The steady stream of refugees from the states most affected by the Eruption has prompted the governments of surrounding states to enact border controls and create refugee camps. Civil Rights groups are appalled. “These are US citizens, in their own country, and they’re being shoved into fenced camps like illegal immigrants. This contravenes basic constitutional guarantees on so many levels…”
Government officials counter that they simply don’t have the infrastructure to absorb the influx. “A complete economic breakdown would benefit neither the existing citizenry nor the refugees.”
---
There are confirmed reports that Israel has retaliated against Palestine with missile attacks. Israel has declared that they are moving in to “quell the Palestinian uprising.” Said one unnamed source, “In these uncertain times, we cannot afford to have an enemy on the doorstep who will take advantage of our perceived weakness. It is time to end this.”
---
Washington military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, have told us that there are indications of one or more nuclear strikes in the Middle East.
Loss
Bill was looking for Monica, ostensibly to remind her about dinner. In fact, he was hoping to sit with her tonight before Richard moved in. It seemed to Bill that every time he went looking for Monica, he found Richard with her. It was getting old. Bill was honest enough with himself to admit that he was trying to do the same thing. But all’s fair…
Eventually, he found her at the back of the second shed. Walking up to her, he said in a light tone, “Hey Monica, it’s almost dinner time. You don’t want to miss it. It’s your favorite again: food!”
Bill belatedly realized that something was wrong. Monica had turned her head away from him and wasn’t speaking. He sat beside her and took her hand. “Hey, kid, what’s up?” he asked as gently as he could.
After a moment, Monica turned to him, tears in her eyes. She tried to smile. “Sorry, Bill. I’m not good company right now. I think the whole end-of-the-world thing just hit me. I’m starting to realize I may never see anyone in my family again.” She squeezed his hand and hung her head.
Bill could hear sniffles, barely choked back. He decided to take a chance and put his arm around her. She turned and leaned into him.
“You know, we’re all going through that,” Bill said in a low voice. “You can go away to university for a couple of years, but there’s always been the option of going home. Now it’s different. There’s been a lot of quiet crying at night.”
Monica’s voice was muffled, her face pressed against his jacket. “My parents are in Italy with one of my sisters. Even if no one in my family dies, I still probably won’t ever see them again.”
Bill hesitated a moment. He wasn’t sure if he was about to be helpful or make things worse. “You’re lucky. They’re alive, and very likely to stay that way. I don’t know what the situation is with my family. Mortality in North America is going to be significant.” He put his hand to his forehead as he realized that he was now dooming most of her siblings.
“Look, I know it’s hard. But we’re all here for each other, right?” Bill gave her a squeeze and settled down for the duration.
After a while, Monica straightened up and turned to look at him. “You’re right. I know I hear crying every night from one direction or another. I’ve always thought of myself a little tougher than this…” She smiled sadly. “Guess not, as it turns out.”
She wiped her eyes, tried to straighten herself out. “Okay. I’m better. Let’s see about that food.”
Explorations
Trish Lopez and Alex Shaw rode up over the top of the low hill, and they could now see the gleaming towers of Rivendell. Well, the metal sheds of Rivendell, Alex corrected himself.
The two were doing reconnaissance of the area around the colony on horseback. Experienced riders both, they had jumped at the chance for the outing. They had already completed a circuit roughly a couple of miles radius, crossing this side’s equivalent of Salt Creek twice. Alex had taken notes, as one of their duties was to look for a short-term water supply.
Now, late in the afternoon, they were returning to Rivendell.
Trish hadn’t stopped smiling for the entire outing. She explained that back home in New Mexico, she had been able to ride every day. Since going to UNL, she’d desperately missed the feeling of freedom that riding gave her.
Alex was more of a weekend rider, but still a dedicated and enthusiastic horse person. The two had spent the day talking and comparing notes.
“Must have been great, growing up on a ranch,” Alex said to her. “Your horse always right there, all that space…”
Trish laughed. “Sure, and if I managed to finish my chores in a reasonable time, I could actually do something about it. We didn’t live on a dude ranch, Alex. It was a working ranch, and we didn’t have a bunch of employees to do the work. When I wasn’t at school, I was shoveling manure or fixing fences, or tending to the cattle and the chickens, on and on until I was ready to scream.
“Meanwhile, other than in school, I very rarely got to see my friends. It’s not like I could just walk up the block. Jenny was closest and she was five miles away. And no buses.”
Alex admitted to himself that all that sounded like fun too, but he was pretty sure that saying so would just get him another lecture. Instead he said, “I guess it’s one of those grass is greener things. I lived in the city and only got out to my uncle’s place on weekends to take care of the horses. I’d have killed to live closer. Honestly, I hated living in the city. Too many people, too busy, traffic everywhere. This right here works for me.”
Trish expressed agreement, and they let the subject die. As they rode towards Rivendell in the light of the setting sun, Alex started whistling the Magnificent Seven theme. Trish laughed and then smiled at him.
