God's Junk Drawer, page 3
“I have a small bladder.” The edge on her words could’ve cut glass.
His eyes were aimed past her elbow, half focused on a pair of largish, shrub-looking plants a few yards off the rough path Skip had led them along. Maybe small trees that had spread their leaves and branches low. And then all at once he realized where he’d been looking and why her tone was so sharp.
“No,” he said. “No, no, absolutely not. I don’t—I didn’t even know you were back here. I thought I was the last one in line. I was staring off into space and thinking about—” He closed his mouth. The only way to cut off the stream of words.
“About?”
“About not being—about getting lost in the woods.”
Parker judged him. Almost a full minute stretched by of her staring him in the eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m serious. I swear, I wasn’t looking at—I was just letting my mind wander while I—”
This time she cut him off. “Why are you on this trip?”
He stumbled again. This time, just mentally. “I needed—it was open to anyone in the department.”
“Until the sign-up was full. Two days ago.”
He kept his mouth shut.
She waited.
Sam took a breath. Forced his thoughts and his tongue to slow down. “I was staring off into space. Thinking of something else. That’s it.”
Air hissed out through her nose again. It made him think of a steam engine. “I don’t understand why you needed to be here so bad.”
For half a second, he considered telling her. Trying to explain it. He knew enough about Parker from random department chatter to know she’d sort of understand. Maybe.
Or she’d laugh at him.
The half second passed. He readjusted the strap of the telescope case. Shrugged the strap of his inadequate backpack up until it sat firm on his shoulder. “I don’t—there’s nothing to understand.”
Sam turned away and lumbered after the line, now fifty yards farther through the sloping forest. He heard her start after him, made a point of not looking at her when she passed him. He wanted to slow down, but she glanced back a few times as she worked her way back up to the front of the line. So he kept striding across the uneven ground, feeling it in his thighs and calves and the arches of his feet. Twenty minutes of uphill hiking later he’d caught up with the line, passed some of the other students, and brought himself alongside Logan, Olivia, and Kyle.
Olivia gave him a half nod of acknowledgment. Logan’s phone was out, and he skimmed through search results. Somehow he managed to do it without looking up, avoiding random fallen branches, exposed roots, and ankle-twisting dips in the ground. “Yeah,” he said. “Check this out.” He handed the phone to Kyle.
Kyle looked at the phone, glanced up to the front of the line. “What the fuck,” he said with an uneasy smile.
Sam didn’t say anything. Didn’t want to talk with any of them. Didn’t want to deal with any awkward questions about why he was here.
Olivia looped him into the conversation anyway. She jerked her chin at the front of the line. “Kyle tried to ask our guide there, Skip, about campsites at the top. Was it just dirt, are there facilities, another ranger station, or what.”
Sam waited for something more. “Yeah?”
“He didn’t answer me,” said Kyle.
“Oh.”
Kyle handed the phone over to Olivia. He met Sam’s eyes as they walked. “I mean, I said his name two or three times and he didn’t even act like I was talking to him. I thought maybe he had pods in or something, tried one last time, and he kinda jumped. Told me his real name’s Josh. Skip’s the name they use for the website so he’s not used to it. He said it’s a marketing thing, comes across more casual and friendly.”
“Ah. Okay.” Sam wondered if he could start slowing his pace again. Would it seem rude? Rude enough to draw attention? He just wanted to be invisible. No small talk, no questions, no distractions.
Logan shook his head. “The guy’s already kind of sketch. Did you see his outfit?”
Sam glanced forward. Caught a glimpse of the ivory shirt, remembered the dress boots. “Yeah.”
“He’s definitely not the guy from the website,” said Olivia. “It’s not just his hair being lighter. It’s a whole different guy.”
