Jake Barry
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Chapter 25
🕑 Added 2023-01-18 19:00:03 +0000 UTCThe task of building a town was nothing special. It wasn't as complex as it was time consuming. This land that we've been given was essentially 'blank'. It was sort of like a white canvas, just waiting for a painter to come along and put their brush to it.
A city is so much more than a town. It needs more organization and infrastructure. It wouldn't be an understatement to call the task of designing one monumental. There are decisions that have to be made, many I am not qualified to make. Scalability and maintenance are serious concerns. Not to mention energy usage, waste disposal, and transportation. All of these are merely infrastructural concerns. I haven't even begun to consider the task of construction!
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
"One thing at a time, Icarus." I mutter to myself. "Focus on what's in front of you."
Neither Dad nor I are civil engineers, but we're doing our best. We used to be the only people in Magna Gratia who'd received formal education, but that changed with the arrival of the third group. They're a surprisingly friendly and cooperative bunch. Many are quite skilled, particularly in the trades. Considering they successfully built a settlement in the root of a tree, I'd say they're qualified to help us. To think, these guys had running water and rudimentary plumbing! Honestly, I wouldn't have believed if it hadn't heard it from Nick. Needless to say, we consulted with them before finalizing our infrastructural designs.
"Icarus!" Dad calls to me from across the vast expanse at the town's edge. "Get over here. Don't keep the girl waiting!"
I look at him, standing out in the middle of nowhere, then up to Jeannine, who's sitting patiently by the town's border. Her form dominates the horizon.
"Be right there, Dad!" I yell, gathering my papers and hurrying over.
Taking things one at a time, we decided to start with the power grid. Currently, all of our powerlines and water pipes are above ground. They'll need to be put underground, along with the natural gas pipelines.
We're past the point of using NGL tanks in every home. That's too old-fashioned, in my opinion. In fact, a lot of what we've been using could probably go. Back in my old city, things were fairly advanced. I'd like to bring that kind of progress and quality of life here too.
When I get to Dad he hands me the earpiece Nick loaned us for the day. He was happy to let me use it when I asked. Even though I made it, I don't consider it mine. I put in my ear and stare up at the giantess. Her eyes seem to be looking our way, but I doubt she can see us all that well. For safety purposes, both Dad and I are wearing white to make us easier to spot against the darker ground. Ori insisted that we do this, and she is a difficult person to argue with. It's nice that she cares so much.
"Let's get right to it." I say, testing if she can hear me. When I see her nod, I continue with my instruction. "We're going to be digging our lines in a grid pattern. We've placed guidelines throughout the area for you. Can you see them clearly?"
"I can. I'm guessing you want me to dig between them?"
"Exactly. Dig out a line from one end to the other, being careful not to go too deep. We're not trying to scrape the base."
"I'll try not to." She says, leaning forward. Her face gets a little closer, giving her a better view of her target. Her eyes squint as she focuses on the guideline, and her hand moves over to it. Extending a finger, she slowly lowers it to the ground. A weak tremor shakes the town as it plunges into the land. "Here goes. You might want to hold on to something."
The weak tremor becomes an earthquake as she drags her finger across the space. Though she's going slow, it moves at breakneck speeds. In less than ten seconds, she manages to dig out just under four kilometers of trench. Dad and I approach it, peering over the edge. The depth's got to be at least thirty meters, which is more than we needed. The width is about double that, which is also way too much.
We'll definitely need to fill it in and redo.
"Hmm." Jeannine sighs, looking disappointed. "I think I might've overdone it."
"It's a lot more than we needed, but we can always try again. Would you mind filling it back for us?"
"Sure! Right away." We brace ourselves once more as she pushes the dug-up dirt back into place. With a few pats of her hand, she puts the land back, just like before. The way this woman terraforms the earth fills me with awe. It really is a sight to see. "Done. Shall we try again?"
"Yes, please. Maybe try using your nail instead? It might help." I tell her, trying to estimate the size of it's curve from where I'm standing. "But if your finger hurts, maybe a pen would be better?"
