The Event Series (Book 3): The Archive and Beyond

by Thomas Larson

  September 18th

  (Lance) Yep, it rained today; guess the red sky doesn’t lie. It is going to be an indoor day. But that is okay too because I am going to need to do some wiring on the inside to be ready for the solar panels. Washa, Sgt. Brown gave me a hand and so did Del. Actually Del was perfect for a lot of the work in the conduits and in the ceiling; she is thin enough to fit in some spots Washa and I are too large for.

  As we were working on it, I was kind of amazed at the number of cables and wires that are up there in the ceiling. It almost seems that there are more there than should or needed to be. When I pointed it out to Washa she looked at me, then the wires, and muttered something under her breath.

  “Lance, I think you be right. Be way too many wires here,” she said with a scowl on her face.

  “Could there be another panel or wall, or hidden area?” I offered

  “Maybe, and now we haz nobody to check wit, Knox ain’t gonna help us fo sure.”

  “Well, if you two think I am crawling into some deep dark vents you can think again, I am sick of the spider webs,” said Del, sounding a little grumpy.

  “No, I think we will work on what we have now to get finished first, then we can explore, so for now, you are good,” I told her.

  She glared at me.

  It would kind of make sense that there might be more. This place did seem a little small for what it was supposed to be, just the three levels. Maybe there was some hard wired connection to Westover, it is miles away, but if there was an EM Burst from a nuke, hard wire would be the best solution to continued communications.

  Anyway, I digress; hopefully tomorrow we will be able to do the outside work.

  (Tom) It was a rainy day so Asuna and I took a run down to the camp today just to check for contact and try to hit up the Pittsburgh, nobody home. The transmission seemed to have a lot of static in the background.

  Not much else to tell, we are all getting settled in and we are working on the finishing steps of clearing out Romanica of odds and ends. All that is left is Lance’s electronics.

  September 19th

  (Lance) Del woke up screaming, she had a nightmare about spiders. I guess she will not be so keen on climbing into the conduits anymore. I can’t say I blame her.

  The good news was that it was a clear and sunny day, really warm for this time of year. I think we call it Indian Summer, or at least we used to. Fred, McManus, Gillie, Taylor, Washa, we all sweated our butts off getting the new array up and running. We have extra power now.

  Tom and Asuna were not around; they drove off this morning on some mission and did not get back until late. When they did, I saw them giving a couple sets of keys to Taylor and Teckla.

  (Margo) H, H, and H (Hazy, Hot and Humid) was the weather today. Code and I took a ride down to the Oxbow Farm to help Teckla with the animals in the morning. Lincoln came along although about all he could do was to sit and watch. I think it was good to get him out though. We were done by about noon and headed back topside.

  The trip down to the farm takes about 15 minutes by truck, it is not all that far, and the roads are clear. I think it would take an hour on horseback.

  I caught Gillie sneaking into Taylor’s room again tonight, just after dinner. Actually, it was not really sneaking, they were holding hands and I think that he is staying there more nights than not, good for them.

  Life has become rather boring, we are comfortable here, almost too comfortable, no worries on hot showers and being warm come winter time. Even though it is miserably hot outside today being underground is pretty cool, comfortable cool, not cool cool.

  (Tom) Asuna and I headed out to Holyoke and found a nice big RV to bring back to the Oxbow Farm. It has all the bells and whistles on it, generator, potty, stove, fridge, AC, all the goodies. It should be great. I drove it over and Asuna followed in the Coyote. We set it up on blocks so it would protect the tires.

  When we got back, I gave the keys to Taylor and Teckla, they are the people who would mostly likely be staying there.

  Molly was chasing Lucy around when we got back. Or maybe it was the other way around; they were playing together whatever the case. Biter was out there running around with them.

