Ups and Downs

With the asteroid crisis averted, the next few days saw widespread reports of civil unrest, protests and rallies from all over the world asking for the Federation to come in and take over. Although there were just as many conspiracy theorists saying that the Federation directed the asteroid at Earth and likely sabotaged the mission to make themselves look like saviours.

They were glad to spend time out at the ranch, away from the reporters and the accusations by the conspiracy theorists or the governments saying they were fuelling unrest and separation. The group began thinking about what to do next.

As if fate had heard them, Mark got a message from Jacob, asking if he would like to come to his place to see the water filtration side project he had been working on.

Mark agreed, so he called for a lift and after a few minutes of flying, he, Annabelle and Rayven were soon at Jacob’s island.

Jacob led them out to the corner of his beach, where dirty water was being pumped from the bottom of the lake into a tank that had a clear tube connected to a 1 metre long by 0.5 metre diameter cylindrical device that was converting the dirty incoming water and pouring clear water back into the lake. He explained that the diameter could be any size, but the length of the device had to be double the diameter.

When the device was off, it simply looked like a hollow cylinder, but when it was on the interior appeared like waves of different shades of reds and yellows on one end and blues and greens on the other end. He explained the interior was an oscillating laser field, using a Nano-mesh pattern that instantly disintegrates any solids in the water, turning them into little particles of carbon, which then got captured and converted into pure water and that there were several layers of purple beams between all the other beams that purified the water via UV light.

The advantage of using lasers is that they are light and don’t affect the flow dynamics like a traditional filter would. Unfortunately, they require a LOT of power, but power was never an issue with Federation technology.

Jacob’s calculations estimated the unit should be able to convert water as fast as they could put it through, and to test that theory, he had constructed a large elevated tank with a tube that was the same diameter as his device. Then he could fill up the tank and let gravity force the water through the device, but he admitted it wasn’t a genuine test since the water wasn’t very dirty, even with the agitator. What he needed was some actual world trials!

Annabelle suggested, “Maybe we should look at starting our African Aid idea?”

Jacob looked like he had an idea, “Speaking of Africa, I did some searching on the Internet and it looks like the environment is much like that of Savann.”

Mark said, “Yes, it very much like Savann.”

Jacob said, “Maybe they could use my water generators?”

Mark asked, “Your water generators?”

Jacob said, “Yeah, that was my very first major project in high school. There’s a lot of different methods for water generator systems that can extract water from the air, each method having its pros and cons. The system I developed is definitely not for portability; I built it for reliability. The unit is self-sufficient for power and uses three different generation methods, so it can produce water in pretty much any environment, regardless of ambient humidity or temperature and as long as there’s hydrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere.”

Rayven asked, “So you made all those units on Savann?”

“Yes, my sister was already a senator at the time and shortly after Savann joined the Federation they had a major drought and they put out requests for solutions. She put me in touch with a senator on Savann, who brought me out there for a couple of months and we installed a quite a few generators at the watering holes for the wildlife.”

Mark said, “That’s great! We should do that in Africa also! I’ll get Cricket to deploy some drones or whatever she does so we can see where the traditional watering holes are around the continent. It’s a big place, so there must be a lot of them.”

Annabelle then said, “Actually, rather than going to Africa and trying to find the tribes that need our help, I wonder if maybe we shouldn’t call a few of the organizations and ask if they would like our help?”

After thinking about it, everyone agreed that would probably be the best way, as they didn’t need to step on any more toes, since many governments were already accusing them of inciting revolution.

Rayven then said, “I think we should start up a company for the water filtration and generation business. Well, the filtration business anyway, but we can promote the generators by saying that they are available for free to those who need them, they just need to contact us and we’ll come out, set it up and maintain it for them.”

Mark nodded his head, “I like that, but I’m thinking we should keep our charitable work separate from any companies. Sure, they can cross-promote and we can give all the credit to a company, but I think all charitable work should funnel through the Federation via Annabelle.”

Then after thinking for a second, he added, “Actually, we should come up with a list of charitable services we could provide for free ... just delivered, setup and maintained by Atlantis. I say Atlantis, because it isn’t really a Federation thing, it’s only applicable to Earth. Stuff like water generators, basic affordable housing, schools, or maybe even outreach centres? Although, I’m on the fence about outreach centres as those would require staffing!? Actually we could also re-promote our rescue and emergency disaster services, as those really haven’t taken off as much as I thought they would.”

