Page 36 of The Champion
“My dad is happy for Thor. Linea is an amazing person.”
“I believe you. Finn was at the school of inclusion a little bit while Marco and I worked there. He saved a boy with bad burns once.”
“Do you see any of the people from back then? My parents always talk about the first group of children being special to them.”
“Well, obviously you know Mila, Solo, Willow, and Raven.”
“Yes, and I see Hunter sometimes.”
“We’ve had a few reunion parties and at the last one two years ago everyone was doing fine. Well, except for my sister Rochelle, who has lost her marbles.”
“What happened?”
“After my mother died, Rochelle decided that she wanted to be a Council member like our mother. She is doing a petition to change the way we elect Council members in the Motherlands.”
“Why? I thought choosing kids with a high level of integrity was generally considered to be the secret to how peaceful the Motherlands is.”
“I agree, but when I tell Rochelle it’s a grief thing, she gets angry with me. Anyway, Storm has remarried after that awful wife Gennie. I can’t remember the name of his new wife, but he kept showing us pictures of her and their two children. What else?” Shelly kept walking as she updated me. “Did you ever meet Nero?”
“Yes, he’s married to Mila’s sister-in-law, Anne. I’ve met them a handful of times over the years.”
“That’s right. Apparently, Anne was a troubled soul who burned down the family business or something, but Nero adores her, and they couldn’t stop touching each other when I last saw them.”
“That’s wonderful.” I pointed ahead. “We’re here now.”
The building with the lab wasn’t impressive and the inside of it felt sterile except for the green house. Victor and Celeste gave Shelly and me a short tour of the premises and this time Victor and I were strictly professional.
No one could know that we had slept together a number of times since I moved in with him on Sunday.
Unlike me, Shelly didn’t have questions about radiation. She was quick to understand the scope of the project but when they showed us the greenhouse, she had a number of questions about the super plant Nuclea. I knew she had several degrees, and that one was in biology.
“So what are the threats to these animals that you say are endangered?” Shelly asked when we sat down to discuss the project.
“Pollution mainly.”
“Then I think we should talk about that, as it’s a big part of how we’re going to grow the number of animals that you want to preserve. It makes no sense to breed large numbers of animals who then go on to suffer or die from pollution. I like how you’ve combined plants that break down radiation and how you’re using Nuclea to clean Europe. But I’m wondering if we could support that effort by using the fungus. Victor, can you find some pictures for us of ruins with fungus growing on them?”
Victor projected pictures as requested.
“See all the fungus that grows on these ruins…” Shelly trailed off with a thoughtful expression.
“Yes, what about it?” Victor asked.
“I looked through all the research papers you sent me, and I don’t think you’re using it to its full potential. Cladosporium sphaerospermum uses enormous amounts of melanin to resist radiation. A radiation extremophile like this could convert gamma radiation into chemical energy.”
Victor’s eyes widened. “Keep talking.”
“If we could develop the technology to remove radiation while also turning it into energy, we wouldn’t just clean disaster sites and help the animals to a better environment. We would have found a way to enable Europe to build new cities with free power.”
There was complete silence around the table for a long moment and then Victor got into action and began brainstorming with Shelly and the others.
I sat watching with fascination how these two geniuses fueled each other into a display of brilliance.
“I love the idea of fungi fuel, but can we talk about the preservation effort of the endangered animals now?” Celeste asked after we were an hour and half into the meeting.
“Yes, of course. Right.” Shelly straightened in her chair. “What do you have so far?”
“Jonah has provided us with free access to all Motlander technology. I’ve spent months chewing through the specifics, but in short it’s a combination of cloning and breeding programs.”
