by Scott Todd
Terry reemerged back from her fog. "Where's my lighter?" she said demandingly. Ben quickly produced it, and Terry lit up a smoke. The smell of tobacco was never more appreciated, as it permeated the car quickly, masking the unbearable odor of burning human death.
"I wonder who she was, and what life she had. The poor woman," began Terry, in a talkative, but sullen mood all of a sudden. "At least she didn't suffer. It was fast. Too fast. We couldn't do anything. Not a damn thing."
"I know I know, sweetheart. It is really, really sad," Ben remarked, genuinely sympathetic and reaching out to her. Terry accepted, hugging him for dear life.
"Yeah, we were just getting the supplies put behind the wall and then wham, out of nowhere," Jan lamented. "I feel so bad for her. I just..."
"It's fate or maybe God," Terry interjected. "No one knows how or why or when. It just is. Maybe I'm next."
"No no, you're NOT next!" Ben interrupted hastily. "And don't you say that! Ok? We've got to try and keep going, no matter what. If I die, YOU keep going, Ok?" Terry just looked at him. "Ok?" Ben repeated, pulling her to him. "I'm sorry baby. SO damn sorry for all this."
"Well, we do still have each other," I said in a last attempt, hoping for some kind of hope. I reached for Jan, who was a bit more accepting, and back we were exchanging warmth in a hug. "That's true," she agreed, but not so enthusiastically. She did hug me a bit harder though, and I reciprocated.
Then there was more silence and contemplation, and we heard only the rain on the roof. I wondered if Sandra's car had made it through the strikes. The chances were good I figured, cause it was on the safe side of the hill. But boy was I hungry.
Chapter 19: Bizarre Theories of Hope
"Well you might not think it's worth figuring out what happened honey, but it might very well be worth figuring out," Ben said to his daughter- and bringing us all back from misery. "Because if we can come up with a solution that makes sense, that very thing could give us a lot more hope if it's not as bad as it appears. You never know...There COULD be a lot of people still left alive. And they COULD be looking for survivors. There's the international community, and we have no idea what..."
"Yeah, but what are the chances of that?" Terry countered, refusing any further attention, and puffing again on her smoke.
"Well, we don't know!," Ben continued, underscoring the issue, and flicking on the interior car light. "And that's the point. We just don't know. So until we do, let's not give up hope, ok? I just need more time to think. That sulfur issue has got me on a completely different track than what I was thinking before."
"I looked at water puddles up near the deck, and they also had that same yellow look and smell- meaning that it was not collected in the water runoff down the mountain. It was being collected by the rain, fresh from the atmosphere. And that means something. I just haven't figured out what yet, ok?" Ben said, pleading for time.
"Don't volcanoes produce a lot of sulfur?" I asked. "Could this be some kind of... No, wait a minute... That's jarred my memory a bit here... Wasn't there some kind of other theory that..."
"Yeah, there are lots of theories," interrupted Ben. "And the more I think about it, the more one of them is making sense. And that is still not good news, but it may be better news."
"I might know what you are talking about. Maybe," I said. "You talking about that theory of deep gas trapped below the continents for millions of years, that all of a sudden explodes with astronomical force, sending some of the earth layers into orbit? I think they called it... What the heck was it?"
"Verneshot. And yeah, that's one of the things I am thinking too," Ben concluded, a bit more emphatically. He turned around and looked at me, a bit surprised. "I am amazed you even know about that. That is not a widely known theory, except in certain circles. But Marty, oh yeah Marty... He really was all gung ho for that theory. He sent me a scientific paper on that from... from... Morgan, I believe it was. Yeah, that's right. J. Phipps Morgan. And I must admit, most of it was pretty sound thinking, all the way down to the mineral processes that occur in the earth. It was very intriguing."
"Yeah, that's the one," I concurred. "I am no scientist, but I was able to understand a lot of it, and it seemed to make perfect sense to me too. But I think there are still some issues for that to explain what has happened here."
"I agree," Ben continued, "But right now it's making the most sense. And not long ago, it was discovered that a huge portion of molten rock was forming under the Pacific Plate, way deep down near the earth's outer core. I mean huge... The size of the whole state of Florida.
"And that's just what they could detect. They really didn't know just how big it was, or to what degree it had melted. Not really. But no one expected anything to come of this for millions of years. It was just too deep. However, it was deemed to be a potential site for extinction level volcanism way in the future.
"It is possible though," he continued, "That melt created enough gas and pressure to cause an explosion of catastrophic force. It would explain the ocean movement, and it would explain the propelled rocks we just witnessed, as some of it came back down from near orbit. I need to find some of those rocks. They might provide a clue. That will be the first thing I'll do after the rain. I don't have a...Wait a minute. I think I DO still have a portable rock analysis kit back there from a trip I took a couple weeks ago for the university," Ben finished.
"What in the world is he talking about?" Jan begged from me. "And can you turn off that light please? I really don't see how what you're talking about helps us now," she said, looking at Terry. Terry looked at Ben and just rolled her eyes, before the light went out.
