by AJ Newman
Patty said, “I noticed it getting bright, looked up at the sun with my sunglasses and saw the flare. Maybe nothing, but I watch all of those doomsday prepping shows and one mentioned that a solar flare or EMP blast could cause planes to crash.”
“Solar flares won’t wreck electronics unless it is more powerful than ever recorded. Do you know something I don’t?”
“No, of course not, I’m sorry to alarm you, but I wouldn’t fly for the next several days if I were you.”
He laughed and said, “Patty, why, I’d get laughed out of town or hung if I closed the airport. We rely on tourists to fly in and spend their money on hotels, fishing and hunting.”
“Okay, I’m sorry that I disturbed you. I guess you know better than I do about this stuff.
Well, we’ve got errands to run, see ya’ soon, bye.”
We left and drove home in silence. I had much to think about from what Mr. Simpson had said. There were dozens of serious hunters and outdoorsmen vacationing in the immediate area and hundreds around the state.
My mind wandered to the impact these people could have on our survival. They would be stranded here without food or supplies they would need for long-term survival. A group of these men could be a serious problem.
Mary handed us a beer as we walked into the kitchen and said, “Let me guess. They looked at you like you were crazy.”
“Yeah, that pretty much sums it up all right. I hope nothing happens, but every science fiction book I have read on solar flares and EMP blasts have planes falling out of the sky like rain. They also have people with pacemakers dropping like flies.”
“Well since Mr. Simpson has a pacemaker, I guess flying may not be what kills him.”
I replied, “Damn, that’s right. Planes will start falling tomorrow; pacemakers will stop and many cars will crash. Most will make it through this flare, but all will fry with the next one.”
The radio and TV were on but with very spotty reception. During a brief moment of clarity on the TV we heard the announcer say, “Stay calm. The Sun experienced a…………..which is normal …………elect………Go on about your………………..We will have a more detailed…………...”
“Those bastards in DC are still down playing the danger from the collisions.”
I spoke up and said, “We need to stay very low key now. No one will believe us and we certainly don’t want them remembering that we said it was going to happen after The Flare.
Don’t do anything to draw attention to us. I’m not going into town or seeing anyone but you two from now on.”
Patty looked at me as though I was a pariah and said, “I know you are right, but can we stand back and let these people die?”
“The short answer is, yes we can. We have to, or we will be flooded with people stealing our food and supplies. You have to get over it and realize that 80% of the world will die in the next six months regardless of what we do. This is why I planned to slip in here quietly and live alone through the end of the world, as we know it. Loose lips will get us killed.”
“I know that you are right, but it sounds so cruel and selfish.”
“It may be cruel and it may be selfish, but I am going to survive and if you follow the plan, you will survive also. Tell the world and we all die. Sorry to sound so mean, but that is the truth.”
Mary spoke up and said, “Patty you are a very nice person and you feel for people. This could get all three of us killed.
Honestly, honey, I hesitated on allowing you to join us because of your big heart. Normally it is a wonderful thing, but now you have to look out for yourself, and us.
We are, since we started this project, a family that will survive because all of us were prepping before we knew the end of our world was coming.
Of course we’ll shed a tear for those who refused to prepare for a disaster, and then we will slap ourselves and do what we have to do to survive.”
Mary’s blunt talk forced Patty to wake up and get back with our program. She never was a weak link again.
***
“Roger tower. Approaching at 9,000 and runway is in sight. Will……..”
Mr. Simpson heard the clerk scream and there was an explosion about a mile from the airport.
“What happened?”
“The flight from Denver lost altitude and crashed onto Highway 191.”
“Call Pinedale and get their emergency crews out here. I’ll take the firetruck out to the crash site with Ralph.”
“I’ve tried to call on the land line and my cell, no signal. I’ll try the radio.”
Mr. Simpson tried to start the fire engine to no avail. He and Ralph grabbed several fire extinguishers and took his pickup out to the crash. There was nothing to do since the plane had hit the ground nose first and disintegrated killing everyone aboard.
He looked up, saw a fireball and then smoke coming from Half Moon Mountain. It took a few seconds before he realized that another plane had just crashed into the side of the mountain. He tried his cell phone and there were no bars and no service.
“Ralph, another plane crashed. What the hell is going on?”
“Maybe that crazy lady was right about the solar flares.”
“No, the government would have warned us.”
***
The Northern Lights were the brightest and most active in recorded history. There was no darkness, but it wasn’t quite daylight, either.
You could drive your car without the lights, or read a book without a lamp. The entire sky over Wyoming was filled with ever changing scenes consisting of vivid green, violet, red, yellow and blue. Some patterns appeared to be green rain falling on the Earth while others consisted of swirls of solid or multiple colors. I was fixated on them.
Mary watched the display and said, “I wonder how many planes have fallen from the sky?”
