by A. American
Mario pointed at me. “Hey. That’s going on your tab.”
“Whatever. I’ve got it!” I said. Looking at Thad, I said, “Come on there, princess, we got to get going.” Giving Shelly and Mario a nod, I said, “Thanks for this, guys. You need anything?”
“Just some power,” Mario said. “You done with my generator yet?”
“Not yet. We’ll find out today about the plant.”
“Good luck,” Shelly said.
Waving, I said, “Thanks,” as I turned and headed towards the buggy where Kelly was waiting. “You ready to go?” I asked.
He looked excited. When he spoke, it was obvious he was. He practically bounced as he spoke. “Yeah, man. Thanks a lot for doing this for me. I haven’t been out of Altoona since this happened.” He looked at the buggy and continued, “And look at this thing! It’s awesome!”
“Well hop in,” I said.
He quickly climbed in beside Aric and introduced himself. Thad got in behind the wheel and started off. As we got out onto nineteen, Aric stuck his head up between the front seats. “What’s in the jar?”
I handed it to him, “Try it. You’ll like it.”
He spun the lid off the jar and dipped a finger in and tasted it. “Awe, man that is good!”
Thad looked over his shoulder and said, “Imagine how good it’s going to be on a sweet potato!”
Aric took another taste. “Wow, that’s going to be so good.”
“Kelly, we’ve got to make a quick stop on the way south. Hopefully, it won’t take long.”
He was leaned out the side of the ride, letting the wind blow in his face. With his eyes closed, he replied, “You take as long as you need, man. Like I said, I ain’t been out of Altoona since this shit started.”
I asked Thad to slow when we passed through Umatilla. I looked down 450. The bodies were gone, thankfully. I waved Thad on, I didn’t feel like stopping at the market there. It was active with a number of people engaged in their various endeavors. Thad wheeled into the plant and parked beside the generator. The crew was all there, even Cecil. It looked like today would be the day.
As we got out, Scott looked at his watch and said, “About time you got here.”
“Whenever I arrive is exactly when I’m supposed to be here,” I replied with a smile.
I introduced Aric and Kelly to the crew there. They all thought Kelly was onto something and were very impressed when he showed them his canvas shoes.
Baker was looking at a pair and asked, “These are pretty cool. What do you want for a pair?”
Kelly shrugged. “I don’t know. What do you have?”
“How about a couple MREs?” She asked.
“Those Army meals?” Kelly asked. She nodded. He smiled broadly and said, “Yeah. I’d trade for that.”
“Let me find a pair that fit,” She said.
“Y’all take yer time. Ain’t like we’re doing anything today,” Cecil said.
Baker smiled. “I guess we should get down to business.” She looked at Kelly, “We’ll finish this before you leave.”
Cecil looked at the group. “Everyone know what they got to do, right?” He was answered with a round of nods. “Alright then. Morgan, you and Thad come with me. We’ll go to the control room and see if this old bitch will fire up.”
“I’ll keep an eye on our ride,” Aric said as he climbed in.
With a chuckle, I replied, “You gotta stay awake to do that.”
He smiled at me as he fell into the seat and leaned back. “Don’t worry. I got this.”
Thad and I followed Cecil to the small control room. As we stepped in, I looked at the panels mounted to the wall with all the gauges, buttons and switches. “We’re lucky,” Cecil said. “This thing is still analog controls. If it was like all the newer ones that run off a touch screen, we wouldn’t be here.”
Thad nodded at the wall of controls and asked, “You know what all that does?”
With his hands on his hips, Cecil nodded. “Yeah. It’s been a couple years, but it’s like riding a bike, and came right back to me.”
Thad looked around and saw a chair. Pulling it into a corner out of the way, he sat down, saying, “I’m going to stay over here. Out of the way.”
Cecil stepped up to the controls and keyed his radio, “You all in position?”
“Waiting on you,” Scott replied.
“Here goes nothing. I’m turning on the lube pump.” Cecil said as he raised a cover on a button on the wall and pressed it. It turned green, and in a moment, the radio crackled.
