DR O and the ECO-X

by Aaron T Knight

  "I need you at the company, Joe, you have always taken on the administrative functions for me."

  "I heard you have an operating partner now, Worldwide Amalgamated International Ventures.

  They are in charge of producing the egg laying Eco-X species. Last I heard they're trying to pump out Eco-X at a rate much faster than our embryo method. It's what you wanted doctor. Live with it."

  "But I have no control over them. I thought they were only going to produce the Eco-X. They have taken over the entire operation including negotiating harvesting contracts without my approval. I need help Joe."

  "Have that team of corporate attorneys you hired fight them. I told you I would not be involved with the egg producing Eco-X. Nothing has changed my mind. See you in a month or so doctor."

  He led O to the door still protesting.

  Chapter Three

  At least Joe had his skiing trip to Switzerland before the corporate world corralled him again. Worldwide Amalgamated International (WAMI) managed to create a monumental headache due to its ignorance of the Eco-X operations. They accepted a harvesting contract from the state of California to clean up the vast floating plastic mass off their coast. It was estimated to be larger than the state of Texas.

  Terms of the contract were unrealistic calling for a complete clean up in a sixty day time period. Punitive fines for time over the deadline were twice the daily amount the company would receive for the clean-up.

  By the time Joe was contacted about the project the contracts had been signed without any way to renegotiate or back out. In the conference room at company headquarters Joe began to laugh hysterically about the terms of the deal. When he finally calmed down Joe went to the computer and began to fill it with numbers and equations. The numbers proved the company would probably end up paying the state of California twice the amount they would receive for the work. Bankruptcy seemed to be a real possibility in the company's future.

  He tried to refuse to be involved in the sure disaster. But his dedication to Dr. O and his dream of a clean planet won out. Dr. O. was looking at him with pleading eyes and he gave in, dammit. He had three weeks to train a whole battalion of harvesters and Worldwide Amalgamated International needed to produce thousands of Eco-X to do the job. And the race was on. He wasn't sure how to orchestrate such a gigantic operation, but he went to work on a master project plan. In the end though, he knew it would be a SWAG (simply a wild ass guess).

  Such a project became a worldwide curiosity. Joe didn't lack for volunteers willing to be trained as harvesters. He was able to pick out an elite corp of enthusiastic workers. With his veteran group training the workers the recruits would be ready within the time limit. WAMI production was another matter and there were delays in expanding the production facilities. One aspect was solved without any planning. The US Coast Guard would be supplying the boats for the project. It was given an acronym, so the California Restoration Project became known as CRAP.

  As soon as the coast guard notified him boats were ready for the project, he sent out harvesting crews under the supervision of his veterans. Due to the gigantic size of the floating garbage heap, the coast guard broke up the area into numbered quadrants. Since they were working on a floating plastic mass, or mess if you prefer, a strategy had to be worked out to keep the junk from moving away from the harvesters.

  A massive break up could turn the job into a chasing contest in an area as big as the state of Texas. With inadvertent wisdom borrowed from a joke, “how do you eat an elephant? Answer: “one bite at a time” efforts would begin with Quadrant #1 and so forth.

  At the outset of the clean up the original Eco-X specimens were exclusively used to harvest in the vast plastic heap. Long hours, dedication and hard work produced only modest progress. Clearly, more Eco-X needed to be shipped in from the new embryo factory. To his frustration, for over a week Joe’s requests for reinforcements were never answered. He soon found out why when a Navy cruiser appeared on the horizon carrying a huge cargo of the egg laying Eco-X.

  It didn ’t take more than average intelligence to know Worldwide Amalgamated International Venture was milking all of the public media possible with this dramatic arrival of the new Eco-X. Joe watched as the top deck of the cruiser became crowded with dignitaries, reporters, TV cameras, microphones and a huge pile of Eco-X containers.

