Aquariums by J.D. Kurtness

Author:J.D. Kurtness [Kurtness, J.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION / Nature & the Environment
ISBN: 9781459747784
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Published: 2022-01-14T00:00:00+00:00

Célestin wants to have a talk. I guess she’s technically my boss, but I think of her more as a friend. She has a gift for seeing the big picture. Unlike me, when she decides to do something, she knows exactly what she’s getting herself into. The floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in her office are overflowing with books, file folders, and scientific journals. Papers form piles on the floor and on her worktable. Her computer keyboard rests precariously on a stack of binders bursting with scholarly journals and handwritten notes.

In the centre of this glorious disarray, Célestin reigns supreme. She’s more confident than I am in a dress, gorgeous with her stout, hairy forearms shimmering under the lab’s fluorescent lights. You have to admire her style. Her employees nicknamed her “Tintin” seventeen years ago, because the last syllable rhymes with her given name, and it stuck.

Before she lowers the blind, I notice that it’s started snowing. Once we’re in partial darkness, it gets easier to see the images projected on the screen in the middle of the room. There’s a map of the Arctic, a research vessel, and a list of species written out in Latin, English, and French. I see the names of our scientist colleagues, which seem vaguely familiar. They must have written articles I’ve read.

Tintin starts in abruptly on the subject of the Northern Census. She has a three-day beard, and after a while I finally figure out what the smell in her office reminds me of: moist bread.

“We’re starting on the last step of the survey,” she says. I’m surprised to be asked about something that’s getting so much attention in the media and out in the world. Especially since I usually stay inside, far from the limelight.

“The ship will be your base camp,” Tintin explains. “You’ll be out for weeks at a time, with no stops. It’s not as bad as going to Mars, but we still need dependable people who won’t get claustrophobic or have panic attacks when they’re confined in small spaces. You and the other researchers will have to live on the boat without driving each other nuts. Or coming to blows. We chose you because you’re going to make it.”

Célestin seems to forget that I spent my first two years here complaining about how my office windows didn’t open. We should have foreseen this! I mean, this is my aquarium! I helped draw up the plans.

Célestin is still talking. I have to focus. Note to self: No cannabis before impromptu professional meetings.

“We’re still missing some data. Samples will have to be collected. The aquarium has volunteered to lend its infrastructure for the research, when the team gets back. It will also allocate scientific personnel.” (I guess that would be me!) “In exchange, the experiment will let us finally carry out a long-cherished project: reproduce the Arctic ecosystem, just like we did for that of the tropics.”

I interrupt her to point out that there is not just one but rather several thousand Arctic ecosystems. The way she waves this distinction away makes it clear just how little she cares.

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