Always Complicated

Extinction

After three years working for HERO, and earning higher and higher power, I had nearly forgotten about the job before. I had been to the cold desert, coastal coniferous forest, temperate forest, temperate grassland, tropical desert, and tropical grasslands. I had impressed Caleb enough for him to send me to what he said was the hardest ecosystem a team could go to. The tropical rainforest. 

“He does know the cold desert is basically the arctic, right?” Gabby asked as she lugged her bag out of the back of the car.
“That doesn’t mean it would be the hardest,” Gibby said as he placed his bags on the floor of the airport. 

“No, but it was freezing cold. What troubles would we have in the rainforest? It’s so colorful and majestic!” Gabby said as we headed to our plane. 

“Imagine the humidity in that place. With climate change, what is truly happening to the trees and animals living in the biome?” Kristy pondered out loud as we stepped onto the plane. 

“Only one way to find out the answer on our own,” I said. 

“Yeah! Why should we at HERO listen to what other scientists say? We need to find our own data,” Gabby said as Gibby rolled his eyes. 

“That’s what Caleb keeps saying. Jameson, what are we going to do the second we get there?” Gibby asked. 

“We’ll study what’s around us. We’ll take what’s around us and work our way from there,” I said as I buckled in. 

“And this is why Jack’s not the leader,” Kristy said as she nodded at me. Gibby and Gabby groaned as the plane started to take off. 

“He was here three years ago! Jameson is so much better than him,” Gabby said as I looked out the window. 

“He wasn’t that bad. He was a hard worker and he cared about the environment as much as the rest of us. I would have loved it if he had come back,” I said. 

“No. Believe me, you joined us late so you didn’t have to put up with him as long as we did. You would have gotten annoyed as well.” I shrugged. 

“If you say so.” We landed safely and headed to apartments close by the rainforest. We each got a key to our separate rooms and unpacked everything before heading down to the lobby. 

“Another six months in one location,” Gibby mumbled as he took a drink from the bar. “I mean, I don’t care that we have to move around often. But, honestly, how are the hotels and apartments near the worksite helping the environment more than the loggers who cut down the wood?” 

“They get an excuse because they’re also bringing in ecotourism to generate money,” Gabby said as she ordered water. 

“True, but it’s not incredible. We generate more money working trying to save the rainforest,” Kristy said as she smiled at the bartender. 

“What money do we bring in? All we do is take notes of what is living in the rainforest for HERO to advertise to people to bring them here. Technically, we’re working with the apartments and helping them generate money. We don’t earn more or less than them since we work together,” I said. 

“So, in other words, we should be getting our apartments free since we’re helping them earn money,” Gibby said with a smile. I rolled my eyes as Kristy scoffed. 

“We already get them free since HERO pays for them. What more do you want?” 

“Alright! Everyone, we should get to bed,” I said as I stood up. Gibby stood, swaying a bit. 

“I can’t go to work tomorrow. I’m too drunk. I’ll have a hangover tomorrow,” he said with a crooked smile. 

“Oh really? Well, I guess you’re fired then because we can’t have anyone who’s drunk on the team.” He shot me a look as he stood straight up, drink still in hand.