They arrived two days before the start date, and tied up to a dock opposite the Wild Goose. There were lots of small craft tied up along the shore, but the Flush and the Goose were the only larger vessels. Several vehicle, including trucks, cars, and wagons were parked in the Best Buy lot.
Everyone had something to trade or sell. Inside the building was where all the trading action occurred. About half of the people had focused on salvaging what was usable from before the Event. The balance of the people had homemade or grown goods or services to sell or trade. Some folks spent the days trading and re trading in a successions of transactions.
The first day Zeke met with Doc Hanson and David Russell and Tiny Landon, who were staging the event. They discussed the need for something more than barter, to facilitate the trading. The old money except maybe coins was useless. A few people had a little pre-64 (junk silver) coins, but there was not enough available to meet the developing needs.
Both Doc and Zeke had a lot of junk silver, as ballast in their vessels. By the first morning, the First Bank of Inland Sea was established, with a three-way partnership between Best Buy Trading Post, Zeke, and Doc. The Bank provided small, interest free junk silver loans, to be repaid by the end of the Fair Week. The exchange rate was set at:
1 Oz. Gold = 20 Silver Dollars; 1 Silver Dollar = 10 Dimes or 5 Nickels or 10 Pennies or 4 Quarters or 2 Halves; 1 Dollar on Post 64 Coins = 1 Dime, except for Pennies and Nickels.
The process worked, and significantly increased the level of trading during the remainder of the fair. The default level was limited to one individual who had purchased a calf. The man offered to leave his son as security until the next month’s fair. He was told that the Bank would trust him for that limited period.
Every night, groups would gather around bonfires to tell stories and sing songs. Zeke traded a jug of brandy for a battered guitar when he found out that Maria could play. On another night, he fired up the small generator, and used his digital projector and music system to show a John Wayne DVD on a bed sheet tied to the side of the deckhouse. For a few minutes, the crowd was able to forget just how much their lives had changed.
On the last day of the fair, two thugs approached a man and his wife just as they were finishing loading their sailboat. A confrontation resulted in the man being stabbed, and the thugs taking the boat and sailing away. Zeke heard the woman's screams, and saw the boat leaving the area. Running to the aft deckhouse, he shouted for Roberto to help get the jetboat launched.
Ten minutes later, Zeke and Ben Jacobs from the Wild Goose pulled away from the dock. At over 40 knots, the jetboat quickly overtook the sailboat. As they approached, one of the thugs pulled out a pistol and started firing. Zeke pulled the helm hard to port and continued to approach, zigzagging to through off the thug’s aim. Closer and closer, until just before impact, he swerved and swamped the smaller craft. The thug with the gun had stood to aim at the jetboat cabin, and was thrown into the water. His accomplice, clung to the tiller, and screamed that he couldn't swim.
An hour later with the thugs tied up and the sailboat in tow, the jetboat returned to the dock. In these new times, crime was not tolerated. No longer could a criminal expect to retire courtesy of the state or get off by claiming diminished capacity. Before sundown they were tried by their peers, found guilty of attempted murder, assault, and theft. They were hung before dark. There were not many bleeding hearts in the post Coastal Event society.
The jetboat had a few holes, but no serious damage and a bond had developed between the crews of the Wild Goose, and the Busted Flush.
It was a great time for the young people to meet and get to know each other. There was a young, red-haired, lady named Rebecca who captivated the heart of Roberto Mendoza, but she had eyes only for another young man named David Russell.
Zeke had delayed their departure, for an older man, who wanted to bring his family to live and work at Casa Jacoby. Raphael Maldonado was a farmer with four children, and his oldest daughter, quickly made Roberto forget about the redhead. They also returned with a small diesel tractor and plow, a pair of small pigs, more bottles and containers, farm implements, building materials, a couple of tents, several bolts of cloth, thread, and a portable sewing machine. They had traded the entire harvest surplus, the brandy, and some junk silver, which had become the unofficial currency of the Inland Sea.
