WOLVES OF ARCANUS
(Arc Two - Beginnings)
CHAPTER 26: Megakat City: A new island prison magically appears
Two months pass but Strongfur still could not breach Briggs' inner circle. Hell he could not even get into see her most times unless it had already been planned in advance. That left a sour taste in his mouth and fear in his bones. His boss was getting really antsy and it did not help that he, himself, was getting a strong feeling something huge was impending. That it wouldn't bode well for his side was a given.
He had to find out something and it had to be today!
o*O*o
A few days earlier, the entire inner circle were sitting in Commander Sharpclaw's conference room late at night. All the faces around the table were grim but also excited. The remnants of a meal lay amid files and notepads and laptops. It was finally time to eliminate the enemy.
"I can't believe we have everything we need this quickly," Tyler said excitedly, but his tone was cautious. "Are we absolutely sure we covered everyone and everything in this mission?"
"I know it seems fast but then with robots as part of the team, that would cut the research, sorting, and culling the enemy in half the time a normal operation would have taken. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth too closely, Tyler you might not like what his teeth look like," Dormanger snorted.
Tyler raised his paws. "Yeah I know, I was just being certain. This is one big, huge, humongous, operation we are about to plunge into and I want it to go off perfectly or as nearly perfect as something this size can be done."
"And that's exactly what we did...pick it apart...checked all details...and confirmed every single body involved. The only thing left now is to remove our operatives from the scene and go for it. We are ready!" Dormanger insisted.
"And that's good enough for me as well. The Lyonese Elders have corroborated that now is indeed the right time. They are ready to back me up and I have rested as best I could under the circumstances so no more delays. I have a warning sensation that the jig is nearly up and the hinge pin is Strongfur. We have to act now before the alarm is called," Callie said firmly from her end of the table.
Tyler's eyes widened. "Wow! I didn't know we had that kind of safety valve going on. If I had it might have given me the heebie jeebies by now." He shook his head. "So how long will this take once we launch the attack?"
"From start to finish? About thirty minutes." Callie responded.
Everyone's mouths gaped open.
"How the hell can something so big and complicated be done in an hour?" Leo finally managed to blurt out.
"Well, actually it should only take five minutes, but the elders have told me I must meditate for at least an hour before, build my energies up for the strike, have all the information, locations, people, and so forth firmly in my subconscious before I can actually cast the spell," she said with a shrug of her elegant shoulders. She couldn't help the small smile that pulled at her mouth at their flabbergasted expressions. It was pretty amazing to her mind too.
When she had asked the elders how long it would take to accomplish the strike and capture, her own mouth had dropped. But when they explained, it made perfect sense.
o*O*o
Elder Copper gave her a small smile of understanding as Callie and the rest of the elders stood on a pristine and beautiful island some miles out from Megakat City and its shipping lanes.
"You are used to such things taking months or years to complete and, in this case, it did take several months for the preparations but the actual execution is simply a thought and a cast and it's done. That's the beauty and simplicity of magic."
"When you put it that way, I can understand but it is still hard to wrap my mind around it."
The elders simply smiled.
"All you have to do, Callie is picture exactly what you want and the magic will do as you wish but it must be very clear in your mind or an ugly disaster will occur instead," Lyric told her
"Well that seems fairly easy enough. I and my team have been hours planning every detail so nothing would be forgotten. I can see the whole thing in my sleep now," Callie sighed. And she could as she and her whole team had discussed it shortly after she, Leo, and Tyler had come up with the idea. However, the suggestion had been met with surprise, relief, and some dismay.
The dismay had come from Professor Hackle and Dr. Konway (surprisingly).
"Isn't that cruel and unusual punishment? Yes I understand these people are absolutely and without a doubt guilty but this form of incarceration seems inhumane," Dr. Konway said moments after the idea was aired.
"How is it inhumane?" Tyler asked, incredulous. "They will have a clinic, mess hall, dorms, and a whole island to walk about on."
"But they are trapped there with only each other. And ..." Hackle began.
"That was the point." Dormanger snorted.
Hackle winced but doggedly went on, "yes, but these people are all bad which means they will be at each others throats constantly. How will you keep them from rioting and killing each other?"
"A legitimate question, Professor and one I can answer for you. I will place a geas ... that's a magical compulsion, that will prevent them from acting on their impulses for violence and mayhem. Which will make guarding them much easier and safer," Callie told him.
