The harvesters had disappeared among trees at the far end of the building. Matt would have liked to follow them, to see what they did with the grain, but he didn’t want to interrupt Cienfuegos.
“El Patrón solved the problem. Oh, not by himself,” the jefe said. “He hired top scientists to do it. They were the first inhabitants of the Alacrán biosphere, and according to Dr. Rivas, they were imprisoned here. They had to find a way to purify the soil or they would die when the system broke down. A typical El Patrón strategy.”
“Why didn’t he let them go home after they fixed things?” asked Listen.
Cienfuegos laughed. “Once the old man owned something, he never let it go.”
“So they stayed here, had children, and turned into frogherds.”
“I think that’s what happened,” said the jefe.
“We’re here to find out how they purified the soil,” Matt guessed.
“I hope so. This place is huge, and I don’t know who to ask. If all the scientists are gone, perhaps no one can explain how it was done.” Cienfuegos unfolded the map again and laid it out so the children could look at it. Buildings were labeled NORTHERN EUROPE, THE MEDITERRANEAN, OCEANIA, SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA—
“Let’s look at that,” cried Listen, poking the map with her finger.
“I didn’t know you could read,” Matt said.
“Can’t read everything. But I know Africa,” the little girl declared.
“Let me see. We probably have time to visit four ecosystems on this trip. We can pass through Africa on the way to the Mushroom Forest,” Cienfuegos said.
25
THE MUSHROOM MASTER
Matt realized that the biosphere was much larger than he’d imagined. There were dozens of buildings, each a mile or more long. If the Scorpion Star was built on this scale, it was no wonder they needed hovercrafts to get around. Most of the regions were named for parts of the world, but a few were labeled WATER, AIR, KITCHEN and, more mysteriously, GAIA’S DOMAIN, DORMANCY, and BRAT ENCLOSURE. The Mushroom Forest was two buildings away. Beyond it was KITCHEN and a small building labeled EXIT.
Northern Europe was so full of trees they couldn’t see the other end of the building for a while, but eventually they came to a long corridor. The air grew warmer and more humid as they walked, and presently they came to the next building, Oceania. Before them lay a wide expanse of water, beside which curved a white sandy beach. The water flowed in and withdrew in a regular rhythm. “Look at that. They’ve found a way to make tides,” said Cienfuegos, pleased.
Listen chased the water as it receded and ran back when it returned. She paddled it with her hands. “It’s salty,” she cried, licking her fingers. Seagulls floated overhead, and farther out, where it was too hazy to see clearly, a shoal of something dimpled the water. “Oh, boy! I could live here forever!” she yelled, dancing on the sand. Cienfuegos watched her for a while and then urged her to move on because they had to finish the visit before nightfall.
They came to a rocky shore full of tide pools. Sea anemones waved as the water washed over them. Large colonies of purple mussels hung from the rocks, and pale green crabs and orange starfish lurked in shadowy pools. Two men were walking slowly along the beach, one of them busily clicking a calculator. “The mussel population is down,” he announced. The other man removed one of the starfish. “Better take a couple of crabs, too,” advised the first. “They’re upsetting the balance.”
The second man dropped the starfish and crabs into a bag tied to his waist. He put his hands together as though praying, and Listen ran up to him. “What are you doing?” she asked. He ignored her, and she tugged at his tunic. “Hey, mister, are you going to eat those animals?”
He looked down, clearly irritated. “You should be in the Brat Enclosure,” he said.
“We’re visitors,” Cienfuegos said quickly. “We’re from outside.”
The two men looked at him as though he were insane. “Nobody lives Outside,” the man with the calculator said.
“There are legends about people who do,” the other argued. “Once I saw a UFO fly overhead.”
“Only bobos believe in UFOs,” sneered the man with the calculator. “You probably believe in the vampire king with his zombie army, too.”
“There’s no reason to be nasty just because I have an open mind.”
Matt trotted ahead, leaving the men to argue, and signaled for the others to follow him. The story of the vampire king was too much like El Patrón for comfort. Listen huffed and puffed after him until they left the rocky shore and came to a mangrove swamp.