  It was four hours later before the coast guard began to load their boats with the precious cargo. Big show or not, Joe and his crew were relieved to be sent an impressive army of Eco-X ready to chew.

  The harvesting area was greatly enlarged and the newly trained crews of harvesters eagerly joined the CRAP project.

  In two weeks almost half of the CRAP was completed. They learned that the egg laying creatures were bigger and stronger than the embryo specimens. This was part of the reason Project CRAP was humming along. Being stronger and faster allowed Joe to use them for harvesting two hours longer each day than the original Eco-X.

  Dr. O came out to the project to inspect his handiwork. Success changed his appearance dramatically. His crooked grin was wider, a fresh sparkle in his eye and a look of confidence. In spite of himself. Joe was pleased to see his boss happy for a change. The CRAP field was now surrounded with all types of watercraft so the problem of stabilizing the CRAP was no longer a problem. The junk was well hemmed in.

  When a harvesting report was given to Joe at the 60% mark, he began to feel optimistic. Maybe all of my worries and fears about the egg laying Eco-X were groundless, he thought to himself. He sincerely hoped it was so, any solution was an improvement over the headache they faced a month ago.

  Niggles, little niggles, began to come in from his harvesting managers that a few egg laying Eco-X were missing. It was only niggly so they ignored it, reasoning they might have been accidently drowned by boats or they had a shorter life span than the norm for the animals.

  But, a week later Joe added up the reported number of missing Eco-X to find roughly 1% were gone or dead or something. It was serious enough, at least to his mind, to have a talk with Dr. O. Without telling anyone in advance, he set off for headquarters. Dr. O knew it was probably bad news when Joe came to his home.

  Felicitatons completed, Joe laid out the daily reports on the desk. Obviously Joe had something to tell him about Eco-X at the CRAP site. He went through the daily reports pointing out the gradual increase in missing Eco-X. Dr. O chose to become defensive. He dismissed this unexpected change in behavior as trivial.

  “I am sure there must be casualties with the embryo

  Eco-X too. Where is that data? ”

  “There isn’t any data O because losses of those Eco-X

  is less than 0.005%. Quite a disparity don’t you think?” Dr. O began to pace rapidly. Joe watched him, he knew

  his boss quite well and saw the fear in his eyes.

  Unfortunately the fear was turning quickly into anger at

  him. He said.

  “Shooting the messenger isn’t going to get us anywhere

  O. I’m here to learn more about this breed.”

  Dr. O calmed down some as his reasoning returned. “I have created the egg laying Eco-X using the same

  procedures except for the reproductive organs. My testing

  has shown me there is no discernible difference between

  the animals. There is a mountain of testing data proving

  there are no red flags anywhere.”

  “Maybe the sea air affected them O because the new

  breed is physically stronger and faster. We are able to

  work them two hours a day longer harvesting plastic.

  Performance wins out over lab tests every time, the

  difference is irrefutable out on the project site.

  Maybe adding reproductive hormones has changed the breed in some way.”

  Joe was frightening O with proof that he had abandoned his great respect for Nature one time, and it was a mistake. Joe couldn’t leave out another specter of equal imp
ortance.

  “ One more thing O. I had the harvesting managers keep daily records on the Eco-X. Losses of Eco-X has increased gradually without any proof they are missing due to drownings or accidents. We believe some of the new breed is immune to our low frequency signal controls.”

  Dr. O was no longer angry, he was terrified. He had unleashed a creature into the world potentially beyond his control. O was a pacer when he needed to concentrate on a problem, so, off he went into tight circles oblivous to the world around him. Joe watched him wrestling with the problem, then O fished out a cigar and lit it as he paced.

  Joe knew this old habit meant O was really distraught. He was groping for some basis to begin solving a problem without precedents for guidance. Eco-X were his creation born from his own scientific knowledge, therefore, he alone could find a solution. At one point he broke off to tell Joe to stop Eco-X production at once. He set off in his car for the production center at a speed far in excess of the limit.