"My finger is fine. See?" She hold it up and curls it a few times, giggling. "It's like writing in sand. Maybe a little tougher?"
"I-I see! Then we have nothing to worry about."
Dad and I exchange glances. We're thinking the same thing. Digging through solid bedrock and metric tons of packed earth is no easy task. Not for us, at least. Knowing she has all that power in just one of her fingers is kind of crazy. I'm sure Dad is doing the mental math, trying to figure out how much force she can exert, or whatever. The number's probably astronomical.
"Second try." She says, lowering her finger again. "I have a feel for it now."
Another earthquake rocks the town as she digs out a trench of equal length. Once the shaking stops, Dad and I move around to inspect her work. She did a much better job this time. The depth is fifteen meters and the width is about the same.
"How did I do?" She asks us, hesitantly.
"Much better! I think we can move to the next line. Ease up the force a smidge and it'll be perfect." I give her a thumbs up.
I see her eyes light up. "Okay, will do! I'm sorry for the shaking. Tell me it becomes too much."
One by one, Jeannine digs out the trenches. She gets better at it with each one, managing to control her movements pretty gracefully.
It takes her a few minutes to finish each line of the grid. When she finally draws her finger back, she rubs at it with her thumb to clean it off. She then takes the time to check her work. Her eyes scan all around, surveying the area for imperfections. A smirk begins to form on her face. It would seem that she's satisfied.
"You're pretty damn meticulous. I never knew."
"You never asked." She says, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "I hope this is enough. They look right to me."
"Masterful work, young miss." Dad tells her.
"Thank you, sir. That's high praise, coming from you."
"Well deserved, I say." He tells her, grinning from ear to ear.
He's right to be happy. She just took care of several months of work effortlessly. It took days to lay out all of those guidelines, but they did the job. We're so ahead of schedule, it's isn't even funny. Dad's idea to use Jeannine was genius. I thought she'd make a mess of things, being so massive and all, but she proved me wrong. By the look of these trenches, they're perfect. We'll be able to set up the pipelines and wiring later. When that gets done, probably later this month, we'll have her bury everything properly. I doubt it'll take her more than a few minutes. We would have loved to work with her back home. She makes life so easy! I can now mark task one out of two complete.
And now for the fun part...
"Jeannine, would you indulge me? I have something I'd like to try out."
"Sure. What is it?"
Dad and I turn around to the only feature in the otherwise barren land outside the town. It's a lone, towering wind turbine roughly two hundred meters tall. It's much bigger than any we had back home. That's intentional, since it's function is slightly different. Rather than converting the natural wind to energy, it'll be able to use the drafts from the air in her room to achieve much better outputs. Heck, having Jeannine walk past it would probably keep the whole town's lights on for an hour.
"You see that turbine?"
"The thing that looks like a toothpick? Yes, I do."
"It's the first of many we plan to put around here. If all goes well, a wind farm could produce enough energy to sustain Magna Gratia as it develops into a city. Maybe even beyond that."
"Oh my! That's really cool."
"I know, I know." I chuckle. "It was my idea."
"Actually, it was mine." Dad grumbles.
"But I designed it."
"You got to it before me." He rolls his eyes. "Ya bum."
"Whatever. Details aren't important." I brush him off. "We're looking to test it out, but we'll need some wind. Like, concentrated on it."
"So, you want me to..." She trails off, not following.
"Blow on it. With your breath." I tell her, flatly. "Shouldn't be hard, right?"
She furrows her brows, looking unsure. I see her tapping her fingers on her leg.
"I don't know... That sounds dangerous. Will you two be okay?"
"We'll be fine behind the wind shield." Dad assures her, as we get behind it. "Dont worry yer pretty little head over us."
"I guess so." She agrees. I realize it's probably because she trusts Dad's judgement so much. "I'm glad I just brushed my teeth."
