فصل 41

chapter-41 Vegemite and Spiky Echidnas

Sydney, Australia

I should have felt safer in Australia than Taiwan. Much safer. As far as we knew, the Elgen had no presence in the country, and, except for the accent, we pretty much looked and sounded like everyone else.

But I didn’t feel safer. Maybe it had nothing to do with Australia. Maybe it was just because the clock was ticking down on our mission and we were closer to Tuvalu than we’d ever been.

Still, I’d noticed that in spite of the stress, I wasn’t ticking as much as usual. Instead of blinking or gulping, I was sparking more. I wondered if it was just because I was becoming more electric or if my Tourette’s was taking a different form.

The weather might have had something to do with my anxiety as well. I think I might have a bit of SAD—seasonal affective disorder—which is just an Ostin way of saying I get blue when the skies aren’t blue. And the skies were definitely not blue. I don’t think that I’d ever seen it rain so hard in my life. Not in Idaho, at least. The rain was practically horizontal.

It was a challenge getting Zeus off the plane. First, we couldn’t land because the runways were backed up because of lightning striking the tarmac. Then there was no hangar for the plane—so even if we had wanted to make a run for the terminal, Zeus still had to wait for a break in the weather, which, unfortunately, didn’t come until about two hours later. Even then he had to wear a rain poncho and carry an umbrella. After more than twelve hours on the plane, we were past exhausted.

We stayed at a four-star hotel on the Sydney Cove across from the famous Sydney Opera House, which made McKenna really happy. It was one of her goals to see the opera house, and now she could see it from her hotel room.

I didn’t care much about the scenery. I just couldn’t wait to lie down in a real bed. After we got into our room, Ostin said, “So, Michael, going through this storm got me thinking.” “Thinking or talking?”

He ignored my question. “I’ve been thinking about what would happen to you if you were struck by lightning.” If someone else had said that, I would have thought they were crazy, but it was Ostin and that’s just the way his mind worked. He’d think about the strangest scenarios and try to figure them out, which is why he came in handy in weird places like Elgen Starxource plants and Peruvian prison cells.

“Probably the same thing that would happen to anyone else,” I said.

“I’m not so sure about that,” he said. “Did you know that less than ten percent of ordinary people struck by lightning die? But you’re not ordinary. You might be able to survive a direct strike.” “I’d rather not find out,” I said, closing my eyes and hoping he’d do the same with his mouth.

“I’m not saying you should walk out into a storm with a lightning rod or anything, but it would be interesting to find out. Of course there’s the heat problem. Did you know that the air around a lightning strike is superheated to more than thirty-three thousand degrees Celsius? That’s more than four times hotter than the surface of the sun. That makes McKenna seem like a heating pad. I mean, not literally, but at least her power.” He sat down on the near side of his bed. “Just imagine if you were able to absorb that much electricity like you did in the rat bowl. You would be a god.” “I’m not a god.”

“With that much electricity people would think you were. People have always associated lightning with gods. That’s why the most powerful Greek god was Zeus, the god of lightning. And there was Thor in Norse mythology, Ukko in Finland, Tlaloc the Aztec god, and Indra the Hindu god, all gods of lightning. I could go on.” “Please don’t.”

“I’m just saying, with that much electricity, you could conquer the world.” “For now I’d be happy to conquer this pillow.” Ostin lay back. “It would be cool. Michael the god.” It’s the last thing I heard before falling asleep.

I woke to thunder the next morning. More rain, I thought. I walked to the window and opened the blinds. In spite of the thunder, the weather had improved some. There were dark clouds, but it was only lightly sprinkling. Twelve stories below I could see the wet street and harbor buzzing with traffic.

Ostin was still asleep, so I quietly took a shower and got dressed. As I was putting on my shoes, our room phone rang. It was Taylor.

“What are you guys doing today?” she asked.

“We haven’t made any plans yet. Ostin’s still asleep.” “Is that him snoring?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. You weren’t kidding. I thought that was thunder.” “Tell me about it.”

“So, the concierge told us about a really cool wildlife refuge not too far from here. They have koalas and kangaroos.” “I’m in. Did you ask Gervaso if we could go?” “He said that the pilots are still waiting on the weather, so we can do whatever we want.” “Where are you now?”

“We’re just about to get breakfast. We’re in the dining room in the lobby. Want to join us?” “Yeah. I’ll wake Ostin. See you in a minute.” I woke Ostin and told him that I’d meet him in the first-floor restaurant.

“Wait,” he said. “I’ll come with you.” He pulled on his clothes from the day before, then, without even looking in the mirror, walked out with me.

As we walked to the elevator, I said, “Dude, your hair looks like a tsunami.” “What does that mean?”

“It means you should have looked in the mirror before we left.” * * *

We found the girls sitting at a table near the back of the restaurant. I was happy to see Cassy sitting next to Taylor. On the other side of McKenna was Tessa. They were already eating.

“Good morning,” Taylor said.

“Good morning.” I kissed Taylor, then sat down next to her. “They already brought your food out?” “It’s a buffet,” she said. “You get it yourself.” “Love the concept,” Ostin said, already on his way to the food.

I followed him over to the buffet. The food looked great. Best of all, they had Belgian waffles. When we got back to the table, Ostin began spreading a dark brown paste on his waffle.

“What’s that gross-looking stuff you’re putting on your waffle?” Tessa asked.

“Vegemite.”

“That tells me nothing,” she said.

“It’s similar to the British Marmite.”

“Again, nothing.”

Ostin took a bite of the waffle, then said, with his mouth full, “It’s a food paste made from leftover brewer’s yeast extract.” “I think I just threw up in my mouth,” McKenna said.

“I’d rather eat my shoe,” Tessa said.

“It looks like something from the bottom of your shoe,” Cassy said.

