Maggie: Has a fight about friendship One a particular Monday, Maggie went to school. Of course, she had been going to school on a regular basis since age six, and joining up with Teylon and company had not changed that. School used to be such a big thing in my life, even if my social life was a complete disaster. But now? Images of falling from the roof of the dome, a girl dying in her arms, barely surviving a fight with the Girls in Pink, Adalace's dark past, saving Juniper and Kaydence, and more, flashed through her mind. Plus some extremely powerful memories, tinged with disgust and horror, about Ajaeren. However, now? It's just something I do to fill in the time until my next adventure. Go through the motions, study the material, and pass the tests. Moreover, I don't bother anymore to interact with the other students. I don't even worry about them. In fact, what am I even going to school for? I suppose, so that I can get into university, and thus earn some degree to allow me to have a productive job. What a bother. On the one hand, aiming for a job in the distant future isn't much use if I get killed or turned into a brainwashed clone before I get there. But, on the other hand, I actually would like to survive and get to that distant future. So, I guess I had better keep on studying, even if it is hard to give it my full attention when so much is happening elsewhere. At least I don't have to worry about my lack of friends. A few more choice images flicked through her mind. Wow, no, I don't have to worry about being alone, that's for sure. Even if some of my new companions are - unusual. Hmm, actually, aren't most of them unusual? Maybe even all of them? Including me? Whatever. It's my friendship group now, even if the process of getting them was - well - unusual. She had a stray thought: Does Esmeralda, the Angel of Death, also count as a member of my friendship group? Now that's a strange notion. I've never met her myself, but Sarsaparilla and Teylon both have. Hmm, I suppose one could say she is a friend of a friend. Actually saying she is a friend is not really correct, more like she has some sort of working relationship with two of my friends. Or something. Yeah, I have friends. They just ain't quite normal. But I'll take it. The class before lunch was Martian history. They were currently up to the bit where the sudden influx of esp powered people started to make big impacts on the Martian economy. Maggie, at her desk roughly in the middle of the classroom, dutifully copied down the highlights of the teacher's lecture. "As an example, the construction of large domes like Verdant only really became feasible with esp enhanced industry. Originally, Verdant was planned as a century long project, and about now the schedule was to have a small dome around the North Tower. There would have been some underground development, but most of the small population would have been living in the North Tower itself. All that changed once espers showed their worth. Verdant city, plus other domes, expanded at an enormous, almost explosive, rate. The dreams of the city planners became much more grandiose; thus, today we have a true garden city with parks and rivers and even clouds and a smidgin of weather, instead of the small enclosed spaces original planned. Of course, the remanets of the original plan still survive on, for example most of the Verdant's civic offices still remain in the North Tower. Like the Verdant City Sanitation Services, and many others, which are still operating out of their original offices." Frankly, I could study this faster by making notes directly from the assigned textbook, without having to sit through the lecture. Maggie flexed her writing hand to ward off incipient cramp, and kept on writing. Maybe I should enter my notes directly to my wristband - but I personally think handwriting them adds a bit of extra boost to the memory... The lecture continued. "Another effect of the esp powers was that our society's government became much more stable. In the decade before esp powers started taking off, we went through a difficult transition from a frontier town mentality, where almost everyone knew everyone else and decisions were made amongst small numbers of people who had the appropriate expertise, to one where society wide government became established and stable. Naturally, during the process, there was a fair amount of confusion, where no one quite knew where the appropriate lines of authority were supposed to go. No exact reason has been proposed as to why or how esp powers influenced this transition, but presumably it was a combination of many different effects." The teacher's voice droned on and on, and Maggie had to suppress a yawn. Nevertheless, she still dutifully copied down the main points, with different coloured headlines and underlining. The teacher gave them an assignment, which was met with the usual groans from the usual students, then left. The students milled around a bit as they settled into lunch. Someone in the original committee that