Joe stayed on his boat with the crew who took up the same weapons of defense as the other boat crews. He added one feature the others hadn’t thought of/ He turned on the boat’s powerful searchlights to blind the Eco-X. It was an area of vulnerbility the animals unexpectedly possessed, even Dr. O had been surprised.
The blinding lights initially caused the huge squadron to scatter in confusion. Reaching a height out of range of the boat the panic stopped, and they slowly returned to the group. Once again organized they flew over the boats, circled, returned and let go a torrential rain. It was a cloudburst beyond any natural downpour.
Some of the boats in the fleet caught in the center of the rain were swamped and sank. Their bilge pumps couldn’t keep up with the sheets of water coming down like waterfalls. The attack halted abruptly when the Eco-X had drained themselves of the water accumulated from the tasty banquet of toys provided by the coast guard.
They left the area quickly flying low over the ocean. Joe was as unprepared as anyone else for this evolution of the animals into what looked like a society. It was clear they had an instinct for defending themselves against a percieved threat of danger. He wondered if their level of intelligence was high enough to acquire an image of humans as a dangerous enemy. Hopefully, he thought to himself, they only acted out automatically to disturbing circumstances. Hopefully.
In contrast, Eco-X created from an embryo state were placid creatures with no more instincts than the need for food. They were easily controlled with the silent signals used to direct them to food and returning to base. Production of embryo Eco-X was increased to replace the egg bearing animals who had all deserted the project.
Many meetings were held after the toy disaster to examine what was known about these new creatures. The goal was to stop them from becoming the latest ecological disaster brought about by tinkering with Nature. They were working blindly with an unknown species having no natural enemies to keep the population in check. Diseases were another mystery area, were they impervious to infectious maladies? Also on the table for discussion was the impending first cycle of eggs due to be produced within two weeks. Potentially the egg bearing ECO-X population would double for a year since a male and a female would be added.
Chapter Five
Naturally a disaster of epic size can ’t be kept secret. Word reached around the world in a few hours as the soaking wet boat crews returned to the dock. Many versions of the catastrophe were told by first hand witnesses. Since it all happened so quickly with brightly colored hoola hoops spinning madly over their heads, no one could agree on the event.
Whirling round shapes sparked dozens of wild tales about UFOS. Some of them had taken pictures with their I pods before jumping overboard or hiding on the boat. The pictures were all distorted from the fast movements of the photographers or taken during the deluge. It resulted in watery pictures of the boat deck, some hoola hoops looking like flat tires, and many views of huge noses. Not much help in trying to understand what really happened.
Joe was relieved. Most of the stories hardly mentioned the Eco-X because the popular view of them was cute little animals doing the country a great service. Flying in formation and sinking boats was out of the question. Joe said nothing. Much to his relief, the state of California and the federal government agreed to shut down CRAP completely for further study.
Translated from weasel word-eze it meant, “we’re out.” Joe disbanded the harvesting crews, paid them off and headed for home. He would take a month off, then look for another job far, far away from scientific research of any kind.
Hawaai was clearly the place to vacation for a young man who liked to be as lazy as possible. He booked into the resort beach hotel called. appropriately, “Sandy Haven Inn”. It had no planned activities, no pool, so no noise, nor any other device to disturb the lazy guests. The resort did proudly proclaim it had 29 brands of beer and a happy hour which lasted until midnight. Perfect.
Arriving at the resort, Joe looked around and decided his pal, Pete, who told him about it, had done him good. He was escorted to his little shack on the beach by one of the help. Not much on courtesy, he had to carry his own suitcase,which seemed in harmony with the place. Joe had invited his girl friend, who hadn’t seen nor heard from him in two months. She declined to join him unless she could bring her new fiance.
Two happy exertion-free weeks past for Joe. He actually walked on the beach a few yards one day, then shuffled back to his hut for some rest. It all came to an end though when two serious looking men in dark suits came to see him. They flashed impressive looking credentials at him identifying them as FBI.agents. Come with us they said, it sounded more like an order than a polite invitation. He sulkily obeyed.
Joe learned the agents weren ’t talkative types. He asked a few questions that illicited no’s, maybe’s and yes’s. Hope faded quickly as he looked at their stony faces. He went to sleep when they boarded a jet bound for somewhere.
The “Somewhere” was Dr. O’s headquarters. Not too shocking since he was the central figure in the Eco-X harvesting operations. His escorts led him to his destination, then left. No goodbyes or anything from them. He was in the conference room at the company headquarters facing four suits. Joe only knew the operations director of the conglomerate. Shortly he was introduced to men representing the military, EPA, and the CEO of WAMI who was now producing the Eco-X.
They didn ’t even offer him a cup of coffee before asking questions that came at him like machine gun fire. Joe was a veteran now in dealing with the suits ever since the Eco-X was introduced to the public. So, waiting until they all ran out of words, and the energy to say them, he took control of the meeting. After all he had all of the information they wanted so badly. Joe knew he alone had the answers, such as they were.
He cleared his throat, then looked inquiringly at the suits. They were now looking like kintergarden kids waiting for their first lesson.
