by Muga, D. M.
The Radius
Book 2: Living in the Radius
D.M. Muga
Edited by Cheree Castellanos
Art by Travis Luckhurst
Cover by Nicole Budd
Formatted by Carl Sinclair
Contents
Acknowledgments
The Radius
1. Benjamin Reilly
2. Alexander Mathis
3. Eileen Rivera
4. Alexander Mathis
5. Benjamin Reilly
6. Richard Clark
7. Holly Clark
8. Eileen Rivera
9. Benjamin Reilly
10. Eileen Rivera
11. Abraham Jackson
12. Benjamin Reilly
13. Eileen Rivera
14. Alexander Mathis
15. Benjamin Reilly
16. Eileen Rivera
17. Benjamin Reilly
18. Eileen Rivera
19. Alexander Mathis
20. Benjamin Reilly
21. Eileen Rivera
22. Benjamin Reilly
23. Leslie Yang
24. Benjamin Reilly
Afterword
About the Author
COPYRIGHT
This book is a work of fiction. This book is intended for Mature Audiences Only. It contains graphic violence, vulgar and crude language, sexual content, and scenes of explicit violence and gore. Whereas, there are real places and a great deal of research was put into creating this story into a reality, it is still a fictional story. Unless it is indicated otherwise, all of the characters, names, businesses, places, events, and incidents are fictional. That is to say that they are products of the author’s imagination and/or used in a fictitious manner. Whereas, the research completed to create this fictional story is designed to entertain and educate on basic survival skills, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used, reproduced, and/or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.
Printed in the United States of America
© D.M. Muga, 2021
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I want to thank you for coming back for Book 2. I'm truly appreciative. As stated previously, writers without readers would make for very saddening stories and a very sorry world... worse than any post-apocalyptic or dystopian future that we could imagine. Again, thank you for taking the time to read my work of fiction. I'm glad that you have returned to the world of the Radius and I hope you enjoy the continuing story.
A special thanks for all of the help, feedback, and guidance to several special folks. Stephanie, Robert, Rick, & Cate… and of course, Lilly Mae. Thanks for being patient with this novice writer, and taking the time to help me continue forth with this series. Thanks to Jeremy for making sure that I didn’t overlook anything, once again.
Thank you Cheree Castellanos (https://www.facebook.com/ForLoveBooks4Editing for your guidance and support.
Thank you Travis Luckhurst (@axiomtattoos) for your awesome cover art.
Thanks to Carl Sinclair for your clean formatting skills.
Also, thank you to Nichole Budd for the amazing cover design.
Alright, let’s get this story rolling. Cheers and remember to think for yourself. Thank you for continuing on with the next installment in the story of The Radius Series.
The Radius
Book 2: Living in the Radius
A Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Thriller
By D.M. Muga
1
Benjamin Reilly
It had been almost two months since the start of this whole Blue Hole Radius mess and the world that it left for Ben and the others. It had been seven weeks since Ben was at Ontario Airport in sunny Southern California. It had been a normal Friday and he was enjoying his life, feeling fulfilled. Everything had changed at 1301 on May 19th, 2023 when Alexander Mathis, his newfound friend, and his group of SXS Program scientists, over at CalTech (California Institute of Technology), created a micro black hole that resulted in a new type of hole that humanity did not yet know about, a Blue Hole, and the Blue Hole Radius.
This Blue Hole Radius created what Ben could only describe as a time warp, resulting in everyone within the Radius to be trapped for 1,410 years while the rest of the world moved on. The rest of the world moved on to the degree that humanity left for the stars in 3110.
Apparently, their successors left for the stars to avoid extinction from another Pandemic in the year of 3020. The Pandemic of 3020 involved a superbug called MRSA-TB that wiped out 96% of the human race that inhabited Earth One and the Colony on the Moon. Ben always found this part interesting, the aspect of Earth One and a colonized moon, partly because he liked to watch Sci-Fi movies and shows in his spare time. Ben found it ironic that he was now part of a Sci-Fi adventure. Only this time, there’s no script and no one knows the ending.
On more than several occasions, Ben found himself asking Alexander questions about Earth Two, always expecting a different answer from his newfound and dear friend. Ben was always disappointed with the same answer from Alexander, “The information that we have from the SuperNet and archives left behind only goes up to the departure of humanity from Earth One.”
This part Ben thought to be enormously interesting, but very concerning at the same time. There was a large number of people, to which they had no clue as to how many, that were 1,410 years further into the future than Ben and the rest of the survivors of the Blue Hole Radius. That’s 1,410 years of technology, advancements, growth, and more of human nature.
Ben knew they were very fortunate to have survived thus far after the Blue Hole Radius came down and time was restored to normal transition. Nonetheless, the messages displayed that there was a lot that they did not know about the people from Earth Two, and there was something strange going on, according to Alexander.
