2042: The Great Cataclysm

by Melisande Mason

  ‘Sister Torrens.’ A nurse cried. ‘I’m so confused! It’s not like our drills. Patients are being brought in by ambulance, and before they can be treated, they’re shipped out on army trucks or Vetos. The emergency room’s chaos. Our routines and treatment schedules are all upside down. The doctors are starting to reschedule most of the operations.’

  Alex had been correct, exercises weren’t like the real thing. Nobody panicked, but now she sensed fear creeping into the nurse’s voice.

  ‘There’s nothing we can do about it.’ She replied wearily wiping her forehead. She could feel the perspiration clinging uncomfortably to her overworked body, and realised then that all the nurses would need reassuring. Normally they were well organised and disciplined, a hospital is that kind of environment. All of a sudden the well-ordered routine was thrown aside.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  The Earthquakes Friday Morning, June 9

  The Platypus had been delayed in Hawaii for two days finding a replacement crew, and was now three hundred kilometres south of the Johnston coral atoll. The seas were running at a three to four metre swell.

  The Pacific Tsunami Centre bellowed out the tsunami warning over the radio. ‘Tsunami bulletin number one from the Pacific Tsunami Warning centre. Earthquakes have occurred with the following parameters: Origin time: Eleven thirty hours June 8, 2042. The coordinates: the length of the Pacific Ocean fault line at a depth of thirty-five kilometres. Location: from the Bering Strait to New Zealand. Magnitude...’ The announcer paused, his voiced raised in pitch. ‘Magnitude eleven point two, ten point one, nine point nine!’

  ‘Eleven point two?’ Sam repeated. ‘Sweet Jesus, we’re in for it. Beau come to the wheelhouse!’

  Sam wanted to call Nick, but there was no time. His main fear was losing the Bunyip over the side because he doubted the Navilon hood could take a slam from something that large if she came loose. He had no idea if the platypus could ride it out, or if he could keep her pointing into the swells. He punched the automatic pilot to select the Critical Storm level, went to enter the heading and bearing, and it registered that he didn’t know; it would be coming from all directions. The boat would slow to bare steerage way, and hold at an angle of forty-five degrees to the swells. The windows on the bridge were extra toughened Navilon, so Sam felt confident they could take the onslaught. He was not so confident about the hull, even though she had been strengthened to cut through ice.

  Beau arrived from below and picked up the binoculars. ‘Sam! The horizon. Look!’ He handed the binoculars to Sam.

  The sea undulated like a snake in the distance. ‘Oh, man.’ Sam breathed. ‘That’s one angry sea. Must be a one hundred foot swell at least, and it’s comin’ our way. We’re gonna to feel like we’re on the biggest roller coast on earth, make sure everyone’s in the capsules below. No-one on the deck! Shut the shield.’

  The chief engineer stood beside Sam and Beau, training his binoculars on the fearsome scene ahead. His face, like the Beau’s, was white as sun bleached bone. The black wave drew closer and Sam shouted. ‘Into the capsules now!’

  They buckled themselves in. ‘All crew, if you’t not in the capsules now you’ll be dead!’ Sam bellowed into the communications system. ‘It’s going to be the mother of all rogue waves’

  The shock of the first wave hit them with a thundering crash that jarred their teeth. The gimbals rocked but the capsules remained level. It sounded like a freight train running over them and Sam looked to the side window and could see nothing but black water. He watched as daylight turned dark and his stomach flipped in unison with the ship as she climbed the peak, then dived into the trough, all the time resisting the waves attempts to sink her.

  More waves followed, and many times she hung vertically while climbing the peaks, and Sam thought she would break in two when she crashed back into the troughs. Never in all his days at sea had he experienced anything so frightening. Platypus spun and dived like she was riding a bucking bronco, and Sam expected them all to go to the bottom of the sea at any minute. The onslaught continued for an hour, and the seasoned crew members down below were violently ill, even Sam battled to keep down his breakfast.

  When the pounding eased to a swell of six metres, and remained that way for fifteen minutes Sam gave the order to resume stations and ordered damage reports. His knees wobbled as he carefully clambered out of his capsule and steadied himself by the helm. He checked their course and reset the automatic pilot while the chief engineer headed off to inspect the engines. Satisfied that all was well, he left the wheelhouse in the hands of the first mate and went with Beau to check on the Bunyip.

