Water (24 page)
"So, what is it, exactly, Cato wants us to do?" Micah asked.
"Phytoplankton need nutrients from the bottom of the ocean to survive. Normally colder waters allow these nutrients to rise to the surface where the phytoplankton live, but the oceans are getting warmer, and warmer water can block the flow of nutrients. Kaitlyn and I are supposed to simply bring up the nutrients."
I tried to process everything Susan had just told me, but instead of figuring out how exactly we were going to go about doing it I couldn’t help but be pessimistic. "Hasn’t something been done about this yet? I mean, no offense, but I’m sure you aren’t the first to discover this."
"Oh, no offense taken," Micah said. "In fact, we rarely make many scientific discoveries on our own. We just, find our own solutions to them."
"Yes, there have been other experiments done," Susan said. "For example, last year there was a large-scale operation to add iron sulphate to the ocean to promote phytoplankton growth. It helped, but it hasn’t turned into a consistent solution. There are those who argue that this kind of artificial manipulation isn’t the answer, and may have negative side-effects."
"But isn’t that what
we
are doing? Manipulating the ecosystem?"
"Yes, but in a more natural way. We aren’t adding anything new to the oceans, or taking anything away. We are just encouraging parts of the process to run more quickly and efficiently."
I had just managed to click my seatbelt together when the driver pulled into a parking lot and announced our arrival. I sighed and actually struggled a bit to release the buckle. I heard one of the two sitting next to me stifle a giggle, or perhaps it was both of them. They had the same laugh.
The small dock had only a few piers jutting out into the ocean. It was quiet; most of the boats had already gone out, taking advantage of the morning sun. To the right of the docks was a large beach, full of sun bathers, sand-volleyball games, big beach umbrellas, surfers and swimmers. I looked at them, jealous that they had the option of keeping their feet on dry ground.
Susan and Micah were already halfway down the pier, headed toward a rocking boat. My stomach twisted in anticipation. "Stupid phytoplankton," I mumbled, forcing myself to put one foot in front of another.
By the time I reached the boat, everyone was aboard and Micah was standing at the gangplank waiting to help me in. I hesitated, giving Micah the whiniest look I could manage. Alex appeared over his shoulder and waved a banana at me. "I’ve got fruit…" he sang, trying to tempt me onboard.
I had to laugh and conceded to their will. I took Micah’s extended hand and he helped me over, holding on to me afterwards a few seconds more than was necessary.
While the rest prepared to launch, I peeled the outer skin off my 'medicine'. Susan had exchanged her red high heels for solid, waterproof boots. She looked like she belonged at sea. She pulled ropes from the dock and made quick work of piling them neatly in stacks. Alex and Shawn argued about who was going to pull out of the port. Alex won after pointing out that the rental was under his name. Shawn, instead, quickly occupied himself by making lewd comments to Susan, earning himself a punch in the arm from Micah. Susan saw me watching them and gave me a wink. Of any group I thought I might work with to ‘save the world’, they would be the last. Despite my misgivings, I was actually enjoying myself.
An hour later, we were still bearing west into the Atlantic, and I was not enjoying myself anymore. I had retched over the side of ship, twice. Everyone took places on the opposite side of the ship to avoid the unpleasantness. Except Micah. He faithfully held back my hair like a good Ardwyad should.
He handed me a bottle of water. "Are you going to be okay to do this thing?" I gathered his concern was for the mission, not me.
"It would be easier to answer that if I knew what I am supposed to be doing, exactly."
"Well, if you think you could control your stomach for a few minutes, I’ll call Susan over and we will go over the plan."
"Of all the—!"
"Stop giving her such a hard time, Micah." Susan walked toward us, thankfully coming to my defense. "Here." Susan handed me a wet towel. "It will help to cool you down."
I laid it over the back of my neck.
Susan sat down on the bench beside me. "So, once we find a good solid group of phytoplankton, the plan is for you to release the nutrients from the ocean floor and I will direct it upward. Shawn will be there to take your powers and strengthen them, and to ensure our powers don’t clash with each other. Micah, you need to link with Kaitlyn to keep her calm and focused, and maybe you can even do something to soothe her stomach, you know, other than holding her hair."
"And Alex?" I motioned to the captain’s deck.
"Alex, will, um, steer the boat," Susan said.
I wanted to switch jobs with him. I looked back to Susan, eying her skeptically. "So say this does work. We aren’t going to be here forever doing this."
"The phytoplankton will feed on the nutrients and multiply. The more of them there are, the more carbon dioxide gets pulled from the atmosphere. That lowers the average temperature because of fewer greenhouse gasses. So it should be a self-sustaining circle, in theory. We will of course monitor conditions to see if that is what actually occurs, and we won’t be sure of the results for several years to come."
"Sounds like you have a new home," Micah said.
"I’ve already started looking for apartments," she smiled. "But I’m waiting to see how today goes before committing."
They both looked at me, as if to emphasize Susan’s happiness depended on how well I did today.
No pressure or anything.
"Hey, Susan!" Alex called. "This video imaging thingy says we are right over a large concentration of phytoplankton."
Susan got up quickly, mumbling something about a several-thousand-dollar piece of equipment being called a "thingy," and walked over to a chest secured on the deck of the boat. She untied the rope that held it shut, reached in, and pulled out a net. She walked back by us and I got a closer look. "Pantyhose?"
The net was actually a pair of pantyhose tied to a circular piece of metal.
"It works better for catching phytoplankton than any other net I’ve ordered online," Susan said. "Micah – come help me with this."
