Chapter 1

Exile

"The year is 1990 and the US was still at war with Germany. The US had just developed a monster new weapon for the war, and was busy running tests on it on an island in the middle of the Pacific. As they completed the new weapon they got the order that the war was now over, so they left the island and left the huge new weapon at the island in secret and covered up the remains and left the island off the map and out of the-" that was as far as Quentin McCarthy, or Q for short, had gotten on his research paper he was typing. He went to the top and put the date on the paper, January 15th, 2013. As he had first found the remnants of the new weapon in his 10th grade history class and was instantly assigned to do a writing report for a grade, which he badly needed to salvage his grade in school, and was regretting ever mentioning the topic to his teacher, Mr. Mercia. As Q leaned back in his chair and surveyed his report, he was dismayed at how little information he actually had. But he had been assigned a report and he was almost never late with an assignment. Then the bell rang and interrupted his thoughts. After getting through the school day he was tired and was wanting to go home so he picked up his bag and started for the door.

...

TWO WEEKS LATER

Boom! a mountainous wave battered against the Queen of adventure, Q gripped the ship's wheel hard and spun it furiously in order to keep it on a straight course. For the past two days Q and his friends aboard the Queen of Adventure, an old great lakes steam ship that they had converted into an exploration ship fit to search the Pacific Ocean in search for a island that the world thought was imaginary, battled their way through a hurricane for their destination. As Q fought to keep the ship headed into the bucking waves, he slowly found it getting easier and easier. Then to his surprise, the waves shrank back, and the water became calm. As he kept looking out the bridge windows, he began to realize why; the only time waves have been known to go flat in a storm was when there was a rogue wave in the area. But, as Q frantically searched out the bridge windows for it he suddenly saw a tall, dark, wall in the distant haze of the storm and realized that it was not a rogue wave headed for them; it was a tsunami.

Thinking quickly, Q spun the wheel and rang the old telegraph for ahead-full, deep in the ship the massive engines suddenly roared to life, swinging around the nose of the ship so it faced away from the approaching tsunami. Q stood helplessly as the large tsunami slowly caught the back of the ship. Slowly, the ship started to lift above the water, as it neared the top, the ship took up speed; like a surfer surfing the wave. As Q hung on for dear life as the Queen of Adventure rocketed down the wall of the tsunami at such a speed, that the front of the rebuilt freighter started to lift out of the water. Then in the distance in front of him, Q saw an island, but as he tried to turn the ship, the wheel suddenly spun with enough force to throw Q into the table next to the wheel; effectively knocking him out.

…

"Am I dead?" Q thought to himself as he slowly opened his eyes and tried to get past the headache. Q looked around and realized he was in the wheelhouse of the Queen of Adventure, the small steam ship he had bought with his inheritance from his Grandpa, which was crewed by his seven friends; who were not in the wheelhouse with him. As Q started to look for his friends, he also discovered some things that worried him: First, the power was off, it should have be on all the time with the engines running. Second, the boat was not rocking and lurching like it should when it is at sea; it was not actually rocking at all now that Q thought about it. And third, the thrumming of the engines was supposed to be constant, but all was silent. Pondering this as he walked along the corridors looking for his friends, Q suddenly remembered them being asleep in their cabins while he took his shift as the lookout, he quickly hurried to the cabins in the aft castle.

…

After about a half hour of taking routes around blocked corridors and jammed doors, Q found all of his friends, they were all unconscious in their beds, and for the life of him, Q could not wake them. So instead, he decided to do something else, and headed for the engine and boiler rooms.

As he had walked through the halls he opened the door to the cargo hold and was hit by a wall of water which slammed him into the wall of the corridor. As the water drained away he was surprised to see daylight peaking through the doorway. When he walked into the cargo hold he found to his dismay; that there was two giant holes ripped in the sides of the ship and in one hole came fresh water while it went out the other hole. As he passed the holes and continued towards the boilers, he concluded to himself that the ship must have hit an island and the tide brought it to rest up against the cliffs that probably surround the land, and from one of the cliffs, there was a waterfall which had filled the hold enough to ground it firmly on the shore. When he arrived at the boilers he began to stoke a fire inside the cold boilers and slowly began to build up the steam pressure.

