Paul chuckled and said, “Remind me to stay on your good side, Martha.”
Martha cracked a wide smile and she said, “I have to keep my children in line. It’s all just bluster.” She grinned at him and said, “I think you know that, Paul.”
Paul’s belly shook with amusement and he said, “Indeed Dragon Lady, I do.”
Martha waggled her finger at him in mock admonishment and said, “Enough silliness. Cindy and Melvin, please begin negotiations.” She laid a hand upon Melvin’s shoulder and said, “You have my permission to negotiate a trade of anything that you believe we can spare.”
Paul patted Cindy’s shoulder as well and said, “As do you, Cindy. Let’s begin.”
Cindy blushed, faced Melvin and said, “Hello Melvin. It is my pleasure to meet you.”
Melvin, equally flustered said, “Um, the feeling is mutual Cindy.”
Martha and Paul glanced at one another. Paul grinned and said, “I think that this is the start of a beautiful relationship.” Cindy and Melvin both blushed beet-red and stopped talking. Martha said in amusement, “Now look what you have done.” Chuckling, Paul said, “Okay you two. Relax. Remember, your goal is to figure out what we can offer each other.”
Cindy recovered first. “Well, I guess I will start. We have peas, lettuce, soybeans, carrots, potatoes, pigs, chickens…”
Melvin’s eyes lit up and he interrupted her. “You still have CHICKENS?!” he exclaimed. “Our colony lost all of its chickens to avian flu over two hundred years ago!” He turned to Martha and said, “Can you imagine? Chickens and pork instead of rabbits for meat!” A split second later he added, “And eggs. EGGS TOO!”
Cindy smiled and said, “Yes. We have plenty. We can send you a rooster and a dozen hens. Then you can start breeding your own flock.”
Melvin lost the last vestiges of his earlier nervousness and he clapped his hands in front of his face and fairly shouted, “Outstanding! Capital!”
Cindy lost her nervousness as well as she got into the spirit of the exchange. “And coffee too. James Zeus tells me that you don’t have coffee any longer too.”
This time it was Martha who interrupted. “Really? Coffee? Fresh coffee? I have not had real coffee since I was a teenager.” She sighed and said, “It was not even fresh coffee. It was from the last of our freeze-dried stock.” She closed her eyes, lost in the memory from long ago.
Cindy smiled and said, “Yes, we have a dozen trees. We will send you cuttings.”
Cindy and Melvin spent the next several hours ironing out the details of their trade agreement. Time flew by as they became more and more excited at the prospect of sampling food that was nothing but a dream to them for as long as living memory.
Chapter 27
Paul awoke from the first good night’s sleep he had in a long time. He walked into his bathroom to take care of his morning business. He smiled at the brand-new toothbrush sitting in its stand upon his sink. After brushing his teeth, he used his equally new electric razor to shave. He smiled at the image staring back at him in the mirror and said to his reflection, “Well Paul Hydro, things are certainly looking up.” He sighed and added with a shudder, “We all came so close to dying. Thank God that is all past us now.”
Paul snapped out of his funk and asked the brand-new computer on his desk. “Eliza, what is Mary’s current location?”
Eliza instantly responded. “Mary is currently in the farming wing cafeteria. Do you wish to open a communications link to her?”
Paul shook his head and said, “No thank you, Eliza. I will go meet her there.”
Paul found Mary eating breakfast with her friend, Tiny. Mary laughed and playfully punched Tiny on the arm. “Tiny, I swear if you keep on eating like this you are going to have to change your name to humongous.”
Tiny stuffed some food in his mouth and said between bites, “Tiny likes this food.”
Mary shook her head in mirth and asked, “This is the same food you have always eaten. Why do you like it so much better now?”
Tiny shoveled more food into his mouth and said, “Tiny likes this food. Tiny did not like the food in the ghost cafeteria. It gave Tiny problems with Tiny’s vagina.”
Mary laughed so hard that she snorted orange juice out through her nose. “What?” she asked between giggles, “What did you just say?”
Tiny said in a loud voice, “Tiny said that the food in the ghost cafeteria gave Tiny problems with Tiny’s vagina.”
