Perpetual Power

by Randall Sudlow

  As they passed across the scenic overlook that had so impressed them on their way down the mountains, Fergus stopped the wagon and let them get out and stretch their legs. Mason walked beside Tressa as they looked out at the expansive vista. “It looks smaller somehow. Don’t you think?” he asked quietly.

  Tressa was silent for a moment as she surveyed the wide landscape. Following the line of the Magno-bus far below she replied, “The whole world has shrunk in just the short amount of time we’ve been gone. How small will it seem when we’ve been doing this for years?”

  Mason looked at her with a bewildered expression. “I never thought about that. You seem to always see the long term effects of something and I always just see tomorrow.”

  “It doesn’t matter as long as we can rely on each other and friends like Clyde and Ant and Chris. We’ll be fine,” she paused and then whispered, “Want to try and help the Seekers next year?”

  “Yeah,” he replied. “I think I’d like that.”

  They got back into the wagon and continued on toward Top Peake. After an uneventful night at the campsite they entered Top Peake without much notice. There was a good bit of traffic coming into town to set up early for the upcoming fall Festival week. Vendors and craftspeople were bringing their wares and finding places to set up their temporary shops. The little electric wagon blended into the festival atmosphere, but somewhere along the way they were recognized.

  By the time they pulled into the garage at the Amphitheater most of the town knew they had returned. Tressa and Mason were hugged by friends who ran to see them. Mason’s family came and quickly whisked him away back to the quiet, reserved halls of Whitewall. Tressa had started to put her gear together for the hike to her house when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She hoped it might be Roderick since he could at least carry her pack for her.

  She turned and found Ant smiling at her, “Want a hand?” he asked. Tressa threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tight. He hugged her back and felt her wince from the pressure. “Whoops. Sorry, still a little tender?”

  “Yeah. The medics said it would take a while to fully heal up. But it’s ok, I’m really glad to see you. How did you get here? I thought you’d disappear until next year.”

  Ant picked up her pack and they started to wind their way up the pathways toward Tressa’s house. “Christobol and I left Brazil as quickly as we could. We were able to make a jump to Australia and then back into Nome.

  “After a few days we were able to get a couple of stand-by seats to New Omaha. We hitched a ride up here with some jugglers. I even learned a few tricks.

  “We came to see my favorite cousin tell her first story of her first journey. Your mom’s been letting us stay at your house. How could we miss it? After all, I’m the hero of the whole story, aren’t I?” he joked.

  Tressa playfully grabbed his shirt and acted like she was going to push him off the tier. “Let’s see if the hero knows how to fly,” she teased him.

  They laughed and joked as they made their way higher and higher up the levels of the town. As they made their last turn they saw Malcolm McDonnell in his yard glaring at some kids playing in a yard below. Malcolm turned and saw Tressa. “We hear you almost got killed like your daddy. What a waste of time and money the Institute would’ve spent on training a girl. They should’ve Chosen one of my boys, anyway.”

  Before Tressa could answer, Ant drew himself up formally and said, “Dear sir, I’ll have you know that had any of your rugged sons been present they would join me in telling you that they would’ve wet their pants.” He bowed low and flourished his hand like a courtier. Ant looked at Tressa and they both started laughing. Malcolm McDonnell’s face reddened and he stormed inside slamming the door shut.

  They were still laughing when they reached Tressa’s door. She wiped tears from her eyes, “Ant I’m so glad you’re here. But you promised to let me meet more of our family. Can we do that next spring?”

  Ant just smiled and held the door open for Tressa. Inside was a mad house. People were talking, kids were running around and the smell of home-made food was filling the air. Tressa was shocked into stillness until her mom came around the corner from the kitchen. Gianna was talking to someone over her shoulder, “I thought I heard the door- TRESSA! You’re home!”

  Mother and daughter held each other and cried with happiness. Gianna was stroking Tressa’s hair and trying to hug her tight at the same time. Tressa simply held onto her mother and enjoyed the smell of her hair.

