Max was on routine patrol when over the radio came the transmission all rangers feared. A family was last seen on the challenging mountain trail and had failed to check in at the next ranger station. Max covered an area near part of that trail, so she was tasked with searching the area. She was on her e-bike, her motorbike without a motor—she wasn't sure what to call the blooming thing. Trusty e-steed?? Whatever name she settled on, it was fully charged and ready. She put on her backpack, and off she silently went. It was a beautiful day with the hot sun beating down. The missing family was about two days late to their checkpoint station. It wasn't desperate yet, but it was time to be concerned.
Max made her way now and then, stopping to check tracks and see if there were any clues or other signs that might assist. If they didn't locate them, air support would be required. She reached a part of the track where there was a large tree. Max had lifted tree trunks before—pressed over her head, in fact—and she'd even pushed a few trees over. Max found it empowering to push over a tree—the noise and cracking of the wood as it fell. But she never knew who was watching, if there were webcams, drones, etc. She found that the hardest thing to do was hide her immense strength.
Max went for what she thought was the quickest method—lifting her 246 lbs (111 kg) electronic scrambler over the tree trunk. Max got close to the tree trunk before getting off the bike and then leaned the bike against the tree. She climbed over the trunk and then, leaning over, grabbed the frame of the e-scrambler and quickly lifted it over the trunk. Both wheels lifted off the ground, and Max began to lift the whole bike. The muscles in her forearms grew tense, and her biceps expanded with power as she handled the weight of the e-scrambler. Max lived being strong; she had forgotten where her strength stopped and the nanotechnology started, but she never grew tired of lifting stuff.
Max continued searching and wondered if the missing family may have gone to the cable car. It was an old self-service system where you got in and just pressed a button—there was no attendant—and the cable car then took you across, cutting out a lot of the dangerous trek and getting you to the top of the mountain. Maybe they went up there, and like the other tourists she met with the puncture, they hadn't got their mobile and also not prepared. The next ranger station wouldn't be that far from where the cable car ended, so it made sense to at least check it. It was a possibility.
As Max got nearer to the base of where the cable car was situated, she stopped, removing her backpack from her muscular frame and getting out her binoculars. She looked at the cable, and sure enough, she could see a car that appeared to be stuck. There were no alarms or CCTV to assist, and it was old tech from the seventies. Max could see that the emergency wire ladder had been released from the floor; it was only a short ladder, and the cable car had only gone a few feet from the station. The family may have come down, but it was unlikely. There were treetops underneath—maybe one of the party had come down via the tree to get help. Max restarted her electric steed and silently rode to the cable car station. She was a little worried, though, as she didn't have any visuals of the missing family.
It didn't take long for her to reach the cable car station. There was no sign of life in the silently swaying cable car. Max cupped her hands together and yelled. Nothing. Max took a look around outside the cable car station and found a small, weighty stone and picked it up. She went back inside the cable car station. And she aimed it at the stranded cable car. Max's throw accurately hit the cable car just beneath the window. The cable car began to sway a bit more, and up popped a head; it was a young boy, followed by his mother and another young boy. Max was delighted they were alive. She signalled for them to keep calm.
Max immediately got on her radio to update the control room. She then went to the controls and pressed the recall button, but nothing happened; it was dead. There was a manual handle where she could crank the car back in; it would take a long time, but it would get them back to the station. Max searched and searched, but there was no crank handle. She knew what she had to do. Max removed her backpack, Ranger hat, and shirt and set to work. There was a large winding wheel with gears and a ratchet system. There was a manual lever on the floor that could be used to change the direction of the pull and ratchet.
It usually takes two men to change the direction of the winding wheel via the lever, so Max had no problem as even before the Nano's, Max knew she was easily stronger than two average men. She went up to the lever and started to pull with every muscle in her body. The lever began to move from its resting position, but she couldn't move it more than two-thirds of the distance required. Max knew she had to add more effort, which would wake the nanos and increase her strength to almost endless limits. Max tried pushing instead of pulling; in previous strongwoman competitions, she always preferred pushing trucks to pulling them, and she had moved some pretty big units before. She grabbed the steel lever and began to push. You could tell Max was muscular; she had a bodybuilder's physique even when she was relaxed, but when she woke up those muscles, she transformed into a superhero like the little girl had mentioned. Her defined shoulders, her muscular back, her powerful arms, Her shapely muscular legs with diamond calves, thigh muscles, and quads push with power. She looked like she could push a house down. So powerful.
The lever got to two-thirds a lot quicker this time; she remembered how she had empowered the little girl when she lifted their car, helping out with the puncture, the look on the girl's face, and the changing of the boy's attitude. A slight roar and a final burst of power followed, and the lever reached the position required. Max was convinced that was dine without Nano's. The next thing she would need to do was to wind the cable car back in; it was around 30 feet away. Sure, it was on a gear system, but there was the weight of the cable car, the family, and the tension. This wouldn't cause Max any issues.
Max searched through her rucksack and pulled out some tough gloves, slipping them onto her hands. She cupped her hands and again shouted some instructions to the stranded family in the cable car. Max requested that they apply the cable brake. It was a lever they needed to pull downward from the roof, which would apply a brake, thus stopping the pulley wheel from turning. It took time and patience, but the message finally got through. The mother inside the cable car grabbed the lever, but she was not strong enough to pull it down. Her two kids then hung off her arms while she also pulled down; the extra weight was enough, and the brake was applied.
The workout began. Max remembered the truck pull; she did it, and she did it well, but it was not her favourite event. She grabbed the thick steel rope and started to pull. Her feet slipped on the tiled floor, and she couldn't get the grip she needed to apply her strength. Max looked around and noticed a ladder on the wall. She released her grip and arm; she had to focus, reset, and try again. She went over to the aluminium ladder, ripped it from its bracket and placed it on the floor. It was the perfect length to rest against the edge and use to gain grip on the slippery tiled floor.
Max placed her feet in between the rungs of the ladder, and her hands grabbed the thick steel rope. Her grip tightened, and her arm muscles started to tense. She placed one hand in front of the other and began to pull with all of her strength. Her feet moved to the ladder rungs, adding extra strength. She pulled and pulled as hard as she could. Her arm muscles felt like they were going to jump out of her skin. The cable car started to move. Max was trying to hide her strength, but it was difficult. Max continued to pull the cable car arm over arm.
YOU ARE READING
The Max Effect.2
Short StoryMax needed to disappear and get away from things for a while. She needed time to think about things. However long it took. She was hurt, and she was angry. Even though technically she was still a C.S.A. agent, she hadn't checked in for months. Max...
