Growing Pains

Mark wasn’t really upset that they pulled the gun on him, in fact he was expecting them to do it, that’s why he let them keep the gun in the first place, he just didn’t expect it to be the Admiral himself. He had suspected they were looking for something to exploit and wanted to give them a glimmer of hope, only to dash it and hopefully make them reconsider things.

He walked off to find the girls. It was fairly dark out already as the sun had gone down behind the mountains quite a while ago. Fortunately there was some street lights scattered around the parks, ponds and fountains, as he found them sitting on the edge of a fountain with their feet in the water.

Taryn and Cleo were still with them and Cleo was describing what she was looking for to move. She wasn’t much of an ocean or flat land person, she loved to hike, so she had been looking for trees and mountains, and if there was a river or lake nearby, that was a bonus.

She had described the location of three places that had her eye so far. One of the places she liked was in the Gaia River Valley on the western side of Mount Hymettus in the Mestor region. It was lush forest there, a small lake and some waterfalls. Another place she liked was nestled in the Leukippe River Valley that ran west to the shore from between Mount Pnyx and Mount Cleito in the Elasippus region, the last place was on this side of the mountains in the Ampheres region in the foothills south of Poseidon’s Garden.

The girls decided they would check out those areas tomorrow, then Annabelle described what she was wanting for her parents ranch. She wanted something inland, with trees and meadows, a river and close proximity to foothills. From what she had seen in the hologram she’s figured she would find what she was looking for in the central portion of the southern side of the island. One spot was near the base of the Meteor Plateau near the Pleione River in the Atlas region that looked promising and another in the neighbouring Autokthon region and yet another in the southernmost Mneseus region, all were around the base of the Meteor Plateau, which dominated the southern portion of the island.

When they asked Taryn where she would like to live, she said, “I’m still not sure I want to settle here, I’ve been liking my life in the security service and constantly travelling, but if I was to move here, I’d just want to live near people I know and it would need to have quick access to the port, since that’s where I would be working, but I also like hiking and lakes, so the place Cleo just described in the Mestor region sounds like it would be a good spot to check out!”

Cleo looked at the time and then said, “Since I’m taking first shift in medical tomorrow, I’m going to head to bed. I really like how there’s basic quarters upstairs in the temple.”

Annabelle was surprised, “Really? That’s convenient!”

Cleo said, “Yes, they are what are called active barracks, because medical is one of those jobs that always has at least one person there around the clock! They’re just basic rooms, but they’re handy.”

Taryn then realized the time and said, “It doesn’t look like I’m going back to the embassy tonight, so I might as well go find a place before they’re all taken.”

Cleo laughed, “There’s over 30,000 residences, plus all the rooms in the palace and only a few hundred people here, I think it’ll be easy to find a place to stay, but you’re welcome to stay with me tonight, if you want.”

“Mmmm that sounds like a good alternative too,” Taryn said, as she grabbed Cleo’s hand and they walked off toward the temple.

It was now dark and with the mention of bed, everyone began yawning as they started walking back to the palace courtyard and up the elevators. Mark, Annabelle and Rayven were behind the others so their elevator left before they could get on.

As they were going up the elevators, Mark mentioned that he was going to go have a shower before bed. Going from a frigid climate to a tropical one, does take some time to get acclimated and he had perspired more than normal today, despite the fact that he did have a shower this morning.

Apparently everyone had the same idea as they all convened in the bathhouse. Despite all the naked flesh, everyone seemed content to just wash themselves in the incredible rainfall shower, since this was the first time they saw it. When the shower was off it just looked like a normal stone ceiling and floor, although the floor was slightly graded toward an almost invisible drain that ran down the middle of the shower area.

Once they finished their shower, Mark went to his office just to sit down and check on the feedback from the website. Again there were dozens of messages and most look liked like they were from the gullible hypocrites, but nothing of any value he could see at a quick glance. If there was something he missed, the breakfast club would let him know in the morning.

