October 15th, 2043, Week-7. Before school that Wednesday morning,
"Alright son, I understand where you are coming from, but we cannot just take in a complete stranger into our home. What has gotten into you?"
"She is no stranger, Dad. She is my lonely homeroom teacher and I am one of her only friends," I replied. "Dad, she lives all by herself in some crummy apartment somewhere. Please Dad; have some mercy."
"Mercy!" he repeated. He put on a look that told me he was planning something. His smile actually made my hair stand on end. "Alright, here is the deal. You give up future ownership of the laptop and maybe I will consider it!"
"Sandrique, dear!" cried Mom.
"Don't worry honey; I know what I am doing."
'Oh, no! He did not!!' But he did. I looked down to the floor. 'What now!? I orked so hard! SO HARD! How could he even suggest this? And, could I really sacrifice...' The image of miss Daina's sorrowful expression flash through my mind. She did not deserve so much unhappiness. "Non..." I muttered under my breath.
"Huh? What was that? Speak up son."
"A laptop is not worth a human life! I shall take my chances!" I declared, looking him dead in the eyes. A look of shock erased his smirk. It looked like I did a good job.
"Bill, I had no idea that you felt so strongly about this... You were even willing to rise to my bait and sacrifice the subject of your labor over the chance that I would still disagree anyway. I was not expecting you to be so foolish." A soft smile appeared, "Or so wise. Alright son, you win. You can keep the laptop as long as you maintain your end of the bargain. And... You can have your other wish. I just hope you know what you are doing."
"Ohhh! Thanks Dad! You're the best!" I replied. "Now it's up to her choice!"
"Hold on just a minute there, Bill and Sandrique Punjabé!" intercepted Mom. "Are you two serious about this!?"
"I am sorry, Honey, but we are. Bill won fair and square."
At that Mom just sighed. She always knew when not to drag out something. "Alright. I won't argue. It's bad for your health anyway, Sandrique dear." She then turned to me. "Bill, you must love this teacher of yours quite a lot to go at this length for her. Is she that special?"
"Well, in a word, yes. But she was suffering a lot until she met me. I have been helping her out for the past six weeks or so."
Mom and Dad both looked shocked. The reason was that I was one to mind my own business. "You are not the same little boy who made mischief with Samuel, are you?" asked Mom. I shook my head in the negative. "Alright then, talk to her and see how it goes. If she refuses, then let it be. Understand?"
"Understood; thanks, Mom!" I grinned widely.
Armed with their permission, I laid out my idea on Miss Daina after homeroom was over. At first, she did refuse, saying "that she couldn't possibly" and I "...had already done enough."
But with the help of Lauren and Tanaka, she finally gave in and agreed. She moved in with us that very afternoon. When she gave my parents her story, the whole truth might I add, they had compassion and were genuinely sorry for her. She was officially accepted into the family via the Punjabé Group Hug. She became very happy from then onwards. I had finally succeeded in fulfilling my silent promise.
*****
October 17th, 2043.
Friday, week seven saw the 8th grade on a field trip to Lava Isle City. We were heading to the LS Plasma Research Center to learn about pyrium, the resource that made Santa Pyre so rich and was named after it because it could only be found here to our up-to-date knowledge. Honestly, I was super excited about this.
Three large buses were hired for the trip. In the bus for Class 8-A, I sat near the front with Miss Daina, Lauren and Joseph. It was a little after 11 AM and we were just passing West Sun International Airport and entering West Sun Suburbs. I saw a jumbo rising up into the sky.
"Isn't this exciting, Miss Daina?" asked Joe. Although she had given him and Lauren the permission, they still preferred to refer to her formally.
"Indeed," giggled Daina. "From what I've heard already, pyrium is a scientific marvel! It's thanks to it that we have all the wonderful stuff we do today. It is even capable of easily reaching the fourth state of matter."
