Extinction 2038

by P. R. Garcia

  After the movie, the three prepared for a good night’s rest. “Hey, what do you want me to do with Twinkles’ fish here in the sink?” Max asked, as he prepared to rise out the coffee cups and popcorn bowls.

  “His fish?” a surprised Gayle said. “Didn’t one of you feed him today?”

  “Not me,” Lachlan said.

  “I thought you did,” Max said.

  “I guess I got so distracted in looking for sloths that I forgot,” Gayle said. “I wonder why he didn’t come out squawking to tell us?”

  “Maybe he wasn’t hungry,” Lachlan suggested. “Penguins don’t always eat every day, you know.”

  “I’ll take it down to him,” Gayle said, picking up the bowl of sardines and heading down the hallway. Twenty minutes later she crawled into her cot next to Lachlan’s. “I guess you were right. He wasn’t hungry.”

  “He didn’t eat anything?” Lachlan asked.

  “Nothing. Do you think he’s okay?”

  “He has been eating a lot,” Lachlan said. “It’s possible he’s still full from yesterday’s feast. Or maybe he’s getting tired of dead, thawed-out fish. Whatever the reason for his lack of appetite, I wouldn’t worry unless he goes three or four days without eating.”

  Trusting Lachlan’s explanation, Gayle closed her eyes.

  ____________

  “Dr. Q, I finally figured out Dylan’s scribbles on how to connect with other satellites,” Max announced as the doctor walked into the kitchen.

  “Have you been up all night?” Lachlan asked.

  “No, I got a few hours of sleep,” Max chuckled. “I was worried about Twinkles. It’s been three days, and he’s still not eating. I wanted to do another blood test on him before Professor Dilbert got up. I know how much that penguin means to her.”

  Lachlan appreciated Max’s concern. That silly bird had given Gayle the desire to continue. He didn’t know what would happen if he got sick and died. “What did the test show?”

  “No sign of the virus,” Max replied. “Actually, no sign of anything, just like yesterday and the day before. Could the virus have mutated and we’re just not seeing it?”

  “Even if it mutated, we’d still see something,” Lachlan replied. “Not unless it is now capable of being invisible.” He poured himself a cup of fresh coffee. “So, tell me about these other satellites you discovered.”

  “While I was waiting for the bird’s results, I starting reading Dylan’s notes again. The guy was a genius, but he had horrible penmanship. Anyways, he lists several other satellites that he wanted to try to connect with and how to go about doing it.”

  “Can you duplicate his work?”

  “Possibly,” Max replied. “Once you decipher his writing, his notes are pretty detailed. There’s just one problem.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Actually there’s two,” Max clarified. “One, Dylan never tried it. So he didn’t even know if it could be done. The other biggy is the fact that we would have to change the trajectory of our signal and disconnect from the satellite we’re currently connected to. If I switch the signal, I’m not sure I could get us reconnected to the satellite we’re using again.”

  “You didn’t have any problems connecting when we arrived,” Dr. Q commented.

  “I had no problems turning on the program and connecting to it with the password,” Max corrected the doctor. “Dylan already had done all the math calculations, estimating its trajectory and speed, and its exact location in space. Even with Dylan’s notes, I don’t think I could repeat the process. The math equations alone would be a nightmare.”

  “What’s a nightmare?” Professor Dilbert asked as she entered the kitchen.

  “Trying to do the math calculations to reconnect with the current satellite if we move the connection,” Lachlan answered.

  “Why would we want to disconnect from the satellite?” Gayle asked. “We’re finally getting some usable data on what’s happening out there in the real world.”

  “Max found a way to possibly see over the equator,” Lachlan answered. “But if it doesn’t work, we might lose it all.”

  “Then don’t change it,” Gayle said matter-of-factly, as if it was a “no-brainer” decision. Which, Lachlan and Max had to agree, it was. Gayle leaned over Lachlan’s shoulder and peered into his bowl. “Cold cereal? Again? Don’t you ever like something warm in the morning?”

  “Yeah, but I hate cooking it,” Lachlan truthfully answered

  “Well, I’m having oatmeal,” she announced. “Right after I go and see if today is the day Twinkles will eat. I can always make enough for two or three.”