“Got flow,” Terry said.
Cecil looked at a gauge and replied, “We’ve got steady pressure. Starting diesel crank engine.” Raising another cover, he pressed the button beneath it. After a moment, a green indicator light came on.
“Crank engine is running!” Terry shouted into the radio over the roar of an engine.
I was impressed. “I can’t believe this is actually starting.”
“We ain’t there yet,” Cecil said.
It was getting louder in the control room. The big generator we borrowed from Mario was screaming just outside the door. This new motor Cecil had started added to the roar.
“Initiating purge,” Cecil called over the radio.
“What’s that for?” I asked.
“It’s blowing out all the fuel nozzles to make sure there’s nothing in them before the turbine fires.”
“Synchronous clutch just engaged,” Baker called over the radio.
“Roger that. Green light on the SSS,” Cecil replied.
“Turbine is spinning!” Eric called.
“Roger that,” Cecil replied. “Beginning warm-up.” Cecil watched the gauges on the wall. The needles were bouncing all over. Lights were flashing. It looked like chaos. “Thermocouples are reading,” Cecil said.
“Turbine just fired!” Baker called excitedly.
“Roger that. Green light on turbine start,” Cecil replied.
“So, it’s running?” Thad asked.
Without looking away from the controls, Cecil shook his head. “Not yet.” He pointed to a gauge on the wall. “When this gets to sixty percent, that diesel motor will drop out and the turbine will be running on its own. Then it has to reach speed.”
I watched the dial as the numbers increased. Twenty percent. Thirty, forty, fifty. It hovered there for several minutes. “Is something wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing to be worried about yet.”
The dial rolled over to sixty percent. Several lights on the board changed colors.
“Synchronous clutch disengaged. It’s running under its own power!” Baker shouted.
“Roger that. Green light on clutch disengage. Starter motor shutting down.”
“Starter engine just shut down!” Eric called.
“Turbine is accelerating,” Cecil called.
The one diesel engine dropped out. But now there was another, much louder noise taking its place. It was a combination of a high pitched whine and a roar. The turbine was running.
“We’re at eighty percent.” Cecil called.
Baker called, she was laughing. “It’s running! It’s actually running!”
“Stand by, Baker. We ain’t there yet,” Cecil replied.
The dial continued to rise. There was a mark on it at ninety-five percent. When the needle moved past it, lights on the board again started changing colors.
“Lube oil shut-down. We’re at ninety-five percent,” Cecil said over the radio.
“Lube oil shut down!” Terry called.
“Roger that. Lube oil shut down. Turbine is at one hundred percent.”
A series of shouts came back over the radio. Cecil stepped back and smiled. Looking over at me, he said, “Now, it’s running.”
Thad rose to his feet. “It’s making power?”
Cecil nodded. “Indeed it is,” he smiled broadly, then laughed, slapping his knees. “I can’t believe we did it!” He tapped a digital gauge on the wall and said, �
�She’s producing fourteen thousand four hundred volts. Right where she should be.”
“Amazing,” I muttered as I looked at the flashing lights, gauges and buttons. Looking at Cecil, I said, “But now, the real work starts.”
Cecil whistled. “Boy, you got that right. Let’s walk outside.”
The three of us walked out. Baker, Scott, Terry and Eric were gathered around beside the turbine. The sound was intense. They were all wearing hearing protection, I didn’t have any, nor did Thad. The engineers were all high-fiving one another and laughing.
Walking up to Baker, I grabbed her arm, “Hey, can we go someplace quieter?”
She smiled and nodded and motioned for the others to follow us. We walked over to the buggy where Aric was now sitting on the hood. He was shaking his head as we walked up, “I can’t believe you guys pulled it off.”
I looked back at the exhaust coming out of the stack over the plant. “Me neither.” Looking back at him, I added, “Now the real work begins.”
He looked curiously at me. “How?”
Laughing, I said, “The power is here. If we want it to go anywhere, we have a shit-ton of work to get it out.”
“Oh, like wires and stuff?”
