“Uh, oh. What do you want?”
“I have a few questions about my final.”
“You work on the black floor now, right? You probably have more access to everything than I do.”
Talon sucked air through her teeth. “The thing is I’m working a new assignment and I just have a few questions.”
“Alright, shoot.”
“Dr. Frank Garvie is based on a real person,” she tried to say as confidently as possible. “What was his name again?”
Juv nodded confirmation of her suspicions. “Heath Nervista.”
“Yes, what do you know about his case. I just need to verify some details.”
“Heath Nervista was a state senator that was funneling public donation money to the ‘pecs. It’s true that the DOLO confiscated his personal computer and it came back clean, but an agent working the case was convinced there was a second computer involved. This agent led the entire extraction approval, and they did it during the night of a campaign fundraiser. We just switched a few details around for your final, but the setting and the security in your final were very similar to a real event.”
“How long ago was this?”
“Mmm, maybe a year and a half ago.”
“Why are the students doing a real past mission as their final?”
“I don’t know. Wouldn’t you rather get trained as realistically as possible?”
Juv had a point there. “Who was the agent in charge of the computer extraction?”
“That is above my clearance, and probably above yours. Someone called ‘The Legend’ around here now though. I’m not sure what The Legend did, but it’s gone down in black floor history.”
“Right, well Heath Nervista said some things to me during the simulation that make me believe the final was a little more than a program you wrote based off a case.”
“Well, no, it’s based off his neural extraction. Makes it more realistic.”
Talon tried not to show the revelation she was experiencing. “Yes, can you explain to me the whole process behind a neural extraction? It’s confusing.”
“Think of it as a snapshot of someone’s brain…the memories and feelings at a given moment. Someone had to have interviewed him about the night of the fundraiser when the intelligence officer was performing the computer extraction. Anything he remembered or was thinking during that interview would have been uploaded.”
“How is that legal?”
“Welcome to the black floor. It’s not that accurate anyways. For one, they performed his neural extraction months after the actual event, and so our program is simply an extrapolation based on his responses during the sittings. So, as high-tech as it seems, it’s still only a morsel of the information he actually contains in his head. In my opinion, I think they waited too long to do the extraction. For one, incarceration gets to people, and two, he became progressively more intoxicated as the party went on. His memories were a little more than foggy so we had to take a lot of liberties in the program.”
“So, just to be clear, whatever I or the other students did in the simulation, this programmed Heath Nervista guy will react based on his brain at the time of the extraction?”
“Yes, it’s fluid to a certain degree, but like I said, we had a lot of filling in to do for this one so it’s not that accurate.”
If her final simulation was a program based on a cloudy memory then the older woman was on his mind at some point during the neural extraction, and she would dig it out of him.
“Thank you, Juv. You helped a lot.”
“No problem, and good luck!”
“Oh, one more thing. You and I came up with this hat design together.” She retrieved the beanie from her bag.
“You made a real one?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Your fiancé made you one?”
“No. It was a surprise gift from an anonymous person.”
“Talon, I didn’t send you a present…sorry. That would have been a nice gesture though.”
“Juv, how could someone other than me, you, and Levi have known what this hat looked like?”
“Your final is watched by your whole committee. Maybe it was a present from one of them. By the way, no one came close to passing but you. Talon Terry truly is one of a kind,” he winked and walked back over to his handler station.
An hour later Wilga Fron was visibly sweating in front of Talon at a local café. “I don’t think I like working for the black floor. I’m really not good with secrets.”
“I told you what the ‘pec said to me, Wilga. This is life or death. This man knows something. All I need is the prison address.” Not only had the arrest and imprisonment of ex-senator Heath Nervista not been made public information, her brown floor status was proving to mean very little as well. She had to call on Wilga for a favor.
“I still can’t believe our simulation was built off of a real guy’s brain. There’s something else I found.”
“Remember his girlfriend, Kasilla Mayport?”
How could Talon forget? “Yes.”
“Well, her real name is Lennon Eaway.” Wilga began fanning herself.
“What is it? What did you find?”
“There’s a missing person’s report open for her.”
“What?”
“Yeah, the last time she was seen was the night of the party.”
“Whoa.”
“Why did they choose that night for our final?”
“I’m not sure, but it’s not a coincidence.”
“Do you have a pen? Here’s the address.”
“He’s on Dedrake?” Talon internally groaned.
“Yeah, and it says in his file that visitations are restricted and requires approval.”
“Shit. How much personal time do we get a year?”
“Three weeks I think.”
“Okay, I’ll figure something out.” It was time to email Orella “Bockie” Avondale and let her know she could expect a visitor.
10 THE SOLAR TSUNAMI
Levi had never been to the city that never sleeps. It was still very archaic in terms of technology compared to Ohmani, but just as bustling. Because Axella worked for the Stellar Grand, their discount was generous, and it was by pure luck the luxurious hotel was only a few blocks from Madison Square Garden. Fletch insisted the group go for a night stroll through the maze of skyscrapers. He had on the iconic ‘I Love New York’ t-shirt.
