Los Angeles, California
Krishnan's plane lands at LAX International during the mid-afternoon, giving Krishnan plenty of time to rent a car and drive himself over to the LA office. As he walks out into the Arrivals section Krishnan notices a man in the crowd holding a sign with his name written on it, "Dr. V K Krishnan". Walking over to the man in business casual attire, Krishnan identifies himself and asks him name. "Jacobs", replies the man, producing a USDA ID from his button-up's breast pocket. "I'm here to take you to Mr. LaJoy. He's waiting at our office." Krishnan follows the man out to the street and to the car. The drive to the USDA LA office on 360 E 2nd Street takes thirty minutes through heavy Los Angeles rush-hour traffic. Once they reach the gleaming skyscrapers and concrete office towers of downtown LA, "Jacobs" drives into Little Tokyo and next to the local Federal building. Surrounded by one-story shops on South Central Ave, the USDA offices are housed in an adjacent ten-story glass and concrete tower. "Jacobs" leads Krishnan through the sliding doors and into one of the building's elevators.
After exiting on the third floor Krishnan and "Jacobs" are welcomed by a mayhem of USDA staff, clerks, secretaries, scientists, and others all engaged in two or more simultaneous activities. Shouting into phones, heated arguments over reports, shouting instructions to people across the room defines the atmosphere of the numerous cubicles scattered around the room. Leading him through the maze to the back of the second floor, Jacobs pushes open a door left barely open by the room's occupant. The room, surrounded by soundproof glass, offers the occupant a very tangible privacy for discussion if it is desired. Opening the door, Jacobs steps back motioning for Krishnan to enter. Inside the office two men are seated. The one sitting behind the desk is a tall, lanky, balding figure in his early sixties while the one sitting with his back turned to Krishnan is a shorter, stockier man of whom Krishnan only sees the large black fro of hair on his head. The tall, balding man stand up and introduced himself as "Peter LaJoy", while the second swivels his chair to reveal a swarthy, shorter fellow with moustache and a short goatee. "Mr. Krishnan, this is Dr. Gonzalo Rodriguez, a resident expert on earthworms from UC Berkeley", says LaJoy while pointing at the man with the Afro-styled hair. "Pleasure to meet you, Dr. Krishnan.", utters Rodriguez. Krishnan, wearing in smart casual, would never have guessed otherwise that this odd-looking character would have been a professor at Berkeley had not LaJoy told him so. "Now, that we've all been introduced, shall we get down to business?", inquires LaJoy, motioning for Krishnan to take a seat on one of the remaining three chairs.
Krishnan closes the door and sits down. "As you can see, we are just getting set up here. A major investigation has been launched and we have started cooperation with both the Dept. of Homeland Security and FEMA. We have just been discussing how important earthworms are to industries and business in southern California. Most importantly of all, to agriculture. As you know, California relies on agriculture as major component of the state's economy. Hundreds of millions of dollars in airborne exports, hundreds more counting rail and truck transport. California's central valley is basically a $40 billion dollar economy, and without the earthworms Dr. Rodriguez believes that we may see significant problems arise, and quickly." Rodriguez continues LaJoy's discussion. "As I have been explaining to Peter here, earthworms are an integral aspect of farming. We like to call them ecosystem engineers. They regulate soil processes such as structure, organic matter decomposition, nutrient cycling, plant growth, and so forth. While biological factors such as the type of vegetation or particular species of earthworms in an area affect the engineering efficiency of the earthworms, in agriculture it is abundantly clear that they are invaluable, to say the least."
"So what are we looking at here in California?" "Well, as I said, their engineering depends on things like vegetation, regional climate and soil type. Which is why I theorized that a microclimate change could be doing this to the worms, or a change in the soil composition. In the soil, the worm drops castings which create organic matter for plants to feed on, and the castings also absorb nutrients which are then taken by the plants. Their burrows in the soil allow better root penetration by plants, and they also increase microbial activity of microorganisms such as mycorrhizl fungi which promote plant growth. The burrows also creates macro and micropores throughout the soil, which lead to better water-holding capacity and aeration. All these activities are crucial to helping plants grow healthy and strong. Most agricultural plants are dependent on having good, fertile soil in which to grow- this means plenty of soil nutrients, water, and aeration. Soil richness can even be measured by the number of earthworms in it- good farmland can hold numbers up to eight hundred worms per square meter. There are millions of earthworms and hundreds of species in every acre of land."
Krishnan takes the cue. "So you're saying that soil quality in California is going to go down by a lot?. I mean, since soil richness is indicated by earthworms per hectare in a sense, we could be looking at a major bump to the agricultural sector, within, perhaps a matter of weeks?" "That may be the case, Doctor." "Rodriguez, if we were to lose all the earthworms in the central valley, what would that cost the economy?", asks LaJoy. Rodriguez takes a moment to think before responding. "hmm, the cost would be pretty big, to say the least. Earthworms decrease levels of plant pathogens and parasites in the soil. For example, soil lesions occur much less frequently where earthworms are abundant. Parasitic nematodes are reduced by microorganisms that are brought in or benefit from earthworms. Worms help denitrify the soil. When we fertilize agricultural soil we add huge quantities of artificial and natural nitrogen to the soil. Earthworms reduce that through their castings, but, with the worms out of the equation the nitrogen levels in the soil would certainly increase. It will take longer for the nitrogen to recycle back into the atmosphere."
