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killersghostsandotherdangers · 4 years

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The Problem with Moles

Dr. Von looked up at the high, overbearing building of the sanctuary. It was huge, spanning miles on all sides, colored a dark metallic grey. Surrounded on all sides by construction, moving vehicles, and clouds of brown dust. He didn’t know what he had expected but this was more like a warehouse then an animal sanctuary.

There was a gust of wind, then an eruption of squeaks from the cage under his arm. He realized he had been standing still for too long. After taking a moment to mumble to the cage, “Sorry about that guys” then began walking briskly to the entrance.

The entrance looked incomplete. Standing there were a pair of metal doors with foggy barred windows. No handles or hinges, the only feature was a single button bellow a large camera and speaker. Around it were piles of materials and temporary plywood covers to protect the exposed walls. He tried pressing the button, and the small speaker crackled to life, a moment voice asked gruffly, “Name and identification?”

“Oh, Dr. Rodney Von, P.H.D. um, I’m a Zoologist at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Reid should be-”

“Your full identification,” the voice interrupted.

Von was put off but complied and gave his full identification. The voice was silent for a moment.

“And what’s in that package?” the voice asked.

“What, oh. These are animals for the sanctuary.” He explained, awkwardly moved the cage in his arms. He had to remove the cover over it, then held up the cage to the camera.

“Gah!” The voice said on the other side of the speaker. “Okay, okay I see it.”

Von blushed embarrassed and covered the cage again. The voice asked, “You said you were expected by someone?”

“Yes, Dr. Reid.” Von nodded. The voice was quiet for a few minutes. Dr. Von thought he could hear some movement underneath the static, possibly a muffled conversation before the voice came back.

“Alright proceed ahead, prepare yourself and your. . .ah, animals to be searched before entering the facilities.”

The heavy doors slowly slid open and Dr. Van walked through. He had to go through a metal detector, heat detector, and an x-ray machine while someone came out to check the cage for anything suspicious. The process took about fifteen minutes He was allowed to proceed with the cage, but not his watch. He didn’t have time to feel upset because as he left the security section Reid was waiting for him on the other side.

“Rodney!” He greeted him warmly, taking his free hand in a firm handshake. “Great to see you again! God, How long has it been. A year, or two?”

“Three at least, “ Von smiled, “I think the last we saw each other was the graduation party at the Alpha Sigma house.”

“Alpha Sigma!” Reid laughed, led Von further into the building. “Those were the days. That was the year we placed fourth in the national Debate tournament, right?”

“Yeah” Von nodded along not really invested in reminiscing with Reid. He let his friend ramble on about past academic tournaments and awards while trying to find the right moment to change the subject.

After a while, they stopped beside another set of unfinished metal doors, Reid was finishing up a long winded story, “-I tell you what, we were the smartest group of drunks that bar had ever seen. Ha ha.”

Von laughed along, “Yeah, that’s funny, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to get the point of why I asked to speak with you.”

“Of course! Forgive me, I almost forgot.” Reid said, “You came here for the sanctuary.”

As he said that, he turned entered a code on the keypad and the door swung open. They walked into an enormous clear tube, with a cobblestone path, on the bottom. The tube was suspended at least ten feet in the air above a fertile, green deciduous forest. The underbrush was full, vibrant. The trees were tall, beautiful pines. Von could almost smell them through the inch thick glass. He could see birds flying through the branches, deer eating grass with tiny fauns, and a glimpse of a bright orange fox before it jumped out of view.

“This is our Pine Forest section. It holds about 200,000 acres and is one of our most advanced biomes. The forest floor you can see is completely natural. Most of the trees are synthetic, but it’s almost impossible to tell from here. We hope to have half of these replaced with natural trees in the next sixty years.” Reid explained, unable to hide the smugness in his voice. “The water levels, temperature, prey to predator ratio, health of all the animals are regulated through over seventy sensors in this area alone and each animal is microchipped. We can detect where they are at any given time. All two hundred of them. We can start a small rainstorm in dry areas if we need to, we can treat diseases that appear in one animal the moment symptoms appear. We could even start a small forest fire to clear up the underbrush if we need to.”

Reid turned to Von with a wide grin, waiting for words of amazement that usually followed when someone first saw the sanctuary.

“This is amazing!” Von gasped. While he was gazing over the forest his hold on his cage slipped for a moment, and he was distracted by a volley of squeaks from inside. “Oh, oh, sorry!”

Reid looked like he had just noticed the cage Von brought with him, “Hey, what do you have in there?”

“They’re not used to being above ground for so long, but this was the best way to get them here.” Von explained and took the cover off to show two confused, hairless but healthy “Scalopus Aquaticus, or the common moles.”