“I’ll try some,” I said, feeling brave. I put just a little on my English muffin, but I still almost gagged. “Why would you eat that?” Ostin shrugged. “I don’t know. Why do people eat oysters?” “A dare?”

I noticed Welch sitting on the other side of the restaurant eating alone. After a few minutes I got up and walked over to him. He looked up as I approached.

“Hi,” I said.

He looked up, then motioned to the chair across from him. “Have a seat. Coffee?” “No, thanks,” I said, sitting.

He took a sip. “How are you feeling about things?” “I have to admit, it’s weird having you here.” “I was thinking the same thing. What Hatch would give to be in my shoes right now.” “If Hatch were here, I’d electrocute him.”

“So would I. That is, if I could.” He took a bite of a croissant and chased it with more coffee. He looked at me, then said, “I’m worried for you.” “I’m worried for all of us,” I said.

“Yes, appropriately. But I’m especially worried for you. In Hatch’s mind you have become his prime nemesis. He believes that you’re the final obstacle between him and his plans. He doesn’t just want you dead; he wants you to pay for the humiliation you’ve caused him and the Elgen.” “I’ll keep that in mind,” I said.

“I wouldn’t, if I were you. It might slow you down. The only way you’ll ever be safe is to kill him. Keep that in mind.” He went back to his meal as if I wasn’t there.

Nice chat, I thought. I got up and rejoined the others.

After everyone was done eating (except Ostin, who was technically never done eating at an all-you-can-eat buffet), we walked out to the front of the hotel to get taxis to the wildlife refuge. There were nine of us, as Abigail, Ian, and Nichelle had joined us, so we took two cars.

“What’s the place called?” Ostin asked.

“Featherdale,” McKenna said. “It sounds cool.” She grabbed his arm. “I get to see a koala!” Ostin was smiling, not because of the koala but because McKenna was holding his arm.

“Where’s Zeus?” I asked Tessa.

Tessa pointed to the sky. “He’s staying in. He and Jack are playing video games.” “And Tanner?”

She shrugged. “Who knows?”

Featherdale Wildlife Park was forty minutes from the hotel and was worth the ride. The park was cool and the crowds were light, probably because of the rain. Australia not only has the most dangerous animals; it has some of the strangest ones. I mean, a platypus? It’s like a failed cloning experiment.

At McKenna’s insistence, our first stop was the koala sanctuary, where Taylor and McKenna got to hold a koala. Then we went to the crocodile feeding, followed by a visit to the kangaroos, wallabies, potoroos, and pademelons. I had never heard of the last two animals, but they were also marsupials and basically looked like rabbit- or hamster-size kangaroos.

There was also an animal called a quokka, which looked like a rat but walked like a kangaroo. The animal came from the island of Rottnest near Perth, which was so named because a Dutch explorer thought the animals were rats and called the island Rattennest—Dutch for “Rat’s Nest”—which was later changed to Rottnest.

Next we went to the echidnas exhibit. I had never heard of them either, but they were pretty awesome. They looked like tiny anteaters with big snouts and spiky quills. They walked funny, sticking their legs straight out like alligators.

“Echidnas and platypuses are the only surviving mammals that still lay eggs,” Ostin said. “Echidna babies are called puggles.” “I thought a puggle was a mix between a pug and a beagle,” Taylor said.

“That’s just a designer dog thing,” Ostin said. “Echidna puggles came first.” Peculiarly, even though there were at least fifty people at the echidnas exhibit, the animals pretty much ignored everyone but us. At one time I had six of the animals trying to crawl on me.

“Look,” Taylor said. “They like us.”

“That makes sense,” Ostin said. “Echidnas are monotremes, the only land mammals that have evolved electroreception. Platypuses and echidnas can see electric signals. You’re drawing them like a moth to light.” Ostin was most excited about the feeding of the Tasmanian devils. The only thing I knew about the Tasmanian devil was what I saw on the cartoons when I was little, but they truly are vicious little creatures. They not only have the strongest bite for their size of any living mammal, but they can take down animals four times their size. And they eat wombats, cube poop and all.

“I keep seeing this word ‘marsupial,’” Tessa said. “What does it mean?” “It means they come from Mars,” Ostin said.

Tessa’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“No. There is no life on Mars.”

Taylor and I looked at each other in surprise. “I think Ostin just told a joke,” she said.

The park was a nice reprieve from the dread I had been carrying around. The only time I felt jolted back to reality was while we were eating lunch at the café and McKenna said, “I want to take a koala home.” “We’re not going home,” Tessa said.

Everyone went quiet. After a moment Taylor said, “I am.” * * *

Before going back to the hotel, we took the taxis a little farther to see the Blue Mountains—so called because of a peculiar blue haze in the air around them. Ostin told us that the mountains are covered by eucalyptus forests and the eucalyptus oil in the air causes the bluish-gray hue.

We got back to our hotel around seven. We ate dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant called Fortune Village, then headed back to the hotel.

“We girls are going window-shopping,” Taylor said.

“Do you want us to go with you?” I asked.

“Only if you really want to shop.”

I thought about it, then said, “I’d rather cut that little thing under my tongue with rusty scissors.” “Me too,” Ostin said.

“Me three,” Ian said.

Taylor smiled. “I figured. See you back at the hotel.” * * *

As Ian, Ostin, and I walked back to our rooms, Gervaso stopped us in the hallway.

“How was your day?” he asked. His voice and expression were somber. Something was clearly on his mind.

“It was good,” I said. “We went to the wildlife refuge.” He slightly nodded. “I just talked to the pilots. The storm in the South Pacific has been downgraded again. We leave for Fiji tomorrow.” “What time?” Ostin asked.

“Noon. Spread the word.” He turned and walked off.

“Noon it is,” I said.