Chapter 3.11: Teamplay

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From Leo's diary

Orion: (to himself) How did this stuff reach the drains too?

This was only the last weird event reminding us that the destruction of that giant plant in the lab was of absolute priority for the safety of everyone in town, its vines were slowly invading everything. 

We had to hurry up, and get rid of it once and for all.

Orion: How are the calculations going?

Silas: (focused) On the basis of the volume of herbicide available, the flow rate of the dispensers and the size of the plant in question, I believe we will need at least four people.

Orion: (thoughtfully) Then we must find another person...

Silas: Do you already someone in mind already?

Orion: Maybe.

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Celine: Well, could someone update me on what's going on in here? Those clouds look terrible!

Leo: I think those two will be able to explain everything better than I would.

Orion: Well, in a nutshell...

So, in no time, Orion and Silas explained to our cousin Celine what the situation was. She volunteered to help us out before we even told her we needed a fourth person, I have to admit that I'm quite impressed with her.

So we gave her the antidote against the neurotoxin too, and went back to the lab again.

Celine: This place is definitely bigger than the bunker-lab you had on Sixam. Spores explosions aside, how are you doing?

Orion: Until two weeks ago, we were having a tremendous time here.

Silas: Um um...

Celine: But now hurry up, that plant had been around for way too long already!

To her stern command everyone immediately returned back to work. That scene definitively reminded me how she actually was one of the founders of the rebels groups Orion and Silas belong to.

So we quick retrieved gigantic dispensers, monstrous quantities of herbicide and returned to that giant and scary plant.

Leo: The plan is simply to cover her with herbicide as quickly as possible, right?

Silas: Right.

Celine: This plant is even worse than I though, just hurry up!

Orion: Well, that really is a tough plant...

We had to use every last drop of herbicide, but eventually...

Celine: Great!

Silas: Could you explain to them that the plant is gone? Or just throw them some antidote, it's the same!

Leo: What are you going to do with it now?

Orion: We have to get some lymph out of it, find the active compound we need, and then we can burn the rest.

Leo: But what's the active compound for?

Silas: It was the basis of most of Sixam's medications, it treats all infectious diseases from measels to pneumonia.

Leo: Oh.

Those two had probably noticed my puzzled expression at that point, because they immediately specified:

Orion: We just need one molecule to analyze, then with the matter recomposer we can synthesize as much as we want without having to grow any other of those abominable plants ever again.

Leo: (relieved) Thank goodness…

Silas: Rather, did you  eventually find any clues useful for your investigation?

Leo: (vague) … Not exactly, this seems to have been a big dead end. But I think to have a strong suspect about the culprit of this accident, at least..

Conspiracy Theorist: Welcome to the Curio shop, how can i help you?

Leo: Good morning, I have some questions to ask you. Where were you on the morning of December 5th?

Conspiracy Theorist: What? Um, I don't remember exactly...

I found only one clue in the whole lab: one of those awful badges sold in this place, suspiciously similar to the empty spot on this guy's vest. Also, who else could have had any gain by causing the panic among the population with an accident like this one? The number of conspiracy theorists in town increased exponentially during the last few weeks and those weird tourists were all buying garbage from his stand, objectively the only person who gained money from this absurb situation was him.

This would also explain why he knew so many details and was willing to sell us impossible-to-find items like the key to the labs or the anti-contamination suits, he took us for any conspiracy theorists who wanted to investigate the incident for fun.

So I had warned the agents of the local police station, who in that moment were waiting patiently a few steps behind me. So I just had to pull out my badge and tell him:

Leo: You're under arrest for causing the accident in the laboratories and endangering the safety of the local population.

Conspiracy Theorist: ... how did found it out?

He wasn't the idiot but harmless guy he seemed to be at first sight, after all...

Silas: I still find it hard to believe that it was that guy's fault, he didn't seem smart enough to plot such a plan...

Orion: I have to admit I'm surprised too.

Leo: Well, that was my job after all. What about you guys instead, can you return back to your normal experiments?

Silas: (tired) Not really... We still have to tidy up the labs, get rid of the giant plant safely, administer the antidote to all the people who live within a radius of twenty kilometers from here, measure the residual concentration of spores in the air, destroy the remaining plans which have been spawning all over the place...

