Akasha 4 - Earth (10 page)

Arnold was undeterred, "Solar panel
construction consists of no less than a dozen minerals, all mined
in various places across the world. Cadmium, copper, titanium
dioxide—"

"Well what about radioactive waste?"
Carl interrupted.

"Miniscule at best. A soda can's worth
of waste over the entire lifetime of each person. Can be buried
with insurances of a million years of safe storage."

"Still not worth the risk, in my
opinion," mumbled Carl.

They both paused in their work and
glanced at me over their shoulders, as if they wanted a final
ruling on the issue.

"I'm still on the fence, guys. Sorry."
Actually, I was on top of the fence, standing on my tiptoes,
searching for Micah. I looked at Alex for support.

"There are advantage and disadvantages
for both." Alex was turning out to be quite the
diplomat.

The vessel jumped forward and Captain
Carl sounded the horn. Bee kicked to be let down, and ran to the
captain. "Me, me!"

He laughed and scooped her up. "Wait
for it…wait for it…"

I exchanged a confused glance with
Alex. Arnold had a smile on his face. Carl continued, "wait for
it…and…there! We are officially further than I've ever taken the
boat!"

The two men cheered. Bee pulled the
horn.

"Oh, man." Alex brought his hand to
his face, shaking his head back and forth.

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Yep. Before 2002, we had to move it
four feet from port every few months. A state requirement. But
after that – no need to sail it unless there was an
emergency."

"Like this?"

"Yep," he said, "like
this."

"Too bad we couldn't
take
that
boat."
Alex pointed out the window. A large battleship-looking boat sat in
the water close to shore, the front half almost completely
submerged. The number 325 painted white on the bow stood prominent
out of the water. The only redeeming quality of the steamship
compared to the navy vessel was the fact that is was
river-worthy.

The captain's shoulders sagged. "Yes,
well. Lots of other people wanted to take that boat somewhere.
After all the fighting, turns out what they should've been looking
for was a driver." He smiled to himself. "We're lucky the LST was
there, though – kept everyone away from good 'ole Spirit of
Evansville, here." He patted the instrument panel.

I smiled at the irony as we passed the
navy warship. I was charging into yet another battle with Shawn,
this time on a gambling steamboat with the potential of exploding
on its own.

The captain leaned over and said in a
low voice, "Toddler life jackets are in that bin, there." He
glanced over his shoulder, motioning with his chin.

"Oh, well in that case…" I walked over
to the bin and pulled one out. I glanced at Alex. "Looks like we're
staying."

Chapter
14

Thirsty?

"Did you get him?" Shawn asked the
guard posted outside the building. Shawn, Clay, and a small
contingency of Elementals rolled up to the state capitol
building.

"Inside, sir." The guard took their
bikes.

"Don't call me sir."

"Yes, S…Shawn."

Clay's short legs had to work twice as
hard to match Shawn's pace up the steps and down the length of the
building. They were directed underground by various guards posted,
and into a small storage room.

"Shut the door," Shawn ordered once
everyone squeezed inside. Shawn plus four Elementals, one of each
power, hovered over a man tied to a chair in the center of the
room. Clay sweated profusely, as did the man in the
chair.

Shawn removed the duct tape from the
man's mouth. The captive rubbed his cheeks against his shoulder,
but didn't speak.

"Gentlemen – this is the CEO of the
building company for Utah's first nuclear power plant." Shawn
circled the man, then stopped in front of him, bending down to the
captive's eye level. "What are you doing in Utah, rather than your
posh headquarters in New York?"

The man cleared his throat, eyeing the
rest of the group. "I was here when Daybreak hit." He looked
around. "Who are you? What do you want with me?"

Shawn didn't answer his questions.
"And so you decided to hang out; mooch off the Mormons."

"I…I…" the man stuttered, then trailed
off.

"Understandable. Most of them were
more than prepared for an event like Daybreak."

The man sighed. "I've been tied to
this chair for days. I am sitting in a puddle of my own piss and I
am thirsty as hell. What do you want?"

Shawn stood, moved behind the CEO, and
massaged his shoulders. "I want to know where you have been storing
all the supplies for your new facility."

"Why would you—?"

Shawn's fingers, digging into the
CEO's wiry muscles, cut him off. "Let's just move past the bluffing
stage, shall we? You said you're thirsty?"

Shawn stepped back and nodded to the
Water Elemental. He opened a bottle hanging from his belt loops.
Small droplets appeared in the air, joining together to form a
fist-size globe of sloshing water.

Every last Water at The
Seven had more control than that
, Clay
thought.

The CEO's eyes shifted
from the globe of water to the Elemental. "What
are
you?"

Clay slapped his
forehead.
Wrong thing to
say
.

The Elemental's stare went cold. He
reared his hand back, then forward, shoving the water straight down
the CEO's throat.

Clay stepped forward, hands extended
to help. Shawn pushed Clay back. Clay swallowed hard as Shawn's
eyes bore into him. They almost glowed blue in the dark storage
room.

The CEO gagged and choked. Every time
he managed to expel bits of water, it was redirected right back
into his mouth. With one hand still on Clay's chest, Shawn checked
his watch. "Stop."

The Elemental extracted droplets from
the CEO, but it wasn't fast enough. His face was going
white.

"I said stop!" Shawn shouted at the
Elemental.

The Elemental narrowed his eyes in
concentration, and extended both hands using physical motions to
pull the water out. Sweat beaded on his forehead. The CEO went
limp.

