00086

Gov. Xavier Bright paced before a team of Security Agents who were about to board the aircar. He had guessed where Clyden had gotten his tools for his attempted take-over ever since the day Clyden tried to unseat him, but he could not contact the R and D Lab to discover the particulars. He thought perhaps one of his star communications technicians would be able to re-establish contact with the lab from Sparkle City, but now that he had seen Clyden's surprise video of all those dead bodies, the Governor realized the truth, and he knew time was of the essence. He must act, and act now- despite the ongoing snow storm blitzing the polar region, according to the satellite pictures. He could be waiting a long time for the blizzard to clear up otherwise.

Security Agent Osmo Martin worked nearby, watching his fellow Agents eager to embark on their mission. He listened to Gov. Bright discuss the mission with them- while he, Osmo Martin, washed Security Agency vehicles in the large lot. Ordinarily, robots did the washing, but the Governor had assigned the job to Osmo this time instead as a fitting punishment for allowing a truck to be stolen from under his very nose.

B-12 inspected each of the vehicles which Osmo had so far finished. "Agent Martin, please refrain from using so much soap. It streaks the windows."

"Just great," Osmo Martin grumbled. "I'm demoted to taking advice from a robot on how to do a robot job!"

Sheila Bright and Mita Morgan watched the car washer from the side lines. Osmo's complaint got a laugh from Sheila.

Osmo Martin paused in his washing while he watched and listened to the mission details as relayed by Gov. Birght. "I wish I could go with them. Anything's better than this!"

The Governor’s young niece put a comforting hand upon Osmo's shoulder. "Oh, my poor Osmo. We feel so badly for you. Don't we, Mita?"

"Not really," was Mita Morgan’s surprising answer. "From what your Uncle says, it sounds as if Osmo deserves this assignment.”

“Maybe," Osmo reluctantly admitted. "But then, why is it only me? Why is Pete allowed to go?" He could see Pete standing among the five Security Agents being briefed.

Mita Morgan reasoned, "Pete wasn't in charge of guarding the confiscated equipment on that lot that night, was he? You were the one in charge, Osmo."

Sheila shrugged. "Yeah, well, that's the way it goes sometimes. Hey, Mita, no sense in you and I also being punished by hanging around watching Omso scrub cars. I saw a nice hat downtown yesterday. I think I'll get it today. Want to come along?"

Mita Morgan hesitated, then said, "I would, but I promised Gov. Bright I'd help him go over some files when he's done here."

"What?" Sheila Bright found this news to her. "That's funny. Uncle Xavier never said anything to me about needing help with any files. He usually asks me when he needs help."

Mita explained, "Oh. He's going over some personality files, to spot potential traitors like Clyden. Since I had some psych classes in school, I volunteered to help him.”

The other girl considered this. "Oh. I never had any psych classes. I guess I would just be a proverbial fifth wheel then, wouldn't I? Okay, I'll go get the hat by myself." She said 'bye to Osmo and Mita and went off to get her truck and head downtown on her trip to the hat store.

Osmo Martin resumed cleaning the vehicles.

Meanwhile, Gov. Bright told the five-person team, "We must find out what's become of the R and D Lab. I need to know their situation. Contact must be restored. Also, a few miles to the north is an Enviro-Gen for that zone. I want you Agents to visit there as well, try to learn why it seems to be malfunctioning, and do what you can to get it back online so that I can program it remotely from here. Pete, you know a little bit about that stuff, don't you?"

"Yes, Sir," Pete verified.

"Good. I had a Weather Tech stationed there all by himself. He may need help to figure it out. Maybe he’s hurt, for all we know. He may even be dead by now. I expect the Team to get answers."

"Yes, Sir," said the Team Leader.”

“Satellite viewing shows the weather conditions to be very severe in that zone. It'll be rough going,” promised Gov. Bright, “and the challenge will be finding a place to land in the deep snow. It's been blizzarding there for weeks, and the storm is so thick, we can see very little via our eyes in the sky."

"Don't worry, you can count on us. We'll get the job done," some youth promised.

And Team Leader Agent Hasbro vowed, “We won’t return without success!”

The other Agents heartily agreed.

Gov. Bright smiled appreciatively. "Yes, I am counting on you. Thank you. All of you. This problem, how things stand at R and D, we must know ASAP. There are many secret projects and testings there, some only on the drawing board, others nearly complete, which, if they fell into the wrong hands, would spell disaster!"

The five Agents stepped into the aircar, enthused to be entrusted with such a task. The aircar lifted off and glided away into the clouds.

Mita Morgan walked over to Gov. Bright's side, and the two of them headed over to the Governor's mansion, leaving Osmo Martin with only B-12 for company.

Up in the aircar, Team Leader Hasbro paid no attention to the landscape passing by. He studied options for how to handle their job, reviewing the written orders.

Agent Verna effortlessly piloted the craft. Once at a respectable altitude, she put it on autopilot, which made her job so easy, at least for now. These larger models required more effort when flying manually. But on autopilot, it flew like a dream. However, when they would reach the area full of the storms, autopilot was no option. She did not look forward to the flight through the blizzard in such a large airship- A smaller craft would have been a lot more maneuverable. But a small skycar was too small to hold the five of them, and they needed a larger team, per the Governor. Gov. Bright had deemed it wise to send enough Agents to handle the unknown that awaited the team at the R and D Lab.