  Beau heaved a sigh when he saw the submersible still strapped into the ties they had harnessed around her, albeit at a tilted angle. Two crew members were tightening the straps holding her in her cradle. He realised then how close they had come to capsizing and losing the entire ship. Beau pursed his lips and shook his head as he walked around the Bunyip, patting her belly. ‘Get Nick’s baby settled back in her crib boys. It ain’t over yet.’

  A sudden wind thundered over the ship, bringing with it patches of foam in dense white streaks over the Navilon hood, filling their ears with a thundering roar. The sea was completely white with driving spray and foam.

  Sam waved at the men. ‘Hurry boys back to your capsules.’ He yelled above the deafening roar pounding against the hood. He staggered back to the wheel house with Beau following behind, reeling and swaying on the heaving deck. Visibility was zero outside, and just as they were about to enter the wheelhouse, the ship bucked abruptly knocking Sam to his feet, and the Platypus began wallowing in the chaotic sea again. He struggled to his feet rubbing his head and grabbing at anything to hold him steady.

  ‘Sweet Jesus. What’s happenin’ now George?’ He bellowed to his first mate.

  ‘Dunno Captin.’ The Anomometer is reading sixty, or force eleven and climbing. It’s way above hurricane force.’

  ‘Keep a sharp lookout.’

  ‘Captain check the compass. Where the hell are we?’

  ‘We’re on course, why?’ Sam answered.

  George handed the binoculars to Sam and pointed. ‘Then what’s that out there?’

  Sam squinted through the binoculars. He couldn’t understand what he was seeing. It appeared to be a distant land mass where there should have been open ocean, and it was huge, there didn’t appear to be an end to it. Clouds of smoke and steam and dust bellowed from it’s entire surface that glowed with red hot lava. The boiling sea near it was stained an eerie yellowish green.

  ‘Volcano?’ Sam hissed. ‘There’s no volcanos here. It’s the middle of the Pacific Ocean!’

  Wolf barrelled into the wheelhouse. ‘I just saw it on the satellite feed, my Got!’ He puffed.

  ‘Is it a volcano Wolf?’ Sam asked.

  ‘It’s more than that, it’s a new island and it’s huge, satellite shows it to be a hundred miles across and twice as long, and about fifteen hundred feet high.’

  ‘What? Are you jivin’ me?’ How the hell?’

  Wolf pulled at his beard. ‘The earthquake here’s caused a giant undersea volcano to erupt and rise to the surface, and there’s a chain of undersea quakes erupting all along the new fault line as we speak, just as we predicted. The Aleutians have disappeared, along with a big chunk of Alaska and Russia, I hardly recognised the area. The North Pole’s disintegrating!’

  ‘Sweet Jesus. What do we do?’

  Beau was peering through binoculars at the frightening scene. ‘Keep on course for Australia.’ He said. ‘Nick will be eager to know how we are.’

  ‘I’ve tried to contact him.’ Wolf muttered. ‘He’ll be in the thick of it in a few hours, so I don’t expect to get through to him.’

  ‘I’ll have to set a new course ‘round that thing.’ It’s goin’ to take us much longer to reach Brisbin, and if this gale keeps up, longer still.’

  The sea threw great waves and foam over the Platypus as she made slow headway
on her course, peaking and diving into the black abyss of the troughs, struggling up the next peak, fighting the raging wind and currents, until all onboard thought their bodies would break, and headed to the capsules for some respite.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Gold Coast Friday, June 9

  It was the fourth day after Nick had arrived on the Gold Coast and operation Star Flight was in full swing. The sky was a constant buzz with the whirring, screaming sound of many Vetos, and some of the Trancar lines had been disconnected to make way for loaded army jeeps and trucks pushing through the streets. The smart phone in Nick’s apartment buzzed. ‘Yeah!’ He snapped, annoyed at the intrusion, noting the time at eight o’clock.

  ‘Sounds like you’ve had about enough.’ Graham’s gruff voice rumbled over the background noise of what sounded like a thrashing machine.

  ‘Sorry mate. Am I glad to hear from you! Are you here on the Coast?’

  ‘Yeah, I want to be here when the balloon goes up. Mum’s okay and I’ve done all I can in Canberra.’

