Before Jessica could even secure the terraforming equipment into the ground she needed to find exactly where to place it. She needed to make sure that it was directly on the opposite side of the planet from the other terraforming equipment. Under normal circumstances this would have been close to impossible place the equipment in the exact right place, which was another reason why Agent Rogers had accompanied her. Not only could he activate the equipment when it was installed but he could also guide Jessica to exactly where she needed to install the equipment. As Jessica moved the equipment Agent Roger’s scanners would tell him exactly where the equipment needed to be placed, he felt like a foreman at a construction company as he instructed Jessica.
“Ok a little more to the left,” said Agent Rogers as he continued to guide Jessica. He liked the fact that he didn’t have to do the heavy lifting and that he could boss around someone who was so much bigger than he was. “Come on Jess you’re not even trying.”
“Can it Peter,” snapped Jessica. She knew that it was only a joke but with everything that was going on she wasn’t entirely in the mood for a wisecrack. “I’d like to see you pick this up a piece of hi tech equipment that weighs over a hundred tons.”
“Oh I would love to do that but Doctor Summers told me to steer clear of lifting heavy objects. And you know that you should always do what the doctor tells you.” He tried to sound like he was teaching her something.
“If you don’t button it I’ll make sure that you get another appointment with Doctor Summers but heavy lifting will be the least of your worries.”
Most people would have taken that as a threat but the pair just seemed to laugh it off. She never dreamed of actually hurting Agent Rogers and he knew that. She was bar far the gentlest person that he had ever known and he never felt safer when she was in his presence. When he had first become an agent he was more than nervous and he was extremely intimidated when he first met Jessica. He had never seen anyone close to her size and he feared that she might accidentally crush him. She had been his primary trainer and over time he saw that she wasn’t some large clumsy oaf that could destroy a building if they got careless. He saw her as the loving and caring person that she was and he never felt afraid around her after he had gotten use to her. Even after his training was complete and he became an agent the two had remained very close and he would always go to her if there was anything that he was unsure of. When he had been courting his wife he had even come to Jessica for advice on how to talk to women. A couple of times they had even role played so that he could practice exactly what to say to his future wife. It took some time before Jessica thought that he was ready to talk to his future wife. He and his wife had been so thankful for all that she had done for them that when they had a daughter, they gave her the middle name Jessica after their giant friend. They had even specially had the wedding ceremony outside so that Jessica could attend without having to sit outside and look through a window.
For now they were all memories as the two agents concentrated on properly installing the equipment. They couldn’t make a mistake here or else the entire project will be a failure and the blame would fall upon them.
After several minutes Agent Rogers successfully guided Jessica to the exact spot where she needed to place the equipment. For her it couldn’t have come a moment sooner, she was beginning to lose her grip on it and if she had dropped it the equipment would have most likely been damaged. She made sure that when she did place it on the spot that it was properly fixed into the ground before she even considered fully letting go of it. At the bottom of the terraforming equipment were specially made spikes and clasps that kept it fixed to the ground so that it didn’t fall over. That was the problem with it being so tall and not very wide, if the foundations were too weak the equipment would topple over and even in the lower gravity it would still cause a lot of damage.
When the equipment was fully fixed into the ground Jessica finally let go of it but she held her hands around it just in case it decided to fall over but much to her relief it stayed upright. If it had begun to fall she would have moved quickly to grab it and prevent it from falling to the ground. But with the equipment properly in place Jessica’s work on the mission was more or less finished but she could not leave yet. They were not authorised to leave unless the terraforming process had been activated or if there was an emergency.
“There we go now that wasn’t so hard now was it?” said Agent Rogers who was still on her shoulder. He had been careful with his guidance, despite all his joking around he too knew just how important the mission was and he didn’t want to be reprimanded.
“Not for me,” replied Jessica. She lifted her right arm and tensed her muscles to try and show how strong she was. Unfortunately the suit prevented either of them from seeing any of her muscles but they were still there. “When you work out every day like I do, heavy lifting like this is a piece of cake.”
