METEOR STORM

by David Capps

  CHAPTER 23

  That night the nightmares returned. I developed an appreciation for people who self-medicate. I’d have done a lot of things to reduce the emotional pain I was experiencing. Tia pointed out that if I just dull the pain, it never really goes away. You have it forever, so self-medicating simply prolongs the problem, and the agony. The only way was to deal with the issues and seek to resolve them. That was a long and painful process in and of itself. We spent hours each day talking through emotions and changing perspectives. When Tia didn’t have any ideas or approaches, we talked with Nancy. Her insight was amazing. Over the next two weeks the nightmares gradually subsided.

  Trying to keep and store fresh produce in the cave was a problem that John had solved by using sprouts. We had taken to visiting the deer in the cave and Tia would sneak a handful of sprouts to them. One doe had become particularly friendly. Tia would hold the sprouts out and the deer would stick her nose through the fence and eat them. Tia was petting the nose of the doe when a loud crashing sound jarred us.

  A meteorite the size of a hardball had come through the outer door and careened off the walls of the cave. It landed in the deer enclosure and came to rest in the pile of hay we were feeding the deer. Fire broke out immediately. Tia ran through the cave yelling fire as I tried to get the deer enclosure open. Ed ran up and used his knife to cut the plastic straps that held the deer fence together. By the time we got the fence open flames were reaching the ceiling of the cave. The deer were panicked, trying to get away from the flames.

  Ed and I entered the deer enclosure and tried to separate the burning hay from the rest of the pile. People were showing up with buckets of water and handing them through the opening in the deer fence. Several deer escaped into the main cave and were running through the crowd of people heading to the fire. After more than a dozen buckets of water, the fire was contained. Eight more buckets and it was out.

  The deer that escaped were rearing up and using their hoofs to attack anyone who tried to get too close to them. John told everyone to ignore the deer that were loose and let them calm down. After an hour, Tia coaxed the deer back into the enclosure with sprouts from the kitchen. Randy and his crew patched the hole in the door.

  John came over to me. “Our antennas aren’t working. We’re cut off from the rest of the world,” he said. “My guess is that the forest fire damaged the antennas or the wiring, maybe both. Any way we can use the robot’s head to find out what’s going on out there?”

  “When we moved the robot’s head into the cave he reported NETCOMM was weak, but functioning,” I replied. “We can ask if the robots can pick up any of the radio transmissions that may be out there.”

  “Okay,” John said, “do it quietly and let me know what you find out.”

  Tia and I checked on the robot’s head. It was still plugged into the cave’s power supply and had been functioning all this time.

  “Andy,” I said, “can the other robot in Tibet tell if there are any radio signals present around the Earth?”

  Yes, guardian appeared on the screen.

  “Can you show me a list?”

  A list appeared on the screen containing the date and time along with the frequency of the transmission.

  “What about content of the transmissions?” I asked.

  Immediately the words appeared for each of the radio transmissions. Many of the messages were in other languages.

  “Tia?” I asked, “Can you find John. He needs to see this.”

  “Sure,” she said as she headed out the door of the new communications room. In a couple of minutes Tia returned with John.

  “What are we looking at?” John asked.

  “These are radio transmissions from around the world in different languages. They appear to be clustered into certain frequency groups.”

  John smiled. “Ham radio,” he said.

  “Ham?” I asked.

  “Amateur radio,” John explained. “Ordinary people who have radio transmitters and receivers. They communicate all over the world. Can the text of these messages be translated into English?” John asked.

  Yes, John appeared on the screen followed by the English translations.

  “It knows who I am?” John asked.

  Yes, John appeared on the screen again.

  “It’s a lot smarter that you think it is,” I said. “Andy, can you or the other robot transmit messages on these frequencies?”

  No, guardian appeared on the screen. NETCOMM is the only transmission capability of the system and is not compatible with your current technology.

  “Can we receive NETCOMM directly?” I asked.