"The fourth state of matter!?" I exclaimed in shock. My Integrated Science class was just learning about the fourth state of matter, known as plasma. Well, plasma was more like an elevated gas state. It was the state that lightning existed as, which explained how it could move so fast; the gas state has the most kinetic energy out of the first three states. The plasma state could carry electric charge, so if it was an elevated state of gas, then its kinetic energy would be phenomenal. Oops, sorry for the physics and chemistry there, if I bored you.
Soon, our convoy was crossing Sir Midian's Bridge, which connected the mainland to Lava Side Island. There was also an underwater train tunnel. I had ridden it once and that was enough for me; while it was cool, it was also far too scary. I settled to look out of my window. I spotted a small pod of dolphins chasing a sailboat. "Daina, look!" I pointed them out for her.
"Oh! How cute! Good eye, Billy!" she cried, her features brimming with childlike joy. "They are so fascinating! I love dolphins!"
It was revealed to me that Miss Diego had antagonized her from her very enlistment at the school. After what happened with me and Tanaka, Miss Diego had no longer caused any trouble, actually becoming mellow and doing her job properly. Regardless, Daina was very happy in school. And moving in with the Punjabé family was the best thing that ever happened to her. After a single day of awkwardness, she became good friends with Ameera and evolved into an older sister to us. She was not even recognizable anymore. I could no longer say with surety that she was once a depressed, broken individual on the verge of suicide.
"Bill? Bill! Hello?"
I broke out of my thoughts, "Oh! Sorry, I spaced out there."
"Oh... Well, um, we have just entered Lava Isle City. It won't be long until we get to the research center."
"Oh, okay. Great!" We exchanged smiles.
When we finally piled out of the bus into the parking lot, I could barely contain my excitement. We were finally here. I was shaking with anticipation. "Calm down, Billy! You look like you are ready to burst!" laughed Daina.
She was joined by Matthew Kirkland (Mrs. Kirkland's husband) and Cory Reynolds, 8B and 8C homeroom teachers respectively.
"Alright everyone, gather around and listen up," called Matthew's bass voice to order. "I want you all on your best behavior today. Especially you, Mr. Samuel Fuller. You are still in hot water." I saw Sammy cringe up. "Moving on, I want to say to you that this is not just for fun. Form groups of three and learn as much as you can."
Cory took over. "Everyone is responsible for their members. Report all problems as soon as they come up, okay? At the end of the day, each group will have to make a report on pyrium due next week Monday to be handed in to us, your respective homeroom teachers. That will be all. Enjoy!"
I quickly formed a group with Lauren and Joseph. I would have gone with Sammy, but then I remembered that we were in different classes. Soon, we were on our way.
At the door of the building, we were greeted by the Head Scientist. He was a tall man with steel grey eyes and a huge deal of silvery hair. He must have been in his middle to late forties, or even his early fifties. "Hello, hello, everyone. Thank you for coming. It is good for the youth to learn about our nation's greatest asset. Come with me to the auditorium. We will begin the presentation at once!" He turned on a heel without waiting for any of us to answer and we followed him into the facility.
Inside was not very stylish, with lots of white walls and exposed steel reinforcements. Workers, scientists and their assistants hurried to and fro with smiles. They seemed to enjoy their work. The auditorium was a good walk from the entrance but soon we were there. We piled into it and sat down according to our groups and classes. My group sat near the front rows and Daina came next to me. We began to wait. It was a large room, and a little chilly thanks to the A/C units.
"Isn't this exciting, children?" asked Daina. I nodded a little too enthusiastically and my two friends sighed.
Soon, the head scientist and a woman came onstage from the left. "Hello again, everyone. I apologize for my rudeness earlier and the wait. I am Doctor William Williky, Head Scientist of the LS Island Plasma Corp Research Center." He placed a hand on the smiling woman's shoulder. "This is my darling wife, the CEO of SP Plasma Corp Energy Ltd, Doctor Julie Williky."
"Good morning, all!" She greeted us with a wave. Everyone waved back, even if they did not feel like it. She was very beautiful and attention drawing. Her hair was dark and she wore glasses. They appeared to be about the same age, so their contrast in hair colors was odd.
