Solar Storm: Homeward Bound

by Vincent Keith

  “Are we going to make camp here?”

  “Soon. The Sergeant assures me there’s a creek up ahead that we can pull water from so we don’t have to melt snow tonight.”

  “That’ll be a relief. Remind me to never travel in the winter with this many horses.”

  “I suspect this is going to be normal for you. Just bring more hands to help. I think maybe we should look at building some sleds and carts…. Wonder if Henry knows now to build a horse-drawn wagon?”

  “I do,” said Allan. “Well, except for the wheels and axles, but I know all the dimensions to have them pull right.”

  “Do you? Okay, we’ll need to get that written down when we get home. But for now, let’s see if we can find that creek and set up camp while Lexi and her guardians investigate our refugees.”

  “Hey, doc?” Allan held out a small rectangular object in a cloth bag.

  “Hmm?”

  “Hold onto this for a while, it’ll help.”

  Rachael took the device and winced as the warmth brought needles of feeling back into her numbed fingers.

  “Bless you. I was sure I wasn’t going to be able to move my fingers again for days.”

  “Here. These are fuel sticks. Have you ever worked one?”

  “I have,” said Jack. “Thanks.”

  Jack shifted so he could look around, but he didn’t spot the dogs. “What the hell?”

  “Looking for the dogs?” asked Allan.

  “Yeah, they like to explore, but they always stay in sight.”

  “Hoover took off after Lexi, Dusty’s back with the horses. She’s been pretending to be the rear guard, but I think she likes having the herd break trail for her.”

  Jack turned, maneuvering Rachael so he could look back through the herd of pack horses and remounts. He spotted the creamy white of Dusty against the bluish white of the snow. “Lazy ass dog,” Jack chuckled.

  “Looks like we might get set up with a touch of light left but not a lot,” said Allan.

  “Sooner would be better, even Angel isn’t putting out enough heat to help. Is it always this cold?”

  With a clear sky and a setting sun, it was already cooling. Tonight promised to be another cold one. Jack had picked up an old thermometer with a Pepsi logo on it from an abandoned gas station. He reached back and unhooked it from his saddlebags where it had been dangling in the open air. It was far enough away from the horse’s body to give a reasonable reading. He just didn’t know if the thermometer was accurate.

  “Care to take a guess what the temperature is?”

  “About the same as the third circle of hell,” said Rachael.

  Jack looked up in surprise. “Well, maybe not quite that cold. We’ll get camp set up in a bit, then you can snuggle up next to the stove and get some sleep.”

  Rachael just nodded.

  “Best get moving,” he said putting action to words. He helped Rachael back into her saddle and then mounted his own.

  Rachael’s horse followed with no prompting, the herd moved when Allan started forward. He moved up next to Jack.

  “She okay?” he asked in a whisper.

  “I think so, just exhausted from lack of sleep. The cold probably isn’t helping much… I think we better get camp up quick. She might be in the early stages of hypothermia.”

  “So, how cold is it?”

  “Oh… A balmy twelve degrees Fahrenheit.”

  An involuntary shiver ran across Allan’s shoulders. He grinned at Jack and dropped back closer to the herd. Even though Jack had spoken at just above a whisper, Rachael still heard the number. She sighed and closed her eyes. It wasn’t until they stopped at the stream that she realized she’d fallen asleep in the saddle.

  “I’ll ride ahead and start on the camp,” said Allan.

  “Thanks, hopefully Doug and Miguel won’t be gone too long.”

  When they arrived at the camp spot, Doug and Allan had already set up the big canvas tent and fired up Allan’s big camp stove.

  “Hey Doug, where are Miguel and Lexi?”

  “They’re walking back, they put the kids up on the horses and they’re dragging the families’ sled. I expect to see them any minute now. “

  “I expect everyone is going to be near frozen. We should probably set up the fire pit too.”

  “Yeah, we still have plenty of wood, might as well.”

  Allan had dug down to dirt in a wide circle for the fire-pit. He set up the tripod and the big mesh dish. Doug brought over an armful of split wood and got a fire going.

