Adventure to Destiny: The Unity Objective Series

by Sandra Golden

  Noah, who was a whole foot taller than his wife, and possessed the same good looks as the rest of his family was about to speak, but was halted momentarily by the rumblings of an earthquake. J.R and Helaina went to their grandparents, not because they were scared, but because they needed something to hold on to. The shaking only lasted a minute, then Noah, who wanted to lessen the fears of his young guest, brushed off the incident as nothing to worry about. He told them that small quakes were an everyday event down on the ocean floor.

  “How is that for a big welcome?” Olivia laughed. “Now let’s all move into the station, and we can give you a tour.”

  But before they began moving an alarm went off.

  “John can you stop fiddling with that machine. Come up here and turn that thing off.” Noah yelled down to John, who was still in the small submersible.

  J.R walked over to a work station which housed monitors, computers and other gadgets. “Mr. Noah something is wrong here, it needs fixing.”

  “Please just call me Noah, J.R. Now don’t worry about that alarm, it just saying things got shook up a bit.”

  “No sir! See that monitor right there?”

  “Yes.”

  “The calculations are wrong, they should have changed when the quake happened, but they didn’t.”

  John came over to the monitors, turned off the alarm, than took a closer look. “Noah, J.R is right, the monitor is frozen.”

  He turned off that monitor, then rebooted the computer and turned it on again. All the readings had now changed. Noah and John looked at J.R.

  “How did you know that?”

  “I don’t know, but I do know that the readings should have changed, and the monitor has a short in it somewhere.”

  “John, please check that out, while we take our visitors on a tour of the station.”

  “Sure boss.”

  Noah looked at William. “The boy is right! He is a smart one.”

  The family was then taken on a tour of the Sea Station Unity. Helaina relaxed a bit, and as always had lots of questions, all of them directed to young Sam.

  Sam was very patient, he made sure that he answered every question as carefully as possible. He wasn’t sure how much they knew or how much the Unity’s wanted them to know, and that was important. As the elder Unity’s followed behind, he looked to William and Jennifer for signs that he was giving out too much information.

  “What do you study here?

  “What we study here is the earth’s tectonic plates, and the undersea volcanos along their edge.”

  “Grandma says you are trying to harvest that energy, to find a way to distribute it around the world, in order to preserve other national resources, in a cleaner and more efficient way.”

  “That’s correct Helaina. By the way that is a very pretty name.”

  Helaina blushed, and looked down at her feet.

  J.R always looking for a chance to tease his cousin, told her, in Mind Speak so no one else could hear, “I think he likes you.”

  Before she could stop herself, she turned around and fussed at him. “You shut up, stop teasing!”

  “Helaina, J.R didn’t say anything,” her grandmother scolded.

  Realizing her mistake, a sense of panic rose up inside her but her cousin came to her rescue.

  “I’m sorry, I was whispering to her and made her mad.”

  Helaina gave her cousin a silent thank you.

  William who was following behind with Noah smiled. “Ok then. Let’s go see the lab.”

  William and Noah lagged behind the group speaking in hushed whispers.

  “William they are very young, have they become ‘connected’ already?”

  “I am afraid they have; they also have developed advanced skills and can do things I can’t explain.”

  “Have there been any other teens who exhibit this, do you think it is a concern?”

  “Charlie and David are having this type of thing investigated, looking for others, and yes, it is a great concern to everyone. Could it be that our genes have mutated? I don’t know. I just don’t know. And it worries me,” William told his old friend.

  As they began their way down the long corridor it was now J.R’s opportunity to ask a few questions and take the focus off his cousin.

  “When a volcano erupts under the sea doesn’t its lava produce toxic waste and pollute the sea?”

  “You are right, they do.” Sam went on, “People think that it’s people that pollute the oceans, they do on some account. But what is causing the most damage is volcanoes. A volcano will build up extreme pressure, then when it can’t contain it, it erupts. A volcano can also use vents that dispel its excess pressure in the form of super-heated water and acids that can be hot enough to melt lead. It’s that power we want to harness.”

  Helaina wanted to know, “The acids you mentioned, and the hot water, couldn’t that cause damage to the earth’s plates?”

  Here is where Olivia stepped in, “Yes, but not as much as you think, the lava builds up, cools down and then provides nutrients to the plants and sea creatures. The earth uses its own material to heal itself, and to rebuild what was lost. It‘s like when you break a bone, you heal yourself with time, making that bone stronger, in some instances.”

  Now Noah stepped in, “The problem we have now is too many eruptions, we need to harness it, and use it. Too many eruptions are causing the oceans to warm up, which causes the death and distinction of millions of different kinds of sea life and plants. Sea life and plants that have potential to provide medicine, and food, for the population is just now being realized. That is another thing we are now studying. Soon we can introduce our findings to the population of the world.”

  “Wow! You are doing very important work!” exclaimed Helaina.

  “That they are. That is why we brought you down here, to show you the good things Unity is doing. What “we” are doing. Now let’s go see the amazing collection of sea plants that the Sea Station has collected. Then we can get something to eat, I am starving,” said William with pride and a rumbling stomach.

