...And We Will Have Snow

Chapter 3: WBI

After learning that WBI was about more than just biodiversity, Cern wanted to ask Rosita and Ryan to tell him and Dema more about it. But it had been a long day for the couple so everyone agreed to postpone that until morning.

It seemed that there was general agreement with Cern, for when the visitors appeared in the morning they were promptly ushered into the kitchen and settled in the dining nook. What followed was a barrage of questions, accompanied by what appeared to be a completely random yet somehow coordinated effort by the Culver women to ply them with coffee, toasted bagels, orange juice, bacon and eggs, and anything else they might want. The couples' initial confusion was quickly replaced with glowing smiles. They couldn't help but feel at home. Cern and Juan just hovered, sipping coffee and leaning against a counter wherever they felt least in the way, watching and listening. They too could not help smiling.

Rosita initiated the response to the requests for more details about WBI, rehashing some of what had surely been said before, because it was impossible to know who it had or hadn't been said to. "We knew it was on an island. We were met at the Seattle-Tacoma airport by Marian Fenton, the chief botanist. She led us to a car and we were driven to a marina..." She hesitated and looked at Ryan, deferring to his detailed familiarity with this part of the trip.

"The marina was right next to the Seattle ferry terminal. There was a private boat waiting for us, a forty-foot hydrofoil craft that almost literally flew out of Puget Sound, up the channel west of Whidbey Island. I sat next to the pilot, and he told me the boat was built in Moscow, of all places!"

"Moscow as in Russia?"

"Yup. The pilot's name was Jack Cooper. He said boats like that one are popular over there."

"Did you know Jack from before?"

"No, but he knew the names of all the pilots on the Seattle Ferry, and they're all friends of mine. Anyway, we crossed the strait up to the San Juan Islands, slowed until we dropped onto the hull, and threaded our way up to a little rock called Coon Island. It had a small dock on one shore, but we went by that and around to the cliff side.

"I thought I knew every sea cave in those islands," he traded a look with Dema, "but not this one. It might have been dug for the purpose. Jack was good, he slipped that boat into the cave with inches to spare on both sides. We climbed out onto a ledge that led us deeper into the rock." He looked to Rosita to continue.

"Marian led the way. Ryan and Jack followed us after they tied up the boat. There was a little elevator that took us up to the house."

"House?"

"That's the best word for it. From the outside it looks like it could be a family home. Not too ostentatious. But big enough to have a large kitchen, and bedrooms upstairs to house the staff and visitors.

"Marian couldn't wait to show me her greenhouse, so we went outside. Ryan stayed in the house to talk with Jack."

Naga had perked up. "What sort of greenhouse?"

"Huge. Like half a city block huge. And tall. She has it sectioned off into microclimates to accommodate different plant varieties. But the central feature is an aquaponics system."

"Aquaponics?" Dema had never heard the term.

"Yes. It's a system with several levels. Water filters down through them, circulates through a long fish pond at the bottom, then is pumped back up to the top. Waste from one level becomes nutrients for the next, so the whole system is self-fertilizing. And it produces enough food to feed thousands."

"Thousands? Of people?"

"Potentially. That's what she told me. It already makes the island self-sustaining."

"Wow."

Rosita smiled. "That's what I said. I can't wait to get back there."

When that sunk in, everyone's attention shifted to Ryan. "Me too," he said. "While Rosita was with Marian, Jack showed me around the house. Besides the kitchen and dining area, on the main floor is a big conference room and several other rooms I can only describe as high tech laboratories. Everything in them is beyond state-of-the-art. The conference room is fully equipped for teleconferencing. In addition to the computer systems needed to support that, and broadband internet access for all the staff, they have a virtual reality lab, and a quantum supercomputer to model ideas and test their implications."

Naga frowned. "A quantum supercomputer? That can't possibly exist yet!"

Ryan shrugged. "That's what he told me."

"Alright, I'm impressed even if it's only half true. What else?"

"He also told me that the power to run all this equipment comes from a new type of nuclear reactor that's totally clean and will never run out of fuel."

"That sounds impossible too."

Ryan shrugged again, and grinned. He put his arm around Rosita and hugged her to him. "So, what do you say? Any of you want to join us?"

Naga looked at Rosita. "Tell me more about Marian's greenhouse. Is she actually doing what we suggested in the paper?"

"You mean investigating epigenetic adaptation as a quantum level response? Not directly, not yet. But she suggested that their supercomputer could help with that."

"You mean to say it really is a quantum computer? "

"My impression was that it does have some quantum computing capabilities."

"I can't wait to see that in action!"

"Does that mean you want to come?"

Naga looked at Juan, then at Kore. "At least for a visit. Juan, will you come too? Kore, can you take care of the clinic again for a while?"

Juan nodded, and Kore said, "Sure Mom. But you're not going to go right away are you? Rosita and Ryan need to go back to Veracruz and complete their own arrangements for the move. Can't you at least wait until they're settled on the island themselves?"

Naga straightened her shoulders, abashed at her display of enthusiasm. She could hear her own mother Sedna's calming voice in Kore's words. "Well of course. And you're right. There's plenty of time for me to settle things at the clinic. Before my visit."

Kore put her hand to her mouth and suppressed a giggle. She loved to see the excitement building in her mom. She looked at Juan, and he winked at her. At that she broke into a big smile that she didn't try to hide. Juan was very good for Naga.

Dema was standing next to Cern, taking this all in. She leaned gently into him and said quietly, "Guess we'll just have to wait our turn." He nodded his agreement.