Teenage Mutant Ninja Torpedoes
Page 4
"That means if we can position ourselves directly overhead without them knowing, they won't be able to shoot at us. We could fire right down into their hold," Theo said.
"Give that man an invisible ice cream cone," Doc said.
# # # # # # # #
"OK, Lucas. You're trailing the aircraft carrier back to its home base. You've told us what you saw. Now tell us what you didn't see."
Lucas looked confused. So did everyone else.
"All scientists are trained to concentrate on observable data. But sometimes you can learn a lot about an event if something was supposed to happen but didn't. Many years ago, an astronomer determined that a planet wasn't following its orbit like it was supposed to. He theorized that another planet was pulling it out of orbit. Then he went and found that other planet. He saw something that wasn't supposed to happen. Was there anything about that carrier's trip back home that surprised you?"
Lucas had to take some time to answer. "The ship's bright light wasn't on. That's because the light was a sign that the ship's solar power was being collected. In the dark, they wouldn't be collecting power. But that doesn't tell us anything we haven't already figured out."
"Was the ship sailing at the same speed?"
"No. Noticeably slower. Battery power perhaps?"
"Did you see a wake?"
"I didn't notice. I was very high and it was dark."
"Was there a moon?"
"Not until later."
"Did you take pictures?"
"Yes, I took pictures every fifteen minutes. Just in case. They're on my pinky ring. Let me look."
I waited for his eyes to refocus on the meeting. "So Lucas, was there a wake?"
"There was no wake."
"Which means?"
"The propellers weren't turning during the night."
"Which means?"
"The ship didn't have enough battery power to push its way through the sea?"
"But the ship still proceeded slowly towards its destination. That means..."
"It had something else making it move. What?"
"I don't know. But it's something we should find out because..."
Lucas blurted out the conclusion before Theo could. "If we can disable it, the ship could become a sitting duck at night."
"Another winner," Doc said. "You guys keep this up and I'm going to run out of invisible ice cream cones."
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Chapter 6
From Wizard's journals: Tuesday, May 23.
I've decided to keep a journal of my efforts to start a lumber business in Clearwater. This is the first cooperative venture that I've tried, and I expect I'll make some mistakes. If I take notes like a scientist, perhaps I won't make the same mistake twice. I'm hoping that the Clearwater agreement will be a template for others to come.
When Lucas and I were invited into the tribal center, Winnie was sitting on a blanket and flanked by two of the assistant chiefs. She mind-messaged me: They like the idea of starting up a tribal business, but they don't want to be treated as servants. So, when I outlined our proposal, I tried to make it clear that they were in charge. The Clearwater deal was going to be quite simple – at least as far as we were concerned.
"We want to help you establish a lumber industry in Clearwater. What you will be bringing to the agreement is more valuable than what we will be bringing, so you will be the majority owner. You are providing your own sawmill building, acquiring your own raw materials (logs), using and maintaining your own equipment (saws), supplying your own labour, and producing a finished product like 2x4s and plywood."
"We will provide you with three things that you will need to start your business. Power, freight transportation, and your first customer. You will use our power to run your machinery. We have an advanced form of solar power that only we know how to produce. We will own the power generator and you will pay us a modest amount of money every month for the use of our technology. The equipment will sit on the roof of your sawmill and it will have a Wilizy logo on it. I advise you that the equipment will be protected. Should there be an attempt to interfere with the technology, to examine it in any way, or to remove it, an alarm will sound in our main offices and we will be here shortly afterwards. If natural causes or equipment malfunctions were to blame for the disruption, we will repair it at our cost. If the disruption were due to human intervention, we reserve the right to remove the equipment and terminate our agreement."
"We will help you with your initial freight needs by providing you with a pilot and a large copter for a modest fee. As soon as you are able to run your own freight business, we will withdraw our resources and the service fee will end. If you acquire your own freight equipment from a Wilizy sponsored business, you will receive preferred customer status, which means that you will pay 20% below retail prices. Right now, we do not have any such freight equipment business. If a Wilizy-sponsored business orders lumber from you, you will charge them 20% below retail prices."
"We will be your first customer. It will be a modest order, but I can advise you that a larger order may follow afterwards. On these and future orders, you will give us preferred customer status. This first order will allow you to get up and running; it will also give us a chance to assess the quality of your product. If either party is dissatisfied after this first order, either party can terminate the agreement."
"We will give you six months of operations during which you need not pay our fees. This payment is not waived, it is deferred."
"Once your business is up and running, we will help you market your wood within Alberta by stocking it in our retail outlets. We will not charge you for this. However, we do expect you to transport the lumber to our outlets and to set a fair price. We will have the capacity to handle a reasonable inventory, but such space will still be limited."
"We will be a silent partner within your operations. Our revenue is derived solely from supplying you with power. If you wish to expand your operations, we can provide temporary financial assistance because that will mean your power needs will rise and so will our revenue. We are not a bank and we will not charge you interest or fees other than what I have outlined already. Should your business develop an unsavory reputation, or should you fail to cooperate with a Wilizy-sponsored business, or should you fail to provide us with financial information on our investment in your business on our request, we reserve the right to remove our sponsorship and our power generator."