“Speaking of cake the wife’s made a small piece of cake for us to try after we’ve finished the mission. I know that a bite for me is like a speck to you but even your taste buds will taste the cake. She’s trying a new recipe and she wants to know if she’s got it right or not.”
“Yeah sure and for her sake I’m not going to pull any punches. But you on the other hand tell her that it’s the best cake you’ve ever eaten despite its taste. Remember what I taught you, no matter what; make your wife happy when it comes to her cooking. Believe me women liked to hear that their cooking is the best in the world. And I bet you that she grants you certain favours when you make her happy.”
“Oh yes she does.” He rubbed his hands in glee once more. “Hey if I tell her that her cake is awesome maybe I’ll have a bit of fun tonight.” With that he immediately teleported from Jessica’s shoulder to the control panel at the base of the device. He couldn’t begin the terraforming process right away because there were numerous checks and scans to perform. The whole process would take roughly half an hour. “Ok I’m beginning the pre-operational systems.” He took a quick look up to Jessica who was standing a short distance away. “I might be a few minutes so you can just sit down and look pretty. You’re very good at the second part.”
“You know flattery gets you everywhere in life.” She sat down and watched Agent Rogers as he worked. She would talk to him but she knew that he needed to concentrate on booting up the systems. It took a lot of concentration for him and she just wondered how Tucker was getting on with Professor Trump. She wondered if he could actually tell Professor Trump anything of value or if he was just rambling on. She doubted that the conversation would not have been dull in the slightest. Although she went to Earth on a semi-regular basis she didn’t know all that much about it since she visited so many different planets. There was an archive of detailed information about Earth but she hadn’t had the time to read the thousands of pages worth of information. She had read some of it but she had never had the time to sit down and read the entire archive. It was the same for almost all the planets she had visited that had its own race of sentient life. She would sometimes read when she had a bit of free time but she had been brushing up more on the other planets rather than Earth.
Meanwhile on the other side of the planet both Agents Daniels and Perry were standing by the other terraforming equipment that had already been successfully installed some time before. Agent Perry was going through some diagnostic checks on the control panel and she was pressing all the buttons at an inhuman speed. She was gifted with super speed and she was by far the fastest agent in the company. She was not the first agent to have super speed but she was probably the fastest, on numerous occasions she had ran the entire length of Home within seconds but she had to be careful. Much like the other speedsters she would age rapidly and it would continue at an accelerated rate if she used her abilities too much. In theory if she ran at her top speed she could age from new born baby to an elderly on her deathbed within minutes. Thankfully a cure had been developed some time ago since super speed was a relatively common superpower. It had been easy to research and develop a cure but the only problem with it was that the subjected needed regular treatment to halt the accelerated aging process. Around four times a year Agent Perry needed to be injected with another dose of the cure so that she didn’t age rapidly. Although the cure could last for over four or five months it was safer to be administered again after three. That way it minimalized the possibility of the cure wearing off too quickly.
Much like Jessica was doing on the opposite side of the planet Agent Daniels was just waiting around for the next stage. Neither of the pieces of terraforming equipment was ready to be used so he was standing there looking over the bleak horizon. There was nothing in particular that caught his attention but there wasn’t much else that he could do. He didn’t even think that he would be needed on this mission but much like Agent Barnes he also had superhuman strength and he could be used to move the equipment if need be. It was a matter of debate just who the strongest agent was in the company when only physical strength was taken into consideration but Agent Daniels didn’t seem to care who was strongest. He just got on with his work and he didn’t want to truly test his strength.
To try and pass the time he looked at all the different readings that were appearing on his visor but he couldn’t see anything of any interest. The planet was lifeless and it seemed that it would remain that way unless the terraforming process was a success. He played around a little with the different scanning options and he thought that it would at least give him something to do while he waited.