"Oh, alright, that is a good solution. I withdraw my objection," Konway conceded, totally shocked that such a simple thing could control such a large group of people.
"They may be criminals, but we won't be coming down to their level. Any other problems with the plan?" she had asked. No one had any.
Now, a week later here she stood on this beautiful little island ready to set up the prison camp. Doing as instructed, Callie brought up the image of the layout of the prison. Bit by bit she imagined each building and where it would stand.
This part was possible because she, Jiro, Dormanger, Sharpclaws, and Dr. Konway had come here and physically seen and walked the layout of the island and carefully planned each square mile of it in very clear drawings done by Jiro. Who turned out to be an excellent artist. He had so masterfully rendered the locations of every building site so well it made it easy for her to picture it as if it had already been built.
Taking several deep cleansing breaths as she had been taught, she built the image of the island prison building by building until it stood clearly in her mind. Making a signal with her paws, the elders began chanting softly insuring they stood well behind her so as not to get any backlash from her use of so much magical energy. At the peak of the chanting and the power raised, Callie grabbed hold of it and shouted the spell she had written with help from Lyric.
She felt the power build and build within her then rush outward with her words. It was exhilarating as well as deeply exhausting when the words of the spell ended and the magic ceased.
Opening her exhausted eyes, she beheld a perfect town. There was everything she'd imagined it to look like in every perfect detail. There was the guard towers, four in each corner of the island, the boat dock, admin offices, and supply buildings were located near the shore where the prisoners supplies would be brought in each month. Behind these was a large three story dorm (that resembled more of a hotel) would house the living guards, administrators, doctors, and nurses. The small post office, library, and grocery/department store combination sat a short distance from the pier. The clinic/mini hospital was off to the right with a helicopter pad beside it but no chopper would be kept there. It would come only when needed. The huge chow hall resembled a school cafeteria and it was to the left of the post office. In the center of the island sat the dorms. To keep stress to a minimum every prisoner would have a medium sized room to themselves with their own baths so it would seem less like a prison and more like being in an apartment.
Callie smiled suddenly in memory of a perfectly natural question Dr. Konway and Lorelei had asked about how on earth would she get water for drinking and bathing piped in as well as drain it away along with body waste? And how would one dispose of trash without polluting the sea around the island?
The elders answered that problem with the same response as all her other questions...magic of course. That had made her shake and blush. Of course it would be magic but then she was still new at this part of her talent so how would she know? It was lucky she had such talented and patient teachers. So she learned there was a spell that was part of a housekeeping one the elders used in their mountain home.
Magic simply converted the waste products into its original form and returned it to the planet again. Weird. So in each building there was a trash receptacle where the trash went in and magic made it vanish instantly and it was tamper-proof. As for drinkable water ... that was sea water converted into purified water. That was the done in a device that looked just like an ordinary water tower. Inside the tower, a magical filter converted the water sucked up from the bay from sea water to purified water then poured it through perfectly ordinary plumbing she had to put into place under every building when she set the place up.
Now that it was done, she was totally blown away by how good it looked. Doesn't look like a prison at all, she mused, except for the guard towers of course. "It's fantastic and just what I wanted!" She said aloud.
"Excellent job, Callie. It is indeed a near perfect prison," Elder Copper said, proud of his student.
"Near perfect is right. It is as comfortable as we can make it and still be what it is...a prison," Callie said with satisfaction. "However, I guess we should check the plumbing and magical incineration systems to insure I didn't mess that up."
"A wise precaution. Let us split up and test all the buildings," Elder Copper directed, heading off himself to the administration buildings nearby. The rest of the group headed off in different directions.
An hour later they met again before the boat dock. "Well how did it go?" Callie asked. "My check showed perfectly running and tasty water. And the piece of paper I tossed into a trash can disappeared like it should some five minutes after laying in it."
Everyone reported the same results. "Excellent. Then we are all set. Let's go home." With that she teleported them all away, feeling accomplished and satisfied.
o*O*o
Once the buildings had been created, it was up to Commander Sharpclaws and robots from Hackle to get the prison ready for its occupants. Supplies had to shipped in and sorted into their proper places.
For that the robots proved just how useful and necessary they were.
Upon arrival on the island, the robots were given their assignments and sent off to get busy. Soon beds were made in the dorms, food and other sundry items were stocked, the clinic/hospital was equipped and stocked.