Jeannine leans forward, closer than before, until her mouth is positioned in front of the turbine. She purses her lips and lets out a breath. A gentle, minty breeze washes over us. It's enough to get the blades moving a little. I hear a very faint hum as the nearby transformer is powered by a current. After seeing Jeannine do so well with the digging, I'm surprised that she'd be unable to get the thing turning. At first, I question whether she was hitting it head on, but then I realize it was probably because she wasn't trying. Even when we assure her it's safe, she still wants to hold back for our sake. It's sweet, in a very frustrating way.
I step out from behind the wind shield and give her some encouragement.
"Come on! Is that all you've got?"
"Yes. Well, no. I mean, I'm being careful." She explains. "Was it that bad?"
"Pathetic. My hairdryer could've done better." I joke.
"I just don't want to break it, you know?"
"Boy, the hell are ya doing?" Dad whispers to me, still crouched behind the shield. "It ain't funny."
I ignore him and continue egging her on. "Pfft! That thing is rock solid. You couldn't break it if you tried!"
"Ohoho, you're asking for it now." She smiles, devilishly. "Don't say I didn't warn you!"
She takes a really deep breath, her cheeks beginning to puff up. I'm too busy watching her to realize the danger I'm in. Thankfully, Dad grabs me by the shirt and yanks me down to the ground, and to safety. Not a moment later, a hurricane blasts through the plain. Our shirts flutter violently in the wind, even while behind the shield. A huge cloud of dust and dirt is swept up into the air. It's so loud that I can't hear a thing. It takes an active effort just to open my eyes. When I do, I see the turbine going nuts. The blades are spinning so fast that it could probably take off.
"That's got to be at least a thousand rpm!" I yell to Dad.
"What?!" He yells back, unable to hear me. I point to the turbine instead, which he looks at. His jaw drops when he sees what I'm seeing.
Suddenly the transformer makes a strange sound. A second later, the thing explodes with a fiery 'boom'. The flash and sound are enough to catch Jeannine's attention. She stops blowing when her eyes land on the ruined piece of electrical equipment. She grimaces, realizing it's her fault.
"I'm sorry. That's on me, guys. I got carried away..."
"D-Don't worry about it! More importantly, my turbine is still standing, so I was right!"
"I can see that." She nods, staring wide eyed. "I'm honestly surprised. I gave that all I had."
"Oh, we know!" Dad laughs, trying to fix his hair after the wind messed it up. "We'll get a new transformer. No problem at all."
"I call that a successful test! Thank you for helping." I tell her, trying to be serious again. "Seriously, what a rush..."
"Hehe..." She smiles wryly. "By the way, is there any reason you chose wind power? I feel like solar would've been better, being next to the window and all."
"We did consider it, but we don't get a lot of daylight at this angle, even in summertime. Plus, just look at the town." I spin around, gesturing to the lack of light around the area. "Every time you sit there, you cast the entire town in shadow. We'd have daily blackouts!"
"Oh." She looks around, somewhat embarrassed. "I hadn't realized. Good point."
"Yeah... Well, anyway, thank you for the assistance."
"My pleasure. Glad to be of help." She says, standing up to her full height. "If that's all, then I'll be going now. I've got to keep studying."
"Good luck! We know you'll do great."
"Thank you, Icarus." She says, smiling at me. "You're sweet."
Jeannine walks away, hopping onto her bed in the distance. She sits against the bedframe and begins working on her laptop. Even though she's right there, it's basically like she's not here anymore. I look at Dad and shrug.
"She's ridiculous. I built that transformer to handle anything! The parts that didn't explode fucking melted. What raw power..."
"That's a Brob for ya." Dad scratches his head. "They're something else."
"You could say that again. Good thing she's friendly."
"Ain't that the truth." Dad slaps my back. "Enough ooh'n 'n aah'n. We've got work to do, son."
"Right. Yeah. Back to work."
We've got a city to build!
