The Mother of All Read online

  The team sat silent as we all began processing the information.

  The silence was short lived by Abdi’s rising concerns. “If we don’t inform them of this discovery, that is a direct deviation of protocol. We could all be relieved of our duties.”

  My father removed his glasses as he nodded his head. He took a deep breath before addressing Abdi’s concern. “You are 100 percent correct, Abdi. It is a direct, deliberate violation of L.R.R. protocol, which is why I shut off my research suit and instructed Marina to do the same. Technically, our communication system was failing, forcing me to troubleshoot the situation. Therefore, I restarted my research suit, as did Marina. I thought that perhaps the geographical location possibly altered our communication signal. The audio and video evidence corroborate that. I did notify Dr. Gruver about the new chamber and that I did in fact collect samples from the chamber. She wants to meet with me shortly after we get back. I will see what guidance she has to offer. Technically, we have abided by all the steps of our Standard Operating Procedures. Dr. Gruver has assured me that we have nothing to worry about and that we will have her full support regardless of C.O.C.A.’s interests. She said C.O.C.A. has sent her a series of guidelines they want us to abide by while things get settled in America. She even sent me footage of the Americans peacefully accepting the implantation device.” After speaking, my father turned back around, deep in his thoughts.

  Light rain began to splash against the windshield of the chopper. Abdi appeared to be deep in thought, processing what my father said. I could see a restlessness in Abdi that I rarely ever saw. He grabbed his headphones and began to rest his eyes.

  The digital monitor in the center console of the chopper read that we still were at least three hours away from the Aurora tower, which meant our arrival wouldn't be until the midnight hours.

  Marina remained quiet as she stared out into the dark jungle, longing for home. Her entire research road trip had to be exhausting. I couldn’t imagine visiting different corners of the world and being away from my family for as long as she has.

  Abdi suddenly removed his headphones and asked if the team could see the footage of the implantation device. Noticing Abdi’s rising concerns, my father uploaded the video so it could be seen from the chopper’s monitors.

  The video began to play. The first thing it displayed was two beautiful C.O.C.A. officers, one male and one female. They began explaining the importance of the chip implantation, that their citizens will be provided free housing, healthcare, clothing, and transportation, and be given a monthly stipend as long as their individual tasks were being met. They continued to explain that the use of the implant will aid into what they called “The continental curve” and will be used to create a perfect world numerically. They insisted this data will increase the overall fitness of human life, ranging from mental capacity, physical fitness, critical thinking, and population control.

  The woman in the video began displaying graphs and data that showed how the implant has worked in the eastern world. The data showed how crime was at an all-time low. How self-inflicted death was a thing of the past and how only ideal genetics currently exist in the eastern world.

  The video then displayed the male officer who began to introduce a family of four. He held up some biological device along with the implant. He explained how this specific family volunteered to be the models for the implant tutorial.

  One by one, each member of the family walked towards the officer. The officer then grabbed the left hand of the first parent and injected the implant into their palm. The rest of the family could be seen getting the implant, in what seemed to be a pretty painless procedure. The tutorial ended with everyone in the video smiling ear to ear.

  The cab sat silent for a few brief seconds. Abdi was the first to pierce the silence between the team. “The only thing that video doesn't show is how C.O.C.A. is using that damn implant to kill people. They don't mention the toxins that can be released from each implant or how they will be forced to live a specific way. Those citizens will no longer have freedom of speech. They won't have a voice.”

  I couldn’t tell if everyone was tired, upset, or just in denial about C.O.C.A.’s movement. Nobody said a word as beads of rain crashed against the chopper.

  The buzz of the propeller and the raindrops were a lullaby that put me quickly to sleep. Marina and Abdi both had their headphones on and were sitting deep in their thoughts. The three hours passed quickly. I woke to the notification from the chopper.

  DING!

  “You have reached your final destination. Thank you for flying with Donald’s Travel Agency,” Donald joked over the intercom.

  An abundance of rivers and streams were within a stone's throw from the top of the Aurora Tower, although it was tough to see just about anything from my window with the nightfall and light rain.

  As we exited the chopper, sleep dripped off the faces of both Marina and my father. Upon our arrival at the Aurora tower, my father instructed me to just go to bed while the rest of the team brought in the supplies. As I entered the tower, a rather refreshing smell filled the air. It was a spearmint or mint-like smell. I wondered if someone previously was burning leaves or scented sticks of some sort.

  I prepared for bed and stared outside with an empty feeling inside myself. The light rain continued to fall as drops trickled down the small windows of the Aurora tower, a common thing in the trenches of the jungle.

  The Aurora tower was located in the center of the Latin Research Resurgence, which was northeast of the Pachanga Tower. The Aurora tower was home to what seemed like endless rainfall.

  The Aurora tower was the only tower that had an exit on the first, second and third floor. The tower was engineered to withstand the flash floods and endless rain that was so important to the growth of the jungle in the Aurora Territory.