  Then he traveled to the CRAP site to lock up the egg producing Eco-X before more of them disappeared. It was a wise move since the managers reported an accelerated rate of disappearance. Joe’s next move was to stop the harvest and send teams to catch the missing Eco-X.

  Thus began the wildest and most hilarious chase after animals of any kind. They soon learned none of the egg laying Eco-X would now respond to the low frequency signal designed to control them. Dr. O had indeed fashioned a creature with multi-talents. It could fly at high speeds, run like a rabbit, and dive into water where it could stay submerged indefinitely and swim like a fish.

  Joe called in all of the harvesters for a conference. At this juncture the score was 0 for the team, not a single fugitive Eco-X had been retrieved. He needed to design a master plan to corner the Eco-X. It would have to incorporate methods to be used on land, sea and air.

  The US Coast Guard helped to conceive an approach to coral’em and catch’em. A carefully synchronized plan began early in the morning beginning in the area presently being harvested. It was based on a guess the Eco-X didn’t need to travel anywhere for food, plastic was all around them.

  Phase One began with boats pushing into the area and scattering the floating plastic. This left a cleared path for boats with nets to move in quickly behind them and net the Eco-X. Joe watched the operation on one of the boats with nets and he was delighted to watch a large number of the creatures caught in the nets. When the nets were full, the boats rendezvoued to empty the creatures into containers.

  After some maneuvering the boats formed a circle then used their booms to bring up the full nets. Surprisingly, this time the nets came up effortlessly rather than holding thousands of captured Eco-X. When the nets surfaced, or what was left of them, they were empty. The creatures had eaten the plastic nets while they were under water.

  Now came the final humiliation as swarms of the creatures flew over the boats and rained on the crews. In the blinding wet conditions the Eco-X quickly disappeared to who knows where. They listened as the loud chirping noises faded away in the rain.

  This exercise in frustration was an education in how little they really knew about the new egg laying species of Eco-X.

  Chapter Four

  Joe had another meeting with O so he could discuss the problem openly with the inventor. No defiance in Dr. O’s face now, only misery and fear were etched on his features. Joe took command and retreated to the original lab with O. From there he had Dr. O issue orders for the CRAP project to continue with the embryo creatures at hand. No mention was made about the renegade Eco-X. Everyone involved knew O would be working furiously to defuse the situation.

  Days went by with no changes in the operation, more egg laying Eco-X disappeared every day without comment. O was checking the steps he had taken to alter the structure of the Eco-X when converting them into reproductive creatures. It had been a highly complex number of steps in molecular structure to create a radically changed animal.

  Finally Dr. O discovered a stage in the reproductive process which had been impossible to solve. Somehow it seemed to more or less solve itself without O. To his horror O realized his ego had blinded him to the truth. Nature had completed the reproduction function by combining elements of its own laws. He had not created this solution.

  What he had always feared became a reality by tinkering in areas that upset the balance of Nature’s laws. It had rectified the change on its own. It meant Dr. O couldn’t undo what he had not accomplished. It was impossible to change Nature. Did it mean Eco-X now had a natural path of evolution? If so, what family of creatures did it belong to? He disappeared. Joe was abandoned and left to cope with the crisis alone. O beat him to the thing he had decided to do, just bail and run like hell.

  Everyone involved with the project was aware of the need to put the brakes on the escalating situation. The public wasn’t aware of the problem since the federal authorities put a blanket of secrecy over the intense activity going on in CRAP. Many ideas were presented to catch the Eco-X.

  Someone suggested dropping depth charges into the water and killing them with explosives. That one didn’t have a chance since many fish and other underwater creatures would also be wiped out. It was a maddening dilemma given their ability to swim, fly, run, burrow and rain on their pursuers.

  Joe declared that a plan had to be devised to eliminate the creatures choices of action, meaning a clever trap. Something irresistible had to be devised for the creatures. It had to appear safe and inviting to them. The harvesting crews working with them had learned they were living creatures with definite habits.