Comments
G
Well shit, I didn’t see that one coming but damn 34 years old you make him sound so young but dang I figure he was 25 bu the sound of it but 34 okay this I can get my twilight love triangle thought out of my head thank god. But in the great words of one of my favorite movies “Dumb & Dumber” and in the great words of Jim Carrey “So you're telling me there’s a chance!!” for Nick and Jeannine to be a thing come Jake even Sara knows there something between them that neither them wants to admit. I can see it now Nick and Jeannine alone hanging out and the song “Can you feel the love tonight” playing and the moment of truth happens and it is beautiful haha!! But anywho glad to keep the whole resident trusting Jeannine thing cleared up so I will wait for that also what about the city Provecta perfect small storyline for Icarus, especially after healing his age to be a more important character minted of the guy who a borderline super genius who just helping build one city in a brobs room when he could theoretically help an even bigger and slightly more important city but hey if it’s not mentioned again then that cool I just think it could be a nice storyline for Icarus and Daedalus but again cool if it’s too much to ask either way I’m hype to see what happens next Wednesday can't come soon enough.
Jake Barry
The residents of MG trust Jeannine enough when she says that she'll keep Sara in line. Nothing happened beyond a brief scare, so most people moved on. That's the level of trust between them and their very large landlady. Though, I do have plans to address what happened later so be patient. As for the relationships things, who knows? I (might) reconsider towards the very end. Also, I know I never gave the characters official ages but now might be a good time to give estimates. Don't hold me to these. Nick - 18 Ori - 27 Jeannine - 22 Sam/Aurelia - 28/31 Icarus - 34 Daedalus - 58 Louis - 6 Sara - 22 The rest aren't important enough to give ages, or I simply haven't introduced them yet. But yeah, Icarus is a little old for Jeannine tbh haha...
G
Dang I figured the first one was a long shot but hey close enough but let’s go!!!😁😁😁
Jake Barry
1. No, because this chapter already served that purpose without forcing the memory part. 2. The aftermath part yes, the rest no. 3. Kind of close.
G
Now for my predictions, was hard to predict with this chapter but that makes it more fun to guess what happens to pump me up for where the story leads. 1 - Icarus and Daedalus are working on other projects to make MG a city with enough power and while their working Icarus remembers that today is the day when they lost everything including his mother and reminisce and recalls all the memories they had with her leaving for a great bonding moment between Icarus and Daedalus reminding them they will always have each other. 2 - Nick after checking on everything is functioning well in the town and everything is fine feels all kinds of mixed emotions after Sara's discovery of MG that he doesn't know after feeling about trusting other Brobs after thinking almost all of them evil and vile people expect for he Jeannine he goes for advice from Ori who watching Louis and then Icarus and Daedalus to help clear his head and emotions. 3 - Jeannine invites Sara over to finally get a meeting with the lilies of MG talking to everyone and getting to know everyone seeing them as people instead of specks. Ori/Louis and Nick are the last ones up Ori uses her people reading skills to see that Sara is a good person at heart and cares for her friends and Sara thinks that Ori and Louis are a cute duo Nick is last but his mixed feeling for Sara lead to a bit of an argument for their first meeting.
G
First I want to say that a great chapter to read so great to see Icarus and Daedalus anytime with father and son banter. Okay now that I got that out the way (clear throat) WHAT, WHAT, WHAT DID I MISS SOMETHING DID WE GO BACK IN TIME OR SOMETHING YOU’RE TELLING ME AFTER THAT SOMEWHAT LIFE CHANGING EVENT THAT SARA DISCOVERED MG EVERYONE IS FINE AND MOVING ALONG WITHOUT A SINGLE BIT OF CONCERN OR WORRY!!! Don’t get me wrong I am all for slice-of-life chapters but you're telling me after the last chapter that there is no drama or even some argument among the people of MG about being discovered unless you're saving that for later then fine but anyway. It was cool to see how playful Jeannine can be with her friend while also seeing how powerful she is compared to Lilies with just simple acts. Also, I know you said there were not going to be relationships between the character but you making it so hard not to see that not only with Jeannine and Nick but Icarus too like bro can’t help but ship them man but again no romantic relationship so I will let that go. Nice to see Icarus and Daedalus working hard to make MG a great city for all. also, any news for the city Provecta in the future just saying an advanced city and all that is very personal for Icarus and Daedalus but anyway can’t wait to see what happens next.
