“Yeah, we got caught with our pants down once, and a lot of folks died, and a lot more will,” said Emmett. “Guess we’d best plan for the worst this time.”
“Jack!” Lexi shouted from the other room.
“I guess she got through,” said Jack.
They wandered into the living room where Lexi had set up the KX3. They could hear her talking to someone.
“I got Henry, Frank, and a man named Donald who lives in Mendocino, I’m not sure where that is other than on the coast. Henry said they have a standing network group and by 8:30 p.m. almost everyone should have checked in.”
Jack looked at his watch, “Okay, so about fifteen minutes. Ask Frank if he can get Travis to come on when they’re done.”
“Okay.”
Lexi waited for a break in the chatter and sent Jack’s call sign, indicating she had something to add. Frank was running the network and had the whole team running radios on different frequencies. He’d consolidate news and pass it to the other operators to relay around. Lexi was running on the eighty-meter band on the big antenna and had a good signal.
The news from Adin was good as was the news from home. The new contact from the coast was talking about sending a couple of people to Adin on horseback just to get a radiation meter from Frank.
It was a no win situation for the people in Mendocino. If they were going to get hit by fallout, they would get it first, making the meter a necessity. If there was no fallout, then they would have spent weeks of labor and food for a useless tool. The only other options were to just assume the fallout was imminent and act accordingly, or to assume there wouldn’t be any. I think I’d send guys to get a meter too if I were them, thought Jack.
When the regular meeting was over, Frank put Travis on the line with Emmett. They spent the better part of an hour talking about the towns and roads between them. Alturas had an outbreak of what sounded like cholera. The outbreak had reduced the population by almost twenty percent. Fear had kept the sick isolated, and most of them died from dehydration. Starvation and fighting killed another fifteen percent.
A group of survivors from the battle in Lakeview reported that the town is now under a newly elected Constable. The fight erupted when the guys from the biker gang attempted to drive most of the men out of town and enslave the women.
They’d buried over a hundred men who’d attacked the gang armed with clubs, knives, and other tools. The mob had hung what remained of the police department, the Mayor, and the two surviving gang members. There was no trial. Modoc County had no Sheriff; he had died from a gunshot wound. Even Jack, who’d been expecting mob violence, was shocked.
Travis had reported that cattle rustling in the valley between Fall River and Burney had sparked a range war. One small community was torched, and the men shot when they were found in possession of thirty-eight stolen cattle. Jack was sure that resulted from mob mentality. It was one thing to punish those directly responsible for the theft, but to burn out an entire community was insane.
No one had resources to keep prisoners. The only sentence available was exile or death, and it looked like death was becoming the sentence of choice. Even so, there were reports of prisoners released from federal and state prisons forming gangs and creating further chaos. There were also reports of prisoners being left to starve.
Jack hoped that the guards were at least somewhat discriminating in whom they let out. Releasing people incarcerated for non-violent crimes was one thing. Letting murderers and rapists out into a world already suffering was a bad idea. Shooting them was better than letting them die of dehydration. As unpalatable as the idea was, he could see no better option.
Henry had arranged transportation for a bunch of folks from the nearby town to help the Washington National Guard unit gathered at Coulee Dam. It would relieve some of the local food problems and might help get some of the power back on at least down around the dam. In exchange, the engineers promised to work their way up to Omak and see if they couldn’t get some generators working.
Emmett had headed back to town, and the girls were in the spare bedroom sleeping in a real bed for a change. Jack sat at the kitchen table with Ben’s rifle torn apart. Between them, they’d managed to get the brass case extracted from the chamber. Ben was sitting with a dozen boxes of rifle rounds, slipping each one into a short section of round steel with a hole bored through it. To his left were four cases that had failed to fit into the no-go gauge. “Would’a been easier if I’d just done this before. Apparently, I’m still young enough to learn new lessons.”
Jack just smiled.
JACK and the girls left early the next morning. The Chief offered to meet them at the edge of town to guide them. They didn’t really need a guide, but if it made the townspeople feel better, Jack had no objection.
They agreed to camp before starting the climb toward the John Day pass. His maps showed no way around Canyon City and John Day. He was sure there were enough logging roads in the area. There had to be a route around the town, but the wrong turns and backtracking would take forever. Fortunately, Emmett had contacts in John Day and was confident there would be no problem getting through. As they left Burns, Emmett handed Jack a bundle of letters.
“Situation reports. If you’re willing, it will save me having to send someone.”
“Happy to help.” Jack scanned through the addresses. Emmett had even drawn a small map showing the quickest routes. “Good luck Emmett, hopefully, we’ll have a chance to talk again.”
“Hope so, I got a bunch of guys out looking for any radio gear. Thanks for giving me a copy of all those electronic books. I haven’t seen them yet, but we’ve found two working computers. Between that and the books in the library, if we can find the working equipment, we’ll figure out how to use it.”
22
SMALL TOWNS
As Jack and the girls headed north out of Burns, the road began a gentle climb. Lexi was slowly pulling away, Rachael was starting to lag, and Jack’s legs were feeling the hill even though it looked almost flat. A half hour later Jack stopped and got Hoover out of the trailer.
