Chapter Thirty Three
The wind roared against my face, pummelling my cheeks and making my eyes water. But I was used to it. I had driven speedboats before. And I loved it.
I had always been interested in all kinds of vehicles, excessively studying them and the engineering associated with their manufacture. I liked to know how things worked, and so read all kinds of books about car engines and boat motors and even stuff on aeroplanes.
I was very lucky that Babajide noticed my enthusiasm for mechanics and allowed me to work on Aqua vehicles, including the helicopter. I was quite young when I first stood next to Chibuike, the Aqua Cohors mechanic, and watched him fix the carburettor of a Mercury Marine 50 horse power outboard motor. There was something incredibly therapeutic about knowing how a machine works, and then being able to assemble, and fix it, for yourself.
And once I learnt everything there was to know about mechanics and engineering, I was old enough to drive the vehicles myself. After all, I had spent years working on them, alongside Chibuike, so it made sense that I could take them out for a spin.
Of course, I loved any motorboat, because it allowed me to travel into the great blue beyond, where I felt at peace. The mix of the bellowing hum of the boat’s propeller and the drench of the sea water filled me with joy. It was what I loved.
And now, here I was, riding the ocean waves, surging towards the huge tower of fire that was ignited atop the pounding black sea. Pretty soon the sun would be rising, and then our cover of darkness would be foiled.
“How long until we get there?” Shasa screamed over the thundering propellers.
“Not too long,” I replied, looking back to see her holding on to the side of the boat as tightly as possible. She looked petrified, and her eyes were shut as she curled into a foetal ball.
I laughed loudly.
“It’s not funny, Madz! I only like to swim in the sea! I don’t like skimming over the top of it in a tin can!”
I laughed again, but instantly stopped when a thick inky blob splatted against my face. I knew that it was oil, and that meant the leaking lubricant had already invaded too much of the ocean. We had to stop it.
“The oil has made it this far! If we don’t do something soon, then it might be too late!”
“Where are the others?” Shasa asked me, as if I could divine the answer.
I shrugged. They would be here soon, and would almost certainly get to the vicinity of the oil rig before we did.
“And what are we going to do when we get there?”
I shrugged again. “You’re the one who can control the waves. You think of something!”
“That’s not very helpful!”
“I’ll do my best to help you out, but if all the plants are dead then I won’t be much use!”
“Here they are!”
I heard the helicopter before I saw it, as I was keeping my gaze forward; making sure that the boat wasn’t tipped over by the huge waves that crashed against it. Being able to drive through whitecaps this big was a skill, but if I had any difficulty in dealing with them I knew that Shasa could command them to leave us alone.
Within seconds the helicopter whirled above, and then quickly shot ahead of us, making its way towards the torrent of flames. I looked up, briefly, to see it glide into a chimney of black smoke, and realised that if the wind changed, we too would be engulfed in the dark fumes. But, as if by magic, the smoke suddenly changed direction, and began to blow away from both vehicles. I knew that this was the work of Team Ventus, and I smiled to myself.
The waves began to get even stronger, and as more water poured over the side, it was clear to me that the sea was full of oil. The black liquid flowed quickly down the base of the speed boat, and Shasa cried out.
“I think I’m seasick!”
“Then do something about it!”
My hands gripped the steering wheel as hard as they could as I navigated through the treacherous mountains of coal coloured crests. The boat was bobbing up and down uncontrollably, and if Shasa didn’t do something soon, then the boat was going to tip over. And I didn’t particularly want to be covered in oil.
Almost instantly, the waves fell flat, and the ocean around us was almost completely still.
“I can’t hold it off for long, Madz, not when I’m in the boat! So please be quick!”
I accelerated the boat forward as fast as I could, and we sped off, racing through the dark sea towards the bright yellow light. The circle of calm that was only a few feet around the boat moved with us, and within a minute I could start to feel the heat from the flames that licked the dawn.
