Chapter 15
In Which Syl Has Some Explaining To Do
When Helga awoke in the middle of the night, her first thought was that she should have eaten more soup. It had been bland, but now her stomach was growling.
Her second thought, as she raised her head from the cot she was sleeping on (Syl had unexpectedly claimed the pile of blankets after all), was to wonder where their host was. It was a small cabin, not many places to hide. And she was nowhere to be seen.
A glance at the bed told her Gerald was still asleep in it, though she had already figured as much from the snores threatening to shake down the house. Gerald was not a light sleeper. Then again, neither was Helga usually. What woke me up?
Getting up as quietly as she could, Helga walked to the other end of the cabin. Syl was definitely not there. Maybe she had to use the outhouse. She went back to bed, then got up again. She obviously wasn't going back to sleep for the moment. Instead, she decided to sort through the contents of Mr. Smith's package.
All the standard stuff is here, she thought as she looked through the box, short/long wave radio, grappling hook which we'd better not need, bug spray, transmogifier, denerualizer, chewing gum, Geiger counter, aluminum foil…everything but a phone. Figures. She pulled out the radio and twiddled with the dials. Nothing but static came through the speakers. Guess the natives don't listen to pop. As soon as that thought crossed her mind a very faint Ricky Martin song came on, and Helga spun the dial quickly. This brought her to what appeared to be a news channel. After a moment of listening however, Helga suddenly realized that the voices were not speaking in Portuguese, but English.
Curious, Helga turned the radio around and adjusted the antennae to try and get better reception. Soon, she could make out what they were saying.
"…sure you're alright?" came a whisper which seemed very familiar to Helga, though she couldn't think why.
"I'm fine." A female voice this time. This is no radio station.
"Because if you need me to move them…" Move them? Mr. Smith?
"I said I could handle it." It's Syl. Has to be. How is she talking to him?
Leaving the radio on, Helga moved nearer to the window and looked out while trying not to be seen. Sure enough, there was Syl, standing in the moonlight near the edge of the jungle. She was holding something large and yellow next to her ear. A satellite phone.
What a conniving, crafty little… Helga clenched her fists and forced herself to calm down. She continued watching Syl as the radio carried on.
"I just don't understand," Syl was saying, "Why you had to dump Helga Pataki on me, of all people!"
"I didn't know it was her." Syl scoffed at this, and Smith amended, "Ok, I guessed it was her. But I didn't know for certain. I thought Gerald would make up for it."
"Almost."
"It's only for a day or two. Once you lead them to the site—"
"I still don't think this is a good idea. I don't like the thought of Gerald going in there."
Smith's whisper became softer. "I know how hard this is for you El. Like I said, if you need me to get someone else—"
"No," Syl sighed, "No, I'll do it. It needs to be done, I understand that."
Smith laughed softly. "You always were a rock. But I didn't call you about that. There's something you should know."
"What?"
Gerald let out a particularly loud snore, startling Helga. She banged her hand against the wall, "Ouch!" Ducking down to keep Syl from seeing her, she froze and listened.
"Hang on a second." Syl told Mr. Smith. Crap.
Helga could hear Syl heading back in her direction. As fast as she could, she switched off the radio, threw it back in the box and dived into bed, where she shut her eyes tight and tried to slow her pounding heart.
The door creaked open. Helga attempted to snore along with Gerald. Syl stood there for a few moments, then left, closing the door behind her. Helga waited until she heard Syl's footsteps walking away from the cabin to open her eyes. She took a deep breath and turned so her back was to the door.
She was just debating going and turning the radio on again when Syl returned. She shuffled around the room for a few minutes, then lay down on the blankets. A moment later Helga pretended to be shifting in her sleep and chanced a glance at Syl before turning away from her again, puzzled.
Maybe it was a trick of the moonlight, but she could have sworn Syl was crying.
***************
As soon as Syl went to use the outhouse the next morning, Helga told Gerald what had happened. His response was as follows:
"Huhwa?"
