Godzilla at World's End

by Marc Cerasini

  "Five ... four ... three ..."

  At the "two" count, Robin opened her hand and released the section of her skirt she'd been clutching. The long slit in the side fell open again, revealing most of her shapely legs to her adoring public. Robin's smile brightened. She could imagine the director pulling out his hair inside the control booth.

  Deal with it! she mentally told him. I've got to get more young men watching the show. She'd seen the demographics on her audience and noticed that ESPN's football show was still holding its own with men eighteen to twenty-five.

  Well, we'll just see about that!

  Robin smiled provocatively as the camera light went on, signaling that she was on the air.

  "Hi, and welcome to Teen Beat," Robin said cheerfully. "I'm Robin Halliday, and you were just listening to the electrifying hit single from the hot new group Such a Pretty Bird ... We'll be talking with the members of this Irish musical phenomenon a little later.

  "We'll also talk with Crockett and Tubbs, that new bubble-pop ratpack band from Miami, and we'll get a report from our own Fellow Traveler, INN's Backpack Adventurer Craig Weedie. This week, Craig's on the shores of the Caspian Sea, searching for the whereabouts of a recently reported sea monster ..."

  Robin's voice, which had taken on a sinister, ominous tone, suddenly brightened again.

  "Hey, I ought to know all about sea monsters!" she quipped.

  Robin stole a breath and glanced at her notes.

  "I want to remind everyone that tomorrow is a special day for Teen Beat - I'll be hosting the first in a series of Sunday editions ... Tomorrow, we'll take a tour of the many Rebuild America projects under way around the country in an effort to restore our nation after the Disaster.

  "And tomorrow we'll also be getting a report from correspondent Kim Lo about the recent rash of Godzilla sightings in the Sea of Okhotsk."

  Suddenly, the director switched cameras, and Robin quickly shifted in her seat. She checked herself on the second monitor. Looking good, Robin crowed to herself as she gazed into the lens of camera two.

  "You don't want to miss that!" she cooed.

  "When we get back from our break, we'll be meeting some of the winners of INN's Young Scientist competition ... You won't believe what some of these kids have accomplished.

  "So don't go away ..."

  The camera moved past Robin's shoulder and panned slowly in on the garish colors of the Teen Beat logo. Robin kept intimate eye contact with the lens as long as she could. The effect on her audience was calculated.

  Guaranteed, she hoped, to bring the public back for more.

  "Okay," Robin called to the director as the commercials began to roll. "Are all the remotes ready to go? I want to jump to each one as quickly as possible."

  "Affirmative," the director replied. Robin nodded, confident that if the technicians kept things running smoothly, she could handle the next segment easily and quickly. Robin was well aware that most of her teenage audience wasn't interested in geeky science nerds, nor did they care about Rebuild America or about Godzilla - but Robin wanted a number of hard news stories on her shows each week. Along with the Sunday special tomorrow. That should raise a few eyebrows in the News Division, Robin thought.

  And a good thing, too, Robin reminded herself. After all, I can't trade on my looks or my youth forever. I'm almost eighteen. Soon I'll be too old to host a teen show, and it will be time to move on to serious journalism.

  Robin wanted to have her video resume ready. Tomorrow's episode was an important part of that resume.

  "Two minutes," the floor director announced. Robin gazed into the camera and composed herself. She stole another look at the monitor.

  Perfect ...

  ***

  Thousands of miles away, on the opposite end of the American continent, a single camera was focused on a young man who felt a lot less comfortable about being on live television than Robin Halliday did. As a technician shoved a light meter in his face, the youth began shifting self-consciously in his oversized parka and boots.

  Off-camera, among a knot of onlookers, an older youth snickered at the boy's discomfort. A woman in a long white coat poked the older teen hard, and he stopped laughing.

  "Don't move, son," the director insisted. "You'll be on the air in less than a minute."

  Peter Blackwater's pulse quickened with anxiety, but he still managed to stare daggers at his older brother Matthew's smirking face.

  When puzzling noises suddenly came from Peter's earphones, the sound man nodded to him.

