فصل 9

Chapter 9: ER20 and ER21

Taylor held my hand as we followed Ostin back into the front room. Everyone was gathered around the computer.

Wade was sitting in a beanbag chair, still looking angry that Jack had left him. “C’mon, already,” he said. “What’s the big announcement? What’s an ER?” One thing I know about Ostin is that it’s impossible for him to just tell you the solution to a problem—he has to tell you how he solved the problem. It’s annoying sometimes—actually, it’s annoying all the time—but I’m pretty sure he can’t help it.

Ostin’s face was pink with excitement. “So I started searching for ER, ER20, ER21, ER22, but it just led to that old TV series and other stuff. Then I searched the location mentioned in the memo: Puerto Maldonado.

“Puerto Maldonado is a Peruvian city in the Amazon jungle near Cuzco. The memo said that the outbreak occurred during the rainy season, which is between November and March, so I started to scan through their local newspaper for anything unusual. Look what I found.” He clicked a link and an article appeared on the screen. The headline read: Las Ratas Abrasadoras Destruyen El Pueblo

“Isn’t that crazy!” Ostin said.

I looked at him blankly. “What language is that, Spanish?” “Yeah, unbelievable, isn’t it?”

“I wouldn’t know; I don’t speak Spanish.”

“Oh, sorry,” Ostin said. “I forgot.”

Ostin was born in Austin, Texas (hence his name), where he had a Mexican nanny. Average human babies pick up second languages remarkably fast, but with Ostin’s IQ, I’m sure he was reciting Shakespeare in Spanish by the time he was five.

“ Las ratas abrasadoras is Spanish for ‘fiery rats.’” “What’s a fiery rat?” Taylor asked.

“Exactly,” Ostin said. “There’s no such thing.” His voice lowered. “Or is there?” He sounded ridiculously dramatic, like the host of some UFO show on the Discovery Channel. “Check this out,” he said, scrolling down the screen. “According to this article, there was a plague of rats in Peru that nearly wiped out a small village. The town’s mayor said that the rats started fires everywhere they went.” “What were they doing?” McKenna asked. “Smoking?” Ostin didn’t catch that she was joking. “No, I think they do it the same way you do. Or, at least, Michael and Zeus.” “They’re electric?” I asked.

Ostin touched his finger to his nose. “Bingo. One eyewitness said that these rats glowed at night, like they were on fire. And when he tried to kill one with a crowbar, he said ‘me dio una descarga como anguila eléctrica.’” “Translate,” I said.

“It shocked him like an electric eel.”

“Like an electric eel?” Ian repeated. “They’ve discovered a new breed of rat?” “No,” I said. “The Elgen have made a new breed of rat. They’ve electrified rats.” “It makes perfect sense,” Ostin said. “They’re having trouble creating more electric kids, but they’ve learned how to make electric rodents.” “Why would they do that?” Taylor asked.

“It was probably just an accident at first,” Ostin replied. “I mean, we test everything on rats, right? Drugs, cosmetics, shampoo. Makes sense they were testing rats in the MEI. Voila, electric rats.” “Whoa,” I said.

“Yeah, but what are they good for?” Taylor asked.

“That was my next question,” Ostin said. “So I scanned the Internet for any other stories about fiery or electric rats. I came up with mentions in Saint Barths, the Cook Islands, and Anguilla.” He looked at me, grinning. “Sound familiar?” “No,” I said.

“Remember what we read earlier? That’s where the Elgen have built their Starxource plants.” It took me a moment to make the connection. “You mean their power plants are rat powered?” Ostin was so excited he almost jumped up from his chair. “Exactly!” “Why rats?” Taylor asked.

“Why not!” Ostin exclaimed. “They’re perfect! The problem with most of our current energy sources is what?” “They’re expensive,” Taylor said, turning to me. “My dad’s always complaining about how much it costs when I leave lights on.” “Yes, but more importantly, they’re exhaustible. They’re limited. You can’t make more oil, unless you can wait around a few hundred million years. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. The big search is for renewable energy, and the Elgen found it. Actually, they made it. Rats are super-renewable. They’re practically breeding machines! Think about it. Rats are mature at five weeks, their gestation period is just three weeks, and the average litter is eight to ten babies. If you started with just two rats and they had an average of ten offspring every three weeks, then they had babies, and so on, in one year you could have . . .” He did the math in his head. “Holy rodent. Under ideal circumstances and lacking natural predators, like in a laboratory, you could breed billions of rats in one year.” “That’s crazy,” McKenna said.

“And if each one of those rats could generate even a tenth the electricity that one of us does . . . ,” I said.

“You could power entire cities,” Ostin said. “Enough rats, you could power the entire world.” I shook my head. “They’re making rat power. The Elgen are making rat power. That’s why they’re afraid of them escaping. If they breed, anyone could use them.” “They could also be like those killer bees that escaped from South America,” McKenna said.

“You mean the band?” Wade asked.

“What band?” McKenna said.

“The Killer Bees.”

McKenna shook her head. “I’m not talking about some stupid band.” “She means Africanized bees,” Ostin said. “In the fifties some scientists took African bees to Brazil to create a better honeybee, but the African bees escaped and starting breeding with local—” “Good job, Ostin,” I said, cutting him off. “You did it.” “Thanks,” he said proudly. “It’s amazing, they’re creating these power plants and no one knows how they’re doing it, but the answer is right in front of them. Apparently the Elgen have a sense of humor after all.” “What do you mean?” I asked.

“The name of their plants . . . Starxource. It makes their power plants sound like they run off thermonuclear fusion, since that’s where stars get their energy from.” He turned around and looked at me. “But ‘star’ is just ‘rats’ spelled backward.”