“Yeah, wire, transformers, poles. You name it, we’re going to have to do it,” I replied.
“We’ll worry about that tomorrow,” Cecil said with a big smile. “Today, we celebrate this success.”
Smiling and nodding my head, I replied, “Good idea. This,” I pointed at the plant again, “is a huge success. I still can’t believe that thing is running.”
“What? You doubt our skills?” Scott asked.
“Uh. In a word. No,” I replied with a laugh.
“Well,” Baker said, “thank you for your support, good Sheriff.”
Cutting my eyes at her, I replied, “It’s not so much you. It’s that maybe I didn’t want the extra shit to deal with.”
Thad slapped me on the back. “Come on, Morg. I got faith in you. If anyone can bring the lights back on, you can.”
Looking sideways at him, I corrected him. “We can, big man. We can.”
Thad laughed. “I don’t climb poles.”
“I will.” Aric volunteered.
I nodded at him, “Duly noted, my friend.”
The young engineer Eric raised his hand as well, “I will too. I used to work for the phone company back home. I can climb.”
I looked at Cecil and smiled, “Looks like we have our first two linemen.”
He nodded back. “It’s a start.”
Cecil looked at the plant, then at Baker. “Go ahead and shut it down, Doc.”
She looked at the crew, “Let’s go, guys.”
The engineers all headed back for the plant. I hopped up onto the hood of the buggy beside Aric and leaned on my knees. “Well, this should be interesting.”
Cecil Leaned back against the buggy and reached into his shirt pocket. He removed a tin of Cohiba Penquenos. Seeing them, I grinned. “Oh man. Where did you find those?”
“I’ve been saving these for a special occasion.” He opened the tin. There were three cigars. He removed one and took it out of the wrapper and smelled the tobacco deeply. “Man, that smells good.”
“I bet it does,” I said. He handed it to me. I ran it under my nose, taking in the rich aroma of the tobacco. “It’s not even dried out,” I said as I handed it back to him.
“No. I kept them in a humidor I have. Made sure I kept it tight. These are the last ones.”
“Damn,” I whispered as I watched him cut the tip and light it with a match.
With the cigar clenched between his teeth, Cecil glanced sideways at me. “Want one?”
It was very tempting. I did want one, bad. “I’d love one, Cecil. But give it to one of those guys.” I said as I nodded towards the plant. “They’ve worked hard for it.”
“I like cigars,” Aric said.
“Me too,” Kelly said.
Cecil smiled and reached back into his hip pocket. Extracting another tin. “I had a feeling you’d say that.” He waved the still-wrapped tin as he spoke. Cecil gave both Aric and me a cigar as the sound of the turbine faded. Looking at Kelly, he said, “Sorry. You’re out of luck.” The diesel engine fired up again and Cecil explained it was to allow the shaft to cool without warping. It would keep spinning the turbine as it cooled.
Aric and I lit our cigars. I leaned back and inhaled the smoke deeply. I know, I know, you’re not supposed to inhale cigar smoke. But it wasn’t like I could make a habit out of it. Kelly was watching the three of us smoke. I smiled and handed him mine. He took a deep drag from it, closing his eyes as he handed it back to me. He held the smoke for a long time before letting it out.
With a little goofy look, he said, “Ooh, head rush.”
I laughed, “Yeah. Me too.”
Aric started to laugh. Obviously, the tobacco was affecting him too. Cecil smiled and said, “Good, ain’t it?”
With the plant now cooling down, the engineers walked back over. Scott pointed as he got closer, I could see him saying, what the fuck? Cecil must have seen it too. He smiled as they walked up and asked Scott, “What?”
He was still pointing, “Where the hell did you get that?”
Cecil unwrapped the second tin and opened it, peeling back the gold paper. “You want one?”
Scott delicately removed one and, just like the rest of us, sniffed the cigar. Cecil offered the others one as well. I was surprised when Baker took one. She noticed and asked, “What? You don’t think women smoke cigars?”
Aric was still feeling the effect of the smoke and blurted out, “That’s not what I was thinking.”
