by Pat Riot
“Is it that stuff your parents brought home from Hawaii?” Rob asked, hopeful that it was.
“Heck no, that stuff is off limits to savages like you. It’s for us civilized folk only,” Jason deadpanned.
“Savage? I’m the most cultured dispatcher you ever met. In fact, I’ve been to two whole other states and Mexico. And yes, Tijuana counts.” Rob said with his best poker face.
“See? You think going to Las Vegas is visiting the state of Nevada, and Arizona barely counts. And no, Tijuana doesn’t count. Ask your wife, she’s been to real Mexico several times and she’ll tell you. That’s why you get the cheap coffee.”
They stared at each other for a few seconds, waiting to see which one would break first. It was Rob. He burst into laughter, “Okay you got me, I’m uncultured swine. One day I will be as worldly as you, the guy who’s never even been to Vegas.”
Now Jason was laughing, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go get your coffee. Maybe the dirt water will help you out mentally.”
“I’ll get some in a few minutes. I need to take my lunch too.”
“Okay no problem, I’ll cover you. Hey while I was waiting for the coffee to brew I took a walk through the building. That side exit door from the basement that goes up to the side driveway?” Rob nodded. “It was standing open. You know if IT was supposed to be here tonight?”
“No, not that I know of. They are supposed to let us know, and I have nothing in my emails. Was it propped open?” Rob was puzzled. Everyone who worked in the basement worked eight to five and anytime they were there after hours they were supposed to let the on-duty dispatch supervisor know someone would be down there. Usually they only came in after hours if they were working on a technical emergency or if they were doing upgrades or updates to the systems that were best done after hours during times of lower radio traffic and phone call volumes.
“Not propped open, just standing open.”
“That’s weird. All the exterior doors have those automatic arm closer things at the top. None of them are supposed to be open. Let’s go take a look.” Rob stood up and addressed the room. “Jason and I are going to go check something out. I have my radio. If you guys need anything, I’ll be on blue,” Rob said, letting his people know which channel to raise him on if needed. He picked up the portable radio from the console, turned it on and made sure it was tuned to the correct channel, then looked at Jason and said, “Lead the way.”
Both supervisors left the radio room and walked into the hallway. They went down about midway then turned into a stairwell and descended the flight of stairs into the dark basement. As they passed the door at the bottom of the stairs and entered the large basement, Jason reached over and flipped the switch for the overhead fluorescent lighting. Light flooded the basement, dim at first but growing steadily brighter as the bulbs warmed up. The large room was a combination office, server area for the computer and phone systems, and storage area. There were several cubicles that were used by the IT employees, several racks of phone switches, servers, and other computer equipment, and large metal shelves lining three of the walls filled with everything from extra headsets and chairs to fans and emergency disaster supplies.
After navigating the maze created by everything that was in the basement, they arrived at the still open door. “I didn’t want to close it, I wasn’t sure if someone was supposed to be down here. So, I decided to ask you first,” Jason said.
“Yeah no worries. If they’re here, then they broke protocol by not letting us know. They know how serious admin takes building security.” Rob pulled the door closed. When he let go it started slowly swinging open again. “What the hell?” He closed it again, and again the door started opening. He stepped through the door and into the exterior stairwell. The stairs would take anyone who ascended them up to the side of the building and let them out onto the driveway that partially circled the building. When he took a closer look, he noticed something wrong with the latch that held the door closed. It was still recessed into the door. Rob pushed down on the lever type door knob and noticed the handle turned freely in the door. “Something inside must have broken. But the arm on top should have kept it closed.”
Rob turned his attention to the top of the door and found someone had disconnected the arm. “What the...?” He trailed off as he thought about what he was looking at. Probably so they could leave the door open during the day for fresh air, someone disconnected the arm instead of using something to prop the door open. “The latch being broken is easily explainable. The building is older than both of us, and stuff happens. But the arm being disconnected? Heads are going to roll when Captain Jones hears about this.”
