The bio-coaster creaked to a start and drove towards the hologram. Flora let out a scream as they drove through the likeness of Maxine Caruso, before she realized it was a hologram. The coaster moved along in a linear, moderate speed before jerking to a stop. Aya let out a loud burp in response. Another hologram lit up in front of them- A couple in brown tattered robes and white-blond hair stood holding a baby. Maxine’s voice broadcasted itself loudly. “My story, like all great stories, is a tale of rags to riches and a rise to glory.”

The couple faded to show a young girl standing in the same brown robes. Her eyes were bright green and though she looked impoverished, they shone with a feline-like confidence. “My origins were truly shameful,” the voice over announced. “It was the only time in my life that I didn’t wear designer outfits.”

Flora, Taylor and Aya watched as the young girl began to age. She grew into her face, and her body began to shape itself into a fully developed female form. Taylor let out a breath of air accompanied by a whistle. “I forgot what a fox the madam was when she was young.”

The voice over continued, “But as I blossomed, I began to realize I had assets just as valuable as money.”

The young woman’s cranium opened and a realistic throbbing brain emerged. “I had remarkable brains to accompany my extraordinary beauty. I was a genius at age seventeen, but that secret I hid from everyone, even my parents.”

“This is too real,” Aya said, half amazed, half disgusted.

The cart passed through the lobotomized Maxine to the next hologram: A village of metal two story houses on a planetoid. It looked very similar to the one Aya hailed from. “Just a little background knowledge on The City Electric,” the voice-over announced. “Like me, it had lowly origins before it rose to greatness. It was originally a mining city owned by the Sutherland Steel and Mining Company. Unlike some other more primitive planetoids, the Sutherland Steel Company mined and extracted steel from our planetoid, allowing an age of steel to rein over it.”

The village changed to the visage of a middle aged man in silver suit. He was dashing, with a full head of hair and a neatly groomed mustache that was black intertwined with a silver-grey. “Stan Sutherland, a handsome but eccentric silver daddy was the proud owner of the steel company and after he divorced his second wife, I saw a golden, no a silver opportunity.”

Maxine strutted seductively even in her brown tattered rags to Stan Sutherland and they gazed passionately into each other’s eyes. “A nubile young woman meets a man of money and it’s love at first ka-ching.”

Maxine’s body was enveloped in a white dress and her and a grinning Sutherland stood on an altar. “And you know what they say, love leads to marriage, and marriage leads to grave illness…?”

The cart clicked on the rails and passed through the just-married couple and their visage dissolved into a black fog. Everyone was blinded by this unpleasant and thick mist until Flora saw a small cavern appear in front of the vehicle. Maxine’s voice cut through the fog. “Disaster struck in one of my hubby’s mines. Black smog poured out and the men who had triggered it were lost forever. The smog at its strongest had absorbed them. Nobody knows what caused this mysterious gas that leaked onto our planetoid; and to this day, it remains an ecological mystery.”

Sutherland dressed in a thick rubber gas mask and a mining helmet headed into the mine with numerous other men. “My hubby, ever the bold and courageous man ventured into the haze hoping to save some of his employees. He succeeded at the expense of his health.”

Sutherland appeared in bed, wrapped in blankets. His face was covered in dark smudges. It was a face that remained determined despite its wear.

Maxine waited over his laid out body. “I tried to remain the trophy wife he always yearned for. I waited on him every day and did more work than the maids. It was only one day when I was in his study, did I suddenly have an epiphany that lead to a change in occupation.”

A hologram of Maxine cleaned the head of thunderboar taxidermy that hung on the wall. Its normally colorful tusks that would have the power to shoot electricity were dulled with death. It disgusted Aya more than anything and she hid Eterna in her pocket so as not to enrage the wolfhound spirit. “I was cleaning the head of a thunderboar he hunted in his youth; but right when I walked to clean it, my heel made intimate contact with a rug on the floor. I would have knocked my lights out except my hand caught on the tusk of the dead beast. It snapped off in my hand and when I rose to my feet, I had made the greatest discovery since sliced bread.”

The hologram zoomed into the beasts broken horn. “Here’s a little science lesson for the kiddies. Inside a Thunderboar’s tusk is a node that creates electricity. When a thunderboar dies, its node becomes dormant. Most believed it ceases functioning with the death of the beast; but on that faithful day, I found that the energy still remained and can become active again if you break off the horn.”

Maxine ripped the rest of the tusk off the beast and watched as electricity brightened up the dark room from her hand. It buzzed around excitedly and she was amazed as she carried it, brightening all the corners of the room. As the electricity buzzled hostilely, she quickly grabbed a circular glass vase that lay on her husbands’ desk. Flipping it over, she put the electricity generating node inside of it. Light shone from the glass in a miraculous golden blue light. “It’s kind of rough, but it will have to do,” the holographic Maxine said with a smile.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The voiceover continued. “I didn’t tell anyone of my discovery, not even my husband. Instead, using my brains, I began to think of many ways this controllable electricity could benefit humanity.”

