Busy Skies: The Council Dissolution

by Ivan Svogor

  Mrs. Winson stretched a smile and said, “Jess, that's normal. Do you think that anyone else has everything figured out? Nobody knows what the fuck they are doing. We can sometimes agree on common goals, about the directions where we want to go, but as individuals, we are just fighting the currents. We would like to think that we are in steady waters, but we have no idea what's coming around the corner. Jess, you are doing great”.

  “Really, you think so?” - asked Jess.

  “Of course!” - her mother replied. “When I was your age, I was far more confused and clueless. You only need to stop comparing yourself to others, you need to release yourself of the social pressure. While you might think that we gave Dave a hard time, your father and I were proud of him. He was doing what he enjoyed and didn't care. You see Jess, our mind always generates ideas, when we present it a problem, and problems are just the things we don't have answers to. Problems are generated when we imagine a situation and compare it to our current situation, and the solution is your journey. There can be many journeys so you try and pick up one with which one you think that you would be satisfied. But in reality, you cannot pick a journey, it picks you. So instead of making impossible goals and not reaching them, you need to understand where your journey is taking you and enjoy it. Nothing else matters”.

  Jess was staring at a point in the room, and she was clearly thinking hard. She looked at her mother and said, “thanks mom. I need to think about everything, I need to sleep it over and take a single step at a time. I guess, there are no more large plans for life, just small increments”.

  Mrs. Winson hugged her and stood up to leave the room, at the door, on her way out she said “big plans will come again Jess, everything it it’s time”, she smiled and closed the door.

  Chapter 16

  The following morning, everyone except Jess was having breakfast. Mr. Holtzman was mostly interested in the construction of the underwater city, and Mrs. Potts was happy to explain its intricate ecosystem. Hank was following the story, as was Mrs. Winson.

  “Good morning”, said Jess. She was walking from the hallway and approaching the dining room. She was fully dressed up, she made a ponytail and got herself together. Hank was glad to see her, and the rest of the group was also positively surprised.

  “I would like to say something if you don't mind”, said Jess. “O dear, of course, what's on your mind, said their host”, Mrs. Potts.

  “For the past few days”, started Jess, ”I was a complete mess, my thoughts were in disarray and I hope that everyone can understand this considering what we have been through. However, I would like to apologize for my behavior and breaking down. It was simply too much for me, and it still is, however, I had some time to contemplate everything that was happening. I've had time to process it, to think about the future and what can I do, or what I need to do. I feel much better now, and this is thanks to all of you. Thanks, Mr. Holtzman and Hank for getting me and my family here. Well, at least what is left of it. I am grateful that it ended up this way as it could have been much worse. Mrs. Potts, I would like to thank you for having us here and for helping us. I don't understand why, but clearly, you are a decent person and I hope that one day I can return a favor in some way”.

  Jess was done with the little speech that truly made her feel much better. She hated the idea that everyone had seen her in her vulnerable state and that she couldn't pull herself together. The fact that her mother, who lost so much was able to handle this with more composure. As her thoughts wandered off, Mrs. Potts smiled approvingly and asked her to join them for breakfast.

  “Jess, have you ever tried sea lemons?” - asked Mrs. Potts. Jess looked around the table to check whether this is some kind of a joke or was she being serious.

  “I am sorry”, said Jess, “but I have never heard about that. So, I have to say no, I didn't”.

  Mrs. Potts continued, “sea lemon is a genetically amended lemon plant. It was modified in a way that it can manage to grow underwater. It has different leaves and it looks different from a lemon, but it is packed with vitamins that people underwater miss”.

  Hank asked, “isn't that originally made while the first space travelers to Mars experienced huge losses in vitamins, and were unable to grow the tree without gravity”?

  “I don't really know”, she replied. “One of my friends is growing it so I have access to good and fresh stuff”.

  She grabbed a piece from the table and started cutting it. It was the size of the plum, dark red and semi-transparent. Mrs. Potts peeled it, just like you would a lemon, and placed it into a juice machine. On the other side, came a blurry semi-transparent colorless fluid to which she added honey.

  “Here, this will make your day, also, please feel free to take anything you might like from the fridge” - said Mrs. Potts.

  Jess remembered all the good croissants she used to eat for the past few weeks in the Antarctica research facility, and here she was in this underwater house with only food that is healthy. She needed some comfort, and while grateful for being alive and safe, she was a bit skeptical. She opened up the fridge, and it was mostly filled with fruits and vegetables. With a sad look in Hank’s direction, she noticed him choking with, what appeared to be a ham sandwich.

  “Hank?” - she asked. “Could I have a bit of that ham that you are eating?” He blushed a bit and replied, “I’m sorry but, Mr. Holtzman and myself have been awake a bit longer, and we went to the market and bought only two sandwiches like this. Here, take mine, please.”