Mary wiped her face on her napkin and said in a low voice, “No Tiny. It did not cause you problems with your vagina.” Speaking softly was futile. The entire room was already watching the pair in various states of amusement.
Tiny stood up, pounded his fists upon the table and shouted, “Yes, it hurt Tiny’s vagina! The bad food made Tiny’s vagina hurt!”
For a moment, Mary stared at him at a loss for words. She finally managed to blurt out, “Tiny, you are using the wrong word! You should be saying that the food caused problems with your angina. AN-GI-NA not VA-GI-NA!” She blushed and said, “Vagina means something else entirely different.”
Tiny’s brow wrinkled and he said, “Angina. Angina. Tiny will remember that word. Thank you, friend Mary.” Mary thought that she had escaped any further embarrassment. She was wrong. Tiny faced her and blurted out in a loud voice, “Tiny wants to know what vagina is.”
Mary turned even more red and she sputtered out, “Tiny, that is a lady’s private parts. She tried to cut off any more questions by quickly saying, “That is not something that you talk about in public!”
Tiny would not be silenced. “Tiny wants to know what private…”
Paul saved his daughter from any more embarrassment by interrupting. “Good morning Mary. Good morning, Tiny.”
Mary looked at her father as if he had just saved her from a fate worse than death. “Hi Dad!” she said, much more loudly than she had intended.
“Hello yourself, young lady,” he said. He could not resist himself. With an evil grin he said, “So, Tiny thinks he is having vagina problems? What have you been teaching him Mary?”
“DAD!” Mary shrieked, looking as if she wanted to kill him.
Paul held up his hands to placate his daughter. “Sorry dear,” he said with a sideways grin. She continued to glare at him. “No really, I’m sorry!” he said, hiding his grin behind his hand.
Mary relaxed a little and stiffly said, “So dad, what’s up?
Paul mercifully stopped his teasing. “Cindy, Fred and I are taking a trip to the Australian colony. Do you and Tiny want to come along?”
Mary did not respond as Paul expected her to. She closed her eyes, clearly trying to decide and finally said, “I’d love to dad, just not this time. Max, Sally, Tiny and I are going to try again to get the door to the outdoors open. We are going to start just as soon as we finish our breakfast.” Mary sighed and said, “You don’t know had badly I want to come with you Dad, but first thing’s first. I promised Max I would help him. I don’t want to break my promise.”
Paul smiled at her and said, “I am so proud of you Mary. That is a very mature decision.” He squeezed her shoulder and said, “I’ll take you there another time, I promise.” Mary smiled at him. Slightly embarrassed, Paul said, “Well, I best be going then. The others are probably waiting at the transit station already.”
Mary hugged her father and said, “Stay safe, Dad. Love you.”
“Love you too, dear,” Paul said as he left the room.
Paul had given Mary her own utility cart. She painted it bright red with flame colored racing stripes. Mary braked to a stop at Max’s quarters. Max laughed at her when he saw it. “It’s not exactly fast enough to warrant racing stripes, Mary.”
I know,” she said with a laugh. “I just like these colors a lot better than the old plain silver-grey color.” Mary patted the seat beside Tiny and said, “Get in. Do you know where Sally is?”
Mary stared at Max as he actually blushed. “Well, um. Yes, I do. She will
be out in a second. She’s just getting dressed.”
Mary’s mouth made a little O when Sally exited Max’s room and sat down beside her. Sally blushed and said, “Well, stop staring. Let’s get going!”
Blushing a little himself, Max said, “Let’s go get Sheila too. If we get the door open we will want her to test the environment to see if it is safe to go outside.”
Mary stared in awe of the massive stainless-steel door. “I’ve never seen this up close before, Max. That thing actually opens?” she asked, disbelief in her voice.
Sally gave the door a little kick and said, “Allegedly so. We tried to open it when the reactor failed but it wouldn’t budge.”
