It was a day like any other in Melbourne’s central business district, with skyscrapers gleaming and the bustle of business as usual. But looming on the horizon was an event that would bring the entire city – and especially the Solar Tycoons – into a hilarious spin: a solar eclipse.
The impending eclipse should have been a predictable and non-issue event for most. But for the Solar Tycoons, who had been so engrossed in their sun-powered antics and never really considered the possibility of their energy source being temporarily blocked, it was nothing short of an apocalypse.
Sir Reginald Raylight, ever the problem-solver, had an ‘ingenious’ idea. He decided to invest in a massive 30KW solar system installation right in the city’s heart. His logic? More panels would surely catch any stray sun rays during the eclipse. The result, however, was a cluttered mess of panels with wires tangled like spaghetti, confusing both pedestrians and pigeons alike.
Lady Lumina, always one to think outside the box, came up with an even more bizarre solution. She hired a team of engineers and ‘solar specialists’ to figure out how to get a commercial solar battery to, believe it or not, power the sun. The logic (or lack thereof) was that if they could pump energy back into the sun, it might overpower the moon’s shadow. The endeavour was, unsurprisingly, unsuccessful, but it did provide ample entertainment for onlookers as drones tried (and failed) to connect batteries to the blazing sun.
Then there was Baron Beam, who thought he could use sheer brute force to counteract the eclipse. With a fleet of helicopters, he attempted to hold giant mirrors in the sky, angled to reflect any available sunlight down to the city below. The result was a dazzling, disorienting array of lights, causing more confusion than clarity.
As the eclipse came and went, the city watched in amusement as the once-dominant Solar Tycoons fumbled. Instead of the expected darkness, the city was filled with laughter, pointing fingers, and a newfound appreciation for nature’s simple, uncontrollable wonders.