  Yvette screamed with joy and joined the hugging. They all cried a little and hugged some more. Finally, Ant cleared his throat. “Tressa, I would like to keep my promise to you.” He held out his hand and ushered her into the living room.

  “This is your Aunt Ruth and your Uncle Ronald. They have three children around here somewhere. Regan, Ryan and Reginald.

  “This is your Uncle Elmo. He says very little and always eats the last piece of dessert.” Elmo shrugged and smiled.

  “This is your Aunt Anna Maria and Uncle Tomas. They have four children here. Amalie, Rosemarie and Lavender. The oldest, Antonio, you have already met.” Ant waited for it to dawn on her and they laughed together.

  Tressa nodded at each of them and hoped her voice wouldn’t crack. “I am so overwhelmed meeting all of you. I hope we will have a lot of time to get to know each other.” She turned to Ant and said, “This is great. But, what about my Grandfather?” That’s who I really want to meet.”

  “I have saved the best for last,” he exclaimed, and looking over his shoulder at the other relatives, he winked and they laughed. “Go out on the porch and meet your grandfather.”

  Tressa ran toward the porch and then timidly opened the screen door and stepped outside. Swinging silently, watching the sun start its slow descent behind the far off mountains was an older man with white hair and gentle eyes. “I am Christobol Magellan DellaGotti. And you are my lovely granddaughter,” said Chris. He patted the seat next to him and Tressa sat down on the swing. She hugged him and then leaned into him with her head on his shoulder and watched the sunset. “Aren’t you going to say anything?” he asked quietly.

  Tressa thought a moment and said, “I’m glad you’re not wearing white socks with your black shoes.”

  Chapter 31

  The evening air seemed electrified to Tressa. She laughed to herself I guess it actually is electrified. But this is overwhelming on another whole level. I really hope I can hold it together when it’s my turn to speak.

  The fall Festival had been going on for several days. Tonight was the final storytelling competition. Tressa and Mason’s stories had been well received by the selection committee of the Storytelling Council. The committee reviewed all submitted stories and chose which ones to advance through the competition. Tonight the entire town would gather to hear Tressa tell her tale of the power plants. She knew if she told the entire tale – including Fergus’ betrayal, that Top Peake might never be the same.

  Yvette had only made her more nervous when the family was getting ready at home. “You’ll be fine. Besides, you’ve got all this new family here to support you,” she said.

  Tressa had been nervous before, but after hearing that she almost got sick. It’s bad enough having to speak in public, but now that Ant and Chris and everybody are here too, I really don’t want to screw this up.

  Gianna and Yvette escorted Tressa down the tiers to the Amphitheater. They met the rest of Tressa’s family in the packed foyer of the theater. The whole town was trying to find a seat. Adding in merchants, jugglers, animal trainers, puppeteers, food vendors and all the rest of the temporary visitors the Amphitheater would be filled beyond capacity. Before the festivities would begin many people would arrive and find there was standing room only.

  The family found Ant and the other younger cousins working diligently to hold two rows of seats in the center section. Coats had been laid across the back of the chairs, but they had been kept busy fending off townspeople from encroa
ching on the necessary allotment of seats.

  “I think a few more minutes and we would have been overrun,” laughed Ant. “The natives weren’t happy about some ‘outsider’ kids shooing them away.” He asked a silent question of Tressa with a raised eyebrow.

  She gave him a hug and whispered, “I spoke to Mason. He’s agreed to change the story a little bit to make the machine piece into a diamond necklace. But, I had to let him make some other changes to his story, too,” she grumped. Ant thanked her and patted her on the head as a joke.

  Gianna gave Ant a big kiss on the cheek and he blushed. The red lipstick kiss mark almost disappeared as he reddened. Tressa sat in between Yvette and Gianna just one seat in from the aisle so she could easily get out when her turn came to speak. She was glad she had only eaten a very light lunch as her stomach flip flopped with dread.

