Make Earth Great Again: Web of Lies

EU Antarctic Wildlife Preserve, Antarctica, Monday, January 24th, 2435

When the Green Society's fleet arrived at the preserve, they were greeted by an awful sight: The ice had melted dramatically, the temperature was in the sixties, and the preserve was in disrepair. The remaining workers were trying desperately to keep the surviving animals alive. Mark Stern was waiting for Norm at the front door.

MARK STERN: Are you Norm Anderson?

NORM ANDERSON: Yes, that would be me. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Stern.

MARK STERN: It's nice to meet you as well.

NORM ANDERSON: So how many animals are we talking about?

MARK STERN: There are fifteen penguin couples with seven babies, thirteen tanks with various kinds of Antarctic fish in them, ten seal couples with seven pups, five sea lion couples with two pups, ten shark tanks with different kinds of Antarctic sharks in them, and an entire section of animals stored for food.

NORM ANDERSON: Okay, we should have enough cargo ships to carry all of them. They're not really habitats if you know what I mean, but most of these animals can survive fifteen minutes in a cage while we fly to England. So how long will it take to load them?

MARK STERN: They've already been stored in their respective cages for a few hours, so all we have to do is load them onto your ships. Once you arrive in England, I'll have the zookeepers there move the animals to their new enclosures.

NORM ANDERSON: Okay, so all you need from us is transportation?

MARK STERN: Well, that's most of it.

NORM ANDERSON: All right, then we should be able to wrap this up pretty quickly.

MARK STERN: I hope so. I'd really hate to keep those poor creatures locked in boxes, small fish tanks, or cages for too long.

NORM ANDERSON: Don't worry about it. These aren't exactly lions or cheetahs that need an entire enclosure to themselves.

MARK STERN: Still, they've suffered a lot because of this. Without someone to transport these animals away from here, they all could have died. Our animals, despite our best efforts, have been dropping like flies.

NORM ANDERSON: Yeah, the climate's taken a toll on everyone and everything. But no need to fear, their journeys are almost over. On another note, why do I feel like I know you from somewhere?

MARK STERN: We're both in the same field, maybe we've met before.

NORM ANDERSON: It could be from that.

Meanwhile, Oliver Peterson, Jake Warren, and Alexis Cantor were busy helping employees move boxes of supplies from a closet to a cargo ship when something caught Oliver's eye. After placing another box in the cargo hold of the ship, he approached Norm and tapped him on the shoulder.

OLIVER PETERSON: Norm, can I speak with you in private for a second?

NORM ANDERSON: Sure.

MARK STERN: There's a back room, you can talk there.

NORM ANDERSON: Okay, I'll be back in a minute.

MARK STERN: Take your time.

Once Norm and Oliver were both in the back room, Oliver locked the door.

OLIVER PETERSON: I'm going to cut right to the chase. That guy, known to you as "Mark Stern," is Maycen Markham! We are all in terrible danger!

NORM ANDERSON: Oliver, relax. You're just seeing things.

OLIVER PETERSON: No, I'm not even joking. I saw him at an OFSI meeting. Bolivar called him "Maycen Markham."

NORM ANDERSON: Come on, he looks NOTHING like Maycen Markham. Maycen Markham had brown hair and brown eyes, not blue eyes and blonde hair.