CHAPTER 30
I SQUINTED INTO the gully, but to me, the canister just looked like a thermos flask.
“What is it?” I called.
“You don’t want to know. I don’t want to know. Nobody wants to know.”
Jed dropped the stick and began snapping photos, first of the scene and then close-ups of the canister itself.
“Can you throw me down one of those sample bags?”
“Do you want a suit?”
“I’m not planning to touch anything.”
I dropped one of the largest bags down for him, and he turned it inside out and used it to pick up the mystery object.
“And another? I want to double-bag this.”
Once he’d sealed it in two layers, he gingerly picked it up by the corner and began the climb back up. I held out a hand to help him over the edge, but he passed me the bag instead.
“Thanks.”
I peered inside at the c