Alex smiled back, and as he turned away his smile turned into a grin. This might end up being an even better night!
Paydirt
“Hey, Charles, look!” Charles turned his attention to the direction that Bluto pointed. In the distance, he saw horses with riders on them.
Bingo! Charles was gratified that his logic had been correct. The kids, or someone, had set up somewhere else and probably somewhere close. Charles looked at his watch. Late afternoon.
“We have to be close to high ground before dark,” he said to Bluto. “We’ll need to try to spot their camp. Hopefully they’ll have lights up or fires or something.”
“I’m not thrilled with spending the whole night in a tree,” Bluto replied. “So we’d better have our own fire ready.”
“Fair enough, but make sure it’s out of sight. We don’t want them discovering us.”
Charles reasoned that given the time of day, the riders were more likely headed back to their camp rather than away from it. With that in mind, the two took off in the direction that the riders had been going.
As dusk fell, they decided that they couldn’t afford to put off setting up their own camp any longer. They had by necessity become fast experts on the whole process. They found a reasonable spot, gathered fuel for their fire, and laid everything out.
Before they lit the fire, Charles examined the darkened sky. “There,” he said, pointing.
The faint glow on the horizon had nothing to do with a setting sun or rising moon. Charles made a point of poking a couple of sticks into the ground to indicate the direction. Then they turned to their camp and set up for the night.
In the News
South Korea’s largest news agency reports that North Korea has begun amassing troops on the border between the two countries. In addition, the North Korean Navy has positioned itself just outside of South Korea’s territorial boundary. Military experts point out that North Korea has traditionally been dependent on China for the resources to provide for its populace— even at the sub-poverty level at which the North Korean proletariat exists. With the recent Chinese withdrawal of military and economic aide, North
Korea is looking for alternative sources of supply.
---
In a shocking move, six of the most debt-ridden nations on the planet— Greece, Italy, Egypt, Portugal, Spain, and France— have announced jointly that they will no longer be servicing their national debts. All except Egypt have also announced that they will no longer consider themselves part of the EU. World markets, which were already taking a beating due to the Yellowstone crisis, dropped sharply from their already historic lows.
---
We have credible reports of multiple explosions in several U.S. state capitols. Several groups have claimed responsibility. At least one is a domestic American revolutionary group.
Planning
Richard called the Rivendell Planning Committee to order. Seated around the table with Richard were Krista Tolleffson, Joseph Leung, Bill, Fred, and Anson.
Krista represented the Medical group. She had just completed her final year of pre-med, and had been intending to transfer to University of Nebraska at Omaha for her medical training. Yellowstone had put an indefinite hold on those plans. However, like most people who are truly interested in their chosen fields, Krista’s practical knowledge far outstripped her formal educational record.
Joseph Leung was there as team lead for the Scavenging group; Bill, as lead of Science and Technology; Fred Mack, who had agreed to take on Security; and Anson Rutherford for Scouting.
And last, Dick Thompson, who had organized the livestock rescue, had become lead for Agriculture Science.
Richard looked down at his notes for a moment. “Okay, so we now have to look at this as a long-term thing. That means we’re going to need things we might not have bothered with otherwise. That will include digging a well for water, coming up with a more long-term plan for the latrines, building better pens and fencing for the livestock— personally, I’m tired of them as room-mates.” There were some chuckles around the table. No one was happy when a cow wandered through the sleeping area.
“Short-term, we need tents and tarps for all our people. Longer term, we’ll want to start building something more permanent. All of this will require significant scavenging effort.
“As time goes on, it’s going to get harder and harder to find stuff in Lincoln. Buildings will continue to collapse. Windows will break and let in drifting ash, and so on.”
“If you’ve ever seen Life After People,” Bill added, “you’ll know how quickly things break down.”
Richard inclined his head in Bill’s direction, then continued, “So we’re going to have to go Earthside and start looking for things sooner rather than later. I kind of doubt the internet is still up, so in a lot of cases we’re going to have to work from memory. We’ve put together a list of things we must have. If anything is missing, bring it up.
“Joseph, you’ll need to organize some expeditions. We can’t cross the gates over, because we’ll have multiple groups going at the same time; so we’ll have to work out a protocol to open the gate at the proper spot once you find something.”
“On that subject, Richard,” Bill cut in, “I may have a partial solution. Meet me in my mad scientist lab after the meeting.”
***
Bill’s mad scientist lab was a section of the second shed where he had the satellite TV set up. Now it had been officially set aside for the SciTech Department. When Richard got there, Bill had the pole-cam going. As Richard came up, Bill handed him the control tablet. Richard looked at it. As well as the video output from the pole-cam camera, the tablet displayed a window with GPS information. The location it specified was the address of their current warehouse on Earthside.
Richard looked at Bill, his eyebrows rising almost to his hairline. “You sure like the dramatic reveal, don’t you? Same principle as the satellite TV?”
Bill nodded. “I have one of those external GPS receivers up beside the camera. When the pole-cam is turned on, I can crank the receiver through the gate with this.” Bill pointed to another piece of rigging on the pole, similar to the one that was used to tilt the gate forward and back.