As they were going over what to include on the Atlantean Aid website, they came up with the idea to create an app that people could download and use on any cell phone in the world, since they needed some way to track where the call was coming from, besides hardly anyone has hard lines anymore, even businesses use VoIP so they aren’t hard lines either. Besides, they would not provide service in any city limits.

It wouldn’t be as easy or as convenient as simply dialling a three-digit emergency number, but it would be just as functional and likely faster responding for emergencies outside of cities, except nearby drones simply handled any security services. They could respond to medical and rescue requests and dispatch them from the space station as part of the training for security personnel, and they would pair trainees with at least one senior specialist for each call.

Who knows, maybe someday they would integrate the Atlantean emergency service into normal emergency call centres and responses?

Before just launching the service, they figured they should probably talk to the staff of the space station and let them know. So Mark and Annabelle made a call to Commander Trane from Jacob’s patio. Commander Trane was the top official at the space station. It wasn’t as glorious as commanding a Defender, but it ranked higher than being in charge of an Explorer, primarily because of the number of people under direct command.

After hearing the initial plan, the Commander invited the senior officers to the ready room so the King and Queen could explain it in more detail to all those involved.

They were ecstatic that they would get actual missions, apparently training was pretty boring without having to deal with many issues. So they promised to get everyone up to speed and come with some procedures and schedules to make sure people would be available at all times to respond to emergencies.

They then got Cass and Beth on the project, so after a quick call, Cass and Beth were soon landing at the island.

They sat down in Jacob’s office and the girls got to hear the ideas they had for the emergency services and disaster relief website. Everyone agreed we should keep them as a single website, that way it would be a single source of contact for emergency and disaster services. Cricket had done the VoIP stuff so frequently that she got the toll-free number setup and routed through to the space station and let everyone know what the phone number was by the time they finished their preliminary meeting.

Having a list of ideas and the phone number, Beth returned to the office to get the project into the system and then meet up with Eric. Since it was near the end of their workday, Cass just stayed out at the island, as she lived there full-time with Jacob now, although she went to her office in the house and resumed working on the website she had already started for Jacob’s water filtration business.

Once Beth left, Annabelle asked Jacob if Beth had bought the other side of the island? She had, in fact, bought it a few weeks ago, but she was having difficulty in deciding what type of house to build. She had never lived on her own before and had never really even thought about it. All of her dreams growing up more or less had her living in a castle, but being the practical person she was, she realized she didn’t want or need anything that large.

Mark thought, “Cricket, can you access Beth’s memories and dreams? Can you see what her ideal castle would look like?”

Cricket said, “I can only do that if she goes into a medibed.”

“Hmm, well, it was a thought! Oh well, don’t worry about it, she’ll eventually figure something out.”

With both websites under construction for the next couple of days, Mark, Annabelle and Rayven called for a lift and were soon back at their ranch.

Mark and Annabelle wanted to go for a horse ride, so Rayven called Candy and Dany who must have wanted to come along, as while Mark and Annabelle were saddling up Buck and Moonrise, the two female centaurs were soon galloping up to the ranch.

Minutes later, they were all saddled up, including Candy. Originally the centaurs didn’t like the saddles, but they eventually preferred them, as it distributed the rider’s weight better on their backs. They were still dead set against wearing a bridle or anyone riding with spurs on, so the saddles they wore had handles for the rider.

As they were riding north along their fence line and then up into the foothills, Annabelle inquired how things were going at the ranch and were told about the trail ride they had gone on today.

Both girls had looks of disgust as Dany quickly summarized it, “It was just one of the short rides up to the waterfall, but the entire family was rude and conceited. They disrespected us and my mom and dad, Joe eventually made the family walk back to the ranch, security showed up, and they’re now being deported off Atlantis!”

Mark, Annabelle and Rayven were all surprised to hear that, as Candy attempted to explain in more detail, “The ride started off normal, until just past the fence lines where you could only fit two abreast on the trail. Joe was in the lead, the man and woman were riding mom and dad and the older boy was riding me and the younger boy was riding Dany.

