Present Time - Corneria
The Great Fox was soaring in all its majestic glory. This was the original Great Fox, not the second-hand carrier that would replace it. The aerodynamic hull and slender proportions concealed its immense dimensions. It had a dart shaped flight deck, which was protruding watchfully out the front, four delta wings arranged like an X, three powerful NTD-FX9 plasma engines in the rear, and the launch bay and two massive laser cannons under its belly. It was truly a sight to behold.
Absentmindedly Fox gave the large model a poke, and it started swinging from the wires that held it up to the ceiling in Slippy's huge office. Slippy was frantically working away at the computers on his desk.
"Ok, it's done!"
"Got something for me?"
"Here's a system upgrade for the Arwing," said Slippy and held up a memory unit. "I found that the EMP protection can be vulnerable to bursts with rapidly changing frequencies. Just plug the unit in. The computer will recognise it and upgrade automatically. But what do you need it for? The Cerinians seem too friendly."
"Just in case. I like having a plan B."
"They're sharing all sorts of technology with us. I've been working with dad on it. Improved energy shields, propulsion systems and all sorts of things. We might finally be able to make gravity diffusion 100% stable. And that tele-neurone stuff is amazing..."
He was interrupted when a tremor went through the building. It was another earthquake. And they were getting stronger.
"Is that the mining?" wondered Fox. Only two months since the Cerinian's arrived, and they were already busy cutting through the planet's crust. "I've heard on the news it's nothing to worry about, but makes you wonder, doesn't it?"
"I've been through that with dad as well. But let me get some help from an expert. A certain scientist you may know."
Fox was intrigued. Slippy started a video call and put it on the biggest monitor on the wall. The slender figure of a woman about Fox's and Slippy's age appeared on screen. She had pink hair in a pixie crop and the same long ears and buckteeth as her father Peppy.
"Lucy!" exclaimed Fox happily. "Long time no see! Are you working with Slippy now?"
"Good to see you too, Fox! We're doing some modelling on the earthquakes, just to be on the safe side."
"Yeah, they're getting stronger," said Slippy. "That last one was a magnitude five. I'll turn on the hologram."
A huge globe of light in the shape of Corneria appeared suspended in the middle of the room, showing off the planet's full beauty with its cities, forests, mountains and oceans. Fox admired the view.
"This is a live feed from the weather satellites. I'll add the latest seismic data," continued Slippy. Red circles in various sizes appeared on holographic planet's surface.
"Most of the tremors are around the North and South Magnetic Poles, which is where the mines are," explained Lucy. "But ripple effects are expected along all major fault lines."
"Odd," said Slippy with a puzzled look. He was walking around the hologram and pointed to a spot covered with both clouds and circles. "There's a large concentration of quakes in this area north-west of Corneria City, but there's no mining there."
"What are they looking for?" Fox wondered.
"Mostly the usual rare metals," answered Lucy. "But especially Krazonium!"
"Krazonium? Never heard of!" said Fox. "Is that even on the periodic table?"
"Way into the hundreds!" explained Slippy excitedly.
"And it has amazing characteristics," added Lucy. "For example, it is a superconductor up to eight hundred Kelvin."
"Okay? Whatever that means..."
"The core circuits in the Orbital Gate are made from it," continued Slippy. "Dad told me all about it. In fact pretty much all of the Krazonium that's ever been found in Lylat, has been used in the Gate. It wouldn't function without it."
"That rare, huh?"
"Yes, we've ever only found a few pounds of it in the whole system," explained Lucy. "But the Cerinians have detected that there are thousands of tonnes of it inside Corneria. The problem is that it is so heavy it sinks deep into the mantle, which is why so little make it to the surface. Hence the need stir up the magma, which the Cerinian's have technology for. But it is also what causes the earthquakes."
"That's what I'm a bit nervous about, so I asked Lucy to help me with some modelling on how much magma would be needed to be shifted and what it might to do the tectonic movements," said Slippy, and after seeing Fox's blank face added. "The earthquakes! Computer! Add the simulations to the hologram."
The hologram changed. The planets surface became more translucent and underneath it the inner movements of the planets became visible as red flows. A giant mouth appeared by the North Pole and started eating its way through the planet.
"What? Hey! Concentrate will ya!" exclaimed Slippy, and Fox, standing next to the projector, removed his hand. "Do you think you're Krystal?"
Ouch! Krystal, always Krystal! He remembered her playful curiosity when they'd first met those years ago. Where had that girl gone?
He looked up and saw some numbers in the hologram, and they were steadily increasing.
Yield: 100 tonnes Magnitude: 8.1"That's not too bad, is it?" said Fox as he saw Slippy's jaw dropping.
"Yes, yes it is! The magnitude scale is logarithmic. The released energy increases exponentially with every magnitude."
"Meaning?"
