“I’ll be right back,” I say before I run to the field lab.
Ryan’s there. I open and close doors and drawers searching for something I can use. Finally, I find a large opaque storage bin. I remove the cover and dump its contents on a lab table. I grab a spool of thread and a long pair of tongs and toss them in the bin. Then I grab a pair of scissors and pierce holes in the cover.
Wearing a bemused expression, Ryan leans next to the exit. “Care to explain?”
“No time,” I pant. “Follow me to the zoo and see for yourself,” I call over my shoulder as I jog out the door.
Noah explains to Ryan what’s happening while I jury-rig the plastic bin into a trap. I use the cover as the base, tie the string onto the tongs, and prop the bin up on the tongs. It reminds me of the shoebox traps I made as a child. I never caught anything, but hopefully that won’t be the case today. I pull the string several times to make sure it will work, and then return to the window to look for the animal which I see flapping around, far from the door.
“Keep an eye on it for me?” I ask Ryan before I duck inside.
I quickly reassemble the bin trap and hurry back outside to wait. And wait. The animal continues to swoop around the zoo’s dome, either unaware or unconcerned about the available shade provided by the bin. When it dives down and knocks the bin over, I’m ready to give up on my plan, but then it surprises me by flying in and hiding in the remaining shadow provided by the bin. I pull the door open, but Ryan rushes inside first and flips the bin upside down again. I help him seal the cover on the bin, and then we flip it right side up. Instead of angrily thrashing around, the creature remains quiet, surprisingly content.
Noah ducks his head around the entrance door. “Did you get it?”
“Yeah, we got it. We should transfer the rest into something nonconductive.” I look around the zoo, and find an empty cage lying next to some black fabric. “You did say ‘they’ before didn’t you?”
Noah looks down at his feet. “The other one flew out the door after me.”
Ryan and I frown and exchange worried looks. A scared, photosensitive animal with the ability to shock is flying around the base searching for shade.
“What was I supposed to do, say inside and let one of them shock me to death?” Noah whines.
Ryan ignores Noah and turns to me. “The warehouses are closest. I’ll go get another bin and a couple of flashlights and meet you there.”
As soon as Ryan leaves I turn my attention back to Noah. “Where’s the quarantine report?” I ask.
“I don’t have it,” Noah answers, a little too quickly.
“Noah, what’s going on? First you haven’t read it, but now you don’t even have it.” All traces of my sympathy disappear.
Noah backs away, as if he’s considering fleeing. “There isn’t one.”
“Why?” I demand, needing him to confirm my suspicion.
“The animals were just brought in from the field today. The only way one of the scientists would agree to give me any animals was if I took care of them from day one.” He hooks a finger into his shirt collar and pulls it as if it’s suddenly too tight. “The other animal probably just flew back to its cave.”
I leave without waiting for Noah. I walk the perimeter of the first warehouse before Noah catches up. I don’t see any obvious points where the animal could have gotten in, so we walk to the second warehouse. That’s when Ryan catches up.
We find an open bay door at the third warehouse. The two maintenance workers by the door claim they haven’t seen any birds or anything flying around, but they don’t mind if we check for ourselves. Many pallets of shrink-wrapped boxes fill the large warehouse bay giving us plenty of shaded areas to search. Fortunately, Ryan had the good sense to bring some walkie-talkies. I clip mine to the back of my pants, grab a flashlight and work my way through the maze of pallets.
I read the pallets’ labels as I search and realize this is where all the goods for the supply store are kept. I’m surprised there isn’t any security here.
“I found it—back left corner.” Ryan’s voice crackles over the walkie-talkie. I’m relieved until I get there. The animal perches upside down, like a bat, in the far corner of the raised warehouse ceiling, a good fifteen feet above us. There’s no way I’ll chance using a ladder to get to it, even a fiberglass one. One shock from the animal could send us flying off the ladder. I climb on top of a pallet to get a better vantage point and search for a forklift or cherry picker, but the only equipment I see are a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher, hung on separate support beams.
Oh well. It’s probably for the best. The equipment would probably have too much metal to be safely used around the animal. I direct my flashlight at the animal and scratch my head, at a loss for ideas. The animal immediately takes flight and haphazardly swoops around the warehouse. Several times, it dive-bombs uncomfortably close to me. I duck, covering my head, and my flashlight tumbles to the ground. Eventually the creature resettles on the ceiling, just a few feet away from us.
