Greenhouse Affection

Jennifer Butler was stunning. Wild tangles of fiery red hair caressed her shoulders as she strode into David’s greenhouse. The door squeaked as she slid it shut behind her; he didn’t look up, but continued to spray his tomatoes.

“My father was right,” he said, “there’s nothing more therapeutic than spraying tomatoes.”

Jennifer knelt down beside him. “You’ve been in here for nearly four hours. How much therapy do you need?”

David sighed. “It’s infuriating, you know. They’re getting all excited in there about this ‘Ultra Magnus’ and we’re losing focus from our main goal.”

“To find the Axalon?”

“Well, at least you haven’t forgotten.”

“And neither have they. But you’ve got to admit, if the computer files are right, Ultra Magnus could well be our saviour.”

“It’s a big, ‘if’, Jen. The end of the world predicted in the Axalon Prophecies should have started by now, but we’ve found no evidence of any Transformers on the planet, let alone any giant spaceships in orbit.”

“Have a little faith.”

David laughed: “Trust me, the end of our world isn’t something I want to put any faith in!”

He turned back to his tomatoes, peering closely at the green fruit.

“Looks like some greenfly larvae on that stalk there,” said Jennifer, matter-of-factly.

“I can’t see any,” replied David, before he realised. “Oh, the O.R.B.”

Jennifer smiled at him. “I suppose some good came of what you did to me.”

“Sheesh. Two years have passed, and you still won’t let it go.”

Jennifer quickly grabbed the spray bottle from David’s hand and playfully sprayed him in the face. “A girl never forgets spending Valentine’s night in A&E.”

David stood up, wiping his face. “A, your idea to eat that cheesecake in bed, and, B, you shouldn’t have launched yourself on me!”

She sprayed him again. “And you didn’t need to stab me in the bloody eye!”

“Well, look how it all worked out. You’ve got a cool cyborg implant.”

“Yeah, right. Something only a gadget weirdo like you could appreciate.”

David stuck out his tongue.

“Anyway, shouldn’t you be working on that gun of yours instead of sulking amongst these tomatoes?”

“I will get the Cryotek cannon finished in no time, don’t you worry. And you forget, this is all my money funding this project, cut me some slack!”

“You mean your father’s money?”

There was a sudden sadness in David’s eyes. Something that Jennifer could see with just her normal eye. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—“

“S’okay,” said David. “It’s still an open wound… even after four years.”

Jennifer stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. “Your father’s legacy will save the planet.”

A tear soaked into a strand of Jennifer’s hair as David held her tightly. He let out a cynical, “heh.” Then he smelled her hair and said: “Even at this time of night, your hair still smells of the sunshine.”

Jennifer immediately pulled away. “Don’t start, mister!”

David feigned innocence and blinked his eyes as if he were six-years-old again. “Sorry.”

“Let’s leave the past in the past. Lavelle and Wroblewski are counting on us, and we can’t let ourselves get distracted.”

“I know, I know,” said David, a little regret in his voice. “I guess I better get back to the house and see what they want to do about this Ultra Magnus thing.”

Calling it a ‘house’ was an underestimation to say the least. It was a massive stately home just ten miles East of Cambridge, and had been in the Siddons family for over four generations. Now it was headquarters to the Axalon Squad: an undercover project funded by David’s father’s wealth. (Before his accident, Nathan Siddons was the eighth richest businessman in the United Kingdom.)

David and Jennifer arrived in the main dining room to see Don Lavelle frantic on the telephone and Don Wroblewski wrestling with a pile of fax reports.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s started,” said Wroblewski, flinching at a paper cut. “Mount St Hilary in the Cascades just blew up!”

“And….”

“And we’re getting satellite reports that a massive metallic structure had been built on its summit.”

“So what are we going to do about it?”

“You two need to get out there immediately and survey the area. While we double our efforts to track down the Axalon.”

“But….”

Don Wroblewski put his pile of faxes on the table and lightly pressed his left index finger into David’s chest. “This is it. The end of the world has begun, and unless we find the Axalon and utilise the technology on board we’ll have no way to defend ourselves from the Transformers.”

“But my Cryotek cannon—”

“Isn’t even finished yet!” interrupted Jennifer. “I’ll drive, you can finish it on the way.” She grabbed a set of keys from the table and David’s arm and they ran out of the room.

Wroblewski turned to Lavelle. “Talk about unprepared.”