In the next two years, the people at Casa Jacoby prospered. Roberto married Miss Maldonado, and both he and Zeke became fathers to boys, named Fernando and Ruben. The weather seemed to have permanently changed. The sun was always hidden behind clouds that produced daily afternoon showers. The plants grew slowly, and drainage was important, while irrigation was not.
Chapter 14
The newspaper was too successful. By the end of year 2, the stock of paper and printer cartridges was shrinking. David recognized how important this communications link to the Inland Sea communities was, but also knew that it was going to have to change. He mentioned the problem with Zeke and Doc in their weekly three way 10-meter discussions. Doc replied that they had discovered the CHP AM band Traffic Transmitter and tower on the peak of Sutters Butte. He said it looked like it was old military surplus, and there was even an old surplus diesel generator attached to it.
David said that he might be able to get it running, but with diesel in such a short supply there was no way to have regular broadcasts. Zeke replied that he could furnish bio-diesel if Doc could transport it. Doc made a monthly trip around the sea, trading and supplying medical service. He immediately agreed to transport a fuel drum on every trip.
David agreed to ride the Goose to Sutters Butte and attempt to get the station on line. He ended up spending a month at Sutters Butte, living on the Goose, and working on the station. The equipment was late 1950 vintage with tubes instead of semiconductors. There was a good complement of spares, in their original military packaging. The main problem was the audio equipment was newer, and semiconductor based. The EMP storm had destroyed it, beyond repair. It took a lot of jury rigging, but he was able to patch in a new audio subsystem made up of components from the Best Buy inventory.
The time he spent on the Goose also made him aware that Rebecca was quickly developing into a striking young woman, who was very interested in him.
Finally the testing was done, and the last issue of the Inland Sea Beacon was printed. In it, David explained that the resources required for printing were not available, and that radio 640 would replacing it with a broadcast from 6:00 to 9:00 PM every Saturday evening. He suggested that older tube type car radios could be connected to a 12-volt battery. The first broadcast was scheduled for the following Saturday.
David was apprehensive about doing a live broadcast. Rebecca looking over his shoulder and hanging on every word made it worse. He opened by playing a recording of Ray Charles singing America the Beautiful. He then spent a half-hour summarizing the news. That was followed by a Beatles recording and then an hour of want-need adds. The program closed with more music and ended with a recording of the Star Spangled Banner.
The feedback at the fair was very positive, with a doubling of paid adds and many music requests.
When the AM broadcasts started, Zeke insured that all families had access to a salvaged radio, a storage battery, and a charging system. The 9:00 PM broadcasts on Saturday nights were a weekly high point. Maria had started a school for all the children, using materials from Zeke's library and computer system. Brandy production had been more than doubled and biodiesel production met all their needs as well as what was required for the 640 transmitter. A salvaged single cylinder diesel generator now provided lighting power to all homes from dark to 10:00 PM.
David’s attraction to Rebecca could not be denied, and a stolen kiss instantly turned serious on Saturday after the broadcast. When they came up for air, Rebecca said, “well, I guess you will have to make an honest woman out of me so Daddy doesn’t have to shoot you. I’m kind of attracted to you.”
They
were married two days later, and took the Goose out into the Pacific for a short, but private honeymoon.
Ten months later, Jessica Russell was born, and a year later, Erick Russell joined the family.
The Russell family all lived on the Goose, and they traveled around the Inland Sea, trading, doing business, and visiting settlements all over.
Delbert Thompson married April Hall shortly after his daughter was married. They moved into the home with Doc and June, who were getting frail.
Chapter 15
The months passed slowly, and the Marines met many of their counterparts, in the mess hall and recreation facilities. The relationships were polite, but never close.
One day, Walter spent three hours waiting in Kemp’s office when he was summoned for a meeting. While he waited, he struck up a conversation with the young woman at the reception desk. Cindy had resolved to avoid all men, until she and Lilly were free of this place. But, there was something about this guy. He had almost broke down when talking about the family he had to leave in LA.
She related her experience in Reno, and he seemed shocked to hear it, as well as the situation for the women that were taken.
By the time Kemp called for Walter to come in to his office, a bond had developed between the two young people. When he left after the meeting, they agreed to meet for coffee the next morning.