Ryan tosses the plastic bin up on the pallet next to me, before climbing up. He throws my flashlight back to me. “Wanna try that again?”
I nod. He holds the bin over his head and I focus the flashlight back on the animal. This time, when the animal dives low, Ryan swings the bin as if it were a net, but misses. Once the animal settles, we hop over a few pallets and try again. After several attempts, Ryan swings, but takes a step back and crashes right through the top of a box. He tumbles backwards, but remains on top of the pallet, unharmed.
“Here.” Ryan tosses his flashlight to me. “Maybe with two lights you can force it to fly lower.”
I illuminate the animal again, but this time I track it with the two flashlights. The animal abruptly changes direction and flies back to the ceiling, not the response we were hoping for. I try again, but this time instead of tracking it, I light the area above it. It swoops down and gives the light a wide berth before flying back up to the ceiling. I repeat the process until the creature practically hits Ryan in the face. Luckily, Ryan ducks and the animal flies into the bin, landing with a thud. Ryan quickly overturns the bin on top of the pallet so the animal can’t escape. He then jumps to the ground before he gets zapped.
I sit on the edge of the pallet and jump down, then retrieve the cover and help Ryan slide it under the bin. The animal calmly rests in the bin. It doesn’t try to escape or shock us, even when we flip the bin right side up.
I glance over at Noah who stands against the wall clutching his flashlight to his chest. He is so
not
cut out to be a biologist.
On the way back to the zoo, I explain to Ryan all the details that Noah left out. The entire time Noah shoots me dirty looks as if I’ve betrayed a trust by telling Ryan that quarantine was skipped. We decide to wait until after dusk and then release the electric bats. We secure the bins in an area of the zoo not open to the public and then we sit Noah down.
“You were lucky this time, but now you need to close down the zoo and ask Dr. Brant to reassign you to a new profession.” Ryan’s voice is sympathetic but firm.
“You can’t tell me what to do,” Noah protests, but he looks at the ground and stubs his shoe against the floor. “Besides what happens if their team lead doesn’t want me?”
“Ryan and I know some people in research and development. We can have them look at your video game work and if they like what they see, they could recommend you get reassigned to their field manager,” I offer, even though I’m mad at him.
“I don’t think so.” Noah whimpers. “I let them look at my work and then a few months later they come out with a brand new gaming system.”
“Fine, don’t accept the help, either way, you need to shut down the zoo and look into a new career. If not we’ll have no choice except to talk to Dr. Brant,” I say, hoping he doesn’t call my bluff. Considering how Dr. Brant’s been acting, the last thing I want to do is get her involved.
“I need to think,” Noah says as he makes a beeline to the door.
Releasing the electric animals goes smoothly. Without hesitation, they fly into the woods. However, the next morning when I visit the zoo, I find the door locked. I can see Noah inside, so I knock and keep knocking. Eventually he opens the door, but stands across the doorway, blocking me from entering.
“This is my zoo and you’re not welcome here,” he announces. Apparently, Noah has decided to throw all reason out the window.
“Do you really want Ryan and me to go to Dr. Brant?”
“I’d love to see you try.” He snorts and pauses, as if he’s enjoying the confused look on my face. “You and Ryan are the ones that bypassed quarantine and exposed the base to a potentially dangerous animal.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I demand.
“If Dr. Brant asks, that’s what both the scientist who supplied the animals and I will say. You’re already on thin ice, so who do you think Dr. Brant will believe?” Noah laughs and closes the door on me.
He’s right. Dr. Brant probably would believe him and the other scientist over Ryan and me. I have no idea how Noah figured it out, but now Ryan and I have no leverage and no access to the zoo. The animals will be subjected to Noah’s poor care again, and who knows what the base will be exposed to if he keeps bypassing quarantine. Without the opal berries, it’s only a matter of time until Sapphire becomes sick.
