The Sanders Saga (Book 1): Fire From the Sky

by N. C. Reed

“Makes television reception suck, too,” Deuce nodded seriously. Leon the Younger had a serious anime habit. Lack of television and internet service interfered with that.

  “And a solar flare is nothing next to a real CME hitting the Earth full on,” Leanne glared at her brother. “A solar flare makes it hard to communicate for a few days. A CME could wipe out everything electronic on at least half the planet.”

  “Point is, a really big CME could do all kinds of damage to the United States and any other first world nation it hits.” Deuce finished for her.

  “A really powerful one could literally bring the entire world to a halt,” Leanne added, her face equally serious. “We're talking about every modern piece of technology that's not specifically protected from the damage of an EM wave going kaput. Literally rendered unusable and irreparable. In some cases the machines needed to make the machines to make the parts would be dead as well.”

  “We're talking about a complete loss of technology here, Grandpa,” Deuce nodded his agreement. It was a little eerie to watch the two of them do that, tag teaming people with facts and arguments as if they could read each others mind.

  Maybe they can, Clay thought to himself.

  “Wait a minute,” Gordon was standing now, his face showing alarm. “Are you talking about everything?”

  “Yes, sir,” the pair answered in unison.

  “Sit down, Gordon,” Leon Elder said gently. He had be strangely quiet through all this, his face pensive. Gordon was about to argue until he saw that look on his father's face. It was a look he rarely got. Gordon sat.

  “I should have thought of this,” the Old Man said quietly. “When I was a boy, younger than you two,” he told the twins, “my grandfather told me a story. The year he was born, there was a great light in the sky, seen everywhere according to what old folks would say. They called it a light storm, some did. It knocked out the telegraph for days, weeks even. Made birds fly into buildings, animals of all kinds acted crazy.”

  “The Carrington Event,” the twins said in unison. “1859, Pa?” Leanne continued. He nodded.

  “Yep. He always said his folks decided it was an omen about him,” the Old Man chuckled. “Didn't mean it of course, just teasing. Still, I remember hearing those tales when I was a younger. I'd forgot it, to be honest,” he said to Clay, who merely shrugged.

  “It's likely that your shaman's vision was of a CME hitting the earth, Uncle Clay,” Deuce told him flatly. “If it was, then he's right about one thing. We'll burn. Anything not protected from the effects of a geomagnetic storm that severe will be completely useless as soon as the effects of the storm hit it. There's almost no kind of modern technology that doesn't depend on digital circuitry in some form or another and that circuitry will not survive a direct hit from a massive CME.” He looked at his great-grandfather.

  “What you heard about will seem mild in comparison. Every modern wrist watch, every cell phone, radio, computer, even pacemakers, all of them will stop working. Anything that's unprotected is done for.”

  “How can you protect yourself against something like that?” Gordon asked no one in particular. His tone was one of defeat. It seemed this was a more daunting threat than the thought of a nuclear attack had been.

  “Oh, there's plenty of ways to protect ourselves!” Leanne bubbled and all three men gave her their undivided attention.

  “Faraday cages,” Deuce said. “We need to make the sheds and the barns, heck all the outbuildings I guess, into giant Faraday cages. Hm,” the teen dropped into a thoughtful pose, finger tapping his chin as he worked out something in his head.

  “We need to gather the materials to insulate everything electrical that's important from the storm,” Leanne continued for her brother. “Spare parts, radios, anything with digital circuitry. Most of our vehicles will be affected too,” she added, falling into a thinking pose of her own. Leon the Deuce picked things up as if they had planned it that way.

  “Okay, here's what we need to do...”

  The five of them had to be called three times for supper.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  -

  “This is a lot of stuff,” Clay whistled.

  He was holding what amounted to a briefing folder compiled by the Dynamic Duo (as the Old Man referred to them) over the week since they had learned of Clay's 'fire from the sky'. He had to admit that the information was as concise and clear as any military briefing he'd ever been handed and even better organized.