  Most of the maintenance of the Aurora tower consisted of traveling via paddle boat. The research boats were able to seat six people. The constant rain drowned out the sound of the paddles, making it easy for the research team to gather samples and any data we needed in the Aurora Territory.

  C.O.C.A. prohibited the use of propellers due to their ability to harm the environment and ecosystems. One battery-powered propeller was required to be in each boat for emergency purposes only.

  I reached into my backpack and removed my headphones. Since everyone was tired and just wanted to sleep, I decided I was going to listen to some classical music. The music always calmed me down and allowed me to think clearly. As I closed my eyes and laid my head back on my pillow, I felt someone rubbing my shoulder. I quickly opened my eyes to the sight of my father. I let out a soft smile.

  “I love you, sweetheart, and I am really glad you decided to come along,” my father said in a soft voice.

  I grabbed my father's hand where it still rested on my shoulder. “I love you too, papa, and I am really happy that I came along, too.” I squeezed his hand before closing my eyes again.

  I tried to keep my eyes open, but they were growing heavy fast. I sat listening to a symphony by one of the greatest composers to ever live on planet earth, Sir Augustus Nico-Aliyah. His symphony ‘Mi Vida, mi Arte’ was always so soothing and calming. It was my grandfather's favorite piece of music. The melody of this masterpiece quickly put me to sleep.

  Chapter 9

  The Aurora Tower Part 2

  I woke to my father dropping his cup of coffee onto his table full of notes. It was already 11:00. My father must have let us sleep in knowing how exhausting the last few days have been.

  “Dang it!” he yelled, waking up everyone inside of the tower. My father looked extremely tired and from the looks of it, never went to sleep last night. I wondered what this discovery was doing to his mental health.

  I quickly rose to my feet to see if I could be of any assistance to my father. I grabbed a few towels to clean up the spilled coffee.

  “Did you get any sleep last night?” I asked.

  My father sat at the
table with his face resting in the palms of his hands. I began to rub his back.

  “Dr. Gruver sent me an email this morning. She said that C.O.C.A. officials will be on campus sometime early next week. They still plan on presenting the “State of the planet” speech. I just hope everything is going to be okay.”

  I grabbed my father a glass of water. I could see his messenger bag that housed his recent discoveries was still within an arm's reach of him.

  “Well, team! Should we get a move on and knock out this maintenance check. I have some banana bread that we can all have for breakfast. Also, I figured we could just do the Aurora tower today. We have accomplished so much already,” said my father.

  The team slowly left the comfort of their sleeping bags and began to prepare for the day. Abdi immediately went to stretch.

  “I could use some caffeine. I’m so tired,” said Marina as she brushed her teeth.

  My father brewed some fresh coffee and placed the banana bread onto the table for the entire team.

  “Layka, Marina, would you two mind helping me with some Ani-cams? Some of these models are a little bigger than the ones we use at the other towers,” asked Abdi

  Marina and I rushed to assist Abdi, as he unlocked the storage space that housed the Ani-cams. He removed four. One resembled a Caiman and the other a large frog. The other two he programmed resembled a sea turtle and a small snake.

  Marina and I carried the Caiman Ani-cam down together to the second floor. We quickly found a research suit and dressed ourselves accordingly.

  The protocol poster on the wall reminded us that a life jacket was built into the research suits at the Aurora Tower and that safety must always remain a priority at all times.

  Abdi joined us in our preparation as he carried down the remaining Ani-cams.

  It wasn’t long before Donald’s heavy breathing could be heard from the spiral staircase, approaching the second floor as well.

  “Craigio just programmed and released the aerial drones. I told him it was probably pointless with the cloud cover, but that man can be stubborn as a mule at times,” said Donald as he shook his head.

  Donald approached the closet and quickly found a research suit. For as big a man as he was, Donald moved rather swiftly.

  Donald and Abdi grabbed a research boat as Marina and I together lifted the battery powered propeller.

  Donald opened the garage-like door on the second floor of the tower, exposing a lush and refreshing view of an abundance of different dark green tree species and various wetlands. I spotted a few capybaras and a pod of river dolphins. The light rain that fell from the sky was almost refreshing. I promised myself that I would call and check in with my mother this evening, once the maintenance was complete.

  The first, second, and third floor of the Aurora Tower each had a miniature dock that was welded onto each exit. The docks made it easy for us to enter and exit with the research boats without much trouble during the flood season.

  Donald and Abdi harnessed our boat to the dock as Marina and I loaded the battery powered propeller. Once the propeller and boat were in place, we all went inside the Aurora Tower to locate my father.

  As we entered the tower, Donald, Abdi, and Marina each grabbed their dart guns and a handful of extra darts. I searched the second floor for a walking stick of some sort. As I searched the closets, I stumbled across an old fishing net that was attached to a metal rod. It sat abandoned by past research teams.

