Plans Change

They woke up at the crack of dawn as per usual and went for their morning workout. Pretty much everyone participated in the workout now, so the showers after were getting a bit crowded. But soon they were enjoying a nice breakfast of french toast and, again, the breakfast club were all thanking Mark for taking care of them and giving them jobs where there was food.

When breakfast was done, the guys went out to do the chores, the kids got ready for school and the breakfast club retreated to their makeshift office.

As the guys were returning from the chores, the kids were just leaving for school.

Mark gave Annabelle a big kiss, as he vowed to start doing anytime he was leaving her, because he never knew what was going to come up that might see him whisked away for an unknown length of time.

After the kids were gone, they enjoyed another cup of coffee with Joe, Kat and Maria.

Solara, T’Soona, Laruun and Marta were going to hang around the ranch today, since they already knew everything Mark had told them about Atlantis. So it was just the four of them that were going to the embassy meeting.

After walking back to the visitor centre and up to the roof, Maren pushed a button on her wrist device and the ramp started lowering. As they boarded, Mark was surprised that the interior of the shuttle wasn’t cold like an Earth vehicle would be.

Cricket explained, “A ship is always powered, so the interior of the ship should always be about the same temperature. Even when the ramp lowers, there is a force field you pass through that keeps the heat in, but in reality, it is there to protect the interior of the shuttle in the case you are fleeing an explosion, an attack or any kind of emergency.“

Mark thanked her for the explanation and told her that anytime he has a question like that in his mind, she could cut in and explain it anytime.

Maren had them out of the atmosphere and approaching the Embassy within a few minutes. Going into space was kind of old hat for Mark now, and the transition to weightlessness didn’t hold the same thrill it used to, it was just part of the ride.

After landing and going through security (it was nice not to have to stop anymore), they found that Commander Topos and a few of the senior officers from the Poseidon had come over for the meeting as well. Since pretty much all the staff was there, they decided to hold the meeting in the movie theatre, with Mark taking the stage.

When everyone got settled, Mark began the meeting, “As you all know, Earth is my home and the ancestral home of the our people, as such, I have made it my personal goal to clean up this planet. I’m not going to force them into Federation life, but I now feel we need to have a physical presence on the surface if we are to have any significant impact on the planet.

Yesterday, we were bullied out of our foothold in Canada, just as we were bullied to the point where we left Earth thousands of years ago. The circumstances are a bit different this time, we have evolved technologically and we now have population numbers that we didn’t have before. To that end, my plan is to rebuild our homeland of Atlantis.”

There was a few gasps in the crowd, so Mark asked, “Does anyone have any concerns or reasons as to why we should NOT rebuild Atlantis? If you do, please speak up!”

A non-human guy in the back stood up, “We don’t do this with other non-federated planets, why are we going through the hassle with this one?”

“A couple of reasons actually. Firstly, I still call this planet my home and always will. Secondly, this planet is different from other non-federated planets, since this is the ancestral home of all Atlanteans. Unfortunately the idiots that have been running the planet in our absence have done a piss poor job of taking care of it, so I feel we are partly responsible for its condition. If we hadn’t left thousands of years ago, the planet would probably be in a lot better condition today.”

After pausing for a few seconds, “Does that answer your question?”

The man nodded and Mark again addressed the entire group, “Are there any other arguments as to why we should NOT rebuild Atlantis?”

A girl in the middle stood up this time, “They’ve already launched one missile at us and we were in orbit, by going down to the surface, aren’t we going to just be an easier target for attacks.”

Mark said, “Yes, we will be an easier target. Part of my plan is to create world peace ... if some country does something stupid, they will be made an example of. I have a feeling, after the first attack, the world will view us in a different light. Also while we will be more accessible, they will think long and hard before doing anything as they run the risk of hurting others or the planet. Something tells me that Atlantis will be a popular tourist destination and if you have people visiting from all over the world, any attacks would infuriate other countries as well.”