  Nick wandered toward the kitchen as he spoke, he needed a coffee to settle his nerves. Sunlight streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling Navilon windows, blinding him with its ferocity, bouncing off the walls to hit his tired eye balls like needles fired into a pin cushion.

  ‘Just as we thought, they’ve suspended all overseas flights and diverted incoming to inland Australian airports. The regional airports are panicking, they don’t have the facilities, but the big boys are flying in anyway.

  ‘Sounds like you’re handling your end okay.’ Nick said.

  ‘I see things are happening fast here too. I saw a lot of boats heading out to sea.’

  ‘Yeah, but I’m not sure it’s the best idea. What’s happening on your end?’

  ‘It’s a strange scene from the air, we almost need traffic cops up there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much air traffic in once place before.’

  ‘Yeah, it’s getting out of control.’ Nick replied, pouring more coffee. ‘Most people have entered into the spirit and gone into the hills to camp, but just as many are staying put, just plain confused.’

  ‘Have you had breakfast yet?’

  ‘Are you kidding? I haven’t had last night’s dinner yet!’

  ‘Okay, I’m on my way over. Wrap as much as you can in blankets. I’ll be landing soon.’ Graham said disconnecting.

  Nick groaned and rushed to the bedroom where he emptied the two suitcases he had packed into a blanket, loaded all the blankets, sheets and quilts he could find on top and dragged the bundle to the door. He took another blanket to the kitchen and loaded all the food from the panty, and dragged it to the pile at the door. He looked at his selected pile of books and added a few more to the blanket, then as an afterthought went to his bar and grabbed two bottles of Black Label. He was ready.

  He wondered what was happening in Alaska.

  He didn’t have to wonder long before the smart phone buzzed. ‘What is it now?’ He snapped. Wolf’s excited voice babbled over the phone.

  ‘Nicky. Nick! It’s started! We’re right in the middle of it!

  Nick could hear static and tumultuous noise in the background.

  ‘What’s happening? Wolf!’

  ‘The ocean’s unbelievable, my Got, the waves. Never seen anything like it. The undersea quake here has spawned a new island. It’s enormous! I just had a call from my friends from the US Coast Guard in Alaska.’ In his excitement his German accent became so pronounced Nick had trouble deciphering the words. ‘They said they are hearing continuous ear-splitting sonic booms and the ground is shaking! They were shouting and screaming, and I could hear such noise in the background I could hardly hear what they were saying. They said the sky has gone black, day’s become night! We were disconnected! I’m afraid for all of us. It seems we were right. It is as we predicted!’

  Nick interrupted Wolf. ‘How’s the Platypus handling it?’

  Sam’s voice came on the line. ‘It was touch and go boss, we were hit by massive waves, we had to use the capsules. She’s ridin’ into a force eleven plus right now and holdin’ up.’

  ‘What about...?’

  ‘Bunyip’s safe, Lord knows how, but she is.’

  ‘Ask Wolf what the instruments are reading?’

  Wolf was back on the line. ‘They’ve gone crazy!’ He shouted. ‘We’re four days out of Hawaii. You were right Nick. Looks like the plates have sub-ducted all the way along the new fault, vertical as well as horizontal! The sea’s crazy. Boiling. Currents going in all directions! Tsunami warning’s have gone out. Got Nicky, there’s a series between nine point nine and eleven point two! Unheard of!’

  ‘Listen Wolf.’ Nick interrupted. ‘Just in case I can’t get through to you again, tell Sam to maintain his heading and come into the Gold Coast as close as he can, anchor out and wait! I’ll find you! Take orders only from me and don’t let anyone on board! You all know my voice, but I’ll use the code word Capsicum to identify myself when I contact you. Just in case. Things could get a bit hairy here. D’you understand?’

  ‘Ya, Capsicum it is! Good luck Nick and Got be with you. Out.’

  ***

  Nick prayed they would be safe, but would he? He no sooner ended the phone than it buzzed again. This time he heard the whirr, whirr, whirr of a cyclone warning siren filling the room.

  ‘This is an emergency warning!’ An excited voice called. ‘All coastal areas of Australia will be hit by large tsunami within the next eight to ten hours! A series of subterranean earthquakes measuring an average of 10.9 on the Richter scale have been recorded in the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to Tahiti and in Chile. We repeat. This is an emergency warning! Please move to higher ground. All emergency services have been employed. Please do not panic! Move in an orderly fashion to higher ground. Police and army personnel will direct you to safe areas!’