“Sorry buddy, time to walk. Go find Lexi.” Jack pointed up the road. Hoover shook, stretched, and started off at a slow trot, easily fast enough to catch her. Jack watched him go, then turned to wait for Rachael to catch up.
“Doesn’t look all that steep does it?”
Rachael stopped the bike, breathing hard. “No, is it the altitude?”
“I don’t think so, I’m pretty sure we’re at about five thousand feet give or take. It’s just such a long climb with no relief, it really takes it out of you. Let’s lighten your load by about 160 pounds.”
Jack walked back to her trailer and unzipped the cover.
“Okay, Dusty, time to walk.”
Dusty’s head came up off her paws, looked at Jack, stuck her tongue out and cocked her head.
“Out dummy.”
Dusty yawned and climbed out of the trailer, sniffed the ground, then caught sight of Hoover and Lexi almost a half mile up the road. She started to trot in that direction, then stopped and wandered back to Jack.
“Go. Find Lexi.”
Dusty lowered her head, woofed, spun and took off at a run.
“Maybe we’ll be able to keep up now.”
Rachael put her water bottle back in the holder. “I guess we’ll see. I don’t want her to get too far ahead.”
“I don’t know if the dogs will slow her down any, but we’ll go faster, and if she runs into anything, the dogs will likely give her some warning.”
“Do you think we will?”
“It’s always a risk.”
Rachael looked at Jack, a slight frown forming at the corners of her mouth. Friends, particularly men, often gave her reassuring platitudes. It was a social custom which was nice when you believed it, but annoying when you didn’t. It occurred to her that Jack never did that. If you asked him a question, he always gave a direct answer. It wasn’t that he didn’t care. He naturally
assumed you were a grown up and could deal with the truth, even Lexi, which was nice, and scary at the same time.
She had difficulty thinking of her daughter as an adult at fifteen years old. Lexi had shown no inclination to grow up early, until the day they’d met Jack. Rachael was a little unnerved by the changes, but proud that her daughter was handling things so well. Sure, they had the occasional bad evening when a missed friend or possession triggered a bout of tears. All things considered, she thought, Lexi is doing better with this than I am.
“I suppose so,” said Rachael after a brief pause.
“She’s sharp,” said Jack, lowering his mini binoculars. “If something doesn’t look right, she’ll handle it. If it’s the perfect ambush, well… it’s going to suck no matter what. Seems pretty open so I doubt we’ll run into anyone very far from the next town, and that’s Seneca. According to Emmett, they’re in good shape, and he didn’t think we’d have any trouble. I’ve got a letter for the Postmaster and one for the guy who runs the store.”
Climbing hills had taken a toll. Jack had tightened his belt two notches since leaving his truck and Rachael had lost enough weight that her pants were noticeably baggy. Only Lexi seemed relatively unchanged by the ordeal. The constant exposure to the outdoors had lightened her almost blond hair and darkened her skin. She’d been putting on muscle, but hadn’t lost any body fat as near as he could tell.
Jack was making sure she got extra calories. He’d considered the options: Eat properly now and risk running out of food, or subsist on reduced rations the entire trip and deal with the hunger and reduced energy. After talking it over with Rachael, they’d agreed to go on reduced rations so Lexi could get the calories her growing body needed. The downside was that Jack always felt a little tired, a bit slower to react. Hopefully not fatally slower, he thought.
As usual, the conversation over lunch revolved around what was coming next.
“Hard to say,” said Jack. “We’ll be in John Day in a few hours, and we can see about bartering for some extra food, but I wouldn’t count on it. Chief Brown was sure we’d have no trouble. He gave me a letter to deliver to the cops. After that we’ve got a hard climb, then a long downhill. There will be a few hills but after this climb, it’s mostly downhill all the way to the Columbia River. The only big town I know we need to get through or around is Pendleton. I’m nervous about any town that size. There are a few small towns between here and there if I remember correctly.”
“Maybe we should see if we can trade something for some maps.”
“Sure, if I can get some decently detailed maps of the area between here and the Gorge that’d be great.”
“What’s the gorge?” asked Lexi.
“The Columbia River Gorge. It’s a pretty steep drop into the valley the river’s cut over its lifetime. It’s deeper and more scenic to the west of where we’ll cross. I’m thinking I may delay crossing until we get further north. Anyway, it’s mostly desert and a rocky cliff on the Washington side near Umatilla.”
The bikes were rolling swiftly down the gentle slope, forest on the right, and a river on the left. Jack knew they had to be getting close to John Day. Even though he’d been through this area dozens of times, it seemed different on a bicycle. Or maybe it was knowing how exposed they were and just how fast things could go bad.
As they rounded a wide bend, Jack spotted the first indications that they were approaching potential trouble, a sign announcing Canyon City. Emmett had mentioned that they’d have to pass through Canyon City just before they came to John Day. With no other paths to take, Jack prayed that Emmett’s assessment of Canyon City and John Day were correct. Jack took the lead followed by Lexi, then Rachael. As they rolled past boarded up shops and homes, only a few people were near the road. They got a number of curious looks, but no one tried to stop them.