She passed the phone on to Sam. They’d zoomed in on the web page so he couldn’t see much more than a sky-blue background, a few broken words, and a photograph captioned henry “skip” gale, founder. The man in the picture stood next to a large tree and wore the same bright green baseball cap as their guide. The two men had similar builds and smiles. But the man in the photo had darker eyes, a narrower nose, black curls poking out on either side of his cap, and a complexion that could easily mean some strong Latino or Native American heritage.
Definitely not the guy leading them up the mountain.
Sam felt his fingers come together, the tips tapping against each other two-three-four times. A weird habit he’d developed years ago. Something he’d copied from a TV or movie scientist he couldn’t remember. In theory, it made him look smarter, and it also gave him time to think and try to stop his tongue from spilling a dozen words at once.
“I’m thinking identity theft,” said Logan, lowering his voice. “He looks like the type.”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s white-collar crime. He’s wearing nice clothes.”
“You know,” said Kyle, “when people steal your identity, they usually don’t show up at your job and hope nobody notices they’re a different person.”
Sam laughed. Couldn’t help himself.
Logan bit his lip, but he grinned a bit, too. “You have a better idea?”
Kyle shrugged. Tugged the telescope case strap higher onto his shoulder. “He’s clearly the point man for some cannibal hillbilly clan, leading us out into the woods so they can eat all of us.”
Now Olivia laughed. Logan grinned, and Sam felt his own mouth twitch again. “Well-dressed cannibal,” he said.
“Hollywood perpetuates a lot of ugly stereotypes. They don’t all wear masks and aprons.”
The three of them laughed some more and Sam’s smile lasted a few beats longer than he thought it would. They kept hiking and quietly shared other theories about their guide. Sam’s mind drifted in and out of the conversation, unsure if it was the distraction he’d been hoping for.
The slope got steeper as they continued through the woods. One or two students fell further behind, and Kyle fell back to offer encouragement or teasing as needed. Sam took an odd pride knowing he was still trodding along in his beat-up sneakers. Now he’d made it halfway through the line, maybe even closer to the front than the back.
Whoever “Skip” was, he knew his job and the forest. He pointed out better stepping points, flatter ground, and easier routes around boulders and fallen logs. A few times he stopped to show off the view between trees, but Barnes waved them on, urging them toward the top.
“You know,” Not-Skip announced at one of the scenic points, “this is Bigfoot country. The legendary Sasquatch.”
Parker sighed. “No, it’s not.” Like Barnes, she didn’t stop to look.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I’m a scientist,” she called back over her shoulder, “and because Bigfoot’s not real.”
A couple of the undergrads chuckled.
“Don’t listen to her,” Not-Skip told them. “People have been seeing ape-men in these hills for decades.”
It got a few more laughs and an over-the-shoulder glance from Barnes.
The sun got lower, the ground got rockier, the trees thinned. Sam felt himself calming as they went higher and the air cooled a bit. They’d been hiking for over two and a half hours now. He felt pretty sure he’d regret the uphill hike in the morning, maybe regret a lot of things, but for the moment, for the first time in the past twenty-four hours, he felt . . . centered. Ready for the future.
A phone alarm beeped and Barnes slowed down in a clearing of broad stones and patchy grass. He looked at the screen. Let his backpack slide from his shoulders and pulled out a heavier, more industrial-looking phone and checked that. It took Sam a moment to recognize it as a dedicated GPS device.
Parker and Not-Skip took a few more steps and turned to look back at him. The line of students spread out around Noah, forming a rough circle. Olivia and Logan stood across from Sam. Olivia still leaned ever so slightly away from Logan. Not-so-secret rejection.
Not-Skip shrugged and pulled out his phone. A few of the grad students let their packs drop and did the same. Sam checked his. No texts or voicemails or missed calls. Still two solid bars. He looked around, wondering if one of the trees around them was a carefully camouflaged cell tower. Did they disguise them out in the middle of nowhere? Maybe they were high enough nothing blocked the signals, giving them better range? He was doing it again. Pretty much forcing his mind to wander.
Barnes took a few long strides, then a few more in a different direction, and then one last one. Stared at his GPS. Pulled out his phone again. Took in a deep breath.