After a few seconds pause he continued, “I’m going to say right now, we are NOT going to war, but I do expect there to be some resistance. Earth has three primary superpowers and a few wannabes, none of which are really a threat to us, but I suspect they will not like losing their superpower status. So I’ve created a three step process...

The first step will be to announce our intentions of rebuilding Atlantis to the world, and give them time to consider their options. Hopefully they’ll realize that we are, in fact, here to stay and cooler heads will prevail.

The second step will be to identify and monitor all weapons of mass destruction on the planet. They don’t penetrate our shields and our shields soak up the radiation, but I wouldn’t put it past them wanting to attack us, which could be very harmful to others and the environment. Part of this phase includes deploying security drones all over the planet, to help curb violence and hopefully prevent many deaths. The Cleito is on its way with a load of security ordnance and some additional fighters.

The third step is when Atlantis is ready to colonize. We will relocate the embassy to it and start bringing in residents from across the Federation, to show Earth what Federation life is like.”

At that time, Cricket displayed her rendition of Atlantis on the screen to a theatre full of gasps and wows as everyone stared in awe at the image of Atlantis. Mark noticed many of them had tears in their eyes. After all they were taught all about Atlantis in school and here they were looking at the possibility of Atlantis reborn.

Mark said, “Atlantis will be put on display through the library after the meeting. I invite you all to look at it and if you have any suggestions for it, please let us know.

I’m hoping most of the world accepts us, we’re going to continue to develop and lease our technology and hopefully we’re not going disrupt their way of life too much. We’re going to let them continue to drive vehicles and have guns for hunting wildlife or sport shooting and do things just as they have been.

All we’re going to do is make the world a safer place and clean it up as much as we can, or help them clean up their own mess. Take away all the violence and fear and maybe governments will realize they don’t need to waste taxpayer dollars on military and weapons, then maybe they’ll actually do good things for their citizens and those less fortunate on the planet.

You never know, the people may overthrow their own governments and ask us to take over. Although my hope is within a decade or two of having us around they’ll accept our ways and maybe even ask us for help.”

After a brief pause, Mark asked, “Are there any comments anyone wants to make at this time?”

When no one spoke up, Mark said, “Talk to your families, we’ll start by rotating personnel in just like on the embassy, but we will eventually be looking for full-time residents.”

As the lights came up a bit more in the theatre, everyone started filing out of the theatre and discussing about whether they wanted to move to Atlantis or not.

Once everyone was gone, all that was left in the theatre were some senior officers.

Adam commented, “Well, I can honestly say that a couple months with you has been more exciting than the entire last century!”

Mark smiled, “I like to keep everyone on their toes, I’d hate for people to die from boredom!”

Everyone laughed as they looked at Atlantis on the screen.

After looking at the island for a minute, Mark said, “I almost want to leave it as is, but unfortunately we are going to have to make a few changes.”

Liyana asked, “What kind of changes?”

Mark said, “We’re going to need an airport! I’m thinking a long single runway with an open air terminal, similar to the one in Kona, Hawaii.”

Rayven then asked, “What about cruise ships?”

Mark said, “Good idea! We should also design a port for docking with cruise ships and maybe some smaller boats. I’m thinking we should put all ports in the same area so we can funnel all passengers through a single terminal for identification.”

Adam said, “I used to do a lot of boating with my dad, back when I was a kid, since this island will be not be on any maps for a while we should probably put in some lighthouses for passing ships ... I’m not sure if the statues light up, but they might make great lighthouses.”

“Good idea!” Mark said.

Mark then thought, “Let’s leave the ancient Atlantean buildings in the centre of Acropolis until we decide what to do with them. I’m not planning on living full time at the palace, but you never know.”

Rayven then asked, “What’s with the water rings?”

Mark explained, “I’m not 100% sure, but it is probably covered in school when they talk about Atlantis. On Earth, there were rumours that the different materials lining the rings functioned like a battery and provided power, but the channels were also used for fishing and shipping.”