JACK SLOWED to a stop at the barricade and put the kickstand down on the bike. His rifle was tucked into a blanket that was strapped to the handlebars, but he had no intention of pulling it out. Not with so many armed men on the other side of the makeshift roadblock.
“Wait here, I’m pretty sure once I deliver the report from Emmett we’ll be able to go through.”
Rachael nodded but didn’t say anything. Lexi was getting the dogs out of the trailers. Jack gave her a questioning glance.
“Water, and if there’s trouble, I don’t want them to be stuck in the trailers.”
Jack nodded, “Good thinking.” He pulled the envelopes from the front pannier and walked toward the roadblock.
“Afraid we’re not taking anyone in who isn’t local,” said a man in a police uniform.
Jack nodded, “That’s okay, we’re heading north up to Washington. I’ve got a letter here for Chief Cox from Emmett Brown in Burns.”
“Bring it here.”
It took a moment to spot the man who’d spoken. He’d been bent over a small table looking at papers. Jack held out the envelope.
“From Emmett, you say? How’s he doing?”
“Well, I expect it’s covered in the letter. We spent most of last night writing it up. There is some recent news from down south as far as Adin, and some from up north around Omak. There’s a bit of world news too. He’s got details in there about the trouble in Burns, kind of a situation report.”
The man tore open the big manila envelope and pulled out a small stack of papers. The letter on the top was written on Emmett’s letterhead. He glanced at Jack then sat down on a folding chair and began to read.
He’d gotten to the third page when he started cussing. The distinct click of a safety being taken off grabbed Jack’s attention. A man was now pointing a rifle directly at him. The motion was enough to draw the Chief’s attention away from the papers.
“Jason, no need for that.”
Then man clicked the safety back on and lowered his rifle. Jack resumed breathing.
“So you’re Jack?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Chief Cox, Brian.” The big man held out his hand.
Jack shook hands and watched as everyone seemed to relax.
“So I guess you’re the fellow with the radio?”
Jack frowned, not too sure he was happy about having that news spread around. After a small hesitation, he nodded.
“We got a couple of radios, but we’re not sure if they’re working. Mitch ran a Ham radio club at the high school, but he got electrocuted by a snapped power line when everything died.”
“I suppose Lexi and I can see if we can get your gear working, and maybe you can help Rachael find us some maps if you can spare them? We could use some medical supplies too if there are any to spare.”
THE ONLY WORKING radio equipment they’d been able to find was a shortwave receiver. The transmitters owned by the club as well as the one owned by Mitch were well beyond anything Jack could fix. After a bit of brainstorming, Jack suggested they search boats and aircraft for working radios.
“It won’t be easy, but it’s doable. Aircraft radios transmit between a hundred eighteen and a hundred and thirty-six megahertz. I think marine radios are around a one fifty-two to one sixty-two megahertz. There may be some Ham Radios that can tune those frequencies, and maybe even transmit on them. But most, like mine, won’t. Most shortwave receivers will receive all of those, plus all the Ham frequencies, as well as TV and other frequencies.”
“It would be helpful to have some working radios,” said Chief Cox. “Be even better if they let us actually talk to someone else.”
“If we can find enough radios, you can send one up to Burns, or see if they can find one of their own. Ideally, you’ll get to someone who has a working Ham radio.”
“I suppose. Doesn’t sound like the best way, but it may be all we’ve got.”
“All the aircraft should have at least one radio, and most will have two. Some of them might be working. I’d start with the planes in hangers. Those will have had the best shielding. I’d check boats too, you might get lucky and find a few worki
ng marine radios. So far I haven’t found a working radio that wasn’t inside a metal container or building, but I suppose there’s always a chance.”
Chief Cox put together a team to search the Grant County Airfield for radios.
“Bring back at least five working radios, seven if you can manage it. Don’t get carried away, we don’t need all of them right now. Let’s see if this will work first.”
As the men were leaving the Chief called out. “Hey! Get with Angus, he’ll have keys, and he’ll know who owns what. Be sure to get the owner’s permission, and maybe their help before you go tearing up their property!”
“Angus? He’s the guy who runs the airport?”
“Yeah. Any of you know him?”
“I do.” The voice of a pimply faced teen chimed in.
“Right, you go with them then.”
“Yes, sir!” The wide-eyed boy bounced with excitement at having been included.
“Well, don’t just stand here. Move!”
The newly formed communication team found several working radios. They got two out of a Piper Cherokee, two out of a home-built RV-12, and two more out of a Cessna. They’d almost taken the radios out of a home-built Lancair IV until the owner put in a new battery and cranked the engine. It failed to start, but they didn’t want to rule out getting the plane airborne. They found one radio in a box, apparently having just come back from repair.
The pattern was pretty clear. If the plane was in a hanger there was a slim chance the radio worked. They hadn’t found a single working radio in the planes in the tie-down area.
The plan was to build a radio station near the high point of the hills to the south, and another to the north. The Chief was sending someone up to Burns with another radio, in case Emmett couldn’t find his own. The others went to the checkpoints for the roads in and out of town.
Solar Storm: Homeward Bound Page 25