by David Wiley
CHAPTER 7
"There have got to be more comfortable places to sleep," the dry voice penetrated and Lani jerked upright, immediately wincing at her stiff neck.
"Uh, yeah, Professor, there probably are," Lani acknowledged, smiling ruefully at the lanky woman standing there. She rubbed her nose which felt like it was squashed flat from the face plant she must have done at some point.
"You know, sometimes being so focused helps, but so does a little perspective—or even a decent night's rest. We need you to be in top form, Lani. Candece was being honest last night when she said you were the brains of our operation."
Lani, embarrassed, pushed her unruly red hair behind her ears. "No I'm not. You're our leader and you've got plenty of smarts and you're good with people. Not all of us are. There's a reason you're a professor. The field techs have to be pretty quick on the uptake, too, or they wouldn't survive. Kiet was a good biochemist and even Emma, well, she's, she's competent."
"Yes, but that is probably the most you can say for her," Jonze parked herself on the edge of the countertop. "An advanced degree does not always mean you are smarter than anyone else. Sometimes it just means you had not yet figured out what to do with yourself or your parents had too much money or both."
She traced a dark finger in circles on the countertop. "How did you figure out that trick with the chemicals?"
"I thought—" Lani's voice squeaked. She cleared her suddenly dry throat and started again. "Well, it was because of my little field trip—letting biochemists out of the lab occasionally can pay off, you know."
"Sometimes," Jonze conceded the point.
Lani nodded. "Anyway, I noticed the plants seemed to release one suite of volatiles, signaling the alarm, when they're disturbed. On the other hand, when nothing is happening to them, they emit what I call the 'All-Clear' signal. I had Hoover help identify the main components of the All-Clear compound. Alfie here synthesized them for me. I wish I had made enough for everybody, but I wasn't positive they'd work. I mean, they should have, but I couldn't really test them. I'm lucky that Bax trusted me enough to use the spray."
"I do not believe luck had anything to do with it," Jonze disagreed. "I want you to synthesize a lot of those chemicals. I plan to mount canisters around the compound that Hoover can activate when he detects a problem. Maybe even periodically mist the place with them to keep things under control."
"That's going to use up most of our chemical feedstocks," Lani pointed out. "The mix has a few elements that are in limited supply."
Jonze shrugged. "If we have to do it, we have to do it. I do not want to lose anyone else on my watch. We can refine some of the chemicals from raw materials here on the planet if necessary."
"Not easily, especially since someone would have to harvest them, besides—"
"We will cross that bridge when we have to," the Professor said firmly, causing Lani to cringe. Unfortunately, the older woman noticed. "You were going to add something?" she asked more gently.
Lani worried at her lip. "I am worried that if we use too much All-Clear, the plants will get used to it, and it will stop having an effect."
The Professor nodded. "Consider it noted. If the plants routinely use it, they must have some way to prevent overdoses. However, at the moment, we do not have any better options." She mused. "But I am guessing that is not why you were here in the lab in the middle of the night. What else is on your mind?"
Lani hesitated. Her hunch did not seem as crystal-clear in daylight. "Something Candece said last night stuck in my head. What did Mumson do to attract the attention of the plants? I went back and looked at the video. They weren't attacking, at least, at first. The only thing I could tell that he was doing differently was running some power tools. So I asked myself, why did all those different species of plants respond so quickly?"
"The aggressor volatiles?" Jonze's question indicated that she was taking Lani seriously, which gave Lani enough courage to continue with her odd theory.
"No, those spiked, true," Lani indicated her monitor showing the volatile concentrations outside.
Jonze squinted. "You are monitoring those real-time?"
"Yes, well, really Hoover is monitoring them for me. I just taught him what to look for. Anyway, the volatiles peaked, but they couldn't be the reason the plants reacted that quickly, at least not all of them. You see, the wind was blowing the wrong direction."
Jonze nodded with understanding. "The electrical signals."
"Yes, the electrical signals," Lani said.