Like billions of tourists had done before them, they took corner after never-ending corner soaking in the one-of-a-kind city. Levi’s pupils were overloaded with the swarms of people, the eye-catching jumbotrons, and the flashing lights. His nose devoured the scent of caked-on grit and world-class foods. New York City smelled of grind and glory. The car horns, whistles, and chatter bounced off the cemented city and jumbled to create a hypnotic metropolitan opus. Levi had a strange realization that he felt at home. He soaked it in, happy to be in a familiar place, but sad because that familiarity reminded him of Talon.
Levi mentally squashed the sentimentality, and instead concentrated on pouring fixings onto the street hotdog he bought. If Talon wanted to play a game of stubbornness, he would accommodate by giving her the next move. In the meantime, he tried to push her out of his mind, which was proving hard to do. Levi was staring at the umpteenth art piece in the MET that reminded him of her, this abstract one simply had red and brown streaks brushed across the canvas.
“Wow, this one looks like Talon!” Fletch exclaimed a few pieces ahead.
Maybe it wasn’t all in his head. At least that’s what Levi thought before laying eyes on the painting himself.
A woman stood with a completely shaved head holding a sword, point down, on a rock. She wore brown leather pants, high knee boots and a beige long-sleeved shirt that was torn and blowing in the wind like a rebel flag. Levi studied the cracked image in astonishment. It obviously wasn’t Talon – the painting looked so old, blowing on it might cause it to tear – but the resemblance was uncanny.
Her facial expression was strong, but with a hint of a smile. It drew you in like the smirk of the Mona Lisa. What was on her mind, he wondered?
“Interesting oil, isn’t it?” a curator stood beside him. “It took a lot of convincing to let me hang this one up. At least she made it to wall even if it is a corner.”
“Who painted it?”
“It’s so old its history is unknown. Can you believe it’s painted on animal hide? Doesn’t she look so…modern? The discourse of it all is what makes the piece incredible. It’s like she’s giving a middle finger to her male-dominated society.”
“Ma’am, do you work here,” another patron approached. “We have a question about this one.”
Levi frowned. “It’s getting late, let’s go.”
The next day Levi, Fletch, Peanut and Sherman were sitting on the bed in their hotel room with boxes of New York-style pizza at arm’s reach. Peanut was so stressed, he grabbed his ninth slice and began chowing down even though his hunger had been satiated three slices ago. They had been watching the news for hours now, and for once Levi wished he didn’t understand what was going on.
“We must brace ourselves for the worst solar storm recorded since the industrial revolution,” an anchor woman was saying on the TV. “Travis Eagleman is our NASA space weather correspondent here to explain a little bit of the science behind what it is we saw today and what we can expect. Travis?”
“Yes, Hilary, these types of events are not at all uncommon, however, the severity of this last solar flare was a bit of a surprise. Solar activity is on an eleven-year cycle, and we are nearing the end of one of those cycles now…it’s known as solar maximum.”
“Solar maximum? That doesn’t sound very reassuring.”
“It just means the sun is going to be more active than usual. Yesterday we experienced temporary disruptions in navigation and communication signals.”
“But, it’s not over? There is something else coming…this,” she looked down at her notes, “coronal mass ejection. What is that and what should we expect? There are a lot of rumors that we will be put back into the Stone Age.”
Travis laughed, which made Levi feel better. “Just like a tsunami can be formed in the aftermath of an earthquake, a CME is often associated with a large solar flare like the one we witnessed. It’s a cloud of magnetized particles that, it appears as of now, will hit Earth in approximately twenty-eight hours.”
“So CME’s are not uncommon? Then why is this one such a big deal?”
“They are not uncommon at all. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center works twenty-four-seven to monitor such events. What is uncommon is a CME of this magnitude. It is going to be comparable in intensity to the Carrington storm of 1859. There were reports of the auroras being so bright people could read their newspapers at night and the auroras were seen as far south as Cuba. It was never a question of if a storm like this would come, but when, and we have spent countless research hours working on warning systems and preparatory procedures. Now, this is a little different than that event because we are more vulnerable now than ever. One, the infrastructure of our society depends on the functioning of computers and electronics and, two, our protective magnetosphere is weaker than ever, making us more susceptible to the effects of the geomagnetic storm. But, like I said before, we have an ample warning system and procedures that will be followed to ensure we will all not be going back to the Stone Age, Hilary.”
“So what will the government be doing? How are we preparing?”
“We are expecting the storm to last for approximately two hours. The National Space Weather Action Plan has already been initiated by the White House. They will begin shutting off the power grids and disconnecting the transformers and other sensitive equipment. All manned spacecraft orbiting Earth will either depart, land, or be evacuated. All satellites will be put in safe mode. This means their solar panels will be stowed, and their computers will be put in sleep mode…minimal power draw, just enough heater current to keep them from freezing. They are programmed to autonomously recover at a pre-programmed time soon after the storm is passed.”
“All satellites? Don’t we do everything using satellites now? Cell phones, credit card transactions, GPS?”
“It’s better to not use a credit card for three hours than to not be able to use it for three years. I think it’s important not to perpetuate fear and that is why we are trying to be as open and honest with the public as we can.”