Not having taken much time to look around before, Annabelle and Rayven followed him into his office. Rayven laid out on one of the sofas in the meeting area and commented on how comfy it was, while Annabelle went and sat on his throne, which was on its own white stylobate, with two columns against the wall on either side and an Atlantean flag on each side. His trident was hung on the wall in the corner and his crown was on a blue pillow on the table beside the trident.

The throne itself was a white material that looked and felt like padded leather on the seat, back and armrests with gold arm supports and legs and the Atlantean symbol etched into the seat back in blue.

They must’ve lost track of time in his office as, when he looked at the clocks on the wall, they decided it was time for bed. Mark then picked up Rayven, who was passed out on the couch, and they all went downstairs to the royal bedroom.

They must’ve been more tired than they thought, as the next thing Mark knew, it was morning.

With their clocks now set to Atlantis time, Mark saw it was now 6:00 ... his body was back to waking up early.

He extracted himself from the bed and went to his office to get some coffee from his desk and then went out to the balcony. It sure was scenic looking out at the mountains to the West as the sun was coming up, illuminating the mountains and making them appear as if they were on fire, compared to the relative darkness still in the city.

At about 6:15, he saw a lift float by. Curious, he watched it land and saw Cass and Beth unloading their stuff onto the ground, while Zack was activating the construx for their office as the building started constructing itself a few metres away from them.

Since breakfast wasn’t ready yet, Mark called a lift, but he figured he’d have to go to the ground to get on it, so he made his way down to the palace entrance, where, sure enough, a lift was waiting for him that had ‘PHOENIX’ on it, so he got in.

Travelling in a private lift was controlled by the wrist device of the person who called it. To go to a private business, you could just click SEARCH and select name or category and start typing in your query, once you had one letter typed, it would start showing you matches and you could just scroll through and click the one you were looking for. Your favourites were always listed at the top of the list, then businesses local to the city you were in, then eventually the businesses elsewhere on the island. With only one business on the island right now, it was easy to find ‘Phoenix Security’ as the lift rose into the air.

Since they really were just on the other side of the water ring, it took less than a minute to get there. Mark actually felt a bit of shame for ordering a lift, when he could have just as easily walked the short distance.

Mark was surprised by the time the lift got around the palace and could see the office again, it wasn’t just a little office like the base that was starting to construct before he went down to meet the lift.

This office was actually a huge communications array, with a small five level pyramid offset from the tower supports as the base and what looked like an observation deck at the top. It reminded Mark of the Space Needle in Seattle, except this tower had four supports that joined to become two at the top of the pyramid and then they started twisting together, eventually connecting to the round building at the top. In all the pyramid and tower were close to 120 metres in height.

Cricket said, “I’ve redesigned the communications array on top of the port function more for typical Earth-based communications with ships, planes and boats. The primary communications array for Atlantis should be land based and part of the island, so I gave the kids a couple of ideas and this is what they came up with.“

As he landed in front of the building, they had the company logos beside the main entrance. Right below the Phoenix Security logo was another logo that looked like the planet Saturn with a rocket creating the rings that said, ‘Outta This World Website Design’ and a third logo that looked like some kind of vector line art sphere that said, ‘Intergalactic Hosting Company’. Mark laughed at the names, but thought, “How clever! The kids are really embracing this space stuff.“

The breakfast club greeted him as he exited the lift and then everyone started grabbing computer equipment and packing it into the office.

The office itself, was very open and bright and had a central elevator that went to the top and then walkways that went out to the corners. Each level had offices close to the corners and cubicles along the sides. The courtyard was a place of relaxation and did have a couple of meeting rooms behind the large reception desk area at the front, facing the palace.

Since everyone was carrying computer equipment, he followed the kids, but was surprised when the kids started unloading their computers into a large single office in the corner opposite the reception desk.

While they were setting up their computers, Mark asked, “How come you built the office this size and with all the empty cubicles, if it’s just going to be you three?”

Beth said, “Atlantis is awesome, we’re all betting Henry and Amelia will eventually move here, plus you said you were about to roll out more technologies. Even if we leave the sales and support staff working out of their homes, we may still need people to support each of those businesses from here and we expect the web design business will be growing soon.”

