Seems like everyone is having their problems with energy companies...
Power Fluctuations

By Jerrie526
Copyright© 2003 Jerrie526
All Rights Reserved.

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Admin Note: Originally published on BigCloset Classic on Thursday, 01-23-2003 - 12:10:03 am and migrated to BigCloset TopShelf, this retro classic was pulled out of the closet, and re-presented for our newer readers. ~Sephrena
 
Image Credit: Divider licensed for use in publishing from Photoshopgraphics.com ~Sephrena.
 

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In a world of decreasing supplies of the old fossil fuels, mankind searched hard to find the replacements for those products long deemed non-replaceable. Alternatives were searched for but were hard to find. Nuclear fusion was still a dream and it did not look like they would be able to find anything that would be useable. That is until someone came across something that could be called revolutionary.

In all senses of the word, it really revolved. It was called magnatronics. It stemmed around a central axis of positively charged magnets surrounded by negatively charged metal plates. When activated, it created a circular motion that permitted electricity to be generated without any loss of energy. Because of this new source of electrical power, the industry picked up. Soon, every house in the nation that could afford the $50,000 price tag had one. Houses were being built with them packaged as part of the house.

Since there were no waste products from these generators, they could be made as small as a hatbox and used to power an electrical car. All it took to run it was the flip of a switch. Once the axis was rotating, electricity was being generated. As the demand grew, the price tag fell. Soon enough, the price was the cost of a good air conditioning system. All the houses in the world had them and the manufacturer and inventor were very rich. But no one could foresee the problems that all these generators would cause.

The revolutionary product caused a flux field to be generated that when the fields were overlapped, weird things happened. Regulations had to be enacted to prevent chaos from ensuing. Houses could not be located within five hundred feet from each other, that is if they had a magnatronic generator located on the property. Whole cities had to be drastically redesigned to prevent the overlapping of the fields. One building could house a generator that could supply enough power to run it but there were no building permitted within the five hundred foot radius of the generator.

This is the story of the first recorded effects of the magnatronics generator.
 
 
June, 2025
 
I could not believe it. I was the last house in the whole block, no subdivision that had the individual MagGen systems. I had been working a long series of overtime days trying to get enough money to become independent of the power companies. Now that I had been able to put out the
$10,000 fee to purchase and install the generator at my power coupling for the house, I was happy. Now I could sit back and enjoy the benefits that will come with it.

Not really knowing what to expect, I was standing out as far as I could get from it when they turned it on for the first time. I had my neighbors all out standing with me congratulating me on finally joining them in being free of the noose of the power company. All had been enjoying the benefits of not worrying about paying the high fees that the power costs. I had been having to cut back on my usage of power during the summer days because I could not run an air conditioner. When it cost me more money to run it for one month than my mortgage cost me, I had to stop using it. The hot summer days were not so bad because I at least had a conditioner in my vehicle for work.

The moment of truth came and the technicians flipped the switch to activate the generator. A soft whine started up and quickly built to an ear-shattering squeal that died out as fast as it had started. It was running at normal speed for generating power. The power kicked in with a click. The magnatronic field was becoming felt. It was a thing that had been felt every time a new generator had been set online.

But for some reason, this one felt differently than any I had ever felt. I felt like I was being buffeted around by a one hundred mile an hour wind. I had to grab something to keep from being knocked off my feet. A quick glance around me showed that my neighbors were all having the same problem. What was going on?

Whatever this force was, it was getting stronger. The wall separating my back yard from the neighbor yards started vibrating. As quickly as it started, it shattered into a powder and started swirling around like a tornado. The blinding grit was forcing all of us to try to move out of its way. But this was nearly impossible to do since the force causing the swirling dust was forcing all of us into a tight group.

The group became closer and closer regardless of how hard we fought to remain where we were. Once the group was pressed into each other, things were tight on our bodies. Nearly as one, our heads felt like they were being squeezed into a pulp. I could not do anything except hold my head. A nearly audible 'Pop' sounded inside my skull. I passed out from the pressure in my head.

