Solar Storm: Homeward Bound

by Vincent Keith

  "I wonder if that means they’ve got running vehicles?"

  Jack had hopes that a little town like Adin where most folks knew each other would be cooperative. The other factor was how far from civilization they were. Most folks did their big shopping trips monthly, some less often. The closest Safeway was over fifty miles away. The general store stocked most of the perishables, and they had a small butcher shop. He didn’t expect it to be open with no refrigeration. It was getting cold enough now that you could refrigerate a room by opening the doors.

  “It looks quiet, no cars are moving, and there are no lights on. Lots of wood smoke, though. I’m more than a bit nervous about doing this.”

  “What? Going into town? Why?”

  “Well, it depends on who’s in charge, if anyone is. It depends on what they think is going on, and if they’ve figured out what it means. In my nightmares, we run into some dictatorial cop who’s declared martial law and is now running the town as his own little fiefdom. On the upside, I’ve been to Adin a hundred times, I’ve met the local Deputy, and he struck me as a reasonable man. They’re a self-sufficient lot around here. Have to be when you live almost one hundred miles from the closest city. A lot of ranchers and farmers out here. That’s a good thing. Damn, I wish this wasn’t California.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, if it were south of here, say the Bay Area, or even a smaller town or city? I’ve little doubt they’d confiscate all the food and the guns, for the good of everyone. I figure here, well the guns are illegal for a dozen different reasons, but most folks around here will have something, and I’m hoping they just don’t care. Still…”

  “Oh, we don’t have permits, well you might, but I don’t.”

  “I’ve got one that’s good for most of the western part of the country, and a fair amount of the South, but the People’s Republic of California? No. Look, when we get down there, keep your eyes open. If it looks like trouble, head back out of town fast.”

  They headed down the hill to where Lexi and the dogs were waiting. They were about thirty yards from the gas station at the edge of town when a man in uniform came out. He stood there waiting. There was no doubt he’d seen Jack’s rifle and probably the bolt-action that Rachael was carrying. He didn’t seem too concerned.

  “Deputy, I’m Jack, this is Rachael, and her daughter Lexi.”

  “Ladies, a pleasure. Jack. Can I ask what your plans are? And why you’re carrying guns?”

  “If we can I’d like to pick up some supplies at the General Store, maybe spend the night in the park? Then we’ll be heading north up toward Spokane. I plan to visit my friend Curly Lewis. He lives just north of town.”

  “So you’re not hoping to stay? That’s good, we’ve got no power, phones are down, and we’re not sure what’s going on. That’ll be a long walk, all the way to Washington. The store is open, but, well it’s been strange. About the guns?”

  “Oh, well I’m a gunsmith, I was down south at a gun show in Vegas. My truck died about ten miles this side of Susanville. Couldn’t leave them, so…”

  “And you figured you might need them. Yeah, we’ve had a few folks come through looking for handouts, tried to steal what folks weren’t willing to give. I chased them off, but I suspect they won’t be the last.”

  He pointed to one of the cars that was not quite off road. “I don’t know what happened to the cars, but it seems to be most of them around here. I expect any visitors we get will be on foot for a while.”

  “Well, I might be able to explain it, but you’re not going to like it. Do you have a mayor?”

  “No, we’ve got the unofficial council, most of the folks in town who own businesses, the head of the school, the postmaster.”

  “Yeah, well… I can explain it,” said Jack. “Or at least what I think has happened, but I’d rather do it just once. Any chance we can get the decision makers together?”

  “Decision makers? I suppose a few might be considered that without stretching the meaning too badly.”

  Jack laughed, “Yeah, a bunch of independent cusses around here.”

  “True, too true… Do I know you from somewhere?”

  “From here, sort of. We chatted a few years back at the store. I was in the area doing photography.”

  “Hmm, well I seem to remember the face but not the chat.”

  “Not surprised, more of a greeting than a conversation I guess.”