Then Mark chimed in, “Don’t work yourselves too much, the Atlantean way of life is to live a relaxed life, not work all the time. Do as much as you can via websites and email and let your support staff field most of the calls. All you need to do, is support your field staff and maintain the websites.”

Mark didn’t want to sound like a nagging parent, so he changed the subject by asking them, “So what’s on the agenda for the rest of the day?”

Cass replied, “Finish moving into our rooms in the tower and then I want to go sight seeing a bit. I’ve heard lots of people say Poseidon’s Garden is incredible. I hope you don’t mind that we built our rooms into the tower?”

Mark said, “I don’t mind, but I think you three should find real homes rather than being tied to your work, you’re eventually going to have relationships and want to start families. You all have brand new lives now, free from your past!”

It didn’t take long to setup the three computers in the office, so they all went back outside to grab the rest of the belongings that they had brought, which really wasn’t much. They now had clothing synths, so they didn’t bother packing very much clothing and they really didn’t have many other possessions. Each person could easily carry their own stuff as Mark followed them, empty handed, into the building.

Suddenly Zack stopped, “Could you take my stuff up and just put it in my room? I just had an idea for the battery business website and want to write things down while it’s fresh in my mind.”

Mark nodded and took the two boxes and one bag that Zack had, as Zack went to their office.

Mark, Cass and Beth got in to the elevator and it started to rise, the elevator had a button for each of the 5 levels and then an S, which Mark figured was a basement or storage under the pyramid and then T for tower.

They had done a nice job of the living quarters, it wasn’t an overly large place, but functional. The half facing the palace was split into 3 bedrooms, then the other half was a living area with home theatre, couches, table and chairs. They said they built all the bedrooms on the East side, so they would get the early sun and would help wake them up and not sleep in. When it was suggested to build the communications tower, we figured if we built our residence up high, no one could ever block our view of the palace or the mountains.

Mark dropped off Zack’s stuff in his bedroom. It was a nice room with a king size bed, an en-suite washroom and a walk-in storage room/closet with clothing synth. The outer wall was a floor to ceiling window with the privacy feature turned to partial tint.

With everything unpacked in their new residence, they went down to the office and collected Zack before heading to the palace for breakfast. It really wasn’t that long of a walk to the west path and then across the water which brought them to the city centre near the Communal Meal Pavilion. All total, about a 10 minute walk, during which they saw a number of lifts already moving about as the city was waking up and hungry, although the lifts in use were likely people wanting to get out exploring.

Mark and the breakfast club showed up for breakfast at the CMP or simply pavilion, as people called them, just as the girls got there, since they saw the office being constructed and then when they had started walking back.

The Admiral and his men had just gotten their breakfasts and saw Mark and the gang get in the queue.

With the new office and communications tower, Mark had almost forgot all about the Americans as he asked, “Cricket, did those guys do anything last night?“

“They wandered around the city and the Admiral came to talk to me some more. Mostly asking questions about Atlantis and Atlantean culture and gods ... nothing too serious though.”

“Mr. Phoenix, after you get your breakfast please come and sit with us?” The Admiral asked, sounding much more sincere and relaxed than yesterday.

Mark nodded and proceeded down the queue line with the girls and the breakfast club. Once dished up they sat down at the table with the Americans.

Mark asked, “Did everyone sleep well last night? Admiral Caldwell, how are you feeling this morning?”

The Admiral replied, “I’m fine and I would like to apologize for my attitude and the actions of me and my men yesterday. You welcomed us to your island, before you’ve even had a chance to explore it yourselves, and have shown us nothing but respect. Will you forgive me?”

Mark said, “Of course, no harm was done. I hope you’ve learned your lesson.”

The Admiral then announced they would be returning to the states after breakfast.

Mark was surprised, as he thought they were going to stay a couple of days, but said, “You are welcome back anytime, just call ahead. It’ll be an entirely different island the next time you return.”

