Many years ago our founder, Adam Slade came to Sunset Valley with a vision to establish a dynasty, a long-lasting legacy. His dream was passed on to his only son, Brandon who has now, with his wife Qiana, raised two fine children, Cleo and Carl, who will take the dynastic dream to the next Slade generation.
In this chapter Cleo once again faces dangerous situations ... but some she is better at handling than others ...
With his sister now spending long hours at the fire station and his father doing more and more research at the labs, when he was at home Carl Slade spent most time with his mother, Qiana.
His grades had been good, and he was making friends at school, but Qiana was concerned that he was spending a lot of time on the computer, either tinkering with the family PC or playing games on his new console.
He was a pretty well balanced and sensible boy, but Qiana knew to be wary about challenging a teenage boy, so was always carefully not to sound too judgemental or critical of his interests.
"All my mates play an' we got a league going 'tween five of us. I won the quest last night so I'm second now in our league." Carl explained when his mother asked him about what he was doing on the console.
"Well done, I suppose," she laughed, "always better to be good at something you enjoy, as long as it doesn't interfere with your school work."
"Nah, it's all good," Carl replied, "fact, I've been messin' around with writing my own games."
Qiana, was quite impressed, "That's excellent Carl, and that would be a good career choice too. Your father or I don't know much about computers, but if you want any help I'm sure your dad will know people at the Institute who would know all about that sort of thing."
Carl wasn't the only one who enjoyed playing computer games.
The fire station had a console system recently installed in their rec. room, and it had quickly become was one of the favourite ways Cleo and her colleagues used to relax between calls.
Not that Cleo minded much, she rather enjoyed getting her hands dirty working on the station's engines and had quickly established a reputation for being able to coax that extra bit of performance out of their fire trucks.
Though her family were surprised when she brought her work home.
Many the times when they would have to drag her away from fixing up or enhancing some piece of her kit or other.
Of course, work wasn’t all fixing and maintaining, every day they would be out dealing with small house fires, people or animals getting trapped, doing safety inspections, a whole variety of different types of job. That’s one thing that Cleo loved about being a fire fighter – no two days were ever the same, always different people and different challenges to deal with, being bored was not on the agenda!
Thankfully major incidents were few and far between, but the next big call the SVFD had to deal with directly affected Cleo.
It came in from the Landgraab Institute, there had been an explosion in the sub-atomic research lab and they feared that a stream of sim-boson particles could wreak havoc across the whole town.
But, for Cleo, there was an added complication - she also knew that her father, Brandon, was actually working in one the labs at the Institute – he could be in imminent danger!
As well designed as the labs were, with all the safety features and lock-down systems they had in place the effects of the particle escape could be felt across the whole campus. There was a sense of movement, almost imperceptible but somehow you just knew that the walls and floors were moving, rippling. Even the ground outside was trembling and there were waves on the lake at the rear of the Institute.
As a relatively inexperienced fire-fighter Cleo went in as part of the second team whose job was to ensure that the areas around the epicentre of the explosion were clear and stable. As she was making sure everyone was out of the building she learnt that Brandon was not actually in the building when the accident happened – he was out on a field trip collecting samples for his experiments.
Thankfully the actual physical damage caused by the explosion that released the sim-boson particles was confined to just one wing of the Institute and although there may be some hidden structural impact from the effects of the particle beam itself but the first report from the SICU suggested that the swift action of the local fire fighting crews had limited the risk of any longer term damage to either buildings or people.
It was a month after the incident at the labs that Cleo and her colleagues were presented with, yet another, award, the prestigious “Trophy of Heroism” for the selfless way in which they had responded to the largely unknown dangers they had faced.
It was a Thursday. It was an off work day for Cleo.
On this particular Thursday Qiana had decided she deserved a little extra pampering and was taking it easy in town.
Brandon was at work, researching the latest findings in cybernetic designs.
Carl, of course, was at school but had said that he would be going over to work on a project with a friend, Ruby Vail, in the evening.
On this Thursday when Cleo answered the knock at the door it was Garett Fisk.
"Hi Garett, how are you? What are doing up here?"
"Hi Cleo, I'm good, thanks, and, y'know, I was just up 'round this part of town and thought it'd been a while since I last saw you ...”
Summer Hill is not exactly close to anywhere else in Sunset Valley and it's not really the sort of place you visit for no reason but, nonetheless, Cleo was pleased to see Garett again.
"Yeah, it has been, but work, y'know ... anyway, it's great to see you again." Cleo couldn't deny that she was pleased to see him, there was something about Garett that immediately made her heart quicken, bring a flush to her cheeks and a smile to her face.
"Y'know, I haven't stopped thinking about that time in the park," Garett confessed, "I had such a great time, I really loved spending that day with you. I was hoping, maybe, we could spend some time together today ..."
As Garett stared deep into Cleo's eyes, like he was trying to connect to her soul, Cleo felt any resistance she might have dissolve. Thoughts of her family, of Pascal, just evaporated.
Unlike their previous date, they didn't need to do much talking. For Cleo there was an instinctively physical reaction, there was an 'electricity' between them that wouldn't be denied. It wasn't even a conscious thought when she invited Garett inside ...
As they relaxed on Cleo's bed, it was clear that they made such a beautiful couple. Garett was charming, sensual, sexy and just plain … gorgeous.
They was no need for words, or thinking, they "clicked" on a basic, primitive, physical level. Every touch of his fingers on her body was pure pleasure.
Without asking or prompting, Garett knew exactly how to make Cleo feel good. No, not good, not even great ... incredible!
As they lay in bed, afterwards, Cleo felt as if she now knew how heaven felt. Every inch of her body was telling her that she had experienced something amazing.
Garett knew he had done good, he had worked his magic.
Chapter 14: Two Days Out
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