The Lost Chronicles Of Pangea: Apocalypse

The Bike

David limped his way to the garage with as much fervor and strength as he could muster. The quad bike was a monster of a machine. After David’s modification, it had meter tall tires installed in all four corners of the vehicle. Its frame was increased from one and the half meter long steel frame. To a two meter monster made from the magic metal Orichalum. David might not seem like it, but their family was very rich and had more connections than they knew what to do with. Orichalum was expensive and rare, Pangea was covered by a natural barrier made of gravity and electrical storms that only for some reason clears out once every fifteen years, and that clearance happens for only twelve hours. Orichalum was mined off world as not one single lode of that metal could be found anywhere on the planet. Huge mining star ships and colony vessels always leave the planet for the stars when ever the barrier was open. And then the other ships outside would take the opportunity to come home, bringing with them new materials from beyond the stars.

Orichalum was such a material. It had a high conductivity for any sort of energy but it was incredibly partial to Mana or magic. It was sturdy and hard , not to mention incredibly heavy, but malleable under the right circumstances. With the Orichalum frame for a repurposed quad bike that was a hundred and fifty years old, you can see how much money David’s family had, and how nonchalantly they spent it. Apart from the frame it had really comfortable leather seats and a tiny trunk for any cargo. The engine however was a thing of real beauty. The previous engine had magnets that were supercharged and sensitive enough to react to the planets magnetic field. Then an isolation cap was placed over the magnets to control its movements. The isolation cap opened up and closed like a flower that bloomed in the morning, and went to sleep at night. The wider you opened it, the faster it would move.

In David’s modification his isolation cap was made of an equally if not more rare and expensive ore. Due to that he only had a little of it and had to add it as vertical veins to his isolation cap. The ore was called Ionite. It could exists in numerous forms, in fact it was not considered an ore, but a chemical compound.

Ionite had the ability to nullify every kind of energy imagined. It caused complete and utter suppression of all natural and magical abilities. And it was so adaptive that it could be repurposed into a liquid form, where it could be used as a suppressive drug for powered individuals. It was also one of the key components required any time a reactor of any sort was built which begs the question of how a lab exploded and turned the whole world into a nightmare when things like Ionite existed.

The isolation cap was larger and moved according to direction. The isolation cap was separated into eight partitions that could come together as a whole and move in any direction the drivers steers . If he moves the handle of the quad bike left, the isolation cap, being the only outlet for the magnetic energy, would move directing the magnetic field and energy in a particular direction. And since the magnetic field created by the quad bike is naturally repelled by the magnetic field of the planet, it would move. The wider the partitions are opened the more Magnetic energy would be released, and the faster the bike would move.

However David had not finished modifying the reaction chamber for the magnetic field. So the bike was still very much grounded. David got closer and got to work. He had to recoil an orichalum metal string around a coil rod to conduct a significant amount of electricity through the reaction chamber. He has to move the string around eight such rods as they are positioned around a field generator crystal. The field generator crystal was responsible for creating either an attraction or retraction magnetic effect. The coils serves to distribute power to the generator as its received from a power source. Then around the eight coils, were thin strips of a crystal like pieces of glass, that serves as an amplifier for the magnetic field. Then after all this is put in place, the isolation cap would be placed on top, to prevent the magnetic field from working without direction. The isolation cap would keep the field contained, but when it opens up it will release it out to react with the planets magnetic field. The isolation cap can also rotate and move in any direction serving as a rudder of sorts.

David spent almost four hours reassembling every required component of the bike. It only took that long because of his injuries as he had to be careful so as not to aggravate his wounds. The power cell for the quad bike was a really old one, so it was not rechargeable. Thankfully his modification made it so that he could switch to a newer and rechargeable power cell. However he did not have one of those lying around, so he would probably have to make a run to auto store when he goes out looking for food. The power cell in the bike was almost out of juice, but there was enough to handle at least five hours of running around.

After reassembling the bike, David took his time to clean it. Its orichalum frame was painted over with a black glossy paint that gave off its own sheen of light. But it was almost imperceptible unless you looked closer. The paint coat was also really expensive, it lasted longer and repelled rodents with stronger jaws and a stomach for metal.

David got on top of the bike, if he so choose he could ride on roads like a normal vehicle, after all the tires were not mere decoration, or he could also just fly the damn thing around if he wanted. David made himself comfortable in the cushy leather seats as he placed his hands on a display case at the side of the bike. Using the same gesture he used to unlock his regulator, by sliding a finger from one end of the screen to the other and drawing two small loops. The security measure in Pangea was a lot more stricter than on earth. The gestures are not the only thing required, but the proper D.N.A also. If someone else learnt the gesture, but did not have the same thumb print and blood type the bike won’t start. Some really extreme security measures even included shock therapy, so if you get the password wrong and you’re a completely different person there’s going to be quite a few volts of electricity dancing and running rampant through your body. David felt the bike come to life beneath him as it vibrated a bit before letting out a steady hum. The way it felt beneath him was really soothing as Earth David learnt something about Pangea David. The guy was a total gear head and had an extreme love for engines. It was still as strange as the other comparisons, but Earth David loved fancy vehicles too, so this was not to bad.

However David’s joy was short lived as the hover bike gave a few spurts and flicker like a dying flame before shutting down completely. Regardless of whatever he did, the bike refused to start again. David got down confused about the problem, then he opened a side panel and pulled out the heavy power cell that powered the bike. Even with his improved strength, David could not lift the heavy power cell but could only drag it out of its perch inside the bike. After disconnecting a few cords and wires, David was able to see that the formerly glowing power cell was completely black. It was fully dead without a drop of energy with it’s confines.

It took a while for David to realize what really went wrong. With all of the modification he made to the quad bike, he also increased it’s energy expenditure massively, the original five hours estimation became five seconds. David was stumped and a little frustrated. This was a huge wrench in his plans, which meant he had to travel a lot slower until he could find a suitable replacement for the power cell. David looked around the room and his eyes fell on an old bicycle. No body used bicycles anymore. Those things were just kept around as antiques and keep sakes, but with the situation on ground this was the only option left.

It was a shame about the quad bike, which, if David should be honest needed a new name. But every name he could come up with just seemed so generic, so the only thing he could call the damn thing was bike. The bike should be up and running in a day if David is able to locate a new power source when he goes out tomorrow. David made his way out of the garage, out the kitchen, past the sitting room and up the stairs coming to the second floor hall. With how rich his family was, their house was actually pretty normal. They could have a bigger one if they so wanted, but his father turned out to be a rather humble man. It was not as if they were billionaires or something, but every month his father made millions of credits from the completion of various missions.

His father has been working for the government for almost twenty five years, and he was someone who hardly spent any money, so he left quite a fortune for his children to squander and play around with. David’s brother was an illegitimate child from an affair his father had with a secretary of his, how unfortunate that the illegitimate child was now banging the legitimate wife. David shook his head as if to chase away his depressing thoughts. He had learnt the virtue of always keeping a low profile from his father, though he spent a lot, he was not one to put himself and the way he spent his money in the spotlight.

David moved into his room and made his way towards his window. The bag of guns was placed back at the place he first found it. He looked out at the rubble of the house across the street, and the setting sun beyond the horizon. It has been a long day filled with excitement and multiple close shaves with death. But in the end as that sun fell into the ocean for the first time in his seventeen and nineteen years of life David had no idea who he was. Was he David of Earth, Or was he David of Pangea.