"Think of it as adding zeroes to a number," explained Lucy. "Imagine if a magnitude three was one hundred, a four was one thousand and so on. That's not exactly how the seismic works, but you get the drift."
Yes, Fox was starting to get it. 8.1 would be like millions.
"What we felt before was a five," said Slippy. "A seven damages buildings and a nine would level large parts of Corneria City."
The numbers stopped.
Yield: 50,000 tonnes Magnitude: 11.3"What would that do?" Fox asked, getting a bit nervous. Slippy's face was pale.
"That would break up the planet. Like Sauria, if we hadn't saved it."
The potential consequences started to sink in with Fox.
"How long until we'd get to that situation?"
"It's hard to say," said Lucy. "Months, probably years"
"No, there must be something wrong with the input or the model. Let's go through it again, Lucy!"
This was worse than Aparoids and Anglars, thought Fox. It was so much easier with an enemy that just attacked you, so you just had to respond with lasers blazing.
General Peppy Hare was addressing the public on the television. Fox recognised Peppy's temporary office in Corneria Army Hospital from his visit. At his side he had Beltino with hexagonal glasses askew, and as always lately, Kamuy of Cerinia, who was smiling kindly at the camera.
"These minor tremors are an expected side effect of the mining operations," he said. "For most parts of the planet they will not exceed magnitude four, so while they may be felt, there will be no damage. The mining itself is isolated to unpopulated areas next to the magnetic north and south poles for additional safety. There is absolutely no need for concern. Now I will hand over to Beltino for news on the research."
"One of the most exciting development that will be available thanks to the Krazonium, is mass production of tele-neuronic devices like this one," Beltino announced and pointed to a metallic disc on the side of his head. "This Cerinian technology enables instant communication with unlimited bandwidth over vast distances, completely controlled by the wearer. The possibilities for military, commercial as well as personal use are endless. For instance, just imaging not needing to turn on a screen to enjoy your favourite entertainment."
They thanked the media for their time and the press conference wrapped up, finishing with Kamuy performing the Cerinian greeting. Fox told the television in the breakout room to turn off and peered out the window using some old-school technology instead. The Great Fox was out of the docks and back up in low orbit around Corneria. He used the binoculars to gaze down at the surface, especially that mountainous area a few hundred miles north-west of Corneria City that Slippy had pointed out a few days ago. It was still covered in clouds. How long could a storm system hang around? It seemed like some of the clouds had a grey tinge to them. He didn't believe in coincidences.
He knew that area well, having done flight training around the mountains and valleys there. And there was a nice resort on the coast nearby, which was popular for surfing and wildlife watching. Maybe it was time to head back to the surface for a field trip?
"Corneria City Air Space Control to McCloud, please state your flight plan."
"Crystal Waters Ocean Resort," replied Fox. "I need some R&R."
"I'm sure it's well deserved! Please proceed."
He continued the descent in no particular hurry, so as not to look suspicious. He passed through some afternoon cumulus clouds that formed in the warm and humid over the ocean, and then the archipelago where the resort was came into view. But he didn't head for the resort's landing pad, but dipped behind the nearest island, and then snuck away under radar altitude. He flew bare metres over the ocean, and sea spray from the waves splashed onto his windshield.
He soon approached land and followed the coastline for a bit, until he reached the long valley up through the mountains, that he knew so well from his training days. He turned up into it and picked up speed, yet staying subsonic. He didn't want to raise any suspicion with a sonic boom. While he did enjoy the scenery, with the river and rapids at the bottom of the valley, the forests clinging to the steep mountain sides, and waterfalls cascading over cliff edges, even more so he enjoyed the ride. He turned this way and that, through canyons and under natural bridges of rock, in complete control of his Arwing.
As he came deeper into and higher up in the mountains, the clouds lowered and soon he was enshrouded in whiteness. He slowed down and turned on both infrared and radar. Best not to bump into anything. He came over a mountain pass and all of a sudden the infrared monitor lit up like a disco. Something was very hot! In a wide valley he for a moment dipped under the clouds which had turned smoke grey. In front of him there were an array of buildings, transport vehicles moving around on the ground, shuttles crisscrossing the air at low altitude and to his surprise even a few Landmaster tanks.
But the sight that drew him in was the supposedly dormant volcano right in front, now oozing lava from several fissures into newly dug channels. They were mining operations in full flight indeed. An alert went off as the comms system picked up a signal that couldn't be unscrambled. That meant it was either top secret ... or foreign!
The latter he decided as a shiny sculpted ship appeared behind him. Time to split, so he performed a wingover and headed back down the valley, with the Cerinian ship right on his heals. Oh, stuff it, he thought and increased the boost, going supersonic and sending all sorts of animals scuttling away from the boom. The Cerinian ship was fast, but they didn't know the topography like he did. He was just about to shake it, when he came out of the valley and out over open ocean. Then there was a flash of light, a clap of thunder, the pain of an electric shock, and the Arwing dove into the waves in a cascade of water.