When that job was done, the robots were given their assignments and instructed to maintain the island in it's present condition until occupied then do what they had been programmed to do ... serve the prisoners with dignity and politeness. They were perfect for this as they never tired and would never get angry when anyone started swearing at them ... which they were very likely to do as they got used to being confined. They would also augment the guards and handle the supplies that came in once a month. Living guards would not arrive until just before the prisoners did.
A rotating crew of twenty living guards, two administrators, and four doctors and nurses would live and work on the island. The tour of duty would be strictly voluntary and last only a month at a time. The rest of the workers on the island would be robots. This saved the city money in the upkeep of the many thousands of prisoners as the robot force required no food, sleep, or quarters.
o*O*o
And now the time was finally here to set the plan in motion. And that was what this meeting was for. Callie brought her memories to a halt and focused on the finalizing of their plans.
"You know, I feel almost superfluous at this moment," Leo sighed, leaning back and lacing his fingers behind his head.
"How's that?" Dormanger asked, frowning.
"Well, Callie will be doing the biggest task while we sit around on our hands waiting."
That comment struck everyone differently.
"I for one am glad I won't be in on the final showdown," Konway admitted.
"I just want it over and don't care who is at the helm getting it done," Lorelei murmured, resting her face on her paw and staring at everyone thoughtfully.
"Hey! Did everyone forget just what will happen when all those people disappear?" Ann asked then answered herself. "It will be pure chaos and we will be at the heart of it trying to stamp down any residual ripples of panic and anger the world will throw at us. That's a big task and requires everyone out there to handle things delicately."
"Well there is that," Dormanger drawled.
Everyone blinked at him then laughed rather loudly and a tad hysterically. It did what he hoped it would, dispel the rising level of nerves he could feel in the room.
"But seriously, guys even that we planned carefully for," he said more seriously.
"Planned... yes...but something on this scale has never been done before so all kinds of things can happen," Ann insisted.
"You are right but we have done everything we can. You are right to remind us but don't obsess too heavily about what could go wrong. Everyone do what you can to mitigate the typhoon about to hit us and we'll weather it like we did the aftermath of the Arcanians visit and the downfall of Manx," Sharpclaws said, calmly.
"Exactly. I expect you all to do your part to the best of your abilities and cover my absence with every ounce of guile you can until I appear to give the broadcast with Ann."
"But Callie won't doing that much magic wipe you out," Konway asked, worriedly.
"Yes it will but no one else will be listened to by everyone around the world. It has to be me if we want to avoid a worldwide panic."
Konway shook his head. "I predict you will be flat on your back immediately afterward."
"I'm certain you are right that is why I need everyone to be on top of their game to cover my absence as I recover. What I will want when I'm sensible again is to know if the transfer of prisoners was completely successful, if the switch to the replacement managers and new CEOs went smoothly, and if the dismantled businesses workers are being taken care of expeditiously, especially that their unemployment benefits are handled rapidly and rehiring at the still running companies gets started fairly quickly, and what the mood of the city and the world is by that time," Callie reminded them.
"It will be done." Sharpclaws responded after everyone absorbed her instructions. "So when is the kickoff time?" .
"Four days from now. I will signal everyone at that time," Callie said, grateful he was making them move forward and not keep rehashing things.
"But that makes it fall on Saturday," Hackle objected. "Won't that prevent you from getting all of them at work?"
Callie smiled gently at him. "No, my magic will find them wherever they are and choosing a weekend makes the repercussions easier to manager...less panic."
Hackle blushed. "Oh, that's true ... sorry ... I really wasn't thinking."
"It's alright. It is a lot to take in and I want to thank you again for playing such a vital part getting us where we are now. It couldn't have happened with your robots. They are what will make our world a safe place again," Callie told him, sincerely.
"Here! Here!" Leo shouted. Everyone echoed his cheer and gave Hackle applause.
The old Professor blushed again this time at the compliment and the fantastic show of support. In his secret heart of hearts, he had always harbored a desire to be honored for doing something for the good of Katkind with his robots. It felt incredible to actually get that acknowledgment at last.
"Alright everyone, let's break this up and go home. Tomorrow's another day of pretend and rest for me. This will all be over soon then the real nightmare begins," Callie said with tired amusement.
Many sighed and others groaned at the reminder of what most of them faced when everything hit the fan in just four short days.