Boomtown by Nowen N. Particular

Author:Nowen N. Particular
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2010-09-08T16:00:00+00:00

“Hold on tight!” Samora warned. She reached over and pulled an actuator switch. We heard a hissing blast of steam the instant before we were launched like a rocket—my guess was about thirty feet per second. The walls of the elevator shaft flew past our eyes. Up through the glass windows of the ceiling, I saw the roof of the house swing open with gray overcast skies overhead. We raced up, up, up, and out into the cold afternoon air, through the roof until we whooshed to a stop about five stories above the house.

“Oh, my goodness!” Janice gasped. To our surprise and relief, baby Holly had slept through the exciting ride.

“Woohoo! Do it again! Do it again!” The kids were thrilled.

“No! Please, no,” I groaned, turning a little green. My stomach was down in the basement and my head was in my lap. I felt like I’d being thrown through the ceiling like Walter’s barber chair. “I’m ready to go back down now—as slowly as possible if you don’t mind.”

“Of course,” said our guide. “Nice and slow.”

She activated another lever, and with an audible hiss the elevator descended along the telescoping pole it was mounted on. It rotated slightly as it descended, giving us a full view as we slid downward. We could see the spire of our church; we saw the town hall, the fireworks factory, even the smoke rising from the Hopontop reservation over the horizon. Down by the river, past the gardens and apple orchards near the back part of the property, we could see clouds of steam hanging over a windowless, cement building with a spider web of poles sticking out of its roof and wires stretching away from the building toward the main part of town. “What’s that?” I asked, clutching the handrail and pointing toward the strange building.

“That is the Boomtown Geothermal Plant, another one of my grandfather’s gifts to the town he loved. It’s basically a larger version of the geothermal generator that runs the house. The turbines produce enough electricity to power the entire town—with some to spare. You probably noticed that you don’t receive an electric bill at your house?”

“I never thought about it. I guess we don’t.”

“You won’t have an electric bill for the church or any-where else in town. That’s because everyone gets free electricity from the power plant. The Losotu estate pays for any necessary repairs—those are done by my father and brother, who take care of the maintenance for the property. My mother and sister are in charge of the gardens and cleaning, what little there is. They also conduct tours and teach classes. My nephews take care of all the exhibits. It’s our family legacy.”

Janice said, “It’s absolutely wonderful. Free power for everyone?”

“It’s even better than that. The power plant is a self-sustaining system. As the steam cools, the water drips down into an underground holding tank where it can be reused. The cloud of steam that hovers over the building mists all the surrounding plants in the gardens.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.