Then he became aware of all the students around him. “Sorry. Nothing important.” He turned his attention to Not-Skip. “How much farther?”
“Not far at all. Thirty minutes, tops.” He gestured at the trees beyond the rough clearing. “Once we’re past these, you’ll get a much better view of the sky.”
Barnes nodded enthusiastically. “Great. Everyone go on, get your tents set up. I’ll catch up in a little bit.”
Not-Skip put his phone away and waved for the group to follow him. The students sighed, grumbled, readjusted bags and backpacks. They drifted away from Barnes, headed after Not-Skip.
Sam watched them go, debated following them. He could see indecision working its way through the other grad students. Kyle finally turned and headed up the hill. Olivia hesitated, then slowly followed. Another trio of undergrads stood a few yards away going through the same calculations. Two more stretched and headed up the hill through the trees. Another one sighed and followed them, her pack hanging on one shoulder.
Parker went against the slow tide and moved closer to the professor. “Can I do anything to help?”
He shook his head. “This is where we part ways. Go on with the others. You know the drill. Make sure everyone’s got their tents set up, then get the imaging gear ready. Walk them all through it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. This is just a bunch of really boring measurements. Double-checking some calculations I made a few weeks ago.”
“For your mysterious side project?”
Barnes looked at her and Sam watched half a dozen emotions flit across the man’s face. “Yep. For the mysterious side project.”
“Fine.”
“I just . . .” Sam could almost see the man weighing his words. “Thanks, Parker.”
“For what?”
“For everything.” He waved his hand up the hillside. “For taking care of them. For all your help over the years. I never said thank you enough times. You’ve been great.”
He went to hug her, then stuck out his hand instead.
She looked down at the hand and chuckled awkwardly. “Are you okay?”
He laughed too. “Sorry. Random emotional moment. I’ll . . . I’ll see you later.”
It crossed Sam’s mind that he’d been standing here through what should’ve been a private moment. And then, as if they’d heard his thoughts, Barnes and Parker both glanced over at him.
Barnes cleared his throat. Parker gestured at his backpack, then at the retreating students. “Want me to have someone take your pack up to the site?”
Another glance made it clear Sam was the hypothetical “someone.”
“No.” Barnes held out a hand, waving the GPS device at her like he was warding off a geographic vampire. “It’s fine. Just get up there, take charge, get everything ready for tonight. They can’t do anything until the telescopes are set up.”
“Right. Of course.”
“Thanks again, Parker.”
She nodded and turned, her braid slashing the air. She marched up the slope past Sam. “Come on,” she told him, tipping her head at the telescope bag. “You heard him. We need that up at the site.”
Sam fell in behind her. He took a last look over his shoulder. Saw Barnes pull something else from his pocket. Check the big device again. Scratch a big chalk X on the expanse of flat stone directly in front of his feet. The man straightened up and stared at the pink-streaked sky.
And then Parker barked at Sam to keep up.
It took them five minutes to catch up to the last of the straggler students, another ten to rejoin the core of the group, and ten more before they all reached the big plateau. Sam’s calves ached at the sudden shift in angle. The front of his thighs, too. It hadn’t felt like a rough hike until they’d stopped on flat ground.
The plateau spread over an area a little bigger than a lecture hall. Some scrub brush cast long shadows. A fallen tree trunk had been stripped of its branches and turned into a long, rough bench, already being used by half a dozen undergrads. Not quite the top of the mountain, but the plateau gave them a solid view of the sky. Far below he could see the thin ribbon of a road going through the trees, maybe the road they’d driven in on.
He looked around for the best place to set the imaging gear. Saw Logan, still wearing his backpack, standing with two of the telescopes, waving down undergrads with tripods. Sam added the case he’d been carrying to the pile and drifted away while Kyle and Parker talked.
