Free Extinction Level Event by Jose Pino Johansson

tests”, he states morosely. Mike
nodded his head in reply. This is really weird. Although we
should be prepared for anything. “I’ve never seen anything like
this before. “Well, sometimes we get these pesticides that kill a
certain species of bug but this is odd. Earthworms?” Mark and
Laurie turn and head for the van. Peter LaJoy turns around, giving
Mike a knowing-kind of look. “That’s exactly what I said when I got
here. Do you think we should quarantine the area?” Hearing that
statement, an alarmed expression comes over Miles’ face.
“Quarantine?? You don’t really need to. I mean, it's just a
herbicide. If it's in the water already, there’s nothing you can do
about it. C’mon, you don’t need to quarantine”. “That depends”,
replies LaJoy. Mike looks carefully at the two men before replying.
“We’ll see what we find. If there is any indication that this could
spread, though, we should definitely quarantine. Although- If you
used Groundup SuperPower, I’m assuming you’re not the only one who
used it?” LaJoy replied, pointing a finger to the east, “Actually
no. There’s this lady over there who also has this problem. She
said she used the same herbicide for her home garden.”
     
    Mike thought for a moment. “Are you saying the worms
are dying because of the herbicide? We could have this problem
everywhere if that is the case! If everyone starts using this
herbicide, this could be really messy. We have to make sure that is
the cause of this problem though, before we can take any other
action. We need conclusive evidence”. “I agree. I’ll send our LA
office this information, keep them updated on our situation. You
three, meanwhile, start digging." Laurie comes walking back across
the field, handing Mike a pair of latex gloves and a box with
equipment. Mike sees Mark collecting worms and putting them into
plastic zip-lock bags. “We’ll need soil samples as well”, Laurie
tells Miles. “Sure. Do whatever you need to. Just tell me that
it'll be over soon.” Laurie starts taking soil matter and placing
it into plastic containers. Mark cuts off a small stud from a
strawberry plant, which looks like a dark green leafy shrub with
strawberries growing in the middle, and places the stud in a bag.
“No usual lesions or marks on the plants, they seem fine”. “I don’t
see anything unusual on the worms either. Again, no lesions,
contusions, cuts, bruises, anything really”. “There has to be
something. Keep looking”. Mark cuts a bushel of corn with a large
pair of garden scissors and puts it into a seal-able plastic wrap.
Mike comments to Greg and Peter, “Well, so far it seems your plants
should be fine, at least on the outside. Try not to raise hopes too
high though, we need to confirm that”.
     
    “Did you advise LA that we believe Groundup is the
cause of the worm die-out? Until we proof otherwise, we’ll stick to
that- but it's only a hypothesis.” “I told them. I also advised
them to have a full quarantine team ready in case we need it”.
“That should be fine”. Mike walks over to the van to find Laurie in
the small mobile laboratory in the van’s cargo compartment. “So,
what’ve we got?” Laurie has placed little bits of various crops
around the lab table, and is starting to add solutions to one of
them. “Well, nothing conclusive yet. No plant diseases that I see.”
Turning over a kernel of corn and putting it in Mike’s hand, Laurie
continues, “No leaf blight, corn rust, stalk rot, or any bacterial
disease that I see. Again, on the strawberries there is no slime,
no rot, no leaf spots, no powder; I don’t see any connection to the
worms from these plant crops”. “But the plants were all treated
with the herbicide. So we’re going to assume that the herbicide
either has no effect on the plants, or the effect hasn’t taken
effect yet. Literally”. “It’s the best we can do at the moment. Are
we getting a quarantine team in?”
     
    “Not