Eventually he shifted the scanner to its metallic scanning option and it began to scan everything around him. There was a very large presence of metal very close to him but he knew that it was the terraforming equipment. But much to his surprise a much smaller reading was detected about half a mile away from his current location. It was in the opposite direction of where the terraforming equipment was and he began to become very curious. The reading was much too small to be a reserve and it was extremely unlikely to have come from Home. That part of the planet had not been touched by any agent and it only raised more questions. At first he thought that it was a glitch but he activated the scan several more times and each time the small metallic signature appeared again at the same location and mass amount. By then he had realised that it was no glitch but rather than investigate straight away he opened his communication link with Agent Perry who was still working at the terraforming equipment control panel.
“Agent Perry can you read me?” asked Agent Daniels as he continued to look at the scan results on the inside of his visor. It was pointless turning his head towards her since she was too busy at the console to be able to look back.
“What is it Jack?” replied Agent Perry as she continued to work away. She was at a delicate stage of the diagnostic process so she couldn’t really be distracted.
“My scanners have picked up a small deposit of metal not too far from our current location. It’s far too small to be the terraforming equipment and Agents Snape and Rogers are on the other side of the planet so it is not them.”
“Do you know what the metal is?” She was curious with what she was hearing but she still couldn’t turn her focus away from her work.
“No idea, the scans say that it is no metal that is in our database. Maybe it’s a new element that we have yet to discover.” He took a pause for a moment as he thought about his next move. “If it’s alright with you I’m going to go and check it out, maybe I can bring back a sample for the boys at the lab to study. Even if I can’t I can flag it so that it can be studied later on.”
“Ok but don’t be too long, I might need you here shortly and although I can run close to the speed of light I can’t move something as big as this.”
“Don’t worry I’ll only be a few minutes.”
With that Agent Daniels began to jog towards where the scans had detected the metal. Due to his superhuman strength it allowed him to run much faster than a normal person. He could make the half mile trip in a couple of minutes but his speed was nowhere near the level of Agent Perry. He didn’t mind this though and his top speed when he was sprinting was around sixty miles an hour. This was roughly three times the speed of a top Olympic sprinter. As he ran he was careful because the terrain was slightly uneven but he did not run at full speed. He was content with just running at a jogging pace. The planet around him was still featureless and bland so he barely took any notice of it. He wondered what the planet would look like when the terraforming process was complete and the planet had a breathable atmosphere. Although the planet would still look bland at first most likely the company would be growing various plants and vegetation all around. In a few decades this planet might look like a dense jungle but he doubted that he would actually see that day.
After several minutes Agent Daniels reached where the scans had detected the metal and much to his surprise he could see what looked to be a fairly small crater. It was roughly ten feet in diameter and from the looks of it the crater had not been created recently. He was no scientist but he guessed that the crater had been created hundreds if not thousands of years ago and it only furthered his confusion.
As he looked down into the crater he saw what seemed to be a small metallic cube directly in the centre. The cube was small and looked to be able to fit in the palm of someone’s hand. From where he was standing right at the end of the crater he couldn’t notice strange symbols on the sides of the cube. The symbols were not any form of writing because his internal translating devices would have instantly translated it for him so that he could understand. As he checked the scans again the cube was definitely the source of metal that it had been detecting and he could see it being of some great importance.
The company had a database on most of the elements that could be discovered on the various planets that they oversaw. The fact that this metal wasn’t on the database meant that it was from a world they had yet to discover. He even wondered that since he had discovered it if he would be allowed to name it. A few different names were going through his mind and they all sounded pretty good in his opinion. Also under normal circumstances Agent Daniels would have reported his finding back to his partner Agent Perry but as he stared at the cube he found that he was becoming drawn to it. Ever since he had seen it he couldn’t take his eyes off it and it seemed to have a slight glow around it.
Slowly but surely Agent Daniels stepped closer and closer towards the cube eventually climbing into the crater and taking the last few steps towards the cube itself. The cube had not been touched for an extremely long time but all that didn’t seem to matter to him. He wasn’t sure but he thought that he could hear some kind of voice but it definitely did not belong to Agent Perry. As he finally approached the cube he looked down at it in all of its majesty and he bent down to pick it up.