Ten minutes later, he had reached the top pressure of the boiler, he gave a large yank on a large, long, chain, which was followed by a deafening bellow from the steam whistle mounted on the smokestack, just outside the open cabin window in which his friends slept. After what seemed like a very long minute to Q, he released the chain and immediately the bellow from the whistle stopped. He then went to the engine room and pulled a few levers, and slowly the big steam engine started to turn; turning the generator that was connected to it. Soon with the power restored to the ship, Q went up to see his friends.

As he entered the cabins he was surprised to see them scrambling around, like chickens who were in danger. When he finally got them to stop panicking, he told them the ship had run aground and when they asked how far aground they were Q said,"I don't know, but we'll know soon; come'on." They all headed to the nearest door that would lead them outside.

When the group was outside they found to their dismay they were over 400 feet from the nearest beach on the island, and as they scanned the area they saw two towers that looked like metal. They all decided to go to the metal towers to see if someone was on the island.

...

After a mile of walking through the forest on the island, they came upon the structure. To them, they thought that it looked more like the bridge to a large sea going ship, or a great lakes ship than a building, with a similar structure in the distance, but it couldn't be; it was just too big they all thought.

Ten minutes after they found the building, they were able to wrench open the only door in sight and found that it lead through a long corridor with a key on the metal ground beside the door. As they explored the corridor, they saw that there was a glass wall halfway through the corridor and that the side they were on had nothing but a key hole near the glass.

When Q saw this he grabbed the key near the door and walked down to the keyhole, while his friends went back out the door to continue looking around outside. When Q got to the keyhole he inserted the key and turned. There was a loud clunk followed by the open door behind him suddenly closing, a metal wall closing in front of it, and slowly started to speed towards him. Q sickenly realized that if it did not stop, he will be crushed against the thick glass wall behind him. Then as the wall hit him and started to push him against the glass, to his surprise, he started to go through it. When he came out the other side of the glass, he fell in one big heap and thought incredulously, 'That felt like I was pushed through Jello, but it was glass!'

As Q got up, he looked at his hands and realized they did not look the same; his body had changed. When Q looked at himself in the glass which he was pushed through, he also realized that his clothes were now made from natural materials like leaves, silk, vines, and wood. He thought to himself that he looked a bit like an elf with pointed ears, and had wings that were in clear skin pockets on his back. After Q noticed these things about himself he slowly began to look around the corridor, and decided to step in the nearest door.

As he stepped inside the nearest door, it suddenly closed shut and locked itself. As he turned around he started to see black splotches right before he passed out and felt like something was being downloaded into his head. Next thing he knew he woke up on what looked like the bridge of a ship with a terrible headache. As he looked around he found himself sort of knowing about everything there, and he remembered passing out, but; he didn't know who did that to him. As he was wondering who gave him this information, he heard a faint voice and felt something touch his mind; but, he could not see who was talking to him as he tried to find the source. After scouring the whole room he was amazed to realize it was in his mind telepathically.

'Hello, my name is Exile, I'm happy someone finally came to visit me after all these years, and that it was no less than the one who would be my captain,' the faint female voice said.

' What are you, where are you, and what did you do to me?' Q thought trying to make sense of everything.

'I merely gave my captain the information he needs to run me and gave him the ability to control the power that comes with commanding me; like flight, railgun, telekinesis, rubber powers, lightning, and others that involve weapons on board me. You also have in you what is known as the "king of exile powers," where you can pull out the heart in your body and use it to do wonderful things, but; it won't be your heart you pull out now; it will be mine, a blue sphere with a nozzle on top;don't turn the valve that opens it unless you're going to die or one of your crew is going to die.' Exile told Q.

'Whoa, back up, who is my "new crew" and how do I find, and control, my new powers?' Q thought.