  Mark and Michelle are getting comfortable with the galley, they have some better resources to work with and the food that we have stashed or grown, added to what the base had set up in reserve rations, has lifted the meals to a new high. Tonight it is a noodle dish, with canned pineapple and of all things Spam. It sounds pretty bad on the surface, but actually it was really good. It made me think about KHriz and HYlon and their love of bad foods.

  I wonder how they are doing as well as Krezz and RRqil. I kind of miss them. Anyway, we are here, they are there and maybe we will see them on the next time they do the loop around.

  September 20th

  (Tom) It was another wicked hot day outside and no reason to go out there. I guess we could have taken a ride down to the Romanica but I am claiming a ‘sloth’ day and just doing nothing. Asuna was busy trying to help out Lance in a little exploring in the ceiling, climbing in the suspended ceiling tiles to see if they could figure out where those ‘extra’ wires go.

  I spent the afternoon reading. I wanted to revisit an old friend, George Orwell; yesterday’s thinking about the Sky Crystal triggered that. I started with 1984.

  (Margo) I cornered Gillie this morning and gave him a little teasing about Tay, but in the end told him that I was happy for them. I think he appreciated it, he was grinning from ear to ear. I just wish we could do something like that for McManus. He seems so down most of the time, lonely.

  Code and I did a little more scouting around the area. In the woods it is pretty comfortable with the shade and all. We found kind of an interesting thing on our trip. It was a monument at the top of the mountain ridge about 10 miles or so to the west of the Archive.

  It was for a plane that had crashed at the site many years ago. It was a war plane from what we read, a B-24. It was trying to make it to Westover and was just a little too low going over the mountain. I told Tom about it and he said that years ago he and some of his cop buddies had done a motorcycle ride to the site.

  The peak or spot on the mountain gave an awesome view to the west, we would be able to see smoke if there were campfires. But we have been in the area for a while and so far, no fires, and other than the Huntington people we have seen no one else.

  (Lance) Washa, Asuna, Del and I worked on trying to trace the additional wires in the ceilings. Asuna volunteered to do the climbing but we didn’t need to have to have her do that. We were able to lift the ceiling tiles and trace the wires and conduits. We found four places where the wires disappeared into conduits that were in the concrete walls. We also found 3 spots were the wires rejoined the main trunk of line that was overhead.

  We checked those three areas were the wires disappeared and returned but could find nothing that seemed to show there was a room or door, something behind the concrete. The last set of wires did go straight into the wall at the end of the tunnel. It was about 300 feet from the entrance of the underground facility.

  The wall, and it was a wall, not solid rock, was concrete. Where does it go? Washa has no idea, and she is the one who has, or had, the best information on this place.

  Maybe once we get the Sat-Comm set up here we can contact Cheyenne and they can give us some information.

  Priority tomorrow is to get the Sat-Comm here and running.

  September 21st

  (Lance) Big thud last night on the top of the Archive, sounded like someone crashed a bus on top of us. It was about four in the morning. Because we were in the upper room it seemed like we, Del and I, were the only ones who heard it. If Del hadn’t woken up with me from the noise, I would have thought it was a dream.

  I headed down to wake up Tom and he decided that we should turn on all the lights. We had the door secure so there was not much chance of whatever it was getting it. The fact that it didn’t penetrate the
Archive seemed to say it was not a ‘bunker buster bomb’. We kept the place buttoned up until 5 so we would have some light to work with outside.

  McManus, Gillie, Washa and Tom were the first ones out the door; it was full dress military on this one. We were not sure what we had so the rest of us waited inside.

  About 15 minutes later they came back in. They were laughing.

  “Well?” I asked, a little peevishly.

  “Care package!” said McManus, “The Pittsburgh sent us a friggin’ care package.” He tossed me a small square foil wrapped brick shaped object.

  I looked at it, and then Tom, who smiled and shrugged.

  The Pittsburgh had sent us a Tomahawk missile, but instead of a warhead it was filled with some foods, and books and some schematics and specs of the undergrown facility that we were living in. We will have to look at them because they may answer our questions on those disappearing wires.