As Agent Daniels held the cube in his hand he marvelled over its beauty and it seemed that nothing could seem to spoil his moment of triumph. That was until he watched the cube glow brightly before feeling mind numbing pain throughout his entire body. He screamed in agony as the sensation overtook him completely. He didn’t realise that his communicator was still on and his screams were being heard by Agent Perry. She was still over at the terraforming equipment and she had almost finished the diagnostic checks. Her work had been interrupted by Agent Daniels’s screams and she immediately became concerned for him. She didn’t know if his suit had been compromised and he was being exposed to the elements. She was still able to type away on the control panel but she still tried to communicate with Agent Daniels who was still screaming in pain.
“Agent Daniels are you alright?” asked Agent Perry with much concern in her voice. She could still hear him screaming but almost immediately the screaming subsided and she could hear heavy breathing. “Jack can you hear me?”
“Y-yes I can hear you?” replied Agent Daniels eventually. Several seconds had gone by before he had answered her.
“You had me worried there for a minute.” She gave a huge sigh of relief as she realised that he was still alive. “Is everything alright?”
“Yes everything’s fine. I tripped over a rock and bashed my knee up pretty good. But my healing abilities seem to be patching it up nicely. It caught me by surprise so you can excuse my overreaction.”
“Well people have been saying that you’re a bit of a drama queen. Just don’t do that again Jack, I don’t think I’m strong enough to carry you all the way back here.”
“Don’t worry I’m fine now. I’ll make my way back to you in a moment.”
“That reminds me did you find the metal?” There was something in his voice that she found to be a bit off. It sounded almost the same as she was used to but there was some element of it that seemed to be different.
“No it was just a glitch. I’m going to get the boys and girls at the lab to take a look at it when we get back.”
“Don’t be too long coming back. Agent Rogers and Snape have gotten their equipment into place and are ready to fire it up.”
“Don’t worry I’ll be there in a minute.”
True to his word Agent Daniels didn’t take long to return to Agent Perry. When she saw him return she seemed to notice that something was off. He wasn’t walking the same way he had done before and she found it to be odd. She didn’t know if he just wasn’t use to moving about in the suit or if he was still healing from his injury. Due to his super strength he had healing powers that would put Jessica’s to shame. He was a very powerful agent and also one of the longest serving. Due to his healing abilities much like Jessica his aging had been slowed to a crawl, he was well into his eighties but he looked to be in his early thirties. He could also heal from any injury within minutes, maybe even seconds. This was much faster than Jessica’s healing abilities since it would take her hours and days to recover from an injury. One thing that she did have over him was that she would live much longer than him. He was estimated to have a few centuries left where she was estimated to live for another three millennia or even closer to four if she kept herself healthy.
As Agent Daniels walked towards Agent Perry she just stood there and watched him walk towards her. She wanted to see if he needed help walking but he seemed to grow more confident with each step. She thought that she was going crazy but it was almost like he was learning to walk again. He had been walking for some distance but it seemed that he was just getting use to the fact that he could walk. It almost reminded Agent Perry of a young toddler who was taking their first step.
“Are you alright Jack?” asked Agent Perry through the communicator. “Are you sure that you’ve actually healed?”
“Yes I’m perfectly fine Kate; I’m just getting my bearings together,” replied Agent Daniels. There didn’t seem to be all that much emotion in his voice and it only furthered Agent Perry’s worry. “The fall was pretty nasty, I might get Doctor Summers to take a look at my leg but I should be fine.”
“Don’t push yourself too hard Jack. I don’t want to have to explain why you’ve gotten yourself hurt to General Fields.”
“Agent Rogers calling Agents Daniels and Perry can you hear me?” said a familiar voice through the communicators. Both agents had heard the message and at first Agent Daniels seemed to be a little confused before he realised what was going on. It only took a moment for Agent Perry to respond.
