utopia unraveling (The Virtagwala Series Book 1)

by Kyle Malinowski

  Mikey ignored her and continued to cut the meat; his elbows still on the table. Getting irritated she told him again, “Mikey, get your elbows off the table.” He looked at her and explained he needed to keep his elbows there in order to cut the meat. Flipping out, Rachel pointed at him with her knife, “Get your fucking elbows off my table right now young man! And don’t talk to your mother like that,” she scowled.

  Xavier made another face at her, and she turned to him. Neither said anything but he could clearly sense the tension. The main course plates were taken away, and the little bowls of peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream came out of the kitchen. In that time between the elbows incident and the peach cobbler Rachel had taken a few moments to calm down. In a more chipper mood she asked, “Xavier when are we leaving this Saturday for the vacation house? I wanted to get my nails done before hand, but if we are leaving early than I just don’t see that happening,” she scooped some ice cream into her mouth.

  Xavier looked up, and then raised an eyebrow at her, “What trip to the vacation house this weekend?”

  She rolled her eyes and dropped the spoon, “The trip you said we would be going on two weeks ago when you cancelled it, and rescheduled it for this weekend.”

  Confused, Rove removed his blackberry from his pocket and checked his calendar, “Sorry hunny it doesn’t look like I will be able to make it out there this weekend. I have a lunch and afternoon meeting with Prime Minister Zhang, and that Senator from the United States.”

  She bit her lip in rage. She glared at him with disbelief, “What the hell Xavier? I can’t believe you are ditching me, and your son, to have a meeting with someone you don’t like and a man who’s not even from this island and that you don’t want anything to do with,” she shook her head in disgust.

  “I’m sorry dear, but I have to. It is my job,” Xavier attempted to rationalize. “Next weekend?”

  “I can’t, I have a weekend at the spa with the ladies,” she rolled her eyes, “It’s always going to be a ‘next weekend’ with you isn’t it? That’s how life is going to be from now on, isn’t it?”

  Xavier shrugged, lost and attempting to rationalize, “Rachel this is my job. Hundreds of thousands of people are relying on me to do my job. Thus is the burden of being President.”

  She sighed and got up from the table, “Yea well I guess ditching your family for meetings with the ‘guys’ is the upside of your “job”. I hope you enjoy the sleeper sofa in your office, because that’s also a burden of your job,” she grabbed her martini and scooted out of the dining room screaming behind her, “Mikey your father will help you with your homework. Mommy’s off to take a nice long bubble bath.”

  Rove rubbed his eyes, and looked at Mikey, who stared down into his ice cream bowl. After dinner Mikey went off to his room to start his homework, and Xavier settled into his study. He had some documents and briefs to read that Ray had sent home with him. After nine o’clock, he finally heard the footsteps of his son approaching. Knocking on the door, Mikey entered the room. Xavier looked at his son. He was tall for thirteen, and lean. He was an avid athlete in any and every sport. His favorites were swimming and soccer. He also signed up for Boy Scouts on his own, which surprised Xavier. For, both Xavier and his brother, Anthony, had been Eagle Scouts.

  Carrying his book, Mikey sighed, “Dad, I need some help.”

  Taking off his reading glasses, Xavier sat up on the leather sofa, making room for his son. Setting the briefs on the table next to his water bottle, he grabbed the textbook from Mikey’s hand.

  “So what are we studying here? You up to your time’s tables yet?” Rove played around with the book pretending to read it.

  “Dad, that was like the third grade. This is for my Virtagwallan history class,” he squealed, while attempting to get the book back from his father to no avail.

  “Naw, its mine now. My room,” he winked at his son, “my book. Ok, this is simple. Founded in 1756 by a lost English explorer - settled because it was a good midway point between Hawaii and Asia - set up Villaggio - later found gold. People flocked here. US took us over during their imperialism age, and then we got independence as a side effect of World War II. Done,” he laughed giving the book back.

  “I know all of that stuff,” Mikey said reopening the book, searching for a specific page.

  “Oh well then what do you want with me then?” Rove quipped sarcastically, watching him flutter through the pages.