designed the Martian school system must have been Japanese. Or maybe was influenced by a lot of Japanese anime. Since Mars had adopted their custom of letting the students eat their lunches in their class rooms. And, of course, letting the students clean up the classrooms and the rest of the school. More accurately, of making the students clean up. Everyone was rostered and all took turns. After lunchtime it was Maggie's, and a boy whose name was Jaydonen, turn to do a quick clean up of the lunchtime mess before the start of the first afternoon class. My least favourite cleaning duty. Everyone is still present and get in the way, and I have to sort of interact with them. What a nuisance. But, if it's not done, there will be scraps of food and rubbish left over for the entire afternoon, until the main end of day clean up. Sigh. Jaydonen heard the sigh as he helped Maggie go through the room with a plastic bag, gathering up rubbish. "Ha! Sighing about your lack of friends, I'm sure." Excuse me? What's he going on about? "Sorry?" "You had better watch out, or you'll go through life all alone, just like you are now." he said, with a visible smirk on his face, "After all, we all know what happens when you try to interact with the other students." Wait a moment, is he trying to imply that those arguments in the past were all my fault? Like hell! "Well, actually, I do have a friendship group. A pretty good one too. No thanks to you, of course." There was a giggle or two from some of the surrounding students, as they started to listen in on this conversation. "You do? Going by past behaviour, it will only last up to the first argument, and then you will bring out the magnetic flying nails and everyone will run for their lives!" More giggles from the surrounding group. Maggie was beginning to build up a head of steam. She glared at Jaydonen. "How can I help it if a lot of twits keep stirring things up?" Jaydonen grinned widely at her. "Yep, there she goes!" She overheard someone say in the background: "The nails should start flying about now." Indeed, she was reaching out with her magnetic senses to a couple of nails in her pocket... A sudden image of that girl dying in her arms, bright red blood dripping off her dress. A girl who should have been living a normal life, before being mind wiped and turned into a slave by that sleazy monster Ajaeren. Why am I having this argument? Her anger evaporated. She shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever. Think what you like, I don't particularly care." She went back to tying up the rubbish bag and started to carry it out of the room. Jaydonen looked surprised, as did all of the other students who were listening in. During the remaining lessons of the day, in between highlighting the main points of the current lecture, Maggie did some thinking. Well, that confrontation certainly disappeared real fast. And it wasn't anything that anyone else did. It was just me deciding not to care. Which lead to the conclusion: Maybe all of those conflicts weren't entirely caused by the others. Maybe it was my reactions that contributed to them. In fact... Maybe it was mostly my own reactions that caused them? How depressing. Does that mean I was sabotaging my own chances all along? Even more depressing, does that mean it was obvious to all of the others. How embarrassing. Here I was, thinking that Jaydonen, amongst others, was a horrible little puffed up bully, stuffing up my social life, when in fact he was, well, just being a bit unpleasant, a bit abrasive, and merely triggering my own self destructive urges. She underlined the current main topic, and started on the points as the teacher read them out. She also kept thinking. Bloody hell, I'm going to have to do a lot more thinking about this topic. How painful. Why does life have to be so difficult? Also, while we're on this acknowledgement of unpleasant truths, maybe my personality is also a bit abrasive? She realised that, during a gap in the teacher's speaking, she had actually written down this question, and highlighted it with a red underline. Shit. Turn the page so no one can see it. She was still processing all of this at the end of the last lecture. She packed her bag and was ready to go, when a shadow loomed over her desk. She looked up, to see Jaydonen, another smirk on his face, leaning over her. "If you really do have a friendship group, will we be seeing it at next week’s school theatre night? That's assuming that you do have any friends, that is. I mean, I'll be there with my friends, and with my brand new girlfriend, Water Lily." I certainly didn't have any plans on going to the theatre night by myself - that would be a painful experience. But, why not ask my friends if some would like to come along? Definitely not to show of to my fellow students, of course! Well, maybe just a small amount. Just to rub their noses in the fact that I can keep friends. Not that it really matters if they believe I have friends or not. Oh, quit fooling yourself, Maggie. I really want to show off