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allisonreader · 5 months ago

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VCCS (Vector Climate Control System)

Here is my completed @inklings-challenge story for this year. It's not really what I had in mind for this story, but it works. I have included the first part in this, though I have posted that first part previously. So for those of you who have read that bit before; once you see this; 🌨️🌧️⛈️🌪️❄️💨, then you know that we're starting into the new section.

It was a cold blustery type of day like they hadn’t had in a while. It was a forbidding omen of the changing seasons as old ripped propaganda poster flapped with each gust of wind. The faded words speaking of the Vector Climate Control System still legible.

It always surprised him just how many posters and old billboards remained, proclaiming the wonders of how the VCCS was going to change the world for the better.

He pulled up his coat collar to try and block some of the wind as he made his way home from work. He’d have to remember a heavier coat with a hood in the coming days.

The wind was going to make his face as red as his hair with the way it was whipping through the buildings around him. The wind was gusting hard enough to rip down an old flyer and try to blind him with it. He huffed as he read it.

*A Revolutionary New World Is Coming! The Vector Climate Control System will eliminate the question of "what will the weather be like today?"

Once the V.C.C.S. is employed extreme weather will be curbed. No more droughts! No more hurricanes! No more tornadoes! No more blizzards!

Extreme weather will be controlled and moved where it is most needed and is safely out of the way.*

There was more that he could have read, but he didn’t need to. He scrunched up the flyer to dispose of it at home, putting it in his pocket until then.

He knew all about VCCS as they had learned all about it school. They had been taught all about the seven circuits of nine towers. How each system worked both in its own little loop as well as within the entire system.

But also how it failed.

There were both political reasons as well as technical factors. As the system did not work as intended or expected. Making a bigger mess than if it had never been set in place.

The towers still remained as they were too large to demolish with any ease. Finally he made it to the warmth of his home.

"Hey there Delilah, I’m home!" he called out upon entering.

"I hear you!" Delilah called back, coming out from the kitchen a couple minutes later. Which had given him a chance to remove his coat and take the flyer from his pocket, ready to recycle.

"Oh! Jake! You’re as red as your hair!" Delilah exclaimed, putting both of her hands on his; as expected, red cheeks. "What do you have there?" she asked when she felt the wad of paper in his hands as he hugged her.

"It’s nothing important. Just one of those old VCCS flyers that tried attacking me in the wind," he said.

"Well that was rather mean of it, after everything else that happened with that."

"Hmm, at least now there will be one less flyer littering up the place about it."

"There’s that I guess," said Delilah. "Let’s get you warmed up properly."

🌤️🌩️🌨️🌧️☀️⛈️🌪️❄️💨

Over the next few days the weather grew more intense, more wild and unpredictable, until the weather casters were starting to speculate that there was a malfunction of one of the towers a part of the VCCS.

Complaints about the suspected malfunction grew day by day as the weather continued to get increasingly worse and more wild. Wind was practically nonstop and rain, sleet, and snow cycled through without a rhyme or a reason. Other than harsh winds, you never knew what you were going to get.

The weather casters were speculating/observing that from what weather conditions and patterns there were that it appeared to only be the one tower in the system acting up and it was the one closest to us. Which was still many kilometres away from where we were.

Messages were sent to those who managed the towers to see what was happening with the tower and what was going to be done about it. No response was ever received from anyone who anyone tried to contact. No one wanted to deal with the malfunctioning tower that was supposed to be shut down.

The weather grew worse until he was unable to walk to work anymore. Not that Delilah wanted either of them to go out in this wild and unpredictable weather.

That didn’t end up mattering. 🌨️🌧️⛈️🌪️❄️💨

As the weather continued to get worse, he knew something had to be done about it. If the officials in charge of the tower weren’t going to do anything about it, he would.

He had been praying about it as the weather grew more out of control. He knew that Delilah wouldn’t like it, but he was going to go out in the stormy weather and make his way to that tower and try and turn it off himself, before the surrounding areas were destroyed by the wind, rain and snow.

It wasn’t going to be an easy conversation to have with his wife, but he couldn’t leave without her knowing what he was going to try and do. The journey alone was going to be dangerous as he went northwards to where the tower was. Let alone what challenges and difficulties the tower itself might bring.

Thankfully the tower he needed to go to was on land, not all of them were. Some were build on platforms in the oceans in certain locations. This one was built in the arctic tundra in Nunavut, near the Bathurst Inlet . So far from his home in the prairies.

At least it was on the mainland and not one of the islands.

There were probably people who were closer who could deal with the problem, but the question was would they.

It was possible that no one wanted to even try. He was at least willing to.

He was procrastinating… he needed to go and discuss what his plan was going to be with Delilah. She needed to know.

He took a deep breath and said a little prayer before going to speak with his wife.