  “Jess, I did buy some fruit pastry if you are interested”, said Mr. Holtzman. Jess smiled and immediately went for the bag to which Mr. Holtzman was pointing and thanked him, as she almost choked with the first piece she took. Mr. Holtzman as if he had won some strange competition, looked at Mrs. Potts and just said, “hum, interesting”, and he continued eating, to which Mrs. Potts gave him a frowning look. The backstory here is their continuous argument about food.

  Mrs. Potts said, “ah youth”, and sighed.

  Everyone was enjoying the breakfast and the talking points were mostly small talk. Hank was trying to keep Sam away from his sandwich, Mrs. Potts and Winson were discussing a recipe, while Mr. Holtzman was reading the newspaper. However, once Jess was finished with her pastry she went for the drink, and all the eyes were staring at her. Jess didn't notice at first but everyone was on their toes.

  First, Jess smelled the juice. It didn't have a lemony smell nor colors, it seemed to be well filtered though it was misty, probably due to microparticles of pulp. Finally, she went for it, and she drank about half of the glass, which she put down and noticed that everyone is looking at her with a smile on their face. The taste of the juice was fairly good, very similar to a sweet lemonade.

  “What’s happening”, she asked since everyone was staring at her.

  Nobody said a word, and she started feeling her stomach growling. Again, and again at what point she started feeling a bit uncomfortable. She started feeling very weird and a strong throw-up urge overwhelmed her. Just as she stood up to get to the bathroom she burped and everyone started laughing. She felt very embarrassed, but as she realized that everyone was watching her, she assumed that it was a kind of a prank.

  “What's happening here?” - she asked again.

  Mrs. Potts started explaining. “Because of the acidity of the sea lemon, and some other things I don't understand. When the juice reaches your stomach acids it starts to produce gas which normally needs to go out somewhere. People also call this burping juice, and if unsweetened and concentrated it can be used to induce throwing up. However, it is very good for you, it contains a lot of vitamin D and it's an excellent remedy for depression. No worries, everyone had it this morning and everyone was embarrassed at first. We had a good laugh and I am a bit of a prankster myself. I hope you don't mind”.

  Jess now had a completely different view of this old lady and was caught off guard. Positively surprised and perplexed, she smiled along with the rest and appre
ciated the joke, kind of.

  However, the past few days were terrible she thought to herself, and a good laugh was what she needed. Also looking at the joy that brought to Mrs. Potts, Jess suspected that she probably wanted to make her smile. It is a good cure for depression and hard times, and Mrs. Potts was a doctor after all, seemingly wise.

  * * *

  Later that day, Hank went to Jess's room to talk with her. “Jess, we need to talk”, he said.

  Jess was standing at a computer, looking at some charts. As Hank opened the door, she switched the display to the default image and said, “sure Hank. What's on your mind?”

  “I just wanted to tell you that I am really sorry for everything that's been happening. I understand that you need to process a lot of emotions, but if I can help you in any way, I am here for you”.

  “Hank, you already did so much”, replied Jess. “If it was not for you we would not have this conversation right now. I mean, you saved us. I don't know what else you could do, but I am grateful for this”.

  Jess's face was serious, almost melancholic as she was thanking Hank, and Hank realized that she was sinking down to the dark place. Before that could happen, Hank went a bit closer and patted her shoulder.

  “Jess”, he said, “it's alright, and smiled. I just miss the old hot-shot Jess that keeps shooting me down”.

  “There is plenty where that came from”, said Jess and smiled. Several seconds of silence followed when Hank finally said, “as far as everyone is concerned, all of you are gone now, and back in the Academy, no one knows that I was visiting you so I'm not at a loose end. This means that you guys should lay low, but I will need to go back in a few days.

  Jess frowned a bit and asked, “to lay low? I'm not laying low, someone just systematically tried to kill my entire family. Not just anyone, you have seen the projection. It was a council member!”

  “We are not completely sure about that and our evidence is inconclusive. We were talking for the past few days and we were not sure how you are going to react or act”, said Hank. “But everyone seems to be on the same page about one thing; you need to be careful, but as long as councilor Krueger and Cox think you are dead, there is no danger for you. Well, you and your family. So, we need to sit down and develop a plan. This is, in fact, why I am here. We are about to have a meeting with Patricia Frost. Mrs. Potts still has strong connections and knows important people so we will help us get to the bottom of this”.

  “The Patricia Frost? The councilor for the environment?” - asked Jess.

  “Yes”, replied Hank. “That Patricia Frost, it turns out that Mrs. Potts pulled some strings and managed to get a very brief meeting with her. She intends to ask what's happening on the Council and tell her about councilor Krueger. Apparently she knows her from way back.”

  Jess thought for a moment, “and asked, when is the call? Do we have some time to sit down together and discuss this”?

  “Sure”, said Hank, “everyone is in the living room already discussing the next steps, let's go”.

  The two of them joined Mrs. Potts, Mr. Holtzman, and Mrs. Winson in the living room and sat down. Mr. Holtzman was in the middle of a presentation, as it seemed. The holo-projector was displaying a map, along with a network of faces. Jess recognized councilor Krueger and Dr. Quill.