Just ahead, the helicopter hovered next to the huge structural remnants of the oil rig. Large pieces of twisted melted metal jutted out of the sea, engulfed in a fiery furnace. The helicopter’s searchlight shot down onto the devastation left by the explosions, illuminating a completely oil drenched ocean. I shuddered, thinking about how many people must have died as a result of Sue’s message. Then I thought about how many more people would die as a result of the revelations about Price Industries. Could they really start a World War?
The wind suddenly died down, and the mood in the air changed. Thick grey clouds drifted over us, and a downpour erupted from the heavens. The total lack of wind, mixed with the torrential rain, quickly began to put the huge fire out.
Now that we were getting closer to the dampening flames, I turned the engine off of the speedboat, and allowed us to bob gently in the calm sea. Shasa now stood next to me, staring out at the wreckage. She was assessing the situation, steadily.
“I don’t know what to do,” she told me, “I’m just so tired: I can’t concentrate.”
I closed my eyes and dug down into the surface of the sea with my mind, frantically searching for any plant life that might be able to assist us. There wasn’t much left, and I could feel the ripples of oil spilling out of the open hole at the bottom of the ocean as it wafted past large underwater trees.
The hole was probably massive, and we needed to plug it up. But how could we? A hurricane wouldn’t do the job, what we needed was…
“A whirlpool! A giant whirlpool!” The words exploded out of my mouth. I turned to my sister. “Do you think you could create a giant whirlpool?”
Shasa looked at me, astonished. She shrugged. “I guess. I mean, I could try…”
“The Ventus can help. And so can Gamba and Visola. We’ll make a whirlpool, then we’ll push the oil back into it and seal it up…”
“How…?”
“The Ventus can use the winds to push the remnants of the metal structure into the hole. Then Gamba and Niyol can weld it shut.”
“But…”
“They’ll know what to do,” I told her, thinking back to my own instinctual escape from the sinking ship, “And so will you.”
She stared at me, her dark brown eyes full of dread and doubt. She nodded assertively.
“Okay.”
Shasa turned away from me and closed her eyes. I grabbed her left arm gently.
“Wait until the fire has gone out.” She nodded again, her eyes remaining tightly shut.
Within minutes the raging fires had been completely extinguished, and only the beckoning sunrise, mixed with the helicopter’s searchlight, illuminated our dull surroundings. The rain stopped suddenly, and the clouds dissipated. Shasa inhaled deeply, regulating her breathing as she prepared to use her powers.
Without me even telling her when to begin, she raised her hands high, and the water beneath us began to sway. I was caught off guard by the sudden movement, and almost tipped over the side of the boat. After steadying myself, I looked out into the sea, and saw the current begin to shift and change. The water began to swirl counter clockwise around the massive metal wreckage. I looked up at the helicopter, hoping that the Ventus and my brother and sister would figure out what we were trying to do.
You can do it, I willed them, but suddenly felt my head grow heavy, as if it was filling up with wat
er. Shasa was calling to me, calling to all of us, telling us to help her move the water. I instinctively lifted my arms towards the sky, and glared at the water, commanding it to swirl larger, and drop deeper. I felt every tiny molecule plunging downward, and smacked them in the right direction if they disobeyed. But the water felt heavier than it should, and that was because of the addition of the oil. I beckoned to Visola to help me separate the oil from the water, and push it down towards the ocean floor via a separate stream. We both began to psychically channel our energy into this chore, as Shasa and Gamba continued to make the whirlpool larger.
I then felt something else enter into my consciousness. It felt like a strong breeze, except I knew that it was stirring within in my mind, and wasn’t just a regular gust hitting my face. It was the Ventus, all of whom were now also connected to us. A funnel appeared out of the sky, and began to drop into the centre of the swirling vortex. This addition allowed the giant eddy to churn faster and deeper. I concentrated as hard as I could, and continued to grab atoms of oil from the sea and isolate them. I gazed down into the massive chasm that was being created, and saw the thick black stream of oil snaking separately through the vortex.