Maybe a third of the undergrads were setting up tents across the plateau. A few were already up, colorful little domes of blue and green and neon orange that caught the setting sunlight. A few formed small groups, others tried to maintain a bit of distance. Not-Skip had set his own pack down and strolled through the scattered students, pointing out better spots for tents, answering questions, offering help.
Once again, Sam thought about how maybe he shouldn’t’ve charged out of his apartment as soon as he had a chance. All things considered, he didn’t plan this out at all. Not even slightly. Maybe he could just disappear into the dark. Nobody would notice. Nobody would bother him. Nobody—
“Hey,” said Not-Skip. “Need any help getting your tent set up?”
Sam shook his head. “I’m good, thanks.”
Not-Skip’s gaze drifted to Sam’s inadequate backpack. “Roughing it. I can respect that.”
Sam debated how to respond. The sun had sunk a third of the way below the horizon now, and the air had cooled a few more degrees. He hated that he’d drawn attention to himself, and then realized taking so long to answer drew more.
“I think they need my help setting up the imaging gear,” he said, and walked away from Not-Skip.
Parker gave Sam another suspicious look as he approached. Logan showed a group of undergrads how the cameras mounted to the telescopes. Kyle and Olivia opened cases and did quick inventories. Olivia glanced at Sam. “Did you see Professor Barnes?”
“He’s not joining us,” said Parker. “He’s working on another project while we run the imaging exercises.”
“Seriously?” Kyle let out a sigh.
“Yes,” she said, glaring at him.
Olivia pointed Sam at one of the tripod cases. He unfastened the straps holding it shut, unsure if he should be doing it himself or handing it off to an undergrad. He really had no clue about the parameters of this exercise. There’d been some information in the departmental email, but he hadn’t read much past “overnight” and “out of town.”
“No, this one here,” Logan said to one of the undergrads, pointing at a connection point on the camera.
“So he just took off?” Kyle asked Parker, although it sounded a bit more like a statement.
“He didn’t take off,” she said. “He’s using this trip to work on another project.”
“What?” asked Olivia.
“Something else.”
“Yeah, but what?”
“A side project of his.”
Kyle laughed. “You’ve got no idea what he’s working on, do you?”
Parker glared at him. “He’s just trying to be efficient. We can teach this class, he can work on his own—”
“He’s trying to save his ass, isn’t he? Piggybacking his project onto this field trip.”
“No.”
“Is it true he’s living out of his car?”
“No!”
“He’s—” Sam started to say, then shut his mouth.
All the grad students turned to him. Logan glanced at the undergrads and gestured them back toward the tents. Parker gave Sam an icy stare.
“He’s what?” Olivia asked.
Sam sighed. “I saw him—I think he’s been sleeping in his office, maybe. I went into the lab early a few weeks ago and found him there. He told me, he made a joke about couch-surfing wipeouts. That wasn’t quite how he—it was funnier when he said it.”
Various expressions crossed their faces. Even Parker looked a little shaken. “I knew he’d maxed out a few credit cards working on things,” she said, “but I didn’t know it was that bad.”
“A few credit cards?” echoed Logan.
“He’s really dedicated to his work.”
“So am I,” said Olivia, “but I’m not sinking myself into debt over it.”
“Except student loan debt,” Kyle deadpanned.
“Well, yeah.”
Parker made an annoyed sound and went off to instruct some undergrads.
The rest of them stood around the empty cases as the last sliver of sun slipped beneath the horizon. A few phone lights flicked on across the plateau, and two flashlights with red lenses in place to preserve night vision. “I guess I should set up our tent before it gets too dark,” said Logan.
“Yeah.” Olivia nodded. “Yeah, that’d be great.”
Sam could see Kyle making an effort not to say something and decided to save Logan some embarrassment. “I have a—does anyone know what we’re doing for, well, food?”
Kyle’s eyes relaxed. So did Olivia’s. Logan nodded. “There’s a pair of coolers. I think it’s all hot dogs and bottled water. Maybe some veggie burgers. And we can all trade whatever snacks we’ve got. I brought some chips.”