Riding side by side at the back, the older boy kept reaching around and fondling my breasts. I kept swatting his hands away and asking him to stop, but he eventually ripped off my top, pulled my nipples and twisted hard.

I bucked him off and was putting my top back on, as the boy complained to his parents about the ‘dumb animal’ and they, of course, sided with the rude boy.

They said, if Joe couldn’t keep his animals under control, they were going to sue him for negligence and endangering minors.

Joe took offence to us being called animals and said the trail ride was over and that they could re-book once they learn some manners and respect. Then Joe told the older boy to walk back to the ranch.

The father then offered dad for his son to ride and said he would ride the dumb animal.

Dad then took offence to that saying that he if couldn’t respect his daughter, he could walk as well. That then pissed off the mother, who was riding mom and so on. Joe and the young boy that was riding Dany, were the only ones that rode back. Everyone else had to walk.

It was a very toxic trip back to the ranch. Joe must have messaged Kat, because Gyges and Athena were both at the ranch waiting when we returned. Fortunately, we hadn’t made it much more than a kilometre up into the hills, so not that far to walk.

They asked for a refund and when Joe pointed out there would be no refund; they threatened to sue him. Kat had the waivers they had signed ready and had even circled the part about respecting the animals and ranch employees. The wife then pointed out that even they called them animals, and Joe just explained that the centaurs are ranch employees! A horse is an animal, and if they couldn’t figure out that simple distinction, then they weren’t welcome back!

The man looked like he was about to haul off and hit Joe, so that’s when Gyges and Athena stepped forward in their security uniforms.

Seeing the uniforms, the wife then took it upon herself to explain that Joe had given them animals that were out of control and they had endangered the life of her son when he got bucked off, and then the dumb animals wouldn’t let them ride them on the way back, so they had to walk. She then threatened to sue Joe for negligence, endangerment and breach of contract.

Gyges then asked me for my version of the story, which is what I just told you.

After I finished, the man then complained that they were going to believe a dumb animal over an actual person?

Gyges then said, ‘She is a citizen of the Federation, not an animal! Actually, right now I’m tempted to call for a security transport to have you all deported off Atlantis.’

The woman then threatened that he couldn’t do that, and on what grounds?

Athena then explained that her eldest son had committed unwanted sexual contact, bordering on rape, which can be punishable by death! They had also witnessed both of the parents spouting racist and degrading comments at Federation citizens. Getting deported from Atlantis would actually be the best option, unless any of us wanted to press charges?

We told them we didn’t want to press charges, and just getting them off the island was satisfaction enough.

The family then started calling Gyges and Athena dumb animals as well. They called for a security shuttle, and while they were waiting for it to arrive, Joe and Kat had let them go back to their cabin to get their belongings, at which time they tried to wreck the place. All security personnel witnessed the vandalism, so when security escorted them to the shuttle Gyges instructed the officers to deliver them directly to the port terminal where they could stay in a detention cell until they could arrange a trip back to wherever they came from, and that they would receive a written notification of their crimes and the length of banishment.”

Annabelle expressed her condolences for them having to experience that, but both Candy and Dany had said this wasn’t the first time and that they’ve been talking about just taking the Meles on the trail rides, and that her dad was going to fly back to Alberta to buy some horses to go back to being more of a traditional trail riding experience.

Rayven then piped up, “Well if you’re not doing trail rides anymore, maybe you two could move to our ranch, you could still work at the other ranch if you wanted, but I’m sure Gaderius and Mark wouldn’t mind having some extra pussies around to fuck!”

Dany and Candy smiled and said they’d think about it!

They more or less just ended up riding around all the pastures for both ranches, ending up at Henderson Ranch, where they stopped and talked to Joe and Kat for a bit. Joe had just finished a call with Jason, who had informed him of an upcoming sale that had several horses, so Joe was going to fly back for the sale and spend a few days in Alberta. He also mentioned that one of his goals was to get a couple more stallions and then breed horses at the ranch.

Mark offered, “Buck would probably be up for some action if Joe needed him.”

Joe said, “I almost forgot about him! Yeah, I could definitely use his stud services.”

After talking for a while longer, they eventually bid everyone a good night as Candy and Dany accompanied them back to the other ranch.