"Once again, I thank you for coming all this way. I hope you enjoy your time here. Sorry, but I must go now. Please give her an attentive ear for the next half hour or so. Bye." With that, he hightailed it away. He must have been a very busy man, wanted on every square inch of the facility at once!
"Alright everyone, without further ado, let us begin." She went to a podium and picked up a stack of papers, probably her notes. "Larry, lights! Roll the projector!" She said suddenly. The curtain behind her rolled away to reveal a giant white canvas screen, followed by the killing of the lights except over the stage and behind us. A beam from the roof projected onto the screen. I looked up to see a super duty projector. Looking back to the screen, I saw pictures. There was one of a bright red stone, pyrium ore, and one of the atomic structure. Julie began to read her paper, "Pyrium, Symbol 'Py', atomic number 150 and possessing a mass number 310 in its most common isotope, is the heaviest metalloid known to man, a scientific marvel of an element. It has two isotopes discovered so far, and each comes in a form of the first two states of matter at room temperature. They are given the abbreviations SRT, Solid-at-Room-Temperature; and LRT, Liquid-at-Room-Temperature; for easy reference. Pyrium SRT, mass number 300, is mined as an ore in the mine near SP Plasma Corp Power Plant and the mine west of Lava Isle City on Lava Side Island, and LRT, mass number 310, is obtained from pools in the Vermillion Resource Mines on the west. In the Boiling Swamp on Lava Side Island, pyrium LRT can be found as well, but it is at its boiling point of 350 degrees all the time, constantly releasing pyrium gas. Visitors are asked to wear face masks or don't get too close as the gas is lethal to living things, according to Sir Arthur Midian, the beloved father of our country."
The slide changed to show a picture of the inside of one of the Vermillion Resource Mines. We could see a worker standing at the left of a pool of the LRT pyrium isotope. It looked like red colored mercury. Next was a shot of the Boiling Swamp. The bubbling water was muddy red; most likely chock full of the LRT pyrium mixed in. The pyrium gas looked like bromine gas in a test tube, even having a reddish-brown color.
"But listen to this, everyone. If the gas is collected and heated to 600 degrees, a process called ionization takes place and it loses electrons to become a cation in the plasma state of matter! As you should probably have learned already, plasma is thought to be the fourth state of matter and is the theoretical state that lightning and general forms of electricity exist as. But, it is also thought to be the state of matter in stars such as our Sun. The easiest way to get a plasma is to heat something to the extreme, so if stars are very hot due to all those nuclear fusion reactions, just think about how likely that possibility could be." I gasped. The next slide changed to show a bright light within a bullet proof glass container. I could make out red bolts like one would see in a picture or movie. "Now, here comes the fun part. Pyrium has many uses despite its eccentric properties. It is primarily used today as an energy source. Mysteriously, one does not have to do much with it at all. An untainted piece of the SRT simply connected to a circuit will power anything else connected. However, when the LRT is boiled, the high energy pyrium steam produced can be used to turn turbines at high speed to produce tons more of electricity, and it releases no harmful chemicals or greenhouse compounds, making it far superior to fossil fuels, which as you know ran out in the year 2033."
A sad look appeared on her face for a moment. 'I wonder if what she has to say next is troublesome,' I thought.
"The world was heading into chaos over that loss, and the Earth was already so hot by then." The look disappeared as the slide changed to show all the wonderful uses of pyrium of today's world. Liquid pyrium powered engines for cars, ships, aircraft and other automobiles. The solid isotope could form a heat resistant steel alloy with iron by adding the metal tungsten into the mix. The solid isotope could also be used to produce super long-lasting batteries by combining it with lithium for direct application in lots of different devices, such as; phones, laptops and power tools to name a few. They were specially insulated to avoid danger of strong electric shock unlike regular batteries, though. Anyway, if something ran on electricity, you could bet your bottom dollar that there was a picture of it on that slide as proof that it was either being developed or out on the market already. This presentation must have taken forever and a half to make. "Even as I speak, SP Plasma Corp is pleased to supply our nation's electricity needs at a generously cheap rate!" The long string of pictures ended to show the Industrial Grade Plasma Power Generators located at the Power Station near Saint Pyre, the capital of Santa Pyre. They were rated at a hundred PetaWatts each.
