The Bubble Pods

By Suzy Que

Krista, is a young girl who has happily lived in a commune situation with her family all her young life. She is studying at the local Unitech college where she meets Ben and they become involved.

Then something happens which changes her whole life. The entire community, inclusive of her family, disappears and she has no clue how this has happened or why.

There is a company named Podtech who produce low cost dome pods for people on a budget.

With huge financial backing they have moved forward at a fast pace and are introducing robotics so that they can proceed at an even faster rate..Two of their staff Beth and George have become friends at work and are able to discuss work matters and also work executives. She is the Public Relations Manager for Podtech and the suspicions stem from her work practices and arrogant manner.

Things come to a head when Krista is arrested and Ben who works as a journalist at the local paper decides to investigate Podtech by examining their dome pods up close. He is determined to find Krista's family and other homeless people even it it means diving underwater.
Without help Krista could never find out what has happened to her family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris NZ
• Release date: Nov 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781543496604

Suzy Que

This person has always been interested in writing. She wrote poems when she was younger which have since been lost. Because she d an unusual life herself she was wanting to write a little different. Having brought up 4 children in difficult circumstances she had to wait until her life was more settled and easier, to take the time to write. That is why she is writing her first novel at an older age.

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Copyright © 2020 by Suzy Que.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and

such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 11/19/2020

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CONTENTS

1    Krista

2    Ben

3    The Stephenses’ Home

4    Podtech

5    Beth

6    George

7    Questions

8    Julia

9    What Do They Do Now?

10    Back to the Old Routine

11    Trouble and Consequences

12    Reunion

13    Life Below

14    Pod Time

15    Investigations

16    Ben Gets Busy

17    Repercussions

18    Building Blocks

19    What The . . .

20    Dig Deeper

21    Conclusions

22    Getting down and Dirty

23    Two Years Later

In a World Where Overcrowding Lets Only

the Very Wealthy Own Property

1

Krista

Krista heard the siren go off and immediately jumped out of bed, yelling at her sister to make sure she was awake and moving. She quickly got dressed and grabbed her ready-packed backpack from under her bed. The authorities were coming to move them out of their home, and there was no time to waste.

As if a bomb had already struck, people in the community where she lived were moving hurriedly out of their homes towards the nearby bush area to pre-empt the authorities.

They had done this before and were all headed like sheep in the same direction, but unlike sheep, they knew where to go.

That night as they had prepared their ad hoc sleeping quarters, Krista was concerned about Anna, who had moved into the community only recently. She was still shivering, and so Krista moved closer to her and placed the two blankets over them both, hoping that would help. Her body was as skinny as a rake and fragile, her short fair hair highlighting how her large eyes took up most of her gaunt face.

Krista looked up at the sky and saw that the dark clouds were building up. She felt so frustrated with the local authorities for forcing them to leave their home, but she had for a long time now accepted it as a fact of life.

‘Are you all right?’ asked Krista, turning towards Anna.

‘Bit cold’, replied Anna as she pulled the blankets closer around her.

‘Sorry about this situation, but it is better than being hauled off to jail.’

‘It’s okay. I am used to living rough.’

They were indeed living rough, out in the wilds, and it looked like it was going to be for several days. Krista had to miss some of her classes at tech, which was annoying. She felt obligated to help her parents with people like Anna as they needed it.

Most of the community were accustomed to the displacement, and they knew this bushy area quite well as it was a case of ‘been there, done that’ many times before. There were still signs around of people having lived or camped here in this same area.

Krista loved the break from normality and considered it her camping holiday. She had grown to appreciate the sounds of nature and the beauty of the scenery as she had lived close to the country most of her life. Just looking at the distant mountain range with snow on the top and breathing the clean air was something she could live with forever. She had travelled into the city occasionally over the years and noticed the difference in the air, the fast pace of the traffic, and too many people living stressful lives. She attributed country living to her healthy glow and fitness levels. She kept her brown hair short and went for regular long walks, which also contributed to this look.

‘Did you have a hard time growing up?’ Krista was trying to help Anna relax by getting her to open up more.

‘You don’t know it is a hard life until you have something to compare it with. I just got used to my mother being out of it. When I was younger, I thought all mothers were like that.’

