Only then did Vroon notice his visitors. “What do you want?”
“That was astonishing,” Hoole observed.
Vroon picked up a net and began to scoop up the beetles, depositing them into the glass container Zak had seen before. “I have been doing communication experiments with the drog beetles, just as I have with plants. I’ve found that these elegant creatures are soothed by the sound of wingsong.”
“How could you stand having them crawl all over you like that?” Zak asked. “I mean, they’re disgus…” His voice trailed off as he realized what he was saying, and who he was saying it to.
Vroon’s forelegs twitched. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
“Vroon, we have a question for you,” Hoole asked, getting to the point. “Last night a swarm of these beetles crawled into our ship-“
“And all over my bed!” Zak interjected.
“You didn’t harm them, did you?” Vroon nearly shrieked.
Hoole blinked. “Unfortunately, there was no other way to eliminate the problem.”
The caretaker spun away, rubbing his forearms across his triangular head in a soothing motion, muttering, “No, no, no. This is terrible! Tragic!”
“I apologize for any damage we’ve done to the beetle population,” Hoole said. “But we have seen so many beetles, I was wondering if possibly there has already been some imbalance in the system.”
Zak held his breath. This was it. Vroon would discover that there weren’t enough shreevs to eat all the drog beetles. They would discover that one of the shreevs had been killed. He felt his heart pound against his chest. He should have learned his lesson. He should have told Uncle Hoole right away.
Instead, Vroon replied, “There is no imbalance!”
Zak was astonished. Could I have been wrong about the shreev? Maybe it was only stunned. Maybe I’ve been worried for nothing.
Or maybe, he considered, Vroon just hasn’t noticed the imbalance yet. Maybe it takes more than a few days for the beetle population to expand.
Zak didn’t know which theory was correct. What he did know was that his stomach had suddenly tied itself up in knots. Now was his chance to come clean and confess what he’d done.
But hadn’t he wanted to handle this problem himself? And hadn’t the problem gone away? If there was no imbalance in the garden, then why should Zak tell anyone he’d killed a shreev? He would just get into trouble over nothing.
For the first time, it occurred to Zak that he could actually get away absolutely free. He didn’t have to tell anyone. Uncle Hoole and Tash would never know he’d broken a law.
Zak wasn’t sure he liked the way that made him feel.
Vroon finished netting all the drog beetles and dropping them back into their container. Hoole said to him, “You are the caretaker of this garden and I assume you know your business, but are you quite certain that there hasn’t been an accident? Perhaps some shreevs have taken ill. There have been several incidents-“
“The swarm in your ship is easily explained,” Vroon said abruptly. Although he continued to talk to Hoole, Zak could see that the caretaker wasn’t really paying attention. Vroon was staring into the glass case, never taking his eyes off the beetles in his collection. “The drog beetles are attracted to warmth, especially when they are preparing to lay their eggs. Since your ship is made of metal-a material unnatural to this area, I might add-it undoubtedly grew hot in the sun. The drog beetles were attracted by the heat and crawled inside to make nests.”
“They were going to lay eggs in my bed?” Zak nearly choked. The image of drog beetle larvae squirming around in his sheets made him gag.
“Most likely,” Vroon relied. “It is nesting season for the drog beetles right now. They’re probably looking for good sites, that’s all. Hardly an incident worth recording.”
Hoole considered. “Perhaps you’re right. But these beetles did seem quite… aggressive.”
Vroon nodded vigorously. His voice grew more excited with each word. “Indeed. They get that way in large groups, especially during the nesting season. In ones and twos they are docile and hardly move. But the more beetles there are, the more aggressive they become. A swarm of them might even-” he stopped. “Well, it doesn’t matter what a swarm of them might do. After all, the shreevs keep the population down.”
“Are you sure?” said a new voice.
It was Sh’shak. The other S’krrr had entered as Vroon was speaking. “I walked from the far end of the garden to get here. On the way I noticed a great many beetles everywhere. I thought you would want to know, Vroon.”