“I don’t know and I guess we’ll never know. I don’t think we’ll have normal radio communication for many months, hell, maybe not in our lifetime. After the last collision we’ll get the walkie talkies, short wave and cell phones out of storage and check for signals without giving away our position.”
“I agree. I hate to just hunker down and wait for most people to perish while we survive; however, I do want to be among the remaining survivors.”
“Me, too. Do you think we can count on Patty to keep her word about not telling people about our plans?”
“I believe we can, but we must always be on guard. Doomsday has to be straining on nerves and mental processes. Trust, but verify.”
“It’s been ten days since the second collision; is there anything we should be doing? I feel like we are just marking time until Alpha Omega III hits the Sun.”
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Alpha Omega III’s atmosphere began to boil as she continued her trans-stellar quest to mate with Sol. Now, with a tail stretching 10 million miles, her long journey was finally nearing completion. Alpha Omega III would join with this small star in an orgasmic explosion of light and plasma, thrusting outward in all directions.
Chapter 6
The Last 10 Days
The Ranch
I gave much thought to the question concerning what we should be doing before Alpha Omega III slammed into our sun. We met every day in the kitchen to discuss our goals and preparations.
I no longer went into town for any reason. My friends however spent a few hours each day in Pinedale. Life in town seemed to have shifted into high gear as people made their own frenzied preparations for the end of days. They also noticed that several hunters, unable to acquire transportation home had begun to congregate at the Corral Bar and Grill to discuss and evaluate their next move in the event an incoming C.M.E. really would prove to be civilizations end.
On the thirteenth day before Alpha Omega III’s scheduled impact, I asked Patty and Mary to pick up the best steaks, seafood and wine money could buy in Pinedale.
I grilled three 16 oz. filet mignon to medium rare perfection along wi
th skewers of shrimp, scallops and lobster mixed in with onion, bell pepper, squash, and served a $7,000 bottle of 1997 Domaine de la Romanee Conti, which, of course was not available in Wyoming. These folks were far too smart to spend so much for so little. In a frivolous orgy of spending, I had purchased it, along with some others. Come on, it was TEOTWAWKI.
Mary brought a homemade banana pudding that was the best dessert to ever pass between my lips. Patty made her famous potato salad. We ate until we were stuffed and retired to the glassed in deck at the back of the house to enjoy the light show and drink more of the outlandishly expensive 1997 Romanee Conti wine.
“Well ladies I thought, and then thought some more, and finally I have come up with the very last thing that we need to do before the world ends.”
“Pray tell what your mind came up with?” asked Mary.
“There is nothing more that we have to do, therefore we enjoy life each day until we have to button up in the bomb shelter and hunker down until all of those damn charged particles either fry our asses or pass us by.”
“So what do you intend to do?”
I replied, “Drink some of the finest 24 year old single malt Scotland has ever produced, read War and Peace, hunt and fish. Come to think of it, I guess I’ll wait until spring for the fishing part. It is winter, in Wyoming, ya’ know.”
Mary giggled, and said, “You are wise beyond your ears, I mean years. From this day forward, you shall be known as ‘The Sage of the Ranch.”
Laughing now myself, I replied, “Thank you, I humbly accept this great honor. Do I need to take a knee or something to make it official?”
“Smart ass…”
Mary chimed in, “I will pass the time quietly thinking about Frank, take a couple of hikes into the mountains and sip a few glasses of wine while I gorge myself on great food. Who gives a shit if I gain a pound or two at the end of the world?”
Patty didn’t say anything even though we stared at her.
I spoke up and said, “Well Patty?”
“I am going to ride my horses. Drink more wine than I should and cry way too much. Hell, let’s face it, other than hunting, fishing and sightseeing there’s not a whole lot to do out here.”
I added, “Every day I become more and more pleased with the conversion of the Den into a theater. That, coupled with the thousands of movies, and TV series vids just might get us through the PTSD we are already displaying, because it’s not like we can go see a Broadway play or take a cruise to the Bahamas.”
“Good point. I must agree that our bucket list has turned a bit vanilla.”
I suddenly came up with a great idea, “Let’s each plan one surprise event for all of us to enjoy before the collision.”
They liked my idea and we agreed to have our plan ready by the next day. Mary drew the short straw and had to be the first to get our events off the drawing board, and out of the chute, Patty was next and I had the grand finale two days before the end.
The whiskey and wine were flowing a bit too freely when Patty said, “We need to have a name for the end of the world. TSHTF, TEOTWAWKI, or The Event all sound too scientific or too clumbershum. Lesh juss call it The Flare. Saying “The Flare” will mean the exact point in time when shit will shit the fan; the Sun sent shit at us and the world fell apart.”
I can’t really write the words as bad as she slurred them, but you get the point. We were all three sheets to the wind when “The Flare” was adopted as a point in history. It was now the appropriate nomenclature to describe the worst disaster in the world’s history. It has the same significance as AD or BC in the history of humans on Earth.