  “That's nothing,” Leanne assured him, handing over another folder, this one thicker. “This is the stuff we still don't know about yet.” Clay took it as well, passing this one to Gordon.

  “And this one,” Deuce continued, “is stuff that we can probably get answers to from inside the family, though we'd have to explain why we want them.” He handed a final folder to Leon, who simply tossed it onto his coffee table.

  “Copper wire?” Clay mused. “That will be costly, but where to get so much is the real problem.”

  “Mu-Metal?” Gordon looked up from his own book. “What is that?”

  “It's a magnetic alloy that has pretty much ideal properties for shielding things from electromagnetic charges, but it's soft enough to be malleable, whereas Permalloy really isn't, though it might be better for this kind of thing.”

  “Uh-huh,” Gordon nodded as if he understood and returned to reading. The twins exchanged a smirk but let Grandpa off the hook.

  “Well, this is a lot of stuff,” Clay finally said. “Can you give us the condensed version? The one for Dummies?”

  “You're looking at it,” Deuce told him flatly. “Seriously,” he added at Clay's dubious look.

  “How in the hell are we supposed to keep all this straight?” Gordon demanded.

  “That's what you have us for,” Leanne told him with a smile. “You were very wise to bring us in on this, by the way.”

  “Thanks,” Gordon said dryly, resisting, barely, the urge to roll his eyes.

  “Okay, so we have you,” Clay got the discussion back on track. “So, you advise us what we need, we go get it, and use it how you tell us. That it?”

  “Pretty much,” Deuce nodded. “Some stuff we're still looking at, including a warning system. Which reminds me,” he looked around at the three adults. “Are we sharing this information with anyone else?”

  “Do I look like I want to spend what's left of my life in Downy's, Yo-Deuce?” Leon growled out, remembering at the last second to call him Deuce.

  “He's right, kiddo,” Gordon was gentler. “How do we tell anyone about this without being considered loony? And that will leave the family vulnerable when or if this comes to pass. We can't do it.”

  “That's what we decided too,” Leanne looked a bit sad. “There are a lot of people this will adversely affect.”

  “If we didn't know, or think we know, what was coming, would they still be affected?” Clay asked.

  “Of course,” Deuce nodded.

  “Then we're not really doing anything to them, are we,” Clay reasoned. “And I'm assuming that since you two knew all about this, the knowledge is open information, true?”

  “Yes,” Leanne nodded.

  “So really, everyone else has the same opportunity to prepare for this that we do, right?” he drove the last nail in the coffin of any complaint. “I'm making plans to help as many people as I can once this happens, kids,” he told them truthfully, “but I'd be lying not to tell you that my first and foremost thoughts are about you guys and the rest of the family, here. We come first in this.”

  “As we should,” Leon nodded firmly.

  “I agree,” Gordon was the kicker. “I'm sorry kids, but I do. We have to take care of ourselves first, and then help as many as we can after. And we will, I promise you. All three of us do,” he indicated the three grown ups. Clay nodded at once and Leon did as well, albeit more reluctantly.

  “Like she said, that's what we had come up with,” Deuce looked gloomy. “We just kinda hoped you guys
had a better idea.”

  “You guys are pretty smart,” Clay reminded his nephew. “I doubt we 'll come up with much that you can't, if anything. Okay,” he clapped his hands together, bringing them back to the original subject. “From the looks of it, we need a lot of metal mesh, first off. Enough to drape over the tractor shed and the outbuildings that have electrical uses. Maybe the houses too, yeah?”

  “Yeah,” Leanne nodded. “Something we can literally throw over as a last minute addition to whatever we manage to get done inside before then. It may not nullify the effect, but it will help. We can ground the mesh with wire all the way around.”

  “We can do the barn as well, and use it to store vehicles in against the storm,” Deuce added. “Mostly the trucks, since that will be what we use the most. If there's any room left, we can put Aunt Patricia's Expedition in there. It might come in handy if we need to go somewhere or she needs to go and see a patient.” He looked at Leanne at that.