  “We have a test tomorrow on the history of Virtagwalla from 1855 during the Villaggian revolution up to the construction of Chapel Silos on the newly built Ponchertrain,” he found the page. “I guess what I am fuzzy about is how Ponchertrain came to be.”

  Rove laughed, “Aw yes, Ponchertrain. Well the easiest way to put it, is that everything in Ponchertrain, everything from the buildings to the streets, to this house, to the rail lines – are floating in Ponchertrain Bay.”

  “So Ponchertrain is ‘a floating city’?” Mikey snorted with disbelief.

  Rove sighed, “Yes that is accurate to say. You know why it was built right?”

  “Why the City of Ponchertrain was built? No, should I?” Mikey asked thumbing back through the book.

  Rove exasperated, “Yeah, that’s ninety five percent of the reason why Ponchertrain is a floating city in the first place,” his son’s face showed his confusion. Scratching his head, Rove began, “Ok, picture it. It is the late eighteen hundreds. There are a couple hundred thousand people in Villaggio. Villaggio was founded as the site for the only settlement on the island, built around really the only existing usable bay. The early settlers, miners, prospectors, and wild life enthusiast used this body of water because it was the only space on the island not claimed by the jungle. The earliest settlers that came in search of the gold never made it back because of the Virtagwallan dragons and the other brutal forces of the jungle.”

  “Brutal forces, what kind of brutal forces?” Mikey asked confused.

  “What are you learning in this class? Other brutal forces…” he asked surprised. “Ok well there were the dragons, and the other types of animals in the forest like the Villaggian Panther, which is significantly more dangerous than their South American cousin. David Villaggio, a wealthy Italian prospector coming to Virtagwalla to make his fortune just that much bigger - our first capitalist, founded Villaggio. He had no intention of ever going into the mines, but instead wanted to establish a post were people could stay and trade their gold for currency. The post started around the harbor because it was easily navigable, and the coast for several hundred yards was just bare grass. And thus is where the village of Villaggio was born,” he said rather matter- of-fact.

  “Ok but what does this have anything to do with Ponchertrain and why it’s floating?” Mikey asked getting impatient.

  “Patience young one. We will get there. After one hundred and fifty years, and especially after oil was discovered, it became clear that the population of Virtagwalla was going to be exploding soon -especially since they saw the industrial age spreading across the globe. A team was put together by Mayor Wilhelm Ponchertrain of Villaggio to go out and find a site to start a new city on the island. The overflow city was originally meant for the criminals, the rift raft, and the members looking to escape the intense aristocracy of Villaggio at the time. The team went out, did some exploring, and found that on the opposite side of the island there was this remarkably deep bay. And the bay was surrounded by forty foot cliffs. But it was reasonably calm water due to the fact that the island, from aerial views at least, looks to be hugging the bay all the way around with a very narrow channel, probably a half mile wide, connecting it to the sea. Scientist now believe thousands of years ago an asteroid hit that exact spot, blowing out the other part of the island. I mean it makes no sense for there to be mounts at one end of an island and not generally in the middle. But I am certainly no geologist,” he commented smirking.

  “So I’m assuming it was on this new bay they found they built Ponc
hertrain. But why on the bay? And how can you build skyscrapers on something that’s floating?” Mikey asked still showing his confusion.

  “You see, it became clear early on that battling the jungle was of no hope. And that settling along the cliffs was also bad idea. So building the new city atop the bay was the only viable option. Albeit a challenging option, but only viable option nonetheless. And how he did it? Well, that’s where Mayor Ponchertrain really showed his brilliance. The tale goes that he wondered out into the forest one afternoon with his ten sons. That night they came back with one of the tallest Virtagwallan Cedars from about a mile into the jungle. Over the next year they tested the wood, its buoyancy, and ability to be warped,” he winked, and continued, “Mayor Ponchertrain was already in the business of building boats. He lead the only ship building company on this island at the time. But then, interestingly, he thought of bringing in the greatest barrel makers from around the world. After three years of work they completed the construction of a barrel roughly two hundred feet long with a one hundred foot diameter. It was built in the old ship yards,” he paused. “Can you imagine the size of this thing? I would be like taking the Titanic and encasing it in a massive barrel. After constructing the first one, they tugged it around the island and placed it in the bay. Seeing as the ocean floor was extraordinarily deep, Ponchertrain had a piece of bent steal, much like a hook, buried deep in the cliff face on the side of the island about three hundred feet below the surface of the water. From that hook each barrel was connected to it via chain,” he looked at his son. “Still with me?”