Then the girls asked Mark how the new office was, since they had seen it from the palace. It was kind of tough to miss.

Mark answered, “Actually, the office is awesome, we needed a communications array on the land, so they went with kind of a pseudo-Space Needle idea, but with their living quarters at the top.”

The Admiral then asked, “Is that what that huge tower behind the palace is? We didn’t see it go up, but it wasn’t there last night!”

Mark replied, “Yes, we were told to leave Canada, so that is the new office and it needed to be a bit bigger, as we’ll now be working around the globe.”

Admiral Caldwell, realizing he was the primary reason they got kicked out of Canada, wisely said no more. The rest of the breakfast conversation was about what everyone was going to do that day.

Most were going to continue sight-seeing around the northern part, near where Cleo talked about. Then the plan was that the girls were going to go back to the ranch and pack everything into the cargo ship and eventually bring it to Atlantis. That way Annabelle could go back to school during the week and Maren could bring her back on the weekends.

The Lieutenant laughed and explained how outrageous that sounds to an outsider, “It’s definitely a changing world now, for many years people have had cottages and stuff that’s within a few hours drive that they could go on the weekends. Here you guys come along and a weekend jaunt is halfway around the world and you can do it on a whim.”

Just then Cricket warned Mark, “There’s a Chinese sub coming in from the East, it’s just past our perimeter, I’ve given them a warning, but they’re not stopping.“

Mark sighed and shook his head, but it was loud enough that everyone noticed, as he looked at the statue to the East.

Annabelle nonchalantly asked, “Are we being attacked?”

Mark calmly said, “I think so! A Chinese sub is trying to sneak in from the East.”

The Admiral looked shocked, “Seriously?”

“Yes, and they aren’t stopping, I’m still not sure what or why they have an issue with us, but this will be the second attack from them, if they do attack!”

Cricket told Mark, “They just fired a missile!“

Mark shook his head, “Aaannddd they just fired a missile at us!”

Everyone looked to his statue at the end of the gold path as it prepared for attack and then fired his trident.

There was a flash of blue light, like a laser, from a couple of statues on the eastern side of the island, then the missile just vaporized. No explosion, no falling debris ... nothing!

The statue then returned to his normal stance and everyone else just returned to their breakfast and conversations, like nothing had happened.

The Americans looked at everyone around the tables in the meal pavilion, shocked, “Nobody here even flinched! You were just attacked! Isn’t anybody worried?”

Rayven answered him with a mouth full of bacon, “Why would we worry? Mark is on our side!”

As everyone looked at Mark, who had his eyes closed.

Mark asked Cricket, “We have a video of the attack don’t we?“

“Of course I recorded it, plus the audible warnings we communicated to them.“

“Good make sure that the statue isn’t shown, but show the missile being destroyed, then I want you to pick up all the Chinese submarines out of the water and beach them on the Chinese shoreline. How many of those tractor beam shuttles do you have ready?”

“I’ve got 10 of them, and they’re all cloaked and en route to pick up subs now.”

Mark then opened his eyes and saw everyone was staring at him, “Sorry what did I miss?”

Rayven laughed, “Nothing babe, I take it you were making an example of the Chinese navy?”

The Admiral looked skeptical, “What do you mean you’ve already made an example of them? You were just sitting there!”

Mark just smiled, “Watch the news over the next couple of days,” then he raised an eyebrow and added, “Just know that I went easy on them ... this time.”

The Admiral was curious now and he looked a bit nervous as he asked, “If I can ask, what did you do?”

Mark just smiled, “Spoilers! But let’s just say the Chinese are going to be very busy for the next while and this is likely going to cost them quite a bit.”

He then looked at Liyana and sighed, “I guess I should probably make some sort of announcement acknowledging their attack, and why we responded the way we did.”

Liyana just nodded her head, “Yes, you should, I can’t see people getting too upset at what you’re doing, except for the Chinese government.”