On several occasions after they had received the second transmission that had some contradictions to the first one, Alexander expressed major concerns that there may be trouble coming their way. He even went so far as to explain that if it came to blows “it would be like nuclear weapons versus sticks and stones,” with the survivors of the Radius having the sticks and stones. This concern is on his mind’s forefront while he’s driving through Crestline.
It’s July 6th, 3433 and Ben’s driving to the Lake Drive Marketplace, which was once a line of shops, businesses, and restaurants along Lake Drive leading to and around Lake Gregory. He had heard that Lake Arrowhead Village had been transformed into something similar.
He’s been back to driving on a regular basis now that his arm and hand are healed well enough, thanks to Eileen, who sat to his right in the passenger seat. She was, and still is, a nurse and had saved his life just under seven weeks ago. Since that time, they had grown very close.
Ben smiles at the beautiful, light-skinned brunette sitting next to him, with those bright green eyes. It had been seven weeks since they had met at the start of all of this Blue Hole Radius madness. Sure… she had tried to kill him when they first met. But could he blame her? No. She had just lost her father to some greedy P.O.S.’s, and two of her friends to rapists P.O.S.’s. He could not blame her in the least.
He had found her, or she had found him, on his drive up to the mountain town of Crestline with his newfound friend, Alexander. Alexander and Ben were en route to stay with his Uncle Steven. It was Ben’s best option, and only really viable one, since it was high ground and Uncle Steven was the only family that he had left.
Thinking about this sad reality still pained Ben. He had lost his mom and dad,
as well as his brother, his wife, and their children. Ben found some solace in the fact that they moved on after the Blue Hole Radius incident. It had taken some time, but they had moved on to lead full lives. He was able to find out what happened to his family thanks to the massive amount of archives on the SuperNet.
Ben was pretty excited to find out that his family line lasted through the conflicts and problems that faced the world after they were trapped in the Blue Hole Radius. Unfortunately, after further digging, he found out that the descendants of his brother, his family, had died out during the Pandemic of 3020.
Regardless of never knowing these family members, he felt for them and hoped their end was swift and painless. He knew the evidence of the MSRA-TB virus said to the contrary, but he chose to ignore that fact and push those thoughts out of his mind.
He also always ended up rationalizing the situation of the people from the past, from his future, up until what was left, and those that left for the stars and Earth Two.
It is what it is. Tended to be the end of his line of thoughts on this path of thinking.
Everyone outside of the Radius was long gone, after 1,410 years passing the world by, passing them by. So many survivors within the Blue Hole Radius had lost friends and families that were outside of the Radius at 1301 on May 19th, 2023. Hell, many of those people lost their family and loved ones in much more horrific ways than he. The way he saw it, he had little room to complain.
While navigating the neighborhood roads toward Lake Drive Marketplace, Ben reflects on the last seven weeks and how much the world has changed.
He keeps on returning to the messages that his Uncle’s old HAM radio had received, which his Uncle referred to as Ol’ Betsy. In truth, it was a main point of conversation in the cabin that the four of them now lived in, Ben, Eileen, Uncle Steven, and Alexander, to which his gracious Uncle offered without a second thought.
Ben could recite both messages word for word. In all actuality, all four of them could recite the messages word for word. Before the first message had stopped, Alexander had the foresight to write it down. The second message comes on daily at the same time.
As Ben and Eileen get closer to the Lake Drive Marketplace, he dwells on those two messages, knowing they mean something important and that there’s nothing they can do about it for the time being.
::Transmission Sent from Earth Two, May 37 of 3433:: This is Commander Thomas Yang of the Icarus. Harris’s Blue Hole Radius outcome was the reset button for Earth One. Those that have survived the Blue Hole’s Radius are likely aware that your Earth is very different now, and it is.
By our calculations, you should be awake by now. If you come into contact with a deactivated Sleeper, do not activate it. I repeat, DO NOT activate it. Leave it where it lies, and we shall dispose of it when the time comes.
It is our hope that you are utilizing the additional technology and information that we provided to alleviate any strain that you are experiencing during this transition. Your starting population of the Blue Hole Radius was 8,916,237 people, and a great deal of other living creatures, both on land and in the sea. Probability and logic proposes that the best-case scenario is that roughly half of that number will survive the first few months until winter.
The Icarus, with life-sustaining and disaster relief crews, will be in Earth One’s orbit within two to three months. I apologize that we cannot be there sooner. Current situations on Earth Two dictate that the earliest that we can arrive to aid and assist you will be between two and three months, on Earth One’s time.
