Busy Skies: The Council Dissolution

by Ivan Svogor

  At this time, we know that there was a scientific experiment at the Antarctica research facility that resulted in an accident. This accident somehow triggered an underwater earthquake which produced a tsunami. The tsunami wave hit other Africa. Although there are monitoring systems in place, and defense systems, some of them failed. In today’s session, we will collect all the latest information we have, discuss the actions, and propose the solutions to mitigate this problem. Since this is a matter of environmental monitoring and security, councilors Krueger's and Frost will be in charge.”

  While councilor Larsson was continuing his delivery, councilor Krueger was surprised that he alone wasn't in charge to carry out this investigation. He wasn’t worried about that, however deep inside he felt a bit threatened. While he didn’t quite know how to feel about this, deep inside he was really worried about potential issues with environmental sensors and tsunami defense systems that should have prevented more deaths. This is where councilor Frost should focus more investigation , he thought to himself.

  Across the table, councilor Frost was thinking about the work that is ahead of her, mostly about inspections she needs to carry on and information to collect. For a brief and intense moment, councilor Krueger and councilor Frost locked eyes, but then nervously councilor Frost broke it. Meanwhile councilor Larsson was showing the aerial footage of the current situation at the Antarctica research facility. “I think we will also need to involve the councilor for Science in this matter”, he said.

  Upon seeing this, councilor Frost abruptly recalled her talk with Mrs. Potts and with a worrying expression she lost herself in her thoughts. The more she thought about it, the more she felt uncomfortable. It was just a short while ago when she found out what happened with the Winson family, and now she was listening to reports about the tsunami which originated at the Antarctic research facility. Deep inside she hoped that it couldn’t be linked together, for the benefit of everyone. It’s time to investigate how deeply councilor Krueger is involved in everything and to deal with Mrs. Potts’ claims.

  Her thoughts were soon interrupted by several questions she needed to address. She was in the spotlight to discuss the proposals from her advisers and discuss them with the Council. She snapped out of her thoughts, tucked her hair behind her ear, as she so often does, and answered all the questions directed her way.

  * * *

  After the meeting all councilors mingled and discussed the situation. Councilor Krueger came up to councilor Frost to express his willingness to cooperate.

  “Dear councilor Frost”, he said, “I am excited to be working with you. I hope that we can resolve this issue as soon as possible and I hope that together we can come to the bottom of this. We need to find out why the systems failed to reduce the number of casualties and didn't react sooner”.

  Councilor Frost was intrigued by this remark since councilor Krueger immediately went to the issue of addressing the environmental system check, pretending as if the problems with security and safety, which were in his domain, don’t exist.

  “Councilor Krueger”, started councilor Frost, “though we haven't worked much in the past together, from what I've had the opportunity to see you're a man of action. I appreciate all the help I can get. Would you please briefly join me in my office to discuss further actions? - I am sure that you, as for me, would like to get things moving as soon as possible.”

  After an engaging conversation, they have exchanged several ideas and managed to agree on a short term plan.

  “Councilor Krueger, I was just wondering, when was the last time you visited, if you ever had, the Antarctic research facility?” - asked councilor Frost. Upon hearing this his heart started beating a bit faster, but he managed to keep his temper as he answered, “I haven't actually. I was planning too, however I’m in contact with Dr. Quill who is in charge there. I like to be on top of things, and I appreciate any info about the Rock and whether it possesses any kind of danger for us. What about you?”

  Councilor Frost responded, “I visited a long time ago, while I had another job. I remember that it was a fascinating installment, and thought remote, it’s a pretty place to work at. In any case councilor, It was brought to my attention recently that there might have been some security and safety problems, and I’ve been meaning to send an inspection team to verify whether the facility was damaging to the environment. Do you think we can arrange the cleanup of the mess that happened?”.

  Councilor Krueger just awkwardly smiled and nodded his head. He excused himself, and left the room.

  Councilor Frost then dimmed the lights and sat in the room while looking at the Earth through the window. Her brain was on overload and after a while, when she organized a plan in her head, she logged into the CEMS to do some research.

  CEMS is the Council’s of Earth Monitoring and Statistics tool, a piece of software, almost resembling a game. One could see the entire Earth, zoom to any place, and get the latest statistics. Some information was delayed, while some were available at a glance. For instance, one could monitor social parameters like the number of newborns, deaths, or energy usage and also the environment and environmental trends. Councilor Frost used this tool on the daily basis, however, this time she was not interested in Earth. She opened Krueger’s profile and looked at the organizational chart of his department. All military and security locations on Earth appeared, and the full statistics were available. She has seen several people in charge of this, but one, in particular, was very interesting. That was commander Edmund Hewitt. He was right up there among the top executives related to the military, and his record has shown that he recently visited the Antarctica research facility.

  Councilor Frost opened a full and secure communication channel, and in the middle of the room, a 3D hologram of Mrs. Potts appeared.