  "Everything working?" the technician asked. Peter nodded, though he was confused by what he was hearing. Then he realized it was the end of a car commercial he'd seen a hundred times before, on the channel out of Nome, Alaska.

  Finally Peter heard the familiar voice of Teen Beat's host, Robin Halliday.

  Panic welled up inside of Peter as the director raised his hand, his fingers counting down the seconds. Then the voice in Peter's ear introduced him to a nationwide audience.

  "Our first guest is Peter Blackwater," Robin announced. "Peter is a Native American member of the Inuit people, a tribe of Eskimos who originally lived on the Bering Sea. Peter still lives in Alaska, where he made an astounding breakthrough in botany and agricultural production ...

  "Peter, can you hear me?"

  The director's hand dropped, and Peter Blackwater was on live television. He felt his knees get weak.

  "Uh ... Yeah, I can hear you ... uh, Ms. Halliday," Peter stammered.

  "Oh, Peter," she replied smoothly. "Call me Robin! Now, can you tell us about your discovery?"

  Robin's voice seemed to purr in his ear. It was all Peter could do to stop blushing. At fourteen, he wasn't used to girls talking to him. And none of them were as glamorous as Robin Halliday.

  Peter swallowed hard and tried to reply.

  "Well, it's not really a discovery ... really," he stammered on. "It's a hybrid ... a plant I grew. A new type of wheat, actually ..."

  "Really?" Robin interjected, hoping to calm the nervous youth. "What is a hybrid?"

  Peter swallowed again, brushing his long straight black hair away from his dark eyes.

  "I, uh, combined wheat with another plant - a weed was best, they're hardy. Anyway, the result was a strain of high-protein wheat that can grow in harsher climates ... with a much shorter growing season."

  "Is that a sample of the wheat behind you?" Robin asked.

  Peter quickly nodded, stepping out of camera range. The second unit director groaned, but the cameraman managed to keep his lens focused on the boy's face.

  "I grew the first batch of wheat in this patch of dirt right here," Peter replied, pointing proudly to tall stalks of wheat that literally towered over him. "This is a new crop, of course ..."

  "So you can grow this wheat in Alaska!" Robin exclaimed.

  Peter nodded. "Yeah," he answered. "You can grow it almost anywhere, I think - as long as there is enough water. This crop is only five weeks old, and it's already full grown and ready for harvest."

  "That's incredible, Peter," Robin gushed sincerely. Peter blushed with pride, even though he heard his older brother snicker again.

  "Thanks," Peter replied.

  "Is it true that the Archer Daniels Midland Company has asked you to come work for them?" Robin probed.

  Peter blinked in obvious surprise. He didn't think anyone but his parents knew about that.

  "I ... ah, I'm too young to go to work," Peter replied when he regained his composure.

  Robin quickly closed the segment with a final question.

  "Well, Peter Blackwater, you've certainly earned that berth on the Destiny Explorer's Antarctic expedition next month," she exclaimed. "Are you excited about your trip?"

  The youth nodded. "Oh, yeah," he said. "I'm going to try growing my wheat in Antarctica ... If it can grow there, it can grow anywhere."

  "Well, your hybrid is incredible, and it should do much to solve the current food problems we're having
in the United States and all over the world," Robin stated. "Good luck on your voyage."

  "Thanks," Peter mumbled, but his microphone was already turned off. Then the earphones went silent, just as Robin was introducing the next Young Scientist competition winner.

  ***

  "Next we'll jump from Alaska to a garage in Oxnard, California," Robin Halliday informed her viewers.

  "We're going to pay a visit to Leena Sims, a fifteen-year-old inventor of a brand-new, superfast microchip."

  The small round face of an intense, dark-haired young beauty with striking gray eyes filled the screen. The teenager calmly gazed into the lens. All around her were banks of computers and color monitors.

  "Hello, Robin," Leena Sims said guardedly. She blinked uncertainly into the camera. Though it might have appeared to viewers that this young woman was nervous, nothing could be further from the truth.

