EXPLORER ACADEMY THE DRAGON'S BLOOD TRUDI TRUEIT UNDER THE Stars NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
IT’S A CRAZY WORLD OUT THERE BE CURIOUS Stephen Hawking 1942 2018 1 7167 N 110 4667 E
1 PHILIPPINES Celebes Sea KINABATANGAN RIVER BASIN MALAYSIA VIETNAM THAILAND South China Sea BRUNEI MALAYSIA Borneo SINGAPORE INDONESIA Java Sea PACIFIC OCEAN SWEAT DRIBBLED down the back of a sticky neck Hot feet swelled inside boots that got tighter with each step Even breathing was hard like trying to inhale with a wet towel covering your face If this was immortality thought Cruz it was way overrated Cruz Coronado may have been trekking through a steamy rainforest in northern Borneo with the explorers and faculty of Explorer Academy but his mind was thousands of miles away More than two weeks had passed since he’d been inside the Society’s top secret Archive for a glimpse of his mother’s scientific logbook A single page the one his PANDA unit had partially revealed was all the Synthesis had allowed him to see Even so it was enough for Cruz to finally read his mom’s full entry In it she explained that she’d handled her cell-regeneration serum without gloves A scratch on her hand had exposed her unborn child Cruz to the liquid The mishap had likely altered his developing DNA In short it was possible he would live Forever It was a stunning discovery And yet somehow it wasn’t Looking back Cruz realized he’d hardly been sick a day in his life Bumps bruises sprains and other minor injuries had always been quick to heal Cruz had figured he’d simply been lucky but now he knew it was more than that So much more 5