As everyone finished their breakfasts and got up from the table, Mark got a message from Cricket, “There is a Shepard class transport that just exited light drive and it has people looking to relocate.“

Mark then announced, “There’s a Shepard class transport that is about to come down at the spaceport.”

Liyana looked at Mark in confusion, “Wasn’t the first Atlanterra transport due tomorrow?”

Mark was also confused, “Yes, but those were Starliner and Cruiser class transports, this one is a Shepard class! I guess I don’t get to go sight-seeing yet again.”

The Admiral said, “We are leaving for the airport. Do you want to ride with us?”

Mark said, “Sure! That would be great.”

The girls asked if they should stick around, but Mark told them, “Go on without me. You might as well enjoy yourselves and this first smaller transport might help to work out some kinks before the bigger transports arrive tomorrow. It hopefully won’t take very long and I can catch up.”

Mark kissed all the girls goodbye and left with the Americans to the airport. Jared, the assistant, took it upon himself to call the lift at the transit stop, as the Admiral again apologized for the attitude and actions of himself and his men.

Mark just said, “Thanks, but you’ve already apologized, what has caused this sudden change in attitude?”

Jared blurted out, “You’re a god!”

Mark laughed, “No I’m not! I will admit I’ve got abilities that others don’t have, but I’m just a man that wants peace and prosperity for the people and planets under his care.”

The Admiral’s phone buzzed, so he took it out and looked at it. Then his eyes went wide as he said, “There’s reports of Chinese subs being picked up out of the water and floating over the ocean.”

Mark just sat there with a big grin on his face.

The Admiral, looked at Mark, then looked at his phone and then back at Mark before saying, “God or not, you are obviously not someone to be trifle with, as such I am going back to the States to deliver the message that you are indeed friends and to open regular visitation and communication between our nations.”

Mark just continued to smile, “Thank you Admiral,” as the sun was blocked by the incoming transport.

The Lieutenant said, “Whoa, that’s a big ship!”

Mark laughed, “That’s nothing! That’s a little Shepard class transport, like an airplane for space travel. I think they carry 250 people or so and 10 or 12 crew. There’s a few Starliner class transports on their way and those are absolutely massive, each one can carry over 5,000 people and have over 100 crew.”

From their elevation they could already see the terminal island offshore and the transport ship that was just settling to the ground on the spaceport side of the port.

“I just thought of something! Do your planes need fuel? We don’t use fossil fuels, so we have no fuel on the island,” Mark said with concern.

The Admiral looked at both pilots, and they both came to the same conclusion, “The Gulfstream might make it, but we’re going to be on fumes. The F-15 will need to refuel in the air.”

Mark closed his eyes since he found he could concentrate better.

Seeing his eyes were closed, just like at the breakfast table, the Americans just watched him quietly.

“Cricket, we are going to need to look into aircraft refuelling and we need it ASAP. We’re probably going to need to look into boat refuelling eventually also!“

“I’m way ahead of you. After they landed, I did some research and there’s lot of different types of jet fuels, but most of them are very similar, they just have different additives for climates, lubrication, and corrosion prevention. As long as they aren’t completely out of fuel, I can have a replicator sample the fuel they have and then replicate more of it.”

“That’s an awesome idea, I really wasn’t wanting to have to import or store multiple different types of fossil fuels. How soon can you have one of those things operational?“

“I’ve already got it ready ... Do you have any concerns about CB555 being our gas boy?”

“That’s ingenious! I love it! Is CB here on the island?”

“I suspected you might need a helper around the port, so I had Sarah go pick him up and deliver him a couple of hours ago.”

Mark opened his eyes, turned to the men and smiled, “Don’t worry about the fuel issue, we’ll get our gas boy to refuel your planes.”

The Admiral looked puzzled, “But just a second ago you said you didn’t have any fuel on the island! How are you going to refuel us without fuel?”

“I just re-purposed one of our old robots, he’s been a bit down in the dumps, thinking he wasn’t needed anymore, so this will give him something to do! I’m not sure how fast the replication process works, but he’ll get you filled up and ready to go.”