"I think what Ben is trying to say," I proposed, "Is that yes this is very bad, but it might not be extinction level. Because it could be more localized than that. It's possible over a billion people died in this, but there well may be another five billion left. And at this point I'd settle for one billion left, frankly. There really could be a mass international effort underway to look for survivors. Satellite shots can pretty well tell them what is left, and with all this water they will look naturally for the higher elevations. And guess where we are. On the highest mountain in the eastern US."
"Now you're talking," Ben concurred. "Brian is absolutely right. If this is not as bad as it looks, we have every reason to hold out as long as we can."
Terry and Jan were both listening attentively, and looked at each other, unsure of what to think next. Or maybe what to feel next.
Chapter 20: The Urgent Death Calculator
"I could really use some of those pills," Ben asked. There was about a half bottle left of Ibuprofen, but they were going quickly. Ben had concerns about taking them without much food or water, but this was an emergency situation. He was either going to take them or be in agony, and same for the rest of us. We were pretty battered, and even the pills only did so much for the pain from burns. Jan got them out and passed around four each, while I climbed in the very back after the cooler. We were ravenous.
"Got to go easy on that food," Ben reminded me. I passed another quarter sandwich around to each. It really only made me hungrier. There was still another two sandwiches left after that, and four apples, as well as some apple juice in the cooler. The ice had nearly all melted. We each took a small sip of the juice, and each had an Oreo cookie, salvaged from Sandra's car earlier. I did have some cans of baked beans and some tuna, as well as other things, but they were still up at the deck.
With the sting of extreme hunger gone, I was able to think a bit more. "So does the Verneshot theory explain all the earthquakes?" I asked Ben, after some further contemplation.
"I was wondering that too," he said, grabbing his arm once again with a grimace. "And it might. It's conceivable that all that pressure caused the pacific plate to react. It was bulging up in the middle near that melt spot, and it's possible it could have affected the plate- causing those big quakes on the west coast, Mexico, and down near Antarctica. And then maybe it just got worse from there and blew u
p.
He continued: "The first real big one you and Marty saw on your programs might have been an initial fracturing of the crust, getting pushed upward. That one was bad enough to displace huge amounts of sea water and cause the huge first quake. But the monstrous second one was probably a complete tearing and ripping up of the sea floor for 1,000 km or more to release all that gas pressure at once when the whole thing surpassed the crust's ability to contain it any longer."
"So it's almost like Hapgood and Morgan combined?" I suggested.
"That very well could be," he said. "A version of Hapgood's crustal displacements caused by a Verneshot-type pressure release from a recently discovered, very deep super volcano."
"Jesus, that sounds bizarre!" I said incredulously. "It's just strange that there isn't evidence of something that big ever happening on the planet before, is there? I mean yeah, there were the Siberian Traps, which supposedly erupted for a million years, and other continental flood basalts, but this?"
"Well just because it may not have happened before, doesn't mean it can't happen at all," Ben replied. "And I guarantee you that at a minimum that was felt physically all over the planet. Not just on seismometers. The damage... Oh my goodness the damage. I can only..."
"Well wait a minute though," I said, as a new terrifying thought entered my upper white matter. "If that first quake was a first puncture, and the material from that is what just rained down upon us? That means... That could mean... That the second one... Even bigger... Oh no." I couldn't even finish as the thought of a second round of even worse and bigger fire rocks coming down on us was just too much to bear.
Jan disengaged and was looking at me, even though by now it was dark and I couldn't see her. I just felt her piercing stare. Ben said nothing, but I felt him lower his head. Terry's breathing got heavier, and I could feel her seize up.
After five minutes of deadly silence, Ben finally spoke. "Well, what you say could be true. And only time will tell. I guess I was just hoping for the best in my explanation earlier. But if our theories are true, the next round will be much worse."
"You mean we're all going to get squished like bugs. Like Sandra!" Terry cried out. Ben tried to reach out to her, but I heard a slap on his arm. I just prayed it wasn't his bad arm. "Don't you!..." yelled Terry. I secured my gun, and grabbed the rifle, as Ben gasped in agony. I was a bit leery of what Terry might do again in a fit.
I desperately tried to think around the problem. Maybe there was something I wasn't seeing. "Can't you run some calculations on that, Ben?" I blurted out, my desperation clearly showing. "I mean we have a rough idea of the time of the quakes, and the arrival of the water, and the arrival of the first... I mean the arrival of the rocks. Can't you..."
"Pass me my calculator. It's in the briefcase back there," he said with urgency. "I can try, but... But... Just let me have it. That and a pen and paper." He turned on the light and I went scrambling over the seat.
Tearing through everything, I found his briefcase near the bottom, dragged it back over the seat, and tried to open it- but it was locked. I wondered why.
"742578," he said. Keying the combination and popping the lid, there was a bunch of paperwork in there, but my eyes were intent upon finding the calculator. Then I passed it, the gold pen and a blank page to him quickly. But not before I noticed a page protruding from the upper paper holder with the words: "TOP SECRET" and a DHS logo.