  “Jenny I think your next generation of Guardians is impressed with what we do.” Olivia whispered to Jennifer Unity, so the kids couldn’t hear her.

  “That they are, just as much as we are impressed by them. Now, do you have some of the cherry cobbler you make? You know it's my favorite, I look forward to it every time I visit. You make it better than anyone. One day you will have to give me the recipe.”

  “Never, my dear friend! That's one recipe I won't share with you. But yes! I did make two very large pans of cobbler. Now let's catch up on all the family news,” said Olivia.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  TROUBLE UNDER THE SEA

  The family spent another hour exploring the immense Sea Station, meeting other members of the team who worked and lived there. They spent time looking at some of the experiments that were taking place. After that part of the tour they went to the dining hall, where they were served a five-course dinner, which of course was sea food, with Olivia’s cherry cobbler for dessert. She remembered her friends had enjoyed her very secret recipe the last time they were at the Sea Station, and prepared it yesterday evening just for the occasion.

  After dinner Helaina, who was interested in the live animal and plant specimens that were being studied by the science team, asked Sam if he could escort her back to the lab. J.R. went with John to help fix the computer system in the submersible bay. It was obvious that they were still angry about something, but the excitement of visiting such an interesting place was temporarily distracting them away from their issues. After dinner, they went in totally separate directions. William and Jennifer stayed in the dining hall with their friends to enjoy an after-dinner coffee, and some more cobbler, while they caught the Golden's up on all the family news. The rest of the staff, and scientists, retired to another part of the Sea Station where they had private accommodations, enjoying all the comforts of any land based home. An hour later disaster
struck.

  An earth quake struck, and this time it was stronger, lasting longer than the previous one. It caused the security doors to shut between the living accommodations and the labs. The lights went out but the emergency generator immediately began operating, and the lights promptly came back on. Unfortunately, the security doors remained shut.

  Noah rapidly got on the intercom, first to see if there were any injuries. Luckily none were reported. Next he radioed John.

  “John, are you and J.R Okay?”

  “Yes we’re fine. The boy was right, there is something wrong with the computer system.”

  “The security doors are still closed; can you open them?”

  “We’re working on it, give us a few minutes.”

  “Noah! Please can you check on Helaina and Sam?” begged Olivia.

  “Doing that now dear.” He spoke as he flipped the switch which connected him to the lab. “Sam! Son, are you and Helaina all right?”

  It took Sam a few seconds to get to the communications radio. In the meantime, William, Jennifer and Olivia came and stood behind Noah. Noah called again. Anxiously the four of them waited. It seemed an eternity but Sam finally responded to their call, and they were able to breathe a sigh of relief.

  “Dad we’re fine, tell the Unity’s Helaina is alright also. The security doors have closed us off from everyone.”

  Just then another alarm went off.

  “Dad where’s John, is he there with you? I need him to tell me how to override the system so I can get everyone out, and we can fix the problem.”

  “Hold on, he’s in the Sub Bay with J.R., which makes the four of you separated from everyone else. Hold on a second while I talk to him.”

  Noah switched back to John and J.R. “John?”

  “Yes boss?”

  “What’s that alarm?”

  “Do you really want to hear this?”

  “Damn it! What is it?”

  “There’s a crack in the outer dome.” He paused, and took a deep breath. “We have a bigger problem. The emergency shut off for the nuclear reactor is jammed shut. We need to get to it and manually open it; the stupid computer won’t take my override commands. We can’t open the doors. Is there anyone in the labs? Or is everyone else trapped in the living courters?’

  “Only Sam and Helaina,” Noah answered. “Hold on let me think a minute.”

  Noah then turned to his companions as he switched off the intercom.

  “We need one team to go and shut off the reactor manually, and one to repair the outer dome but all we have is two men available.”

  William, not believing what he was now going to suggest, spoke, “No we don’t, there are four of them on the other side of these doors.”

  “William, I will not put the lives of those two kids in danger.”

  “If those repairs aren’t made, that won’t be an issue.”

  Jennifer stepped closer to her husband, taking hold of his hand for a little reassurance.

  He looked down at her. “They can do this; I know they can.”

  Jennifer just nodded, knowing he was right. Noah and William took a minute, and together they formulated a plan. They swiftly relayed their plan to John and Sam.

  “Sam, you take Helaina, dive down through the holding tank, and open the outside hatch, then go out and patch the dome.”

  “Dad I can do it alone, Helaina should stay in the station.”

  William stepped in. “Sam, Helaina is a certified diver, she also has special skills that might help you. It’s a two-man job, she will do fine.”

  “William I don’t know about this; we should keep her protected she’s next to be…”

  Before Sam could say anymore Noah broke in. “Sam Do It! Don’t say anymore, just go! We are sending John and J.R to fix the reactor. Now Move it!”

  “Yes Dad”

  In record time Sam and Helaina got into the diving suits which had been stored next to a small holding tank. Before they could dive in Helaina went to the intercom.

  “Granddad can you hear me?” Helaina asked apprehensively.

