A short pit-stop turns into a long delay…
Tradewinds 14: No Way Outhttp://www.absolutechaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=10697Summary: Wherein tomorrow is a long time coming…
Categories: Original Fiction
Characters: None
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Rated: R
Warnings: Death, Violence
Series: Tradewinds
Challenges: None
Published: 10/02/11
excerpt, from Chapter 3:
“…I suppose we knew it was too good to be true,” Donaldson sighed, “but the school was already in trouble before that, due to lack of funding, and it was only a matter of time before we got shut down if we didn’t do something. That was when Camcron Industries came in with an offer we couldn’t refuse.”
“What kind of name is Camcron anyway?” Max wondered aloud.
“From what I understand,” Donaldson mused, “they’re some big corporation from New Cali. I guess they’re into a bunch of different fields, and the Research Institute that set up shop here was some kind of subsidiary of theirs. The funding they proposed was enough to keep the Academy in the black. Much as I hate to admit it now, even though I didn’t really trust them, the only other choice would have been to dismiss a lot of folks and cut classes back to less than half of what they used to be… so I went along with the rest of the administration, and I’ve regretted it ever since.
“Sure, with the Institute’s funding came new installments to the rest of the campus, and at first the only catch was the construction of the Camcron Building. They just had to build it right in the middle of the island, right in the big field behind the main Academy building, but that was just the beginning.”
“So what were they doing out there?” Shades, of course, had read of his fair share of scandals and shenanigans, so he was already quite suspicious of any corporation just waltzing in and offering to help people without pretense. After all, last he checked, even philanthropy had a tendency to come with hidden strings attached.
“I don’t rightly know,” Donaldson confessed. “The building itself was reserved for only the Institute’s projects. Even we weren’t allowed to see much of the place. I’m not really sure what they were researching in there, but they sure seemed to have a lot of specialists on staff, and they were pretty vague about just what they specialized in. I got ahold of a document once that mentioned certifications in various sciences, especially physics. No matter what they were doing in there, it could just be me, but that building just does not look right on Adnan’s, just doesn’t fit…”
“But what happened to the school?” Shades asked.
“It shut down barely a fortnight after I left,” the old man replied. “I was getting more and more concerned about how the entire school seemed to rely on Camcron after a while. I guess I underestimated just how dependent everyone had become, and my attempts at investigating things on my own— fruitless as it was— ended with the rest of the administration turning against me. I suppose they were looking out for Adnan’s in their own way, but in the end it gained them nothing.”
Ah, fun with office politics… Shades decided to keep that thought to himself, having learned more about it than he cared to after leaving the easygoing atmosphere of Master Al’s shop for the non-stop rumor mill of the service sector.
“You see, not long after I resigned, the school just simply shut down. Not even any advance notice. No explanation given, but the last time I was in town, I was told Camcron just pulled the plug, and by now the whole thing was so far in the red they couldn’t keep the doors open anymore. That was a couple days ago, and I’ve heard no further word.
“It’s the end of an era— even I went to school there when I was a boy…”
Monotonous phenomenon…
Author
Topic: shadesmaclean/Tradewinds updates (Read 44844 times)