Shawn pushed the Elemental out of the
way, and pressed his hand to the CEO's pulse. "Alive," he nodded.
He slapped the CEO hard across the cheek. The man jolted awake, and
took a deep breath.

Clay let out a sigh of relief. The
CEO's eyes darted around the room, as if he had just woken up from
a nightmare.

"Welcome back," Shawn said. "Where are
you keeping the storage supplies for your nuclear
facility?"

"We…we don't. There was a chance the
permits wouldn't be approved. It wasn't worth the risk."

"Bullshit!" Shawn turned on him and
the CEO leaned back in his seat. "You suits had enough money to
push anything through. Although…there are always shortcuts to be
had." He tapped his chin. "What were your planned
shortcuts?"

The CEO furrowed his eyebrows. "I
don't know what you mean."

"Hmm," Shawn mumbled. "You've met our
Water."

The CEO automatically leaned away from
the Water.

"Wanna see what our Fire can
do?"

Flames lit up the room.

The screeching sound of metal against
metal made Clay cringe as the CEO backed his chair away.

"Fort Calhoun," he said in a panic.
"Nebraska. Right on the Platte River. It was being decommissioned,
and we arranged to have a majority of the parts and materials
refitted for ours."

"Now we're talking," Shawn said,
rubbing his hands together. "How far did it get?"

"The first—" he cut off, leaning away
further as the Fire came closer. "Can you get that out of my
face?"

The Fire backed off.

"The first shipment was ready to go,
but then…"

"Then what?" Shawn looked like he
wanted to strangle him.

"Then Daybreak. The shipment is
probably still sitting there on the river."

The Fire released his element, and the
tension in the room dissipated.

Shawn turned, putting his arm around
Clay and escorting him out. The Air and the Water followed. Heat
licked at their backs. Shawn paused. "You, too!" he yelled over his
shoulder.

Clay tried glancing back, but Shawn
kept a tight grip on Clay's arm.

The heat had gone away when the Fire
followed the group, but the man was left behind – still tied to the
chair. Clay hesitated, indecision racking his brain.

"You with me?" Shawn asked.

Now is not the
time
, Clay thought. "Yeah," Clay followed
Shawn and the rest of the group outside.

They retrieved their bikes, and headed
back for their island. Shawn kept a slow pace.

"A nuclear facility – here?" Clay
asked, angling his bike next to Shawn's.

"Country has gotta run on something,"
Shawn said.

Clay glanced at the Wasatch Mountain
Range. They were not hand-carved; they were thrust together over
time. Whatever fault line did that was still there, which meant the
potential for earthquakes. And their fearless leader wanted to
build a nuclear power plant right on top of it.

Shawn watched Clay eyeing the
mountains. "Lake Utah is the largest, natural freshwater lake West
of the Mississippi. Nuclear stations need tons of water to cool
down the core, and I plan on building a really big one."

"Why not saltwater? You can build this
thing in the middle of the ocean, away from the
population."

"Saltwater corrodes the lines and
valves. Besides – look at this place!" He gestured to the Wasatch
and the much smaller range to the west. "It is completely
protected."

Clay ran a hand down his
beard.

Shawn continued, "No one cares about
Utah except the Mormons, and they’re used to being pushed around.
I'm not too worried about earthquakes; that's what I have you for."
Shawn patted Clay's shoulder, hard.

Clay steered back and forth, thrown
off balance. By the time he had his bike under control, he had to
pedal hard to catch back up.

Shawn was still talking, "Though, I
can't say the same for some of the other facilities I have
planned."

"There will be more?" Clay
huffed.

Shawn shrugged. "As many as there
needs to be to power the world."

"How are you going to mine for the
Uranium?"

"What – you can’t find it for me with
all your 'Earth' magic?" Shawn smirked.

"Sorry – I'm not powerful enough for
that." Clay grimaced. He'd only seen one person with that kind of
power, and she wasn't with One Less. "So…" Clay peddled harder to
keep up with Shawn. They approached a hill. "How are we gonna get
to Fort Calhoun?"

Shawn looked down at his bike. "The
rivers will be the fastest."

Chapter
15

Patterns

Ohio, Mississippi,
Missouri, Platte.
I ran through the list
of rivers again. It worked better than counting sheep when I was
trying to fall asleep. Sheep reminded me of fluffy pillows;
something I had too long gone without. Bee stirred next to me. If I
wasn't careful, I'd wake her too. Then there'd be no sleeping for
anyone on the deck. I slid out of my sleeping bag and made my way
to the back of the steamboat, out of view of the night watch and
away from the sleeping mass that was my new army. I leaned over the
railing and watched the churning water left in our wake. I was
partly relieved to be on a boat powered by something other than my
own arms. Perhaps we could outrun whatever was chasing us. I
glanced behind me at Bee.

Or maybe not.

At the same time, we were approaching
our destination much faster, and we weren't nearly ready to face
Shawn and One Less again. I squeezed the railing, thinking of our
last battle with them. I’d almost won. I was seconds away from
destroying his EMP with Akasha, but something caused me to release
too early. Something horrible had happened…

Ohio, Mississippi,
Missouri, Platte.
I interrupted my own
train of thought with the familiar chant.

"You okay?"

I jumped at the sound of Susan's
voice. I turned, rubbing the rail imprint out of my palms while I
willed my pulse to slow. "Yeah…couldn't sleep," I
mumbled.

"Me neither," she commented, joining
me at the railing. "I keep thinking…"

"About how you've gone from Pocahontas
to Mark Twain?"

Her tight smile revealed a few new
wrinkles around her eyes.

"What?" I prompted.