Almost
two months have passed since the attack on the Eagle by Volt and his group of
villains. Despite an exhausting search, which was quickly approved by both the
council and the citizens, Volt and Mind Queen still haven’t been found, thanks
to their villainous ally Pinpoint and her teleportation powers. However the
fourth member of the group, Augmento, is currently being held in the super cell
located onboard the Eagle. After being defeated by Alexander, Augmento, who’s
actual name is Carl Connor, slowly shrunk down to his regular size. Powerful
electric collars were put on his neck, torso, and limbs in order to deter him
from trying to increase his size and break free. As of now, Augmento is
subdued, and the council has already ordered his execution if he were to escape
his life-sentence.
The
destruction caused by Augmento was finally fully cleaned up and rebuilt a few
days ago, and the city, which up until this point never had a true name, was
christened Cloudtop City after a vote was taken by all of the Eagle’s citizens.
During the reconstruction, security was increased and the newly dubbed Eagle
Squad nearly quadrupled in size. Due to the increase military presence, and the
loss of a few dozen lives during the attack, the Eagle opened its doors and
accepted new citizens from the rest of the world for the first time in five
years. There was much work to be done, but now that Cloudtop is repaired and
the new citizens settling in, peace and order are returning to the Eagle.
Despite
a strong sunlight, the air was very cold at the Eagle’s current elevation over
the Atlantic Ocean. Even as early as late November, the citizens had to wear
heavy coats and take care to cover up bare skin in order to avoid frostbite.
Snow was already falling at times and coating the parks and gardens across the
Eagle. The roads and walkways were clear of course, thanks to the heated coils
underneath. Even though the majority of people used hovercrafts on the Eagle,
the vehicles still needed a relatively clear road surface to properly function.
Outside
the office of Alexander Jackson, the garden had a light layer of white fluffy
snow covering it. Not enough to build any snowmen or snow forts, but that
wasn’t stopping a determined eight year old from trying.
“We need more snow for a good snowman,
Damien.” Alex was sitting on a cleared bench watching his son piling as much
snow as possible onto a little mound. “Wait a few weeks and then there’ll be
enough snow for an entire squadron of snowmen.”
Damien
stopped brushing the snow onto this pile and sat pouting. “By then, school will
have started up again. I won’t have any time for snowmen!”
Alex
laughed, “I’m sure you’ll find time. You seem to have no problem convincing
John to let you shirk your work, young man.” Alex paused for a moment, tilting
his head up and pretending to contemplate something. “I’ll have a talk with
John about that. Perhaps we’ll get someone else to watch you…”
“No!”
Damien exclaimed, jumping up and destroying his snow pile in the process, “You
can’t get rid of Uncle John!”
Alex
laughed again, shaking his head. “No, I suppose we can’t. He’s as much part of
this family as you or I. But you do need to focus on your studies, Damien. I
don’t want this little vacation to affect your scores.”
“I
will father, I promise!” Damien put his hand over his heart and bowed, the
custom to show sincerity onboard the Eagle.
Alex smiled, remembering how
quickly those little customs took hold once the Eagle set sail and left the
rest of the world behind. With no one but themselves for influence, the
citizens created their own culture from how they believed a regal society of
futuristic humans should act. Most of it was very well-mannered, in Alex’s
opinion, and it bred respect, equality, and politeness in the younger
generations. Damien was the perfect example of what the Eagle’s society thought
a young boy should be, and Alex couldn’t have been more proud of his son.
“I’m
sure you’ll continue making me proud, son.”
At
this point a light snow began to fall, and Damien proceeded to run around the
garden in a joy that only a child can possess. Alex was content watching his
son play, since he had decided on taking a personal day. However after a few
minutes John walked out of Alex’s office in a hurry.
Alex
saw the urgency on John’s face and stood up to greet his friend. “What is it?”
“I
just received word that engine four has failed.”
Alex
was shocked, and quickly pulled John into the office. “What about our
altitude?”
“It’s
steady,” John said, handing Alex a slip of paper with information on it, “but
you need to get to the engine right away and fix it.” John’s emphasis on ‘fix’ was heavily implied. They both
knew it wasn’t the anti-gravity engines that kept the Eagle afloat, but
everyone else onboard needed to keep thinking so. If Alex didn’t show the
upmost urgency in this predicament, someone might become suspicious.
“Take
care of Damien,” Alex said as he nodded agreement to what John implied. Alex
hurried to his hovercraft and sped off towards engine four, making sure to keep
up the appearance of a disaster in progress.
By
the time Alex reached the engine, the mechanics had it back up and running. The
analyst on site told Alex there hadn’t been any decrease in altitude, and Alex
remarked that a single engine would have needed to be offline much longer to
have any effect on the Eagle. After making sure everything was back in order
and recording a quick public message alerting the people to the avoided crisis,
Alex got back in his hovercraft and started on his trip home. As he picked up
his phone to call John, it rang with John’s number on the caller ID.
“Everything
is back in order, John,” Alex started, but John cut him off.
“Get
to the main engine, Alex,” John blurted out, his voice frantic. “We just
started dropping.”
Alex
clicked off his phone and punched the accelerator. An engine failing, in
reality, was nothing, and wouldn’t affect the Eagle at all. Yet the Eagle was
losing altitude, which could only mean one thing. Something was wrong with
Valerie Jackson.
Nothing
was wrong with Valerie. Alex went over the readings again and again. Her brain
activity was normal, meaning there wasn’t any. Her vitals were as stable as
they always were. The electrical current flowing into her body that kept her
powers active was at a constant rate. Nothing had changed, and yet the Eagle
had still fallen over two hundred feet in altitude. Overall, it was not a huge
loss. The details pertaining to chemical levels in the atmosphere would need to
be handled, but there was a department for that. Some individuals would experience
mild nausea, some ear-popping as the body adjusts to the change in pressure,
but nothing major.
However
to Alex, those two hundred feet meant everything. Something had caused Valerie’s
powers to adjust the altitude of the Eagle. Luckily they had stopped falling,
but there would be an investigation. Alex would need John’s help covering up
what happened and convincing the scientific community that the sensors
calculated the altitude wrong, or late.
Alex
shook his head. It would be impossible to convince intelligent scientists their
equipment was flawed. There was too much evidence the drop happened after the
engine was back online. Alex would need to deflect, and use public opinion and fear
to his advantage. He hated doing so, and even the thought of it left a bad
taste in his mouth. But the general public couldn’t know about Valerie. He
didn’t believe they would understand what had to be done to make the Eagle a
reality.
Alex
printed out another round of data and left Valerie’s room, locking it behind
him once more. He would need to move swiftly, and distract the scientists from
analyzing their own data fast. Alex knew this would all come back to bite him
in the ass one day. He just prayed by then he’d have enough time to prepare for
his reckoning.
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