Max picked up a large oil can and began to apply a generous coating of oil to all of the door’s moving parts. “Well, we didn’t have much power back then. We have full power now.” He ran his hand over the door’s surface and said, “That penetrating oil I put on back then has had plenty of time to soak deeply into the works too.” Max laid his hands upon the door and with a deep sigh, he said, “Well, we will find out, won’t we? There’s no time like the present. Sally, would you do the honors like last time?”
Mary patted him upon the arm and said, “It’s going to open, Max. Don’t worry.”
Sally let out a little nervous laugh and said, “I like your attitude Mary, but let’s be realistic. This door hasn’t been opened in three hundred years.” She patted the door with her hand, “It may never move again.”
Mary trembled and said, “Actually, it has not been three hundred years since the blast door last opened. Remember the lost expedition? The one that went out and was never heard from again? That was around 225 years ago.”
Sally gulped and said, “How could I forget. Mothers still use that ghost story to keep their children from misbehaving. Anyway, all ghosts aside, 225 years is still a long time for the door to sit without moving.”
Mary shook her head and said, “That may be so, however I like to think positive.”
Sally chuckled and said, “Okay Mary. Point taken. The door will open.”
Mary smiled at Sheila and said, “Please have your environmental test equipment ready for when the door opens.” She trembled a bit and then added, “Nobody knows what happened to them. All we know is that they went out and never came back. Something must have killed them out there. Let’s make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to us.”
Sheila nodded, patted her instruments and said, “I’m ready. Go ahead Sally.”
Sally looked at Max. “Max, how do you wish me to proceed?”
“Just like last time, Sally. I want you to lift the lever to open the door but if the door does not open right away, immediately release the handle. We do not want to burn out its electric motors.”
Sally nodded. “Understood. Do you wish me to begin now?” Max nodded and she took a deep breath and lifted the lever. Loud crackling sounds and a deep bass electrical hum emanated from the massive door. The lights in the tunnel dimmed appreciably. However, the door did not move. “Release the lever!” Max shouted in alarm. Sally instantly complied. She looked at him and said with disappointment, “Now what?” Max shrugged, at a loss for ideas. “I don’t know. Let me think.”
Mary wrinkled her brow and then pipped up. “Pulse it.”
“What? What do you mean?” said Max.
“Pulse it.” Mary pointed at the door and said, “Those crackling sounds tell me that the door wants to open but the motors are not strong enough to break it free. It’s been sitting too long and is frozen in place.” She hit the door with the palm of her hand and added, “I think that if you pulse it on and off, letting the motors cool down for several seconds between each try it will eventually break loose and open.”
Sally said, “Sounds like a plan,” and lifted up on the lever. The door hummed and crackled a bit more. She released the lever, waited a couple seconds and tried again. This time a shower of dust came from around the edges of the door and the crack around the frame widened ever so slightly. Encouraged, Sally began rapidly pulsing the door control. Each time the crack widened slightly more. “I think it is going to open!” Sally exclaimed and then she lifted the lever and held it upwards. With a loud screech from its hinges, the door ponderously began to move. Just then, all of the lights in the tunnel winked out. Sheila screamed and shouted, “The reactors! We blew up the reactors!”
Mary recovered quickly and said, “No, I seriously doubt that. We probably just tripped the circuit breaker for main power line in this tunnel.” She carefully felt her way to her travel cart and flipped on its lights. “Look!” she said, pointing to the door. They all stared in wonder. The door had opened a couple inches. Mary picked up a flashlight, turned it on and tossed it to Max. “Max, put some more oil on the hinges. Sally, make sure the lever is down too. I will be right back.”
Mary quickly drove down the tunnel looking for a circuit breaker box. A small knot of people who had been beyond the point where the power cut off were standing in the tunnel nearby. As she expected, the lights beyond the electrical box were still on. She turned to the people and said, “It’s okay. Don’t worry. We just tripped a circuit breaker.” She hopped off her cart, opened the panel and reset the breaker. The lights down the tunnel all winked back to life. A collective sigh of relief came from the people gathered around. Mary understood their nervousness, given the recent history with the power. “It’s okay. Really.” With a little laugh she added, “We’ll try not to do that again!” With that she hopped back onto her brightly colored cart, turned it around and quickly drove back down the tunnel.