  (Tom) Lance woke us all up early when he heard a crash on the top of the Archive. I didn’t hear it, or feel it, but since both he and Delany heard it I had to believe something was going on. Maybe Fort Knox has taken action against us.

  Four of us suited up and headed out to see what it was. At first it looked bad, a cruise missile sitting on the ground right there in the middle of the field on top us. I think even if it was ‘only’ a nuke we would have all been dead. But it was painted funny, with writing on the side, and a face on the front of it, a cartoon face of Popeye the Sailor. WTF.

  The writing on the side said that it was from the USS Pittsburgh and was inert, no boom was going to happen but it was a delivery of things that might help us out. There were arrows pointing to 4 screws and the wording ‘open me’.

  I looked at Sgt. Brown and McManus, “Well, what do you think?”

  “If they wanted us dead, they could have done it easy enough, let’s take a peek,” said McManus.

  “Yep, may as well,” added Sgt. Brown as she pulled out a screwdriver and walked to the device.

  I never realized how big those things really were. It was about 20 feet long and about 2 feet in diameter. Really it looked like a torpedo. It was one of those things that we all knew about back in the day, but never figured we would see one except on a video or in a movie.

  Sgt. Brown and McManus popped the lid and inside was a number of things. There was a bundle of diagrams, and some fruit cake. Fruitcake? Really? I had to laugh because in the old days fruitcake was the indestructible re-gift that went from household to household.

  And as I watched, Sgt. Brown came over with a large manila envelope. “Commander, this be for you.”

  It was addressed to me and was from Captain Katzung. It had a note written on the back of it that said “Your eyes only, TWK”. I kept the envelope to myself and opened it a little later in the day.

  It was an interesting read.

  Commander Williams,

  Sorry about the delivery system we had to use in getting this to you but it fit the need. General De Soto has become an issue for us. He and his core group have taken over Fort Knox and are pretty much dug in. They have ground forces, and some drones, but unless he is going to march his forces up to get you, he cannot harm you. He has a few tanks, and some ground transport but no air support that can reach you.

  General Osgood has assumed command of the military, with a General Welles as his second in command. Based on our dealings with them I believe they are upright. And they have some toys that will make De Soto very uncomfortable.

  So at this point you are safe as I said.

  I have included some schematics for your facility that we were able to obtain from De Soto before he realized the shit was hitting the fan. I hope they help you.

  A couple of other things, first have you been having any issues with the Sat-Comm links. There has been a great deal of interference that has been taking place. In talking with Cheyenne and a couple of other facilities including one in Chile, it seems that there may be some solar activity that is causing the problem. So if for some reason you are unable to reach us, that could be it.

  The other thing that seems concerning is that we have had a number of reports that women who have become pregnant and have taken the ‘cure’ have lost the babies. I am not sure that it is related but Doctor Douglas is concerned.

  I hope that you and the Mass Militia are all doing well, give my best to Lt. Yagami. Be well and be safe.

  TWK

  p.s. it was Gaines’ idea for the fruitcakes; they are from the British sub.

  After reading the note I passed it to Asuna. When she finished reading it, she looked at me. “Well most of it seems to be good news. But that pregnancy thing is worrying.”

  “Yeah, I think we need to share that with Major Barkley. I am hoping it is not the case, if it is the cause, we just killed humanity,” as I articulated it out loud the shock of what may have happened hit me.

  It was kind of quiet for the rest of the day for me. I was deep in thought.

  (Margo) Well, there was the scare this morning with the bomb showing up on the doorstep. But after we had a chance to see what it was things calmed down.

  Headed down to the farm with Teckla and Tay today, Gillie and Lincoln came along. Tay and Gillie are definitely an item, but the Lincoln - Teckla thing, is that he just needs something to do, I mean, he wants to visit the farm and they just seem to go together, or are they ‘going together’.

  OMG, I just read that again, I am turning into Grace, the busybody.

