Firefly Light

Chapter 15

Dr. Silva's interruption couldn't have come at a better time. Joseph was happy to cut off the argument between his three oldest children, which he was unsuccessfully attempting to resolve. It was pretty much the usual argument. Cynthia had picked on Keika, resulting in Edmund's intervention in his little sister's behalf, causing a near fist fight between Cynthia and Edmund. Typically, Cynthia had actually been the one to get physical, as well as delivering an extremely loud and insulting verbal attack on the other two. Without Sophia around to mediate, and especially, to control Cynthia's violent mood swings, this seemed to be the toughest job he had. Running a small kingdom was easy compared to refereeing the almost constant battles between his first daughter and the other two.

"Silence!" he shouted, "Let me see what Dr. Silva wants!" They grumpily shut their yapping mouths in compliance. He pressed the intercom button. "Yes, Dr. Silva, how can I help you?" "Your Highness!" Dr. Silva was always so formal. "I have come across something that I think you should see. It may be something we can actually use, but I'm not sure. Would it be possible for you to come down here and see? I'd like to discuss it with you in the laboratory where the work was actually being done, if that would be possible, sire?" "Yes, yes, of course. I'll be right down." responded a relieved Joseph. Releasing the button he looked back at his pouting children. "Enough of this! I don't care who was in the right or wrong here, these arguments have to cease. You three have become an almost daily disruption in this building. I have had enough!" Cynthia started to open her mouth to protest. Joseph held up his hand, "I said enough....not another word! You are all teenagers now and should be able to get along better than five year olds! I want this to stop and if it doesn't......I will........you will be locked in your rooms until I say you can come out!" They looked unimpressed.

He decided that Dr. Silva's request gave him an opportunity to get them over this disagreement and may actually turn out to be entertaining. Joseph stood up and walked around his desk. "Come on, let's all go down to the bunker and see what the good doctor has discovered." He opened the door and they went out through the reception area, where the staff was busily acting like they hadn't been listening to the uproar in his office, and into one of the elevators off the hallway. They took the elevator two floors down to the basement, and then transferred to another elevator that only went down to the bunker. The elevator trip to the underground facility was a long one and they all maintained a strained silence.

Finally, the elevator door opened onto a white tiled hallway that was only partially lit. Except for storage, the facility was little used now. Joseph walked out of the elevator, trailed by his children. It took them a full fifteen minutes to walk the distance to the section that Dr. Silva had called him from. At one time they would have taken an electric vehicle, but one by one they had broken down and none had been working for many years. The repair team reported that they were missing critical parts for the vehicles and didn't know if replacements would ever be found. Maybe he should have bicycles available down here for transportation, like up in the city.

They found the laboratory where the doctor was and walked in to join him and his team. None of the once top secret projects had been worked on since the virus had almost destroyed the world. Dr. Silva had been given the task of going through the projects to see if there was anything useful or if there was even material that could be recycled. The survey had been going on for months, but so far, they had not discovered much. He seemed pretty excited, however, so maybe this was something they could find a use for.

Silva greeted them with a happy smile on this face, "Thank you, sire, for taking the time to come down to the dungeon," he laughed. "I didn't expect you to respond immediately." "Your request came at a good time." said Joseph as he looked back at his kids. Edmund looked sheepish, but the girls were both still angry and glaring at each other. "Tell me, Doctor, what have you discovered?"