my new friends. And, I suppose, it could be interesting to see this new girl friend Water Lily. Strange name. Although not too interesting, since I really don't care one way or another about Jaydonen. Just as long as he acknowledges that I really do have friends. "Hmm, I might. I shall have to ask my friends if any would like to come along." Big grin from Jaydonen, and smaller grins from half a dozen other students observing this. "Sure, see you there. And your friends!" Mission accomplished, he walked off. Maggie: Proposing a social event That night was another all hands on deck social gathering at Teylon's. Such things were happening on a regular basis, lately. In between the main course and the dessert, Maggie broached the subject. Let's see, Teylon will always agree to anybody's proposal for a group activity, so I'll ask him directly first. She spoke up and gave a brief summary of what had happened. She tried to put as much positive spin on her reactions as possible, without outright lying. "So, Teylon, would you and some of the others like to come along..." "Sure, no problems. Since this is a theatre show, is it a formal dress up event?" "Ah, yes, which is another reason why I never bothered going along to in the past." A big smirk from Teylon. "What say I invite everyone who's going to it to buy some really good clothes for the event, and I'll pay?" Faster than a shoal of starving piranha moving in on a helpless target, every female present battled to be the first to say yes. Well, apart from Devina and Tamara, of course. Naturally, Sarsaparilla beat them all: "I'm in! Adalace and Kaydence and I will go shopping tomorrow afternoon!" Adalace and Kaydence nodded vigorously in agreement. "Well, then, how about us Girls in Pink take Juniper and we also go shopping very soon. Hmm, I haven't brought a fancy dress since, ah, my high school days." said Francesca. "I'm not sure I want to..." said Devina. Only she was immediately stopped by Juniper, who held her arm. "I think you should. The only nice clothes you have are the ones I picked for you before. I want to pick you some more really nice ones. And some for myself, of course." Devina looked at Juniper, her face close to hers. She could not muster any resistance at all. "Ah, fine, fine." A smothered laugh from Francesca. "I'm sure Tamara wants to get a nice dress, too. Don't you?" "I suppose so..." said Tamara. "Besides which, this must be the show that my nephew is in, so it gives me the perfect opportunity to watch him, without actually having to join my own family group." said Francesca. Big pleased grin from Maggie. "Then that's all settled. How about me and Sarawatch go shopping for our clothes, and then the next day we take the males and get them some decent rags?" "Err, but I've already got a good suit..." said Leroy. "So do I!" said Erasyl. A withering glare from Maggie. "No you don't. I'm going to make sure that you have something that is actually good, not some cheap off the rack poorly fitting suit from some supermarket!" Got them! Judging from their looks, that is exactly what they have. Teylon cleared his throat. "In actual fact, I'm more than capable of selecting my own suit..." "That's all right, in that case you can lend your expertise to selecting something suitable for the boys." said Sarawatch. Who looked as if she was already enjoying the event. At this point Adalace accessed the computer/entertainment screen on the wall, and within ten seconds had the landing page for the school theatre night up and waiting for their bookings. "I didn't know you knew the name of my school." said Maggie. This time it was Adalace's turn to smirk. "I didn't. But with the correct search terms, it didn't take more than a few seconds to find the only school booking at a theatre complex next Friday." They studied the booking page. It was billed as a formal dress up event, with a three-course meal provided "That's cool," said Leroy, "They give a rough map of table placement, plus the names of the organiser for each table." "Ah, right, and there's Jaydonen's name, at a small table with only six people!" said Maggie, pointing to the centre of the tables, "And there's a big empty table next to them! Let's book it!" "Oh my, you really want to rub his nose in it, don't you." said Francesca, "Not that I mind, of course." Adalace twitched her fingers, and a large table for twelve was booked. "I put it under Maggie's name. Now, Teylon, if you can pay for it..." Teylon twitched his fingers, and was able to make the payment. He took considerably more time to do this than Adalace had spent. "Done. And, what's this, we have to specify the exact seating arrangement for all of our members." said Teylon. "Hmm, this could be interesting. Five chairs down each side and two at the ends. So, how do we allocate ourselves?" asked Francesca. She's got that evil grin on her face again. Who gets to sit next to whom, yeah I can see why that would appeal to her warped sense of humour. The ensuing discussion was very polite and skirted around quite a