  “Yes Princess. I hear you. Don't be scared, I know you can do this.”

  “I'm not scared. I fix broken things all the time. I take after you remember?

  “Yes I know. Is there something you need?”

  “Can I talk to J.R for a second? Please.”

  “Sure Princess. Hold on, and good luck!”

  William then made the connections between the two intercoms for Helaina.

  “J.R this is Helaina, are you there?”

  “Yes, I'm here. What do you want?”

  “I just want to tell you I'm sorry, please don't be mad at me anymore. I don't like it.”

  “I'm sorry too.” J.R felt that his cousin needed his reassurance, and he was happy to give it to her. “Helaina, I promise I'm not mad anymore. I know you can do this. Just be careful.”

  “Thank you. You be careful too.” Just before they turned away from the intercom J.R made a challenge to his cousin, which he knew she would accept. “First one back, gets the last piece of cobbler.”

  Helaina laughed, “You're on cousin!”

  Feeling much better Helaina and Sam slipped into the cold water to begin their journey to the dome wall. In the meantime, Noah called the living quarters and talked to a technician; seeing if she could override the system from one of the lap tops available in the common room, and try to open the doors. Other than that, there was nothing anyone else could do but wait, and watch through the windows.

  First to be seen was Sam and Helaina, swimming towards the domes wall. First they had to find the crack, then they had to patch it before it got bigger and began leaking. The problem was that the dome was a mile wide and half a mile tall; that was a lot of area to cover for just two people. They didn’t have the water propeller units, there were only two and John and J.R needed them to get to the reactor fast, it was the bigger threat. The dome was basically a big fish tank, housing the vast amount of sea life and plants that were studied there, with the Sea Station in the middle. Helaina looked around, then she came up with an idea. She contacted Sam on her radio.

  “Sam I got an idea to make this go faster.”

  “What?”

  “Those two dolphins can help. I will send one to you, and I will take the other. Hold on to its dorsal fin. They will help us find that crack.”

  Before Sam could ask her how she was going to do that Helaina had motioned for the two dolphins, taking one, and sending the other to Sam. The dolphins took their two passengers around, and around the dome systematically looking for the damage. Finally, Sam found it.

  "Helaina I found it, get over here as fast as you can.”

  “Won’t take me long with my new friend here, think I will name her Speedy.”

  “You can’t name her, she is a lab specimen to study, not a pet. Where are you?”

  Helaina laughed, “right behind you.”

  Helaina and Sam released themselves from their mode of transportation and began working.

  “How are we going to fix the crack?” Helaina asked Sam.

  “The dome is comprised of 16 layers of acrylic and enforced with diamond dust, it's very hard.”

  Taking a stainless-steel bowl from a bag attached to his belt he handed it to Helaina.

  “First I need you to mix this liquid acrylic with this diamond epoxy, keep stirring, because if you stop it will harden immediately, than we will have to go back to the station to get some more, understand?”

  "Yes, mix the two, and don’t stop stirring.”

  “Correct, while you do that, I take the torch and heat the area, once it is hot enough we apply the acrylic together using these two knives, we have to work fast. Ready?”

  Helaina nodded and began mixing. As they worked on the dome J.R and John had gotten to the reactors. Now they were busy trying to find the leaking valve and turn it off. They finally found it, discovering it was deep down, and in a hard to reach place. John was too
big to get to it, so he sent J.R down with a wrench and a can of WD-40, to loosen things up. The valve was hot, the steam made it hard for J.R to see, but he finally got the wrench around it.

  “J.R, do you have the wrench secured on the valve?

  “Yes, I’m going to twist it now.”

  “Wait, first take the WD-40 and spray it around the valve.”

  “Okay, done.”

  “Now take the wrench and twist it to the right very slowly. When the steam completely stops coming from it, stop. We don’t want to tighten it too much or it will break from too much pressure.”

  J.R had to use all his strength to get the wrench to move, but finally it did. It didn’t have to move to far until the steam stopped flowing from it.

  “I got the steam to stop,” he radioed to John

  “Good job, leave the wrench where it is and let’s get back inside. A crew will come out later to fix the valve.”

  John and J.R gathered the propeller units and returned to the sub bay. As they began their journey back, Sam and Helaina were finishing up the patch work on the dome.

  “Hey, Helaina we’re done!” Sam said into the radio. “Think you could get your two friends to come back and take us home? By the way, nice job! You’re great at fixing things.”

  “Thank you, I fix lots of things. I have a little sister who breaks things all the time, and I have to glue a lot of things back together.”

  “You’re quite clever, and I think our ride is here. Think you can tell me how you got them to help us?” he asked.

  “I talk to them of course. Beat you back.”

  Sam was definitely curious about Helaina’s last remark, but didn’t say anything. They grabbed hold of their mode of transportation and headed back to the Sea Station. It didn’t take no time before they were back safely inside. Instead of going back the way they had come, they just swam to the sub bay, where J.R and John helped them out of the water.

  “Guess I get that last piece of cherry cobbler!” J.R bragged.