Bax held up the small black box. "So, all I have to do is switch it on and it will repel plants, even if it is windy?"
Lani nodded. "The wind shouldn't affect it—unlike the spray. I've tested it on the plants we've got growing in the greenhouse." She waved towards one of those plants, a small ivy-like species still sitting on her lab bench. "Mind you, most, like this one, are some of the tamer varieties we've found. Plus the electrical field doesn't extend much beyond your body and—"
Bax kissed her forehead. "I'm sure it will work fine." He thumbed the switch on the side of the box. "It's buzzing. I can feel a slight tingling or something. Is that what it's supposed to do?"
Lani nodded and Bax held the box over the ivy. The ivy's vinelike leaves curled and moved away. He grinned and kissed her again, this time on the lips. "Lani's Patented Plant Repeller, I like it!"
"I can't patent anything, it says so in our contract, 'All discoveries are property of Alchem—'" she stopped at his raised eyebrow. "I, I sometimes still have trouble with—never mind," she flushed. "I'm hoping this works better than the spray."
Bax sighed. "I wish you would stop beating yourself up over that. The spray worked fine. It was the blagging wind and—well, I'm sure this will keep me safe and sound."
Lani held out a second box for Juls. "Still, be careful." She knew he had heard the catch in her voice because he gave her a quick hug before hurrying out to the flitter.
Lani fiddled idly with her lab equipment. Admit it, she thought, you can't concentrate with him out there. Bax and Juls were visiting "Eden," their nickname for a small valley not far from Misty Mountain. Eden had the most diverse bunch of plants they had found yet on Gondwana, an incredibly entangled mass of vegetation. Which was one of the reasons she had pressed Mumford into finishing two of the repellent boxes by early afternoon, quickly enough for Bax and Juls to take with them.
They should be fine. Juls had checked in after they reached Eden about 35 minutes and 17 seconds ago, but who was counting? Lani forced herself to turn off the digital timer in the corner of her monitor screen.
She should clear off her lab bench and get started on analyzing the batch of samples from yesterday, but she was too tired to think straight. She yawned as she picked up the prototype for their plant repeller and idly turned it on, waving it over the small ivy sitting next to it. After a moment the tendrils started to wave and reach towards the repeller. Suddenly alert, Lani frowned and moved the repeller away. The tendrils relaxed. She moved it back. The tendrils reached for it again. She could feel it humming in her hand so it must be working. She turned off the power. The humming stopped. On again and another wave over the plant. The plant reached towards it again. "No, no, no."
She turned the lab lights up brighter and, her hand shaking, looked closely at the repeller. It looked like the rheostat—at least that's what she thought Mumson had called it—had been turned slightly. But it was still working. She could hear it. Although, come to think of it, she hadn't heard it earlier, had she? What if it wasn't the electrical field that the plants reacted to after all? The repeller dropped as she punched the comm.
"Zach? Have we heard back from Bax and Juls?"
"This is Jonze. No, Lani, we have not heard from them in at least fifteen minutes," the Professor said, amusement evident in her voice. "I am sure they will—"
"No, you don't understand. I messed up.
The repeller doesn't work, it wasn't the electrical field after all, I blew it, it attracts plants, I blagged up, if I had just, you've got to call them, call Bax, tell him not to use—"
"Zach, you heard? Can you patch Lani through to—"
"Doing it now," the Geek interrupted.
Her fingers clutching the edge of the lab bench, Lani heard a hiss and crackle before Juls voice. "Team 2, Juls here."
"Juls, don't use the repeller, I blew it. Tell Bax not to use the repeller, it doesn't work, it—"
"He went into the thickest part of the vegetation almost ten minutes ago, Lani. Let me try—Bax? Bax! Can you hear me, Bax? Sorry, Lani. The plants are so thick that they seem to be interfering with the signal. Hang on!" They could hear Juls yell again.
"No answer, but I know which way he—what the hell are those plants doing? They seem to be going—BAX! Blag it! Get out of there! I'm going in," Juls announced before his comm cut off.