  Allan fashioned the snow into a circular bench around the pit. Next he set up two large emergency blankets to reflect heat back into the tent.

  Between the stove and Allan’s large portable fire-pit they were able to raise the interior temperature to something approaching comfortable. Jack’s tiny stove in the much smaller confines of his Sawtooth shelter would do a little better, but would require almost constant feeding.

  Jack helped Rachael into the big tent and put her in a camp chair he’d set up near the stove. It was a good spot, with the stove on one side and the heat from the fire-pit on the other.

  “Okay, you’re in charge of boiling the water. As soon as we have the first pot, we’ll make you some tea. I think we’ll have soup tonight, let’s get the big pot boiling too.” He filled the pots and put them on the stove. “Just holler when it’s been boiling for at least four minutes.”

  Rachael nodded, “Oh, this feels much better. I’m not sure I’ve ever been that cold before.”

  “How are your fingers?”

  “Good. No pins and needles, no stiffness when flexing. My feet are warming up, which is a little painful, but there’s no permanent damage.”

  “Should we check for frostbite?”

  Rachael considered it for a minute. “I very much doubt it. But, if you wouldn’t mind unlacing my boots, it wouldn’t hurt to take a look.”

  Jack pulled the tips of his mittens back revealing the fingerless glove part of the hybrid gloved-mitten, then started on her laces.

  Allan folded up his spare parka and put it on the snow giving Rachael someplace to rest her feet. Jack checked each toe and found nothing. “All good.”

  “I think I’ll just leave the boots off. I’m warming up faster this way.”

  “Sure.”

  Rachael could see concern writ across Jack’s face. “I’ll be fine, but unless there’s an emergency I’m going to bed after dinner, and nobody better wake me until morning.”

  “I’ll have the other tent set up and the stove going before that water boils, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

  Rachael sighed.

  “What?”

  “Sorry, it’s just… I can’t stop thinking about all those people at the dam. So many people with injuries from doing stuff they’d never done before. One guy… I’m pretty sure I got him stitched up soon enough for it to help… He was cutting lumber with a hand saw and almost took off his own finger. I can’t even figure out how that’s possible. Another man put an axe into his own leg. They’d waited too long to put in stitches, but at least they cleaned it pretty well. It’s going to take longer for him to heal and it’s going to leave a pretty nasty scar. I think he’s lucky he didn’t get infected.”

  Jack nodded, encouraging her to continue. “Another young man got his hand trapped under a heavy sheet of steel, and it crushed three of his fingers. I think Doctor Steinwald will have to come up and amputate, or they’ll have to take him down there. I’ve only seen it once, but it looked and smelled like gangrene. I did as much debridement as he could stand with no anesthetic, and gave him a full course of antibiotics, but…”

  “It must be hard not having the tools you’re used to. So many more injuries and so few people to help fix them while they’re still fixable.”

  “How the hell did we get here Jack?”

  “There’s no good answer to that. I’m pretty sure it was Carl Sagan who once said: Extinction is the rule; survival is the exception
. I know that sounds depressing, but we’ve survived. Most of what we lost we’ve only had for a hundred years or less. There’s been a considerable amount of cooperation, much more than I was expecting to be honest. Mother nature is a cold-hearted bitch. People talk about taking care of the planet, but the truth is, the planet doesn’t give a damn about our survival. Given what this world has been through, what we’re going through now is barely a sneeze.”

  “I think I’m sorry I asked,” Rachael smiled taking the sting from the words. “I’m just not sure I’ll ever get used to it.”

  “No, and neither will I. The very young will. They won’t know anything else. It’s our job to put things in order so they have a chance. That, and to teach them the importance of not becoming complacent. Maybe it’ll last longer than a couple hundred years this time.”

  “Huh?”

  “Later, it’s a conversation for later. Just my ramblings and rants.”

  “I think you’ve earned the right to rant, but I’m not sure I’ll be awake to hear it.”

  They both looked up as the tent flap opened.

  “Mom? This is Mrs. Garret. And this is Sara, and her brother Andy.”