His eyes were aimed past her elbow, half focused on a pair of largish, shrub-looking plants a few yards off the rough path Skip had led them along. Maybe small trees that had spread their leaves and branches low. And then all at once he realized where he’d been looking and why her tone was so sharp.
“No,” he said. “No, no, absolutely not. I don’t—I didn’t even know you were back here. I thought I was the last one in line. I was staring off into space and thinking about—” He closed his mouth. The only way to cut off the stream of words.
“About?”
“About not being—about getting lost in the woods.”
Parker judged him. Almost a full minute stretched by of her staring him in the eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m serious. I swear, I wasn’t looking at—I was just letting my mind wander while I—”
This time she cut him off. “Why are you on this trip?”
He stumbled again. This time, just mentally. “I needed—it was open to anyone in the department.”
“Until the sign-up was full. Two days ago.”
He kept his mouth shut.
She waited.
Sam took a breath. Forced his thoughts and his tongue to slow down. “I was staring off into space. Thinking of something else. That’s it.”
Air hissed out through her nose again. It made him think of a steam engine. “I don’t understand why you needed to be here so bad.”
For half a second, he considered telling her. Trying to explain it. He knew enough about Parker from random department chatter to know she’d sort of understand. Maybe.
Or she’d laugh at him.
The half second passed. He readjusted the strap of the telescope case. Shrugged the strap of his inadequate backpack up until it sat firm on his shoulder. “I don’t—there’s nothing to understand.”
Sam turned away and lumbered after the line, now fifty yards farther through the sloping forest. He heard her start after him, made a point of not looking at her when she passed him. He wanted to slow down, but she glanced back a few times as she worked her way back up to the front of the line. So he kept striding across the uneven ground, feeling it in his thighs and calves and the arches of his feet. Twenty minutes of uphill hiking later he’d caught up with the line, passed some of the other students, and brought himself alongside Logan, Olivia, and Kyle.
Olivia gave him a half nod of acknowledgment. Logan’s phone was out, and he skimmed through search results. Somehow he managed to do it without looking up, avoiding random fallen branches, exposed roots, and ankle-twisting dips in the ground. “Yeah,” he said. “Check this out.” He handed the phone to Kyle.
Kyle looked at the phone, glanced up to the front of the line. “What the fuck,” he said with an uneasy smile.
Sam didn’t say anything. Didn’t want to talk with any of them. Didn’t want to deal with any awkward questions about why he was here.
Olivia looped him into the conversation anyway. She jerked her chin at the front of the line. “Kyle tried to ask our guide there, Skip, about campsites at the top. Was it just dirt, are there facilities, another ranger station, or what.”
Sam waited for something more. “Yeah?”
“He didn’t answer me,” said Kyle.
“Oh.”
Kyle handed the phone over to Olivia. He met Sam’s eyes as they walked. “I mean, I said his name two or three times and he didn’t even act like I was talking to him. I thought maybe he had pods in or something, tried one last time, and he kinda jumped. Told me his real name’s Josh. Skip’s the name they use for the website so he’s not used to it. He said it’s a marketing thing, comes across more casual and friendly.”
“Ah. Okay.” Sam wondered if he could start slowing his pace again. Would it seem rude? Rude enough to draw attention? He just wanted to be invisible. No small talk, no questions, no distractions.
Logan shook his head. “The guy’s already kind of sketch. Did you see his outfit?”
Sam glanced forward. Caught a glimpse of the ivory shirt, remembered the dress boots. “Yeah.”
“He’s definitely not the guy from the website,” said Olivia. “It’s not just his hair being lighter. It’s a whole different guy.”
She passed the phone on to Sam. They’d zoomed in on the web page so he couldn’t see much more than a sky-blue background, a few broken words, and a photograph captioned henry “skip” gale, founder. The man in the picture stood next to a large tree and wore the same bright green baseball cap as their guide. The two men had similar builds and smiles. But the man in the photo had darker eyes, a narrower nose, black curls poking out on either side of his cap, and a complexion that could easily mean some strong Latino or Native American heritage.