“So everything will be fine?”
“Yes. The CME will hit at approximately 11:15pm Friday night. You will wake up to the same world, no Stone Age. If it makes you feel better you can go buy a backup generator and have an emergency supply kit with flashlights and batteries. Make sure your electronics are unplugged and turned off. That includes TVs, cell phones, refrigerators, you name it. Other than that go to sleep or sit back and enjoy the light show.”
“Thank you, Travis. On our website you will find the directions on how to make a household Faraday box and a complete list of things to have in your emergency kits including water, canned food —”
“Can we please turn this off?” Sherman asked rhetorically, lifting the remote. The hologram of the emergency kit disappeared into thin air. This is the city that never sleeps,” Sherman declared. “Do you know how pissed off New Yorkers are going to be if this place is shut down for three hours?”
“I think it’s cool,” Fletch offered positively. “We get to be in New York City during a rare space weather event. Everyone should be excited!”
Levi sighed at Fletch’s naivety. “A lot of people don’t listen to science here, Fletch. They freak out about stuff like this.”
“Yeah, and then the whole world goes ape shit.”
“Sherman,” Peanut scolded.
“What? Not saying it out loud won’t change the fact that people are nuts.”
“Look, let’s make the most of this situation,” Levi suggested. “Let’s enjoy it and, hey, if the Earth’s way of life goes to shit, at least our home is back on Ohmani.” They laughed. “Let’s get ready for a blackout party.”
The next day, however, Levi’s sense of frivolity withered away. Watching the news filled him with a sense of dread – not because of the storm, but because of the people. Vocal minorities were not only talking, there were being widely broadcast while radio waves were still available. Their frenetic rhetoric was whipping the nervous majority into a state of increasing agitation and worry. Preppers were giving how-to’s on how not to perish with the rest of the world, many religious groups had given up entirely on survival and pushed for people to hurry up and find God before it was too late, and there was compelling evidence that criminals were planning heists and break-outs across the globe.
The paranoia was so bad the government issued a state of emergency and announced they would be implementing martial law to keep peace and order. It would take effect at 8:00pm that evening and end at 5:00am in the morning once all transformers were reinstalled and the electricity grids turned back on. All military and law enforcement would be out keeping the peace and anyone who did not honor this curfew would be arrested on the spot and fined.
“Well that went south fast,” Levi frowned after the public service announcement.
“Uh huh,” Sherman said with a raised brow. It was a man’s way of saying ‘I told you so’ without acting like a child.
In some ways Levi was glad to be in New York City…they had a lot of cops here. On the other hand, there were a lot of weirdos out on the streets that were freaking him out. Also, law-breaking could go virtually unnoticed in large apartment buildings or hotels. Luckily, the Stellar Grand was a five star hotel, but that didn’t keep Levi from being concerned for less affluent areas.
He was glad his worry didn’t have to extend to his family. Ohmani was fortunate enough to be enclosed in its protective rock, and so this CME would be nonconsequential to her citizens. He pictured Axella, sitting in front of a TV listening to the news and worried sick ab
out her only child’s safety. He would be sure to call her as soon as he could…and Talon too.
Around four that afternoon, the TV and radio stopped working. Soon after his phone received no signal. As advised, he wrapped it in aluminum foil and stuck it in a cardboard box as a precaution. They were eating cold pizza on the bed when the lights went out. Levi peered out at the concrete landscape where shadows ruled now instead of neon. The streets were thinning of people rapidly and cops began coming out in old diesel trucks and other old-fashioned gas-guzzlers. Hundreds of National Guards began walking through the city and taking posts on corners and on tops of buildings. He saw one soldier arrest a homeless man holding a sign after he refused to be escorted to a designated holding facility. Levi had seen him earlier that day when they had gone out for a supply run. His sign said, “The Aliens Did This.”
It was sad to Levi that, after all this time, some people still didn’t trust the midaki. There was no way any intelligent species could manipulate the natural weather cycles of the sun or the magnetosphere of the Earth. This was a natural occurrence in any planetary system, and as Fletch had explained, had to be dealt with by every planet that had a sun, including Dedrake. It was probably for the best that, as people were forced to be held up in their homes, they were not able to communicate or use the internet. It seemed to be more of a cesspool of conspiracies and false information than usual.
“I know we’re not supposed to leave our room but I want to sneak up to the roof and see the auroras. I cannot miss this,” Fletch insisted half an hour before the arcs of light were supposed to start.
“Only if we can take beer,” Sherman decreed.
The four of them snuck out of the room and headed for the stair access. When they opened the door, dozens of guests were already ascending with the same idea. As they joined the flow of people on the short climb, Levi found it eerie that no one was talking, and if they did, it was in a low whisper. At the top, to everyone’s surprise, they met little resistance. The hotel employees knew they were greatly outnumbered, and by well-off clients. In their surrender they decided to grab a drink too and enjoy the once in ten lifetimes’ event. It wasn’t a tall hotel compared to some of the other buildings, but Levi could see from his bird’s-eye view that hundreds of people took advantage of the rooftop spaces.
An Eagle's Revenge (Across the Infinite Void Book 2) Page 12