interrupted. “You’re talking to me. He’s not going to say a goddamn word. He’s not in charge of this mission, or this aircraft. I am. And I’m telling you to get out.”
Sanders was visibly confused. “I don’t see what the problem is here.”
“You insulted me, Mr. Sanders.”
“Offering you money is an insult?”
“You didn’t insult me by offering me money. You insulted me by thinking I could be bought.”
Sanders blinked silently at this. He clearly didn’t understand the distinction.
I looked out the window. In the medium distance, away from the wash of the rotors, creatures were looking in the direction of the helicopter, curious about it, wondering if it might be food.
“When you made your first offer, I was willing to let you pass it off as a joke,” Satie said. “You’re not the first billionaire I’ve ferried around. I know how you all like to wave around your money dick to see who might be willing to suck on it. If you had let it go when I gave you the opportunity, I was willing to ignore it. But you had to push it. You wanted to see how much it would cost for me to compromise the safety of everyone on this aircraft, me included, to assert your dominance. So, now here is my answer, Mr. Sanders. I will let you out for free. And there is no amount of money, on this planet or the other, that you or anyone else could pay me to let you back in.”