Quantum Storms - Aaron Seven

by Dennis Chamberland

  On the surface lay the dead corpses of life forms without number, from bacteria to the tiniest insect to humans. The relative blessing of decomposition had also ended with the onset of the storms, so now their bodies would lie about for decades, centuries or more, desiccated and mummified, turned dark brown by the chemical action of skin organics and the intense radiation. Nearly all species of plant and animal life had been rendered totally extinct. There were a few survivors, but only those who had planned and executed a strategy of deep shelter and only those organisms whose niches were normally protected beneath the deep earth or ocean.

  Out of seven billion humans, only several hundred thousand managed to survive the first week. Then, without warning, most of them perished in a single terrible hour.

  Somewhere along the Pakistani - Indian border, an order was given to launch four nuclear tipped missiles to obliterate India ’s survival shelters, filled mostly with the governing elite. In the confusion of the moment, the planet’s nuclear defense systems activated automatically, assisted by desperate military commanders with little or no information to guide their decisions. The guided-missile war spread quickly from central Asia across China and Russia , each country blindly defending their interests in retaliation and in a desperately sick preemptive madness. Eventually, missiles flew across the polar region into North America. During the last few moments of human history before the storms began, the survival shelters of each nation had become the prime targets of the automated defense systems, and they each hit their targets with frightening accuracy.

  The government shelters in most major nations were either directly hit or were severely damaged, rendering their occupants helpless to survive the storms either without food or without power. Furthermore, the short-lived war released plumes of radioactive contamination across the planet that only added to the solar damage and made it even more difficult for the few survivors to manage. In addition to the inability to leave their shelters at night, now the survivors would have to account for the layers of radioactive dust and debris blown about by the winds. Not only was the planet’s surface sterilized, now a good portion of it was also heavily contaminated.

  As nuclear wars go, it would have been considered a limited exchange. There were far fewer shelters than missiles. But its effect was extremely more severe than the worst doomsday planners had ever imagined. For now the war would take not just the life’s breath of each nation, but most of the thin chances the human race itself had to survive. If the fate of humanity hung on a thread before, now the thin strand itself had just been set on fire.

  Desmond’s face looked rigid and bleak, framed as it was in the monitor’s fuzzy image before Seven and Serea. “They took out NORAD and Cheyenne Mountain with direct hits,” he said in a near whisper. “The Vice President, the Congress, the United States government – all gone. A 50 megaton ICBM, from God only knows where, struck just 25 miles north of our position. Apparently it suffered from a failed navigational system or I would not be talking to you right now.”

  “Good God!” Spencer exclaimed as he stood behind them in the Command Center .

  “Father, are you okay?” Serea asked, inching closer to the monitor’s camera.

  “Yes, yes dear, I’m fine,” Desmond responded.

  “Raylond, square with me, okay?” Seven spoke evenly and strongly into the tiny camera lens before him. He wanted his mentor to see his eyes and hear his voice clearly. “I know you’re stressed to the limit there, but I sense there’s a bigger problem. I can see it in your eyes and hear it in your voice.”

  Desmond attempted a weak smile and a fake chuckle. “I can assure you that things are fine here,” he said without being able to muster any real reassurance.

  “Father!” Serea said sharply, her face rigid with concern. “Tell us what’s going on!”

  Desmond looked down at his table, then back into the monitor. “Alright, then. I’ll tell you on one condition, and I need your word on this,” he said, his eyes boring into the camera.

  “What word?” Serea said, her voice now breaking.

  “That you will sit tight and let me work though this in my own way. That you will not try anything stupid and make things much worse than they already are.”

  “Father, tell us!” Serea said again.

  “I’m under arrest. Joseph and I are both under arrest.”

  “For what?” Seven howled through gritted teeth.

  “Sedition. We have been charged with sedition and placed under indefinite house arrest. We have been slated for trial by a Military Tribunal.”

  “What? How can this be Raylond?” Seven asked as Serea gripped his hand tightly.

  “Of course when the President arrived, he brought his full entourage, including the nuclear football – you know the brief case with the launch codes. It seemed totally ridiculous at the time, at the funeral of the planet and most of her people, why would one need a nuclear launch code for heaven’s sake?

  “Well, when he received word that an attack against the United States was underway and that it was part of a planetary war, he began preparations to order the underground and sea-based missile units to retaliate. He was doing this from the Middlearth Command Center .

  “I attempted to reason with him that the worst thing he could ever do for the sake of humanity was to bomb a survival shelter, and it didn’t matter what country it was in, since all the governments were gone anyway.

  “The President then stated that if America was going down, then the enemies of America were going down with her. I told him that he had gone certifiably insane and ordered that everyone in the Command Center attack him and stop him and his company from this madness.

  “His Secret Service goons were heavily armed, so the only individual who complied with my order was, as you might suspect, Joseph, your Commander. Well, they took a few shots at him after he took three of their number down and, thank God, one of them finally disabled him with a whack to the back of the head instead of actually shooting him. The war then proceeded along the President’s plan; they arrested us and charged us with a capitol crime, and here we are. I was allowed this single call as a matter of common decency.”