I have no idea how long I was unconscious but I awoke with a horrible headache. My body ached horribly in addition to my head. I tried to open my eyes but the light around me hurt them. I closed them again. I moaned out of the pain in my head. I started hearing others doing exactly the same. I felt a body lying under me as well as on top of me. Both bodies were moving feebly and moaning also. My head played a million different versions of chopsticks. I was finally able to open my eyes and keep them open.

A voice nearby was asking us if we were ok. A couple incoherent voices tried to answer back but there was no reply. Shouting in the background could not be understood for what they were saying. Sirens grew closer to the area. I could not help but wonder what went wrong with the setup. I had not heard of anything like this happening before. Were we exposed to some unknown radiation?

Voices told us to remain where we were. Help was on its way. Of course I wasn't going to move. I hurt too much to move. The background sirens became louder and stopped nearby. There was an increase in the shouting around us. People came closer and there were reassuring voices trying to calm us all. I felt the body above me moved off and hands touching my face and neck. A voice asked how I was doing. I could not answer completely. I croaked an incomplete reply. I could not vocalize how I felt.

I was told to remain quiet and that they were going to help me. I knew something was desperately wrong but I had no idea what. At least the pressure was off of my mind. I really wanted to know what caused it. I was going to have to ask someone about it when I was able to get a chance. First, I was going to have to recover from what ever happened. I could not do much anymore and I let the mental pain take me back to the darkness where there was no more pain.

Time no longer had any meaning for me. It was all I could do to stay awake and recover from the accident. The doctors told me that there were a dozen people involved in the accident and all were in various stages of recovery from the accident. I was probably in the worst condition of the group. My body had so many different problems that I had to be strapped down to the bed I was in. They kept monitors on me at all times trying to keep track of my physical ills.

I kept trying to ask the doctors what was wrong with me but I was still unable to vocalize anything coherently. I could hear the doctors talking in whispers as far away from me as they could so that they wouldn't be overheard by me. Not that it mattered to me anyway. All the sounds issued from their mouths were nothing but babble to me. I knew I was in bad shape. I couldn't talk, couldn't hear right, all my movements were spastic. I would have to wait until I got better so that I could find out what happened.

My thoughts seemed to be running in a circle. I kept repeating the same things over and over again. I had to find out what happened. I had to get better. I had to find out what happened. I was starting to get dizzy from the circles I was going.

I saw the nurse bring in a hypo and insert it in the tube running to my arm. I grew sleepy. Time passed more without me noticing it.
 
 
One Month later...
 
The doctors have finally decided to let me up from the bed. My body has recovered sufficiently enough and they wanted to avoid the possibility of bedsores. I have been able to talk again for the last week and I can now understand what they are saying again. Except for a few physical problems that will vanish in time, I am in perfect health again.

I finally got the full information about what had happened the day of the accident. It seems that when they activated my MagGen, it caused what they termed a magnetic power fluctuation. The magnetic field around the generator interacted with the other gensets in the neighborhood and the overlapping fields caused the turbulence that we all felt as the wind on our bodies and destroyed the walls surrounding the properties. But the worst effect was to our brains. The pressure build up that we all felt was the magnetic force shredding our software or our minds. Once our minds were loosened from our brains, we all passed out. The jumble of the bodies tossed together when the field was shut down made contact and our minds continued the swirling pattern of body hopping until the chaos finally stopped.

You see, the body I wound up in was the pregnant body of my neighbor Jane. We were so jumbled up body-wise that there was no hope within the medical community of ever being able to put us back in our original bodies. In the mean time, I have to go through the rest of the pregnancy for Jane. And all I wanted to do was go in my house and watch Superbowl 58 on my TV. I was not cut out to be a mother. I was only cut out to be a father. Life cannot be growing inside me. I am a man for God's sake! I AM NOT A WOMAN!!! I will sue the company that caused this. I will!
 
Note: TG sci-fi body swap stuck pregnant.
Posted by: Admin on Thursday, January 23, 2003 - 12:10 AM