Fox must have blacked out for a moment, because he found himself surrounded by water in partial darkness, seeing the sunlight reflecting on waves some hundred feet above him. The G-diffusor must have been powering down, because he could feel the pain from where the harness had kept him in the seat, as the plane had plunged into the ocean.
The upgraded EMP shield must have done some good though, because he could see on the controls how system after system rebooted, and the diffusor started coming online as well. He checked system status. No hardware faults found. Then he checked around and above him. No Cerinian planes to be seen. That didn't mean they couldn't still be out there, but he hoped they didn't know that the Arwing was waterproof.
He carefully spooled up the ending and started a slow ascent. Breaking through the surface, he just let the plane bob around for a bit with waves splashing over the cockpit, while he took another look. There was no point giving himself away by turning on the radar just yet.
What next? He had to share the news with Slippy. Should he go up out, of the stratosphere so he could push past Mach 5, but surely be detected? Nah, he decided to stay low and subsonic, following the coastline back to Corneria City. It would take hours, but at least it was a scenic trip.
"Good evening, Mr McCloud!" said the guard, saluted and beckoned Fox through the security door. Fox saluted back. Was this going a bit too easy? The flight back to Corneria City had been uneventful, and he'd gone straight to the hangar at Arspace Dynamics, hoping Slippy would be in his office. A quick comms before he'd touched down had confirmed that was the case.
He was well familiar with the corridors by now, and made it to Slippy's office within minutes, while receiving friendly greetings from the few people he met. He entered the frosted glass doors and there was Slippy as cheerful as ever.
"Fox, good to see you! How was the resort?"
How did he know?
"Huh? Great! Relaxing! Some fly fishing and a dip in the ocean, stuff like that."
"Oh, I'm so jealous. But I have great news. I've fixed up the simulation. Lemme show you!"
The same hologram of Corneria appeared in the room.
Yield: 50,000 tonnes Magnitude: 4.3"So, you were only out by a factor of some millions?" said Fox sarcastically. "Pretty close."
"Oh, come on, Fox! Our assumptions were wrong. A small error multiplied itself over and over again."
"Have you got Lucy on the line?"
"Sorry, she's tied up with a class. She's teaching astrophysics in Fichina nowadays."
"So, no problems?"
"None at all! And dad finally got me to meet the Cerinians in person. You should too! They're really such great people. They're all about progress. They don't even have a word for 'war', only for 'defence'."
"Nearly too good to be true, eh?"
Meaning that it probably is, thought the still suspicious Fox.
"There's mining going on up in the mountains," he continued. "I saw it!"
"No, no, no, there are just a few extra observation stations for good measure. That's probably what you saw."
No, it was definitely mining, he thought recalling the looming lava flows. His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening and in walked a tall Aquas amphibian with pink skin and blond hair down up in a yellow bow. It was Slippy's wife Amanda, the aspiring surgeon, who Fox had had the pleasure of meeting several times before. But his mouth dropped open as he stared in disbelief at the large bulge on her stomach.
"Aren't you going to say congratulations?" said Amanda sternly.
"Huh? Yes, of course, congratulations!" said Fox and cracked up in a smile. "You know, with the life I live, I just couldn't see myself as a dad."
"But your life is just like your father's," remarked Amanda.
"Yeah, I know. Someone has already told me the same, and you wouldn't believe who. Falco, the therapist!"
They all chuckled.
"I admire you guys. Two tadpoles in as many years and you're already at it again."
"The more the merrier," squealed Slippy with excitement.
"I'd take my hat off, if I had one! Well, actually...," said Fox, and in jest snatched Slippy's hat off his head. He went to take a bow with it, when he spotted the little golden disc on Slippy's head, and he went cold. It explained why Slippy's attitude and research results had changed so quickly. Those implants weren't just used for communication. They were used to control! And maybe observe? He needed to get out of there. Fast!
"Sorry to break up the party, but I've got to go," he started.
"Why the hurry?" Slippy asked.
"Well...," he needed an excuse. "Actually, this is great. I've got a date! See ya later when your legs are straighter."
Where the heck did he get that from, he thought as he waved goodbye and headed for the door, then stopped. He heard movements outside and could see shapes through the frosted glass.
"Target acquired!" came voice.
Sh-t, that was quick he thought and pulled out his blaster. But the first attack came from behind, as two arms wrapped themselves around him and reached for the blaster. With his free hand he easily grabbed and threw his attacker off. To his surprise it was Slippy, who crashed to the floor with arms and legs flaying. Then there was a sharp sting, when something pierced his neck. He spun around and there stood Amanda with an emptied syringe in her hand. His gaze went from the needle to the golden disc on her temple. Then his vision started getting blurry, and the last thing he remembered was the floor rushing up and hitting him in the face.