  Anyway, did a little time on Lemon Drop and Code spent some time on Chuckles. It was good to ride again. I forgot how relaxing it was.

  Are we getting too relaxed with the new home, with no threats around, are we getting complacent? Come on Margo, get your head screwed back on right, this world is not a safe one and as we have seen when we least expect it, a bomb could show up, or a herd of Zoms.

  September 22st

  (Tom) Today it was off to the camp, Romanica, to break down the computer systems. I had showed Lance the information that we had gotten from Katzung and the Pittsburgh regarding the possible solar activity. He did not seem too concerned about it but said we should work to get the move of that equipment completed ASAP.

  I started to help him out with it but he told me that perhaps I should go do a little fishing, or look at the lake. He is way too anal for me and was marking and tagging every wire and connection. Probably a good idea but I was of the mindset to figure it all out when we get the pieces back to the Archive.

  I wonder how Matt and Tanya are doing. They should have reached the college by now. They planned to be back around the 26th or 27th depending on how the trip goes.

  Molly and Lucy were at it again. They have become inseparable, and that is a good thing. But I must say I never figured Lucy for wearing a red bow around her neck.

  I spoke with Doc Barkley about the pregnancy thing. He told me that we had two false alarms with Michelle and Jan. Both of them had tested positive for being pregnant but in the end it was not the case. He could never be sure if they actually were. He told me that most of the population; the clan had taken the cure, all except Lance and Delaney. He said that he would discourage them from it if they tried to take it. It would be a good way to test if there was an issue with the pills.

  Asuna and I actually had a disagreement tonight; it was silly and seemed over nothing, she just kind of flipped out on me. She went out for a walk and came back a little later, she had been crying. She won’t tell me why.

  (Lance) Shift in priorities, after Tom gave me the information about the static and the suspected solar storms I think we need to try to get the computer server removed from the camp and relocated in the Archive. I am not sure how much protection was built into the walls of the radio room that Del and I are living in, but I am thinking it may be better than what every protection the wooden cabins offer. I am hoping that in their wisdom the designers of the archive put some kind of shielding in place.

  Tom and Fred came along with m
e this morning to get started on disassembling the room. I had not realized how much stuff there was in there between the wiring, and gadgets. I need to take the time to mark everything first to keep the reassembly simple. Fred is good with that, Tom not so much so I sent him away. I can use him for carrying and loading, but the labeling is not his strong suit.

  It was four o’clock before we finished the labeling. It would have taken a couple of hours to break it all down and then load it up so rather than to rush we will finish up tomorrow.

  (Margo) Code and I did a run this morning, he was not happy when I dragged him out of bed for it. But it is time to get back to being a mountain lion instead of a house kitten.

  We took a drive out to the B-24 memorial this afternoon. It was more for a scouting mission, to see if there was smoke or anything that would hint at other camps, groups or human activity. We found none.

  We sat out by the fire pit that Fred and Jan made tonight. It was just a nice social night, awesome Aurora light show.

  September 23rd

  It was weird, none of the trucks would start this morning, and there was nothing, no lights, no battery power, no nothing. It was like the batteries were all dead. Steven tried the chopper and that was the same thing.

  Winston is still working, but Margo and Lance’s laptops are also ‘dead’. We still have power so it seems that the turbines are okay, but wires to the solar array are melted and shorted out.

  This is bad.

  September 24th

  The best that we can tell is that all of the computer chips have been fried. Lance thinks that we had what was called a Carrington Effect and it has damaged certain electronic components and wiring.

  It made sense when he explained it; the Aurora that we have been seeing is, or was, a solar storm, and we have been experiencing it for a little while. But it gets out of control if on top of the solar storm there is a massive solar flare. When that happens, the protection (he called it the magnetosphere) is compromised and solar radiation gets to the Earth’s surface. Our electronics, all those little silicon chips got cooked. I can only imagine what that would have been like if it had happened before the meteor hit, America without power, electronics, computers, cars, wow.