“That’s for sure,” Jason agreed. “I’m glad I’m not going to be on the receiving end of that ass chewing.” The captain had a well-deserved reputation for being a by the book administrator and was known to come down hard on anyone that did not follow policies and procedures. Rob found it somewhat fascinating, as the captain wasn’t a screamer, but had a knack for making one feel as if their minor screw up was the end of the world. There were few people that could make someone wonder if their job was on the line just by giving them a certain look and Captain Jones was certainly one of them. “You want to write this up?” Jason continued. “Or you want me to do it?”
“You ever done one?” Rob asked as he reached up and reconnected the arm.
“No.”
“There’s a form in the computer, I’ll show you where it’s at. Write it up and I’ll take a look at it then have you submit it. It’ll be good training for you.”
“Sounds good to me,” Jason said.
Once the door arm was reattached Rob made sure it was functioning properly. Unfortunately, with the latch broken the door would remain unsecure, something that was not supposed to happen and was frowned upon by the higher ups. There were several past incidents where unknown people tried to gain access to the property and officers had to respond in from the field to detain them and figure out who they were. Most of the time they turned out to be people with mental issues or people who were just lost and needing directions, but in the age of terror threats and attacks, every incident and security breach was taken seriously and investigated fully. At least the reattached arm would hold the door closed now. “When you get back to your console make sure you have the camera that shows the outside stairwell, I think it’s number twelve or thirteen, up on the security camera screen and just keep an eye on it. I’m sure building maintenance will be here first thing in the morning to get the latch fixed.” Rob took one last look at the door. “That’s as good as it gets. Let’s head back up.”
They retraced their steps back to dispatch and Rob followed Jason into the PSAP room where Rob showed him on the computer where the correct form was. “Let me know when you’re done and I’ll check it for you. I’ll let the dispatchers know about the door.”
When Rob was back at his console he sent out a mass message via the CAD system to the dispatchers currently working: “The basement exit door leading to the outside stairwell is broken. It’s closed but not latched. As usual, if you see anyone you don’t recognize on or around the property let myself and Jason know ASAP. If you use that door to exit for some reason, please make sure it shuts behind you. Thanks everyone.”
Ten minutes later, as Rob was double checking the finalized schedule, he received a message from Jason: “Form is done. Ready for you to look at it when you have a chance.” Rob didn’t bother replying and instead got up and walked over to the PSAP room. When he arrived, Jason leaned to the side so Rob could get a better look at the screen.
“Looks good to me, just add in the time you found the door open and the time we went down there and tried to secure it. Also, in the miscellaneous section put that you monitored the stairwell using the security cameras. That will make sure we are covered. Then send it to Kristine and CC myself and the front office. Kristine will forward it up the chain and the front office will get maintenance on it first thing.”
&nbs
p; “Got it, thanks man,” Jason said.
“No problem at all,” Rob replied. “Hey, I’m going to eat. I’ll let you know when I’m back.”
Jason gave Rob a thumbs-up and Rob left the PSAP room. He walked into the break room, pulled out his lunch bag from the refrigerator, and sat down at the large table in the center of the room. As he ate he thought about his family. He thought about his son Jackson who was starting to walk. Not very far, just a few steps before falling onto his bottom. Watching Jackson grow and discover things and figure out how to do things was one of the most awesome things Rob would ever experience and thinking about it always made him swell with pride. In his own eyes Jackson was the most handsome and the smartest kid he ever had the privilege of laying eyes on. Biased I know, but who cares? He’s my kid, and he’s amazing. He thought of Monica and how she had adapted to motherhood with no problem at all. She’s a natural. She’s going to make a great nurse. I sure picked a good one to spend the rest of my life with. Or, more accurately, I got lucky she let me choose her. Either way, asking her to marry me was the best decision of my life. As he day dreamed he thought, not for the first time, I would do anything to keep them safe and happy. Life is good.