  ‘Radio.’ Nick ordered. All stations were broadcasting the same message. Over and over.Well, this is it he thought, the shit’s hit the fan!

  Graham arrived minutes later with sandwiches and plans already in mind, having picked up the broadcasts on Liberty’s radio. Liberty was Graham’s personal long range Bell Veto that he had recently acquired, and admitted he loved flying more than his super 797 airliner, or any other plane.

  ‘It’s just as well there’s a landing pad on the roof of this building, there’s not many that do. I see the Phoenix has one too.’

  ‘Yeah. Nick added. Karen’s uncle lives there.’

  ‘Quite impressive building, isn’t it? Looks like it’s built with tsunami in mind.’

  ‘Mmmm.’ Nick said. ‘That remains to be seen. Not many will stand up to what’s coming.’

  ‘I don’t think we’re going to be able to do anything more than lift some people to safety.’ Graham said. ‘At least we have plenty of warning. Eight to ten hours is a long time. People living right on the beach-front could almost walk up into the mountains in that time.’

  ‘Yeah, if you can get them started now!’

  ‘Phone Brian.’ Nick yelled, while he and Graham dragged blankets through the door to the lift, but the smart phone merely beeped. A group of people from his floor crowded in front of the lift and glared at the bundles they dragged. ‘Lift open.’ Nick demanded.

  ‘Lift has reached maximum passengers.’ Ping. ‘Lift has reached maximum passengers.’A hollow voice repeated.

  ‘It’s no good.’ One of the crowd yelled. ‘It’s been like this since the announcement.’

  ‘Come on.’ Graham spluttered. ‘We’ll use the stairs!’

  They started at a run, but they quickly slowed. It was six floors to the top, not normally a big climb, but the burden of the blankets over their shoulders proved to be a heavy load. ‘Don’t drop anything Graham, we’ll need all this and more!’ Nick puffed, feeling guilty about the few books he had thrown among the other things.

  They burst gasping onto the roof and Nick saw the big net lying beside the Veto. Nick didn’t like
Vetos. In his opinion the jets were noisy, but this black Navilon cocoon was a welcome site.

  ***

  Graham pulled out the net shouting above the wind. ‘We can fill this with provisions, even people if we have to, and lower it to safety up there.’ He nodded toward the mountains. ‘D’you think you can pick out Brian’s house from the air?’

  ‘Yeah, I think so, it should be easy to spot it perched up there on the hillside.’

  ‘Is there anywhere there to land the Veto?’ Graham asked.

  ‘No. It’s in the bush.’

  ‘Okay. The first thing we’ll do is drop this in there. There’s room for more, let’s go back down for another load.’ They pushed the blankets into the net and headed back to the stairwell. Shielding his eyes from the glare, Nick stopped to look around at the unimpeded spectacular view. Vetos swarmed like bees overhead, and with the bright morning sun reflecting on their shiny black bodies, they looked like huge flying beetles. He looked out to a sea that appeared strangely calm, showing no hint of its anger to come. Queenslanders had an enduring saying about their state; Beautiful one day, perfect the next!Not this time, he thought, and trembled as a cold shudder wound it’s way slowly down his spine, and that other threat that had been haunting him surfaced again.

  When they reached the floor below they saw that some of the residents had fled leaving their apartment doors wide open. ‘That’ll save us some time. We’ll grab some provisions from there.’ Graham said.

  ‘Wait a minute. Isn’t that looting?’

  ‘Yeah but who’s going to care, nothing will be left by the flood anyway! Better we take it up there where it can be used. The looters will be doing everyone a favour and not realising it.’

  They worked feverishly for about an hour collecting items from apartments and stuffing them into the net until it was full. Nick constantly consulted his watch, afraid they would run out of time.

  Liberty’s four Allison turbine jet engines spat into life, jerking the machine into a frenzied wobble, and the jet thrusters whipped the air as they wound up to maximum thrust. An almost unbearable thumping sound reverberated in Nicks ears as the engine reached full revs, and he quickly reached for the earphones to help soften the deafening noise. The jet thrusters extruded a waving vortex and Liberty leapt from it’s mooring like a jack rabbit.