  “Professor, I…” He saw Dr. Q shake his head negatively. He did not want her to hear the bird still wasn’t eating.

  “You what?”

  “I put some new herring in the bucket a few hours ago to thaw out,” Max replied. “I thought Twinkles might like something a little fresher. That fish that we had had already been thawed out for three days and looked pretty bad.”

  “Thanks, Max.” With coffee cup in one hand and the bucket of fish in the other, Gayle strolled off to visit Twinkles. Several minutes later she returned, her coffee mug empty but the pail was still full. “He didn’t eat a bite. Lachlan, I’m really getting worried. Maybe we should run another blood test.”

  “Max did this morning,” Lachlan confessed. “It showed he’s fine.”

  “He’s not fine,” Gayle said, plopping down in the chair. “Something is wrong. He didn’t even come into the shower with me this morning.”

  Lachlan looked out the side window. It appeared to be a beautiful sunny day outside. “You know, he hasn’t left that room for some time. Maybe he just needs some fresh air. And I think we could use some too. Right after breakfast, how about the three of us go outside with Twinkles? We need to go and check on the helicopter and outbuildings anyways. Maybe we can find enough snow for a good old-fashioned snowball fight.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Gayle said as she measured water into a pan and put it on the stove. “Anything that keeps me from staring at dead animals would be appreciated. Now, who wants oatmeal?”

  After breakfast, the three suited up for the frigid air outside. Once they were ready to go, Gayle walked down to the storage area to get Twinkles. He was huddled amongst the artificial penguins like usual and did not move when she called his name. She reached down and picked him up, determined he was going inside. She let out a scream, which brought Max and Lachlan running.

  “What’s wrong?” Lachlan asked.

  “He bit me,” Gayle said. She held out her gloveless hand so the two males could see the red blood on her injured finger. “He’s never done that before.”

  “Let’s go clean that out right away,” Lachlan stated, afraid that if the bird was sick, Gayle might contract it. “Max get the first-aid kit and the big bottle of peroxide.” He pulled Gayle’s coat sleeve back to keep it dry, then poured some water on the wound over the sink. As soon as Max arrived with the items, he poured a large amount of peroxide over the cut, followed by antiseptic cream and a bandage. “That bird is off limits. No interacting with it until we find out what is going on with him.”

  “I don't think he meant to bite me,” Gayle quickly stated, coming to the defense of her feathery friend.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Lachlan said. “None of us can take a chance of getting sick from something that bird has. Before we do anything else, I want a complete workup done on Twinkles.”

  “You’re not going to kill him?” a horrified Gayle asked.

  “No, we’ll just knock him out,” Lachlan replied. “There’s plenty of tranquilizer darts back there.”

  “And if we still don’t discover anything?” Gayle asked.

  “Then he might have to be put outside,” Lachlan replied. He saw the look that crossed Gayle’s face. But she said nothing. She, too, knew they could not chance being around an ill bird.

  THE PENGUIN COLONY

  Gayle and Max gathered
the necessary equipment for the physical exam while Lachlan prepared the tranquilizers. He prepared two: one as a handheld needle and one as a dart. It had been a good number of years since he tranquilized subjects in the wild and he was not confident in his estimation of what dosage to use. Thankfully, the Australian biologists had left detailed notes on the dosages they had used.

  As soon as everything was ready, the three headed down the small hallway to Twinkles’ room. Not wishing to frighten him with their bright orange suits, they left their hoods off so Twinkles could see it was them. Gayle entered first, talking to the bird as she normally did. Once they were certain he was calm, Max followed. Lachlan remained out of sight in the hall.

  Twinkles had positioned himself against the wall between several stacks of boxes. In front of him were his seven artificial companions. It was almost as if the penguin knew what was going to happen and had purposely barricaded himself somewhere where he couldn’t be touched. Gayle called out to him, urging him to leave his sanctuary for a shower. Twinkles remained stationary. She then tried coaxing him out with some herring, but again the bird stood fast. He had no intention of leaving his place of safety.

