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When Sarah and I came back to the lounge, she showed Jacob and Tyler the few pages of data that she had printed out. They had similar reactions to it that she did.

"Bastard is up to something", Jacob said flipping through the data.

"But what?", Tyler asked, "what use could he possibly get from a giant squid?"

"Large amounts of Red Code for one", I answered, "if he manages to get even half of it he could harden his skin to the point where the High-Power may not stop him."

"Red Code takes a long time to process and reform to the point where it's reusable", Tyler said, "there's lots of heating and refrigeration involved and it has to be 99.9% pure before it can be reused, otherwise it's like injecting yourself with red water. He'd have to have a HELL of a cooker up there before he could even begin to think about processing it all."

"Cooker?", I asked.

"A biologist's slang word for an H-200 Starlight Chemical Processor", Sarah said, "they run on self regenerating circuits and are custom built depending on what you need it for. Red Code processors are nearly impossible to find as off-the-shelf products, and they take a while, 2 months to a year to make, which means if Martin is looking to steal Red Code from that creature, then he had his Cooker warm and ready to go before we even knew what he was doing."

"If he was ready to go the second the drones got his creature", I said, feeling a rather dark wave begin to sweep over me, "that means our 12 hour delay in finding out that he was even up to something in the first place has just given him a wider time table, who knows what he could have gathered in the 12 hours that we were catching Z's?"

"Doesn't matter what he has now", James said walking out, "we have much more pressing matters on our hands."

"Like what?", I asked.

"The biggest heat wave I've ever seen", James said, "it's bringing temperatures close to 200 degrees Fahrenheit and is covering most of the planet already."

"Okay I just got here a couple of days ago", I said, "and it was humid as hell and hot as hell, then there was a cold front coming in this morning and now it's gonna be 200 degrees outside?"

"Every so often we get these holes in micro space", Tyler said, "Micro space is an area of the universe that is infinitely hot and has more gravity than a black hole due to the nature of all the superheated oxygen and plasma state water stored there. When these holes open, maybe it has something to do with Dark Matter or a temporary spacial rend, but there is such a gravity difference that a phenomenon man has yet to understand, termed "Micro Bursts", take place. During a Burst, gravity in Micro space is temporarily nullified and the superheated air rushes into the atmosphere, but since the water and air are so hot, they can't cool down quick enough. The results are the strongest heat waves you'll ever see, you get boiling water as rain, wind with a 80 degree heating factor and it has destroyed a few planets, turning them into barren, dry as a bone desert wastelands. And were about to be on the receiving end on one of the biggest Micro Bursts in history. It also looks like the sun is having one of it's fits as well and that's not going to help."

"What's that gonna do to us here in the lab?", I asked.

"The iron and concrete walls will keep the heat out for a few hours", James said, "but the temperature outside is already well above 90. Since the climate controls have no back up power, the main generator at Ransol must come online, very soon."

"How far is it?", I asked.

"It's a hundred sixty mile, two day long long walk from here", James said, "two hour drive with one of our dune buggy's, but you'd have to drive close to the top speed of 80 miles an hour to get there before you over heated."

"Why the hell is it so far away?", I asked, "wouldn't it make more sense to have it right here so it would be as simple as walking to a generator room and flipping it on?"

"The lab had an infestation of Pyronauts a while back", Jacob said, "there made up of an energy so pure that it burns the air around it, making them essentially living fireballs. Little flaming fuckers took up residence in the coils of our main Briggs V24 and fried it within two days. Once the infestation was gone, courtesy of Dr. Loony Tunes, who caught them and did God knows what with them, we moved the main generator's over to the Industrial complex."

"And you need to get there", James said, "soon."

"How do you expect me to do that?", I asked, "with what I have with me, which is jungle gear, I'd still overheat and die of a stroke long before I ever made it that far on foot and the engine would over heat a long time before I made it ten miles."