🌤️🌩️🌨️🌧️☀️⛈️🌪️❄️💨

The conversation went well. Delilah had been thinking about the same things as him and also praying about it. It was going to be difficult, but they were going to make the trek north, to middle of nowhere Nunavut to try and turn the tower back off.

They were going to have to pack as much as they could for this trip. Food, water, warm dry clothing, his tools, probably some of Delilah's tools too. Just in case they needed something finer than what he had in his kit.

At least he had a vehicle that he had been working on that would be able to handle this weather decently. All weather tires, with a spare set specifically for off roading.

The wind was going to be more dangerous than what the road or lack of road, conditions might be. As long as they weren’t blown away they’d be okay.

Their travel was going to take them so much longer than it would in good conditions. The average drive between home in Moose Jaw to Saskatoon was two hours, they’d be lucky if they could do it in five today. It would be better to be safe than sorry, especially as no one would likely be able to find them for a long time if anything went wrong.

It took them a couple hours until they had everything properly secured in his Jeep. They were truly going to be living on prayers for the next few days.

They stocked up on fuel before leaving Moose Jaw. Chamberlain would be their first town and check point for how they were doing for travel; next would be Davidson, Hanley, and then once they made Dundurn, Saskatoon wouldn’t be far and they’d stop for the night.

Hopefully there would be a hotel that had room for them.

After that they’d start out again and it would mostly be towns from then on.

Once they actually got on the road the first part of the journey wasn’t too bad, other than constantly fighting the wind. Which wanted to blow them all over the road.

At Chamberlain they stopped and switched drivers. Mostly to give his arms a bit of a break, as it took them twice as long to get there as normal.

They stopped in what was the Twisted Sisters ice cream shop parking lot to do so. Twisted Sisters long since closed considering it was only open over the summer anyway, and this was the beginning of October.

Once they made it to Davidson, stopping in the rest area of the giant kettle and tea cup, he switched back to driving and would continue the rest of the way to Saskatoon.

The wind continued to buffet them and sleet came down harder from the wind. He was exhausted by the time he finally made it into the largest city in Saskatchewan. They drove through town, over Circle Drive Bridge on the South Saskatchewan River, until they hit the Travelodge Hotel, overlooking the Idylwyld and Circle Drive intersection, an intersection that they’d be using to start heading further north yet.

They did manage to be able to stay at the Travelodge. Under different circumstances they probably would have made use of the pool and waterslides. There wasn’t the time or energy for that though.

They planned their next bit of trip. They knew what they were doing until they hit La Loche, where the road would end and the real wilds would begin. Getting from there to the Bathurst Inlet, where the tower was, was going to be difficult, especially if they couldn’t fly. Hopefully there would be some options once they got to La Loche.

Until then, they still had a few days of driving to go. Maybe they could come up with something on the way.

After leaving Saskatoon they drove past Martinsville to Blaine Lake, turning past the town in the direction of Least until they finally made to Shellbrook for a break. Another two hour drive that was twice as long as it should have been.

They made sure that they stocked up on fuel again. There was going to be less and less places to be able to get fuel as they went north.

They drove through Canwood and Debden, deciding to sleep on the side of the road, praying that they’d survive their sleep and that the wind wouldn’t blow them away. There were times they were short with each other. Being cooped up in the Jeep was uncomfortable and tiring.

Road trips; even the best ones could be trying at times, one like this, was all the harder yet. There was no relief from the howling weather, bathroom breaks were uncomfortable and inconvenient at best. But at least their food was doing alright at the moment and they weren’t at the risk of freezing to death currently. Though they might eventually get to that point. They’d take their blessings as they got them.

After Debden came Green Lake, then Buffalo Narrows, then Bear Creek, before finally after many days of traveling, arriving in La Loche. They still didn’t have any idea of how they were going to get further north so that they could get to the tower near Bathurst Inlet in Nunavut.

They used that as an excuse to get out of the Jeep for a bit and walk around, to see if anyone might be able to help them. Praying that they would be able to find some way to get to where they needed to go.

At some point they ended up in a small local restaurant to refuel their personal hunger and not the Jeep's. They were discussing what they needed to do when a couple overheard them and had their solution. The two of them and their one friend could help them make it to the Inlet.

Between the three of them, they had planes and could help them get to the tower. It was going to be risky to fly, but there was no other way to get that far north.

Upon discussing the plans to make their way further north, it turn out that they each ended up having a skill set that built upon each other’s. They might actually be able to do something about this tower's problems.

It took them about a day to get everything set up for the next bit of travel. Thankfully, up here, it seemed slightly less crazy for the weather, though the wind was still strong.

Their companions were a lady named Jane; pregnant with her first child, her husband Brad and their family friend Brenda.

All three knew how to fly and would be rotating turns and could step up if anything happened to the one flying. They would have to make at least a couple of stops to refuel the plane. Maybe in or near Uranium City, possibly in or near Reliance NWT and then their stop near the Bathurst Inlet.