A serious look came upon Mrs. Williky's face as she took off her glasses. "While pyrium is undoubtedly wonderful, it is very dangerous if misused. Sadly, when things were still hectic in the past, attempts were made to weaponize it. One organization of Arms Dealers, known as the Burning Solaris, made a powerful explosive of LRT. In 2037 they sold it to South Korea during the Inter-Korean war. The aftereffect of the explosion was a tremendous heat in the form of an almost solar level plasma shroud." The next slide was different. I actually had no idea what I was looking at, but it could be likened to a strange kind of fire. The picture was all wavy with a crazy miss-mash of colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, cyan, purple, silver, white and black. "North Korea was forced to give in the following day. The entire world took that experience as a very crucial lesson and began to look coldly towards the Burning Solaris. They are no longer in operation as of our current knowledge. To that, I say thank goodness!"
We all shared a laugh.
"Thankfully, more beneficial practices through world cooperation are being researched and undertaken, such as the provision of world energy. Right now, I've heard that they are developing an aircraft to fly to the atmosphere to collect all that trapped carbon dioxide and to return it to the surface, which should help in the fight against Global Warming. Alright everyone, we have come to the end. To conclude, I want to say that pyrium is just wonderful. It is my hope that it will remain beneficial to man for a long time to come, and that young minds such as yourselves will take up the great task of further research. I thank you for giving me your time and attention." She gave a little bow as the screen shut off and the lights came back on. Applause rang out from the room.
Dr. Williky came back on stage just then. "Thank you, everyone, for listening to my wife. Now, it's time for an intermission. And then class by class, as there are a lot of you to manage, we will take a tour through the facility. Who knows; some of you may come to work here in the future! So, I'm sure that it would be great to get familiarized." Even as he spoke, I somehow knew that this was what I wanted to do. I was sure that I could excel at Chemistry under Miss Daina's guidance. "We will start in forty minutes. Refreshments can be purchased near the entrance. You might remember the bar that was there."
As Daina and my group left the auditorium with the others, I could not shake off a bad feeling in my belly. Was I developing an ESP for that sort of thing? I hoped not.
*****
It was about 1:20 PM when we began and naturally Class 8A went first, much to the dismay of the others. Hey, it was not my fault that they had not made the cut six weeks ago; those tests were of medium difficulty. Regardless, where was I?
When I thought of a term to describe the place, state-of-the-art was my misjudgment. It was an understatement. Futuristic was more like it. They had the latest of equipment. Every room we went into elicited a shower of "Ooh!" and "Ah!" along with the occasional "COOL!" from my classmates. Daina too, was enjoying herself as she explained what some of the machines were and did from her knowledge of Chemistry.
"That's a Centrifuge. It is used to separate different chemicals in a mixture by spinning really fast."
"Interesting," said a few students.
"Oh! That is a Fractional Distillation Column! It separates a mixture into different parts based on the individual boiling points of those parts. Did you know that long ago, a few countries of the world used giant versions of these to process crude oil?"
"Whoa!" exclaimed the more interested students, not knowing this fact since it was no longer being taught. Fossil Fuels were not relevant to our contemporary time anyway.
Daina continued at the next chance, but on something unexpected. "Wow! A super mainframe computer! It can work out complex operations and scenarios that would have our good doctor here scratching his beard in confusion and stress!" We all had a good laugh at the expense of our guide. His face was blushing. Looking at him I saw that he did not even have a beard. Actually, it was shaven.
And even he could not help but join us. 'Ha! Ha! Ha!' "To be completely honest, Miss, you are not wrong. Without this Super Computer, there would be many things we would have never learned about pyrium."