Rayven then said, “Maybe the channels can have underwater tunnels like on Atria and if it’s open to the ocean, maybe we could have a real live aquarium?”

Mark said, “Or, maybe some of the Aquarens would move here and they could live in the rings?”

Most of the people present, nodded their heads in favour of those ideas.

A couple of minutes later, Cricket had built a huge three-pointed star-like terminal that would actually provide three services, an airport, a seaport and a spaceport.

It appeared to be floating a few kilometres offshore, on the narrower southeast side of the island, where the Evenor River flowed into the ocean. The floating platform was roughly 10 square kilometres, with the terminal itself positioned about midpoint of the north-south edges and right on the western edge facing the island, since that was the seaport side of the terminal.

The water was deep enough for cruise ships to dock and the port itself would act like a breakwater to calm any rough seas. The airport side of the terminal was on the south side with a 5 kilometre long runway running southwest to northeast. The north side of the terminal was the spaceport, which just had a huge open area for large ships to come down.

On the very southeast side of the floating port was a statue of Poseidon himself in a chariot being pulled by six winged horses.

Cricket had also estimated over one hundred likely locations where towns would be built, near lakes, rivers, mountains or shorelines since they had to have some destinations for people to choose in the lifts, so they could effectively explore the island.

After the meeting, the last few shuttles of visitors were coming into the Embassy from the city, it would slow considerably once the only shuttle service would be from the visitor centre, until Atlantis was reborn.

Mark, Rayven and Maren were going to return to the office to pack up whatever was left and then deconstruct the office, then Mark was going to drive his truck back to the ranch.

Cricket had designed a couple of tools to aid in the construction of Atlantis. So before returning to the office, they had to retrieve her inventions from the Poseidon and then deliver them to the future site of Atlantis.

In the landing bay of the Poseidon, there was a device that looked like a bigger version of a construx, another device looked like a miniature flying saucer and the third device was this 2 metre long blue pod that looked like a seed of some kind. There was also a crate of deactivated security drones.

They loaded up and Maren followed the flight path to the future site of Atlantis that Cricket had programmed in.

When she reached the destination, she put the shuttle in hover and lowered the ramp. Cricket then said to drop the blue pod first, and the disk.

The pod was pushed off the ramp and it splashed down into the ocean, then he rolled the 1 metre wide disk off the ramp, which immediately hovered and moved off over the water’s surface.”

Mark asked what everything was, so Cricket explained as he repeated aloud for everyone’s benefit, “The blue pod is actually a mechanical creature that will provide detailed scans of the ocean floor and then place the construx where it needs to be. Once those jobs are completed, it will handle security. The disk is actually a hovering projector to display a holographic construction zone, until the island is ready to be publicly displayed.”

Rayven suggested, “We should do an announcement before just displaying a holographic thing in the middle of the ocean.”

Mark agreed, “I was thinking the same thing! I should message Elisha.”

As they were waiting Cricket’s signal, Mark sent a message to Elisha saying they would be deconstructing the office around 2PM this afternoon and that he also had a major announcement to make that was likely going to shock the world. If she couldn’t make it, they would just do the broadcast from the ranch.

A few minutes later, Cricket said to drop the construx, so Mark pushed it off the ramp and it splashed down into the water, leaving just the crate of deactivated security drones.

Cricket then had them fly around the 200 nautical mile perimeter and periodically throw a drone out the back of the shuttle. Those devices would communicate with ships if they got too close.

With the construction of Atlantis now underway and all the ordnance deployed, Mark took over the flying, taking them on a leisurely sight seeing trip across the United States.

He took them to New York to see the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building, then over to Niagara Falls and the Great Lakes, then they headed southwest to the Grand Canyon and over to Las Vegas, then up through Zion Park, then Yellowstone Park and the geysers and finally up to Mount Rushmore before heading back to Calgary.

They thought it was quite scenic and appreciated the tour, but they couldn’t get over how crowded, dirty and polluted most of the cities looked.

