“Cryptids”
Alec Nevala-Lee
Analog Science Fiction
May 2014

I wrote earlier that I want to try to read more short fiction  and more science fiction this year. I thank God for ereader apps on phones. I’ve been doing a lot of reading of short fiction on my phone, and this story is one I read today while waiting on various things (pick up wife from physical therapy, pick up son from school, etc.)

I’ve only read a couple of the stories in the current issue of Analog, but “Cryptids” is one of the most enjoyable stories I’ve read in the magazine in a while.  I like a good monster story, especially when there a rigorous scientific rationale behind it.

Karen Vale is leading a research team in Papua New Guinea, researching birds. Her funding hasn’t been renewed, and she’s facing the daunting prospect of having to return home with the project half-finished.

Enter Amanda, a former student from about a decade ago who is now working for a pharmaceutical company. The company is interested in a particular bird, the hooded pitohui, that eats a particular beetle. More specifically, they’re interested in what the beetle eats.

The hooded pitohui

The hooded pitohui secretes a toxin that causes the skin of anyone who touches it to tingle. They are believed to ingest the toxin from beetles which ingest it from an as yet unknown plant. The beetles are thought to be the source of the batrachotoxins in poison dart frogs. (This is all fact, not something the author made up.)

Amanda’s company wants develop a set of drugs from the plants they believe the beetles eat. She offers to fund Karen’s work to completion if Karen will spend a few days helping her try to track down the source of the toxin.

Using radio transmitters, the team tracks the birds to a nearby island. The plan is to find the beetles and from there try to locate the plants believed to be the source of the toxin.

But there’s something on the island they aren’t anticipating…

Alec Nevala-Lee is not an author whose name was familiar to me before reading this story, but I will be keeping my eye out for his byline in the future. This was an effective monster story that was scientifically grounded. Furthermore, the characters weren’t simply stock people from central casting. There was more depth than in many monster stories that are longer.

Not only that, I found the whole locale and the facts Nevala-Lee included to be both interesting and educational. I recommend this one highly.

Here’s an excerpt.