  Some plastics for instance weren ’t as appetizing to them while others were the first to be consumed. Things like plastic toys and other soft vinyls were their favorites. Last to be eaten were empty containers once holding bleaches, soaps, and ammonia, because they upset their digestive systems. Loud burps while they were feasting were a sure sign these toxic containers were being consumed.

  They had another distinct trait. Eco-X were playful. At times during their feasting some of them would suddenly fly at each other chirping loudly. So, a distinctly different sound was now being generated on earth. A cacophony of noise combining chewing sounds, burps and chirping.

  These traits were about to work against them. The crews set up sound detectors on boats to determine where the Eco-X were chewing, burping and chirping. Video cameras were also employed to spot any of them flying above the group, a sure sign some of the animals were playing.

  All activities to capture Eco-X were stopped while the harvesting continued with mostly embryo creatures doing the work. Work on the project kept up at a desperate pace while they allowed the fugtives time to calm down. Many hours were spent trying to work out a fool proof trap.

  Following along the line Joe had suggested, the team foremen worked out a devishly clever trap. It was certainly a plan produced by “thinking out of the box”.

  The idea was to drop several tons of plastic toys of all colors and sizes into the area where most of the fugitive Eco-X hung out.

  There was no doubt a treasure trove of tasty vinyl would lure them to the trap to indulge themselves. When the EcoX were all enjoying the feast, metal nets would be swiftly dropped on them from helicopters. No eating themselves free from metal traps, they would simply be lifted up by the choppers. Joe had to talk them out of destroying the animals on the basis of the need to study them in captivity. It was necessary to learn what went wrong in the creation process. A good point everyone conceded.

  One morning a squadron of helicopters flew over the CRAP area loaded down with children’s toys. When they were dropped over the designated site, a beautiful arc of brilliantly colored toys was created. Descending it looked somewhat like a rainbow diving into the ocean and spreading out into a circle. No Eco-X could resist its favorite meal. Within fifteen minutes the entire population of egg bearing Eco-X was chomping happily on the toys.

  Operation Pick Up waited until 0900 before the squadron of helicopters
returned to drag them all into the nets. Up came a few instead of the masses they had expected. They were dodging and diving to avoid capture. Not exactly what the capture operation was supposed to look like.

  Then the waters in the target area began turn slowly in a vast circle. Within minutes choppy waves were appearing and a frothy mass climbed skyward drawing a misty curtain over the creatures. It became impossible to make out what was happening in the circle. A humming noise somewhat akin to the sound of swarming bees became louder and louder.

  Joe and the harvesting crews had never heard anything like it. One boat revved up its diesel engine and turned to leave the area without any orders to do so. Orders be damned, they were retreating from the growing hum coming from a spot on the ocean they couldn’t see. It was like a signal to the other crews nearby to do the same.

  Joe ’s boat was the last one to move back several miles from the trap site. He was unable to successfully argue with the crew’s decision to boogey out of danger from whatever was creating a powerful sounding something. The mist dropped away from the circle. It was now greatly diminished in size because the Eco-X were now airborne. Skimming swifly just above the sea was a fantastical sight.

  Whirling along toward them were hoola hoops of every color known to man powered by thousands of the animals running on the toys. They had reached a speed that lifted them into the air and climbing fast. If there was ever a visual demonstration of “gawking” it was the identical expression on the faces of the men on the boats watching an air armada of plastic toys headed their way.

  Since humans are a diverse species, a fascinating variety of reactions began to happen on the boats. Some simply jumped overboard, with and without life preservers. As many as possible crammed into the interiors of the boats for protection from this mysterious menace. Some harvesting crew members who worked with the creatures stood unafraid as the mass of hovering hoola hoops came at them. Nets, low frequency signal machines and oars were clutched in their hands ready for anything.