The pair of siblings tied extra string to the contraption and let it down into the water. After a few minutes they pulled it back up and Susan brought it upstairs to study what she caught under a microscope. The sound of the engine dying down told us she was satisfied with the location.
Micah called us to the most open part of the deck. "Okay, let’s give this a shot. We are going to start slow and light, don’t go too big too fast."
Shawn interrupted. "Why waste our energy trying something that won’t work? I say we need to go big right away, or go home."
"And risk an earthquake, or tidal wave, or God knows what?" Micah glanced in my direction uneasily.
I scowled at him.
"No," he seemed to be reassuring himself. "We start out slow. This isn’t an emergency. We can come back tomorrow and the next day if need be. Alex, don’t anchor, but try keeping the boat in one spot as much as possible."
Alex saluted and ran back up to his place at the wheel.
"Susan, be careful when you first take the nutrients from Kaitlyn, we don’t know how each of your powers will react. Don’t bring them up right under the boat. Keep them as far away from us as you can manage while still maintaining control."
"This isn’t my first time out, Micah." Susan quickly realized her comment might offend me and fell silent.
Micah frowned at his sister and turned to face me. "You ready?"
"Let’s just get this over with." I headed to the side of the boat and looked over the edge.
"That’s the attitude." Shawn snorted.
I flipped him off.
Micah stepped up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders and rubbed, trying to release some of my tension. "You’re going to reach out and find both iron sulphate and phosphorus. Bring it up as far as you can. Once Susan reaches it, she’ll take it from there. It’s not complicated, but it will require a lot of energy. You may have to go pretty deep."
"Not complicated? How the hell am I supposed to know the difference between the iron and everything else?"
Micah was annoyingly calm, "Hold out your hand."
I did and he dumped the contents of a small plastic bag into it. I looked at the green crystals.
"When those are heated, they turn yellow and lose the crystal-like quality because the water inside evaporates. You can use pure energy to heat it."
I rolled the crystals around in my hand.
"Go ahead, try it," Micah urged.
I hadn’t used my powers in days, and it suddenly felt like a lifetime. Micah suggested pure energy so I didn’t draw from anywhere, only from within. It was more difficult than at the Chakra; like trying to run in water. Not willing to burn my hand, I sent only the tiniest bit of energy into the crystals. Slowly, they began to change. I felt a sensation of saltiness. I couldn’t taste or smell it. I just sensed it was there. Micah seemed satisfied with the small-scale experiment and put the sulphate back in the plastic bag.
"I don’t have phosphorus you can hold. It isn’t really safe. But phosphorus is a pretty reactive compound, once things start moving around down there, you may be able to sense it. If it helps, phosphorus is used in explosives, matches, and fireworks. If there’s an element down there that feels similar to those things, you may have it. There aren't too many explosive chemicals underwater."
I gave him a look of hopelessness.
"Sorry." Micah apologized. "It’s the best I could do. The rest is up to you."
Susan and Shawn came to stand on either side of me, and Micah wrapped his arms around my waist. I began to feel warmth in my belly and realized it wasn’t just from his hands next to my skin. He was channeling to take away the feeling of motion sickness. It helped.
"Let’s begin," Susan said softly.
Outcast
Susan closed her eyes and emitted an energy. It was much more prevalent in the water, like sonar shooting to the ocean floor.
Micah whispered in my ear, "Stay within those boundaries, she is helping to clear away any animal life or debris so it won’t hinder your signal."
I took a deep breath and sent out my own waves straight down Susan’s tunnel.
Almost immediately, Shawn had to criticize me. "Not nearly far enough."
I shot him a dirty look that was only returned with a cold smile.
"Don’t get distracted," Micah intervened. "It’s just you and me."
Right.
I gathered energy and added it to my small stream – it went down maybe another 100 feet, but I still didn’t hit the bottom.
Suddenly I felt my energy stream tighten involuntarily. The constriction was claustrophobic. My body tensed and Micah whispered again, "It is just Shawn. He’s creating a funnel. It narrows your power but allows it to go farther."
"It is too tight, I feel choked by it."
"Just endure it. Concentrate on the seabed. Look for your compounds." Micah started a soft chant in a foreign language. It was incomprehensible but helpful nonetheless. I felt my stream hit a rocky bottom, and I began to move it around. It was difficult with Shawn’s funnel. I could only search small areas at a time. It took several minutes before I even found sand.
"We can’t do this forever, you need to work faster, Princess."
"Loosen your grip, and I can search a wider area," I spat at Shawn over Micah’s chanting.
"You don’t have enough power," Shawn said.
"You don’t know what I have. I could take energy from something else."
"You can’t take anything from the sea," Susan said. "That will mess me up."
The warmth in my stomach and the whispering in my ear were becoming annoying now. I began to sweat.
"This is getting harder to hold," Shawn piped up again. "If I accidentally release this, we risk losing the steam we have built up. Just find something!"
Micah leaned toward Shawn. "Give it a little bit longer, and stop pressuring her. I know she can do this."
"Dude, I can’t hold this much longer. She should have found something by now. What kind of Gaia gets seasick anyway?"
"Shawn, I am literally searching a square inch at a time. I’m not going to find anything this way." I could feel our flows start to sputter with a lack of concentration.
Micah must have noticed too. "Kaitlyn, take some energy from me."
I twisted my neck and looked at him in surprise. "I can do that?"
"It has been done before. It’ll just be like taking it from earth, only easier, because I will be sending it willingly."
"I don’t know," Susan sounded concerned. "If you guys have never done it before, that could end very badly."