' I have the ability to travel to five different worlds,' replied Exile. 'your new crew will be chosen by me to help you bring peace to the five different worlds. As for your powers; you will know in luck captain,' Exile responded.

'Wait! Darn she's gone.' Q thought as it felt like a mass had left inside his mind.

Q was dumbstruck, he thought to himself heading for a different door on the bridge, 'well thats that, I might as well try to start the engine on this ship to get power going.

While still thinking about the engine, he opened the second door on the bridge, and walked into the dark room. After he stepped inside and his eyes adjusted, he saw a light blue glow from a round window in front of him, and a red lever next to him on a large and long gantry. As he looked at the light blue glow, he began to see little gears and he remembered some of the information given to him by Exile; it said that it was like the turbo for the engines and how to operate it; but, much to his dismay it didn't give the name of it, until he spotted a slightly rusted plate next to it that said in large letters: THE GREAT ENGINE. Q didn't worry about it though and went back to the red lever and pulled on it hard until it was all the way back. Then a deep rumble filled the ship and two huge steam engines each, what he guessed to be, the size of a three story building started to turn below and off to the side of the gantry he was on. As the large steam engines started they were also accompanied by loud, slow, deep, double thudding of what sounded like a heart. As the monster engines began to turn faster and faster, he saw a lever labeled "MAIN SWITCH" next to the red lever on a bank of handles. He pulled it to see what it would do; as soon as he pulled the lever, the lights snapped on all around him, giving him a good look at the room for the first time.

He was in a massive room. The gantry he was on, looked to be about six stories off the bottom floor and wrapped around the great engine. The great engine, a large square block, was six stories higher than the gantry and about 300 feet long with a massive gear about as tall as the Great Engine was slowly turning around in front of the blue window. The gantry Q was standing on ran around the edge of the square room, and behind the Great Engine there was what looked like three different large machines attached to each other by axles running to several large open gear boxes on each side of the room.

After taking this all in, Q turned around and thought he should see his friends as he walked towards the door. Q opened the same door he came in, and while still thinking about his friends, opened it. As it opened thinking he would back track his route, he was surprised to find that it opened back to the same hallway he first entered in. He realized that to get through the vast distances in the ship, you merely have to think about where you wanted to go and open a door. As he walked towards the glass in the center of the hallway, he put his hand to the glass and found that he could easily push his hand through and pull it back. After a minute of fiddling around with the glass, he concluded that once the transformation is made, you can pass through easily, one way but to walk back easily you have to be a crew member.

After making the conclusion, Q left the glass and found his friends on the other side of the door. They were still outside pulling on the same locked door that he went through first. With a sly grin, Q waited for them to charge at the locked door they were trying to bust open. As Q heard a yell from outside he quickly unlocked the door and opened it wide, just as they charged though holding a small tree. As they came through the door, they tripped on the ledge on the bottom of the door; landing in a heap in front of Q. When they saw Q they immediately started asking questions all the while Q was laughing at the trick his comrades had fallen for. After he had stopped laughing from his prank, and his friends had given him six large bumps on the head as a payment, Q calmly explained to them that he had been chosen by the ship to be her captain and that he will take them to the nearest ship headed for the US for a trip home, while he went with Exile on a journey to find the rest of his new crew.

Half an hour later, after explaining to his friends, Q went to the bridge and took command of Exile. When he pulled the correct levers next to the ship's wheel, six large jet engines slowly came out of Exile's sides. As they swivelled up, Q pulled another lever labeled Aero-Pod Throttle. Slowly the jet engines started to lift Exile off the ground. As Exile left the ground completely the island they were on began to shake. Then to Q's friends surprise and his own, the island began to rise out of the sea behind them! Then, Q remembered from the information given to him that the island was designed to float and was attached by chains to Exile's stern so it could be pulled.

Together, Exile and what Q dubbed "Exile Island", rose into a cloud and slowly headed towards the nearest boat whose destination was the US.

...

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