"What in the...?" I started to ask him, but he interrupted.
"Go ahead. Go ahead and pull that out and read it. Cause it doesn't damn well matter now," he said firmly. "But you all need to be very quiet. I've got serious work to do and I need silence. Take the pages out and give me the case so I can write on it."
I pulled out what amounted to about ten pages, all stamped with important looking codes, and handed him the case. Terry lit another smoke.
Chapter 21: Sound The Secret Alarm
Jan scooted up next to me to read the document. It was obviously a copy, but in his hands I didn't doubt it was real for a second. I glanced at her briefly, and she met my look. I detected a faint scent of perfume, that I hadn't noticed anytime before. "I like that" I said lowly, and returned to the document, not really thinking much of it. But she grabbed my chin and made me look at her again, and just said "Good," along with a mischievous, ever so slight smirk on her face. "Wha...?" I started to ask.
"Marty sent me that by the way," Ben interrupted and briefly paused. He gave the calculator a needed break- it was being abused profusely. "He... Well let's just say Marty knew a lot of people in high places." And then he was right back to it, scribbling and punching in numbers.
The letter was classified, and sent to the Joint Chiefs of Staff with a CC to the White House, FEMA, and other names I didn't know. It was from the Director of Homeland Security.
It basically said that there was an urgent update that concerned national security, and that all should read the attached report. When I flipped to the next page, there were USGS and US Navy logos at the top. The words "URGENT UPDATE on Mid Pacific Melt Region" were stamped in bold letters across the page. And it was dated back to August, 2012.
The first part of the report detailed the region, and showed the deep rock piles colliding, with diagrams, and the massive area of deep, melting and merging rock. But there was a whole lot more.
Jan got bored quickly trying to read it and went back to staring out the window. But not even the top secret document could keep me from noticing her loosening her shirt a bit, and undoing a top button. She glanced back at me, daring me to look, and holding it open. She was definitely up to something, and it was looking like I was part of her plan. But why she chose to do it then, so soon, and at such a critical moment of trying to understand all this, was way beyond me.
She made sure I saw her breast through her shirt, and then quickly closed it back up. "I like that too," I whispered, to a returning wink from her. I couldn't tell if she was serious, or if she was just toying with me out of pure boredom. Or maybe she just didn't care anymore, knowing we were all about to die anyway with this latest news.
And then she silently and coyly put her hand on my leg, suspiciously too far up. And it started slowly moving further that way. I looked over at her, very surprised, but she looked dead at me with a more serious look, and was not flinching even a bit.
"Well that answers THAT question," I thought. But damn, Ben and Terry were sitting right there up in front. I wondered if Ben was catching any of this in the rear view mirror, but he appeared to be totally engrossed in calculations, and not paying any attention whatsoever. The calculator remained in pain from the onslaught.
I looked at Jan again, and then glanced at the two in front, asking her with my eyes what the hell she was doing, knowing those two were right there. So damn close. She retreated back again to the window with a frustrated sigh, disengaging. I figured that maybe it was getting close to that time of the month or something...
As hard as it was to stay focused with Jan's bizarre distractions at a time like this, it quickly became clear through reading the rest that there was a lot more to the situation than was released to the public. Thermal imaging showed a massive amount of heating taking place, and sonar mapping showed an increase in uplift on the bottom of the ocean floor- rising at alarming rates- and over an area that was much bigger actually than the size of Florida.
I couldn't believe what I was reading! These people knew, for Christ's sakes. And then all kinds of other thoughts starting flying into my head. The huge purchases of ammunition by the DHS and other agencies. The militarization of the police. The spy drones being deployed. Rumors of high military officials being asked if they would fire on American citizens, and terminated if they wouldn't. I mean all kinds of things were seeming to fit more and more in place into the grand, elusive puzzle.
The report concluded that the situation was extremely dangerous, and if it continued, that it could blow. But there were also opinions from many scientists, and their co
nclusions varied from "Don't worry about it" through "Sound the Alarm." It clearly lacked consensus. And it was hard to tell WHAT the authorities were making of all this from the report. But one thing was clear- they were definitely preparing for SOMETHING.
"Ahhh, Ben?" I started to ask. The calculator breathed another sigh of relief for a minute, as the button pushing stopped.
"Yeah, we knew. And I can't deny it," Ben interrupted. "We knew, but we just didn't know when. And to be honest, most of us thought this would be just another temporary period of inflation, like what happens at other super volcanoes. Yellowstone was infamous for this, and there had been no eruption- not even a small one. The ground has been rising and falling forever there, and most of us thought this was pretty much the exact same thing. We thought it would stabilize over some years."
"So this really was a lot worse than what the public was led to believe," I countered, now really suspicious about what else he might know.
For a minute there was silence, and Terry looked over at him. Ben just lowered his head, obviously thinking very carefully about what he was going to say next.