“ To speed things up, no, I don’t know where Dr. O is. Probably holed up somewhere trying to work out a solution for disarming the egg laying animals. I believe he will appear when he has worked out the answers to the crisis.
“ You have experienced the ingenuity this species possesses. They can think past mere survival instincts and come up with answers to protect themselves from percieved threats. The big mystery here is whether or not they have the memory power to now see us as the enemy. Or maybe it was just an advanced reaction for survival when they escaped.
“ Let’s hope their thinking is limited to immediate danger and not a permanent memory of humans as dangerous to them. Finding some way of neutralizing them hangs on this question, are we the enemy? If the Eco-X fear us, then they must be destroyed since we are dealing with an absolute unknown. Let’s all pray that Dr. O returns with answers.”
Reluctantly with the instantaneous approval of the suits, Joe rounded up some of his harvesting managers to form a strategic planning information about group. They would contribute
their physical make up and their observed behaviors. It was vital to become experts on everything there was to know about the animals.
Teams of researchers were at the CRAP site studying the Eco-X and sent back reports about the first hatches of Eco-X eggs. They were so small they resembled a swarm of gnats flying with the mature creatures. Joe was edgy about more Eco-X being added to the problem. Then he realized the population was being doubled since O planned for them to create a male and a female.
These were being added to the existing Eco-X whose life span was about one year. In other words, another nine months before they died off, but, by then another hatch would be born. It was a population pattern similar to the geometric progression of human births, who, given the current rate of newborns, will reach a population of 24 billion by 2050.
An urgent message came into the researchers from the coast guard to cease planning for another attempt to capture the renegade Eco-X in the CRAP site. They were gone! Where to? became the new headache, when did they
leave? where were they going? and where were they now?
No one had to use any energy on this mystery, an hour later the coast guard received a strange message from Malibu Beach. Residents in the area woke up to find their beach littered with thousands of colorful hoola hoops. Next came another message about black clouds of something whirling around Malibu in an erratic manner.
Knowing not what had invaded their area, messages were sent to the police, fire departments, and the national guard in an effort to cover every possibilty. This action caused a massive traffic jam of rescue vehicles all trying to reach Malibu Beach to answer the emergency call.
Not all of the Malibu residents took the phenomenon seriously. Younger people hit the beach gathering up hoola hoops to throw at each other, or roll them and some actually hool hooped. Suddenly the black clouds hovering over the beach disappeared off the coast apparently heading inland. Now the traffic jam of vehicles headed toward Malibu reversed itself, and became a traffic jam going in the opposite dircetion.
A few early risers walking on the beach in Malibu reported spotting a mass of color out on the ocean headed toward them. They all ran for their lives. In the pre-dawn gloom it appeared to be a solid wall of something. From their safe havens they watched as the hoola hoops were skimming over the surface of the ocean toward the beach.
Reaching land, the scene became absolute chaos as the arriving hoops crash landed into each other. It was bedlam on the beach as the crash scene expanded all along the coast in a colorful mass of colliding hoola hoops. One of the laws of physics was working to cause the hoops to lose elevation as soon as they were over solid land. In the ocean the water yielded to the force of the whirling hoops and sent an energy reaction into the air and its impact gave the hoops “lift”. Not so on land, on a solid surface the downward energy from the hoops was disbursed in all directions rather than cupping up like the water had done.
Malibu residents failed to contact the coast guard who ironically, were the first emergency units to arrive on the beach. These boats were from the CRAP site and the crews knew who the invaders were hovering over the area. With no effort at all they had located the fugitive Eco-X who were circling around erratically in confusion after the crashes had occurred on the beach. Apparently the animals were trying to decide where to go next.
Using binoculars, they discovered the new born Eco-X were being transported on the backs of the mature specimens. They flew this way, and that, trying to work out a solution to their dilemma. Hunger came to the rescue and the clouds dropped down searching for food. First to be devoured were the white plastic fences surrounding houses. In addition, every plastic toy in the yards was also eagerly consumed.
The residents heard for the first time the unique sounds Eco-X made when eating. Chirping, chewing, and loud burps filled the air as the animals picked the town clean of plastic fences and all of the toys left outside. People were gazing into their neighbors’ backyards for the first time while they tried to comprehend what the hell was going on? Amateur hunters rushed out with their rifles shooting at the insects without any visible effect on them. One group was taking a bigger barrage of bullets and buckshot causing a backlash from the Eco-X. These eager gunners were nearly drowned by the creatuures as they dumped water on them.
And so, being lost was no longer a problem. All they needed to do was go to their next meal, wherever that might be. Malibu was left to recover from the invasion as the clouds of Eco-X gathered together. Now they flew toward the nearest town and landed in a large grove of trees on the outskirts and away from people. To add to the problem of finding the damned things a heavy rain began to fall at dusk. Weary groups of searchers gathered to plan out their search for the following day.
Joe had reached Malibu with his searching party and witnessed the “banquet” the Eco-X made out of Malibu plastic items. It was extremely distressing to watch them leave the beach and look for more food. The coast guard efficiently contacted the municipal groups in Malibu and explained to them what had happened.