Large amounts of machines flashed by on the holograms. Taylor knew all of these creations but most of them were unknown to Aya and Flora. “A lightning jar, a crude steel generator, a mining drill, a telescreen, an electric powered spaceship, an electrical cannon,” the voice over listed the devices as they passed by. “All of these items I had envisioned in my head, and with the help of my hubby’s team of scientists, we invented objects from my wildest dreams one by one.”

The bio-coaster passed through these objects; and having reached a hill, began to ascend. “Everyone credited me to discovering this new use of energy. With my husband out of action, people began to look onto me as the new leader of Sutherland Steel Company. My husband was too tired to combat the many people who supported my new position; and as we stood at his bedside, he soon realized that I, Maxine Caruso, had taken his place, and had been appointed the first chairwoman ever to front Sutherland Steel. He could rest easily. And on the day he died, he cried tears, tears as precious as diamonds when he witnessed his wife blossom into a fully capable leader of his people.”

As they ascended further and further up the hill, Aya, Taylor and Flora observed as the company logo of Sutherland Steel was painted over and replaced with the much gaudier Electra Company logo, complete with the thunderbolt donning heels. “In honor of my hubby and the new electricity that powered our world, I named my new company, Electra.”

The trio watched as the small mining village began to grow more and more metallic. Trees fell and were replaced with roads and the buildings rose to become towering skyscrapers. Men and women struggled with steel girders, carrying them on their back in hopes to construct a great monument. “Over the last 35 years, our small village grew into a small city with constant advancements. We christened this newly constructed city, The City Electric, after the godlike gift I discovered. It seemed in just a short time, we had leapt forward with generations of advancement.”

The City Electric with all of its electronic glowing signs and bright lights glistened at the top of the hill of rails. “We’ve reached the end of our road to glory, baby. Now all that’s left is to enjoy the world of leisure and decadence that only the finest electricity can afford.”

With a jerk forward, the bio coaster sped down the hill, tearing through the air at a speed that was hellraising fun for Taylor and Flora and too much for Aya. Aya could barely process what she had just witnessed, and thought only negative thoughts at a primal level; cruelty, murder, blood. She gritted her teeth and leaned on the coaster’s safety bars, her long claw-like nails grasping it tight. Her head cleared a small amount as the coaster dipped down onto a linear track but it soon shot back into a flustered rage as she found herself going on a triple loop de loop. Her head turned round with every loop and she could almost feel herself lose touch with the bottom of her stomach as its contents filled her mouth. Just as the three loops completed and the coaster came to a stop, she swallowed the sickly juice that filled her mouth and it burned her throat. Even though they had stopped, her eyes could scarcely stay focused in one direction. The cheers from the front seat baffled her. She had no idea how such a terrifying ride could be so enjoyable from either a moral standpoint or a physical one.

With a jet of steam, the safety bars loosened up and released their prisoner. Aya climbed to the safety platform, before dropping to the floor. “Oh dear,” Flora said, “Are you ok?”

Her friend grabbed Aya and attempted to lift her thick body off the floor. Taylor joined in grabbing Aya’s other hand and propped up the limp Aquan on their shoulders. “Remind me not to bring you to the Karnevil,” Taylor said, before pumping his hand in the air and cheering. “But man, that was a blast. I can’t believe I missed out on that for so long.”

“I liked the educational part too,” Flora exclaimed. “It’s amazing how Madame Maxine fashioned a whole business empire. She’s a true mogul!”

Aya’s stomach sunk again, but this time it wasn’t due to jerking motion. Her voice slurred at the start but slowly picked up traction as it grew more accusatory. “You don’t care that she built it out of the suffering animals and humans?”

“I didn’t think of it like that,” Flora responded, “I just thought that I’d love to start my own fashion empire. Only no one gets hurt…unless you prick yourself.”

Aya picked up her dragging feet so no one would have to carry her. “Or make things out of hides, Flora.”

Flora was puzzled by her friend’s hostility and it reflected in her widened eyes. “I’d never do that Aya.”

Aya’s head sunk. “Yes, I know. Sorry this whole bio-coaster really upset me.”

“Well don’t be,” Flora said in a sweet but serious tone. “We have to be on our best behavior for Maxine. It’s our planetoids safety that matters the most.”

Aya let both Taylor and Flora get ahead of her as they walked towards another elevator. She held her arm and saw Eterna frowning with a look of utter disdain on her canine maw. “This woman is not to be trifled with, my child. She has done things that not even the humans of your village could inflict on the wilderness. It seems the Thunderboars were right in fearing the lightning wielding humans they prophesized would come.”

Aya nodded. “I loath her with my whole body.”

“Just be on your guard. Who knows how she’ll react to a whole other planetoid rife with Thunderboars.”

Aya gave another affirmative nod. She knew this situation had to be handled extremely carefully. She had no idea how she’d be able to show a friendly accommodating face to a woman she’d much rather deck in the face at full force and tear at her skin with her fangs. All she knew was the fate of her own planetoid was in an even more precarious position than she previously believed. And all the strength, skill and wisdoms her ancestors granted her would be required to save it.