Orion: (tired) A a lot of stuff, in short. But I don't want to hear about any of this at least until tomorrow.

Silas: Definitely…

Orion: You're going back to your family tonight instead, aren't you?

Leo: Yes.

The more time passed, the more I realized I was just being the annoying third wheel of the situation. Evidently, once the emergency was over, those two just wanted to take some time to clarify after the arguments they had.

For me it was clearly time to say goodbye, but not before reminding them:

Leo: Come to visit us whenever you want, okay?

Orion: … Um, sure.

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From Orion's diary

Silas: …
Orion: …

We had left so many unspoken things these days, but neither of us knew where to start from. Silas also took off the necklace I gave him years ago, I was really afraid that he was about to dump me this time...

Silas: ... I guess I should apologize, I shouldn't have made a scene in such a situation.

Orion: Uhm.

Silas: I mean, you were sick from spore contamination and everything, that wasn't the time to talk about it.

The room fell silent again, it was my turn to speak. I still didn't know where to start from, but if he was mature enough to start talking with an apology, I at least had to be brave enough to face the topic we have been avoiding for a while, isn't it?

Orion: Well, now we have plenty of time for talking about it. So, what's up?

Silas: Honestly?

Orion: Yes.

Silas: (tired) The point is that I can't stand this situation any longer. I mean, I thought it'd be better once we got back to Earth, I wanted to introduce you to my family, find a decent home, stuff like that. Instead we ended up in this tiny trailer and we kept working day and night in that lab, and it's just one emergency after the other... It's even worse than living on Sixam, as far as I'm concerned.

Orion:…

Silas: (embittered) But you seem to be enjoying this lifestyle instead, don't you?

At certain moments I really feel like a complete idiot, how could I not have understood it before? Living on Sixam had been hard for us all, we have worked so hard over there to lose focus on almost anything else. And also once we made it back to Earth and started to work in those new labs opened by the Sim City's government, we just weren't given the time for realizing what was going on before ending up stuck in that miniature trailer for dealing with that absurd accident.

I've known him for such a long time at this point, and I know perfectly that for him life on Sixam has been even harder than for me. I'm such an idiot, how could I not realize what the problem was?

Orion: Well, being the crazy scientist on Sixam can be fun for a while, but after so much time I'm getting tired of it too.

Silas: Uhm.

Orion: As usual you are right, you know? We should at least look for a real house now that we are back on Earth.

Silas: Are you serious?

Orion: Yes. And I also think that we should tell Celine and the others to go screw themselves, we can't keep dealing with impossible tasks every day and forever!

Silas was right also on this point. We were working so much on Sixam, but at least we had the satisfaction of seeing that old Sixam technology returning back to life. We made many sacrifices, but restoring the teleport system, the matter recomposer, or translating the old Sixam language into Simlish, were all achievements we were very proud of.

But that new lab in the middle of the Strangerville desert was all another story, in particular since when if passed under the control of the hateful Ministry of Defense and those idiots who keep getting the credits for our work. Well, they could all go screw themselves for good, life is too short to be wasted in such a way.

Orion: So, do you think you can bear me for a while longer?

He thought about it for a moment before answering me, as usual, but he was already smiling. I hadn't seen him do it for a long time. Seeing him this way, and realising that we deserved to slow down a bit and enjoy our lives too after such difficult weeks, it was so relieving...

Silas: (reassured) I missed talking to you like that, you know?

Orion: Me too.

Well, my dear diary, you know writing about my life is not my strong point. I think I've written more than enough already, I'm sure you can guess the rest by yourself. 

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§HermioneSims§ corner:

Well well well, this is the end of this brief Strangerville parenthesis! All the neighbour mystery was quite challenging, but even more so was writing about Orion and Silas after leaving them in the background for so long... 

Actually, I think it's a real pity that two interesting characters like them ended to be so marginal in this story, they are among my favourite characters of the whole legacy. This is probably why I had decided to write a couple of short stories about them, using the last two entries for the MSSSC for the purpose. So, if you are interested to know more about them and their past, I suggest you to also read the short story Double faces, which focuses on Silas's past, and the Diaries of the Sixam's days, which instead focuses on the life in the Sixam's labs. I have also a third and last short story in mind for them, I just have to decide when and how to write it...