Summary: Accusations abound and the prince is so not pleased.
The next morning, I was awakened by a knock on my door. I jumped out of bed and unlocked the opaque glass doors. It was a maid with a breakfast of waffles, eggs, and sausage.
“Thank you,” I said, taking the plate in my hands. The door closed behind me. I set the plate on the table and began to get dressed. While combing my hair, I heard a beep come from my laptop. I put down my comb and opened it. It was an e-mail. It said:
Meeting in the conference room at 6:30 A.M.
I looked at my watch. I better hurry. That only gives me 15 minutes to eat.
I arrived at the conference room right at six-thirty. It was similar to the Avila Room at Omni, except it was larger, and there was a wall of glass on the other side of the room. Through the glass we could look down and see people chanting and shaking their fists. Dr. Sterling pushed a button causing the wall of glass to become an opaque blue. We could no longer see the protesters, but we could hear them.
Despite the noise, the meeting began promptly.
“Avila is now experiencing a famine,” said the emperor bluntly. “There have been few fatalities, and many people are still trying to leave to find better conditions. The food shortage must be stopped so people can live a comfortable life here again. The heart of the problem lies in the green houses of Avila. The problem is aphids.”
Aphids? Is that all the problem is? The reason why people are starving in the streets is because of aphids? A can of bug spray could take care of that.
“Aphids,” continued Dr. Sterling, “have ravaged the crops in the green houses of Avila, our only source of food, so there is virtually nothing left. Importing food from the surface is expensive and killing the aphids is nearly impossible.”
I raised my hand.
“You may speak, Lila,”
“Aphids can’t be that hard to kill. Have you thought of using insecticides?”
“Lila, since the environment down here is so confined, we try not to use chemicals on our plants, but we have used natural insect killers, and they don’t work. We’ve even tried insects that prey on the aphids, but the aphids would kill them.”
The yelling outside began to get louder.
“What kind of aphids are these?” I asked, raising my voice so I could be heard.
“We don’t—”
At that, something came hurdling through the glass wall, shattering it and sending pieces of glass everywhere. We all ducked under the table. I could hear the glass hitting the tabletop. A metal object fell on the floor next to me with a dull sounding thud. It was a large hammer.
From outside I heard the infamous voice of Ms. Rinehart. “Emperor Sterling, come to the window!”
If I was in his position, I would have ran, but instead of running, he rose up bravely and walked towards the now broken wall of glass. We also stood up and slowly walked up behind him.
“Emperor Sterling, the people and I are giving you eight more days to be ruler. If we don’t see a solution to the food shortage within that time, the people will overthrow you. Do you have anything to say?”
“Dr. Sterling,” I whispered to him loudly, “this isn’t fair. I haven’t known a single national crisis that could be solved in just eight days.”
“I agree with Lila,” said Bridgett. He looked at us. He looked at Cheryl. She didn’t say a word. He turned back to the crowd outside of the window.
“Fine then. Eight days it’ll be.”
The crowd roared.
“There is no way he will find a solution to the famine in time,” said Ms. Rinehart to the crowd. “All of you, get ready and prepare for the fall of the emperor and the rise of a new era of leadership in Avila!”
The crowd responded loudly. “Long live Claudia Rinehart!” some of them yelled. I had a sinking feeling inside.
Emperor Sterling turned away from the shattered window and towards us.
“The aphids are believed to be the offspring of an experimental form, perhaps made in a lab. I’ve had samples of them sent for testing. I think the first step should be going to the labs where I sent them and getting the results.”
We rode through another long dark tunnel and came to another part of Avila. This area was a dense forest with large trees standing above us like Nephilims. Everything there had a beautiful tint of green. Flowers and moss grew on the trunks of the trees. Smaller trees grew with limbs that looked like they had been twisted by some strong hand.
We passed them on the narrow white road that we drove on. There was a sign on the side of the road that said “The Twisted Forest.” It must have been named after the weird shaped trees.