  “I am telling you, this is our best move now”, said Mr. Holtzman. “We need to tell councilor Frost that they have killed the entire Winson family. We cannot reveal that Jess is alive. councilor Krueger sits on the same councilor and how do we know that he doesn't have everyone bugged? How do we even know that he is alone in this? Maybe the entire Council shares this opinion and maybe they are all in on it. We cannot reveal all our cards. Simply put, Kamila, you just need to reveal to her that I, an old neighbor of the Winsons survived the vicious attack on the family and that I've also seen incriminating footage”.

  Mrs. Potts said “I agree with you however I trust Patricia. Before she became a member of the Council, long before that we used to work together and I used to oversee her work. I can tell you that she is very reliable and she will go above and beyond when she is on a mission. She will help us”.

  Mrs. Winson was reserved and didn't add anything to the conversation, however, she has been following the arguments of both parties. As Jess was just about to say something, the corner of Mr. Holtzman’s holo-projection started fading between orange and red color, as if to signal a message.

  Mr. Holtzman waved his hand to open it, and it displayed a news story about the death of a scientist Dr. Jessica Winson. As everyone was carefully listening, Mrs. Winson looked at Hank and nodded her hand, as if to say, “I told you so”.

  “Jess?” - Hank asked, “did you log in to any of your accounts or went through any of your messages, emails, or whatever since we were here?”

  At first, Jess was silent as she slowly realized what she did. “Yes I did, not too long ago”, she said in shame, “I received an email from Dr. Quill in which he asked me for a meeting. It seems that he will be leaving the Antarctica research facility, and he wanted to talk about the future of my work there”.

  Just as Jess said that Mr. Holtzman sat down and made a facepalm gesture, and then started nervously rubbing his forehead. “Fuck” he shouted. “If anyone is tracing Dr. Quill's messages they will know that Jess logged in to her account after she was declared dead”.

  “O shit, I'm sorry”, said Jess apologetically.

  “We cannot know that Dr. Quill is under surveillance, also, since they have already made up this bullshit story about Jess’s death, they probably don't care anymore”, said Hank.

  “Yes, but we don't know that, do we?” - asked Mr. Holtzman.

  “Well there is nothing we can do now”, said Jess’s mother, ”it is what it is. Besides, a call from the Council member will start any moment now. We will regroup after, for now, let's focus on what we agreed, and let's take care of the meeting”.

  * * *

  On the holo-projector, an image of a mid-aged Asian woman appeared. She was dressed in traditional clothing for female councilors, and on her shoulder, there was an insignia of the council.

  “Hello Patricia”, said Mrs. Potts.

  Councilor Frost smiled and she was genuinely glad to see her old friend. “How are you Kamila, it is so nice to catch up with you after all these years. How’ve you been, she asked?”

  “Ah, you know, enjoying my quiet days, getting older and getting closer to the expiration date”, said Mrs. Potts.

  Councilor Frost started laughing, tucked her hair behind her left ear and said, “I hope it's not that melancholic as you make it sound, but then again, knowing you, I would not expect any different answer”.

  “How is it in the Council these days?”” - asked Mrs. Potts.

  “It's been great so far. The usual day to day mental aerobics, at moments I'm not sure whether I'm playing chess or messing with the bull, but I love it. However, I see that our time is limited. You asked to reach me on such short notice, and let's get to the subject matter. Maybe sometime in the future, we can set a date for catching up, heck, you should visit here. Yes, I'll make arrangements for that”.

  “If you insist, of course I will", said Mrs. Potts, “who am I to argue with a councilor”. Both of them found this remark amusing, but in fact, since Mrs. Potts was supervising councilor Frost for so long, it almost seemed as Mrs. Frost was trying to establish dominance by reminding Mrs. Potts of their brief time together. With her remark, Mrs. Potts simultaneously acknowledged her superiority, and very subtly brought her closer to her level.

  “I would like to know more about councilor Krueger”. said Mrs. Potts.

  Councilor Frost frowned at this, as if slightly worried, and started, “hum, I must admit I don't know much about him. He is in charge of security and usually, he doesn't contribute much to our meetings of the Council. Most of us don't have high regards for this entire branch. The Military academy, tough training, ranks, and so on. Mostly this i
s considered irrelevant and archaic, but at some level necessary because of its relationship to mining and resupplying. I believe he does his job well, from what I've seen. Why do you ask specifically about him?”

  Mrs. Potts then went into a story, while the remainder of the crew in her living room was behind the camera and didn't give away their presence.

  As councilor Frost was listening to the story, she made a lot of eyebrows movements and frowning faces. By the time Mrs. Potts was finished, she seemed to be a bit lost in her thoughts as if she had seen a ghost. Simultaneously she could not quite believe what she was hearing. She was continuously tucking her hair behind her ear, which seemed almost like a nervous tick.

  Then Mr. Holtzman walked into the holo-cam and said, “it is a pleasure to meet you councilor Frost, I'm Mr. Holtzman, the neighbor of the Winson's that Kamila mentioned. I saw everything and I have data to back it up”. ad