LaJoy looks surprised. "That shouldn't be so bad, maybe our farmers will benefit by having to use less artificial fertilizers for their fields." "I don't think so, Peter. Excessive nitrogen levels can be as detrimental to crops and plants in general as too little nitrogen. Nitrogen over the optimum levels does not increase crop yield. In fact, excessive nitrogen causes toxicity in plants which could be passed to second-level consumers of that plant. It will also make the plants weak are more susceptible to disease, parasites, and possibly death. We should run Illinois soil-nitrogen tests to determine the levels of nitrogen in the central valley over the next several weeks."
"No benefits to the farmers at all.", states LaJoy. "and the worse part of it is this thing is spreading. Which is where you come in, Dr. Krishnan. We've already disproven Rodriguez's theory that the worms are being affected by microclimate or soil change. I seriously doubt it, but the theory of pathogenic transmission still has to be disproven. The guys at MalSanto seem to like it, but I want answers. Dr. Krishnan, everything that we have collected from around the state is waiting for you in our lab at UCLA. And our first official who witnessed this, Michael McCarthy from our Stockton office, should be arriving back here today." Krishnan nods. "That should be fine. I've never seen anything like this before though. In my career I've seen many large epidemics throughout Africa's interior, looked at the potential damage they could do. If you look at the history of epizootics, I don't remember anything that could cause earthworms to die in these numbers. Earthworms suppress plant diseases, not receive them." "So far, that's all we know, Dr. Krishnan. I wish I could say more, but. . . " Rodriguez trailed off. Krishnan stood, shook hands with Rodriguez and LaJoy and headed to UCLA. This is going to be a long, and interesting, day. . .
St. Louis
After six hours everyone at the MalSanto Headquarters from both the government and the biotechnology company reconvene in a large, non-descript meeting room on the second floor of the building housing the GroundupLab. Owing to its non-Arthurian round nature, the company's executives sit on one side of the conference table while the USDA and EPA representatives sit opposing them, giving an aura of some secret Cold War negotiations. Onassis, seated at th
e table's end and being the senior government official present, starts once everyone is present. "Our analysis by McCarthy, Jones, and La Cruz working with Dr. LoSchiavo's team clears the slate. No active or inactive ingredient in SuperPower Grounduphas been determined to be the cause of earthworm deaths, and no such ingredient is believed to be affecting the populations of earthworms in any way. Testing using control earthworm specimens in isolated environments seem to confirm this. I ask that Dr. LoSchiavo continue." Dr. LoSchiavo looks around the table; taking note of a the dozen pairs of eyes moving in her direction. "We have tested each substance individually on over a dozen earthworm species with no results. Not a single earthworm has died due to exposure to any of the compounds used in SuperPower. The control worms were also unharmed. La Cruz, Jones, and myself will continue to run the experiment for several days to account for temporal exposure, but we are nearly one hundred percent confident that SuperPower is not having any effect on any of the major dozen earthworm species, each individually tested." LoSchiavo pauses, looking at McCarthy, Jones, and La Cruz for acknowledgement, knowing that they have the sway of the USDA. All three nod slowly in Onassis' direction, giving their unspoken support to LoSchiavo's speech. McCarthy interjects, "I believe that the tests so far are conclusive- and that SuperPower isn't the cause of the earthworms dying out. We know for sure the effect isn't immediate. That's why I think La Cruz and Jones should stay for a few days and follow up with LoSchiavo and her Groundup research team. Otherwise, everything looks clear." Onassis blinks. "You are sure about this?" "Absolutely. In three days’ time we should be one hundred percent certain. Every affected area in California had no more than three days between use of SuperPower and the symptoms setting in." Onassis nods. "That settles it then. I am heading back to Washington. Until I get that report three days from now, SuperPower stays off the market in recall. A weel from now it can head back to the market, if the tests are all negative. La Cruz and Jones will stay and continue to administer the tests." Jones and La Cruz nod in silence. Onassis stands up, signaling the end of the meeting. Walter shakes hands talking to Onassis, the rest of the boards members pack laptops and get up while McCarthy goes over testing details with La Cruz and Jones. "Do all of the experiments over again. Keep the temporal controls the way they are, have them monitored twenty-four-seven. And of course, update Onassis every several hours." La Cruz and Jones nod before walking off and mingling with the other executives.
In the midst of the farewells and business-related chitchat, McCarthy's cell phone rings, making him excuse himself and head outside. McCarthy is not surprised to see that its LaJoy again. "What is it now?" "We've got a case in Ensenada, Mexico. The local authorities contacted us after local farmers started experiencing the same cases as we have had in Bakersfield and LA." "Jesus, this is turning international. Do we even have jurisdiction to go over there?" "Their local government would be more than happy to have your team over there, McCarthy. In fact they are already going over there, along with Gonzalez." "You sent them ahead of me?"
"Hey I can't take you out under from Onassis' nose just like that. Your heading to San Diego." "Did you tell him about this yet?" "Not yet. Just keep me informed of what you find there." Click. Damn. So much for home. Looks like San Diego it is. McCarthy walks out of MalSanto headquarters to the sedans along with the rest of the USDA leadership. Not even catching a glance at the remaining formalities with MalSanto's execs, he just focuses on the implications of LaJoy's latest news. Its spreading. . . quickly