  In a very calm, soft voice, Max said, “Dr. Q, there’s no way I can reach Twinkles to give him the shot.”

  “Do you want the tranquilizer gun?” Dr. Q asked.

  Max stepped to the side, scrutinizing the area. The boxes to the right of Twinkles were too high to allow him a shot. The wall was to the penguin's left and back. The only trajectory was from the front. Regretfully, Twinkles was keeping his head down, making that angle impossible also. “No. We either need to move some of the boxes or the cam penguins.”

  “If memory serves me correctly, we left those boxes there because they were too heavy to move,” the doctor replied. “Guess we’ll have to move the cam penguins. Do you still have their remote controls?”

  “Yes, but for only three of them,” Max answered. “Two stopped working, and the other two aren’t mechanical. They’re just decoys. The remote controls for the working three should be in my room on the desk, upper left-hand corner.”

  Dr. Q went and retrieved the remote controls. When he returned, Max and Gayle were waiting for him in the hallway. Max gave each a crash course on how to operate the mechanical birds. The plan was that Max would bring the front penguin out first so that the other two could see how it and the remote worked. Once his bird was clear, Max would re-enter the room and position himself with the tranquilizer gun. As the other two penguins walked away, Max would be ready to take his shot the moment Twinkles raised his head or moved forward.

  Max turned his bird on. He concentrated on keeping his hand from shaking. Was he that nervous? It was only a penguin they were trying to capture, not a lion or tiger. Slowly, Max made the mechanical bird turn and waddle towards them and into the hallway. Twinkles raised his head slightly to watch the mechanical bird walk away, but did nothing to intercede. Max stepped back into the room and took his position. He nodded that he was ready.

  Gayle and Lachlan pushed their levers forward. Gayle’s bird waddled a few steps forward, then rotated to face the door. Lachlan, however, was having some trouble with his remote. Instead of turning, his bird walked into the stack of boxes, almost knocking it over. When he tried to turn the penguin around, he was too close to an adjacent nonmechanical bird. Its beak hit the bird along the neckline, knocking it over. It hit the floor with a “bang”, startling Twinkles. He honked in fright. Lachlan’s bird now clear of obstacles, he managed to have it waddle towards them, right behind Gayle’s. Seeing his friends leaving, Twinkles started towards the door. Everyone noticed his odd walking pattern. He was walking on his heels with his toes raised in the air, not with flat feet like he normally did.

  “What’s wrong with his feet?” Gayle asked.

  “Max, take the shot,” Dr. Q said, as Twinkles continued to move forward.

  Chuckling, Max laid the tranquilizer gun down on top of the nearby boxes. When the penguin waddled by, he reached down and grabbed him from the back, gripping both wings. Twinkles turned his head, doing his best to bite his attacker. He twisted his body in an effort to wiggle free, but Max had him firmly confined. “No need to put him to sleep, Dr. Q. Twinkles isn’t sick. He’s incubating an egg!”

  “He’s what?” Lachlan asked, watching Max carry the bird toward him.

  Max tilted the bird so its feet were before his colleagues. “Lift up that patch of feathers right above his feet.”

  “I’ll be,” Dr. Q laughed as he lifted the feathers to reveal an egg. He reached inside and removed an oval ivory egg four inches long. He turned it around in his hand, showing a half-inch hole on one side. “It has a hole in it.”

  “I think it’s one of the cameras the biologists used when filming the colony” Max replied. “Twinkles must have found it the other night when he was rummaging through those boxes in the corner. His natural instincts kicked in and he adopted the egg as his own.”

  “I remember. He woke us all up because he was making so much noise. It was the next morning that he first wouldn't eat.” Gayle reached out her hand, waiting to see if the bird would bite her again. When he gave no indication of being aggressive, she continued her reach and petted the bird. “So that’s why you bit me,” Gayle smiled. “You were just protecting your unborn chick?” She looked at the egg. “Should we give it back to him?”

  “I believe if we take it away he will return to the Twinkles we know and love,” Max said. “Male Emperors are the ones who hatch the egg. They devote their entire existence to its wellbeing until the female returns. They stay in a huge gathering of other male penguins throughout the winter, keeping their egg from freezing by riding it on the top of their feet. And, as you probably expect, they don’t eat during this time.”