  To Leena, public appearances were nothing special, though she didn't particularly enjoy going on television, because the cameras seemed to invade her life - as they did now, by taping in her garage laboratory. But facing the public was easy for a teenager who'd coolly and professionally presented an oral pitch for her new microchip process - patent pending - to the boards of Microsoft, Apple, IBM, and Intel.

  "I'm no genius at understanding how computers work," Robin confessed. "But I'm told that you have accomplished something in that garage lab of yours that no one else has been able to do anywhere else.

  "Is that correct?"

  Leena nodded and reached down to touch a control on her desk. A color monitor at the girl's side sprang to life. A technical schematic filled the screen.

  "About seven years ago, researchers found a way to bond copper wire to microchips," Leena explained, pointing to the monitor.

  "Before that, aluminum wire had to be used, which was much less efficient. Bonding copper wire made the microchips much faster and more powerful, as you know."

  The teenager leaned forward and touched the control again. The schematic on the monitor changed, illustrating her new process.

  "What I've done is found a relatively easy and inexpensive way to bond two or more chips together with a thin layer of copper. Kind of like a copper sandwich."

  "And what does this accomplish?" Robin Halliday asked from her New York studio. Leena smiled.

  "This process can make microchips a hundred times more powerful and faster than ever before. With microchips like that, a personal computer could be designed to fit into your pocket!"

  Leena's eyes were bright with enthusiasm, but suddenly she frowned. "If it's done right," she added.

  "Still having some difficulties?" Robin asked with genuine sympathy in her voice.

  Leena nodded. "There are a few bugs to be worked out in the production stage ... but I'm working on it," she added quickly with a guarded smile.

  "Is it true that your father was a computer genius, too?" Robin asked pertly.

  Leena's face clouded. "Yes," she muttered. "He ... he taught me a lot ..."

  "I understand that he passed away recently," Robin probed.

  Leena nodded, her pretty face etched with sadness. "Yes," she whispered softly.

  "Well, I'm sure he would have been proud of you!" Robin chirped. "Congratulations on earning a berth aboard the Destiny Explorer with your fellow winners ... and best of luck in perfecting your invention."

  Leena was smiling uncertainly as her picture faded from the screen.

  ***

  "From sunny California we'll jump to tropical Florida," Robin announced, smiling into camera one. "That's where we'll talk to our next winner."

  Ned Landson felt an annoying itch under his brightly colored wetsuit. But just as he was about to scratch it, the director cued him that he was about to go on television ... live.

  Ned tried to reach the itch, but the director stopped him with a gesture. I wished I'd worn my old, familiar black wetsuit, he thought. But unfortunately, Ned had to wear the wetsuit that itched him so. It was part of the product endorsement deal he'd signed last week. Winning the contest had made Ned Landson famous. He intended to cash in on that fame, for as long as it lasted.

  With his beach-boy good looks, Ned had easily clinched a lucrative deal with a deep-sea sporting goods company - a deal that included television commercials, print ads, even billboards. Ned smiled at the thought.

  "Get ready," the director commanded.

  Ned looked into the lens and waited. The youth stood on a wooden dock in the Florida Keys, his sandy hair blowing in the tropical breeze. His teeth were shiny white against his deep tan.

  With the trendy wetsuit, the tan, the handsome, sun-bronzed features, and the even teeth, the look was perfect. Ned Landson was almost a cliche. His smile widened when he heard Robin Halliday's voice over his earphones.

  "Welcome to Teen Beat, Ned Landson," she greeted him.

  "Thanks," Ned replied, his left hand inching toward the persistent itch in his rubber suit.

  "I'm told that you actually discovered a group of previously unknown ocean species in the Florida Keys. Is that correct?"

  Ned Landson nodded.

  "Actually, Robin, I discovered a whole range of animals, from a new species of tiny fish to several microscopic marine plankton, which oceanographers had previously overlooked."

  "Wow!" Robin marveled. "How did other scientists miss discovering them before you came along?"

  "Well," Ned replied, his left hand finally scratching the offending itch, "the species of fish I discovered was almost identical to a previously recorded species - but only on the outside. Inside, the species are very different."