  No, guardian appeared on the screen followed by, Different technology.

  “With our current level of technology, are we able to detect NETCOMM signals?” I asked.

  No, guardian came in reply.

  “Interesting,” John commented. “This gives us the capability to monitor radio communications all over the world without anyone knowing about it.”

  “Andy, can you print out the English translation of these messages?” I asked.

  Yes, guardian appeared on the screen. Immediately the printer began spitting out pages of the translated text.

  John gathered the pages. “Thanks, guys, I’ve got to see what’s going on out there. I’ll get back to you,” John said as he left the room.

  * * *

  Before the meteor storm I had thought the cave would have been a totally silent place, but that turned out not to be the case. Meteorites impacting the mountain sent sound waves through the rock. Lower frequencies were filtered out somewhat by the mountain, which left a strange ringing effect to the sound of the impacts. The impacts sounded more like a “toing” than a “thump”. We occasionally heard a groaning sound from what I assumed were rocks shifting inside the mountain. Since the vast majority of the meteorite strikes were at night, it gave a rather spooky sound and feel to the cave as we tried to sleep.

  That night a large meteorite hit the mountain sending a jarring shock wave through the cave. I heard rocks falling on the roof of our enclosure and a loud, low rumbling sound rolled through the cave. The light on the clock went out leaving us in complete darkness. When it subsided everything was silent for several minutes.

  We heard shouts coming from the main hall outside our enclosure. “Cave in! Cave in! All hands on deck!”

  Tia flipped the light switch but nothing happened. I grabbed a flashlight and turned it on. We dressed quickly. As I started to open the door to our enclosure it jammed against something. The opening was only four inches wide, not enough to squeeze through.

  “Help!” I yelled. “I can’t open the door.”

  “Over here!” Tia yelled. “We can’t get out.”

  Flashlight beams came from the main hallway. Several people came over and rolled a large rock that had fallen from the ceiling of the cave away from the door. As we emerged from our enclosure, I scanned the main hallway with my flashlight. The floor of the hall was littered with rocks from marble size up to a yard in diameter.

  “Down here!”

  I looked down the hall. Flashlight beams illumined Ed who was waving for people to come in his direction. Twenty feet beyond Ed the hall in the cave had collapsed and was completely closed off. Two hundred people were trapped on the other side, including John and Nancy. We didn’t know if any of them were still alive.

  Ed guided the rescue operation holding two flashlights and giving directions. Rocks were being pulled off the pile by three strong men and rolled down into the hallway. Each of the rocks had to be lifted and carried or rolled down the hall to make room for more rocks to be removed. Soon the sides of the hallway were closing in from all of the rocks being stacked against the side of the cave. The dust in the air made it hard to breathe. I coughed and then realized the air recirculation and oxygen regenerating equipment weren’t working. It was only a matter of time and we would all run out of oxygen. With the fire raging outside opening the cave doo
r wasn’t an option.

  One of the men pulled on a rock at the top of the pile. When it rolled down there was an open space above the pile of rocks. As several more rocks were moved away Ed used a flashlight to see into the opening.

  “It’s open in there,” Ed called out. “I’m going in.”

  Ed crawled through the small opening and disappeared into the darkness.

  “It’s large enough to stand up in,” Ed yelled back, “and maybe forty feet long. Get more of these rocks cleared out, I’m going to check the other end.”

  The men worked at enlarging the opening and soon one of them crawled into the darkness with another flashlight and joined Ed at the far end. Several minutes later they emerged from the hole at the top of the pile.

  “We need to get more rocks out of the way so we can move freely in and out of the collapsed section,” Ed said. “The other end is blocked too, but it is going to be harder to move the rocks because we have to dig them out and move them up in order to clear a passage.”

  I moved closer to Ed. “We’ve got no air circulation and limited oxygen,” I said quietly. “If we can’t get to the generator room, or if the generator is crushed by the rocks, we’re going to be out of luck in two to three hours.”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” he said, “If we can’t get through this rock pile soon, none of us will live to see the morning.”