  “Okay. Well, most of the folks you’ll want to talk with are down at the store. Dave is due in a few minutes, so I’ll head down as soon as he gets here. And Jack? I’d appreciate it if you’d be sure the chambers on those guns are empty. Ladies, why don’t you pretend you’re not carrying those pistols, no point in attracting attention, or having an accident. Best to just leave those in the holsters.”

  Jack smiled. This guy didn’t miss much, and it seemed like he knew which way was up. He cleared the chamber on the lever gun and handed it to Rachael. Jack slipped the bolt-action rifle off her shoulder and removed the magazine making sure the bolt closed on an empty chamber. He slipped the magazine into her coat pocket and swapped the rifles again.

  The Deputy smiled. He could tell from Jack’s precise and unhurried motions Jack knew what he was doing. “Appreciate it. I’ll see you in a few.”

  “Okay, I’ll try to hold the questions off until you get there. Ah…”

  “Oh, sorry, Travis, Travis Martin. Just tell ‘em Trav sent you and I’ll be following in a few minutes.”

  Lexi was amazed to find the town only had one restaurant and one store. When they arrived at the General Store, there was a crowd. Jack glanced through the front windows. The small seating area where folks could have lunch from the deli counter was full. The room was packed with mostly older folks, the average age looked to be close to fifty-five. Jack spotted a few boys in their late teens and a couple of girls. The tables outside were full too. Hoover and Dusty had acquired a fan club of little kids who’d never seen a dog that was bigger than they were.

  Jack took his rifle and leaned it against the windowsill so it wouldn’t fall, then dropped his pack. He unhooked Dusty, who was on cart duty and got their bowls out. When he was sure the dogs had enough water, he left them to guard the wagon. Jack picked up his rifle, and they went inside. The rifle drew glances as Jack moved to the counter, but no one seemed surprised.

  “Can you put these back there out of the way?”

  The girl looked uneasy and tugged on the sleeve of an older man.

  The man, maybe early forties turned and saw Jack, and the guns. “Sir?”

  Jack recognized the man from previous visits. “Can we put these behind the counter out of the way?”

  “Sure.” He took the rifles like he’d been handling them since he was a kid. “Should be okay there. Just let me know when you want them.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Did you walk in from out of town? You’re not from here, but I know I’ve seen you before.”

  “You noticed?” Jack smiled. “Walked up from near Susanville, we’re heading north.”

  “Any idea how far this problem goes?”

  “Some. The Deputy will be down in a few and I’ll see about explaining my theory.”

  “If you have a theory you’re a step ahead of us. Well, except for Dick, he’s been going on about a PMT or something.”

  “EMP, and he’s right. Is he here?”

  “Dick! Come on over here would ya?”

  A man in his early sixties came over. He was medium height with a full head of hair that was going to gray. From the way he moved, Jack guessed that he had some arthritis. Or maybe it was just from a hard life.

  “This is Dick Jessup, and I’m John Morgan.”

  “Hi, Jack Donovan, and this is Rachael and Lexi Madison. So Dick, apparently you and I share the opinion that we got hit by a geomagnetic storm or an EMP.”

  “Sure, nothing else it could be. Got some reports of solar storm activity but they never said it was big enough to
cause trouble. Damn idiots. The networks were full of better information than we were getting from the news or the government.”

  “Networks? The internet?”

  “Radio.”

  Jack exchanged call signs with the man and made a note in his notebook. It looked like two people exchanging secret handshakes.

  “I’d wondered if there was any warning, something this big—they should have had several days,” said Jack.

  “Yeah, why don’t you folks come on over to the table and we’ll chat.”

  “Sure, give me a minute?”

  “Yep, John, get these folks some coffee, on me will ya?”

  “Okay, Dick. Three coffees?”

  “I don’t suppose you have hot cocoa?” asked Rachael.

  “Sure, probably not for much longer unless we get a delivery truck. We’re having a special on sandwiches. I need to use up the meats before they go bad, unless power comes back on.”

