Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.
Chapter 89: Acid rain in the soil.

Chapter 89: Acid rain in the soil.

Owen’s sister Julia was in charge of monitoring the environmental changes in the greenhouse. She was a botanist, and she had a small team of fifteen people that worked with her on this task. The team was deliberately small because Sunshine wanted to keep out greedy hands and eyes. One needed to pass three security check points, a drone with facial recognition and a biometric scan before reaching the gardens.

Most of the plants were grown in pots or sacks on wooden boards that were above the ground.

There was a section of the greenhouse however where crops were grown in the soil. And that was where trouble was. Julia was the first to notice something strange with the soil.

First was the unnatural shimmer which looked like morning dew mixed with some oil! She put on a weather absorbent under suit, covering her nose and hands too. Then she scooped up some of the soil to take a closer look.

That was when she realized that on the surface, water was pooling in the soil!! Acid rain had made it into the base even after every precaution that had been taken.

She sent out an alarm and called her team in to examine every section of the green house. There were six sections in total.

The team started cataloging changes to the plants in the soil. Some had started shriveling, others had changed in various ways: Spinach leaves had curled and some had thorns.

Mint leaves had changed color and expanded, shadowing the neighboring plants.

Most of the strawberries were on their way to ruination. The fruit was no longer red but dull brown. The toxic fruits would have to be thrown out before someone ate them.

The pineapples were forming spiral patterns which they did not have before. Whether they were toxic or not was unknown.

The botanists noted down all of the changes and took pictures. Sunshine had long told them that some plants would mutate and remain edible, but others would turn poisonous and toxic. Those were the ones that needed to be disposed of immediately.

"How did this happen?" Doctor Peach Trellison asked, holding on to the mask that was covering her nose.

Julia looked at Doctor Peach, the resident soil agronomist. "I don’t know. It is soil and soil soaks up water, so I guess some of the run down from the mountain found its way here. The bigger question should be what are we going to do about it?"

Another botanist looked at Doctor Peach. "You are the soil expert; how do we fix it?"

This problem was also in another section of the base, the indoor grassland where some sheep had decided to take a walk and help themselves to some breakfast grass. They were the first to discover the problem in that area.

The grass which was usually fragrant and soft was turning brittle and bitter. Some of it was sharp and it pricked them. Too afraid to walk across it, they bleated so loudly that soldiers outside were attracted to the area.

Major Elio was one of those on patrol and he walked into the protected zone with a frown. "What the hell is going on?" He bellowed.

He saw confused workers and a vet trying to coax the sheep to walk across the grass and return to their paddocks.

The sheep just bleated and looked at the vet with eyes that said, "You try walking on the sharp grass and see if you like it."

The vet looked at Major Elio and shook his head. "Something has them spooked. We are scanning the grass for threats." He pointed the drone that was hovering above.

"Sergent Nimo come in." Major Elio spoke through the walkie-talkie.

"I am listening major." Nimo responded.

"We have got a problem at the animal farm, come with the president if you can." He answered.

"I am coming over." Nimo answered.

Without delay, Major Elio demanded that the animals be cleared from the paddocks.

Major Elio looked up and around, searching for a place that was strong enough to hold a rope. If they passed above, they could carry the sheep out.

"We need to air light the sheep somehow without stepping on the grass directly." He said to the others.

"How?" A soldier asked.

"Think we can fit a helicopter in here?"

"Maybe a pulley."

"This would be so easy if Spiderman was here."

All the soldiers looked at the one that mentioned spiderman with frowns or ridicule.

As they were pondering on that, some workers rolled out a carpet over the grass and coaxed the sheep away. They were taken to a decontamination zone immediately for caution.

"A carpet!" Major Elio exclaimed.

The vet nodded. "Sometimes, the easiest solution is the best one."

Nimo arrived with Sunshine whom she picked from the school at the children’s school.

"Everyone would you please step back!" She shouted loudly, brows knitting. "We have received word that the acid rain is eating its way through the soil." Sunshine shared. "I guess the grass has mutated somehow."

Upon hearing her opinion many took further steps back.

"That can happen?" Major Elio asked.

Sunshine’s gaze shifted to him and then naturally to his boots. "Look at the soles of your shoes Major, the tips had already started melting before you backed away."

Major Elio and everyone else that had stepped on the soil or close to it looked at their shoes and gasped. They had come close to losing their feet!!

"Suni how is this happening?" Nimo asked. "It seems like having the shield is not enough. What are we going to do?" Lines of worry were deeply marred into her forehead.

Sunshine ran fingers through her hair. "The soil here is more porous, allowing the rain to permeate faster. The more compacted one will not be affected." She explained.

She crouched by the edge and plucked a blade of grass with a gloved hand. It had small spikes and felt stiff. The base was yellowish, showing signs of wilting. She lowered her mask and sniffed the soil. The scent was no longer earthy but metallic, like rust mixed with crushed metals. It smelled like most of the world at this time.

The smell was faint though which meant the damage was not extreme.

"Will it stop here then?" Major Elio asked, folding his hands.

Letting out a weary sigh, Sunshine clucked her tongue. "I am going to look for a solution, if I cannot then all we can do is close this section off for a while to prevent any accidents."

"We should start checking all the other areas around the base with soil just in case. I will lead the teams myself and make sure that no spot is missed." Nimo said, patting her friend’s shoulder. "We should probably check the walls as well just in case. Heck, let’s just check everything."

Nodding for she was in agreement, Sunshine sighed again. "Good thinking, this is why you cannot let your guard down in the apocalypse. You are never truly safe."

She thought about the strawberries and other herbs that had been ruined. What a loss!

But another thing worried her. If acid rain had made it through the soil, what about mist?