Stealing Silence(18)
The vast greenhouse before her was on night lighting yet it was possible to see the plants growing in raised and vertical beds throughout the complex. The food production was off the scale. Her stomach rumbled in automatic response to the cornucopia of edible sustenance and her hands actually twitched toward a plump papaya that dangled in front of her nose. She turned away, knowing that she was not there to steal food, yet the urge was overwhelming.
Sensing her distress, Mitch whispered, “Ignore the food, Avalon. I have plenty. You will not go hungry again.”
Avalon moved carefully through the rows of growing things. The humid, earthy smells of damp soil and flowering plants assailed her nose. It tickled and she felt an urge to sneeze. Alarmed, she pinched her nostrils hard, holding it so long that she gasped for air when she released, scrubbing the reddened tip. She raised her goggles in order to see the gardens with her own eyes. The verdant growth was so intense that she dropped the goggles back in place.
“Mitch, what kind of fertilizer could do all this?” she whispered, slowly revolving her head so the camera would capture the view.
“I don’t know, Avalon, but whatever it is, the government doesn’t want to share the information. You have been in there for forty-five minutes. I need you to press on and get out: our window of an hour is almost up.”
“OK, I am moving.” Avalon’s eyes searched the interior for a storage container or stacks of bags, anything to indicate the presence of the fertilizer but saw nothing. She chose a path that would take her around the greenhouse to the far end where she thought she saw the hatch. At first, she thought it was an irrigation connection of some sort, but it wasn’t circular. Rather, it was hexagon shaped, and made of a waxed surface that glimmered in the dull lighting. Curious, approached the hatch. A dull hum met her ear. It reminded her of the hum of a transformer yet it was softer, less mechanical. She put her ear up to the opening, and the humming became a thrumming sound. She stood back, mystified. A screen door stood to one side. “Should I go in?”
“Yes, let’s see what is in there.”
Avalon turned the handle and pushed open the door. Instead of a storage room full of bags or bins of fertilizer, a massive multi story structure of tubing met her eye. The whole room hummed with an energy that made her skin crawl. She walked alongside the structure to a viewing portal and that is when she saw them. Bees, millions of bees were flying and swarming through the tubing. The whir of their wings set up an echoing, buzzing resonance. She could see the cells of the maturing workers, tiny antennae twitching as they flexed within the nurturing cell. “Are you seeing this?” she whispered to Mitch, staring in awe at the abundant live bees, missing in the outside world. The contrast was shocking.
“Pan slowly around the structure. Let us get a look at it.”
Avalon did as she was told, taking in all the nuances of the contraption. At one end, a series of flowers bloomed, planted in a dark moist soil not found in the outside world any longer. Tubes dripped a serum into the soil keeping it at perfect growing conditions. “Look at the plants, Mitch. They are gigantic! Do you think the fertilizer is in a liquid state? It would explain why I don’t see any bags lying around.”
“Could be. If that is the case, there must be a spot where it is mixed and fed to the plants. Try that door to your right.”
Avalon nodded, even though he couldn’t see her, and strode over to a narrow door that led behind the contraption’s walls. Behind the door on which a sign said “CAUTION: LIVE BEES” was a metal catwalk that ran around the exterior of the beehive. Avalon suddenly realized that was exactly what the facility was, a giant metal beehive. Keeping her footfalls light, she tiptoed along the catwalk, following the drip lines along the wall until she came to another room with a sign that said “NO ADMITTANCE - BIOHAZARD”, and the symbol for toxicity symbol in yellow below it. The door was fitted with time locks and heavy shielding. She could not see what was beyond.
“Wait, Avalon.” She paused, listening to their whispered conference but not able to make out their words, them Mitch spoke. “Peet says that he thinks the fertilizer is a bio hazard that the government has been keeping quiet. They don’t want the populace to know what it is, or that it is toxic. Check your suit, and close up your face before you go inside. Make sure every seal is tight.”
Avalon dropped down the screen and attached the Velcro connections and flaps and double-checked that everything was secure. She could hear her own ragged, anxious breath within the suit. “OK, I am ready.”
“OK, we are switching over to your suit cameras. No foolish moves, Avalon. Keep your inspection short and quick. Grab a sample if possible and get out. Be aware that should you set off an alarm, the security system will lock down the room trapping you inside. Do nothing without talking to us first.”
“I understand.” Avalon put her hand on the door handle and pulled it open.
Chapter 11
The Secret Room
AVALON STEPPED INTO the room, which was noticeably cooler than the room she had just left. The door swung closed with a click as she let go of it, mind already working on the puzzle before her.
Inside the room was a water trough, like the kind a miner might use when panning for gold. The stream ran from high up on the wall and down through a trough on the floor that contained white pebbles. The water washed across the pebbles and into a vat at the end that had a screen across the top. The trough was not the strangest thing in the room, however. On the opposite wall, connected to the hive was a series of tubes that spread out around the hive and off into the greenhouse, merging with the irrigation system. On another wall, a powdered version of the stones fed steadily into a mixing bowl with a large paddle, churning the water and stone mix into a milky paste.