Captain Litta asked, “Replication process?”

“Yeah, CB will carry around a replicator machine, it will sample the fuel you already have in the plane and then make you more of it using a replicator.”

As they approached the transit zone on the roof, they could see the transport had landed and opened its portals and people were starting to exit and walk toward the terminal.

As their lifted descended to the roof and the door opened, they exited as CB555 came floating up to see them.

Mark laughed when he saw the new look.

CB’s lower body looked like well worn jean shorts and he even had a pocket with what looked like an old grease rag hanging out of it. He was wearing an orange hi-viz vest and a blue baseball cap that had ‘CB 555’ on it.

He was pulling a red antigrav sled, designed to look like a wagon with a small slip tank looking device with a fuel hose.

Mark high-fived the robot, “CB! Long time no see, good to have you with us!”

CB replied in his robotic voice, “Thank you for the job sir! I shall perform it to the best of my abilities.”

Mark smiled, “I have no doubts you will! Can you please fuel up the airplanes for these fine gentlemen?”

CB saluted, “Aye, aye sir!”, as he turn and started to leave.

Mark laughed, “That’s for ships you daft droid!”

CB waved his arm in the air and said, “Whatever!”

Everybody laughed at the casual interaction between Mark and the robot, as Jared just said, “Amazing!”

The pilots excused themselves to go supervise the refuelling process, while Jared and the Admiral took the escalator down to the third level, where they could watch the citizens exiting the transport, noting most were centaurs, minotaurs and cats with a few humans mixed in.

The Admiral asked, “Was that a livestock transport?”

“No! They are citizens from Savann!” Mark said with a big smile on his face, as he was scanning over the crowd, looking for anyone he had met on Savann.

Mark was facing the wrong direction as Candy snuck up behind him, took off his cowboy hat and put it on her head.

The Admiral and the assistant jumped back, not expecting the tall centaur.

Mark turned around, “Candy! I missed you!” as he hugged her tight and gave her a kiss on the lips.

“I’ve missed you too, my King, good thing you are easy to spot with your cowboy hat,” she said as she placed the cowboy hat back on Mark’s head and then looked behind him.

Mark turned around to see more centaurs, “Meles, Lydia, nice to see you! Welcome to Atlantis!” He then turned to a stunning female centaur that looked like an Appaloosa, only with reddish spots, like freckles, and said, “Who is this lovely lady?”

“Mark, this is my friend, Danyria,” Candy introduced them.

“Welcome to Atlantis, Danyria!” Mark said as he hugged her and gave her a peck on the cheek.

Danyria blushed and bowed, “Thank you, my King!”

Then the Admiral and Assistant’s eyes went wide, so Mark turned to see them looking at a huge tiger that was standing off to the side.

Mark smiled, “Bentiri! Nice to see you! Welcome to Atlantis!” as he shook hands with the big tiger, who shook his hand and then brought him in for a hug.

Bentiri said in his deep voice, “It’s a good thing you are easy to spot with the cowboy hat! It is good to see you again, my King, thank you for taking care of my daughter.”

Mark then thought he should introduce everyone, “Everyone, this is Admiral Caldwell and his assistant Jared, they were visiting from the USA. Gentlemen, this is Candy and her parents, Meles and Lydia, her friend, Danyria and this is Bentiri, Marta’s dad. They’re from the planet Savann.”

Everyone was hesitant to shake hands, but Candy took the initiative and started the process.

Still in a state of shock at the casual interaction with aliens, the Admiral and Jared excused themselves to go board their planes.

Mark shook their hands and thanked them for visiting and said to come back anytime, then turned around to talk to the new arrivals, “So what brings you to Atlantis?”

Candy jumped up and down and blurted out, “We’re moving here!”

Mark said, “That’s awesome, we have lots of room!”

Just then an announcement came over the public address system... ‘Welcome to Atlantis!

The island is split into 10 regions, plus the capital city of Acropolis. We currently have over 100 planned townsites with a mix of mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, plains and seaside, so there should be something for everyone.