Mary found Max standing beside the door’s hinges with a grease gun. Max looked at Mary and said, “Once the door opened a bit, it revealed the grease fittings.” He continued to pump grease into the hinges and added, “It’s a bad design, really. Those fittings should have been accessible with the door fully shut.”
Mary studied the hinges and said, “In their defense, I am sure that nobody figured that the door would sit closed for so long that the grease would completely dry out. They would have considered that to be bad maintenance.” Her brow wrinkled and she finished by conceding, “I DO agree with you that it was a bad design, though.”
Max continued pumping grease into the fittings until he had used up a prodigious amount. He stepped back, pointed to the door and said, “Sally, let’s try again.” Sally walked up to the door. Max teased her by saying, “Try not to blow the circuit breaker this time.”
Sally made a raspberry sound at him and lifted up on the lever. With a loud squeak and a low groan, the thick metal door began to ponderously swing open. The squeak lessened more and more as the door moved and the grease worked its way further into the hinges. By the time the door was fully open, it was moving so smoothly that its motion was nearly silent.
They stood motionless, squinting and shielding their eyes with their hands in the late afternoon sunshine. Eventually Mary said in a soft voice, “Sheila, please run your tests. Is it safe to go outside?”
Sheila jerked into motion, as if awakening from a trance. She picked up her equipment and stood fearfully in place. Mary walked up to her, laid her hand upon her shoulder and said in a low voice, “Come on, let’s do this together.” No one knew why they were speaking so softly. The fear and awe they all felt at the great unknown held them enthralled.
Sheila unclipped a wand from a small handheld boxy instrument. It emitted a slow clicking sound. Waving the wand in front of her, she studied a digital display on the device. Mary stood at her shoulder. “What is that device, Sheila?” she asked, totally enthralled.
“It’s called a Geiger counter, Mary. It measures radiation levels.”
Mary stared at it, fascinated. “What’s it telling you? Is it safe to go outside?”
Sheila did not respond right away. She was equally fascinated. She took a step over the door’s threshold and waved the detector around in the air. She made a “Hmmm” sound and then lowered the wand towards the dirt. T
he slow clicking very slightly increased in tempo. “Hmmm,” she said again. Mary tapped her upon her shoulder, breaking Sheila out of her trance. “Oh, sorry Mary,” she said. “I am just surprised at the readings I am getting, is all.”
Mary hurriedly took a step back into the tunnel and asked in alarm, “Is it that bad?”
“I am reading 1.35 millisieverts of background radiation in the air and 1.56 millisieverts at ground level.”
Mary took another step back and fearfully said, “How bad is that? Are we going to get sick?”
“No,” said Sheila, shaking her head. “Actually, it is not too bad at all.” She took another set of readings and said, “Actually, it is barely above historical background radiation levels from before the big collapse.” She stared at the Geiger counter as if she disbelieved what it was telling her. “Historical levels were from 0.9 to 1.0 millisieverts. I expected it to be much worse.” She turned to face them, smiled and enthusiastically concluded, “It’s perfectly safe to go outside. Come on!”
As one, they all stepped over the threshold and almost as quickly stopped dead again in their tracks, stopped short by the visage that greeted them on this warm afternoon summer’s day. A crystal-clear, deep blue sky, dotted with puffy white clouds drew their eyes. Lower down, a sea of green grass waved in a gentle breeze. A riot of wildflowers, in all of the colors of the rainbow, filled the grasslands. Small brightly colored insects flew from flower to flower. An old, asphalt road, full of cracks, lead straight away from the door and disappeared into a large, round, tree-lined lake a couple miles away. Another stand of trees lined a gently flowing stream, which emptied into the lake. Even further away, great snow-capped mountains stood out in sharp relief in the crystal-clear air. “Oh wow!” Mary said, completely enthralled.
Max laid his hand upon Sheila’s shoulder, pointed at the lake and said, “That must be where the nuke that was meant for us had landed. The crater it left filled with water and formed that lake.”
Those Left Behind Page 16