Slither - Edward Lee [37]
"I love these rooms," Ruth said, stepping forward toward the erect, green-spiky rows. "The sound, and the silver light. It's like mellow acid."
Slydes rolled his eyes. "Our little hippie."
"Look at 'em." Jonas grinned upward. "They're busting twenty feet, I'll bet. They don't even get that big in nature, under the best circumstances."
Forty such plants filled the former missile silo, and they had forty more in the next head shack, too. "I'm getting nine, ten ounces of the highest THC content pot per plant, every three months. Average asshole only pulls two to four."
"Look at the flowers!" Ruth celebrated. "They're beautiful!"
"Yeah, baby, they sure are. And they're big. The bigger, the better. There's more THC in my pot than anyone's.'
"Quit bragging and let's get on with it," Slydes complained. He was tired, and they'd missed high tide going out. Which means we gotta stay on this island till tomorrow night ... The skinny bitch in the first head shack had stayed there for another fucking hour. They hadn't counted on that. Shit, it's past one o'clock now...
Hydroponic homegrowers had several methods to choose from. Jonas used the "wick system," with ebb and flow urns; this was the best system because it grew the biggest plants, but the least popular because it consumed the most water and electricity. Water and electricity weren't a problem here, of course, because Jonas simply tapped into the army's unmonitored supply; hence the brightest lights round the clock, and unlimited fresh water. His only expenses were airstones and aerator pumps, Perlite, Pro-Mix, coconut planting fiber, and a lot of aluminum foil, which doubled the photosynthesis effect by bouncing back the light. That's why Jonas's plants were bigger and more concentrated. The average grower was limited to closets and basements, but with ceilings this high-and all this free light-Jonas was giving the plants more than even nature could provide. Charging a little more for superior pot was only good business. His customers just wanted more.
They checked the next head shack where, if anything, the plants grew even hardier. Then they moved to the third head shack.
"A damn good thing you have some ready to go," Slydes grumbled.
This was where they did the cutting, drying, and weighing. Jonas had tables and chairs set up for the various tasks, plus cartons of plastic baggies.
"That's because I always think ahead," Jonas bragged. "You always have your next delivery ready in advance. You know, Slydes, if you ran your poaching business like I run my pot business? You might actually make some money."
"Bend over real hard and blow yourself, brother."
Ruth giggled. "That I'd like to see." But then her eyes opened wide when she looked at the cement floor, and she shrieked, "Fuck!"
The men walked over.
"What the hell's that?" Jonas queried.
On the floor a small, bright pink worm squiggled across the cement. It was about three inches long.
"Ain't no earthworm, that's for sure," Slydes noted. "Not movin' that fast."
The worm made more tracks, leaving tinseled slime. It had traversed half the width of the head shack in the time they were looking at it.
"Well, ain't that just the shit?" Jonas said. "There better not be any of these things on my plants."
"It just looks ... disgusting," Ruth said and glared. "Somebody kill it."
Jonas seemed very concerned. "What the fuck is that? A corn worm?"
Slydes stepped on it. "Nope. It's a dead worm. Now let's quit fuckin' around with worms and get the fuck out of here."
When Slydes lifted his shoe, all that remained of the worm was pink slime.
Jonas grabbed a plastic bag full of a pound of trimmed marijuana, then snapped off the lights.
Before they left, none of them happened to notice that the squashed remains of the worm were sizzling.
CHAPTER EIGHT
(I)
Why did she feel so unsettled? Weird night, Nora dismissed.