  Jack considered the problem for a minute. He didn’t feel like shooting himself in the foot by telling the guy cash was next to useless, but then he could always make up for it later. “Sure.” Jack pulled out a small wad of paper bills, and they each ordered from what was still available. The store still had a vast collection of gourmet root beer in bottles. He grabbed three of those as well.

  Dick stood as Jack approached. “Hey, Jack. This Frank Novak, our go to guy for engineering. He has a couple of high powered rigs and has an Extra class ticket, although he’s not much on good on the key. Frank chuckled and stood up to shake Jack’s hand. “He’s not wrong, but I still do twenty words a minute.”

  “I just got my Extra class tag, and I doubt I can even do ten words a minute,” said Jack.

  “This is Arnie Dobbs. He runs on two-meter and is working on his General Class license.” Arnie nodded.

  “This old fella is Ralph Martin. Ralph has the fastest hand with Morse code of anyone in the valley. He also knows more about antenna theory than anyone but maybe Frank. That’s about everyone in the valley who’s serious about Ham Radio. There are a few others that have a license but they don’t seem to have much interest in going any further.

  “So where do you fit in?” asked Jack

  “I’ve got my Extra class ticket, and I’m pretty good on the key. Maybe thirty words a minute.”

  “Oh a good day,” said Frank.

  Dick shrugged. “Probably true. I do a lot of contests, and I’ve got the biggest radio shack. Being out in the valley gives me space for my two towers. I’ve got a 120-foot guyed tower and a fifty-four-foot crank-up. Hard to believe, but that crank up tower cost me nearly three times what the fixed tower cost. Now… I just hope between us we can get something working.”

  The Deputy arrived just as Dick finished the introductions. He stopped to chat at several tables, on the way to Dick’s table. The general shuffle began.

  “Jack, why don’t you start with how far you’ve come and then tell us what you’re thinking.”

  Jack went through the story, the car, the Aurora, the trip to town, leaving out the incident with the two men. After about twenty minutes of explanation, John pulled his whiteboard over and erased the daily specials, which were out of date anyway. Jack used it, and data from Dick to explain as best he could what had happened and what it might mean.

  When he finished, everyone was silent, thinking.

  “There’s still something about this that bugs me,” said Jack.

  “Only one thing?” asked Dick.

  “You said the power went out, and you had a lot of stuff blown from surges, but the timing is wrong.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Your cars didn’t die at the same time the power went out. Travis said he was driving around to check on folks making sure there were no electrical fires. Making sure people had heat right?”

  Travis nodded.

  “So how long after the power went out did your truck die?” asked Jack

  “About an hour. Power went out at 5:10, truck died at 6:15.”

  “Hey Trav, my truck died right around 5,” someone from a nearby table shouted.

  “How old is your truck?” ask Jack.

  “Five years. Why?”

  “There are a couple of possibilities, one is that we got hit by multiple CMEs. I don’t think it’s all that uncommon but not being a solar physicist I can’t really say. Anyway, if the first blast shredded the magnetic field, then the second one would have had a clear shot which might explain the differing times, or…”

  “Or?” asked Dick.

  Jack shrugged, and shook his head, not wanting to get into it.

  “Jack,” said Dick, “I wish I had current information, but the EMP took out my gear. I figure there could be some folks still on the air.”

  “Well, I may have a solution for that. Any idea if your antenna is still working?”

  “No way to tell, but I doubt the rotator is, the balun is probably blown, maybe the cable.”

  “Hey Dick, I got a rotator and some old antenna gear in my storage box, might still be working. I’m sure there are a few old baluns in there,” said Frank.

  “Don’t matter unless you got a working radio.”

  “I might,” said Jack. “I haven’t wanted to try it until I was pretty sure the storm had passed. I have to admit I’m relieved to have confirmation that there was a geomagnetic storm.”

  A big man wearing a Carhartt jacket and cowboy hat slapped the table hard enough to spill some of his coffee. “Relieved! After what you just told us, how the hell can you be relieved?”

