“The reason this special press conference has been moved forward concerns a new and developing situation involving a major earthquake that just hit California. We believe this earthquake, and others around the Pacific Rim, are related to the asteroid impact. We also believe there is a danger of more earthquakes in the coming hours. These earthquakes may affect our ability to conduct organized evacuations of coastal areas and could disrupt communications with citizens in affected regions.
“Therefore, the President has ordered activation of the Emergency Broadcast System along the entire West Coast and instructs all coastal residents to evacuate inland by whatever means available in the event that organized evacuations are disrupted. He felt it was important to get this news out immediately and will have more details and instructions when we meet here again in about an hour.”
“Mr. Secretary! Can you tell us the extent of the earthquake damage in California? Or how big the waves are expected to be?”
“No, Frank, I’m sorry, but we are still gathering details on both of those issues. It would be premature for me to speculate at this time. All I can say is that the threat of additional earthquakes and the expected tsunamis are serious dangers that the President is taking very seriously. Now, if you’ll excuse me, we’ll get you more information as soon as it becomes available.”
Amanda and Judith watched as more reporters tried to ask questions, but the Press Secretary waved them off and left the stage. There hadn’t been a lot of real news, except to confirm some of the worst fears that Amanda had already been struggling with. The earthquake at home was obviously serious and Amanda shuddered when she thought about how it would interfere with evacuating the coastal cities and towns of California. Twelve hours might seem like a long time for those who didn’t know the area well, but Amanda could think of times when a simple traffic accident had created four hour delays on LA freeways. What it would be like trying to evacuate the whole city after a major earthquake was hard to imagine.
“All those poor people back home in California,” Judith said with a sigh and shake of her head. “And I was just telling my husband how much I wish we had stayed home in the Bay Area. I thought it would be safer than being on this ship. He tried to tell me we were lucky to be here, but I didn’t believe him. Where are you from, Mandy?”
“Los Angeles,” Amanda replied. “We live in the hills above Malibu, west of the city.”
“Well I suppose it will be safe in the hills, won’t it?”
Amanda didn’t answer. She was thinking how big the wave must have been to lift the ship the way it had and trying not to picture it tearing up Topanga Canyon towards their house. She could picture the Tsunami Evacuation Route sign on the Pacific Coast Highway that pointed up Topanga Canyon Road and wondered just how far up the canyon would be safe from a Tsunami like the one heading their way. It was more than idle speculation. Her friends and neighbors were there. Many of them had children near Emily’s age. They spent many days together on the beach. Would there be another beach day for any of them? Would there have been another for the Summers family, had they remained at home? Amanda found herself hoping that the television would not answer those questions.
****
Chapter 14:
Tropical island paradise after island paradise turned to apocalyptic wasteland in seconds across the Central and South Pacific when the colossal waves swept over them and continued on without pause. Many of the inhabited islands received warning of what was coming when night turned to day and the blistering blast wave swept over them. Traditional buildings were flattened and the population panicked, but none of them had an inkling of what was coming next. It was probably a blessing that most of them never knew what hit them.
Most of the Pacific islands had maximum elevations lower than the amplitude of the approaching Tsunamis, especially the inhabited portions of them. The characteristic barrier reefs surrounding atolls that protected the islands from tropical storm waves simply served to heighten the Tsunamis that swept over the islands like the hand of God. Families, communities and cultures were wiped from the face of the earth within moments. The titanic waves swept on without any apparent notice of the people and cultures they had destroyed in the Solomon Islands, the Marshal Islands, the Cook Islands, Micronesia, and more. The tsunamis ended their hopes, dreams, aspirations, and wiped them all off the map. None of these obstacles appreciatively diminished the force of the waves.
The next southern targets were the coasts of New Guiney and New Caledonia. These larger land masses took the brunt of the blow from segments of the waves, absorbing the force with indifference, but shedding with disdain the majority of the people populating their shores. Nevertheless, these islands couldn’t blunt the blow aimed at Australia.
The waves convulsed, collided, rebounded and reformed to hit the Great Barrier Reef with at least two thirds of their initial power. In some places the reflected waves combined to double their initial force and the reef itself served as a multiplier, boosting wave heights to over a thousand meters. Waves up to 3,000 feet high crashed into the Gold Coast of Australia, wiping away most manmade objects and reforming the coastline. Surprisingly, the majority of the reef structure beyond the coast survived without major damage. This was not the first time that a catastrophic event swept over their ancient habitat and it wouldn’t be the last.
Kevin excused himself from the conference on the Bridge to reunite with his family. The worst of the crisis aboard the ship was past and he needed to recharge his personal energy before facing the rest of the world’s perils. It was hard to believe that he had begun this day with a snorkeling excursion on a tropical island, only to have it end with an asteroid strike that might wipe out much of civilization. Kevin didn’t want to face that possibility at that moment. He wanted to kiss his wife, hug and hold his daughter. In short, Kevin wanted to escape the horror he had witnessed and the catastrophe that he knew was unfolding, if only for a few precious minutes. It would not be that easy.
