Climatic Calamity (part 22)

PADDING ALERT! PADDING ALERT!

The following episode comprises photos and story line that fails to move the tale forward one iota. Nevertheless its very charming and includes lots of characters and places that you would not have seen had the story remained aboard the Drunkard’s Vomit. So its well worth the visit. In fact you would be committing an injustice against yourself, should you pass on it. Read on…

Meanwhile, far away in the tortured land that contained the Museum of Future Technology…

…the immigrant workforce of blue Ice-Worlders were being put to use doing…ah…stuff outside, where terrestrial earplugs would quickly succumb to the vicious cold…

Had Magnuss known about their efforts he would have congratulated himself for his foresight, many years previous, when he rescued them from their planet as the crust de-stabilised and broke up. He might not have been quite so comfortable if he’d known that they had also been assigned the task of operating the Earplug-Powered Generator…

“Honestly,” the pillion earplug said to the other, “it’s not enough that we have to contend with the worst coffee in the Galaxy; but now they’ve locked us in this freezing generator room and expect us to pedal like loonies from the planet Gagh!”

“Keep talking.” The other replied. “It’ll take my mind off the motion sickness. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m feeling a little queasy.”

Despite being inside the main building, whiteout conditions now applied in the Age of Stone exhibit…

Even the blessed and wonderful Angel with a Huge Nose was compelled to find shelter from the storm…

As she unfurled her angel’s wings in preparation for wrapping them around her torso to keep warm, her mind wandered to the main courtyard. She wondered if the Mariachi Bands were still trying to hold their outdoor convention there…

Of course she had no idea that Magnuss and Hair-Trigger had ushered them into an old blockhouse. The Heroes of the Museum now stood at the entrance as they kept an eye open for stragglers…

“No, I think that’s about it, Hairy.” Magnuss said with a sense of professional satisfaction. “Let’s take the underground maintenance tunnel back into the building proper.”

Gobby – bless him – the strange creature with a limited control of the passage of time, stood in the snow outside his apartment block and tried to turn the tide of time…

As was usual for him, he managed fifteen minutes; but then gave up.

“Not worth the sodding effort.” He grumbled to himself – before going inside to wrap himself in his favourite Aquaplug duvet.

Chester and Miles were on the balcony of the apartment they shared…

The shattered debris of their neighbour’s façade lay all about.

Chester was feeling sorry for himself. Several small palm tree seedlings had been horribly crushed by great lengths of cabling. Miles might have said something comforting to his twin, but he didn’t because he thought he was behaving like a ‘cissy’.

Shortly after that they both received a telepathic message from their brothers. Quickly they joined them at the entrance of an emergency shelter…

…as they followed Hair-Trigger into the assumed safety of an atom-proof bunker.

Elsewhere, members of the Sewage Workers Union rushed to get themselves through the closing bulkhead doors on the main thoroughfare…

They had heard that their hardened concrete meeting room had been reassigned to Civil Protection, and they didn’t want anyone taking their seats…

P.S The wording that accompanied the third-from-last photo made mention of an atom-proof bunker. I invented the term as a fourteen year-old. I’ve used it repeatedly during the intervening five decades – and no one has ever asked me the obvious question:

“What the heck is an atom-proof bunker?”

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