State of Fear

Drake and Ted discuss their suspicions about Kenner, Jennifer, and Evans, who they think has “gone over to the dark side” into global warming denial. As they wrap up, Ted promises to keep watch over Evans at the conference. To himself, Drake thinks “then again, he might not make it,” proving that he is aware of the attack with the blue-ringed octopus (441).

In the hospital, the cause of Evans’ paralysis has been discovered. As he recovers, Kenner divulges that there have been several attacks of the same nature. Sanjong shares ELF’s next planned catastrophe: The group has rented a large aircraft, and Kenner suspects they will use it to spray ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and hydrophilic nanoparticles to control the path of a hurricane. Ironically, due to weather conditions, the plot has been cancelled.

The NERF conference begins in Santa Monica. Professor Norman Hoffmann, an academic famous for his critiques of environmental views, claims to have been invited by Morton, but is turned away. Evans follows him and listens to his theories. Norman studies “in a rigorous statistical fashion the media and its effect on society,” or what he deems the ecology of thought (446). He tells Evans that ideas have the capacity to profoundly influence human behavior.