Amanda and Emily were cuddled on a couch when Kevin entered the room. His wife was watching TV with a horrified expression while his daughter slept on her lap. Amanda’s face lit up when she saw Kevin and she started to rise, but he motioned her to stay seated and moved swiftly to kneel in front of the sofa, leaning in to give her a heartfelt hug and kiss. Then he gazed down at little Emily and ran his hand softly across her cheek and long hair. Looking up he said, “Thank God you’re both safe, Mandy. I worried sick and searched all over the ship for you two.”
“I know, honey. We did what you told us to and waited by the stairs. It was terrifying. First the smoke and the alarms. Then the water rushing down the halls and the ship going up and down. And all the screams. We were so scared. And when it seemed to be over we came up looking for you. Oh, Kevin, it’s horrible up on deck. Everything was burned. We saw dead bodies and a fireball well out of the sky and hit the ship! It almost his us, so we ran back below. Then that nice bartender found us and brought us here to find you, but you had already gone looking for us.”
“I know, baby. Armando told me. I saw him down by the ship’s hospital.”
“The hospital? Why were you there? Are you okay?” Amanda asked with genuine worry.
“I’m fine, Mandy. I was looking for you, sacred to death that I would find you down there with all the injured passengers.”
“We’re fine, honey,” she smiled. “And everyone says you’re a hero who saved the ship and the Captain’s wife too.”
“The Captain saved the ship,” Kevin replied with an embarrassed shrug. “I just gave him some advice, is all. It was still a miracle that we made it through those waves. And I think God might have had a hand in saving the Captain’s wife too.”
“It was your hand that pulled me out from under those bodies,” Lydia said as she emerged from the connecting suite. “But I do thank God that you did.” She smiled as she approached the couch, looking much better in a clean dress and the streaks of makeup washed from her face. She was
easily in her fifties, but looked like she used the ship’s gym regularly. Though obviously tired from her ordeal, she displayed a cheery demeanor that was only partly due to her close escape from drowning. Kevin decided that Captain Krystos was lucky to have her for his wife.
“She is the real hero,” Kevin told Amanda, gesturing towards Lydia. “I heard that she was the one who decided to tell everyone coming down from the Resort Deck to seek refuge in the theater, instead of the muster stations. She saved hundreds of lives by keeping them away from the fires and flooding in other public areas.”
“I heard you and my husband talking about staying away from windows,” Lydia said. “That made me think of the theater which also had plenty of seats for everyone. But we didn’t escape the flooding. I was swept away and flushed below decks myself. Surviving that was indeed a miracle.”
“And you drained the flooding from the Med Center,” Kevin added. “That made a big difference to a lot of other people too.”
“Totally coincidental, I assure you,” Lydia said with a smile. “I didn’t know I would be deluged by all that water from the deck above when I opened the door. I really am lucky to be alive right now. But I wouldn’t be if you hadn’t pulled me up when I was drowning at the end there.” Her attention shifted to the TV which was showing Please Stand By message over the Emergency Broadcast test pattern and she asked, “So what is the news saying about all this?”
“Bad news,” said Amanda and Kevin gripped her hand as she continued. “They’ve been warning of tsunami waves and earthquakes. Then an earthquake struck Los Angeles. They say it will make evacuations harder and I think they’re right. They just held a press conference at the White House and everyone looked scared. The President will make an announcement soon. Someone said they think he’s waiting to see how much damage the waves do between here and Hawaii.”
“An earthquake at home?” Kevin asks with wide eyes.
“Yes, and others in Chile and Indonesia. They issued a warning for the whole Pacific Rim,” Amanda explained. “It’s all so hard to believe, but this is really happening, isn’t it? Not just a nightmare?”
“The sky was falling, momma,” said Emily softly as she woke up. “Oh, Daddy is back. Hi Daddy!” Her spreading smile lit Kevin’s world brighter than the asteroid impact.
“Hi pumpkin,” Kevin said with deep emotion. He bent back down to hug his daughter and lift her into a sitting position. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a scorched and damp stuffed dolphin. “I brought you Mr. Snuggles,” he said as he passed it to her.
“Oh, thank you, daddy!” she beamed, cuddling with her favorite companion toy. “Did the sky fall on him? He’s all wet and smelly.”
“It just missed him, pumpkin. We’ll get him all cleaned up tomorrow,” Kevin said, knowing that he and many others aboard were just as wet and smelly right about then. It was enough for now to see the joy in his daughter’s eyes and feel the love from her and his wife enfold him. They might all be about to witness the end of the world, but Kevin Summers felt no fear at that moment. He and his family were alive, unharmed and together. That was all he wanted to focus on now.
****
Hank Donner was not a happy camper. This trip was supposed to be the start of a new and profitable venture. He had valuable cargo in the hold of the Sedulity and had splurged by bringing it on this cruise ship instead of a cargo vessel. The whole trip was supposed to be a tax write-off and he had hoped to turn another profit in the poker tournament. All of his plans, including exploration for oil off the coast of Tasmania, were going up in smoke and drowning under monster waves. Although he was helping the bartender fetch the paralyzed woman, his thoughts were firmly fixed on his own misfortunes. He should have stayed home in Texas and explored for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, or accepted the other offer from Libya. What was supposed to be an epic cruise down-under was turning into a Greek tragedy on the scale of Atlantis and Hank Donner was stuck in the middle of it.
