“The rising temperature affects crops and plants everywhere,” said Brigid Dwyer. “Trees are germinating an average of ten days earlier. Plants everywhere are blooming earlier. Plants that need cooler weather are slowly moving northward. Plants that thrive in warmer temperatures are more widespread than ever.”

Again, I wasn’t sure why this was a problem. Ten days was a tiny amount of time.

“And that’s bad because . . . ?” Total put his paws on the table. “Can I have a Coke or something?”

“Don’t give him soda,” I said quickly. “He’ll be hiccupping all night.”

“We don’t have any soda,” said Michael apologetically, as Total glared at me. “Just water, milk, tea, or coffee.”

“It’s a problem because plants affect animals, and animals affect plants, and the whole system goes out of balance,” Melanie explained.

“ ‘It’s the ciiirrrcle of liiiifffe,’ ” Iggy sang.

“Scientists estimate that at least two hundred sixty different species are already responding to global warming by changing their migration and reproduction patterns,” Sue-Ann said. “The loss of plant and animal life can’t be calculated.”

Fang had been silent this whole time. Now he spoke. “But what does this have to do with us?”

Which was, of course, the important question.

Chapter 32

32

“FRANKLY, YOU HAVE unique abilities,” said Brigid in response to Fang’s question. “The Antarctic is an unpredictable and dangerous place, but someone who can fly to safety can take greater risks.”

“But we don’t know anything about science,” I said. “Or not much, anyway. I mean, we can hack into computers. We know all kinds of other stuff. But we don’t know anything about global warming or the Antarctic.” Or about any of a million things they taught in schools, say.

Brigid smiled, and I thought again how young she looked. She was a doctor, right?

“That’s okay,” she said. “You don’t need to become experts overnight. We have some specific jobs we can teach you to do.”

“But that’s not the only reason you’re here,” said Brian Carey, speaking up for the first time. “The truth is, you guys are very newsworthy. As soon as you surface, people take note, and you get into all the newspapers. So who better to get the message out to the world?”

“And what message would that be?” Fang asked quietly, looking at Brigid.

“That our government needs to take global warming seriously,” she said directly to Fang. “That we need to develop alternative fuel sources, right now. That we need to slash our emissions of greenhouse gases. Plus, we need to do all we can to slow down the extinction by the year 2050 of more than a million species of animals, insects, and plants.”

“What if we don’t believe all that stuff?” I asked, and Melanie drew back and blinked. Had the file on me not mentioned my whole “uncooperative” thing?