  “Sorry, relieved might not have been the best choice of words, but… Damn, I didn’t want to bring this up, but I suppose I’d better. Give me a minute and I’ll explain about what else might have happened and then I think maybe you’ll understand.”

  “I don’t see how it could be any worse,” said the man.

  “Al,” the Deputy stood up. “Give the man a minute, this is bad news and we’re going to be talking about it for a while so let’s just try to keep calm. Going off half-cocked will not improve the situation.”

  Jack drew a rough map of the US on the white board, explaining the nuclear possibilities, which brought a new silence to the crowd.

  “How come we’ve never heard of any of this?” asked Al.

  “I suspect,” said Jack, “that it’s not the kind of news people want to hear for one thing. Bring it up and offer no solutions… It’s not the sort of thing politicians like to do. Part of it is because the government has known for a long time this could be a major problem but never did anything about it. I’m not sure there was anything they could do, at least without spending a trillion dollars. All the evidence points toward a solar event in any case. They’ve known it could happen for over fifty years, but spending money on minimizing the impacts of it, or recovering from it, isn’t the kind of thing that buys votes.”

  “Can we get back to what you said earlier?” asked Dick.

  “Sorry, which point?”

  “You implied you might have a working radio?”

  “I might, it was exposed for a few seconds the day after my truck died, but the rest of the time it’s been in a metal case. The case should work like a faraday cage. I figured I’d wait a week before trying, and it’s been about a week. So, we’ll put my radio together with your antenna and see what we get.”

  “Will you be able to contact the government with that?” asked Al.

  “Yes, and no, it will depend on them. We have a lot of frequencies we can try, but none of them are government frequencies. They probably monitor ours, especially in natural disaster scenarios. So, if their equipment wasn’t damaged then, maybe.”

  “They’ll be monitoring MARS. I’ve got the local frequencies since I’m still a member,” said an old man sitting with a cane in his lap.

  “Some of our rigs should be able to dial in the right frequencies, they’re not far off of our eighty, sixty, and forty-meter bands.”

  “Ralph?” Dick look
ed surprised.

  “We’ll see. My new radio is dead. Maybe the old stuff in the garage…” Ralph shrugged.

  “What the hell does Mars have to do with it?” asked Al. He glared at Ralph as if the old man had kicked him in the shin.

  “Not the planet you moron, M-A-R-S The Military Auxiliary Radio System. It’s part of the US Army NetCom out of Arizona,” said Ralph, glaring back at Al.

  “Gentlemen!” Travis slapped the table with his palm.

  No love lost between those two, thought Jack.

  “Just be nice to know when we can expect some help,” said Al, too embarrassed to admit someone knew something he didn’t.

  “I wouldn’t count on help at all,” said Jack. “If they have the ability to respond, it will most likely be in major population centers or strategic areas like oil refineries, power plants, hospitals, food distribution centers… You all are going to be low on the priority list.”

  “Don’t seem right, I pay my taxes like everyone else,” said Al.

  “It’s more a case of what’s possible than what’s right or wrong. If they can get power plants running, then they can keep the hospitals open, and the refineries online. If they can get the oil refineries working, then they can distribute fuel. If they can distribute fuel, then they can deliver food. The big questions are: How widespread is this? And, who’s in charge? Assuming anyone is. I’m not expecting much, except maybe trouble. Then again, I’ve been a bit of a pessimist when it comes to the government for a few years now.”

  Most of the others were nodding and making murmurs of agreement. Al, on the other hand, looked about ready to explode. Jack wasn’t sure if it was his comments about big government, or the notion that his lifetime of paying taxes wouldn’t matter to an overwhelmed or nonexistent government.

  11

  NOTHING BUT BAD NEWS

  Jack had hoped to get out of town without so much fuss, but with so many people in the store he’d given up on the idea. Now, it looked like he’d be stuck here for at least a few days.