  Progress was slower at the other end of the caved in section. Rocks were jammed in against one another and wouldn’t budge until another rock was moved out of the way. Finding the one loose rock that was blocking another rock became an elaborate three dimensional jigsaw puzzle. It might have been a lot easier if we could see all of the rocks at the same time, but with only flashlights it was a daunting task. We had dug down to the floor level and just over ten feet into the next section of hallway when I got so dizzy I had to sit down.

  I was feeling exhausted and could hardly move. As I looked around I noticed everyone else was experiencing the same exhaustion and were sitting down. I realized it was the lack of oxygen and the increasing carbon dioxide levels in the air. We had done all we could do. It just wasn’t enough. I turned off my flashlight and sat in the darkness. I was struggling to get enough air and feeling sleepy when I heard the sound of rocks moving.

  Light began piercing the darkness from where we had cleared the rocks out. More light poured in along with fresh air. I could breathe again. I heard voices and sensed movement around me.

  “Carl.”

  I felt someone holding my face in their hands. I looked up. It was John.

  “I didn’t think we were going to get through in time,” John said. “How are the others?”

  I pointed back to where we had started digging. Nancy came over and checked my pulse and used her stethoscope to listen to my heart and my lungs.

  “He’s going to be fine,” she said.

  Somebody helped me up and through the hole in the rocks into the lighted section of the cave. I sat against the wall of the cave gradually regaining my breath and strength. They had sat Ed down across the hall from me.

  “Did you see Tia?” I asked. Ed was breathing heavily and pointed toward the opening in the rocks. As I looked over I saw them bringing Tia into the hallway. Her skin looked a bit gray in color, but she was moving and looking around. I reached out to her and the people carrying her set her down next to me.

  “Hi,” I said softly.

  “Hey,” she said back. We both smiled at each other and held hands.

  * * *

  Over the next week we were able to clear the collapsed hallway, repair the wiring and ventilation system. Fourteen people had died in the cave-in. Some were crushed by the rocks and others died from suffocation after being buried in their enclosures. We piled the bodies into an enclosure at the end of a short spur off the main hallway. Rocks were piled up to close off the burial site and dirt from the floor was used to fill in the cracks and open spaces. John held a service for those we had lost. It was a hard experience to go through, but we could only imagine what people were going through out in the open with the fires and the meteorites striking the ground all around them.

  * * *

  At lunch John announced the need for a repair party to fix the antennas above the cave. We met by the cave door at three in the afternoon. This would be the first time anyone had ventured outside the cave since the meteor storm had started.

  As we opened the rock door smoke started to pour into the cave as we had anticipated. What shocked us was the darkness. It was pitch black outside.

  “Did we get the time wrong?” one of the repair party asked.

  “No, you didn’t,” John said as he walked up carrying a bunch of flashlights.

  After John handed out the flashlights I stepped aside with him.

  “How did you know?” I whispered.

  “The radio messages,” John whispered back. “It’s been dark all over the planet since we entered the meteor cloud. The only light has been from the fires.”

  I hadn’t expected this.

  We put on dust masks to protect us from the smoke and exited the cave. Within twenty feet of the cave we began experiencing eye irritation from the smoke, and shortness of breath. The oxygen content had dropped below the level needed to support the fire. We could still breathe, but every physical effort was exhausting. The antennas were two hundred yards above the cave entrance. It might as well have been two hundred miles. We weren’t going to make it. A disabling disorientation was setting in. The cave entrance was difficult to find, even if it was only twenty feet away. It took almost ten minutes to get everyone turned around and back into the cave entrance.

  “We need better equipment,” I told John. “This isn’t going to work this way.” The look of disappointment on John’s face was palpable.

  “Okay, people,” John said, “we need to come up with a plan B. Thank you for your effort.”