After the sign, we came to a fork in the narrow road. Both roads led to the research laboratories, but one looked as if it went deep into The Twisted Forest. That road was dark, and a thin mist rolled over it. The other road was bright and dry, and a tall, blue, glass gate could be seen in the distance.
Cheryl turned to the right. She drove up to the large blue glass gate. She downed the window and stuck her hand on the scanner next to it. The scanner gave her the green light, and the gates opened.
“Right now, I am the only one out of the five of us that can get through the gate. Hopefully, one day they’ll program it so all of us can get through.”
After traveling the road, we came to a huge building in the shape of a geodesic dome. Like most of the buildings in Avila, it had a glassy look to it. The electric car quietly shut-off, and we stepped out.
Our shoes tapped on the perfectly white pavement as we walked up to the entrance of the lab. On the door was a sign that said “Avila Greenhouse Laboratory One.”
As we walked through the automatic glass doors, a rush of sounds came to my ears. There were people talking and the tip-tap of constant typing. Cheryl led us up to a woman sitting behind a desk. She was typing on a computer while wearing a headset.
After typing a few seconds, she suddenly turned to us.
“Can I help you?”
“I would like to see Dr. Roberts,” said Cheryl flatly.
“He’s in Room 10. Just go down this hall and take a right.”
Cheryl gave a stiff nod of acknowledgement, and then she led us down the hall. On the way there, people passing by would give us polite bows. I looked at Cheryl, wondering if she was going to return them, but she kept her head high and her eyes focused. We did the same. It was a silent and brisk procession, just like the parades we had at Omni. I guess they actually did serve a purpose.
Soon we came to Room 10. It was one of the biggest and most important of the lab rooms in the building. It was filled with lab benches and people working over them. There were at least fifty people in there looking in microscopes and taking down information in palm pilots. They walked around busily, carrying plant specimens in test tubes and beakers. I turned to a huge shelf on the wall lined with specimen samples and catalogs.
Then a bald man met us and shook Cheryl’s hand.
“It’s always a pleasure to get a visit from the ASG,” he said kindly, looking at Cheryl first and then the rest of us.
“How can I help you young ladies?”
“Dr. Sterling said that he had sent some samples of the aphids to the labs.”
“Oh, yes. That’s right. I’ll be right back with the results.”
Dr. Roberts walked through the door on the other side of the room.
I watched the scientists work diligently, pouring chemicals into flasks and dissecting leaves.
Dr. Roberts was back in a few minutes with a satisfied smile on his face.
“Here they are.”
He handed the manila file folder to Cheryl. Cheryl handed the folder to Bridgett, and she opened it. Bridgett’s eyes scanned the paper in the folder, and then she lifted her big eyes up to us.
“What does it say?” asked Linzie excitedly.
“In short it is saying that these aphids are of a lab grade, and there is no known way of destroying them or stopping them from spreading plant diseases to the crops. They multiply at an amazing rate, and their natural enemies, such as spiders, ladybugs, and lacewings, are no match for them. The shortage of food is going to get worse before it gets better.”
“Wait a minute,” I said, turning my head to Dr. Roberts. “Have you ever performed any experiments on insects or any other animals?”
“These laboratories haven’t been testing on animals or insects for over twenty years,” he said with a smile that was permanently stuck on his face. “All the creatures we did work on were destroyed, and we no longer have the equipment for such experiments. Now the only things we test are plants, as you can see.”
I saw a person walk by with a miniature apple tree in a pot that was filled with softball-sized apples.
Bridgett handed the folder back to Cheryl, and Cheryl gave it back to Dr. Roberts.
“Thank you,” she said stiffly. “Now we shall go to the other laboratories and see what results they have come up with.”
“I hope you find what you are looking for,” he said, tucking the folder under his arm and giving a bow.
We all turned around and followed Cheryl out of Room 10. I threw a glance over my shoulder. Dr. Roberts stood there, with a huge smile on his face.