# # # # # # # #
Wanda asked me some questions after my presentation, but I believe that she just posed them to make me repeat some things that might have been unclear. Then they had a tribal discussion that lasted the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening. People would leave and reappear, food came out of the kitchen and the scraps went back in, and all the time, they talked. I had the impression that it was a hard choice for them, but they talked it out. At one point, I mind-messaged Winnie – Are you OK? Headache? But she said the meeting was actually very peaceful for her. She answered any non-technical questions that they asked. I noticed that she knew stuff that only Dad and I had talked about. I mind-messaged her on that and she replied, Just because I wasn't invited to the meeting doesn't mean I wasn't there. I got the impression that she was kinda upset.
Lucas remained silent throughout – doing Dad's great stone face impression – but he also said that he found it interesting. At the end, they agreed to everything that I had proposed. Afterwards, Wanda walked us back to the copter. "You'll be our contact person, of course," she said.
I thought that she was talking to me but Winnie spoke first. "Of course. And my contact with you will be...?"
"I'd be interested in your opinion. I figure you know us pretty well by now."
Winnie thought for a long time, but mind-messaged me before answering. Sorry. The women run this tribe. They'll expect the same at our end. Figured you knew. Then, she said to Wanda, "The girl who never said a word, but was totally into the discussion
. Very tall and skinny. Short hair; chewed on her lip when she disagreed; rolled her eyes when some of the men spoke; wore a purple top that was way too big for her; purple dye job in her light brown curly hair."
"That's Dreamer," Wanda said. "We'll see if it works out. She's very young."
"How young?" Winnie asked.
"Almost 13," Wanda replied.
"Sometimes, young is good," Winnie observed.
# # # # # # # #
On the way home, I mind-messaged Dad and Will that we had won our first contract. I told them the big part that Winnie played too. I also told Will what power we'd need. He said that he'd design a basic power unit. I didn't ask what was going to be inside. Will asked what our logo was going to be, and I said we'd have to talk about that with the group. We can't use a W-Z any longer because Zzyk used that logo to attack us.
After I ended the mind-message to Dad and Will, Winnie said that she liked Reese's W-Y design with a pearl in the middle. I keep on forgetting that she can read minds. Just like you keep forgetting to invite me to meetings.
I kept my mind blank until we arrived home, and then thought over the meeting some more. I had noticed the girl with the short purple hair. I wear my hair short too; didn't keep the family braid. I had found that people had stared a lot at it when I was on our buying trip in France. I didn't want to draw attention to myself, so I just hacked it off. Nobody said anything afterwards but Mom did look at me and tightened her lips a bit. I had figured, my hair, my decision.
The girl, Dreamer, was the youngest person in the meeting except for Winnie. While Lucas and I were waiting outside with the copter, we didn't see many teenagers. Will had said that we should look for things that we didn't see, and that's what I didn't see. I figure the tribe is in trouble and that's why all their young people have left. The girl was very tall. I measured her with my eyes when the meeting ended and she stood up. Perhaps taller than me and I'm almost 15. She saw me looking at her and turned away. If all she does is dream, perhaps she's not the best choice to be the contact person.
# # # # # # # #
The next day, I found my brothers playing with the model planes that we had captured. Not Wolf, but everyone else. I joined in. Will saw us and joined in too. We were just trying to keep our planes in the air until Lucas suggested that we form teams and play invading air forces. So we did. Will suggested that each of us could have two airplanes under control, and we went into teams at the two ends of the meadow and then tried to crash our planes into the other team's planes. We had a couple of battles, but were running short of planes so we stopped. I saw Will practicing later with the planes. He had two planes responding to one controller and was flying them in formation. Looked cool, and he had a big grin on his face. That reminds me. I need a picture of Will and Izzy together. Without the big grin, I think.
I thought that if we could have so much fun with a basic toy, lots of kids our age would have fun too. Perhaps we could sell them around the province. I looked at the packaging, but it was all in Japanese. I sent a photo of the packaging to Momaka, our gardener, and asked if she could help me find the manufacturer. She replied back quickly with the English name and said that it was an old, distinguished company in Tokyo and their entire business was making children's toys. Tokyo's not that far. I'll take Reese with me so that he can tell me if something would be popular with kids his age. I asked Will if he wanted to come too but he's too busy. However, he asked me to order some more model planes and not to sell them. I thought I had misunderstood how many he wanted, but I hadn't.
Momaka's living arrangements are all settled. She has a place to stay in each of the five cities. She's been using her own copter to travel around, but I think we should paint it in Wilizy colours. She has a Wilizy agent vest, so she's not at risk when she's wandering around the gardens. But, I wouldn't want the DPS harassing her when she's in the open skies. We should probably register her with the DPS and get a transponder put in her copter. She said that she doesn't have to return to B.C., but this way she'd be allowed in and out if she wanted. I checked with Dad and he said that it was a good idea. I'll have our monster-copter painted in our colours at the same time.
