I took it. “What is it?” I asked.
“You don’t want to be surprised?”
“I’d really rather not be, no.”
Kahurangi nodded at that. “These pheromones should make everything think you’re an actual kaiju.”
I frowned. “Why would I want that? Those things have parasites. Big ones. Some of them almost as big as I am.”
“They do,” Kahurangi said. “But all of Bella’s are with her right now. Most of them anyway. And the rest of the creatures here will think of you like a mountainside. You’ll just be part of the scenery. They’ll ignore you.”
“And you’re sure about that,” I said.
“I tried a batch on the tree crabs back at base. They acted like I wasn’t even there.”
“Yeah, but the tree crabs won’t kill you.”
“They would if they could,” Kahurangi pointed out.
“And if there are any parasites in the area?” I asked. “You know, like, left behind when Bella went wherever she went?”
“I’m guessing that you’ll confuse them. They might approach you, but since you’re not a kaiju, they’ll ignore you and look for the actual kaiju that has to be around somewhere.”
“You’re guessing.”
“I was planning to field-test it soon,” Kahurangi said. “I got rushed a little, here.”
“You’re not filling me with confidence,” I said.
“Well, that’s why I also have this”—he held up another bottle—“which is the stuff you already know about and use. And also, I have this.” He lifted a canister launcher.
“Are you two ready?” Satie asked me.
I looked at Kahurangi. He nodded.
“We’re ready,” I said.
“Don’t waste time,” Satie said. “Look fast. Whatever you find, get it back to the chopper and then we head back. The Shobijin will be here this evening and can take over collecting data. Whatever happened here, I don’t want to give it a chance to happen again.”
“We’ll be quick,” I promised. Satie nodded, and we headed down. Satie hovered as Kahurangi and I got out, grabbed our spray bottles and weapons, and retrieved exactly one instrument package from storage. No matter what happened to the other instrument packs, there would be something on the ground here reporting back. I gave Satie a thumbs-up, and he headed upward, just enough to keep us from being whipped around from rotor wash. He was absolutely going to make sure we had a quick getaway if we needed one.
“Okay, hold still,” Kahurangi said, and sprayed me down with his kaiju camouflage.
I choked on the smell. “Jesus, that’s awful,” I said.
“Wouldn’t work if it smelled like flowers,” he said, and continued spraying me head to toe, front to back. When he was done, he handed me the spray. “Now me.” I likewise hosed him down with the pheromone. He gagged as I did so.
“If this doesn’t work, at least we won’t taste good when they eat us,” I said, handing back the spray.
He packed it away. “Where to?” he asked.
“I remember where Aparna planted her instrument packs,” I said. “Let’s start there.” I headed in the direction of where I knew the first of those packs would be.
We found it just a couple of minutes later, along with its replacement. “Tell me I’m not imagining what I’m seeing,” Kahurangi said to me.
I shook my head. “You’re not imagining it.” Both instrument packs were smashed and their contents broken. “Their storage drives are missing,” I said, after I looked more closely.
“They could just be dispersed,” Kahurangi said. “Things have gotten moved around by now.”
“Does this look like the local creatures did this to you?” I asked him.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I know the instrument packs have been designed to handle what this planet throws at them, and they’ve been tweaking the design for years. But it’s possible they just got stomped on.”
The next placement and the exact same thing had happened with both the instrument packs there: destroyed and data storage missing.
“Yeah, all right, that’s definitely not a coincidence,” Kahurangi said.
“Let’s leave the new pack here,” I suggested. Kahurangi nodded and got to work setting the pack while I kept watch. Usually by this time we would have attracted the attention of the local critters, who would either be running away from us due to the predator pheromones, or sizing us up regardless. This time, aside from the small, bitey insects that were never not in one’s face （and other areas）， nothing was either dodging or trailing us. They just … left us alone.