  Relieved to discover the bird was not ill, Dr. Q walked over and dropped the cam-egg into a box on a high shelf, far out of Twinkle’s sight.

  Max sat Twinkles back down on the floor. He ruffled his feathers, then waddled out into the hallway and stood beside the cam penguin Max had walked out. Apparently, this was Twinkles’ favorite bird. There he stood, not moving, waiting for his friend to do something. Not sure if Twinkles still needed the fake birds’ companionship, Max returned the birds back to their location in the storage room. Twinkles eagerly followed, glad to see his friends were all together again. He positioned himself in the middle of the group and lowered his head, preparing to sleep. But when his human friends left, Twinkles followed, honking that he was hungry.

  Later that night, as Dr. Q and Professor Dilbert laid in their cots beside one another, Gayle said, “Lachlan, I want to take Twinkles back to the colony. Do you think we could get there and back in the arctic cat?”

  “It’s only about a two to three-hour trip,” Lachlan answered. “Chances are, the exact route is programmed into the cat since the biologists often traveled there to do their research. Are you sure, Gayle, you want to release him?”

  “I was reading some of the data the biologists recorded,” Gayle said. “Penguins, especially Emperors, are social animals. They need other penguins. Twinkles is so starved for penguin company that he’s adopted artificial birds as his family and tried to hatch a fake egg. He needs to go home. And we need to take him before the weather gets too bad.”

  “I will miss his cute little walk,” Lachlan stated. “And it will seem strange to have the shower to myself again. But I believe you are correct. He should be with his own kind. Besides, we have learned all that we can from him regarding the LO virus. He is immune to it just like we are. I see no danger in returning him to the colony. When do you want to take him?”

  Without a moment’s pause, Gayle answered, “Tomorrow. Let’s do it tomorrow before I change my mind.”

  “Tomorrow it is, weather permitting,” Lachlan replied.

  Tomorrow turned out to be a perfect day. The sky was blue with no clouds in sight. No breeze blew across the ice to chill the air. In fact, it was a pl
easantly warm 29F.

  The trip took two hours and thirty-six minutes. For the first half hour, Twinkles eagerly watched out the window, perched beside Gayle. To their knowledge, the penguin had never rode in an arctic cat before, and they were quite impressed with how well-behaved he was. After the first thirty minutes, Twinkles became bored. He snuggled into Gayle’s arms and immediately went to sleep. Oh, how she was going to miss these times.

  Suddenly, Twinkles sat up and stared out the window. He was squawking and hooting, flapping his wings wildly.

  “I believe he senses the colony,” Max stated before anyone could ask what was wrong. “The colony should be just over that ridge.” All four watched as the hill drew closer. When they reached it, they stopped. Before them was the main Emperor penguin colony. But instead of the area being filled with tens of thousands of Emperors, the colony contained less than a thousand.

  “Where are all the penguins?” Gayle asked.

  “Another result of global warming,” Max replied, staring in disbelief at the sparsity of the colony. “Most people think that since these guys can live through the harshest winter on Earth, they are indestructible. But the truth is, or was, that they are extremely vulnerable to climate change. The solid sea ice they once called home is gone, making them use shelf ice for their breeding colony. Shelf ice offers them less protection from the wind, snow and other dangers. That, plus the decline in fish and krill due to warmer waters and overfishing, have devastated the penguin colonies. In 2009 it was estimated that there were just over six hundred thousand Emperor penguins. The Australian biologists recorded in their journal back at the Station just fourteen hundred this year. These are male penguins. The females have already left for the winter.”

  “Are there other colonies?” Gayle asked.

  “Of the known forty-six colonies, only eighteen still exists,” Max sighed. “And several of those are expected to disappear in the next five or six years.”

  “Isn’t it ironic that for centuries we have been killing these beautiful creatures with no regard to their welfare or ours,” Dr. Q commented. “They were even once used as kindling wood by some whalers. Now, they will inherit the Earth and repopulate it.”