Make logical and good choices and prepare for the winter and worse. Do not make the same mistakes our ancestors did. Rely on each other and utilize virtue ethics. Commander Yang of the Icarus, Out. ::Message Received on Earth One, May 20 of 3433::
The same questions continue to come to mind whenever he thought of the first transmission from Earth Two.
What the crap is Earth Two? What have they been doing all this time? Who’s Commander Yang? What the crap is a Sleeper? What does he mean about preparing for the winter and worse? What do they know that we don’t yet?
There were two questions they were able to answer, with the help of the SuperNet and Alexander’s research. In regards to the winter problem, the climate had shifted over roughly 1,100 years, up to the point that their successors left for Earth Two. The six satellites that were still above Earth and in orbital rotation told the story of the following 300 some odd plus years.
Alexander always made it a point to draw attention to the fact that there were ten satellites when they had left for Earth Two, and we only needed two to have the SuperNet running for our technology to work. Alexander often reminded them that they had about 300 more years for people on Earth One to be concerned with how many satellites were left. It was his hope, all of theirs, that they would have a lot more figured out by then and their future generations would not have to struggle as much as they have had to, with the survivors of the Radius re-establishing society and pushing past all of this anarchy.
Unfortunately, Commander Yang was accurate to warn them of the upcoming winters. It would appear that Earth One was cycling back to another small Ice Age. As Ben had understood it from how Alexander explained it to him, several times, the Earth had gone through several Large Ice Ages and many Small Ice Ages, also called Glacials. In fact, when the survivors of the Radius were originally trapped, the world was still coming out of a Large Ice Age, hence the large polar ice caps.
Despite the fact that Glacials are a normal occurrence on the Earth, the combination of a Small Ice Age and lack of human beings to slow down the process of global cooling over the last 300 years, their winter was about to become starkly cold.
In fact, according to Alexander's research, winter would not only be much more frigid, but also a great deal longer than in 2023. Alexander was surprised that winter would be in full swing by October and last until March.
This was one of the main reasons Ben wanted to go to the Lake Drive Marketplace this weekend. There was a great deal more of trading and bartering going on over the weekends, compared to the weekdays. And Ben saw it necessary to begin preparing for the winter months, now rather than later.
Gone were the days where Ben hesitated on preparing for a certain situation because it might happen and he didn't want to look like a full-blown prepper. To the contrary, his paranoia and preparedness helped keep him and his friends alive. That and his Uncle, Alexander, and Eileen saving his ass.
Ben was certainly concerned about this new shift in their worldly climate and thought back to the days of people worrying about global warming. Ben thought it to be ironic, how humanity was so wrong on that accord, but also, so very right, but in a different sense.
The second question that Alexander was able to partly answer was that of the Sleepers. Most of the information about the specificity of the Sleepers were scrubbed from the SuperNet. Ben wasn’t sure if this was some form of control from their successors over their history. However, Alexander explained that there was still some history there… and whatever the Sleepers were, they killed indiscriminately.
Alexander found articles and many pictures of the dead left from the Sleepers. In short, what they did know was terrifying. Anything with a heartbeat would die if a Sleeper was activated. They still were not sure what activates meant, that information was expunged from the SuperNet. There was also no video footage of the Sleepers in action, only pictures after the fact. That information was erased from the archives, along with how to create Sleepers.
When they first found this out, Alexander had pointed out that it was likely so that we don't hurt ourselves with this technology. Ben remembers countering with his perspective, “Sure, they may not want us to hurt ourselves. But I guarantee that they sure as hell don’t want us to be able to hurt them.”
That last thought continued to circle back to Ben’s brain, time and time again. Why are they returning and what do they want from us?
Which always shifted his
focus to the second message they had received, only a couple days after the first. Whereas, the first message proposed so many questions, it was the second message that truly had Ben and the other survivors concerned.
::Transmission Sent from Earth Two, June 1 of 3433:: This is Captain Abraham Jackson of the Leviathan.
We are en route with surveying and risk analysis teams. Earth One will be within range for two-way communication within two months, which is roughly 60 days, on Earth One’s calendar.
As the previous message stated, if you come into contact with any deactivated Sleepers, do not activate it. Leave the devices alone and we will handle them upon our arrival.
My apologies if Commander Yang thoroughly scared the people of Earth One. The Leviathan is en route to alleviate the pain and suffering that you are dealing with.
I will send another message in two months’ time with our designated landing zone, and further instructions and orders. This message will repeat again, shortly. Thank you for your cooperation in advance.
Captain Jackson, of the Leviathan, Out. ::Message Received on Earth One, May 21 of 3433::
To Ben and the other survivors in the mountain communities, the second message seemed to hold a grueling warning to their way of life. The directness of the message, lack of compassion, and any true words of hope, displayed a rigid feeling of the authoritarian variety.