  “Good God, Raylond! What kind of lunatic do you think you are…” Spencer said from behind Seven.

  Seven rose from his seat and faced an astonished Spencer face to face. “This is a family phone call, Frank, now go find something else to do!”

  Spencer eyed him with a killing look and replied in a whisper, “Sonny, your days are numbered, let me assure you,” then stalked away.

  “What was that?” Raylond asked peering into his monitor. “Was that Frank? What did he say?”

  “Forget it, sir, he just had to take a bathroom break,” Seven said with disgust as he sat back down before the camera. “We’re coming to get you!”

  “You gave me your word!” Desmond said in anger, pounding his fist on the console before him, his face clearly outlining the intensity of his annoyance.

  “No I did not, sir,” Seven responded.

  “Father, we’re going to get you out of this, somehow!” Serea responded.

  “Now listen to me, both of you,” Raylond said harshly. “It is an impossible journey to make it from Pacifica half way around the world to Middlearth, and I will not stand for this nonsense. I put you in charge of a precious slice of humanity and I fully expect you to carry out your duties. The human race cannot endure another blow, not a single one, and you wasting your lives on a useless errand of gratuitous mercy is just not acceptable! I can, and I will, get out of this and I do not need my child and my student helping me out!”

  “Father, stop being so obstinate!” Serea said, tears streaming down her face. “Give us a chance to help you, please!”

  “Serea, stop this wasted sentimentality and think rationally. The President cannot afford to lose my talents and therefore he cannot afford to have me killed. And as far as being under house arrest, so are he and everyone else in Middlearth. Where are we g
oing to go? In 60 days, he will have had his show trial and it will be over. Do you actually think he and his band of lawyers can maintain the functionality of this complex? They’d be dead in a fortnight, and they know it better than I do.”

  “So I guess he’s now actually in charge of Middlearth?” Seven asked.

  “Yes, he and his Chief of Staff have taken full control.”

  “Bevis and butthead at the controls…” Seven muttered. “What a concept…”

  “What?”

  “Nothing, sir, just thinking out loud.” Seven replied in disgust.

  “He has also appointed a Special Prosecutor to manage my trial.”

  “And who might that be?” Seven asked dryly.

  “None other than his old friend, the right Reverend Terrence Lancaster.”

  “What? He’s supposed to be dead right now, feeling just fine along with his flock out sunbathing on Virginia Beach !” Seven responded incredulously.

  “Well, he’s not. He’s right here. Claims the President pleaded with him personally to come here and help save America .”

  “So let me guess: he told his precious flock to go fend for themselves?” Serea asked in disbelief, and then changed the subject. “Does this mean our governing charter is also gone – taken over by the idiot brigade?” Serea asked.

  “I don’t know anything about his flock, he isn’t speaking of them anymore. But as far as losing our charter, it is gone. He let everyone know in a televised speech last night that he represented the government of the United States and that Middlearth was all that was apparently left of a once great nation.”

  “I suppose he hasn’t mentioned elections or Constitutional law?” Seven asked.

  “No, as a matter of fact, he suspended the Constitution and says he is personally redrafting a more relevant version to fit the unprecedented state of affairs.”

  “You know Raylond,” Seven spat in revulsion, “if I didn’t have as much respect for you as I do, I’d tell you to pack your bags, right now, because I’m personally coming to get you and spring you from this foolishness!”

  “Don’t you dare!” Desmond growled. “I can assure you that I can take care of myself! Now, I need my children to have a little more respect for me and get to work there doing what I sent you to do!”

  “Father, where is the Commander?” Serea asked.

  “In the hospital. They took him down pretty hard, I’m afraid. He’s got a concussion but will recover. I’m sure you must know that he’s not in the best of moods right now.”

  “Father, listen to me, please,” Serea said. “None of this is going according to any of our plans or even our weirdest nightmares. I want you to think about allowing us to come and rescue you. Don’t give me your answer right away; just think rationally about a plan…”

  “Serea, you must realize they are listing to this broadcast,” Desmond warned.

  “You cowards! Let my father alone or I will personally…” Serea said fiercely and evenly at the camera.

  “Serea, wait,” Seven said, gently tugging her away from the monitor. Then he looked into the screen, sat back in his seat and laced his fingers behind his head. “Raylond, close your ears for a moment, please.”

  Seven glared into the camera with narrowed, deadly serious eyes. “Okay, here’s the word, you sons of bitches, which includes you, Reverend Judas: think, just think about what you’re doing. Remember, you may imagine that you have the upper hand in your little Middlearth kingdom. But keep in mind, I sleep each night clinging to the master plans for your facility and I have constant communications with every one of your staff who we personally hand-picked. If you don’t want a revolution on your hands and if you don’t want to spend tomorrow’s lunch hour outside under the bright Tennessee sunshine, then you’d better reconsider your position. This is my last warning. And, by the way, I feel just fine. Do you feel fine?”

  Seven smiled into the camera. “Now, Raylond, I’d like to request that you call me each and every day at this time and I’ll expect no problems from the nut cases who’ve taken over your facility.”