  Robin nodded. "And where did you find these fish?"

  "In an area of the ocean known as the Bermuda Triangle," Ned answered blandly.

  "You mean that spooky place where airplanes and ships supposedly vanish?" Robin replied.

  Ned chuckled in reply.

  "That's the place," he said. "But those stories about airplanes vanishing and stuff are just nonsense. My dad used to work on deep salvage operations, and now he's a deep-sea fisherman. We've both been into the Triangle hundreds of times. There's nothing there but swarms of sea life, blue skies, and waves of green.

  "And it's all perfectly normal sea life," Ned added hastily.

  "So you say!" Robin quipped. "And what are your plans for the Antarctic, aboard the Destiny Explorer?"

  Ned thought about it for a moment. "I guess I'll get to study some of the Antarctic life firsthand ... But I doubt scientists have left very much undiscovered down there!"

  Robin laughed, obviously charmed by her guest. "Thank you, Ned, and good luck. Now let's turn our attention to someone you may have read about in the newspapers.

  "Michael Sullivan is a computer hacker from Queens, New York," Robin continued. "You might remember him from the news several months ago ... Michael was the young man who single-handedly exposed a band of cyber-hackers who were ripping off people on-line.

  "Can you tell us about it, Michael?"

  ***

  In Woodside, Queens, a remote cameraman and a director were crammed into a tiny run-down apartment in a seedy brownstone near the elevated Number Seven line subway station.

  A young man with a shock of bright apple-red hair was sitting in an electronic wheelchair. The youth turned and faced the camera with a smile. His hair and freckles seemed to glow red on the television screen.

  Michael Sullivan took a deep breath and sat back in his wheelchair. As he began to speak, the sound technician prayed that no trains would roll by outside the second-floor window.

  "I've been a hacker since I was a little kid," Michael answered carefully. "But a little while back, I ordered a lot of stuff off the Internet for my mother. We got the stuff all right, but our credit card was billed twice for the electronic transaction."

  Back in Studio B, Robin nodded, hoping against hope that her audience was still with her and following this young man's explanation.

  "It took a couple of
months for the on-line store to credit us for the double billing," Michael continued. "When a customer service representative told my mom that she didn't know how it happened, I decided to hack into the files and look into the double billing myself."

  "Wow," Robin gasped, trying to sound enthusiastic. "What did you discover?"

  "I found out that double billing was happening all over the Net, with a whole bunch of different mail order companies. It was obvious to me then that pirates were electronically pulling the second transaction into their own on-line site and downloading the credit into their own account."

  "So they were stealing the money!" Robin exclaimed.

  "Not technically," Michael corrected her. "After a couple of weeks, the thieves would slip back into the system, take the money out of their account, and electronically transfer it back to the credit card company they cheated."

  "What did that accomplish?" Robin asked, obviously puzzled.

  "They kept the money in a bank account long enough to collect a month's interest on it."

  "Gee, that sounds pretty complicated," Robin continued.

  "Not really," Michael replied. "They were using the Net to grab illegal loans, essentially. After a month they returned the money but kept the interest they'd accrued - and on thousands of transactions a day, that was a lot of interest. More than a million dollars a year!"

  Robin laughed. "Now you knew what was going on. So, what did you do next?"

  "I hacked into the pirates' system, downloaded their records, and turned them over to the New York State Attorney General," Michael replied proudly.

  "And made the headlines, too," Robin interjected. Michael nodded and brushed the red hair off his forehead.

  "So I guess Internet pirates should beware, as long as Michael Sullivan is there!"

  "They should," Michael agreed, doing a victory circle in his wheelchair.

  "Good luck on your trip to Antarctica, Michael," Robin concluded. Then she turned and looked into camera one.

  "We're going to have to break for commercials now," Robin announced. "But when we get back, we'll have an intimate chat with the Irish band Such a Pretty Bird ...

  "And don't forget that tomorrow we have a special Sunday edition of Teen Beat, where we take an uncompromising look at the ups and downs of the faltering Rebuild America program."