The leftover pieces of the oil rig began to creak and groan against the water pressure, and quickly broke free of their tethers as they were sucked into the ferocious whirling current. I was not afraid that our boat would be dragged into the whirlpool. We were all telling the ocean to keep us firmly in place. I knew that the water would not disobey us.
The central cyclone had now dropped to the ocean floor. I could just about see to the bottom, and if I had been in my right state of mind, I would have been terrified of falling in. But I wasn’t afraid; in fact I was deadly calm. I felt as if something deep within my soul, something that had always been there and was an essential part of who I was, kept me focused.
This rousing feeling made me confident in what I was doing, and compelled me to keep going. I reached through the air above me and floated into Visola’s mind.
Help me push the oil back into the rift.
I then locked onto Sefarina and Aura’s consciousness.
Once the oil is back in, plug the rift with the metal.
Within our symbiotic connection, I then grabbed a hold of Niyol and Gamba.
Once the rift is plugged up, melt the metal.
I knew that everyone understood what we needed to do, and so I began to work with Visola to push the oil down the funnel and into the gap. I could see that the hole was still pumping out oil, which had begun to make a large pool on the craggy ground. I tried to grab a hold of the oil puddle, but because it was not water, it could not be manipulated by us. I then realised that the only way I could move it was with water, or with something else…
I leapt out of my head, dived down into the whirlpool and plunged into the bottom of the sea. I searched for plant life that I could grow quickly, into the oil, which I could use to push it down. But before I could, I felt Visola and Sefarina working together to shift the oil. They were both using air streams and air bubbles to force it back into the earth. I helped them by continuing to keep the oil channel flowing down, and within minutes every single drop of oil was thrust back into the hole it had emerged from.
I could sense that Visola was using her hardened bubbles to press down on the oil to keep it from erupting out once more, so I called to Shasa to help.
Push the beams out, now!
The metal girders that had once been a part of the oil rig’s structure suddenly flew out of sides of the eddy, and tumbled down towards the hole. With Aura and Sefarina’s guidance, the beams met their mark, and plunged directly into gaping fissure. Small puddles of oil exploded out of the gap as the girders sunk down, but once they were lodged firmly in place, nothing escaped past them.
Without even being directed to, Niyol turned the sky grey again, and lightning flickered through the atmosphere. A huge, loud lightning bolt shot straight out of the air, directly down at the girders, melting them down so that they could be moulded. I felt Gamba use the steam emanating from the smouldering metal to carefully manipulate the steel into a massive secure lid. There was no way that the oil could escape.
We’ve done it.
Now that we had completed our mission, I felt a huge surge of energy, as if I was freefalling through the air. After about a second it felt as though I had hit the ground and snapped out of a trance. The water and wind filling my head completely disappeared, and the cold morning air slapped my cheeks. I gasped for breath and then faltered backwards. I felt almost completely drained of energy, and my head felt light and began to fizzle. The world turned white as I clutched at my skull, trying not to pass out.
It was then that I heard Shasa fall to the floor of the motor boat, and the roar of the waves was deafening as the whirlpool collapsed in on itself.
I only had a split second to brace myself for what was about to happen. I threw myself on top of Shasa as the impact of the waves filling the empty funnel tossed the motor boat up vertically. I flew through the air, clutching at my sister, before landing into the freezing ocean. I tried to avoid being hit by the plummeting boat by swimming downwards, but its full weight smacked into the side of my skull.
Blood exploded out of my mouth as everything began to grow darker. I continued to kick my legs as furiously as possible, trying desperately to reach the surface. I had to save Shasa, but I felt so weak…
The thumping in my head was incredibly painful. It was all I could concentrate on. It felt as if a bomb had gone off within my skull, and my brain had turned to jelly. My legs suddenly stopped moving and my body began drifting downwards. I just couldn’t fight anymore. I just wanted to rest…