  * * *

  The following morning John came over to me. “Nancy found a small oxygen bottle in the medical room,” he said. “We also scrounged up a pair of goggles. Problem is, we have enough for only one person.”

  “Okay,” I replied, “I assume I’m elected?”

  “We may need to redo the antenna connections. You have the highest level of electrical skills in the group.”

  “How do I find the antennas?” I asked.

  “Straight up from the cave entrance, two hundred yards,” John replied.

  “Okay,” I said, “let me think about what else I’m going to need.”

  John slapped me on the shoulder. “Great,” he said. “See you at the cave entrance at three.”

  * * *

  I gathered all of the tools I thought I would need, including an extra flashlight, and put them into a small backpack. Nancy stuck the two prongs of the oxygen cannula into my nostrils and looped the plastic tube around my ears. She adjusted the oxygen flow and tucked the oxygen tank into a small carrying case. I put the dust mask on and then the goggles. Tia wrapped several scarfs around my head to protect my face and help filter the smoke out of the air. I put on a pair of leather gloves and was ready to go. John handed me a long thin Aluminum pole.

  “Amateur band antenna,” John explained.

  I tied a rope around my waist and showed Tia what kind of knot to use to attach additional sections of rope together. With the rope, I could find the cave entrance again. John opened the rock door and I walked out with Tia feeding me rope from inside the cave.

  I walked over sixty feet to the side before I could start to climb up the side of the mountain. I worked my way gradually back until I thought I was over the cave entrance again. Then I climbed straight up the side of the sloping rock. The rope was getting more difficult to drag behind me because of its length. Everywhere I looked pieces of fallen trees were smoldering. The smoke was so thick I could barely see more than ten feet most of the time.

  The downed trees gave way to more rocks, and some of the smoke began to clear as I
climbed higher. I began a zigzag path to locate the antennas. I was convinced that I had passed them a long way back when I discovered the three pole antenna tower lying on the ground. It was warped from the heat, but it still looked usable. I followed the tower back to its base. The mounting was still intact and looked functional to me. I followed the guy wires back to their mounting pads. The two downhill pads were fine, but the uphill pad was lying three feet from the tower. I worked my way up the hill to where I thought the third cement pad should have been. In its place was a meteorite impact crater about ten feet across. That’s what brought the tower down.

  The antenna on the top of the tower was mangled beyond use, so I disconnected it and threw it off to the side. I connected the new antenna on the top of the tower and attached the transmission cable to it. I walked down the hill a ways until I found a wood pole I could use. I dragged it back up to the antenna tower. I picked the upper end of the antenna tower up and braced it with the wooden pole. Step by step I raised the tower and braced it. When the tower was almost vertical, I started dragging the cement pad with the upper guy wire attached to it up the hill. The concrete block was heavy, probably in the range of a hundred pounds. I jerked on it as I sat down on the side of the mountain slope. I managed to get an inch of movement from each effort I made to move it up the slope. I had to stop and rest several times to catch my breath. As I pulled it into position the tower stood straight up into the air. The cement pad rested on the inner side of the meteorite crater but it was holding the tower in place. I gathered more rocks and made a pile of them to stabilize the guy wire pad.

  I traced the transmission cable from the tower to where it went into the drilled hole in the rock that led down into the cave. The heat from the forest fire had melted the insulating cover to the cable, but the rest of it looked to be in good shape. I wound some electrical tape around the cable and hoped for the best.

  I started down the hill following the rope back to the cave. After a hundred feet I came to the end of the rope. It had caught on a smoldering piece of a tree and burned in half. The rest of the rope was nowhere to be seen. I was still five hundred feet from the cave entrance, and without the rope I had little chance of finding it. I continued down the hill hoping to find the rope but nothing was there. With all of the smoke in the air everything was hidden. There were no landmarks to recognize, nothing to guide me back to the cave. I worked my way further down the side of the mountain and finally just sat down to think.