Pangea

A CALL TO ARMS

Evangeline Brent stood off to one side of the stage, listening to the announcer broadcast her name through the event center.

The speaker found the few stands that had escaped her hair style, attempting to tuck them so that they were not dangling on her neck. "That name seemed so damn long, 20 years ago." She mumbled to one of the security staff. "Now I wouldn't mind if it went on forever. At least it would keep me from going out there."

He smiled at her. "They love you, Evangeline. Go out there and remind them why."

She smiled back at him, the look faltering as she remembered Richard's words. Her fingers left her hairline, the rogue strands dropping down against her skin.

The announcer went silent, and music spread from the stage, signaling her entrance.

She pasted an artificial smile across her face and nodded at Richard once more before stepping up into the spotlight.

The applause that could have seemed so overwhelming, simply continued on in the background as she reminded herself where to step and to nod or smile at the important guests in the front rows.

She kept up her smile until her heel landed on a small red marker line that had been placed there the night before. The line that indicated where she should stand.

The roar of her spectators slowly tapered off.

"Are you all excited?" She asked, hearing her voice echoed over the sound system.

There was a reward of cheers and applause.

"Well, we are going to start off, fairly far from exciting."

A shadow was cast forward across the stage as the spotlight dimmed and projections were cast behind her.

"6 months ago, Mount Vesuvius erupted," She gave the audience a moment to take in the images on the screen behind her. "The shields and Grid transports held for almost all of the cities in Campania, Italy. Tricase and Torre del Greco weren't as lucky." The projections offered up different views of the disaster.

One screen showed satellite footage of the eruption, another showed footage of evacuations and teleporting cities.

"Pangea was able to supply the United Grids with enough shields to hold Tricase through the initial waves. Grid and teleportation panels were supplied and every living being from the town was evacuated. 18 thousand people, saved from a town on the brink of destruction by technology created and provided by Pangea."

Photos of citizens rebuilding the town appeared behind Evangeline.

Her audience applauded the success.

"Torre del Greco wasn't so lucky." She continued. "At the base of the active volcano, and pressed up against the Gulf of Naples, the city was overwhelmed with ash and steam.

"The steam made it nearly impossible to fly in new shield and grid panels. Soldiers were brought in from around the world, evacuating people using methods developed pre-grid. Ground evacuation was used for the first time in more than a decade." The lighting profile around her changed, dimming and spreading soft blue and white halos across the stage. "The world held its breath while people were taken from the city, away to safety. It was a tall task, evacuating nearly 90 thousand people who lived in Torre del Greco, Campania, as well as the hundreds of first responders and soldiers who went in to rescue them."

The screens behind her began to show footage of memorials and funerals. "These methods proved costly. More than 2 thousand people were lost to the volcano after leaders of the United Grid were forced to order the immediate termination of all rescue missions. The decision was one met with hate and understanding in equal measure.

The audience had the same reactions she was describing, some of them were still angry with the U.G., while some of them opted to feel sympathy for those lost.

"The U.G.'s decision saved another thousand lives, coming just in time to run another sequence of transportations. Unfortunately, moments after this sequence, another eruption brought an end to all rescue attempts. " She articulated her hands in front of her as she stepped around the stage. "In the aftermath, Pangea felt the loss more than anyone else. Our existence as a company was to protect people from these disasters. It was our grid panels that failed. Our shield panels failed. We felt responsible for the deaths surrounding Vesuvius. Naturally, we also felt responsible for creating a solution, a way to keep this tragedy from repeating itself."

Images and holograms depicted people gathered around conference tables and white boards.

"Pangea Technologies teamed up with the United Grids and hosted a call to arms. The brightest, most innovative doctors and scientists from around the world, were brought to Pangea headquarters in the Arctic Grid. We worked nonstop to create a solution to the casualties that the human race faces.

"We started off with simple enough goals. Better grids, faster teleportation, quicker detection of natural disasters." She smiled at a few notable figures in the front row.

Frantic, scribbled writing came onto the screens with questions like 'Better anticoagulants?' and 'Medic drones?'.

"Before too long, we were facing down the reality of our dreams. It became clear that any technological advancements we made would cause medical complications.

"Then, one day I stepped into the board room and someone said to me 'we've hit a roadblock', and from there we branched off of that sentence into a new avenue.

"If we can't improve the technology, can we improve the execution of the rescues? Can we speed up our first responders?" She glanced downward, moving to the next mark as gears shifted above her.

"Strangers across the globe came out to save the lives of people they'd never met, people they may never meet again. These brave men and women suffered injuries in the line of duty. Injuries that took time and men away from the rescue effort.

"We erased the drawing boards, and started to focus on how we would help the human beings involved in the success and prevent more tragedy in the future."