‘Was she like that because of drugs, or was she sick?’

‘Yes, she was a drug addict, and there were a lot of men coming and going. I was still quite young when I faced the facts of life as you call it. I learned to take care of myself and was helped by friends at school, and some teachers were helpful, though some days I did not make it to school because I had to look after her. I guess it was being absent so many times that made the schools check out our situation. It was a long time before social welfare got involved, though, because I was so good at hiding my situation, and we moved around a lot. Trouble was my mum was clever and could hide facts from them as well.’

‘How did you survive financially as drugs are expensive?’

‘She was getting paid to have sex, and it took me ages to come to grips with the fact that this was not okay. I have been to counselling since and tried to change my way of thinking, I guess. When you’re a child, you think that certain things are okay but are told by strangers you don’t know as well, that certain things are not all right.’

‘Is that why you went on the streets and did prostitution?’

‘Yes. I left school and home in my teens and became homeless, and the only way I knew how to get by was to get paid for sex. I had friends who were in similar situations, and we stuck together, which helped. I did not get into drugs, though, except maybe some weed. My mother died so young.’

Anna’s last words hung in the air and then buzzed around Krista’s head. I do feel for her and all those who have been brought up in similar situations. Then her mind started to get lost with other similar reminiscences, contributing to the buzzing inside her head.

The conversation had pretty much ended as both of them tried to get off to sleep. Neither was succeeding as Krista started thinking about their current situation. They had been raided at the railway yard again, though to be fair it had been over a year since the last time.

After the first couple of times, her parents had arranged for a lookout to watch for the police drones that flew overhead, and a siren would go off. Then usually, the squads would come and investigate straight after the drones anyway. But a community member whose job it was to keep in touch with the lookout would notify the community if there was going to be what they called a ‘flush out’. Now and again, they sent a team of local police to get rid of trespassers living in an old railway yard at the end of a country road.

Krista’s parents had organised the van so they could fit the family, all their gear, and additional elderly folks if they needed to move fast. It could be exciting at first, but after a few days, it got boring and frustrating, and everyone became impatient to get back.

Krista had taken over looking after Anna as she was new to the small community where they lived. She could not help feeling sorry for Anna as she had supposedly been forced into prostitution to keep herself alive since her mother was a drug addict. She had no other family either. After a practically non-existent education, when she left home, she had ended up homeless and working on the streets.

Krista knew from experience that the social welfare system was not perfect, but she thought perhaps if Anna had been helped earlier, they could have at least provided her with some sort of home. Krista had set Anna up with a counsellor and got her on social welfare, which ensured she had some money coming in. All this experience helped Krista improve her grade in her social development course. This was not the only reason she did this, but she felt useful to her parents, and it was also for her sense of purpose.

It was cases like Anna’s that made Krista feel so grateful for her parents, who although they had struggled financially at first had always looked after her and her sister, Jade. They always had food on the table and a warm, loving place to live. It also made her realise why the homeless felt like there was nothing better than living on the streets, no matter what anyone else said to them. There, they had made friends; and although they got used and abused, to Anna and the other homeless, it was better than the only home life they had known before.

Krista was still thinking about all this as the cold this time of year kept her awake. Krista had concluded that Anna had been influenced into her street life and felt that maybe she could be persuaded into adopting another better life within their community.

In the morning, everyone got the okay to go back home, and all helped pack everything up and move back. As they walked back together, Krista reiterated to Anna what her parents had said, that she could stay with them until she found her way forwards and not back to a demoralising prostitution game.

Krista explained to Anna, ‘I remember no other life than the one growing up with my parents and younger sister. My whole family had settled living in this abandoned old railway yard and, together with friends and neighbours, have made it our own.’

She also related to Anna, ‘The railway line was hardly ever used now, except for the occasional freight train, as the trains had been rerouted, which meant we are pretty isolated from the rest of suburbia. We are all settled here now, and I love it so much that, even though we have been forced to leave a few times by the local authorities, we always come back.’

Anna said tentatively, ‘I am glad to be here. I have felt welcome, especially by you and your parents.’

When they arrived back at the compound, Krista just had to hug Anna as she still looked so forlorn. Krista asked her to let her know if she needed anything like towels and soap, and then she suggested they might meet later for dinner. Everyone in the community had been invited to a community dinner, and it was like pot luck, where everyone brought one dish of food, which was shared.