  I figured it could be useful in case we needed to retrieve something from the flood waters. As I exited the closet, I saw my father in the lobby area of the second floor. He was fitting himself for a research suit. He looked adorable as he stood with his ridiculous-looking hat that he always insisted on wearing when it rained.

  “Alright, team. Clear for takeoff!” said my father as he closed the entrance to the tower.

  I began to maneuver myself into the second row of the boat. Marina and Abdi sat in the front row. My father and Donald sat in the third row, each with their dart guns wrapped around their chest and a paddle in their hands.

  “We are just going to do about an eight-mile lap,” said my father as he pointed in the direction, he wanted us to travel.

  As we began our voyage of the Aurora Territory, the curiosity of many animals was present. The croaking of frogs, calls of capybara, songs of many birds were all enough to drown out the noise we made with our paddles.

  Many of the trees in the Aurora Territory seemed to be submerged by the flood waters. About a half a mile into our trek, Marina stopped paddling. She pointed at a tree that had some bright orange and yellow flowers blooming off the side of it.

  We began paddling towards the tree. I could tell it was surrounded by insects.

  When we arrived, Marina’s jaw dropped. She began looking at the arrangement of flowers on the tree. “These petals are beautiful and if you look at the anthers, they are moving and full of pollen.” She began to grab her DNA pen to gather a sample of the flower.

  “It doesn’t look like it’s an orchid and if you look closely, those aren’t flies or mosquitoes. Those are hummingbirds,” said Abdi, shocked at what he was observing.

  Marina made an attempt to get closer to the thumbnail size hummingbirds to take a picture and to steal a DNA sample. “I’m not too sure I actually got a good sample. We will have to wait and see once we get back to the tower,” she said as she placed her DNA pen back into the front pocket of her research suit.

  “Well let’s carry on. These damn floodwaters always scare me,” said Donald as he grabbed his paddle with a sense of urgency.

  “I'm going to let out an Ani-cam here quickly. Seems like an interesting area,” said Abdi. He grabbed the Caiman-looking Ani-cam and placed it into the water.

  It didn’t cease my amazement, how realistic the Ani-cams appeared to look when they were set loose into the wild.

  We continued paddling with the navigation of my father. Scarlet macaws and toucans could be seen flying above us, getting a view of our mischief. I could hear howler monkeys from miles and miles away notifying the jungle of our presence.

  About two miles into our voyage, we came across one of our older cameras that was tied around the trunk of a Joshua Tree. Abdi quickly removed and replaced the chip of the camera.

  As we began the final two to three mile stretch of our trek, I couldn’t help but notice the largest water lilies I had ever seen in my life. It was almost like it was a river of lilies scattered across the jungle. I patted them with my hand as we paddled through them, some were as large as a small dinner table. It was fascinating how the water just repelled off the lilies so naturally.

  “Mother Nature can do some extraordinary things,” said my father as he touched one of the giant lilies with his paddle.

  “Team, I’m going to release an Ani-cam on top of one of these giant lilies. This is prime anaconda territory and I don’t want to get in or stick my hands in the water,” said Abdi, waiting for our validation.

  Abdi’s comments frightened Donald; he kept insisting we get back to the tower.

  “Craigio, the more I think about it, there are actually a few things I need to do with the chopper to prepare it for departure,” said Donald in a sly attempt to cut our maintenance check short.

  “We are just about finished, mi amigo, not too much longer,” said my father.

  Abdi released the remaining Ani-cams into the flooded waters that were home to the giant lilies. The skies were starting to clear as much of the rain halted. Rare beams of light began to pierce the jungles wetlands.

  As we proceeded forward, many of the giant lilies began to sway. I figured it was caused by turtles, river dolphins, or maybe a school of piranhas. The movement wasn’t enough to pay it any mind.

  “Just about finished. Less than a mile team,” said Marina as we made our last turn.

  As we circled the last corner of our trail, Marina and Abdi came to a screeching halt. They both placed their paddles in the water to slow the
pace of the boat.

  Abdi raised his fist in the air as I signaled for the team to be silent. He pointed roughly 40 to 50 feet ahead of the boat. Marina and Abdi both grabbed their dart guns.

  I looked downstream and couldn’t see anything but giant lilies and floating logs. I assumed that Abdi and Marina spotted a jaguar or perhaps an anaconda and halted the boat for precautions.

  As my eyes began to adjust, I saw roughly six to seven hippopotamuses, completely camouflaged with their heads barely exposed above the giant lilies.

  I knew they were extremely territorial and known to kill humans, especially in the provinces of the African Alliance. As I sat in the boat, I could feel my research suit adjusting to control my heart rate.

  I had only heard stories of the hippopotamuses of the L.R.R. and they always seemed like an oxymoron to the wetlands here.

  They were a bit of an invasive species to the area. Centuries ago, a kingpin of the illegal drug and rubber trade housed many exotic animals. One of the species of animals was the hippopotamuses of the African Alliance.