  “Have you considered,” she took the mark, “that our being prepared for this will make a lot of people angry at us?” she asked. “I mean angry that some of our vehicles and our appliances still work and what have you? People that might turn violent against us if that was the case?”

  “Yes,” Clay nodded firmly while Gordon said;

  “I don't think that would happen.”

  Gordon looked at his stone faced son.

  “You can bet it will happen,” Clay said flatly. “The kids are absolutely right. Hungry people, with hungry kids, do bad things. Don't think for a minute that people aren't going to look at us and do two things; first, think that we should have warned them this was coming, regardless of the fact that they wouldn't have believed us to start with. And second, decide that it's 'only right and fair' that we share with them, since we still have whatever it is they want. It won't matter that it's ours. To them, the fact that they need it will mean they should have it, regardless of who else it hurts.”

  “I'm sure some people will be that way, son,” Gordon nodded. “But I've known most of these people all my life, and I think I know them pretty well. I doubt-”

  “Ever seen them hungry, Dad?” Clay cut in gently. “Ever seen them when their kids were doing without? If you haven't, then you don't know what they'll do. You can't.”

  “He's right, Grandpa,” Deuce chimed in. “What you know about people will go right out the window when they see you have something they don't.”

  “Well, as to hungry kids, we feed them,” Gordon said.

  “Can't,” Leanne looked sick.

  “What do you mean, 'can't'?” Gordon demanded. “Of course we can!”

  “For how long?” Clay asked and the twins both nodded.

  “We can't feed them forever,” Deuce noted. “We won't have enough for that.”

  “And if we start, they'll expect it to continue,” Leanne continued for him. “If we feed one family today, they will be back tomorrow, and bring others with them for their own handout. Soon we 'll have a daily crowd 'expecting' to be fed. What do we do when we can't feed them?” she asked.

  “When feeding them means we don't eat ourselves?” Leon chimed in and the twins once more nodded in unison.

  “I think you're over thinking this, kids,” Gordon objected.

  “I can assure you they aren't,” Leon said flatly. “I've seen it, when I was a boy. People who are hungry will do mean, terrible things, Gordon, and feel justified in doing it. That is just human nature son, and nothing you say to them will stop them.”

  “I'm not against helping anyone that needs it,” Clay said. “Like I said I've already thought along those lines. But I'm not taking a bite of food out of our mouths to give to anyone else. I can't.”

  “Here,” Leanne handed a small paperback book over to her grandfather. “Read this, Granddad. It's pretty accurate in how it portrays people in a scenario like this.”

  “Lucifer's Hammer?” Gordon frowned. “That doesn't sound good.”

  “It's not occult,” Deuce told him. “It's called 'post-apocalyptic fiction'. It's a good book, and held up as sort of a prepper's 'this could happen to you' in the prepping community.”

  “The what now?”

  “There is an entire subculture of people in this country and around the world who spend their lifetimes being or trying to be prepared for events just like this one,” Leanne told him. “They call themselves preppers, for preparedness. See? There is a booming industry geared toward them actually, and a multitude of websites that host ideas, plans, even stories about what could happen. It's a very large community.”

  “So, we wouldn't be the only people prepared for this, then,” Gordon mused.

  “Not even close,” Deuce assured him. “And none of them will be hosting a soup kitchen either. The attitude in the prepping community is usually 'I spent my money taking care of my family instead of on a boat I used twice a year and you could have too'. You can substitute 'camper' for 'boat', or maybe 'summer house' or whatever. The premise is that you could have made sure your family was cared for come what may, but if you chose to spend your money on the latest cars and boats and other toys, then don't come crying to me when the shit hits the fan. Pardon my language,” he hastened to add, realizing what he had said.

  “I think we can overlook it just this once,” Leon's sarcasm was thick. “So we keep what we have to ourselves and those we've chosen to help. We'll need to decide who that's going to be and then plan for them to be added to our number at some point. Figure that into what we need to acquire. Moving on,” he put the subject behind them for the moment.