We returned to the palace at seven that evening. All the labs we went to had the same results: lab grade aphids that are impossible to control. I couldn’t believe that I actually traveled this far just to find a way to stop a bug problem. It seemed like a waste of time, but still the problems that the pests were causing did catch my interest.
I was so curious about what was going on that I woke up at five-thirty the next morning just to see what information I could find about it on the Internet.
While typing in an address to a government website, I heard the sound of a door opening in the hall and quick footsteps. I looked at my watch. I didn’t think that anyone would be up this early.
I opened the blue glass door to my room and looked out into the hallway just in time to see Cheryl heading towards the elevator. I ran up behind her.
“Cheryl,” I whispered loudly, “where are you going?”
“Oh, I’m just going out for a little early morning jog,” she curtly replied. “I’ll be back in about an hour.” She stepped into the glass elevator and went down.
I turned to walk back to my room, but on the floor in the middle of the hallway was a piece of paper that caught my attention. I walked over and picked it up. The paper was folded many times and creased tightly. I turned back towards the elevator. Maybe Cheryl dropped it.
As I started to unfold the paper, there was a tap on my shoulder. I spun around, trying to catch who it was, but to my mystification, no one was there. Sure that it was only my imagination, I turned back around hoping to open the note privately, but instead I found Levi standing in front of me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, astonished, quickly stuffing the note into my jacket pocket.
“What am I doing here? I live here. A proper question would be: why are you stuffing a note, that obviously is not yours, into your pocket at five in the morning?”
“Oh, this,” I said bashfully, taking out the note. Hiding it now was pointless. “I-It’s nothing. I just found it on the floor.”
He snatched it out of my hand and began examining it.
“Give that back!”
“I wonder what it’s about,” he said coolly, moving the note back every time I jumped for it. I hate being so short. Well, I’m not really that short. The real problem is that he’s taller than I am.
“Maybe it’s some juicy slander or blackmail.” He began to unfold it.
“Your highness, give that back!” I swiped at the paper again, but missed. He’s the lowest person I’ve ever met.
“Even better, it might be one of those silly love notes you girls like to write. Well, there’s only one way to find out.” He opened it up and started reading it.
“Stop being a jerk!”
He didn’t reply. His eyes lingered over the paper. The color drained from his face. His eyes became glassy.
“What’s wrong? What does it say?”
He slowly closed his eyes. He cleared his throat.
“Here.”
He breathed heavily, and his hand shook as he handed me the paper. I looked at him and then back at the paper.
On the note were words in messy blue handwriting. It said:
Death to Sterling.
I began to fold the note back up without following the creases. My eyes began to sting. I looked back up at him. He was looking at the floor with a worried look on his face.
“I-I’m sorry,” I said.
His eyelids uncovered the blue eyes that now had a hurricane brewing in them. Those eyes looked at me.
“Don’t be sorry,” he said simply.
I didn’t know what to do or what to say. Thoughts swirled around in the blizzard in my head. When I did speak, my words came out in a rush.
“We have to tell Dr. Sterling about what happened. This note—”
“No,” said Levi strongly. “Don’t tell him anything.”
“But Levi, this note could cost him his life. Not telling him is like—murder.”
“I don’t care. It’s probably a fake or some sick joke. Don’t tell him.”
“But—”
“Lila, promise me that you won’t tell him.”
“I’m not promising anything because I’m going to tell him.”
I began to walk briskly towards the elevator. He caught up with me and grabbed hold of my arm.
“Let me go, you idiot!”
“Give me the note!”
I hesitated.
“Give it to me!”
I reluctantly pulled it back out of my pocket and slapped it in his hand. He took the note and began ripping it up.
“Are you crazy? What are you doing?”
“No one will know about it,” he said angrily, crumpling up its remains in his fist. “And we’re not going to talk about it. Promise?”
“Promise,” I mumbled. “But I think you’ll regret it.”
“I never regret anything, and if you tell Father, I will find out. And if I find out, you will wish you were never alive.”