few dangerous traps with everybody pretending they did not actually see them. Nevertheless, certain constraints were established. Adalace and Sarsaparilla wanted to sit next to each other. Of course. Kaydence wanted to sit next to both Sarsaparilla and Leroy. My, that was funny, seeing Leroy desperately wanting to say he wanted to sit next to Kaydence, without actually saying anything. Fortunately, Sarsaparilla was on his side. Juniper wanted to sit next to both Teylon and Devina. Understandable. Erasyl avoided Maggie's eyes as the discussion was held. Bet you he wants to sit next to me. But, not everyone can have what they want, and, well, what do I want... I suppose I don't have a strong preference? Francesca put on another of those big friendly grins on. She decided that she'll sit next to Teylon. Sarawatch had raised her eyebrows at this. In that case, she'll sit on the other side of Teylon. Is this going to get awkward? "I say ladies, I have no objection to your attention, but you realise that I now have three ladies wanting to sit next to me?" said Teylon, all the while projecting a suave courteous gentlemanly aura. "That's easy to fix. Juniper can sit opposite you, with Devina and Tamara to her sides. And us two lovely ladies sit next to you. Hmm?" said Francesca. Juniper was all right with this. Obviously Juniper is missing all of the fine nuances here. I don't think the others are, apart from Kaydence, of course. "Why, I think this will be a lot of fun," said Sarawatch, "don't you think so, Francesca, dear?" "I most certainly do! Always good to have a man under ones control, isn't it? Not that I have ever had much of a chance of that." "Actually, neither have I," said Sarawatch, "So let's make the most of the opportunity." Teylon is starting to look as if he might be having second thoughts about all of this. Well, tough luck! Adalace had been following all of this. Her fingers twitched, and within seconds she had a seating plan. Leroy Kaydence Devina Juniper Tamara Maggie Erasyl Adalace Sarsaparilla Sarawatch Teylon Francesca "I think that this satisfies everybody's wish. Except maybe for Erasyl's wish to sit next to Maggie, hmm," said Adalace as she smiled sweetly at Erasyl. "That's all right, this is fine!" said Erasyl, with just a faint touch of panic in his voice. Oh, maybe I can throw him a bone to keep him happy. After all, he has to sit next to two killer ladies. "Well then, in that case, why don't I let you accompany me to the show?" said Maggie to Erasyl. "You will? Sure! I'll be happy to." Big smile from Erasyl and some giggles from various females. But Erasyl ignored them. Maggie: Showing off to Jaydonen And so it came to pass that the twelve of them rocked up to the entrance of the Sunset Garden Theatre complex. It was above ground, on a slight hill, thus through some of the windows you could actually see the sunset through the dome. And the sun was actually setting as they queued through the main entrance and gathered in the foyer before moving to the tables. There he is! Jaydonen, with his own friendship group, and a girl who must be Water Lily. Ha, his poor little group only adds up to six. "Erasyl, you may on a temporary basis hold my arm as I say hello to Jaydonen." "Ah, yes, thank you." "Oh, and you and Leroy must agree that the suits you now have are a vast improvement to your original ones. Not to mention much better than Jaydonen and his male friends." Sheepish grin from Erasyl. "Yeah, you're right. I hadn't realised what a well fitting suit was like." Of course, the evening frock that Maggie was wearing made her look like a million dollars. Medium reddish colour, slightly shimmering in the light, showing off her lovely legs and contrasting nicely with her almost black skin. She also wore a bright red coloured jacket, designed to show off her figure as much as possible but without drawing too much attention to the fact that she did not have all that much to show off in the first place. Every other woman in my group has bigger breasts than me. But, I suppose it can't be helped. I might as well make the most of what I've got. Hmm, Erasyl doesn't seem to mind... Oh, stop thinking of him like that, it's stupid. Besides which, my dress is obviously much higher quality than Lily's. Poor girl, she doesn't have a rich old man buying her stuff - wait, that sounds a bit dubious. Let's not mention who paid for all of this. "Hello Jaydonen, I've see you have come with your own friendship group?" "Ah, yes." Hee hee, he looks slightly taken back. "This lady is my new girlfriend, Lily, also known as Water Lily." "Pleased to meet you." said Water Lily. "And this man is definitely not my boy friend, but he is a good friend, Erasyl." "Pleased to meet - Oh, I already know you two." said Erasyl. "Ah! Yeah, you're the one that made crude passes to both of us!" said Lily. Erasyl went red in the face. Maggie looked at him with contempt. "Is this back when you were being an obnoxious jerk?" "Ah, y-yes?" said Erasyl, "But, but I have improved since then. Haven't