  “All this talk about last minute preparations, like the mesh curtain for instance,” Clay spoke. “How much warning, realistically, can we expect to have?”

  “Depends,” Deuce shrugged. “If the satellites and warning systems that NASA has in place are working, we could have as much as a week of warning of even a near miss. At a minimum for a massive one that's fast moving we're looking at about three to four days.”

  “That sounds like a lot of time,” Leanne took over then, “but it's not. Not really. When you consider everything that will have to be done in those three or four days. And there's another thing to factor in to this too,” she sighed.

  “What the government does with the information,” Deuce nodded, taking the discussion back, as always looking as if they'd rehearsed it.

  “What do you mean?” Gordon asked.

  “If they don't announce what's coming then nothing,” Deuce shrugged. “No one is the wiser and the worst will be that we'll get some odd looks when we buy every roll of toilet paper and box of feminine napkins in the place.”

  “Fem- what!” Leon snapped awake from a near nap at that.

  “There won't be any running to the stores for 'lady things' Pa,” Leanne rolled her eyes. “We'll have to stockpile them just like everything else. Including condoms and other sources of birth control.”

  “Where did you learn about that!” Leon almost howled.

  “In sixth grade, Pa,” Deuce looked pained. “We're not little kids you know. We're fifteen.”

  “I'll have that teacher fired!” Leon declared.

  “You'll have to fire them all, then,” Clay was actually grinning. “It's been going on for a while now. I learned the same way, at the same time,” he chuckled.

  “I thought school was to teach reading, writing and arithmetic,” Leon grumbled.

  “Anyway,” Leanne overrode her great-grandfather's grumbling, “Deuce it right. If they don't release the information, then there's no problem.”

  “And if they do?” Gordon asked. “For that matter, why wouldn't they?” he asked.

  “To keep down a panic,” Deuce replied. “If they announce “Breaking News, World As We Know It To End!” what do you think will happen?”

  “A mass panic everywhere,” Leanne didn't wait for Gordon to answer. “So, they'll sit on it for at least a day while they decide how to handle it. When they release it, assuming they decide
to at all, will depend a lot on how long they have before it hits and the estimate of how much damage it will cause. If there's even a chance it won't be bad, I say they'll not announce it at all.”

  “And I'm in agreement,” Deuce nodded. “There's really no reason to, honestly. More people will die in the scramble to gather everything they should have already had than will likely die in the aftermath of the CME hitting us. I would expect them to suddenly ground air travel for some kind of manufactured terrorist threat,” he added. “But that's just to keep planes from literally falling from the sky. Otherwise, expect business as usual right up to the last possible minute.”

  “Hm,” Gordon grunted. “That's pretty harsh.”

  “Just being realistic, Granddad,” Leanne shrugged helplessly. “Past events tell us that the government isn't one for sharing. Period.”

  “I'm afraid they're right,” Clay sighed. “I can say that from bitter experience, too,” he added.

  “The point being that they may or may not announce the news, and we have to have a plan in place for both contingencies,” Leanne tried to get things back on track.

  “So, our warning is based on what they do?” Gordon asked.

  “No,” Deuce smirked a bit. “There are a number of places on the web where amateurs can get access to that information, especially HAM operators and aviators. Solar weather is a big deal now days. I've got several of those sites spotted and down linked to an e-mail account I created just for this. Three of them actually. All going to this,” he held up a smart phone. “Leanne gets them too. As soon as there's any news, we 'll know it.”

  “If those are government sites how do we know we 'll get any warning?” Gordon asked.

  “These sites aren't run by the government,” Leanne told him. “Just the opposite in fact,” she grinned. “They're often run by people who really don't trust the government to tell them what's going on, so they watch constantly. Several websites exist for that kind of thing, too. We're signed up for more than one using a fake birthday since they require you to be eighteen. We get alerts from them as well. Which reminds me,” she looked at Clay, “we used your PayPal account to pay for some of that. Ninety-two dollars to be exact.”