  Rachael stood up, keeping her socks on the area covered by Allan’s parka, and greeted the older woman. “Hi, I’m Rachael, come over and get warm by the fire, we’ll have tea in a minute, and we’re making soup.”

  Lexi tugged on Jack’s arm. “They need you outside.”

  “Right, stay with your mom, she’s exhausted so help out with the tea and soup. Oh! See if you can dig up those insulated pads for them to sit on, just don’t let your mom over exert herself okay?”

  “Roger that.”

  Lexi turned and bounded off in search of the foam pads they used as seat cushions. Jack just smiled, suspecting that she had no idea how many little mannerisms she’d picked up from both himself and the Rangers. Then again, he’d picked up a few from the Rangers too. He stepped out of the tent and closed the flap behind him. Jack spotted the guys standing in a circle near the horses and headed toward them.

  “Jack, this is Ross Garrett formerly of Nespelem.”

  “Nespelem… Oh, that’s the town Lt. Green was talking about.”

  “They’ve got some solid intel on the situation, and I’ll tell you, if we had five more guys, I’d go deal with it right now.”

  “We could—”

  “No, we couldn’t. No offense Jack, but you’re not trained enough for this kind of work. Hell, my guys aren’t trained enough, but at least they’ve all operated together as a team for a couple years. Doug and I aren’t sufficient, and we can’t lower security here by taking anyone else. They’ll just have to wait, although it might get the captain moving sooner.”

  Jack sighed, “You’re right, there’s no way we can split up, and there’s no way I’d take the girls into anything like that on purpose.”

  Ross Garrett shook his head, “No, I don’t blame you for not getting involved.”

  “Oh, we’ll get involved all right,” Miguel interjected. “But we’ll do it when we know we’ll succeed and put an end to this crap. Jack, can we get in touch with the LT from here do you think?”

  Jack did a quick scan of the surrounding hills. “Pretty good chance from up there,” he said, pointing to a butte. “Looks like going up the back side should be easy enough.”

  Miguel looked over the hill Jack had pointed out.

  “No, that’s farther than we want to go in the dark, let’s try it from here. If we get through, fine. If we don’t, we’ll be at your place in a few days.”

  “True, and we know Henry can reach them.”

  “What about us?” asked Ross.

  Jack tugged on his beard while he considered what to say. “I think you’ve got two options. You continue on down to the dam and ask to see Major Yanakovic. Or, you come with us. Now, I can’t offer you a long term place to stay, not without discussing it with the other folks, and honestly, I’m not hopeful.”

  Jack paused and kicked at the snow with his boot. “We can figure out a way to give you shelter until his boss gets there,” he said, pointing at Miguel.

  “I… I’m not sure I understand, are you all military?”

  “What? No. Hmm, this is going to take a bit to explain. Why don’t we get something hot? We should have either coffee or tea ready by now. We can sit, and I’ll give you the short version. Either way, you should probably camp with us tonight. LT Green had no intel on wandering bands, so it’s probably safe enough, but…”

  “Who’s L. T. Green?” asked Ross

  “Lieutenant Monica Green, she’s the acting Intel Officer with the Washington Guard at Coulee Dam. This will all make more sense if I give you the bigger picture. Let’s get warmed up and check on your family, and then I’ll get you up to speed.”

  Jack spent several hours recounting his travels and describing the little community they called the monastery and the joke behind the name. When he’d answered most of their questions, he turned it over to Miguel.

  Lexi made sure her mom was ensconced in the Sawtooth shelter with the stove going. Jack reminded Lexi to add fuel once an hour and not wake her mom for anything less than a medical emergency and left the tent. He dug into the aluminum case, took the little radio and the antenna. With luck, he could contact the folks at the dam or perhaps Henry.

  “DAMN I’M FROZEN THROUGH,” Jack said through chattering teeth. He got closer to the big stove and held out his gloved hands. “Can’t wear gloves and work the key worth a darn. I had to sign off because I couldn’t get my Morse code over one or two words a minute my fingers were so stiff.”

  “Lucky if you don’t end up with frostbite,” said Doug.