  “Kamila, I would just like to report back on the issue you raised with councilor Krueger, “said councilor Frost, adjusted her hair and continued. “I suppose you have seen the address from the Council and the meeting”.

  “I think you did very well”, said Mrs. Potts.

  “You’re very kind, thank you, but this is not the time for speech analysis and bragging”, said councilor Frost, and continued. “I think that you’re on to something. I had a brief meeting with councilor Krueger. He was overly friendly and pleasant but something just seemed a bit off. I think he is very cunning. I’ll need to pull some connections and get to the bottom of this, alright? In the meantime, I think you should stay put. Please, for your own safety, don’t expose yourself too much, and tell your friend to stay with you.”

  “Alright Patricia”, said Mrs. Potts. “Thank you for going through this.”

  It’s really not a problem, at this point it’s important to understand what’s going on. I will keep you in the loop Kamila, until our next call.”, said councilor Frost and ended the call.

  She called her assistant and said, “tomorrow morning, please arrange transportation for me to the Sahara military base. I will be visiting commander Hewitt, but please, don’t announce my arrival. This is an incognito trip. Nobody needs to know about it, and I think that unannounced inspections always produce best results.Am I being clear?” Her assistant nodded her head and left.

  Chapter 19

  Earlier that day, before the Council’s meeting, commander Edward Hewitt was sitting in his office in the Saharan military base. He was looking at the satellite imagery of the Antarctica research facility, while his screens were full of messages, charts, faces of various people. He was performing security analysis and was expecting the call from councilor Krueger.

  His office was large, almost like someone’s house. There was a huge rectangular desk that could probably fit 30 people in the middle of the office. The walls were surrounded with brick and books as the entire facility was designed with high efficiency and functionality in mind. It was almost industrial and very cold, but yet, wooden elements brought a bit of humanity and warmness. On the floor was a beautiful dark gray carpet
in the pattern and style of sand, while the ceiling was completely made of tinted glass. In the corner, was Hewitt's private working desk, along with a side room that facilitated a small kitchenette and bathroom. In many ways, it was similar to the Antarctica research facility, however, there were no civilians.

  The base was mostly underground, while only the ceiling was visible from the outside. It was made of huge glass which allowed the personnel to feel as if they were outside, however, protected from the desert heat. Underground was also hosting an intricate web of tunnels connecting various parts of the base, while it also had a huge ring tunnel that was used for exercise and running. While the weapons these days aren't used at all, several highly classified hangars housed military projects mostly focused on weapons. While these weren’t classified in order to hide something, but rather to protect people who worked there from judgment, as it was a bit frowned upon by the public.

  Without announcement, a hologram of councilor Krueger appeared in the middle of the room, right next to the table.

  “Greetings commander Hewitt”, he said.

  “Councilor Krueger”, said commander Hewitt and nodded. “I was expecting your call considering the situation at the Antarctica research facility. I have deployed rescue forces and help in the flooded areas, and also, we have stated on the investigation and safety analysis”.

  “Good”, replied councilor Krueger. “Good work commander, I just wanted to check in on the status, however, it seems that you have everything under control. Later today, the entire Council has a meeting, so there will probably be updated on your further activities”.

  “Very well sir”, said commander Hewitt.

  “I expected nothing less from you”, continued the councilor, “ but we do have a slight issue at our hands. It seems that Dr. Quill is missing. We are still not sure whether he is a casualty of the accident, but my sources tell me that he left the facility yesterday afternoon. It would be of utmost importance that we brief him on our Lunar activities”.

  “Does he have clearance from the Council sir?” - asked Hewitt.

  “Yes”, responded councilor Krueger. “Most of the people there who were involved in the experiments we have recently inspected are now gone, including Dr. Winson. Therefore we need to find Dr. Quill, brief him and get his help on our Lunar project. He is currently the one who holds key knowledge that can push us months forward, considering that we have managed to salvage all the data from yesterday’s accident”.

  “That is great news”, said Hewitt. “I will immediately dispatch a team to find Dr. Quill. Do we have any dates or deadlines concerning the Lunar project?”

  “At the moment, we need to focus on finding Dr. Quill, however, we would like to be prepared for the launch as soon as possible”, said councilor Krueger. “Commander Hewitt, that would be it for today, keep me in the loop”.

  Commander Hewitt stood up and nodded as the image of councilor Krueger faded away.

  * * *

  Hewitt was about to assemble a reconnaissance team for the Antarctica research facility as well as the team to discover whatever happened to Dr. Quill. But then, one of his assistants came in.

  “Commander Hewitt, I'm sorry to interrupt you in your work”, he said,” however, we have a situation. We have an approaching a har with three passengers. They were identified as scientists from the Antarctica research facility, and the person who we have been talking to is called Mike Quill”.

