by N. C. Reed
“Then let this alone, why don't you?” Gordon asked.
“You're right,” she sighed again. “And it's not like he respects my opinion anyway.”
“You just can't let up, can you?”
-
“Any change?” Leanne asked, walking into her brother's room.
“Yeah, but it's not good,” he told her, frowning in concentration. “Activity is increasing around the sun's equator. There are several hot spots, but this one,” he highlighted one with his cursor, “is the worst. And it's way too active for this part of the solar cycle, according to the research we did earlier. We should be at a solar minimum. Little to no activity.”
“So, awareness will be low,” Leanne mentioned.
“I hadn't thought of that, but probably,” Leon nodded. “Man, I hadn't thought of that at all. If people that would normally be watching aren't paying attention then the damage will be even worse than expected. What a mess that would be.”
“We need to go over everything,” Leanne told him. “We make our pitch tomorrow, remember.”
“Pitch,” he chuckled. “Like a sales call.”
“That's more or less what this is,” she nodded. “We need to convince them of what could happen.”
-
Late that evening Clay and Lainie went to visit Leon, spending about two hours with him as he teased them mercilessly. Afterward they headed back to Clay's and went to bed early. Lainie had only one more day before she would need to head back to Nashville, and tomorrow was dinner with the Sanders clan.
Everyone on the farm snuggled in that evening except for the twins, who were alternating between rehearsing their speech for the next day and watching the sun's activity. Finally, they too went to bed, Leon giving the screen one last look before shutting it off.
It would happen or it wouldn't. He couldn't change it.
-
“-and my sister-in-law, Patricia. My sister Alicia and my brother-in-law Ronny. You've met the kids and my parents, and my grandfather. Everyone, this is Lainie Harper,” Clay finished his introductions.
A chorus of hellos and welcomes greeted her and she smiled.
“Thanks. It's nice to meet all of you.”
“All right, let's get settled,” Gordon ordered. Everyone took a seat, Lainie next to Clay as an extra seat was added. Gordon said grace and then it was a free for all.
“Keep one foot on the floor, otherwise anything is legal,” Clay joked to Lainie as people began grabbing food.
“So I see,” she laughed, taking a dish from him and passing it around. Soon everyone was eating and talking about whatever was going on around them. The game was of course on their minds, as were the prospects for the state playoffs.
“We 'll make it or we won't,” Gordy refused to be drawn into a prediction. “We took this last game for granted and almost had our butts handed to us. If we do it against a tougher team, we will lose. We have to stay aware. Do a better job than we have been.”
“You came back alright in the second half,” Lainie mentioned. “Your defense played well I thought. Your corners weren't quick enough so you used a zone defense against a passing back, which was smart. You play to your strengths and their weaknesses. I notice all of your defense hits hard, so by the second half their receivers are looking over their shoulders.”
“That's that plan,” Gordy nodded in agreement. “We usually spend Monday's watching game film of the upcoming opponent and working out how we can deal with them. And you're right; on defense, we choose to act rather than react. We attack and make them defend. Sometimes we get beat at it, but usually we can make it work.”
Through it all Leon Two kept glancing at his tablet, though careful not to let his mother notice. Clay did though.
“Anything wrong?” he asked quietly while Gordy and Lainie had everyone's attention.
“I hope not,” Deuce said. “Have to wait and see.”
“Bad?” Clay asked, a chill settling over him.
“Not yet,” Deuce admitted. “Just odd.”
Clay nodded and resumed eating as Gordy fell silent, clearly pleased that his Uncle's girl knew football. Abigail frowned a bit but she could see the writing on the wall. Her friend wasn't going to be able to compete with Lainie and that as just a fact. Most of the family liked her already, too. She might as well join the club.
Gordon finally stood as everyone finished eating.
“I want everyone to gather in the den,” he said. “Clay has something he wants to tell us, and then the twins have something to show us. Or actually, the twins may be going first, I don't know.” The two looked to Clay, who shrugged.
“I leave it to you,” he told them.
“We'll go first,” they said in unison and the Old Man instantly threw water at them to the laughter of all.
Five minutes later everyone was gathered in the den, and the twins were before them. Leon had wired his laptop to his grandparents’ large screen and began their two part show.
“We have two presentation,” Leanne said first. “All we ask is that you watch and listen. We understand you will have questions, but please wait until everything is done so we can get through this. Afterward it will be Uncle Clay's turn.”
The next ten minutes were spend watching an edited account of the 'vision' phenomenon among certain African nations, particularly those tribes that remained apart from any efforts of 'civilization'. The report was detailed and accurate, giving a very good review of all the evidence to support their accuracy.
“Wow,” Lainie whispered and Clay saw his brother nodding his head in agreement.
“Next, we've prepared a presentation on something called Coronal Mass Ejections,” Deuce told them as Leanne set up the next program. “I know these two things seem far apart and in no way connected, but again, please bear with us. Everything will make sense once we're all finished.”
“Well, that first part was something,” Patricia nodded. “I've read more than one account of how tribal medicine men can cure diseases and conditions that we don't have treatments for,” she noted.