Helga correctly diagnosed the problem, and didn't say anything more until breakfast. After Gerald had had his first cup of coffee and Syl left to refill the kettle for tea she tried again. (As it turned out, Syl was also among the coffee-haters of the world, though she had managed to scrounge some up for Gerald.)
This time Gerald was more responsive, though perhaps less believing. "Ok, so maybe Syl isn't her real name. But Mr. Smith trusts her Helga. The man did save my life you know."
"I know." Helga chewed on her bottom lip, thinking. "But why hide the phone from us?"
"Maybe she thought it would be a security breach? Who knows?" Gerald went back to his coffee.
But Helga was not so easily appeased. When Syl came back, Helga watched her carefully. As she poured her and Helga some tea, Helga said, "Thanks, El."
Of all the things Syl might be, an actress was not one of them. The moment Helga said her name she jerked and the hot water flew everywhere. She apologized to Gerald automatically and glared at Helga.
"So you did eavesdrop on me last night."
"Why are you hiding your phone from us El?" Helga asked calmly while Gerald tried to dry his shirt with his napkin.
"Don't call me El." Syl told her through gritted teeth.
"Why not? Is that a fake name too?"
Syl turned her back on Helga and cleared some breakfast dishes in an obvious attempt to keep her temper. Gerald finished doing what he could with his shirt and looked at Helga. She's enjoying this way too much.
"You haven't answered me yet El."
"It's none of your business." she growled.
"Maybe not," Gerald put in quickly. If I don't do something these two are going to kill each other. "But we do have a right to know about the phone, wouldn't you agree, Syl?"
Syl looked at Gerald and her face relaxed slightly. "It's my private line. For emergencies only."
Helga snorted. "Oh, like your little chat with Smith last night? Needed to complain about Helga Pataki, that's some emergency there, unlike oh say, finding out how to activate hot air?" She was practically spitting.
Syl slammed her hands on the table, making Gerald jump as she put her face right next to Helga's. "Look girl, you have no idea what you're dealing with."
"And you have no idea who you're dealing with." The two of them glared holes in each other's eyes, neither backing down a bit.
Gerald was just about to consider diving for cover when Syl moved, ever so slightly, towards her kitchen knife.
That was enough for Helga. A few seconds and several quick blows later Syl was on the floor, nursing a cut lip while Helga stood over her.
"Now I want answers lady. Now."
Syl was silent.
"Who are you?" Helga demanded.
Syl groaned quietly and sat up. "Did you really think I was going to knife you? I'm here to protect you, whether I like it or not."
"I'll believe it when I see it. Now answer the question."
"I never said Syl was my name. I said you could call me Syl. You still can."
"Not good enough. What's your real name?"
Syl eyed her. "What's yours?"
"You already know it."
Syl laughed suddenly. "Right. I'm supposed to believe Helga isn't a fake name? Or Gerald for that matter." she added glancing at him. But she blinked rapidly as she said it. You're not a good liar, Syl.
Gerald could tell Helga was about to explode again, so he spoke up. "Ok, we'll drop the name issue." He ignored Helga's irritated look. "But we do need to use that phone."
Syl looked at Helga, who was still fuming, then back at Gerald. "One phone call. And it'd better be quick."
"Agreed. Are we even?" he asked.
Syl touched her lip, but it had stopped bleeding. "Fine. Help me up, would you Gerald? I'll go get the phone."
*************
Ring.
Ring.
Click. Shuffle. "Hello?"
"Pheebs?"
"Helga! Where on Earth have you been? Didn't you get my page?"
"Oh I got it Phoebe. I just had a bit of canine trouble."
"Canine trouble?"
"Yes. Of the female variety."
"Fe-oh. I won't ask. Helga, wait 'til you hear what happened!"
"Good or bad news?"
"Great news! I've had to shut down my entire East Lab! It's been sealed off since yesterday!"
