"What do you mean, you have some guesses? What do you know?" Stan, the man in prison clothes, persisted in following Nick until he stopped beneath a large tree and carefully examined its leaves.
"I don't know anything right now. Would you believe me if I said aliens abducted us?" Nick hacked into the trunk. Delight appeared in his eyes as he watched milky-white sap seep out from beneath the bark.
"Tch..." Stan gave a disdainful snort and walked aside, completely unaware that he had just missed the truth.
"Can you drink this stuff like birch sap?" Nikolai, the Russian, couldn't tell what Nick was doing. He reached out to dab up some of the milky sap for a taste, only to have his wrist seized.
"Buddy, this is an upas tree." Nick was pleased because he had finally discovered a plant he had seen on Earth before, and this stuff might prove very useful.
"I've only heard of poison dart frogs." Edwin, the doctor, produced a scalpel from somewhere and carefully dipped its sharp blade into a little of the milky sap, examining it closely.
"If I'm right, don't let this stuff touch a wound. Even a mouth ulcer would be enough to kill you. What's on your blade is enough to kill everyone here."
As Nick spoke, he used his Bolo knife to hack several more cuts into the upas tree, then took out a plastic container used for water purification tablets and collected a good amount of sap.
"Thanks, my friend. I owe you one," Nikolai thanked Nick in his deep, muffled voice.
"Don't worry about it."
Nick turned and saw that Edwin was still examining the scalpel with a peculiar expression. He couldn't resist a sarcastic remark. "Earlier, I asked if you had anything that could