When they finally reached the office, they were hungry, so they walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch. It was a good lunch, but Mark still didn’t think he’d be able to tell the difference between a synthetic steak sandwich and the one he was eating.

After lunch, they walked back to the office. His computer was still in his office, so while he packed that up, the girls went to look over the residence. Once the computer was boxed up, he packed it down to the parkade and loaded it into his truck. He then went back upstairs to do a last look around and to see if the girls had found anything else.

There was nothing in the boardroom, lunchroom, reception or any of the offices, so he went upstairs to check on the girls and the residence.

Since it was now mid afternoon, there wasn’t anything left in the office and they still hadn’t heard from Elisha, Mark decided they should just leave.

As if by some act of coincidence, Mark received a message from Elisha seconds later.

Since Mark no longer had a phone, Elisha emailed apologizing that she was actually on assignment in Red Deer and that she could stop by the ranch on the way back, if he was going to be there.

He replied simply telling her he would see her at the ranch.

Since there was no reason to stick around any longer, Mark went downstairs and drove his truck out of the underground parking, while Maren and Rayven went to the roof and took off in the shuttle, they would meet him at the ranch later.

As he pulled out of the parking lot, Mark told Cricket to deconstruct the office. He watched the office start to disintegrate in his rear view mirror, knowing it would soon just be nothing but a bare lot.

As he began the long drive back to the ranch, he felt a bit sad that they were forced to relocate, but also felt invigorated at the thought of rebuilding the legendary island of Atlantis.

Not long after Mark had left the city limits, Annabelle called him from her wrist comm, “Mark! Someone opened fire on us at the school, send help, there’s lots of wounded!”

“Are they still shooting?”

“No, they’re gone now.”

“How many people does it look like have been shot?”

“A dozen or so!”

“Help is on the way! See you soon!”

Mark pulled over to the side of the highway and called Commander Topos.

Adam answered the call, but before he could say a word, Mark started in, “There’s been a shooting at Annabelle’s school, could you dispatch medivacs to that location? It looks like there’s a dozen or more people that have been shot!”

Adam responded, “Right away!” and ended the call.

Mark then called Maren, “Come get me! There’s been a shooting at Annabelle’s school. Adam is sending medivacs to the school now, but I’m still over an hour away by driving.”

Maren said, “Good thing we went sightseeing, we’re by the mountains right now. Be there in a sec!”

Mark drove his truck a bit further up the road, turned down a side road and parked on a field access. He locked the truck and a minute or so later, Maren was lowering the ramp for him and then they were off to the school.

Mark guided Maren to the high school, but due to an unusual amount of cars everywhere, they just landed in the parking lot of the arena on the west side of the school. Seconds later there were 5 medivacs and 2 securivacs landing beside their shuttle.

The local RCMP was doing crowd control and keeping space to let the volunteer ambulance service do their work.

Mark saw a bunch of people shouting at Joe and Kat, saying that they caused this by bringing extra attention to their peaceful community. Joe and Kat didn’t even bother to acknowledge the threats, as they were standing by Jason, who was lying in a puddle of blood as the medics were working on him.

Fortunately, when the crowd saw Mark and the other Federation personnel, they shifted their attention and focused their blame and anger their way.

Mark ignored the shouts and accusations as he shouted his announcement while making his way toward the family, “We can help with the wounded, just get them to the medivacs. Everyone will be good as new in an hour or two.”

The Federation personnel were running around the scene, but the volunteer medics weren’t allowing them to do anything.

Mark reached the family and saw that Jason had been shot four times and Annabelle was pleading with the medic to let Jason go to the medivacs, but the medic just kept saying that the air ambulance was on the way and that he would be cared for in the city.

Mark finally made his way to Jason and the family and the medic wasn’t going to release his patient, but this time the medic said, ‘without the patient’s or his parents consent’. So Joe and Kat almost yelled simultaneously, ‘I consent’!