Pause.
"I'm waiting for you to explain to me why this is great news, Pheebs."
"Oh, right. Helga, are you sitting down?"
"Listen I don't have a lot of time here—"
"But you'll never guess—"
"PHEEBS!"
"Sorry. Ok then, long story short, I've learned how to activate hot air."
"How?"
"Citric acid. My secretary – well you don't want to hear about that, but basically the acid burns through one of the plant substances in the sample. But only one. It's sort of like a really really short fuse, it works almost immediately—"
"What does it do?"
"Remember how I told you it could be a bomb? Well it isn't. It's more than that. Rather than the violent repercussions that one would expect in an atom-splitting procedure such as the one set forth when the acid consumes the substance, the only result is a time-lapsed radiation along with the expected run-off from the evaporated biological elements!"
"That's amazing."
Pause.
"So, what is that in English?"
"It's a bomb. Only without the bomb."
"Explain."
"I'm guessing it's something in the plants not evaporated by the citric acid. What they do is they take what could be a small nuclear explosion and change it into a drawn-out radioactive exposure. Causing any living thing in the green cloud it creates to bear the brunt of a sudden, rapidly working radiation sickness. Now I've only tested very tiny samples, but I would say it's easily enough to kill anyone directly in the cloud in less than ten seconds or so. If you used the proper dosage, that is. The substance turns a bright green when it's activated. And it glows."
"How do I stop it?"
"I don't know yet. As far as I can tell the cloud in my lab is still active, and I'm not sure how long it will last. I'm working on some sort of deactivating solution I can spray in the area to dispel the cloud, but I've got nothing so far."
"Well keep at it Pheebs. Good work, I knew you could handle it. One thing I don't understand though. Why take the bomb out of a bomb?"
"Helga, don't you get it? This will only work on biological elements. In other words it will kill anything alive. But it leaves buildings, streets, hills, etcetera all intact. All ready for whoever did the bombing to just move in. I'm not even certain if it kills plants."
There was a long silence, then Helga said, "Phoebe, I have to go."
"Go get 'em Helga."
Helga hung up the phone and looked at Gerald and Syl, who had insisted on hearing the whole thing. Syl was looking horrified.
"So that's what's being smuggled into the States. Enough of an emergency for you, Agent L?"
A/N: As promised: it looks like I have about four more chapters, plus an epilogue left in this story. That's if a chapter doesn't get too long, in which case I'll split it. So we're almost done! Yay! Here's the titles of the next chapters:
16: In Which We Finally Get to the Prologue
17: In Which Nothing Important Happens. Nope, Nothing at All.
18: In Which Phoebe Discovers Common Ground With Stinky
19: In Which I Stick Everything Important I Forgot to Put in Another Chapter
Epilogue: In Which There is No Chapter Title Because, Let's Face It, an Epilogue Isn't Really a Full Chapter
Ok, so those aren't the real titles. So sue me. ~PJ
Snow Lane: I feel bad for Lila too. She'll show up some in the next story.
Jacqueline Schaeffer: More mystery this chapter. Or more clues, depending on how you look at it, lol.
nfg-babe33: Hope this chapter lived up to your expectations. :) The next won't be out for a week probably, real life is getting in the way.
Sennical: Interesting that you wondered what Arnold saw in Lila. One of the short stories I'm working on will be on exactly that. Heh. Actually, in my original outline Arnold wasn't going to be in this story at all, except to be briefly mentioned. He's a main character in the next though, so I decided ya'll needed to know what was going on with him during this time period for the next story to make sense. (I'm really excited about the next one, in case you haven't noticed!)
TaDah: Poor Arnie. Poor Lila. Poor Arnold. Poor a lot of people actually. Btw, for anyone who was wondering, Syl is pronounced like windowsill.
pogo: Thanks. :) More next week!
DropsofJupiter: You're right, I didn't just kill him off randomly. But he isn't really involved. There'll be more on him in the next story.