Definitely not the guy leading them up the mountain.
Sam felt his fingers come together, the tips tapping against each other two-three-four times. A weird habit he’d developed years ago. Something he’d copied from a TV or movie scientist he couldn’t remember. In theory, it made him look smarter, and it also gave him time to think and try to stop his tongue from spilling a dozen words at once.
“I’m thinking identity theft,” said Logan, lowering his voice. “He looks like the type.”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s white-collar crime. He’s wearing nice clothes.”
“You know,” said Kyle, “when people steal your identity, they usually don’t show up at your job and hope nobody notices they’re a different person.”
Sam laughed. Couldn’t help himself.
Logan bit his lip, but he grinned a bit, too. “You have a better idea?”
Kyle shrugged. Tugged the telescope case strap higher onto his shoulder. “He’s clearly the point man for some cannibal hillbilly clan, leading us out into the woods so they can eat all of us.”
Now Olivia laughed. Logan grinned, and Sam felt his own mouth twitch again. “Well-dressed cannibal,” he said.
“Hollywood perpetuates a lot of ugly stereotypes. They don’t all wear masks and aprons.”
The three of them laughed some more and Sam’s smile lasted a few beats longer than he thought it would. They kept hiking and quietly shared other theories about their guide. Sam’s mind drifted in and out of the conversation, unsure if it was the distraction he’d been hoping for.
The slope got steeper as they continued through the woods. One or two students fell further behind, and Kyle fell back to offer encouragement or teasing as needed. Sam took an odd pride knowing he was still trodding along in his beat-up sneakers. Now he’d made it halfway through the line, maybe even closer to the front than the back.
Whoever “Skip” was, he knew his job and the forest. He pointed out better stepping points, flatter ground, and easier routes around boulders and fallen logs. A few times he stopped to show off the view between trees, but Barnes waved them on, urging them toward the top.
“You know,” Not-Skip announced at one of the scenic points, “this is Bigfoot country. The legendary Sasquatch.”
Parker sighed. “No, it’s not.” Like Barnes, she didn’t stop to look.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I’m a scientist,” she called back over her shoulder, “and because Bigfoot’s not real.”
A couple of the undergrads chuckled.
“Don’t listen to her,” Not-Skip told them. “People have been seeing ape-men in these hills for decades.”
It got a few more laughs and an over-the-shoulder glance from Barnes.
The sun got lower, the ground got rockier, the trees thinned. Sam felt himself calming as they went higher and the air cooled a bit. They’d been hiking for over two and a half hours now. He felt pretty sure he’d regret the uphill hike in the morning, maybe regret a lot of things, but for the moment, for the first time in the past twenty-four hours, he felt . . . centered. Ready for the future.
A phone alarm beeped and Barnes slowed down in a clearing of broad stones and patchy grass. He looked at the screen. Let his backpack slide from his shoulders and pulled out a heavier, more industrial-looking phone and checked that. It took Sam a moment to recognize it as a dedicated GPS device.
Parker and Not-Skip took a few more steps and turned to look back at him. The line of students spread out around Noah, forming a rough circle. Olivia and Logan stood across from Sam. Olivia still leaned ever so slightly away from Logan. Not-so-secret rejection.
Not-Skip shrugged and pulled out his phone. A few of the grad students let their packs drop and did the same. Sam checked his. No texts or voicemails or missed calls. Still two solid bars. He looked around, wondering if one of the trees around them was a carefully camouflaged cell tower. Did they disguise them out in the middle of nowhere? Maybe they were high enough nothing blocked the signals, giving them better range? He was doing it again. Pretty much forcing his mind to wander.
Barnes took a few long strides, then a few more in a different direction, and then one last one. Stared at his GPS. Pulled out his phone again. Took in a deep breath.
