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I gathered my motley band inside the main gate. Ann-Marie had sobered up sharply, as I knew she would. Zazlu always imbibed lightly of his own products, and now with a field promotion to my second in command he had to come, to lead the squad if I fell. Juan was still mostly gone, but we needed both him and Zazlu's carrying power if we wanted a chance to bring Ridley's body back. Zazlu would give Juan his rifle back after a few hours and a sobriety check.
    Grimstone and Steve were coming too, even if they were going to slow us down. We needed their skills. I sighed, then began.
    "Soldiers, as the bravest, most dedicated and most... sober... members of Infinity Squad, we are about to take on a mission of the highest importance. We are not going on a bug hunt today. We are going to retrieve one of our fallen, to discover his true end, and to make sure he gets a proper burial."
    "We may encounter enemy today, but my plan is to avoid them, totally if we can. Anyone who fires first without my order, I'll have you shipped to Immortal Squad by nightfall. After I spend the afternoon kicking your ass up and down the length of the barracks, hear me?"
    They nodded.
    "We're going in on foot, we're going in far, and we're going in quiet." I gave them my best Lieutenant look. "Stealth and noise discipline will be paramount to us coming back alive. So, for gods sakes... put your cellphones on vibrate!"
    The squad laughed, ready to go. Then Juan's eyes got big. "Shit!" he cried, reaching into his pocket to shut off his phone. "Sorry sir!"
    I sighed and rubbed my face. "Grim, are our implants activated?" Grimstone hit some buttons on the device he carried, then gave me the thumbs up. "Check check implants check," I said, speaking into the mike clipped to the collar of my fatigues in a normal voice. Grimstone was still giving me the thumbs up. I took ten steps back and whispered into my mike, "Zazlu's mother was a grilled cheese sandwich."
    "Hey!"
    "Alright, mount up!" I laughed, turning. I motioned to the guards and the twenty-foot tall steel gate in the security wall started cranking open. And with a wave of my arm, we were off. It was a good feeling.
     
     
    Even 'impassible' trails on Earth are somewhat friendly to Earth creatures. They have a logic to them, an Earth logic. Here, everything was wrong.
    If the tree branch wasn't too small to hold you or too prickly to touch, it was too large to grab with one hand. If the rocks weren't flaky or too slippery to walk on, they were at the wrong angle for your boots. Mud puddles that looked ankle deep were knee swallowing traps. You couldn't squeeze between the trees- they grew at weird intervals and we were always walking around them. Even in the cleared area in front of the gates, strange alien roots grew up to catch your boots or make holes to twist your ankle in. In short, I'm saying we made horrible time.
    The day was getting hotter when I signaled for a break an hour later, at the foothills of the Night Hunting Grounds mountain. The squad all took a knee in the shadows, as I ordered. Zazlu came up to my shady spot, panting and drenched in sweat.
    "Sir? Any way we can go a little slower for the next hour? For those still in our old bodies?"
    "You know, I hadn't wanted to say it, Zaz. But this body... I feel like I could run flat out for another hour!"
    "Well, I can't," he panted. "Grim's looking pretty toasted too."
    I looked over. Our tech expert was collapsed on his back, tongue hanging out. Butcher was pouring water on his head, while marshaling a panting Juan into the shadows. "Ann-Marie's not having a problem."
    "Well, in my next life," Zaz gasped between breaths, "maybe I'll play a real sport like women's college soccer."
    "Don't be so hard on yourself, Zaz," Ann-Marie whispered, the radio implants carrying her soft words to us from twenty meters away. She was barely sweating, like me. "Grown men groping each other in tights is a real sport too."
    "Grappling," he panted. "It's called