His thoughts turned to the space weather alert they received earlier. It’s gotta be a false alarm, right? We’ve received those before and they turn out to be nothing. Would the feds even warn us if they knew something bad was going to happen? Or would they be the usual slow federal government that takes months to decide on stuff that should be a no brainer easy decision? Rob finished his lunch, cleaned up his small mess, then picked up his lunch bag, left the building, and walked to his truck. He left the bag on the hood of the truck next to the windshield on the driver’s side and walked back towards the building. As he did, he thought, No, it has to be an overreaction. The feds wouldn’t tell us that something bad was coming. They would be too busy trying to cover their own asses and get themselves to safety, rather than admit to anyone that they were powerless to stop what was coming. And why can’t I figure out why it’s giving me a bad vibe? If Rob knew how wrong he was about the federal government’s response to what was coming, he would have gotten into his truck right then and drove home as fast as it would carry him.
Thousands of miles above the earth the coronal mass ejection, traveling at over one thousand miles per hour for almost eighteen hours, had entered the planet’s exosphere and was already damaging satellites. The cloud of plasma, made up of electrons, protons, heavy nuclei, and magnetic field, was now slamming into the ionosphere and causing a geomagnetic storm that would wreak havoc on the magnetosphere. The resultant energy release would be measured on the petawatt scale and would cause the single most civilization changing event humanity had ever witnessed.
Chapter 2
Rob looked at the clock in the lower right corner of one of the five computer screens mounted in front of him. 11:18 pm. Just a few more hours and he would be on the way home. He was looking forward to having three days off with no overtime scheduled and was starting to think about the beach day he and Monica would enjoy a few days later. There was nothing like some “wave therapy” as he liked to call it. Rob wasn’t a surfer or even a big swimmer, but there was nothing like sitting on the beach doing nothing else but listening to the break of the waves and feeling the ocean breeze on your face as you relaxed and forgot about the crazy world.
Working in this field, it was important to figure out at least one way to unwind and relax on your days off. If you didn’t you could quickly find yourself in a downward spiral mentally and emotionally due to the traumatic incidents you experienced on an almost daily basis while taking 9-1-1 calls and dispatching officers to horrible situations. It could be psychologically damaging to sit on the phone with a screaming parent while their child stopped breathing, trying to coach them through CPR while medics responded, or talk to someone who’s loved one was just ran over by a car.
One of the worst calls Rob remembered taking was from a fourteen-year-old boy. His sixteen-year-old brother was on the front stoop of their apartment when two men walked up and started asking the brother questions. For some reason they decided they didn’t like the answers the brother gave and started yelling at him. The fourteen-year-old caller looked out the front window just in time to watch one of the suspects pull out a sawed-off shotgun from under his jacket, put it up against his brother’s forehead, and pull the trigger. Rob would remember that call for the rest of his life. He would remember the disbelief in the caller’s voice as he tried to give their address, the anguish in his mother’s cries as she realized her oldest son was dead, the screaming of his father as he vowed revenge on the monsters who committed the crime, and the way the caller stopped answering questions. Rob later found out the kid went into shock and just stood and stared at his brother’s lifeless body, now missing half its head, until the police and paramedics went on scene, then he broke down and cried for several hours when it finally hit him that his big brother was now dead. Rob was sure the kid would have nightmares for years and need lifelong therapy after witnessing something like that.
There is a saying amongst dispatchers: No one calls 9-1-1 because they are having a good day. There have even been several recent studies that showed dispatchers have a high rate of undiagnosed PTSD, especially since dispatch tends to be the forgotten aspect of first responders when it comes to public recognition. Rob was lucky that he had a wife that understood the stress he went through on a daily basis and did her best to help keep his head on straight.
As Rob sat looking at his screens he suddenly heard a loud pitched warbling type sound. The NAWAS phone was ringing. The National Warning Service was set up so that the federal and state governments could send out urgent alerts to first responder agencies that would be responding to disasters. It was meant for time critical alerts that the issuing agency felt shouldn’t be delayed by the normal fax system that was utilized. Normally what Rob heard on the NAWAS was tsunami warnings, typically after a large earthquake occurred on the other side of the Pacific Ocean or up near Alaska.