"I might have a way around that", Tyler said, "a while back, a few Xenomorph's who worked here started developing all kinds of experimental expedition equipment, and I know from their files a cooled suit and a special kind of coolant for engines was being developed along with it. It would take some retro fitting to the buggy's, but it might be practical. Give me some time to find it."

Tyler walked back into the security room with Allen as I turned to James again.

"So how long will this world wide Heat Wave last?", I asked.

James shrugged, "I can't say. Could be a couple of hours, or forever, there is really no telling with a Micro Burst, you get what comes. Hopefully not very long, this lab will turn into an oven if it lasts more than a day, but since were in the middle of summer, you never know."

"What will the heat do to the plants and the animals on the outside?", I asked.

"It will make them docile", Mike said, "I've lived through some of these Micro Bursts and since activity in heat drains you like someone pulled the bathtub plug, everything will want to lay low to conserve water.

"Well", I sighed, "at least I won't have to worry about getting my brain sucked out of my skull by some sharp tooth, moss covered plant like dirt lurker."

"You'll still have to keep and eye on your body temperature", James said, "Acid blood may save you from carnivorous plants, but no way in hell will it save you when it starts to boil from the 200 degree heat. I really don't want to see you die like a boiled hotdog, so please, take it slow and steady."

"Lovely", I said, "but I have to say that I bet that boiling Acid would be a really great way to mess up someone's day."

The others looked at me like I was insane.

"Crazy bastard", Sarah said.

"What?", I asked smiling a little, "I can have a little fun can't I?"

"No", James said, "this too serious for us to give any kind of slack."

"Stress equals death", Allen said from the security room, "we have to take it slow or we fuck everything up."

"Forgive me", James said, "but I'd rather not be roasted in the oven that this lab is going to become in the next 24 hours."

I sighed. If they had 24 hours from this point until the lab became un inhabitable, then I had to get going as soon as possible. This was turning out to be the fight of my life. Magellan had told me from the start that the job seemed a little fishy, but I hadn't listened, I was beginning to wish that I had.

"Okay", Tyler said as he came out of the security room, "looks like the parts were kept down on the ground level with the buggies. Grab your stuff Sky."

I got up and stuffed my jacket into my pack along with my bedding. I was grabbing my guns and my vest when I noticed that Mike was grabbing his gear as well.

"What are you doing?", Tyler asked.

"Going with him", Mike answered, "this is a two man job."

"As if", Tyler said, "the dossiers and roosters said that there was barely enough equipment for one."

"Can you drive stick Skyline?", Mike asked, "all the buggies are manual front engine rear drive."

I shook my head, "only thing I've ever driven was my old, Chevy Avalanche with an automatic."

"There", Mike said, "I'm going."

"No your not", James said, "doesn't matter what's going on, your still on my payroll and I need you here to help Allen and I run things and investigate anything that might come up."

Mike sighed, "if your not back here in ten hours I'm coming after your ass, got me?"

"Got ya brother", I said grabbing my vest.

I followed Tyler down the hall to an elevator. We stepped inside and he hit a button that read "Ground floor". The elevator lurched and we went down. A few seconds later, the elevator dinged and the metal doors slid open. In front of us was garage type area that housed work benches, lifts, boxes, crates and barrels as well as several, rough looking off road vehicles, two that I knew were a jet black Jeep Rubicon pick up with an AWD badge on the side, a deer guard up front, huge tires, and more lights than I could count. The other was a six wheel Dodge Ram with heavy armor and a bulldozer like scope up front with more lights on the roof.

"Not to be one of those people who ask questions", I said as we walked through the sweltering garage, "but if you guys research biology, what are you doing with a tuner shop down stairs?"

"Sometimes biological research involves extensive field work in dangerous conditions", Tyler answered, "James gave most of the ground floor to Diesel Tech a while back and they set up here to start building and researching Off Road vehicles that could keep going no matter what the conditions were, most of the people on this department came from planets with very, very rough terrain."