  Chris and Ant sat behind her and Chris leaned forward to whisper, “You’ll do great, Tressa. Just pretend you’re fighting with everyone.” She smiled at him as he chuckled and sat back. She had enjoyed the past few days getting to know him. He insisted that she just call him ‘Chris’ since he was way too busy to be referred to as ‘Grandpa’. She laughed out loud when he pulled up his pants leg far enough for her to see he had on white socks with his black shoes. She finally felt a little more relaxed.

  The amphitheater had been decorated with all the colors of autumn and seasonal displays of flowers, vegetables and stacked hay bales were placed in strategic places around the stage. Different performers would use them as seats, background and even props to illustrate stories throughout the performances.

  Looking out through the giant glass panels over the lake Tressa could see the entire neighborhood of Whitewall. The homes were lit up like little gems set into the stone walls of the cliff. The street lights that marched back and forth across the walkways on the rising plateaus of the mountain reminded her of Christmas tree lights.

  After a few minutes the overhead lights dimmed and Charlie Rosemont once again took the stage as the evening’s emcee. “Welcome, welcome and welcome. The residents of Top Peake and especially the esteemed members of the Storytelling Council would like to extend warm greetings to all our visitors.” Charlie made a show of displaying the location of the Council’s viewing boxes with a slow wave of his hand.

  “Some of you are here for the very first time and others have joined us year after year. I am certain new and returning guests will all be treated to the very best in storytelling entertainment.

  “To get the evening started we are very pleased to bring to the stage one of our newest and brightest storytellers. He has just recently returned from his first journey out into the cold, cruel world.” The crowd chuckled as Charlie huddled behind a hay bale and shivered during the introduction.

  Standing upright and walking to the center of the stage he continued, “Please give your warmest welcome to our very own Mason Rockwell.”

  Mason strode out on stage as the glass panels changed colors to imitate the stones of the cliff they had climbed in Bavaria. He started his story in climbing gear and used the hay bales to accentuate the mood as he described leading the climbers up the cliff.

  The theater went almost pitch black as he figured out the puzzle to find the “antique necklace” behind the filing cabinets. He held up an oversized piece of costume jewelry that flashed in the spotlight. Then without warning a firecracker went off backstage. The theater was completely black until a dim glow from a stage light lit up Mason as he crawled back to the center.

  The lights changed to a weak, pale yellow as Mason lead the charge down the stairs to save Ant’s character. Mason edited the story so that Tressa and Ant fled down the stairs while only Mason was left to fight off the first pursuer on the staircase.

  Tressa turned around to Ant and made choking motions as Mason explained about his plan to have the lanterns turned off so that he could trip the remaining villain and save himself and his companions. The final piece of ‘artistic license’ Mason used was his heroic deciphering of the lock on a large wooden exit door at the bottom of the stairwell.

  The entire theater exploded with applause as Mason triumphantly thrust out his arms in the bright sunshine of the theater’s spotlights. Only Ant and Tressa lightly slapped their hands together. Both had a hard time recognizing Mason’s version of the adventure from their own recollection of the events.

  An usher smoothly slid up to the row where Tressa was sitting. “You’re up in a few moments. Please come with me and we’ll get you ready backstage,” he said.

  Gianna and Yvette gave Tressa a quick hug. “Just do your best. That’s all anyone can ask of you,” her mom said. Tressa made her way out and followed the usher up the aisle and through the lobby to the hallway leading backstage.

  Breathe. Just breathe. It’s just a story and then someone else will go. It’s just a few minutes. Breathe. Tressa kept reminding herself that others had done this plenty of times before. She just had to keep breathing and concentrate on the story. Just get through it and then you get to sit down and watch the rest.

  Tressa thought she saw the lights in the hallway to the backstage area flicker, but decided nerves must have caused her to imagine it. Just breathe, she repeated to herself.