I, Maggie?" Maggie rolled her eyes. "I guess you have." She spoke to Jaydonen and Lily. "I said I had a friendship group. I never said they were perfect, OK?" A barely concealed smirk from Jaydonen. "Sure, sure, you never said that." "And, moving right on, these two ladies are Sarsaparilla and Adalace. They were both dressed in absolutely stunning outfits. It had taken a lot of discussion between them and Kaydence before they could make the final selection, but everyone else agreed that they had gotten it right. Sarsaparilla wore a frilly frock and top, which matched her diminutive stature perfectly, while Adalace wore a very well tailored pantsuit. They both smiled at Jaydonen. He stepped back due to the sheer radiance and looked stunned. His girlfriend was not too impressed. Hiss. "Are you going to stand there like a stunned mullet, or are you going to introduce us?" "Ah, hello ladies, I'm Jaydonen and this is my girlfriend Lily." Adalace and Sarsaparilla, arm in arm, introduced themselves and then moved to the side to watch what happened next. Men are such suckers from a woman's wiles. "Actually, if you ever meet those two scary ladies in a dark lane way and they smile at you like that, turn and run as fast as you can. You might still be in time to save yourself." said Erasyl. I think Erasyl is still annoyed at being called out about his behaviour. "Ah, what?" said Jaydonen. Giggles from the two ladies. "Indeed yes. After all, those two are the two most dangerous people here tonight." This was a new voice. It belonged to Francesca, currently hanging off Teylon's left side. She gave a big smile to Jaydonen. It showed a lot of teeth. "I'll, err, remember that." said Jaydonen. "And this is Teylon, with his two ladies, Francesca and Sarawatch." said Maggie. This is the fun part. "Good evening, young man. This promises to be a most pleasant night, doesn't it?" said Teylon. Oh so smooth and genial. Now if Erasyl could only learn a few tricks like that... "And I'm Francesca, Teylon's special lady." "Ah, hello Francesca." said both Lily and Jaydonen. They looked more than a little bit befuddled. "Oh, Teylon my dear, I think that that lady is getting a bit above her station. If you could tell her that, in actual fact, I'm your special lady?" said Sarawatch, with a little bit of snark in her voice. She was currently hanging off Teylon's right arm. She switched her attention to the couple, and spoke very sweetly. "I'm Sarawatch, I'm the important one in Teylon's life. Ain't I, sweetie?" She gazed up at Teylon's face and batted her eyes at him. "Ah, yes ladies, perhaps if we don't have a scene right here?" Sarawatch and Francesca glared at each other across the disputed territory. Adalace and Sarsaparilla giggled some more. "Well, as I said, my friends are not necessary perfect, you know." said Maggie. Jaydonen and Lily looked at each other; obviously they were still deep in puzzled territory. Francesca narrowed her eyes. "See, Maggie agrees with me, that other lady is not perfect." "No, no, you have it wrong, my dear Francesca, Maggie was referring to you." said Sarawatch. They were both speaking in exaggerated polite language, while holding Teylon's arms and trying to pull him away from the other. "Now, now, ladies, this is beginning to be a bit unseemly..." said Teylon, still speaking in the suave sophisticated voice of a gentlemanly womaniser. Three more ladies joined the introduction circle. Devina and Tamara, with Juniper following them. "Humph, men are so disgusting!" said Devina. She then turned and briefly introduced herself. "Yeah, I agree." said Tamara, who then also briefly introduced herself. "Ah, girls, surely he's not all that bad?" said Maggie, trying to smooth the waters. But Devina and Tamara continued to treat Teylon with disdain. "Well, let's keep moving, shall we? This is Juniper - oh." Juniper, who up to now had been happily watching the crowd from the safety of Devina's and Tamara's close company, suddenly startled. A fearful look appeared in her eyes as she tracked a man, with white hair, walking past then in total ignorance of who they were. She jumped forward and grabbed Devina's hand. "Devina! Don't let that man near me! Please!" "Ah, sure..." "No, I don't want do go in to the bedroom with him. No, no..." A look of disgust and revulsion on her face, she clung to Devina in sheer desperation. Sarawatch and Francesca immediately let go of Teylon as he stepped up to Juniper and patted her back. "It's all right." said Devina. "No one's going to hurt you." said Teylon. The panic attack lasted another minute, then just as abruptly it faded out. "Oh, sorry, what was I doing?" said Juniper, speaking in a much more normal tone of voice. "It's all right, dear," said Francesca, "How about you let Sarsaparilla and Adalace take you to your seat, and we will follow?" Adalace and Sarsaparilla smiled at Juniper. Maggie couldn't help notice that these smiles were vastly different from the earlier smiles they had given to Jaydonen. The three girls went off to find their table. "Teylon, this