“That's a far cry from prophecy,” Angela noted.
“Not really,” Alicia surprisingly fielded that one. “I mean if you want to use that name for it, healing was one of the spiritual gifts as well,” she pointed out. Angela nodded but said nothing else.
The next fifteen minutes was another edited program of how the sun would go through cycles of flaring activity, and how on occasion it could eject matter away from itself that contained radiation that would interact with the Earth's magnetic field, and how this might affect things like the power grid. There was a brief comparison to the effects of a nuclear explosion, and then the last five minutes were spent on the historical Carrington Event of 1859 and the effects of the strike back then, as well as a near miss in 2012 that would have been catastrophic.
“The bottom line for CME impact is much like that of Yellowstone or New Madrid,” Deuce's voice was even as his narration finished. “It has happened before,” Leanne's voice said over the speakers. “And it will happen again,” they said in unison. With that the program ended.
“And that concludes our program,” Leanne said as her brother shut down the link from his computer.
“Why show us this?” their father asked. “I mean it was well done, not that I expected any less from you two,” he beamed, “but is this for school, or something like that?”
“No,” the two shook their heads in unison and then looked at their Uncle Clay. He nodded, and stood up, clearing his throat.
“I asked them to do it,” he told everyone. “I asked them to put this together and present it to you.”
“Why?” his brother asked.
“Because it prepared you for what I'm about to tell you,” he replied. “You all wondered why I came home so abruptly, and without warning,” he said and most heads nodded. “Most of you have seen the new equipment in the sheds, the mesh and wiring and what not.” Again heads nodded.
&nbs
p; “I spent the last three years of my time in the Army in Africa,” he said after a deep breath. “I've never told you about it to amount to anything because it was what the government calls a 'black' or 'dark' operation.”
“That means it didn't happen, right?” Patricia cut in.
“Yes,” Clay nodded. “No record of it, and if anything happened to us, well. . .that was just too bad. I signed a non-disclosure statement when I was out, not to ever speak of this, so I'm violating that to talk to you about it now, but I have to in order for you to know what this was about,” he gestured to the television.
He told them the story he had given to Leon, Gordon and Lainie. He left out a few things that weren't important but concentrated on Mukimbo and his telling Clay he had to come home, and the records that the tribe kept of past 'visions' and how accurate they seemed to be.
“It was frightening,” Clay admitted. “It spooked all of us, and without sounding like a braggart, none of us were easily spooked. You can't spend the time we had in the bush of rural Africa and be jumpy. Doesn't work out.”
“Yeah, I could see that,” Ronny nodded thoughtfully.
“So you basically got thrown out of the Army so you could come home and try to prepare us for whatever this vision was about?” Patricia asked.
“Yes,” Clay nodded. “That is basically what happened. It's more complicated than that, but not much. We all did. As far fetched as it sounds, and I know it sounds that way, we saw too much to ignore it.”
“That's not much to risk your career over, Clay,” Robert said. “A vision from a witch doctor.”
“I know that, but I didn't look at it that way,” Clay nodded. “I risked, or lost, my career for all of you. Not because of what he said. Had it not been for you, had I been alone, I'd likely have just stayed where I was and rode it out there. But because of all of you, I came home. One of us did stay,” he added. “He had no family and we were his only friends. He had made friends among the villagers and decided he would stay with them. The rest were like me and wanted to be stateside if something this catastrophic happened. So here we are,” he raised his hands, palm up.
“So when is this supposed to happen?” Ronny asked.
“It may never happen,” Clay admitted. “That's the thing. I don't know what it might be, or when it might happen. I just couldn't afford to take the chance. And the twins have been priceless in preparing for this, by the way,” he told Ronny and Alicia. “Without them I'd just be wandering around wondering what to do next. They really are geniuses.” The two swelled a bit at that but didn't say anything.
“I don't know that I like you involving them in this,” Alicia said. “They're too young for something like this. I don't think I like it at all.” There was a beeping behind him but Clay didn't turn.
“I understand that,” he nodded. “But the truth is they're smarter than I am,” he admitted. “In fact they're the smartest-”
“No,” he heard Deuce whisper behind him but assumed he was talking about what Clay was saying.
“-people I know, regardless of how old they are. I knew a few smart people in the Army, but none of them could hold a candle to-”
“No, no, no, no!” Deuce was saying and finally Clay turned to see what was wrong only to find his nephew had passed his tablet off to his sister and was working frantically on his laptop.
“Deuce?” Clay asked.
“Wait,” Leanne held up a hand, watching her brother with one eye and the tablet with the other.
“What are you doing?” Alicia said, moving to Leanne's side.
“Wait,” Leanne repeated. “He's working on-”
“Don't you tell me to wait, young lady!” Alicia snapped. “I've had just about eno-”
“Ally, sit down and shut up,” Gordon said, his voice ringing with authority and catching his daughter by surprise. “If something is wrong, let them find out what it is.”
“These are my children, Daddy, and I know what's best for them,” Alicia shook her head. “And being involved in some kind of-”
“It happened,” Deuce's voice was small and not everyone heard him.
