~ ~ ~ Quest for Destiny Novel Available at B&N ~ ~ ~

The brawny man watched the low southerly sun as it dipped closer to the horizon. Though nearly March, the air was cold. A light breeze swept across the Manitoba River, broad at that portion as a long snaking lake. Its shores still held much of the winter snow and lake ice.

The side personnel door of the peaked, wooden dock enclosure opened. Thick vertical siding planks were weathered, having a gray darkness infused by decades of harsh climate. A man bundled in a leather parka and heavy pants came out. Though attired like the one outside, he was smaller, seemingly younger.

“Richard,” the smaller addressed, putting his back to the south, leaning against the rough rail. They both had light complexions, with the smaller having less facial hair. “They’re drawing more load.”

“They need to stop doing that,” the larger muttered in a low tone.

“You know how they are.”

“They’ll burn out another generator at this rate.”

“I keep telling them.”

“You and I both.”

The smaller shrugged, “Until they get the reactor started, they’ll continue doing this.”

“They can’t keep turning everything on.”

“I know. Tell them.”

“That doesn’t seem to be helping.”

Observing the glow on the larger man’s face within the hood, much of it having thick, auburn beard and mustache. “You know, Richard. That’s not good for you.”

“I’m aware of that. I like to see it. It’s so cold up here; this gives me a taste of home.”

“This is home now.”

“For the time being. We’ll be somewhere else soon.”

“Not if we don’t get that reactor functional.”

“That’s the easy part.”

“We still haven’t achieved ignition,” Flannan commented.

“They’re getting closer.”

“It doesn’t seem that way.”

“They are. They’re learning more all the time.”

“I know you’re at their talks more,” the smaller stated, “but at this rate, we’ll be at it a couple hundred years.”

“How long have you been working at getting off Earth?”

“They’ve been at it before I was born.”

“There you go.  We have time.”

“Not at the rate things are changing.  These simians are getting brighter and it’s harder to stay out of their way.”

“Then those downstairs need to ease the load. Burning out the one generator and rebuilding the others every six to nine months is delaying progress.”

“Remind me why we don’t add another?”

“We have three already and go through a great amount of fuel.  That story of studying magnetic movement may not be enough to justify this much consumption – even with using different fuel providers and the tug pulling the barge around for show.  Having four generators would be that much more to hide.  Don’t think going bigger would help.  I could put twelve around here with each having three times the wattage and they would still want more.”

“It would clutter the area and would be noticed by people flying over.”

“And seen by orbiting satellites. We don’t have the room for a fourth on this barge. Not even a small one. Obtaining a larger barge is back to drawing attention – not that we could dock anything larger under cover. We don’t even have room for another small one.”

“You did have a genny on the dock before the barge arrived.”

“And the piling cracked. It won’t hold anything that heavy now.”

“I suppose it won’t. Repairing it means redoing the entire thing.”  Glancing to the wooded rise towards the northwest, “It’s a good thing that dam’s power grid is miles from here and we’re not tapping from it.  At the rate they’re pulling power down there, they would black out the entire region.”

Richard nodded, turning to the door on the west wall.  A narrow walkw

ay ran the length of that wall having steps set back from the shore connected to a path winding up the slope to a series of cabins.  A scattering of trees to the forest line near the crest of the hill gave a picturesque view of the frigid, remote landscape.

“Any other questions as to why they have to stay under the wattage pull?”

“No, sir,” Flannan responded.

“I don’t mind the questions. It reminds me we’re still who we are.”

“We’re people about to order another generator, if they don’t stop.”

“Let me see what I can do.” Giving the sun a last look, Richard added, “Lavina could control them.”

“She’s working on something in Massachusetts.”

“I thought that was resolved.”

“They’re still trying to find Caroline.”

“She can’t be in that tiny state anymore, even if she was with her brother.”

“There’s something else keeping Lavina there.”

“Myer?” Richard queried.

“He would never be able to do that. Lavina likes him enough, but you know her.”

“I’m beginning to. You knew her longer.”

“Somewhat, but she took a liking to you.”

“She likes you, too.”

“Not the same.”

“There’s none of that between us.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I think so.” Sighing, the larger turned from the warmth and went to the door.  “Let’s get them to turn something off.”

“Best of luck.”

“I’ll shut all three gennies down and let them talk to Lavina. I’m not losing another of them.”

“That should do it.”

In frustration, Richard emphasized, “I will cut the juice, if something isn’t done to ease the load.”

“I know you would. Be careful, though. You’re new with us. Some of them have tempers.”

“And Lavina doesn’t?”

“She’s not here.”

Inside, the rough planking held a dimness.  The only lighting was along the side wall over the inside dock walkway and spaced some twelve feet apart.  It was marginally warmer than outdoors, having the faint scent of diesel fuel and exhaust mixed with old wood and river water.  The enclosed dock went back to when it was part of the construction of the upriver dam.