I decided that after The Flare, I would spend time playing with the old Gregorian calendar and figure a better way to calculate the months, 31 days here, 30 there, and of course good old February.
Yeah, yeah, I know. None of us could pronounce nomenclature; it came out as “normen clapshure.
Mary also reminded us that the dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid might argue with us about the worst disaster in the world until Patty put that to bed with her final statement of the night before passing out.
She replied eloquently, “Fluck the dinoslhaurs.”
“Okay it was hilarious at the time, to three drunks.”
***
Mary took us on a sightseeing tour of the mountains and stopped beside a mountain stream that was so cold it took your breath away, and so beautiful that it helped restore our faith in God’s handiwork. That gave me the idea to store my extra beer in the stream behind the house. I would have cold beer forever, or at least until it ran out. We hiked for several hours before hiking back to the house for supper. We had a great time together, and went to be early.
The next day Patty instructed us to meet up at the corral at 7:00 am the following morning. We arrived to see three horses saddled up and ready to go. As before we each had a canvas bag with our lunch strapped to the back of our horse.
Patty led the way and we took off at an easy pace. I must admit I did appreciate the warmth of my mare’s flanks, and the vision of the cold breath exiting her nostrils thrilled me in some deep place. Yep, it was a wonderful idea.
She took us on several trails through the foothills of the nearby mountains stopping to look at the scenery, and a multitude of wild animals.
We stopped at noon for lunch beside a mountain pond and ate our sandwiches sitting on a log beside the frozen pond. I was glad for the rest, or should I admit that my butt was overjoyed to be off the horse, and yes, the next day my butt was sore, and my inner thighs were somewhat chaffed.
The trip was great, but my ass was dragging by the time we got back to home and had supper.
Now, it was my turn to deliver a well-executed event that each of us would remember for the rest of our lives; however, long, or short that might be.
It took me three days to set up my survival course. It had numerous events to test our skills and we had fun competing in the events.
The first three events tested our rifle, pistol and compound bow expertise. The next three tested our knowledge of various survival skills, and the last two were designed to be fun.
The first was climbing a rope net to the top and coming down the other side. The last event took some serious planning as it required each of us to swing on a rope over a mud pit. I used the mini-excavator on the rear of one of the tractors to dig the six by eight by two foot deep pit in the big barn. I placed heaters on each side of the pit so make the area warm and toasty. Well, come on, you know that frozen mud is no fun, at all.
At first, the girls balked and wanted no part of swinging over the mud, but when I cackled like a chicken, they agreed. What they didn’t know was that I had greased their ropes. I thought that was hilarious; them, eh, not so much. Honest, I didn’t mean for it to turn out to be mud wrestling, but the girls both slipped off their ropes and into the mud.
Patty looked at Mary and said, “So, he wants to play rough, huh? Get him!” So, they drug my ass into the mud with them.
They sat on me with my face, under the mud for what seemed an eternity before letting me up. We were throwing mud, splashing muddy water and pushing each other down into the two-foot deep slop.
At that point, it was them against me and they nearly drowned me in the mud before I cried uncle.
Anyway, we had a great time and I would remember the smiles on the girl’s faces for the rest of my life, mainly because of how their white teeth shone through the mud on their faces.
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Chapter 7
Collision
“Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States!”
“My fellow Americans, I know that many of you have heard rumors about an object careening through space that will hit the sun in the next few days.
It is with a deep sadness that I must tell you that the rumors are true. A trio of rogue planets has invaded our solar system. The first two smaller planets have already been consumed by our sun.
It is consensus of the scientific community that these collisions are responsible for the increased sun spot activity of the past week.
The 3rd and largest planet, Alpha Omega III will impact with the sun in a few days. I want to assure you that our scientists have assured me that we are in no danger from that collision. The sun is huge in size compared to the object striking it later this month. Unfortunately, the resulting solar flares will most certainly interrupt satellite communications such as radio and television.
The worst-case scenario is that it will cause temporary power outages as some of our electrical grid receives a surge of charged particles as the flare passes by the Earth.
I am, therefore ordering all power generation stations to shut down 24 hours before the flare approaches Earth to reduce the damage to our electrical grid.
The power will be turned back on as soon as the flare passes the Earth. This will take approximately another 48 hours.
Our Director of the Department of Homeland Security will follow me, and give you instructions on what you can do to get through this minor crisis with the least negative impact on your lives. Thank you and I know that we shall come through this together.”
“Thank you Mr. President for your encouragement, and leadership now we will hear from the Director of DHS, Secretary Jeffery Bullship.”
“Ladies and Gentlemen I will only cover the bullet points on what you need to do to prepare yourselves for this temporary inconvenience. The details will be broadcast on your local TV and Radio stations, conditions permitting.
Stock enough water for three days.
Have enough prepared food in your home for three days.