“-crazy ass scheme like this is not the kind of thing-”
“SHUT UP!” Leanne screamed suddenly, her face pale. Everyone stopped talking and looked at her.
“It happened,” Deuce was looking at Clay, his face wearing a look of shock. “The CME, it ...it happened,” he repeated.
“Leon,” his sister spoke as calmly as she could manage. “Leon, you have to focus,” she told him. “We need information. Tell us what's happening.”
“Uh, right,” he seemed to break out of his stupor at that. “Right,” he turned back to the laptop.
“What is he talking about?” Alicia demanded.
“The SOHO spacecraft has just measured an enormous energy wave emanating from the sun,” Leanne told her quietly, her voice trembling. “Far larger than anything ever recorded if this isn't an error.”
“Could it be an error?” Clay asked her.
“I doubt it,” she admitted. “There is a chance that the LASCO device was momentarily blinded or dazzled by the flash, but. . .the odds of that are about as astronomical as this,” she pointed to the tablet.
“It's not an error,” Deuce was shaking his head as the family gathered around them, even Alicia falling silent. “Please, please, please,” Deuce was working frantically, his hands flying over the keyboard. Leanne got a pencil and piece of paper and stood beside him.
“Ready,” she said softly.
He began spitting out numbers that meant nothing to the rest of them as he kept working, Leanne writing and figuring as quickly as possible.
“Use the tablet calculator,” he told her and she almost face palmed as she brought up the program and started punching in numbers.
“Will you two tell us what the hell you're talking about?” Alicia demanded.
“Please let them work,” Clay asked her calmly. “This is delicate enough as it is.”
“Don't tell me how to handle my-”
“Ninety-four hours, thirty-six minutes,” Leanne announced suddenly, ignoring her mother completely. “Almost four full days. Is there an associated flare?” she asked.
“X class,” Deuce nodded. “Speed...” he again started spouting numbers as she punched them into the calculator.
“It's worse than the 2012 storm,” her brother told her finally and Leanne stopped writing, looking up with fresh shock. “The make up is similar, too,” he sighed. “There are actually two ejections, so close together they initially looked like one. They're about three minutes apart. We'll get both waves.”
“Are you sure?” she asked softly.
“I've run the trajectory algorithm three times,” he sighed. “It's headed right for us. We will be in the perfect spot to be caught head on when it arrives. They arrive, whatever. We 'll see radio, television and other electronic interference in probably the next ten minutes,” he told everyone. “May be some power outages, but I don't think so. Not yet.”
“Next we 'll lose the satellites in orbit,” Leanne took over. “They're fried. May be damaged in the first wave but even if they survive that, the second will get them as the energized protons and electron particles bombard them.”
“And then, by the countdown clock,” Deuce told them, “the plasma waves will hit us head on. It will literally wipe out everything electrical for years to come and in some cases, do irreparable damage to the grid infrastructure. Planes still in the sky will crash to the ground. Communications over anything but buried and dedicated cable will be gone. Nothing will work.”
“Unless it's protected,” Leanne gave them the good news. “Thanks to Uncle Clay, Granddad and Pa, and us,” she smiled weakly, “we do have protection. The barns are prepared as are the sheds. We also have mesh drapes for the houses that will hopefully mitigate some damage to our appliances.”
“Once the storm is over, we have solar equipment in storage for each home,” Deuce said. “
We have everything we need that we can or could think of. Aunt Patricia, we have medical equipment,” she handed over a list, “but we don't have medicines. We don't know what to get and couldn't if we did.”
“I...I can take care of that,” she nodded jerkily, taking the list.
“Uncle Robert, we have some radio equipment,” Leanne offered him a list. “We got the best we could find, but we would like you to look at it.”
“Of course,” Robert took the list, still reeling from the overflow of information.
“Daddy, we need to get your equipment under cover,” Leanne told her father. “We will need working equipment once this is over. There is a barn at the old Troy place that is prepared for this type of emergency. You can pull everything inside there and it should ride out the storm okay.”
“Storm?” Angela asked, speaking for the first time.
“That's what this is,” Deuce nodded. “A plasma storm. One that will do a catastrophic amount of damage.”
“There should be something about this on the news, then,” Alicia turned on the television, only to be greeted with static.
“What the-” she turned from one channel to another.
“First wave is here already,” Deuce said, looking at his phone. “No service for data,” he held it up. “I don't know if it will come back or not. Phone service is still working for now. I think it will keep working until the wave hits according to what we know about the system. The towers should keep working until they're struck. Probably see some signal degradation. Anything that uses satellite relays will go with the second wave.”
“And there won't be anything on the news, mother,” Leanne continued. “They will still be looking at this estimating what the damage will be and whether or not to release it at all.”
“That's ridiculous!” Alicia snorted. “If there's a disaster coming of course the government-”
“Will hide it as long as they can,” Clay cut in firmly. “Don't believe anything else, sis. There's no reason for them to tell us because there's nothing they can do to stop it and all it will do is cause a mass panic.”