Next time I see her, I'm going to ask Momaka what those strange trees are that we liberated. Mom planted them in a little grove down by the river and they seem to be doing well there. Probably a shade tree of some kind.
I enjoyed Will's science lesson the other day. He seemed like a different person. I liked the idea of looking for something that's not there. Like Momaka. What's not there is any family. I wonder why.
Not much to wonder about with Wolf and why he looks so miserable. What's not there is Mac. Even I can not-see that.
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Chapter 7
From Will's journals: End of May.
Wizard and Reese arrived back from Tokyo all excited. The Tokyo toy company had an amazing inventory and Wiz brought several of their catalogues back with him. That wasn't the exciting news. He also brought thirty harmonicas and gave one out to everyone who wanted it, including Patella. She walked around with it between her teeth making wheezing harmonica sounds.
Wiz said that the harmonicas would be a great way to introduce music into the lives of Albertans – one of Izzy's goals. He wanted to order a huge amount and give them away free from the peddler wagons and the Wilizy Cloth and Dye businesses. Doc spent all of ten seconds running his mouth up and down his harmonica before suggesting that the WZBN sponsor a harmonica playing contest along with a singing contest to be run in the Wilizy gardens and broadcast over the WZBN. Everyone thought that both of these ideas were great, but Doc wanted to go through the formality of receiving approval at a meeting.
Reese also brought something home from Tokyo – a supply of bubblegum for everyone. Yolanda asked Wizard if he intended to give that away in Alberta too, but Wiz said that the Wilizy hadn't purchased the gum. Reese's brothers had been jealous that he was selected to go to Tokyo, so Reese bought the gum with his own money and gave it to anyone who wanted it for free. Gum of any nature is rare in the A.N. – food is hard enough to come by for most families. So the boys thanked Reese a lot, and Lucas even said that he could be a captain of one of the teams when they had bubblegum blowing contests. Yolanda laid down the law about no gum being chewed in the house, especially in their bedrooms. Plus when they were finished with the gum, it had to be thrown away properly. Reese assured her that this gum was so good for making bubbles that it would never be thrown away. Yolanda didn't look reassured by this.
# # # # # # # #
The harmonica and singing contests were approved at a formal meeting. Doc said that he'd call for volunteers to help organize the contests after he had time to draw up some initial plans. Wizard ordered thousands of harmonicas and they'll be ready for pick-up in a week. We'll store them temporarily in the prison along with the model airplanes that Wiz ordered for me.
Wizard used the formal meeting to tell everyone about the Clearwater deal and to ask people to consider how we should identify our operations with a logo. Our planes were white and emerald green and it would make sense that all of our visible businesses would be the same. The solar power unit on top of the Clearwater mill will be just the first. But he said we needed some letters in the logo as well. Wiz suggested that our logo could be a W and a Y with a space in between where we might want to put in a pearl like Reese had done for Izzy's moccasins.
Yolanda suggested that we make the pearl into a sparkling green emerald shape because that would bring more attention than a white pearl on a white background and emerald green was our colour after all. We had a decision inside of thirty minutes and Yolanda was going to produce a stencil with some fancy lettering and a sparkly looking green stone. Wiz would be in charge of the logo and how it was applied. Everybody congratulated Reese for a great logo and he was all smiles. Winnie was also happy because her aboriginal name was Little Gem and now there was a little gem in the middle of our logo. I
told Wiz that my power unit for Clearwater would be ready for installation in a week and he said he'd put the logo on here in the compound. He had plenty of emerald green paint.
Wizard's upcoming trip to Asia to bring back the large shipment of harmonicas will allow me to test a better way of packaging our freight. We've been moving shipments back and forth in big filament pallet cubes. That didn't work too well for us when the contents were perishable. But I couldn't make the cubes travel any faster because they weren't aerodynamic. Wolf had shown me the crates of aircraft parts that had been shipped to The Citadel and were now sitting in the prison. Some crates held flat panels that were part of their planes and aircraft carrier. Plane wings and ship solar panels, for example. I haven't had time yet to determine what the panels are made of, but I did confirm that they had solar collectors built into the surface. These replacement parts are a huge find for us! I'm going to learn a lot about Alaska's capabilities once I can examine some panels in Stanford.
The fact that they ordered so many flat panels suggests that their panels have the potential to break off from the body of the planes. That makes sense because of the sharp angles that they're set at. If that's the case, Alaska would have to orders these parts on a regular basis so that they'd always have them in stock. I told TG about this and he's going to check for records of such shipments in the North Korean factory's computers.
The other North Korean crates had replacement parts for other parts of their planes. One such part was the plane's nose unit. One crate held a dozen of them – all twelve inserted one after another into each other. I thought that one of these cones could work as an air deflector if I attached it to the front of a freight pallet. Behind that first air deflecting pallet, I could attach others pallets. Instead of twelve cubes moving through the sky separately, we'd have one long snake of pallets, sort of like a long freight train that the ancients had used to transport a lot of their freight. But now we'd have a long freight plane. I rigged up a test unit for Wiz to use when he brings back his harmonicas.