Upon arrival, everyone was going through their possessions, but it looked as though nothing much had been taken, although they noticed things had been tossed aside. The old railway building had been done over, and some of the kitchen cupboards had been ransacked. Luckily, they had locked all the storage cupboards and the freezers as they contained all their food supplies. It was a relief that they had not broken any locks.

Jade and Krista had a whole freight carriage to themselves as their bedroom, and over the years, they had collected a few items of furniture and personal stuff. Krista’s artwork hung on the walls, and some old-school sculptures were taking up space on top of the old chest of drawers they shared. It was a compact room, and luckily, they got along most of the time, though they had their own rules about taking each other’s possessions.

Krista took a cursory look around, and everything looked untouched there, but there was no sign of Jade. This did not worry her, however, as she surmised she was probably with their parents or in the adjoining bathroom carriage.

Krista was proud of her father as he had converted the old railway station building into a sort of kitchen/dining area for everyone to prepare community meals together. Some of the other families only had carriages for bedrooms and living rooms. It was one of Krista’s favourite jobs, helping prepare the community meals, though she could not always do that as sometimes her studies and job kept her away for long hours. Today after a shower and change of clothes, with no sign of Jade, Krista decided to offer her services over at the railway building. Her family had their own bathroom carriage, but there was a communal bathroom there as well.

At the station house, Krista’s mother and others were preparing sandwiches for lunch and had taken a roast out of the large freezer for dinner.

‘Hi, Mum. Can I help with anything?’ Krista asked.

‘Oh yes, Krista,’ she replied.

‘Could you collect some vegetables from the garden and prepare them for dinner?’

‘Okay. Which vegetables, and have you seen Jade?’

‘We have got plenty of beans still, so pick them. I think there are some broccoli ready too and carrots. I think Jade is with your father.’

She wandered off to the garden after picking up a container from the station house kitchen. There was an extensive garden plot, thanks to her mother, and it looked untouched. The authorities must have been in a hurry this time was her first thought.

After the sandwiches had been distributed to those who needed them, things quieted down as the community were getting their own places in order after being away for so long. Krista went back to her bedroom, sorted through her latest artwork, and got things together and ready for school tomorrow. She rang the pizza place and said that she would be able to come into work later that day.

Later, everyone gathered for dinner. The enticing smell of hot food filled the air of the dining room from all the different, hot, cooked dishes. The community had all been missing this variety of good food for several days now. Krista sat next to Jocco, a young guy from an Italian family who had been part of the community for almost as long as she could remember. He had helped her obtain a job at the pizza place, where he also worked full time as one of the supervisors.

A great talker, he often loved to enthusiastically speak about his cousins in Italy with great relish, and she loved hearing about other countries and the people’s eclectic life there.

Anna sat down beside her and ate heartily, which was good to see, and then they all helped clean up after. Krista and Jocco left, and both travelled together to the pizza place. On the way, Krista mentioned to Jocco that she felt like Anna was fitting in with the community and cherished the hope that maybe she would settle down and make a life with them. Jocco was an young, amiable guy with light brown hair, understanding brown eyes, and a medium build. He was so easy to talk to as Krista had been friends with him it seemed like forever.

Life soon got back to normal, and Krista and Jade returned to school the next day. They caught the bus on the main highway. Jade got off first at the high school, and Krista went farther onto the technical institute. She had a couple of classes and, at lunch, tried to catch up with a friend she knew who had attended the classes she had missed in the last few days. There was also this guy named Ben whom she had talked with sometimes. He attended some of her social development classes. She couldn’t find him but guessed he did not have any classes today.

As part of her art studies, she was allowed to use the art room at the tech, which helped in the creative process that is part of the artistry. She preferred natural and cultural art choices, and a study of other cultures helped broaden and provide depth into her designs and paintings.

The social development courses fitted in with her art courses because she wanted to use art as a social developmental process with damaged children. However, what she was going to do next year after she graduated she was not sure. Maybe take a gap year and travel around to other countries. There was a lot to work out with that, such as needing to save more money. She was hoping to sell some of her art online or through art stores and later maybe get a