  “Nah, but I’m sure glad that key Lexi found in Art’s junk box had a plastic pad on it, a metal one would have killed me.”

  “I doubt it.”

  “Well, no but…” Jack pulled off his gloves and worked his fingers “Oh damn that hurts.”

  “So you were up there for almost two hours. Any luck?”

  “I really need to get more practice time on the little keyer. It’s been years since I did any Morse code, and I switched to a full size iambic electronic keyer a long time ago,” Jack said shaking his hands trying to get the circulation moving.

  “Anyway, I got through to everyone. I put on the extensions and went right to eighty meters. Without having an F-Oh-F-Two map to verify the maximum usable frequency for vertical reflection, I’m back to just trying frequencies and getting reception reports. I tell you, it’s just all screwed up right now. I try a frequency that should work, and I get nothing, and then I try one that normally wouldn’t work, and the reception is great. I hope whatever is going on up there settles down soon. With the hills and all, I’m afraid our daylight contact ability is just about gone.”

  “You do realize I didn’t understand any of that, right?” asked Doug.

  “I…” Jack stopped and then grinned. “Sorry, once you’ve got the Ham bug, it’s kinda tough to put down, and it’s easy to forget just how much techno-babble there is. Wait, I thought you had experience as a radio operator?”

  “Yep, I know how to hook up and tune an antenna and how to adjust the frequency dial, and which channels to use depending on the time of day. But the rest of that crap? You’d need to talk to a communication specialist for that.”

  Jack waved his hand as if brushing the thought aside and turned to warm his backside, putting his hands behind his back to keep them close to the heat. “Anyway, we relayed the information to Brian, and he’s moving up his schedule, so we can expect to see him around New Year’s.”

  “Good, Miguel and I will go do a little scouting as soon as we deliver you home. Anything new from Lieutenant Green?”

  “She’d like to debrief Ross, but she’s happy to wait until Brian arrives. If Ross agrees that he should come with us, then maybe we have Yanakovic bring his team up to the monastery with Brian, and we can all meet there. If we all decide it’s best to
move Ross down to the dam, then he and his family can ride with you guys.”

  “What about Allan?”

  “Henry’s been thinking about that. He’d like to see if Allan and his father will agree to hire him out for a few months. When the snow clears off, we’ll be sending a trade caravan down, at least as far as Pilot Rock, but probably all the way to Adin. He could ride back with them, and they’d have enough people to work reduced guard shifts.”

  Doug nodded. “So you really think this trade route is going to happen?”

  “It has to. If no other reason than to keep up a sense of connectedness. If we let ourselves get too isolated… I don’t know, I just don’t think that would work out for the best.”

  “Right, well I’m on watch in a few, I’ll give the Sergeant a sit-rep. Ross offered to help stand watch, but we decided he’d been through enough for a few days. I’ll take Lexi out with me if that’s okay?”

  “Lexi? Sure, we should ask… Oh… well, I guess… Ah hell. Just do it. If Rachael wants to give me grief in the morning, that’s fine.”

  “Brave man.”

  “I don’t expect Rachael to mind. She’ll grouse about not being woken up, but that’s just her sense of duty. I think she’s coming to terms with just how fast Lexi has grown up. It’s hard to believe she’s just turning sixteen in a couple weeks.”

  “Sixteen? Really?”

  “Yep. Kind of scary isn’t it?”

  46

  DELAYS

  Jack, Miguel, and Ross stood off to the side of the camp while the others busied themselves breaking things down. Jack took a sip of his coffee, savoring the flavor and the warmth. Ross was alternating tiny sips with deep inhalations as if he could get even more nourishment from breathing in the coffee scent. Miguel alternated sips with checking his little nylon-covered notebook.

  “Well, Ross, what do you think, ride with us and let the horses carry all that stuff, or head for the dam?”

  “We’ll go with you, even if we end up moving to the dam. Just getting here was so hard I was afraid we wouldn’t make it. I can’t put the kids and Nicki through that if I don’t have to. Besides, given what you said about the horses, I think you folks might find me kind of useful.”