Within the horseshoe dock, a black barge dominated the water where seaworthy supply vessels were originally moored. Later, after selling the property to a family providing sporting adventure, charter boats occupied the space.  Now, their barge filled the bulk of the area, a floating platform trimmed in rust, having a newly built, two-story workshop and lab on the stern half.  Three flexible, metal tubing hung from the high ceiling to route exhaust from three yellow generators on the opposite third of the barge from the lab.

A droning sound was heard and felt as the pair climbed a steel ladder onto the floating platform.

Richard listened to the rumble, muttering, “They’re definitely pulling too much.”

“I told you.”

“I believed you.”

Stepping to each of the three generators, the man checked power outputs, coolant temperatures and engine rates.  Richard then went to the main power distribution panels next to a series of blue cabinets housing cables feeding below and to the labs.

“It would serve them right, if I cut them off now.”

“It may damage something.”

“Burning out the other generator didn’t.” Richard groaned in frustration. “Let’s go below. Something has to be turned off.”

Richard went into the closest man-sized door along the lab structure, then to a tiled storage room with another door on the far side.  Next to the left side shelving filled with maintenance supplies and tools, Richard opened the metal door of a circuit breaker panel.  Flipping three of the fourteen unused breakers, ensuring the others were not flipped to the on position, he told his assistant, “Let’s go down.”  He pushed the three breakers back off.

The drone from outside made it impossible to hear the latch click at their feet.  Flannan, having unbuttoned his parka, retrieved a double suction-cup tile puller from one of the shelves. Plopping it off center on the floor, the man pulled up the two-foot square trapdoor blind-hinged to one side, revealing a wider squared tunnel going down. Strips of red LEDs provided the only light below.

Flannan returned the tile puller to the shelf while the larger masle went first, descending the ladder. The younger looking man followed, pulling the hatch down, ensuring the latch clicked in place.

The square drop-tunnel opened into a small chamber holding back the water.  They both stepped onto the smooth surface that sloped casually to one side.  Richard lifted the metal round hatch of the craft, stepping into the vertical cylinder shaft. Hands and feet spread to the shallow, spiraled, angled ledge, the two continued down to the base with an opening to one side – the lower hatch-door pushed to the wall.

The pair stepped into the gray, wavy hall, giving a smooth, cave-like appearance.  Thick cables from the other two hatch-tubes lined the floor’s edging, supplying power to several rooms.  Some cables went up and down ramps. Faint airflow from one hatch, forced in by fans, vented out the other.

The mechanic heard an English voice address him, “Richard. How does it look up there?”

“Guess. You know how I feel about being in here.”

“Again?”

“If something doesn’t get turned off.”

“We need it all.”

“That won’t be possible. Someone will have to wait to do whatever it is they’re doing.”

“This craft has been eluding us. We have several experiments going.”

“Cease something. I don’t care what.  You need to ease the load by at least sixty-two kilowatts.  Ninety would be better. You know the limits.”

“I don’t know what could be turned off.”

“I don’t care what.”

Flannan told the electrician, “You better think of something.  He’ll cut all the power otherwise.  He almost did it already.”

Unfastening the parka in the warmer hall, Richard told the man without winter gear, “I will. I won’t chance another generator burning out. It took weeks to get the replacement and as long to get it connected and broken in.”

“All right.” The man thought. “I don’t know.  There is a group down in the fusion room.  They need the power for the controls. They’re trying to figure out what each does.”

“They can work. If they don’t break it, that could power the rest. What else?”

“There’s a couple up on the command deck.”

“What are they doing?”

“Dennis and his sister are figuring out how to fly it.”

“You’d think they had enough of this ship.”

“They’re fascinated.”

“They need to stop.”

“They need to work.”

“No they don’t.  If we can’t get the fusion reactor going, none of that matters.  I don’t even care if those gravity well drives are figured out right now.  I just care about those generators upstairs. Everything else can wait.”

“It’s all important.”

“You better shut something down or I will cut it all.”

“I’m in charge of power distribution.  You’re just the mechanic.”

“Lead mechanic.”

“Only because Lavina took pity.”

“And, I know how to prioritize. Shut something down now.”  To Flannan, “Go back up. If we’re not sixty-two K lower in ten minutes, cut the power completely and let the gennies cool down in idle.  Watch the temperature on them.  Make sure they cool down for a few minutes, then bring some flashlights. Leave the gennies idling.”  Pulling a flashlight from his pocket, he added, “I have mine.”

The last was directed to the dark-haired electrician as a hint to hurry. The man told Richard, “I’ll get someone to shut down something.”

Nodding to Flannan, Richard told his assistant, “Get going. Nine minutes now.”

The assistant went to the hatch tube.  The statement also got Lyndon moving along the weaving hall, then up a ramp to a small circular chamber.  As Flannan climbed the tube to the surface, Richard followed the electrician slowly.