If I have to, I’ll go to Dr. Brant, but I decide to talk to Andi first. If anyone can help me figure out a new plan to shut down the zoo, it’s her. I visit her lab and patiently wait for her to have some free time, but when she sits down, she only speaks of Jackson. The two of them are back to being all lovey-dovey, but Andi’s still worried about losing him. She’s so focused on their relationship that nothing else seems to matter to her. She doesn’t even care about her robot competition with Jeremy. Instead, she spends her time proving she likes everything Jackson likes, even football video games, which I know for a fact she hates. She prefers physically playing actual sports. I hardly recognize Andi anymore. A pathetic, spineless doormat has replaces the strong, smart, confident friend I know. I can’t say anything remotely critical of him without Andi flying off the handle.
My only hope is that she’ll snap out of the pod’s influence soon, though the delay doesn’t make sense to me. For that matter, neither does Jackson’s change of heart. When he was mad at Andi, I was hopeful that sleeping upside down was working. Molly recovered from liking Alex the day after they broke up. Wendy and Zachary both ended their relationships. Why does Andi lag so far behind everyone in breaking up with Jackson? I smack my forehead when I realize the obvious answer.
“I haven’t gotten any feedback from you on the upside down sleeping,” I say. “How’s that been going?”
A guilty look spreads across her face. “I’m sorry. I keep trying, but I toss and turn throughout the night. Eventually I have to flip right-side up or I’ll be too exhausted to function the next day.” She shrugs. “I was thinking that tomorrow during lunch we can try on some bridesmaids’ dresses. I already have a style reserved, but I wanted to see how it looked on you first.”
Night after night I’ve seen Andi lie upside down, but I never checked to see how she was sleeping the next morning. I’d been so focused on getting to the zoo and to Caper that I never bothered to glance in her direction. At least I know why she’s still acting so strange, but I have no idea what I’m going to do about it. For now, I pretend to be excited about trying on dresses.
On the way out of Andi’s room, I run into Jeremy who looks miserable. “Have a fun time with Andi?” he asks sadly.
“Of course, I just love hearing the latest report of everything Jackson,” I bubble.
He gives me a half-hearted laugh. “Those two kind of remind me of
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
.”
“Or
Stepford Wives
,” I respond. Looking at Jeremy’s sad expression, I realize he may be as miserable as I am which also means he may be willing to try anything, no matter how farfetched it sounds. “We should talk?”
As I explain my theory, Jeremy’s expression transforms from intrigue to shock but eventually settles on a look of understanding. I’m relieved to have him as an ally. He’s almost as good as Andi when it comes to computers, and he promises to find out everything he can about the pods and reprogramming them. It’s a long shot, but at least it’s something.
I return to the lab late in the afternoon. Jake, Molly, and Ryan sit around a lab table with somber expressions and rounded shoulders. Jake coughs, and clears his throat a few times as his eyes dart from me to the corner, where Dr. Brant and Elliot are waiting. Elliot looks smug. Dr. Brant looks furious.
Nostrils flared and accusing finger poked in the air at me, Dr. Brant confronts me. “So, you finally decided to grace us with your presence?”
My jaw clenches, but I meet Dr. Brant’s eyes without blinking. My tardiness might be responsible for her anger, but I won’t cower and beg her forgiveness.
“I didn’t know anyone was waiting,” I reply.
Her smile is slick and mean. “Oh, so you only feel fit to work if someone is watching you?”
“That’s not what I said,” I say.
Dr. Brant’s lips tighten, displaying her displeasure. “You didn’t have to. Your extended lunch speaks volumes.”
“I’ve been working non-stop, including on my days off.” My tone borders on whining.
“Don’t compound the situation by lying.” Her tone is scathing.
I need a moment to answer, some time to rein in the anger and hurt coursing through my blood. “I’m not lying.” I at least sound calm. “Just take a look at the database and see for yourself.”
Dr. Brant’s eyes pinch tight around the corners. “You mean the database you’ve been having Molly and Jake work on for you?”
I feel the tears welling inside my eyes. “Yes, they’ve both been helping, but only in their free time. Elliot doesn’t let them do anything except data entry and clean-up after everyone else. They tend to have a lot of extra time.”
Dr. Brant frowns. “Well, it’s obvious to me that you need more supervision than I previously thought. Elliot alerted me to your lab switching. I think his watchful eye is exactly what you need. From now on you’re on his team and you’ll do what he says, whether it’s data entry or clean-up.”