We continued to the final room. He stopped us in front of a heavily armored door. "Alright everyone, here we are, our final stop. This, everyone, is our Particle Accelerator Room!"
"They have a Particle Accelerator? Wow! SP Plasma Corp must be really wealthy if they can afford to run something as sophisticated as that.' I looked at the faces of my friends and classmates. Some were shocked, some looked as if they knew already, and others did not really care that much.
"Is that possible?" asked Joe.
"Why, yes indeed, young man! After all, we have been doing some forms of this since the 19th Century! If you do Physics at College level, you will learn all about it. For example, X-ray machines use heat based particle acceleration to produce the X-ray radiation. Besides, you all are about to see ours' for yourselves!" We gasped. "However, safety first. Wait here." He went to the door adjacent and went in.
He and an aide came back out with a black bag. "Hello, everyone! My name is Keith. I'm William's right hand man," the aide introduced himself. He took out and showed us a pair of sophisticated looking goggles, followed by a thick, long sleeved, dull silver hoodie cloak. "Please take one of each." We lined up and were given the items. "You will find out what they're for soon enough."
"These look very cool," I commented, inspecting the items. The cloak was fairly heavy for some odd reason.
When everyone was equipped, William and Keith went back to the armor door and he entered a pass code into the number keypad at the right. We heard the sound of numerous locks disengaging and finally the door slid open to the left. "This, my dear friends, is where the magic happens! Welcome to the future!"
Before us in the room was a solid lead wall. Dr. Willikies went to a control panel and pulled a lever. The lead wall rose up to reveal the other half of the room. In the center of that half was a large metal cube with a metal cylinder topped by a metal platform.
"Everyone, before we lower the Lead Shield, please put on your special goggles and your cloak," instructed Keith. "The chamber will be chock full of high energy UV radiation when we fire it up, which can blind you if enough of it gets into your eyes, and cause skin cancer if you don't have protection!" We all obeyed quickly, not wanting to take these deadly warnings lightly. Keith gave a twice over, and then nodded his head in satisfaction before putting on his own gear.
William had his gear on. "Alright everyone, all systems go!" We watched as William entered a code into the number keypad before pushing a big red button. Humming sounds filled the room as the Particle Accelerator came alive. William entered another code, and another lever popped out at the left of the panel. William pulled that one down, and the cylindrical 'shield' came down to reveal a glass cylinder. Within the cylinder, we could observe something glowing rotating at very high speeds. Along with that were bright red and purple bolts of electricity bouncing around erratically. It was beautiful and hypnotic to watch. I could not take my eyes off it even if I tried.
"Just look at it... It's so... unreal," said Daina.
"Daina... I can't find words to describe this... It's just so... impossible."
We all took in the sight for another few minutes, and then William raised the shield. We then took off our goggles and cloaks and turned to him.
"From your faces, I can tell that you are all amazed," he said. We turned to look at him. "Tell me. What do you think?"
"It's awesome!" exclaimed Joe. "How does it even work?"
"Well, it's all complicated, don't-try-this-at-home stuff." This answer was disappointing. "But I'll let you be the judge of HOW complicated it is," added William quickly. "Keith, if you please?"
"This is a heat based particle accelerator," began Keith. "Inside the bullet proof glass chamber is a rotating jet burner. As it spins, it releases tremendous heat. The heat excites the electrons of the solid pyrium pieces placed inside the chamber. The excited electrons break off from the pyrium, building up a strong electric charge. The electrons travel at high speeds, bouncing around the chamber and into each other, the collision of which results in X and UV rays, which as you know are invisible. However, so much electricity builds up that you can see it as lightning-like bolts. Neat, huh?"
"COOL!" I exclaimed with Joe and some of the others. I looked at Daina, my homeroom teacher and surrogate step-sister.
She looked at me with a kind smile, causing me to blush slightly. I could not get over it despite seeing it so often. This morning, she had gotten up early and made breakfast. Mom was jealous since Dad was giving attention 'elsewhere.'
Suddenly, a droning alarm filled the airwaves. "What!? Everyone, stay calm!" exclaimed William.