Then he became aware of all the students around him. “Sorry. Nothing important.” He turned his attention to Not-Skip. “How much farther?”
“Not far at all. Thirty minutes, tops.” He gestured at the trees beyond the rough clearing. “Once we’re past these, you’ll get a much better view of the sky.”
Barnes nodded enthusiastically. “Great. Everyone go on, get your tents set up. I’ll catch up in a little bit.”
Not-Skip put his phone away and waved for the group to follow him. The students sighed, grumbled, readjusted bags and backpacks. They drifted away from Barnes, headed after Not-Skip.
Sam watched them go, debated following them. He could see indecision working its way through the other grad students. Kyle finally turned and headed up the hill. Olivia hesitated, then slowly followed. Another trio of undergrads stood a few yards away going through the same calculations. Two more stretched and headed up the hill through the trees. Another one sighed and followed them, her pack hanging on one shoulder.
Parker went against the slow tide and moved closer to the professor. “Can I do anything to help?”
He shook his head. “This is where we part ways. Go on with the others. You know the drill. Make sure everyone’s got their tents set up, then get the imaging gear ready. Walk them all through it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. This is just a bunch of really boring measurements. Double-checking some calculations I made a few weeks ago.”
“For your mysterious side project?”
Barnes looked at her and Sam watched half a dozen emotions flit across the man’s face. “Yep. For the mysterious side project.”
“Fine.”
“I just . . .” Sam could almost see the man weighing his words. “Thanks, Parker.”
“For what?”
“For everything.” He waved his hand up the hillside. “For taking care of them. For all your help over the years. I never said thank you enough times. You’ve been great.”
He went to hug her, then stuck out his hand instead.
She looked down at the hand and chuckled awkwardly. “Are you okay?”
He laughed too. “Sorry. Random emotional moment. I’ll . . . I’ll see you later.”
It crossed Sam’s mind that he’d been standing here through what should’ve been a private moment. And then, as if they’d heard his thoughts, Barnes and Parker both glanced over at him.
Barnes cleared his throat. Parker gestured at his backpack, then at the retreating students. “Want me to have someone take your pack up to the site?”
Another glance made it clear Sam was the hypothetical “someone.”
“No.” Barnes held out a hand, waving the GPS device at her like he was warding off a geographic vampire. “It’s fine. Just get up there, take charge, get everything ready for tonight. They can’t do anything until the telescopes are set up.”
“Right. Of course.”
“Thanks again, Parker.”
She nodded and turned, her braid slashing the air. She marched up the slope past Sam. “Come on,” she told him, tipping her head at the telescope bag. “You heard him. We need that up at the site.”
Sam fell in behind her. He took a last look over his shoulder. Saw Barnes pull something else from his pocket. Check the big device again. Scratch a big chalk X on the expanse of flat stone directly in front of his feet. The man straightened up and stared at the pink-streaked sky.
And then Parker barked at Sam to keep up.
It took them five minutes to catch up to the last of the straggler students, another ten to rejoin the core of the group, and ten more before they all reached the big plateau. Sam’s calves ached at the sudden shift in angle. The front of his thighs, too. It hadn’t felt like a rough hike until they’d stopped on flat ground.
The plateau spread over an area a little bigger than a lecture hall. Some scrub brush cast long shadows. A fallen tree trunk had been stripped of its branches and turned into a long, rough bench, already being used by half a dozen undergrads. Not quite the top of the mountain, but the plateau gave them a solid view of the sky. Far below he could see the thin ribbon of a road going through the trees, maybe the road they’d driven in on.
He looked around for the best place to set the imaging gear. Saw Logan, still wearing his backpack, standing with two of the telescopes, waving down undergrads with tripods. Sam added the case he’d been carrying to the pile and drifted away while Kyle and Parker talked.