  Mikey took a deep breath, “Yea I think so. So what happened to this massive barrel?”

  “They built a wooden platform on top of it, roughly the size of a city block, and covered that platform with about ten feet of pure concrete. The pure mass of the concrete submerged the barrel into the water. On top of that concrete, they piled sixty or so feet of dirt and rock. Most of the fill came from the hash produced by the newly excavated mega mines, and it was carried along the newly built Highway 100 from the quarries on the jungle side of the mounts. By the time the rock and dirt were piled atop the cement pad, the barrel was completely submerged and most of the cement was as well. Over the next forty years or so, well into the 1930s, thousands of these barrels were built, and placed onto the harbor. Ponchertrain eventually grew out of the massive bay, and mushroomed into the ocean,” he smiled, “That’s the beauty of a floating city, you can just continue to expand it.”

  “How do the barrels all stick together? I mean why do they not just float away?” Mikey asked.

  “It turns out, they are all tethered together with massive chains. Each barrel is connected to the barrel on either side of it, and one massive line is connected to that center ring still in the cliff three hundred feet down. It’s kind of like the barrels are all balloons in a glorious bouquet – all their strings connected to the original anchor built into the side of the island. If one balloon moves, so do the others,” he explained taking a sip from his water bottle.

  “What about the waves in the ocean? Why isn’t the city affected by the waves or the tides?” Mikey asked.

  Rove chuckled, “Oh it is, you are just used to it because you have lived here your whole life. For me, I have lived here just as long as you have, but I have also known life on solid ground. The thing is, however, Mayor Ponchertrain and his engineers designed the city to be able to adjust to shifts in tides, and currents. A couple decades after the original city anchor was put into place on the side of the island, when deep-water submersibles had been developed, the MFS had a second anchor installed this time into the bedrock on the ocean floor. This anchor was designed to keep the city from adjusting as much with the general rolling motion of the ocean. The water levels rise and fall below the city, but the barrels, due to their buoyancy don’t move entirely that much. Plus you have to imagine the weight of the city that’s floating in the ocean. There are millions of tons of cement, and rock, and now buildings and people out over Ponchertrain Bay and the Pacific Ocean,” he looked out his window, “Truly an amazing feat of human ingenuity and engineering if I say so myself.”

  “But what about the buildings? How do you build a skyscraper in such shallow earth?” Mikey asked. Rove pondered, how his son had formulated such an interesting observation.

  “So the buildings were originally very short and wide. You are right the earth is very shallow before the cement slabs, and there essentially is no bedrock. Not to mention the fact the city is constantly rippling like a wave as the ocean’s tides and flows move in and out. Great observation son! It took the folks back then decades to figure it out. Chapel Silo was the first tall building on this side of the island. You see, the skyscrapers in Ponchertrain are unlike those anywhere else in the world. One of the reasons, Ponchertrain is one of the most recognizable cities in the world. All of the tallest buildings are pyramids: wide bases; narrow tops. No need for bedrock, and it reduces the sway of the building as the island moves. It was perfected by Capital Tower, which at the time of its construction shortly after independence, it was the tallest most sophisticated building in Ponchertrain.”

  Xavier’s last comment seemed to remind Mikey of something, “Oh, Capital Tower, right,” he looked at his notes of questions, “That reminds me, I am still a bit foggy on how the government ended up over here, in Ponchertrain? And are they still building onto Ponchertrain? I’ve never seen these massive barrels being built and placed.”