"Shane probably set lab number 3 on fire again," said Keith quickly. "He's so clumsy when he carries things around!"
Suddenly, there was a bang and a plume of flame erupted in the left corner of the room. The ground rumbled violently and we lost our footing. We watched in fear and remained crouched as three men dressed from head to toe in black rushed inside from the hole after several seconds. The first man had a grenade launcher/rifle hybrid weapon while his two companions, a shorty and a big guy, carried more conventional weapons.
"Alright, listen up good, everybody!" commanded the weapon wielder with a gruff, menacing voice. "Nobody makes a move and nobody gets hurt... again!" A wave of fear washed through me as they all laughed.
'What does he mean, "again"?' I pondered. I put two and two together. 'They have weapons. It's quite obvious what they've done.' I shuddered exceedingly.
"Hey! Who are you people!? This is a restricted area!" challenged Dr. Willikies, standing up. "What are you after!?"
"Shut up, old man!" the intruder shot back. "Who we are is none of your concern." I noticed the picture of the sun with an X through it on his shirt. He pointed his weapon at the scientist. "As to what we want..." He motioned for his partners in crime to be on standby. "My team is the spearhead for the taking control of this facility. We just want to take possession of your precious Particle Accelerator! It is impertinent to our organization's plans!"
"WHAT!?" exclaimed William. "But it's dangerous! Are you people insane!?" He stepped forward but a bullet exploded near his feet, causing him to fall back on his bottom.
"Didn't I tell you not to move!?" exclaimed the rifle wielder. "The only reason I didn't hit you is because your knowledge is valuable. You will be coming with us." He looked at us frightened kids. "The others are worthless!" His gaze fell on Daina. "Now here's a real eye-catcher! You there, the woman! Stand up!" Daina quickly obeyed. "You are awfully captivating. How about you ditch these brats and come along with us? We could have a good time."
A horrified look came upon her face. I watched with shock as it quickly morphed into anger and she took a step forward. "I'll do whatever you want. Just let the children live. They don't deserve any of this." This answer shocked the living daylights out of me.
"Now that's a cool expression. You would have been most wonderful."
'Huh, did he just speak in past tense?' I thought.
"Since I was in a reasonable mood..." He switched the aim of his weapon to her, much to my shock. "I might have complied. But... You made a grave miscalculation."
"You don't have a real say here, and we can't afford to leave any witnesses, anyway," said the short one.
"It is really too bad. You are just my type, after all."
"No..." I saw it, his finger reaching for the trigger. He would really do it: shoot her. Seeing Daina about to die, any sense of self-preservation I had was thrown away as I got up. Before I knew it, I was screaming, "NO!!" I bounced into her just as the weapon was fired. The round tore into my right shoulder before continuing to hit the wall behind me. "GAH!!" Make-you-beg-for-death pain wracked me as I collapsed. Blood began to seep from the nasty, agonizing wound.
Daina was at my side in a second as screams erupted. My eyes were shut tight from the intense pain. "BILLY!!" Horrific worry was in her voice as I heard her tear off a piece of her dress. I heard a rush of footsteps and the sounds of fighting, soon followed by another shot. As Daina worked to tightly tie up my hideous wound in hopes of slowing down the bleeding, I slightly opened my eyes to behold a chaotic lightshow of red static bouncing around the room. They were streaming out from a hole in the shield of the Particle Accelerator. The fluorescent bulbs exploded overheard and the energy fed into them.
The room began to grow hot and my skin felt itchy, as the shield lowered. Very weakly, I said, "Da-Daina... We... we have to... To get out of here!"
A flash erupted. "Whoa!" We both looked to the Particle Accelerator. In ridiculous slow motion, I watched as the glass cylinder cracked and contorted before imploding on itself.
"AAHHH!!!!" Daina and I screamed out in pain as the now freed energy and radiation detonated in a blinding light with a bang. And then I knew nothing. Darkness. Never ending darkness stretching as far as the eye could not see.