  Backstage was quiet pandemonium. Stage hands were running around in black clothing with their hands full of props, costumes and other theater equipment. Several directors and assistant directors had clipboards and were making sure all the details were attended to.

  The usher delivered her to the area where her story’s props were located so she could double check everything. There was a special light box that would create a blue laser tornado for the reactor scenes. A big pile of cloth was the fifteen foot inflatable ‘Colonel Zimmer’ that would fill with gas at the right time, she hoped. It’s not as big as Clyde’s but it’ll make a good impression. I’ve trimmed out the parts concerning the Seekers and the energy machine. I hope that just telling about Zimmer blowing up the power plants and trying to take over Perpetual Power will be enough.

  Tressa stiffened as she saw Fergus Mumfree coming toward her in the dim light backstage. She unconsciously felt for her recovered ring that she now kept in her pocket. He hugged her and whispered. “I know you’ll do well, my dear.” He looked at all of her props. Examining the special light box he continued, “Just think if Zimmer had gotten away with his nefarious plans. We’d all be in the soup then, I think. You did a marvelous job of stopping him from hurting a lot of innocent people. But, next trip let’s try to keep it a little simpler.” He gave her a lopsided smile and she managed to smile back. “Well, I just wanted to wish you well. I’ve got to get back to my seat.”

  As Fergus slipped away Tressa thought, He’s so bad at this he wished me well rather than to ‘break a leg’. How obtuse can you get? She went through her story in her head and felt like she was as prepared as she could be. She had spent some time with Mason this week working on her story and he had given her some good pointers to avoid freezing up like she had in Flatley.

  Ant had also been very supportive and had even suggested a few good changes in how she described the final fight scene with Zimmer. Tressa saw the assistant director motioning her over and took a deep breath.

  “You’re next,” the assistant director whispered. “The stage hands will prepare your props. The cues are all set with lighting and the rest is up to you,” she added.

  That’s the part that worries me, thought Tressa. Standing in the wings Tressa looked out on stage and watched the remainder of King Henry’s speech to his troops,

  ‘We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition:

  And gentlemen in England now a-bed. Shall think themselves accursed they were not here. And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks. That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.’

  Tressa realized that she was part of a Band of Brothers of
sorts. Her extended family had spent lifetimes searching for a machine that could help rebuild the world. She was part of that family now, and had already helped to retrieve one of the pieces. She even had one of the pieces herself. She committed herself to joining the Seekers and finding the rest of the parts to the machine and helping to deliver it to a world trying to fight back from the devastation of the past.

  The stage emptied of actors who filed quickly past her. Charlie walked out from the other side of the stage and strode to the very front of the platform. “I was understandably confused last spring as I had the pleasure to announce the first female ever chosen to be a storyteller. I can affirm for you the choice made back then has already been proven worthy many times over in just these past few months.

  “Tressa Tremaine is the daughter of arguably the finest Storyteller in the history of Top Peake. If her adventures and tales from this summer are any indication, well then, she may one day surpass her renowned father. I once again have the inestimable pleasure to present to you Miss Tressa Tremaine.”

  The applause from the Amphitheater was deafening as Tressa walked on stage. She could hear Ant whistling and whooping from their rows of seats, and before the lights came down she saw her mother and Yvette laughing and raising their hands together.

  The lights dimmed and Tressa tried to concentrate on how to start her tale. She took a deep breath and started in a voice on the edge of cracking, “You are all aware of Perpetual Power’s stranglehold on the world’s power resources. You also know about the recent explosions that destroyed three of the twelve reactors remaining after the Incidents.” She hesitated again as the lights flickered again. This time she knew she wasn’t imagining it.

  Finding her place in her mind she continued, “I would like to tell you about how close the world came to having all that power controlled by just one man. An evil man. He is a man who would gladly kill thousands to control the entire world.