I took his threat seriously, but I still felt that ignoring the note would be a big mistake.
After that very eventful morning, I headed back to The Twisted Forest with the ASG. Today we were visiting the green houses to see the actual damage caused to the crops.
The glass green houses were huge, filled with hundreds of yards of plants. This was the food source of Avila. We walked into one of the green houses. A rotten stench filled the air.
“Ugh,” we all moaned.
“What’s that smell?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” said Bridgett, covering her nose. “I think it’s coming from all the rotting fruits.”
All the plants were brittle and twisted looking. Their leaves were covered with a bluish green black mold. They were diseased and kind of painful to look at.
Then I realized the seriousness of Avila’s problem. The people were always protesting because they were desperate for an end to the famine. Countless numbers of people were suffering from the damage that the aphids were doing to the food supply. Kill the aphids; bring life to Avila and the people.
A farmer in a mask came up to us.
“How can I help you?”
“We wish to examine your plants,” said Cheryl.
He nodded. “Well if you’re going to do that, you will need these.” He handed us all masks and rubber gloves, and we were grateful for them.
I rubbed one of the molded leaves in my hands.
“This is horrible. Are there any crops that have been saved?”
“Not really,” said Bridgett as she dropped some soil and leaves into a plastic bag. “Even the wheat crop has almost been completely wiped out.”
Lydia used a special scanner to check the flowerpots for strange fingerprints.
“We can’t even say that they’ve been tampered with. There are no weird fingerprints, if there are any.”
Linzie examined another plant. “They are absolutely covered with ants.”
After spending hours examining every plant, Cheryl finally said, “I think we’ve found all that we could here. Let’s head back.”
I was so happy to hear those words.
At the palace we all stood in one of the parlors talking.
“I think this is an inside job,” I said. “I mean, look at the evidence. No strange fingerprints, no signs of people from the outside; I think some scientist or a farmer—someone like that is behind this.”
“I also agree with your theory,” said Cheryl authoritatively. “However, I don’t think it’s a farmer or a scientist.”
“Then who do you think it is?” asked Bridgett.
“Personally, I think Emperor Sterling is behind this.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
I wasn’t sure if I was really hearing this.
“No, Lila. I am not.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “What brought you to this conclusion?”
“People have always doubted Dr. Sterling’s ability as a ruler. They’ve always said that he’s too relaxed and can’t solve his own problems. Why do you think we’re here?”
“The Emperor only calls us when it is absolutely necessary,” Lydia broke in, upset. “He has already looked into this problem as much as humanly possible—you know he did. We are the last resort. That’s why he called us here—not because he can’t think for himself!”
Lydia is usually so calm. I had never seen her so angry before.
“It’s okay,” I said, keeping her back with one of my arms, just in case she decided to give Cheryl a taste of her fist. “I only wanted to know why Cheryl feels the way she does.”
“The reason why I think Dr. Sterling would bring a problem like this on Avila is because he wants to show that he does have power. When this famine gets as bad as it can get, he will unveil an antidote that he has had all along. Then everyone will celebrate his brilliantness and say that he’s the best emperor we’ve ever had. It’s all planned.”
An uncomfortable silence followed, giving the time for her words to sink in.
Then I said in a flat defiant tone, “I don’t believe you.”
Cheryl’s eyelids popped open.
“I don’t think Dr. Sterling is the type of person that would make people suffer for his own personal gain.”
“Lila, do you actually think it’s really possible to know a person in less than nine months?”
“No,” I said, stepping up to her. “But I do think it’s possible to get an idea of what a person hates or likes in that time, and Dr. Sterling hates to see people suffer.”
I was thumb to forefinger’s length from getting into a major argument with her, but then Levi walked in.
“I thought I’d never see the day when people would take arguing over eating. Dinner’s been done and on the table for over thirty minutes now.”
“How long have you been in the hallway listening to us?” asked Linzie, narrowing her eyes.
“Long enough.”