Maybe a third of the undergrads were setting up tents across the plateau. A few were already up, colorful little domes of blue and green and neon orange that caught the setting sunlight. A few formed small groups, others tried to maintain a bit of distance. Not-Skip had set his own pack down and strolled through the scattered students, pointing out better spots for tents, answering questions, offering help.
Once again, Sam thought about how maybe he shouldn’t’ve charged out of his apartment as soon as he had a chance. All things considered, he didn’t plan this out at all. Not even slightly. Maybe he could just disappear into the dark. Nobody would notice. Nobody would bother him. Nobody—
“Hey,” said Not-Skip. “Need any help getting your tent set up?”
Sam shook his head. “I’m good, thanks.”
Not-Skip’s gaze drifted to Sam’s inadequate backpack. “Roughing it. I can respect that.”
Sam debated how to respond. The sun had sunk a third of the way below the horizon now, and the air had cooled a few more degrees. He hated that he’d drawn attention to himself, and then realized taking so long to answer drew more.
“I think they need my help setting up the imaging gear,” he said, and walked away from Not-Skip.
Parker gave Sam another suspicious look as he approached. Logan showed a group of undergrads how the cameras mounted to the telescopes. Kyle and Olivia opened cases and did quick inventories. Olivia glanced at Sam. “Did you see Professor Barnes?”
“He’s not joining us,” said Parker. “He’s working on another project while we run the imaging exercises.”
“Seriously?” Kyle let out a sigh.
“Yes,” she said, glaring at him.
Olivia pointed Sam at one of the tripod cases. He unfastened the straps holding it shut, unsure if he should be doing it himself or handing it off to an undergrad. He really had no clue about the parameters of this exercise. There’d been some information in the departmental email, but he hadn’t read much past “overnight” and “out of town.”
“No, this one here,” Logan said to one of the undergrads, pointing at a connection point on the camera.
“So he just took off?” Kyle asked Parker, although it sounded a bit more like a statement.
“He didn’t take off,” she said. “He’s using this trip to work on another project.”
“What?” asked Olivia.
“Something else.”
“Yeah, but what?”
“A side project of his.”
Kyle laughed. “You’ve got no idea what he’s working on, do you?”
Parker glared at him. “He’s just trying to be efficient. We can teach this class, he can work on his own—”
“He’s trying to save his ass, isn’t he? Piggybacking his project onto this field trip.”
“No.”
“Is it true he’s living out of his car?”
“No!”
“He’s—” Sam started to say, then shut his mouth.
All the grad students turned to him. Logan glanced at the undergrads and gestured them back toward the tents. Parker gave Sam an icy stare.
“He’s what?” Olivia asked.
Sam sighed. “I saw him—I think he’s been sleeping in his office, maybe. I went into the lab early a few weeks ago and found him there. He told me, he made a joke about couch-surfing wipeouts. That wasn’t quite how he—it was funnier when he said it.”
Various expressions crossed their faces. Even Parker looked a little shaken. “I knew he’d maxed out a few credit cards working on things,” she said, “but I didn’t know it was that bad.”
“A few credit cards?” echoed Logan.
“He’s really dedicated to his work.”
“So am I,” said Olivia, “but I’m not sinking myself into debt over it.”
“Except student loan debt,” Kyle deadpanned.
“Well, yeah.”
Parker made an annoyed sound and went off to instruct some undergrads.
The rest of them stood around the empty cases as the last sliver of sun slipped beneath the horizon. A few phone lights flicked on across the plateau, and two flashlights with red lenses in place to preserve night vision. “I guess I should set up our tent before it gets too dark,” said Logan.
“Yeah.” Olivia nodded. “Yeah, that’d be great.”
Sam could see Kyle making an effort not to say something and decided to save Logan some embarrassment. “I have a—does anyone know what we’re doing for, well, food?”
Kyle’s eyes relaxed. So did Olivia’s. Logan nodded. “There’s a pair of coolers. I think it’s all hot dogs and bottled water. Maybe some veggie burgers. And we can all trade whatever snacks we’ve got. I brought some chips.”