  Desmond looked as if he were struggling against forming a smile, then he said, “There is one other item of note that I need your staff to help us consider. We have begun to detect elevated levels of hydrogen sulfide in the air here. It’s nothing serious yet, but it obviously has a biological source and we can’t trace its origin.”

  “What are the levels now, Raylond?” Seven asked, placing his hand on Serea’s knee as she wiped more tears from her eyes.

  “It’s approaching one part per million now and on a non-linear rise.”

  “So the air is fairly musty there?” Seven asked, recalling his own experiences with the gas smelling exactly like rotten eggs.

  “Yes, quite. We hope it stabilizes soon. No one here expects the levels to raise much beyond two ppm.”

  “Well, Raylond, I can tell you that if it doesn’t stop at two, you may need to consider options.”

  “It’s already pretty miserable near one ppm,” Raylond remarked. “If it gets much higher, we’re going to have to use masks.”

  “Raylond, are you aware that if it rises above 30 ppm or so, it’ll cause your sense of smell to fail and you won’t perceive you have a problem anymore? At higher levels it could be fatal.”

  “Yes, of course,” Desmond responded.

  “Where do you think it’s coming from?” Seven asked.

  “Our staff microbiologists believe that the water systems are flooded with soluble organics from the massive die-off and that the deep anaerobic microorganisms in the aquifers, well out of reach of the radiation flux, are taking advantage of the abundant nutrient supply and metabolizing it at unprecedented rates. No one expected to see this; it’s a total surprise. Of course, it doesn’t help that we are located right in the center of the massive funneling point for the entire formerly heavily forested Cumberland Plateau, and the way the rivers all converge together and pour into the sink-hole, the whole of Middlearth is simply acting as an enormous off-gassing basin. No one saw this coming”

  “Do you have enough chemical masks and filters to go around there?” Seven inquired.

  “Yes, for a short while. After that, we can cluster people around ventilation ducts in closed rooms, but we will be in serious shape if the levels don’t actually stabilize.”

  “What’s the status on radiological contamination from the local hit?” Seven asked. “Are you sucking in any of the atomic trash?”

  “It hasn’t affected us to any great extent. Of course, we rely on filtered air only anyway, and we are deep enough to ward off any other effects. The band of serious contamination fell just west of here, but there are measurable levels outside, principally strontium-90, iodine-131, calcium-45 and cesium-137 along with some trace radioactive carbon. It is serious, but since we are isolated we can avoid the areas.

  “I see my jailers have returned to fetch me,” Raylond said as the door behind him opened and he sat up straight in his chair. “I will attempt to make contact with you tomorrow,” he said as the link was suddenly cut.

  There was a long moment of silence. Finally Serea spoke first.

  “Aaron, we have to make plans to go get him,” she whispered.

  “Yes, of course,” he responded, his eyes darting about the Command Center to see who might be listening, “…and here’s how we’re going to do this…”

  37

  Warren’s face beamed with a translucent smile, wholly outside of his normal demeanor. Wattenbarger and Charles stared back at him as though he had suddenly been infected with an alien spirit. They had never seen him so utterly pleased with anything.

  “It’s working! It’s working!” he shouted, “Just like I planned! Just like I designed it to work! We’re now safe, boys; safe! Now any shelter on this planet won’t only take us, but they’ll actually offer to pay us to come inside!”

  “If there’re any shelters left after the bombs,” Charles noted dourly.

  �
�Of course the shelters are left. What, are you daft?” Warren responded. “Do you honestly think they’d actually target survival shelters? No way! Not even politicians are that stupid. They were just targeting missiles silos and military bases, that’s all! Trust me on this; no one on this planet could possibly be that brainless. So that means, all we have to do now is to contact the shelter of our choice, let them know what we have and work out the pick up. You see, the plan worked perfectly, just like I told you it would!”

  Wattenbarger looked deeply annoyed, and then replied, “It’s real nice of you to take credit for all my work on your model, Lew. If it weren’t for my calculations, there’s no way you would’ve found the right layering and doping combinations by trial and error.”

  “I deeply apologize for my insinuations,” Warren sincerely responded. “Of course, you’re the co-discoverer of one of the most important innovations of all of history.”

  “Oh, give us a break, Einstein,” Charles responded reflexively, narrowing his bushy eyebrows at Warren .

  “Listen, both of you,” Warren replied. “When they find out that I’ve… I mean that we - have discovered a method of employing the quantum storms’ energy to quadruple, or even perhaps increase the energy output of a standard solar cell by a whole order of magnitude, then you’ll see that I’m not exaggerating at all. This discovery alone has the potential of making the difference between life and death for every shelter on earth. Trust me on this; we’ll be able to pick the shelter of our choosing.”

  Charles’s face suddenly soured and he looked at Warren with disgust. “Do you need to say ‘excuse me’?”

  “What?” Warren asked with mounting frustration.

  “You know, ‘excuse me;’ that thing you’re supposed to say after you drop a stinker in the room.”

  “It’s not him,” Wattenbarger responded, involuntarily sniffing the air. “And it’s not me. It’s the stream.”