“This is Agent Perry I hear you loud and clear.” She was glad to hear his voice because it meant that their mission was drawing to a close.
“Oh good for a second there I thought I had the wrong number.” He chuckled a little before he got down to business. “Agent Snape and I have finished installing the equipment and are ready to fire it up.”
“Understood we’ll be ready in moment. We need to activate both pieces of equipment at the same time and then leave the planet immediately. If we’re here when the terraforming process initiates the forces involved will kill us almost instantly.”
“Don’t worry we know the drill. Just make sure that everything’s fine on your end; you don’t want General Fields to have another fit do you?”
Both Agents Perry and Daniels made their way to the control panel as Agent Perry prepared to activate the equipment. On the other side of the planet Agent Rogers was doing the same as Jessica looked on. She had been a little bored waiting for Agent Rogers to finish the diagnostic checks but she was glad that they were close to finishing. She wanted nothing more than to return to Home and taking her suit off. She never liked wearing it but she understood that without it she would suffocate in this oxygen free atmosphere. She just watched as Agent Rogers began the process.
Both Agents Rogers and Perry had completed a short countdown before they both activated the equipment at the same time. Immediately after activating the equipment a beam of energy shot up into the sky and stopped short of leaving the planet’s atmosphere. The beam was very bright so all the agents had to divert their eyes away from it and already they began to feel gale force winds. As the seconds went by the winds were beginning to grow stronger and stronger and Jessica had to grab onto Agent Rogers so that he didn’t blow away. She was too big to be blown away by this wind but it was continuing to grow stronger every second and eventually even she would succumb to its power. By now Agents Perry and Daniels had already opened a vortex and transported themselves back to Home. Jessica and Agent Rogers were having a couple of problems.
The wind was blowing directly in Jessica’s face and it was preventing her from lifting her arms. In her right hand she was holding Agent Rogers and on her left wrist was her VSC device. The wind growing stronger by the second and she was beginning to step back as the wind was pushing her back further and further. Even with her strength the wind would eventually even topple her and the situation looked dire. But using the strength that she had she slowly moved her hands closer together by her stomach and try and press the right button. The wind had been much stronger than they had expected and if they stayed for another few seconds it would break through their visors and they would begin to starve of oxygen. She could already see her visor begin to crack from ferocity of the wind.
Very carefully Jessica brought her hands together close enough for her to press the correct button and almost instantly both she and Agent Rogers found themselves travelling through a vortex on their way back to Home. Both gave a huge sigh of relief as they knew that the danger had passed and seconds later they found themselves on the large vortex generator back at the company headquarters. The first thing that Jessica did was lift Agent Rogers up to her level. She was greatly concerned about his health and she feared that the winds might have caused him some kind of injury.
“Peter are you OK?” asked Jessica as she tried to see if he was moving. He was resting in the palm of her hand and she saw him give her the thumbs up. In any language and culture it was a good sign and she smiled at him. After that she gently placed him on the ground before she took her own helmet off. “Oh that is so much better.”
Over the course of the next few minutes both sets of agents were debriefed and from what the scientists were recording the terraforming process was progressing as planned and it seemed that the mission had been a complete success. They wouldn’t know whether it had truly succeeded or not until the process was complete. The process could take a couple of weeks but for now Jessica’s work was done, she was glad that it was over and done with and she was anxious to see Tucker again. She had been wondering how his little talk was going but she was fine with waiting for him. The mission had taken a bit of time but if she knew Professor Trump he would probably be talking to Tucker for hours. It gave her time to get out of the suit and put her hair right, it had gotten a little messy while she had been wearing her helmet and Jessica didn’t want Tucker to see it in a mess.
No one seemed to notice Agent Daniels begin to look at his hands. He was still standing by the smaller vortex generator and he was moving his fingers. He was truly intrigued with what he was seeing and he began to look around the area. He was amazed with everything that he was seeing and he gave a quick smirk.
“Well this is interesting,” said Agent Daniels quietly to himself.