Richard shook his head and smiled ruefully. “Engineers. Geez.” He continued after a moment, “So the Scavenging party can use the pole-cam to scout and to determine locations from this side…”
“And to communicate with the search parties from this side.” Bill added. “I’ve also rigged up an external antenna for the walkie-talkie. As long as the pole-cam is open, everyone has full cross-dimensional communication.” Bill smiled in triumph.
Scavenging Party
“Okay guys, you’ve all seen the priority list and the list of places we want to try.
“We’re going to split into several groups. If you find something worth taking, radio me. I’ll make a note of the coordinates and contents. We’ll prioritize what we locate and try to work out a schedule for retrieving contents over the next couple of weeks.”
The milling group organized into smaller teams and each team selected a target location. They had talked about doing the travelling on Outland then gating over when they reached their destination; however, that would require checking spots one at a time. This way, they could check multiple possibilities at once, then scavenge at leisure.
Bill opened the truck gate, and people started pouring through. There was still far too much ash, both fine particles in the air and loose ash on the ground, for them to risk taking vehicles across. This meant that this round of investigation would be done on foot, and everyone would be wearing masks.
***
The crew of three had been tasked with checking out the local Home Depot for fencing supplies and useful equipment. There had been a lot of concern that the building would have collapsed, given the huge flat roofs.
Now they stood in the warehouse and scanned around with their flashlights. “Well I’ll be damned,” Josh said. The roof had indeed buckled. However, it had only collapsed as far as the tall, industrial-strength shelving units. Everything below the top of the shelves was still clear and accessible.
“They supplied their own columns,” Lea commented.
“Let’s go out to the yard and see what’s there,” Josh said.
They circled the building and came to the open-air part of the store. This area had also been roofed, and the roof had also collapsed to the shelving units. They wandered a bit until they found the fencing supplies. There were large stocks of fence posts and roll after roll of metal fencing and barbed wire.
“Cool,” Josh said. “One last thing— post-hole digger. Anyone know where the rental office is?”
“We passed it on the way around, O Blind One,” Lea answered. “It looked locked. We may have to borrow a ten-pound lock-pick.”
Josh chuckled. “Right, I’ll radio Joseph and let him know. Who’s got the GPS?” Alan held up the Tomtom.
***
Phil and Pete had volunteered to check out some nearby gas stations. Both had worked as gas jockeys while in school, so they knew their way around. As soon as the scavenging parties had crossed over, the pair headed for a nearby Shell station. It looked like the gas station had been abandoned in a hurry after the earthquake. Things hadn’t even been locked up.
Phil knew how to use the dipstick to check the contents of the tanks. This took perhaps ten minutes including the time to clean the area around the access port.
Having found a supply of gasoline and diesel that would last the colony for months, the two decided that this called for a break. Pete patted his jacket pocket, smiled, and they found a good protected spot to sit and relax. Pete had several joints already rolled, so in no time they were enjoying better living through botany. There would be plenty of time to call in their find.
***
The crew looked at the front of the Walgreens.
“Wow, that does not look good,” Patrick said.
The building indeed looked like it was one stiff breeze away from total collapse. The entire front wall had pancaked. The front entrance existed only as a scattering of shattered glass and tw
isted metal. They walked slowly around the building, looking for a way in.
About halfway around, they found a service entrance. The wall at this end appeared to be in better condition. Overall, it looked like the roof had collapsed at the front of the building, which had been enough to dislodge most of the ash, preventing a total collapse. However, the service entrance was specifically designed to prevent break-ins, so try as they might, they couldn’t find a way in.
“I think we’ll have to come back with the pole-cam,” Hernando said.
“And one of the gates,” Linda added.
The three agreed this was a reasonable course of action, and prepared to radio in their report.
***
Gerry and Cathy looked up at the Scheels logo. “This looks like the place,” Gerry said.
They carefully examined the building. The big central section of the store had shed the ash off its sloped roof. However, the rest of the structure had not been so lucky. The roof had partially collapsed in several places, and ash had flowed down to bury the collapsed sections.
Gerry had a broom handle that he’d picked up along the way; he’d been amusing himself by trying to come up with a reason why it would be just leaning there against a wall. He poked at the pile of ash in front of a collapsed section, looking for cavities.
Finally he found what he was looking for when the stick went right through without meeting any resistance. Gerry made sure his mask was tight to his face and that he had his goggles on right. Then he leaned in and started scooping ash out of the way. Cathy stepped back quickly and waved her hands in front of her to keep the ash away.
It only took a few seconds, and Gerry had found a gap in the collapsed wall. He motioned for the flashlight that Cathy held, and shone it into the dark interior. Sure enough, a lot of the inside was still accessible, and the inventory seemed to be in good shape. Gerry backed out, handed the flashlight back to Cathy, and patted himself down to get rid of excess ash.
Outland (World-Lines Book 1) Page 20