Tyler led me past a few more, tank like vehicles before showing me a small, two door car. It had a Honda badge on the hood and an "Accord", in white letters on the windshield. It was siting rather high at almost seven inches upfront and seven and a half in the rear. The tires on the car were Out Rigger radial long belts with a deep off road tread and the rims looked like they'd been yanked off a pick up and down sized to if the car. The interior was completely stripped out, the carpet and door panels had been replaced with tan plastic and the seats were out of what must have been a race car. The dash was all custom with more readouts and gauges than I could count and the steering wheel was custom. There was a little more than a few pipes where the hood would be, allowing me to see the engine. It was huge, twin turbocharged and supercharged V8 that had an engine cover reading "Logic 7.0 liter Turbocharged". The way it was mounted into the car told me that it was rear wheel drive, like my pick up back home.

"It makes 750 horsepower at the rear wheels", Tyler said, "you'll suck the tank dry in about 50 minutes at 160 miles an hour, which is enough time to cover about 70 miles, so you'll need to refuel a few times, there's fuel in the trunk so don't worry. Keep the AC on at all times, the car will fry itself if you don't."

I pulled the door open and stuffed my gear in the back, wiping the sweat from my forehead, "now about that suit?"

"Right", Tyler said, "gimme a minute."

Tyler walked out of sight into a pile of crates. I could hear him fighting a box in the back ground for a few minutes before he came back with a green camouflage pattern and white stripes. It had long sleeves and built in fingerless gloves and even had a sleeve for my tail and down pipes.

"Wear this underneath your regular gear", Tyler said, "keep it on as high a setting as you can bear and go higher as it get's hotter."

Tyler turned around as I slipped out of my gear and pulled the suit on. It was skin tight and slightly un comfortable at first, but I managed to work that out. There was a dial with a wire on it that I wove underneath my shirt and vest, attaching it to the webbing on my shoulder. Once I had everything back on, I pulled the hood up, which had a hole in it for my mouth, though that was it. There was a piece of thin, clear fabric that went in front of my visor that didn't bother my vision at all, which was good since it looked like that I would be driving at rather high speeds. I switched the dial on and felt like someone had applied ice to every inch of my body, and that was just setting 1 of 20.

I shivered and quickly shut the suit off, "okay...yeah...the cold part works, REALLY well."

Tyler laughed, "now let's find that coolant."

We had to look around for a few minutes before we finally found the small blue bottle, which Tyler poured into the radiator as I sat in the driver's side of the car, strapping on the harness and shutting the door. Tyler finished adding the coolant and came over to me.

"To start it", Tyler said pointing to a set of four switches, make sure all four ignition switches are on, clutch in, first gear and then turn the key."

I flipped the four switches, pressed in on the clutch and put the car in first. The V8 shook the entire car as it woke up, it was making way too much power for this little Honda. Tyler was showing me how to shift up and down when James walked in.

"The temperature is 101 outside right now", he said, "at it's current rate, it will be 200 degrees outside within two and a half hours, once you hit that pavement, don't stop for anything except to gas up if the tank runs dry. Keep your suit as high as you can bear it. It will only take a few seconds of exposure to a 200 degree temperature to knock you out and less than three minutes to kill you."

"I'll keep that in mind", I said setting the dial to one and instantly feeling as if I was in an ice bath. Tyler opened the massive garage door and I idled the car to the road that was sitting right outside. The road was mostly shaded, but I could see the heat mirages as little as five feet away, that road must have been hotter than a mother fucker.

"Once you get on the road drive for a bout a mile and take the first right turn", James said, "it will take you on a ramp and lead to one long straight that will take you to the industrial complex. Close to the end you might lose your way in a maze of exits, so I'll walk you through it over the radio. Get going, stay safe Sky."

I nodded and pulled out into the street, giving the V8 the gas and shifting from first to second as I started for Ransol Industries.