Dead Clouds

Chapter 8 (3/3): Kiri

Everything occurred as planned. The Skeleton Man leaped across fallen buildings and sped through empty highways as the stratus cloud followed behind with its enormous strides. Each time the skeletal figure looked back, it saw its opponent's amorphous face of gray clouds.

The gray face underwent frequent change. One moment it was fully regenerated, one moment it had a huge chunk ripped out of it due to Kiri, and one moment it split into two halves releasing a dreadful roar. Massive arms took long arching lethargic swipes at Kiri, who buzzed around its face like a fly.

Sweat droplets mixed with rain water. The mixture dripped off the tips of Kiri's spiky hair as he exhausted his strength leaping from rooftops and crushing handfuls of cloud in his claw. Sticking to the plan, he stayed in front of the cloud ensuring its trek to the power plant.

Significant time had passed since the stratus cloud first touchdowned, but the sky failed to detail this temporal progression. The overcast sky darkened the city below. A sheet of gray clouds greeted all heads that turned upwards.

The Skeleton Man looked forward. Large clouds of white smoke rose above a line of trees. After shooting past the greenery, it spotted a row of cooling towers that resembled white pawns on a chessboard.

Radius was grateful that the trip to the power plant avoided any new destruction to the city. The fight was now approaching the outskirts of civilization. Nube City's power plant was constructed away from the more populated areas. Another advantage Radius considered was privacy. He expected the fight to end without any unwanted audience members.

"You're not expecting us to jump inside of one of those towers are you?" asked Gold.

"No, our focus is on the power lines," said Radius, viewing the tall structures with wires connected between them, "Power plants are industrial facilities that generate electricity for nearby populations. With respect to the nearby population, the electricity is of more use to us right now."

"If we're getting the electricity from power lines, then why did we come all the way out here?" asked Gold, "There were power lines back in the city."

Radius grinned at the ghost's ignorance of physics, "Although AC or 'alternating current' allows for electricity to be carried across power lines, there's a negative correlation between voltage and distance. The greater the distance the lower the voltage."

"So the closer we get to the source, the more electricity there will be to charge with?" said Gold.

"Yes. But also, the faster the charge as well. It's known as Ohm's law, which states that the drop in voltage from one end of a wire to the other is the product of the current and resistance of the wire."

"That sounds like math. I thought you were a scientist?"

"Pay attention. Voltage is important because the formula for electrical power or electricity is current multiplied by voltage. The smaller the voltage, the smaller the electricity."

Radius continued, "Power plants have transformers that boost voltage to one-hundred thousand volts and higher. The power lines also don't use any insulation around the wires."

"This might be the fastest battery charge ever," joked Gold, growing serious seconds after, "Is this safe? I know we can create electricity out of thin air, but that's our own electricity. Won't it kill us if it comes from outside our body?"

Pressing his teeth into his lower lip, Radius mulled over Gold's reasonable assessment. He was testing a theory in real time. There weren't lab rats or placebos. This was science in its purest form. An untested hypothesis that would only be supported through trial. Trial also meant error. Error meant the loss of their lives.