Power Pack #48

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The issue starts with the Power kids in their room celebrating that it’s Summer Vacation and that they’re all out of school. Alex is upset about the idea of going on vacation because they’ve closed the beach that the Power kids first found Friday and initially became Power Pack. The beach, according to the paper is closed due to pollution.

Their parents eventually get home and the kids guess that they’re going to Maine (based on the brochures that had been left around the house). But James says there’s one more surprise – they bought a car! When the kids run down to see it, it’s a green station wagon with the wood paneling on the side.

There’s another surprise when they arrive at the home of Reed and Sue Richards, and Franklin reveals that he gets to go on the trip with them. They continue their drive and cross the border into Maine and pull over to a beach; but disappointingly find it closed, due to pollution, and several sick dolphins who have washed ashore, also sick from polluted waters.  The woman explains that most of the dolphins will die due to breathing complications before they can be hoisted back in the water. This ruins the festive mood of their vacation, and as they go to dinner, none of the kids want to eat, and ask if they can just wait outside. The kids immediately use their powers and rush to the beach; with Julie using the cloud cover to keep them hidden. Franklin talks to the dolphins while Jack lifts them up with his power, and Katie flies him out to sea, so that the dolphins can be dropped off. Franklin suddenly “sees” something and freezes and gets hit by a wave; the dolphins swimming away jump joyfully. They return just in time, and the vacation continues as they camp out for a night, then head to Munhiggin Island for three weeks (with no phone, television or electricity).

On a distant Kymellian space port, Byrel and Yrik know that the soul of Smartship Friday is undoubtedly lost, but Kofi refuses to believe it and flees and takes a ship to the stars.

Back on Earth, on the island, Franklin dreams that he’s a dolphin, swimming with his family, full of life, love and wonder; but suddenly the ocean tastes different, and sickness sweeps over the pod. They try to surface to breathe, but breath does not come easy; and one by one, despite efforts to keep one another afloat, they sink to the bottom; the bottom where toxic barrels have leaked; heavy metals pollute the ocean, become part of what they breathe; radiation seeps into the water, into their skin, into their lungs, into their blood, until death takes them one by one… and Franklin, deep in his dream, begins to drown.