When they were halfway toward their destination, the wind began to push and shove. Hard. The swirling greenish snow partly obstructed their visibility from the viewport The aircar shook and swayed. The autopilot no longer was able to compensate for the erratic wind currents.”

“I'm switching to manual flight," the pilot announced.

She strained to keep the flying craft on course. The further north they traveled, the more she strained. The others saw with concern her difficult time to keep them in the air. By this time, most of the crew's enthusiasm had melted into a puddle of concern.

"Maybe we should turn back?" Pete suggested.

"Are you serious?" questioned Team Leader Hasbro. "Gov. Bright is counting on us. Shall we let a little bad weather trouble us and make us quit?"

And so, onward they went, onward and onward, and the storm intensified.

Agent Verna gasped, "I- I don't think I can do this alone anymore. Somebody's got to come over and give me a hand!"

The Team Leader answered her call for help. Taking a place by her side, he struggled with Agent Verna to keep the controls, and the aircar, aimed in the right direction. And afloat. It required absolute attention and lightning-fast reflexes to correct their course constantly with only a fraction of a second to spare, and with no room for error. The blizzard-flying took its toll on their stamina and strength, and on Hasbro's courage as well. Finally, he acknowledged, "Maybe we should return to Sparkle City, like Pete said. The humiliation we'd have to face can't be as bad as us trying to cut through this impenetrable storm!"

Agent Verna said, "Now it's too risky. If we try to turn about, the wind will catch us and spin us out of control!”

"Well, we can't continue on this way," said another. "Maybe we should just try to set down somewhere, and call for help.”

“Agreed," said Agent Hasbro. "Call the city and tell them our plight, although it's doubtful anyone can get through this weather to help us. I think we'll be on our own when we land."

Agents Verna and Hasbro slowly dipped the front of the aircar toward ground, slightly banking to the left, carefully beginning their slow descent, intending a gradual spiraling descent to catch as little turbulence as possible.

Everyone's eyes searched for a suitable landing site. Agent Roo continued to radio "Mayday, mayday!" until he reached the Governor's communications officer in the city.

"Copy that," the officer told Roo after Roo apprised him of their troubles. He buzzed Gov. Bright from his terminal, who then listened in on the SOS call.

Roo apologized to his superior. "We gave it our best shot, Sir- Whoa, that gust hit us harder than anything yet! Practically gave us whiplash! Sir, we're nearing ground level. The wind's even worse, the lower we go- - Ugh, what a jolt-- - zzztt—-“

And then static only came over the receiver at Sparkle City.

Gov. Bright, sitting in his inner office, buzzed back his communications officer. "What just happened? Can you not communicate with them anymore??"

"Negative, Sir. It seems we lost them."

"Let me know if you do hear from them again."

"Yes, Sir."

Xavier Bright sat back in his chair and sighed deeply. He shut off the channel to his comm officer. Mita Morgan looked up from the files on his desk but said nothing.

He said, as much to himself as to her, "I won't send anymore there until the storm abates, if it ever does. It'd be a pointless loss of good Agents."

The Governor pondered his next move, then took out his personal pocket screen. After entering a few passcodes, he brought up the screen for the R and D Self-Destruct program. "Too bad it's come to this. I hope for their sakes that the techs and staff are already dead. I won't have our secrets taken by some opponent who never had to sweat for them."

"Yes, Gov. Bright," Mita answered understandingly.

He pressed the ACTIVATE button on the screen. A message appeared, stating, amazingly, Unable to Complete This Operation

Gov. Brown frowned. He tried a second time. Again, the same message.

And his cell-comm unit called for his attention. He took the call, bewildered, and seeing the impossible- The cell-comm could not identify from where came the call.

Dr. Kitchen's voice spoke. "You can keep trying all you want, Xavier. The truth is, your self-destruct device won't work here at this time. I discovered it a long time ago. I moved the activation circuits to a different power line and made this recording for you, in case you ever did press the button which you just did press. Maybe one day I might need the self-destruct myself, so I did not disable it. I merely put it on an unused power route. But it is still there, very much waiting to be activated. But I won't let you destroy the place while I am still alive here! Oh my, if you are getting this call because you already tried to destroy us, then maybe something has already happened to us and you don't want our toys to fall into the hands of enemies. Hmm, I really do hope I am still alive! Anyway, let me congratulate you, Xavier. It was quite a masterpiece, your self-destruct system that you made. Very impressive, I must say- far better than anything you ever came up with during my classes!"

And then the call ended with a loud chirp.

Mita Morgan looked over, concerned, seeing the fire in the Goveror's eyes.

Xavier Bright slammed his personal screen device, with the blinking Failed message, onto the desktop, nearly breaking his screen. "How did she find it and manage to foil me with the R and D self-destruct?! I had it put in before any of the current techs arrived at the lab. I can't get the destruct mechanism to work!"

The Governor fumed. "Clyden has left me a mess of problems with which to deal. I am tempted to toss him to the Eaters personally, myself!"

Mita nodded. "If I can be of any help with your problems, feel free to let me know.”

Gov. Bright confessed, "Mita, you please me. I find you an asset to have around. I think you understand me better than does my niece. She, too, has always been a wonderful help, of course, but, to be honest, she never quite got it. Not the way you do, Mita."

"Yes, Governor."

Meanwhile, at Abyss Gorge, Nina McCleer, Albert Zoeniga, and X-9 said good-bye to their cave, ready to set out on their own journey to the R and D Lab.”

(c) drk 2012