Part 2 (2/2)
”Not that I know of,” Clare replied, ”at least, not yet, but there was one plant I discovered high up in the Andes that was very efficient at converting sunlight into oxygen. All green leaf plants do it, but B37A was almost ten times more efficient than your everyday plant. I wrote an article on it...” Her voice faded as she realised that she'd seen the very same article on Vink's computer. ”That must be it,” she said, ”they've taken my work on hybrids and created a new strain of B37A, a strain that can make enough air to run MBA.”
”Makes sense,” Steve said, ”grow enough of the stuff, and it's free air. There's one other problem though, water. There's no water on the Moon, and plants need water.”
”Can't help you there,” Clare replied, ”I don't know of a plant the can turn sunlight into water.”
”Maybe not,” Steve replied, ”but plants could be created that used very little of it-”
”They already exist,” Clare interrupted, ”most of Earth's deserts have some form of plant life, even if it just lies dormant until it rains.”
By now it was really late, they had been driving around for a couple of hours and Clare was sleepy. ”Let's go home,” she said, ”I'm all in.”
It was on TV the following morning. Rufus was his usual self, and the kids were full of beans, but mom and dad were rather fragile. ”Shush,” Clare suddenly gestured, ”quiet, there's something on the news.” Everyone became silent, even Rufus, for a second or two. Clare went over to the TV to listen.
”What is it Sweetie?” Steve asked.
”There's been an accident in Russia,” she said, ”some sort of explosion at a factory.”
”Must be bad to make the news,” Steve said, ”I wonder what kind of factory it was?”
”Don't know,” Clare replied, ”but it doesn't look good. There are ma.s.s evacuations taking place.” Steve just caught the end of the item.
'Sabotage cannot be ruled out,' came the voice from the TV.
”Well, at least it's not nuclear,” Chris piped up, ”remember the last time?”
”Yes, that's good,” Clare, said, ”the last one caused a lot of suffering.”
Steve left for work as usual. He had no idea what would be waiting for him on his arrival, and his mind was racing with thoughts of being arrested for breaking and entering, with squad cars and blue and red lights everywhere. He needn't have bothered though, everything was just like any other day. There was no sign that anything had happened during the night.
'This can't be right,' Steve thought as he entered the building. 'Vink must be going out of his mind by now seeing his precious data erased.' There was nothing. All was calm.
”Hi Jimmy,” Steve called out, on seeing him, ”anything happening yet?” he asked, knowing that Jimmy would know if anyone did.
”Nope, not yet,” Jimmy replied, ”just another boring day!”
”It should be anything but boring,” Steve said, under his breath, whilst heading for his Lab.
It was lunchtime before Steve had a chance to quiz anyone else, but his opportunity came when he b.u.mped into Janice in the canteen.
”Hi there,” he greeted her, ”how's uncle Vink' today?”
”Well, funny you should ask Steve, but he's not here. I haven't seen him all day and his office is not locked.”
”Doesn't that strike you as odd?” Steve said, ”do you think we should take a look, just in case?”
”I don't really know,” Janice, replied, ”it is very unusual.”
”Come on,” Steve said, taking her arm, ”let's go and check, this is a top secret organisation after all.”
They ran to Vinkle's office, and sure enough the door wasn't locked. They went in and couldn't believe what they saw. Everything was a mess.
”Wow,” Steve said, ”someone sure did a number on this place, call security.”
”Right,” Janice said, looking for the phone. ”The files are all gone,” she said seeing the empty cabinet.
”Computer's gone too,” Steve, said, ”this is not good.”
Security arrived and took over, there were procedures in place for just such an event. The whole building was put in lockdown, all doors locked and all personnel taken to a secure waiting room.
”I hope we're on overtime,” Jimmy said, grinning.
”I wonder what happened to Vinkle?” Kay asked, ”I do hope he's all right.”
Jimmy looked with disbelief at that last remark. ”I hope who ever took him is all right,” he laughed. The laughter stopped abruptly as Carter walked in.
”I want to see each of you in the office,” he said gruffly, but Steve had a feeling he wasn't as mad as he was making himself out to be.
”Guess this will be the third degree,” Jimmy said to no one in particular.
”Could be Jimmy,” Steve said, ”we'll soon find out.”
Steve arrived home a little early that day. ”Hey, you're early,” Clare called out to him as he entered.
”We need to talk,” Steve said, greeting her in the kitchen. They went to Steve's study and closed the door.
”Uh oh,” Chris said, to Sh.e.l.ley, ”this looks serious.”
”Well, whatever it was, you shouldn't have done it!” Sh.e.l.ley responded.
”But I didn't do anything!” Chris protested, putting the TV on.
”So, Vink' has gone missing,” Clare said.
”Yes, and all his files and computer too, the place was a real mess. Carter conducted the interviews himself, but it seemed that he was not really interested, I think he knew all about it and was just covering his tracks.”
”So what now Hun, what's the next move?”
”I don't know Sweetie, I wasn't expecting this.”
They came out of the study to hear the newsreader on the TV say: ”the outbreak is localised to the surrounding regions. The Russian government has issued a statement claiming that there is no link to yesterdays explosion, and that all necessary precautions are being taken to minimise the risk of further cases of the mystery virus.”
”What was that about guys?” Steve asked the kids.
”There's some kind of sickness broken out in Russia, near where that explosion was, and no one seems to know what it is.”
”Has anyone died from it?” Clare asked expecting the answer.
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