Due to Riverside County being inland, the alerts normally weren’t meant for his center. How it usually happened is the phone would ring and out of the speaker a voice would announce who was issuing the alert, then list off the agencies the alert was meant for. If your agency was announced, you acknowledged the roll call, waited for the critical alert to come across, acknowledged that you copied the alert, then decided on a course of action based on the information received. However today the voice on the other end sounded a little rushed and stated: “Warning Center to all centers, standby for a critical alert…” This got Rob’s attention. He grabbed a pen and notepad and got ready to write. The other unusual thing that happened was that the Warning Center didn’t conduct the usual roll call. They usually made sure each agency that the alert was meant for was ready to receive information, but the voice just kept talking. “… earlier today the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, along with NASA and the US Air Force, detected a major solar event occurring. They have advised that this event could affect telecommunications, GPS and power grid in your area of responsibility. All centers need to be prepared for possible power outages and telecommunications disruptions in their area of responsibility. The Warning Center will provide more information as needed.” The voice then started to repeat the message.
What the hell? What does that even mean? And why was there so much static in the transmission? The Warning Center has always come through clear as a bell. That was really strange, Rob thought as he stood up and stretched his back as much as he could in the limited space behind his console. Then the faxed alert Jason handed him earlier came back to him. There are one of two explanations for all this, he decided. Either the feds are overacting, and this really is nothing more than a somewhat stronger than typical solar storm, or they know it’s going to be bad and aren’t really saying, thinking they are going to stop a mass panic by the first responder community. Better safe t
han sorry though, he decided as he pulled out his cell phone. He sent a quick text to his wife, “Babe we got a couple weird alerts here at work, make sure you know where the candles and stuff are and keep a flashlight handy. Love you guys.”
He turned away from the console and went over to the small restroom just outside the dispatch room in the hallway. As he was relieving himself and trying to decide how he should push the information out to the field units he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. After he washed his hands and was walking out of the bathroom he pulled his phone out and found a reply text from his wife. “OK, don’t worry about us. Having trouble sleeping but just took some melatonin, love you too.” He would still worry no matter how much she reassured him she and their son would be fine.
As he walked back up to his console he decided it was better to put the information out via a message on the CAD system instead of a radio broadcast made by each dispatcher. When he arrived back at his console he reached down, grabbed the computer mouse and started to navigate around the CAD screen, selecting the messaging screen and checking the boxes for everyone the message would need to be sent to.
Rob was navigating around the screens when Rachel yelled out, “Hey Rob, my channel just went to shit. Everything is being drowned out with static.”
He was about to ask the other dispatchers if they were also having radio issues when everything suddenly went black. All five computer screens, the portable Motorola radio sitting on the console in front of him, the overhead fluorescent lights, the small telescoping desk lamp over his keyboard, the five TV’s mounted on the walls, even the alarm panel. All of it. One second it was on and working, the next it was all dead. Like someone had flipped the main breaker. Since the room had no windows at all it was pitch black. Not that they would have helped; it was dark outside.
Rob’s first thought, Okay, let’s wait a second for the generator to kick in, was followed quickly by his second thought, why didn’t the UPS system work? The uninterrupted power supply system was basically a series of battery backups that were designed to keep power going to the computers and radios in the event of a complete power loss. They were rated to provide power for about fifteen minutes to all critical systems, so they should not have had any problem keeping the computers powered until the generator had time to start up and start supplying power to the building, which usually took about twenty to thirty seconds. Then Rob saw some lights turn on from the door that led out to the hallway and in the corner of the room. He realized it was the backup emergency lighting. They were battery powered and designed to only start up in the event of a power loss and if the generator failed to start up. He looked at the wall where the alarm panel was located. No lights anywhere. The panel had its own backup power supply and with the power being out the panel should have been showing several red indicator lights and sounding its high pitched alarm.