It also gave them plenty of time to get to know their fellow travelling companions. Delilah and he learned that Jane and Brad had been married for a few years longer than they had been and that they and Brenda had lived in Northern Saskatchewan for most of their lives. Barring some travel and some schooling that they all had.

They all quickly learned that they were all Christian and had been praying about what they could or needed to do. His and Delilah's arrival had been their catalyst to actually get moving. His tools were some of the ones that they had been worried about not having, so clearly the Lord was working through all of them.

The plane ride was by far the most treacherous part of the journey so far. There were many prayers for safety uttered together as their little plane was buffeted by turbulence nearly continuously.

Jane was holding up well, even though she was carrying a little passenger of her own.

They did have to make a couple of stops to refuel the plane with few issues thankfully.

It was immediately obvious when they came upon the tower. They hit some of the harshest winds and turbulence, and then they punched through and it was dead calm, like the eye of a storm. It would have been peaceful if they didn’t know what it was like beyond the calm.

Thankfully there was a landing strip for the plane, though with the little plane being a float plane they could have risked the inlet.

The tower was a massive and hideous creation. Like some kind of terrifying mix of the CN tower and either the big metal power poles or the Eiffel Tower, creating a large metal cage around the lower third of the tower.

Whoever designed such a monstrosity should be jailed, if they weren’t already. It wasn’t going to be easy to get into the tower, even if there were doors on ground level.

They all took turns trying to pick the locks, but nothing worked. There had to be something blocking the doors from the inside or a heavier lock like a bar across the door.

That left trying a door on a higher level. Where they would have to try and climb up to. He and Delilah decided that it would have to be them. Hopefully her fine tools would be able to help them pick a lock and get into the tower.

From there they could hopefully navigate the building and let the others in at one of the lower doors.

It was going to be a long climb up, but thankfully there were ladders that could be used and they didn’t have to try and just monkey up the metal beams. The climb was still a test of their strength and endurance, even though it wasn’t as hard as it could be with the weather being so calm and nearly warm around the tower.

It must have only been around the freezing point for temperature. It still meant cold hands and cheeks, but keeping warm feeling from the exertion of the climb.

Delilah was climbing above him and they both found themselves praying about their climb. Not forgetting a prayer of thanks once they made it not only to a door, but that Delilah was able to successfully pick it with her tools and get them in to a more solid and less narrow space to walk.

Surprisingly, everything was still lit. Maybe that shouldn’t be so surprising, considering the weather, but he wasn’t sure how the tower was being powered. It would be something that they’d have to look into.

Even better was the fact that there was a map of the tower that they could follow to the ground floor to let in their companions. Going down the stairs was much quicker than their climb on the outside of the tower, though they definitely didn’t trust the elevators in the tower.

As they expected the lower level floors had their doors barred in a way that they could only be opened from inside with several different types of bar locks. The two bar tabs like you’d see in some bathroom stalls up and down at the top and bottom of the doors, only these ones were at least an inch in diameter, if not two or three. Along with a literal bar across the door that had to be raised.

Once all five (six if you counted the unborn as well) were in, they could start figuring out how to turn this town off.

After a bit of searching, they figured out that that they would have to first turn off the climate control part of the tower and then destroy the power source so that the malfunction couldn’t happen again.

One of the things that they had to do, was cut the power to the series of Tesla coils that helped with the energy to move the weather. Once that was done the power to the computer system guiding the weather could be cut, before finally removing the rest of the power source to the building, which would leave it all dark.

Thankfully, each of them had the skills to help with the shutdown of the system. The absolute last thing would be to physically destroy/cut the tower's power. Which meant cutting a lot of wires that Jane was forbidden from doing, just to be on the safe side for her and her baby.

It took them a few hours to do so but once it was done, the relief was immense. It didn’t take long for them to start seeing the results.

The calm that had been around the tower started to dissipate. They hung around for an extra day or two just to make sure that their rather physical solution was going to hold, before they started the trek back to their homes.

The plane ride was much smoother going home. As was their drive, with not having to constantly fight the wind or sleet.

Surprisingly the weather didn’t seem to hang on to the patterns that the tower had created. Perhaps it was because it was only the one tower that had been active and not all 63 of them, like before.

The one thing it did prove to them was that there needed to be a more permanent solution than how the towers had been left. It wouldn’t do for this to keep happening if other towers acted up. And it could be much worse than what the prairies and surrounding areas got.

#inklings challenge #inklingschallenge #team chesterton #genre: travel #theme: prayer #story: complete #I had wanted to go more steampunk feel with this story but that didn't happen #this is again barely edited and could be much better but I don't have it in me #I don't feel like I did the story justice but I also don't think that I'll be coming back to it either #never say never thought because you never truly know #also all places named in this story are real places

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