They laid out a comprehensive plan to use all personnel available to be stationed at key points. It was a mission to be carried out in secrecy since the public wasn’t aware there was any probem with the Eco-X. Bad publicity could cause panic and certainly ruin the image of Eco-X as friends of ecology.
WAMI was contacted by Joe and the coast guard to tell them about the situation. A drastic solution to the problem was proposed to the company as the quickest way to end the chase for the Eco-X. It was Joe who had decided, with a heavy heart, to burn the Eco-X to the last animal. His plan was accepted by everyone in silence. It seemed to be the only solution but there were no cheers from the group. Chapter Six
Before dawn the Eco-X were located in their hiding place. Working with this information a strategy was worked out that town officials were willing to accept. All roads to the town were closed to traffic so they could operate in the area without any interference.
At dawn helicopters fitted with army flame throwers moved in over the grove of trees and let off a towering wall of flame. Trees exploded from the intense heat as the area became an inferno. Outside of the fire zone teams were stationed to detect and destroy any Eco-X that might escape from the flames.
They all watched as the grove of trees was reduced to a pile of ashes. Two hours later fire departments moved in and put out the last of the flickering flames. A thorough search of the area failed to detect a living thing in the ashes. Joe and his crew went to their boats and returned to the CRAP site. Not a word was spoken by anyone.
No mention of the whole mess was reported in the media. Government officials had skillfully squelched the affair at Malibu Beach. Residents talked to each other sparingly because it all happened so quickly there wasn’t much to add to the werid incident.
Joe ordered his crews to resume their harvesting with the embryo Eco-X as if nothing had happened. They were surprised at first at the terse order but then reason told them it would be a useless exercise going over such a sad event. Joe gave an operations report to WAMI then disappeared to his Hawaain hut, maybe forever, he thought to himself.
Nothing about Joe ’s involvement with Eco-X project had been planned by him. In his junior year at a small college studying for a degree in business administration he ran out of money. Not an unusual problem for students all over the country. Dr. O’s posting for a part time worker to clean up his personal lab off campus wasn’t getting hits. Cleaning up a physics and chemistry lab brought up visions of washing hundreds of test tubes. Also cleaning up chemical spills,and maybe coming in contact with unknown weird substances came to mind.
Joe was desperate so he took the ad down from the board and headed for Dr. O’s lab. The job was everything he had imagined and more. O. was a disoganized researcher moving from one thing to another. He left a trail of stuff, completed and unfinished. He would have quit but O.was paying 75 cents per hour more than the going rate for student flunkees.
After a week of working he called a halt. He sat down with Dr. O to talk over the job with the scientist, “ Dr. O” he began, planning to be courteous but forthright, “no wonder no one keeps this nasty job for more than a week. You leave a trail of stuff all over as you work in other words, you’re a slob.” Those words were blurted out uncontrollably Damn! Now I have no job! Joe thought.
On the contrary, Dr. O looked at Joe sadly.
“Please stay. I can’t seem to contol myself when I’m working it’s not an intentional thing.” They talked for several hours and hammered out an understanding of how they could work together. And that is how he eventually became O’s assistant as the Eco-X project became more demanding. Joe dropped college to work full time for O. This is only temporary he told himself.The work became fascinating as Dr. O’s genius created a living thing from many genetic formulas. They evolved into a smooth working team understanding one another’s thinking. Joe contributed suggestions to help O. It was his project too.
It was a challenging job since Dr. O
had no grasp of common sense. Joe had to “shadow” his boss as his fame as a scientist exploded. He wasn’t a hundred percent successful though, O. later made a deal with WAMI without his knowledge.
O ’s action led to the terrible mess caused by the greedy conglomerate. planned clean
WAMI immediately made the hasty ill up deal with California. It was an impossible contract to perform as it was written. One month duration should have been two years! The daily penalties owed to the state for days behind schedule would eventually bankrupt Dr. O’s project. Somehow WAMI’s name wasn’t mentioned in the contract, only Dr. O was held legally responsible for the project.
All of Joe ’s dreams had been crushed over the disasters that befell the Eco-X, beginning with the CRAP mess. Joe needed to forget it all now, he no longer had any authority to protect the Eco-X. Now he would work to expel from his mind the dreams of success and what the Eco-X could do for the world. He proceeded to stay respectably drunk every day spending most of his time in his shack away from people.
He never missed a “Happy Hour” though, it was his one comittment to socialability. There, along with the other guests who were of a like ilk, he danced and partied until reaching a certain delicate point. At this juncture Joe had to leave in order to get back to his place without passing out. He made many friends there whose names remained a mystery to him.
A law of physics states that an object in motion will stay in motion and to stop it requires tremendous energy applied from the opposite direction. Ergo, that which is at rest will stay at rest until moved by a force of energy. After a month of doing absolutely nothing, Joe was in the grips of sloth. His attitude is best described as “I don’t give a ”.
An object in such a low condition was likely to catch the attention of someone wanting to learn why the state of such sloth existed. A visitor, one Maggie Brown, became curious about this young man. When he had arrived a month ago he was well dressed and appeared to have it together. She wanted to know what had unraveled him so quickly into a state of dereliction.
DR O and the ECO-X Page 3