  Commander Hewitt raised his eyebrows in surprise and a slight smirk started to shape on his face, and the assistant continued. “They say that they know you sir and that they would like to talk to you. How would you like us to proceed, sir?”

  “Ha ha, but this is great news”, said commander Hewitt. “That’s Dr. Quill, a lead scientist at the Antarctica research facility, and I just had a conversation with the councilor about the importance of finding him. You can proceed by allowing them to land, and then please take care of them. Also, organize a meeting with them as soon as I finish with today's meetings. That would be all”.

  His assistant nodded and left the room.

  Hewitt looked at the sky, made a frowning face, and said out loud, "well what do you know, this is an interesting turn of events, hum."

  * * *

  In the har approaching the Sahara military base was Dr. Quill, Lee, and Carlo. “They must let us in, I don't know why we need special permits, what can they do?” - asked Carlo.

  “They could shoot us down”, said Dr. Quill.

  Carlo’s eyebrows raised, while Lee on the back seat fightingly asked, “really? They could do that?”

  “Sure”, replied Dr. Quill. “They are the military. They have the weapons and if you don't abide by their rules, they consider you a threat”.

  “So why don't we ever read in the news anything about hars being shot down near the military bases?” - asked Carlo.

  “You don't read about it, because nobody is interested enough in the military, nor stupid enough to mess with them”, answered Dr. Quill. “Also, I am pretty sure they would find a way to impact the visibility of that kind of news story”.

  While Carlo was preparing for a new question, their conversation was interrupted by the communication from the base.

  “Dr. Quill, commander Hewitt confirmed your identity and we would like to welcome you to the Sahara military outpost. Please, park near the entrance, where our personnel will meet you. Later on, a meeting with commander Hewitt will be arranged.”

  “Thank you”, said Dr. Quill and gestured to Carlo, who was driving to proceed to the landing area.

  After Carlo has parked, Dr. Quill exited the vehicle like an old school nobility. He looked dignified and had a very self-confident posture, proceeding to the entrance, while Carlo and Lee followed as if his kids were amazed by everything. Walking through the main corridor, Dr. Quill kept his cool as from the various windows one could see military men and women engaging in fights, exercising, welding their vehicles, cleaning, etc. Carlo and Lee were pretty much like they had a short attention span, they were watching all over the place and several times almost hit other people walking around the corridor. In particular, one thing found their focus. There was an entrance with tinted glass that said “Research facility.” Carlo and Lee stopped at that sign, and Lee smirked.

  “I wonder what they are working on”, said Lee. “I guess that the most brilliant minds behind that door are finding the latest and greatest, most sensational and efficient ways to kill people”, said Carlo sarcastically.

  “Ha ha, yes, they are probably doing science”, said Lee theatrically, while making air-quotes at the word science.

  Both of them started laughing, almost in disdain. As they were laughing, they didn't notice that Quill was out of sight, and that behind them was a military woman. “Gentleman, can I help you?” - she said.

  Both of them were slightly startled, as they didn't expect anyone behind them, and in fact, they weren't proud of their remarks, but sarcasm was a way to speak about the military, almost regularly these days. Many people backed the idea of abolishing it.

  “No, no”, said Lee. “We were just, we were here”. “We are visiting commander Hewitt”, said Carlo and interrupted Lee's stuttering.

  She frowned and said, “please, follow me to the guest hall.”

  They started walking behind her, like a couple of kids that got in trouble. Soon enough, they were in the guest hall where Dr. Quill was talking to commander Hewitt's assistant.

  “Aha, there you are”, said Dr. Quill, “these are my colleagues from the Antarctica research facility, Dr. Xi and Dr. Fuccini. Usually, they are on top of things, however, it seems that today I'm having a kindergarten excursion”.

  Both Lee and Carlo blushed a bit and greeted the commander's assistant, who said; “Since this visit was not announced Dr. Quill, commander Hewitt will be joining you a bit later. I hope you understand that we are pretty busy dealing with yesterday’s catastrophe. While you are waiting, please, feel fre
e to use guest facilities. You will find easy-apartments up the stairs, also, there are some holo-rooms, working areas and food quarters”.

  “Thank you”, said Dr. Quill, “in fact, we will have lunch since our trip was fairly lengthy and then, we will prepare for the meeting with the commander and also, I have a ton of messages to take care of”

  “Please, if you need our input or assistance, don't hesitate to ask”, said the commander's assistant, nodded her head, stepped back, and rotated on a heel, and left the area.

  Dr. Quill turned to face Lee and Carlo, and said; “Dr. Xi and Dr. Fuccini, I hope I don't need to remind you that our task here is important. So, I would expect the two of you to act accordingly.”

  After both of them apologized they proceeded to get lunch. The food quarter was settled on a nice terrace that was overlooking the area. From there it could be seen that while most of the surrounding area was artificial, and from the ceiling, one could see the desert, there was one part of the facility that was a cave.