  Rove nodded and yawned, “You know your two questions actually go hand in hand. During the 1930s the United States Navy, the occupiers of the island at the time, decided to move the Provisional Territory Government out of the bureaucratic and crime infested city of Villaggio to the smaller city across the island. At the time much of the land had been built for Ponchertrain yet the push to move to the new city was slow. People were extremely cautious about the integrity and stability of the floating city. They also had a heck of a time building buildings that wouldn’t topple over due to the constant wave motion of the city. Furious, the lawmakers passed a law making it illegal to cut down any more Virtagwallan Cedars. Little did they know the industry of logging was one of the most profitable in Villaggio, and the peripheral industries that built the barrels and the other facets of the city’s foundation had consumed a large part of their economy. In time it would cripple Villaggio, bleed tax dollars, and lose investors. It went from the center of commerce and industry to a city dependent on its agricultural base, and simple industries like textiles, um, cloths and fabrics and stuff. All the while those investors and factory workers moved to the flat, vast space they had been building for nearly a half century – the city named for its founder, Ponchertrain,” he stopped allowing his son to soak in all the information. “Any more questions?”

  “How did you know all that?” Mikey asked looking at his dad with deep admiration.

  “I’m your dad, that’s my job,” he smiled, “Plus your mother and I both took a history of Virtagwalla class in college, and for a whole week we talked about the engineering marvel that Ponchertrain was, and still continues to be. I still have the map we were given, the schematic of how the barrels are linked together and floating in the bay. It is on the wall in my office in Capital Tower. I wish I had it here to show you,” he looked down at the brief he had been reading before being interrupted, then turned back to his son, “Aw well. The funny thing is you never would think of it, but building a city on top of wooden barrels, in the salty Pacific, offers for some rather unique risks really no other city on Earth has to worry about,” he laughed patting his son’s head. “Anything else little man?”

  “Like what kinds of risks?” Mikey asked intrigued.

  Rove looked at his watch, and noticed it was approaching ten. He smiled mischievously at his son, “Do you really want to know or are you just dodging your bed time?”

  Mikey smirked, “Mostly just dodging my bed time, but I do want to know what kind of engineering marvels are going on
now?”

  Rove rolled his eyes, “Well that is a story for another night. Let me just put this scenario in your mind. Each city block of Ponchertrain was built on a massive floating wooden barrel. What happens if one of those barrels rots through and springs a leak?”

  “Is that possible?” Mikey asked nervously.

  Smiling he responded, “Of course it’s possible. Will it, probably not. I wouldn’t be too worried little man. And even if it were to happen, we already have systems in place to make sure no water gets into the breached barrel. Don’t you worry floppy little head about it,” he stood up stretching, “Ok kiddo, time for bed.”

  Mikey sighed, “Ugh, now I’m gonna have nightmares about this, I hope you know that.”

  Rove chortled as his son got up and headed out of the study. Ironic were the events of the night Rove thought to himself. As he climbed the stairs he laughed in his head about how his son thought he just knew all that information about Ponchertrain off the top of his head. Little did Mikey know, and never would he find out, but the briefing that Rove had just finished reading when his son had entered the study was a breakdown of the one such system, managed by the Metropolitan Foundation Service, designed to protect the city from a breached barrel. He put his son to bed. Shutting off the light to the room, Mikey thanked his dad for the help. Closing the door behind him, he thought to himself, ‘He thinks you are the coolest dad ever.’

  Xavier Rove smiled to himself as he walked down the hallway, back towards his study for the night.

  11

  The Larynx Grand Central Station, located in downtown Ponchertrain was once revered as one of the most impressive structures of the modern time. Its remarkable limestone walls, and beautifully inlaid frosted glass windows made it look from the air, more like an exploding upside-down basket rather than a train station. It was a monument to Larynx’s grandiose vision of the most technologically advanced mass transit system in the world. Larynx Grand Central Station was not only designed to serve as the world headquarters for the Larynx Light Rail Corporation, but also as the central hub for the hulking light rail system seamlessly reaching across each part of the city of Ponchertrain and around the island’s parameter. It was easily one the most recognizable features of the legendary floating city. Located on the western side of the Park Giza, it stood as a breath-taking monument to the growth and development of one of the wealthiest and advanced metropolises in the world. The Larynx Grand Central Station housed all the Carriages while not in service, along with the mechanics shop, and corporate offices. Eric Larynx spent a devastating amount of time at the Central Station. He felt it was his home, even though he owned a sprawling mansion in upper Maynard, the residential neighborhood opposite of Settlerstown. His home was a lonely place, and Eric always preferred the hustle and bustle of the Central Station’s platforms.