The power was back on in the public areas of the ship now, but Hank found that he had preferred the dim emergency lighting. The normal lighting brought out details that had hidden in shadows earlier. The extent of the damage and human carnage had been easier to ignore when they were cloaked by shadows. Now that the power was restored to the casino it had become a nightmarish setting, with synthesized music and buzzing sounds emanating from video slot machines, and blinking lights illuminating bodies of the dead and dying. It was more than a little spooky, even for a man like Hank.
“We’ll need to move her carefully and secure her to the stretcher,” Armando said as they crouched next to the paralyzed woman.
“Are you a trained medic?” asked the man holding her hand.
“Not exactly,” Armando replied. “I’m a member of the crew and I’ve been trained in first aid. I think we need to get her down to the Med Center. I’m afraid that all the medical staff are going to be busy there all night. So we either take her down there, or leave her here.”
“For what it’s worth, my opinion is to leave her here,” Hank said as he looked the woman’s husband in the eye. “You can probably give her more care than they can right now and I wouldn’t want to make things worse by moving her.”
Armando hesitated before speaking to the injured woman and her husband. “You know, he could be right. Maybe it is better to stay here and not move until the doctor has time to come up and take a look. I’m afraid that won’t be for quite some time though. It’s your choice.”
“I think we’ll just stay here for now,” said the man with tears in his eyes. “Okay, my love? As long as you aren’t in any pain…” He trailed off and his wife smiled weakly. She lay at an odd angle, making Armando worry that her back was indeed broken, so their decision came as something of a relief. For once he had to agree with Hank Donner. They might have done more harm than good by moving her and she probably would have ended up with a black tag downstairs. At least here her husband could comfort her and hang on to some hope that would have been crushed if the medical staff had tagged her as hopeless during triage. If she survived through the night there might even be more chance of getting the intensive medical attention she needed, after the rush of other injuries had been dealt with.
“Alright,” Armando said with a nod. “I’ll just fetch you some bottled water.”
“Thank you. That’s very kind of you,” said the man.
Armando went to the casino bar. Most of the bottles of alcohol that had lined the shelves were broken or missing. He had spotted a few passengers sitting or walking with a bottle in hand, but wasn’t about to raise a fuss about it. Instead he went to the cooler and took out a case of bottled water that he placed on the bar for anyone who needed it. He took a few water bottles back to the paralyzed woman and her husband, then left them in search of others who needed assistance. Hank considered his options for a moment, then picked up the folded stretcher and followed Armando.
****
The crowd in the theater was really about to turn into a mob. Lieutenant Reiner had tried everything he could think of to keep them calm. However, the passengers had been sitting there for more than an hour and were demanding more answers. It now past midnight and many of them were asking for permission to return to their staterooms to sleep. Others just wanted to go out and see for themselves what was happening. The little speech by Mr. Summers had helped to keep most of them sitting in stunned silence for a while, but that was only a temporary fix. The tension had also been relieved when half a dozen stewards showed up pushing carts laden with kettles of coffee and soup, as well as platters of cold sandwiches and bags of chips. Now that the people had some sustenance, however, they were more restless than ever. There was also a line of people waiting to use the restrooms outside the theater and passengers were complaining that the toilets weren’t flushing.
On a positive note, the Cruise Director, Kathy Milton, had arrived in the theater and was trying to think of ways to keep the passengers satisfied. She had even sugge
sted to Reiner that they should provide some entertainment. At first he had laughed at the thought, but after the main power came back on he realized that there might be something to the idea.
“Kathy?” He asked her, “Don’t we have a video projector and screen in here?”
“Yes,” she replied. “They lower from the ceiling, if they’re still working. You want to show a movie?”
“Not a movie,” Reiner said. “Television. Let’s see if we can show them a news program. Maybe it will help calm them down if they can see what’s happening in the outside world.”
“That’s a great idea,” Kathy agreed. “I’ll go to the theater control booth and see if we have a satellite signal and can get the projector working.”
While she was making the arrangements, Reiner had time to second guess his reasoning. What if the news is bad? What if we learn that this isn’t an isolated event? What if the asteroid is causing a wider disaster? How would that effect the passengers’ mood? Reiner shook off those worries and decided that any news would be better than keeping these people in the dark.
****
Kevin had returned to the Bridge after the brief reunion with his family and shared the bad news coming in on GNN. Captain Krystos was disturbed to learn of the earthquakes in California. It looked as if the scientist at the Tsunami Warning Center had been right. This was turning into a global catastrophe, even before the giant tsunamis got to major population centers. The Captain was tempted to go watch it all unfold on television, but there were critical decisions to be made in the here and now. He asked Kevin, Professor Farnsworth and his Executive Officer, Mr. Crawford to join him in the Navigation Room.
Sedulity (Book One) Impact Page 17