The Solution #PlanetOrPlastic

The Solution

shadowsleek Did the wonderful cover for this. Thank you so much!

Horror laced her features as Lana watched the scene unfold before her.

She dropped her files where she stood, and rushed towards the operating box. Throwing the door open, she shoved the man controlling the machine and fiddled with all the switches desperately.

The machine only swirled around violently, and when she finally pulled a lever, the machine stopped.

Thank God. She thought.

"Are you crazy?!" She screamed at the poor guy now sprawled on the floor.

"I'm just following orders, ma'am. Don't shoot the messenger."

Luckily, the piece of equipment stopped working, and a few hundred thousands of kilograms of plastic was stopped from being dumped into the ocean.

She reached over to the mic and announced, "stop working. Official orders demand all systems to shut down immediately, irregardless of the status of the project."

The whirring noise of the machines were silenced immediately.

Her heels clicked against the concrete floor as she made her way back to her file.

Alarms started blaring. Suddenly, Lana was whisked away by two security guards who seemed unfazed by her resistance.

***

"I can destroy this plastic without destroying lives. If you could just give me a chance to continue my research - "

"Ms. Stellar, you have 'researched' for seven years," said Mr. Blue. Ironic name, really - shouldn't he be trying to keep blue alive?

"I promise, my work will be completed in a few weeks – I've found it, I know what to do! I just need to run the final tests. I know I've found a solution, Mr. Blue. You have to believe me."

"Why do you care so much anyways?!" He nearly shouted, frustrated.

"BECAUSE," She started, shoving her file in his face for emphasis. "This planet is in its death bed, and we are only twisting the knife further into its chest. I have the antidote, the remedy. I can heal it, if you'd only listen!"

"A few tons of plastic isn't going to do much damage, Ms. Stellar. We'll allow you to resume this project next year."

"Famous last words," she scoffed

"Tell me your solution, Lana."

Her eyes lit up, and she flipped open her file with a new stream of energy. "The wax moth larvae. We can use nature to save nature. Instead of using them as fish bait, we can use them to eat away the plastic. These caterpillars," she flipped her file to a page, "can chew and digest polyethylene, a plastic that is one of the toughest to break down. We just let these guys eat away our plastic!"

He took the file from her hands and put on his glasses. He started from the beginning, and read through every page with an interest. After a long 10 minutes, he spoke.

"Okay."

"Okay? OKAY! That's awesome! Wow, I can't believe it – I – Thank you!" She nearly squealed, and walked out of the office, not before sticking her tongue out at one of the security guards.

Lana Stellar will change the world.