I elbowed him in the side. “No, Doc. I expected you would.”
She used a folding knife to expertly cut the tip of her cigar. Cecil handed her a small box of matches and she lit up, passing the matches to Scott. We all stood gathered around the front of the buggy as we savored our prize. Well, most of us. The young kid Eric obviously wasn’t a smoker. He coughed and hacked.
Terry stuck his hand out, “Give me that thing before you kill yourself.”
Eric jerked it away. “No! It’s mine and I’m going to smoke it!”
We all got a laugh out of him. And many more as he continued to work his way through the rest of it. Fortunately for him, and unfortunately for us, they aren’t very big. Cecil looked into the tin, there was one left. He snapped the lid closed and dropped it into his pocket. “One left for me.”
The old man stretched his neck out to see over the edge of the coal pile. We were using a pair of binoculars instead of the NVGs as the area around the reactor was very well lit by a number of diesel-powered light towers. The exhaust hung thick in the bright lights like a chemical fog. They were about three hundred fifty yards from the reactor building. The coal pile they were in had several conveyors running through it. One of them crossed the small lagoon to the two coal-fired units to the west side of the reactor.
“I don’t see anything over there at those two. Whatever is going on down there is happening at the reactor only,” Sarge said.
Ted grunted in agreement. “You see anyone armed down there?”
“I see lots of folks in coveralls,” Sarge replied.
Dalton was lying beside Ted. He looked back to where Doc was keeping an eye on the back door. Doc saw him through his NVGs and gave a thumbs up. Dalton replied in kind and turned his attention to the reactor. He’d brought the old man’s M1 with him and was using the scope to observe the action.
“There’s plenty of guns on those two boats,” Dalton said.
Sarge swung his binos towards the lagoon. “Sure are. Notice what’s missing though?”
Dalton studied the two boats moored to the north side of the lagoon. After a minute, he spotted it. “No flag.”
“Yeah,” Sarge replied. “And the name’s been painted over too.”
“Well now, that just stinks of pirates, now don’t it,” Ted added.
/> Mike looked down at the two boats and clucked his tongue. “Prepare to be boarded, fuckers.”
Without moving the optics from his eyes, Sarge reached over and palmed Mike’s head, pushing him down. “Not yet.”
Mike flattened himself a little closer to the ground and said, “You just say when.”
Sarge quietly replied, “You’ll know when I take yer chain off.”
Ted was back to looking at the reactor. “You see anything down there with an emblem on it?”
“No,” Sarge replied. “And we’re too far away to hear them.”
There were several people visible at the reactor where what looked like a set of train tracks ran into the building.
“I still don’t see anyone with a weapon. Or anything that tells us who is down there,” Ted said.
“I do,” Dalton said. “There’s two men on top of the reactor. You can see them now.”
Sarge and Ted both watched the two men. They were armed and in a uniform of some kind. But in the darkness, it was hard to make out. “Can you tell anything about them?” Sarge asked.
“They’re armed with AKs,” Dalton replied. Then, in a Russian accent, added, “The Kalashnikov is very good rifle.”
“And who carries AKs?” Ted asked.
Dalton laughed, “Fuckin’ everybody. One in every five rifles found on a battlefield worldwide is an AK.”
“He was looking for a different answer there, Gulliver,” Sarge said. “Russians carry AKs”
Dalton looked up from scope. “So do Hadji. Somali pirates, Hamas, Boko Haram. You name it.”
“I don’t think the PLO is here finger-fucking a nuclear power plant in Crystal River,” Sarge shot back.
Dalton settled back behind the rifle. “I’m just saying, don’t find an answer before the question’s been asked. Two more on top of that white tank at our eleven o’clock, other side of the lagoon.”
Ted and Sarge both looked to where he said he saw the two men. They were standing on a large tank and had a perfect view of both the back of the reactor and the two boats.
After a moment, Dalton said, “You know who else carries AKs?”
“According to you, everyone does,” Ted replied.
“And has an interest in nuclear shit?” Dalton continued. Before they could say anything, he answered his own question. “The Iranians.”