“Oh. . . and I am right to say that these are the animals you spoke about over the phone?” Reid asked. Von was surprised by his disappointed tone.

“Um, yes. Is that a problem?” He asked.

Reid looked uncomfortable then motioned further down the path, “Why don’t we continue this in my office.”

Reid’s office sat between two of the biomes, supported by the five foot steel wall between them. The walls to the office were two-way mirrors, on one side there was a great view of the forest and on the other side was a beautiful wild grass field, with a small herd of buffalo grazing in the distance.

Nervously, Von began to talk, “you know these guys could survive in either of these biomes. They thrive in loamy soil, but as long as there are earthworms and plant matter for them to eat-”

“Rodney”, Reid stopped him, took his seat behind the desk, and gestured to the two empty ones. “Please take a seat.”

Von went ahead, holding the cage on his lap.

“Listen, How should I put this” He sighed, and said bluntly, “At this time the sanctuary is focused on creating a welcoming, and interesting environment so we can continue to expand. So at this time we can accept..unsolicited donations.”

“I’m sorry, ‘Expand’ ?” Von was confused.

“Yes, of course. You see, government funding has covered most of the construction so far, but in order to complete this project and keep it running once all six major biomes are completed, the sanctuary needed to be tweaked so we could generate active income.”

Von thought about that for a moment, then asked for clarity “So, it’s a zoo now?”

“Yes, if you want to put it that way.” Reid shrugged.

“I don’t see why that would mean my animals can’t be in the sanctuary.”

“Yes, well you see in order to make this place more appealing to the general public we had to rebudget a lot, You may have noticed the construction out front, and well we don’t have enough resources to care for just any animal. We’ve had to become selective with what we take in.”

Von blinked, suspicious, “I. . . I thought the sanctuary was supposed to be self-sustaining.”

Reid, a bit embarrassed, explained, “Projections say the biomes will be self-sustaining in another ten to twenty years. Like I said we had to rebudget, so they could be presentable to an audience.”

Von didn’t respond, just stared at him in shock for further explanation.

“Look the initial plan was to have self sustaining biomes by the end of the year, but then the government cut our budgets. So we had to find a way to generate profit, more money had to be drawn away from the actual biomes. That’s all to say the biggest cuts were to our insect budget. A couple of natural predators like those two,“ He pointed at the moles, “could wipe out our entire worm population.”

Von balked, “That doesn’t make any sense, what’s pollinating all those plants?”

“We are.” Reid answered, simply. “We have some advanced bee drones donated by the AIST that can---”

“How will the soil stay fertile if there aren’t any decomposers? What will happen when one of those deer die?” he stammered

“We have a contingency for that.” Reid interrupted, “and for the record this isn’t a permanent solution. We’re working within these constraints so we can continue to advance in the future. Once the sanctuary goes public and we can count on stable funding, we’ll be able to take in all sorts of animals.”

“What about protecting endangered species?” Von brought up. “The moles natural environment is being destroyed by construction, and pollution. There could very well be less than a hundred left in North America.”

“That is still our focus, but we have other duties to ensure the sanctuary can continue to thrive long into the future.” Reid explained “Those duties mean doing what is best for the sanctuary as a business and that means...prioritizing animals that please the customer.”

Von felt stung by that comment but tried not to let it show, “So, you’re saying the sanctuary can’t take these moles.”

“Yes, I am afraid so.” Reid nodded.

“Okay then.” Von moved to stand up, taking the cage back under his arm.

“Hey, don’t lose hope completely. Check up in another five to ten years, we’re almost guaranteed to be back on track by then.” Reid said, trying to sound ernest. “And in the meantime if you have any hamsters or guinea pigs that need a home. We might be able to squeeze them in.”

Von looked at his friend, confused again “I thought this facility was only for fauna and flora native to North America?”

“Yes, it is.” Reid nodded blankly.

“Hamsters are native to Sierra.” Von explained, “and Guinea pigs come from South America.”

“Oh” Reid blushed, suddenly really embarrassed. “ Sorry. My ah, rodent zoology is a little rusty.”

“I see.” Von nodded, “I see, it was nice to see you again. Reid.”

“Hey, wait you don’t have to go right now,” Reid got to his feet while Von was half way out the door. “You haven't even seen the rest of the prairie biome yet, and we just finished putting together the desert biome. It’s more impressive than you think.”

“Thank you, really but I should get these two back to the institute. I need to feed them soon anyway.” Von said. Gesturing to the two moles.

“I see. Another time, then.”

Von didn’t answer him. The door had already closed behind him. He made his way back through path.

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