is getting bad, isn't it?" said Devina. "Yeah, I guess it is." "Are these occurrences happening more often? Isn't that three or so this week alone?" asked Sarawatch. "Well, actually no. You've only been present at half or so of our gatherings, have you? It's more like half a dozen." said Francesca. "Damn." said Sarawatch. "But Teylon, why couldn't Esmeralda fix Juniper like she fixed Kaydence?" Devina spoke with anguish. Teylon shook his head sadly. "Sorry, but what Esmeralda does and why is beyond my ability to influence. Or even to know. We can only hope for the best." This really sucks. Why couldn't Juniper be saved in the same way that Kaydence was? But then, I suppose, Juniper is lucky to receive any supernatural help at all, let along as much as she did. From what Teylon has said, the angels aren't allowed to intervene except in rare circumstances. There was a silence. "Oops" said Francesca. She had looked up and realised that Jaydonen and Lily were watching them, shock and surprise on their faces. "Ah, we acted out of character, did we?" said Sarawatch. "You - you - all of that before - that was an act, wasn't it?" said Jaydonen, sputtering in confusion. "Shucks, we were found out," said Francesca, "Oh well, it was fun while it lasted." "Yeah, we had you fooled for a while, didn't we?" said Sarawatch, smiling at the two. "Even the smiles of Adalace and Sarsaparilla looked totally different!" said Lily. "Ah, yes. Please don't blame Maggie for our little performance, it was purely the idea of these two lovely ladies..." said Teylon, nodding at Francesca and Sarawatch. Both of these ladies cordially nodded at them, then allowed Teylon to guide them to their table. The ladies chatted happily between themselves, with occasional comments from Teylon, and the even more occasional comment from Devina and Tamara, who were following them. Maggie gave a sheepish smile to Lily and Jaydonen. "Well, as I said, my friends aren't perfect, and some of them have a really wicked sense of humour. Oh, and here's my last two, Kaydence and Leroy." Of course, Kaydence also looked stunning, and Leroy, wearing his well fitting upmarket suit, was a suitable companion for her. The last of the introductions done, they all went to their seats. Well, I think I have proven that I have friends! She laughed aloud, causing Erasyl to look at her in surprise. "Ah, you have made your point, yes?" said Erasyl. "Yes!" said Maggie, as she pumped her fist in the air. The evening started with appetizers, and the first years put on their show. Enthusiastic clapping from everyone when it finished. The soup was served, and the second years put on their show. Maggie, surrounded by her friends, and in a position to see Jaydonen's table and his friends, happily watched the actors on stage - An object the size of a basketball smashed its way through one of the large windows that looked out to the close by dome wall. The shattered window became a cloud of small fragments’ of safety glass, soon to rain on the audience. The object, in a flat trajectory, streaked across the room and was about to cross over Maggie's table. Click. Maggie's magnetic abilities turned on at full force, enclosing the object and halting its motion. At the same time, it suddenly glowed red-hot. Maggie's conscious mind was seconds behind all of this. Huh, what the hell am I doing? What is that thing... Oh, shit. Whatever the hell it was, it contained a lot of energy. Shit, it's a bomb of some sort. How did it get here... Forget about that for now. Concentrate on containing it. "Sarawatch, can you call the emergency number, tell them that I'm containing some sort of bomb?" Initially frozen in place, Sarawatch, still pretty much a police officer at heart, snapped out of it and went into her emergency handling mode. She started giving a summary of the situation into her phone. All around them, people were beginning to realise that something was happening, but as yet most of them didn't have any idea of what it was. I can easily contain it, I should be able to levitate myself and it and move out... What the hell? The energy level in bomb must have increased, since she had to increase the power of her shield to keep it under control. And then the increase levelled off. Ah, Adalace must be reducing its temperature. Which means reducing its total energy. Her ability is really useful! Hmm, I suppose it must contain sufficient metal, probably ionised by now, for her ability to work on. She looked at Adalace, who looked back. "Yeah, I pumping out as much heat as possible - but the temperature is still going up!" Oh double shit, it is too. How is that even possible - fuck. She had just noticed that Juniper had a look of concentration on her face. Fuck, fuck, fuck, Juniper must be using her ability to shield us all from radiation. It's some sort of mini nuclear bomb, probably the type they use for mining. And it's getting hotter. "Adalace, can you suck any more heat from that?" "Sorry, I'm already at my maximum." "Damn, it's still getting hotter."