When Gunny Larson knocked on Walter's stateroom later that day, and said, “Boss, we need to talk.”
“Come in, Gunny. What's up?”
“ I’ve been hearing stories about what happened in Reno, just before they locked the doors. I confirmed them this morning. They took a large group of armed troops into Reno on Day-1, and rounded up over 400 young women, mostly hookers, but over 100 others, mostly from the college. They are all on Level 8, and reserved for senior staff, or as a special reward for the rest.”
Walter responded. “I know, I met one this morning. Somehow I'm not surprised, they are an arrogant bunch that are drunk on power. We can't do anything now, but someday they will have to pay for what they have done. Try to keep the rumor mill down and remind our folks that we have to live by the UCMJ.”
In the months and years that followed, there were marriages, births, and a few deaths. The Marines did not assimilate into the general population.
One day, Walter was summoned to Director Kemp's office. It had been over 6 months when he had last seen him at a basketball game. He came to attention, and asked. “What can I do for you Sir?”
Kemp ignored the exaggerated formality and said, “We just picked up a broadcast on the AM band, from a station in the valley. There are survivors. We need you to do a reconnaissance flight as soon as possible. The ramp is being cleared now.”
Walter replied, “it's been a long time. It will take at least a day to check the plane out.”
“Get started immediately. That broadcast was the threshold that authorized me to leave this place. We only had food supplies for another year, but we would have had to stay until they were running low.”
The Marine team reached the hanger the next morning. The open hanger door revealed a dark overcast sky and light drizzle. The bird was in good shape, and by early afternoon, they were ready to fly. A half dozen Humvees drove up the ramp, and moved off toward Reno.
They took off, rotated, and flew Southwest. They broke through the clouds at 19,000 feet. The IR camera indicated activity around the edge of a colder zone that the surface mapping radar indicated was an Inland Sea. They followed it West, and came to what had to be the ocean. As they returned toward base, they spotted an IR image in the middle of the sea that was moving. Walter surmised that it was a boat, with several people on it.
The debriefing on their return was intense, and Director Kemp ordered them to prepare for a maximum range flight with extra internal tanks fitted.
The next morning they flew out to the location of the Denver airport. They slowly descended through the cloud layer and landed at the designated coordinates. There was one discrepancy. The ground altitude was over 25 feet higher than expected. A further investigation revealed a layer of compacted and fused volcanic ash, which covered the area. The IR and radar surveys indicated no sign of life or structures. The primary Federal Government Survival Bunker had been built under the Denver airport, at great expense over two decades. It was now sealed beneath an impervious layer of ash.
The return flight had no extra internal communications chatter, since the crew knew that the inhabitants of that bunker, and the Denver area, had not survived. The grief they had shared for family and friends was rekindled.
Subsequent long-range flights revealed that the Yellowstone Caldera had erupted, and the surface indicated a 90-mile wide pool of semi-molten lava. In the Northwest, a new Caldera stretched from the former site of Mount Rainer to the site of Mount Saint Helens. There was no indication of life in either area.
A final long-range recon flight over Southern California revealed another Caldera at Mammoth Mountain. As they moved west, they saw that the coastal mountain range were now islands, with only a few isolated pockets of survivors. It was a crushing experience for the aircrew. Walter was confident that a vote to crash right there would be approved. He was torn, but remembered his duty to those survivors that they might be able to help someday.
After their return from that flight, they were again restricted to quarters, “until some security issues had been resolved.”
Rose McAllen, Cindy’s friend, had arraigned to make the twice a week laundry deliveries. She was permitted to drive a cargo cart into the Marine living area. She asked to speak to Walter and related the story of another incident at Reno, which resulted in the deaths of several Homeland Security troopers and most of the Reno Community survivors. Apparently, when the Humvees approached the settlement, they were fired on by a verity of weapons. The attack helicopter was called in and the settlement was leveled. Only a few women and children were taken into “protective custody”.
Walter was escorted to Director Kemp's office a few days later. He was told to use the Osprey’s radar mapping hardware to locate a route over the mountains to the settlement on the Western shore of the Inland Sea. The expansion of Lake Tahoe had covered both highways 50 and 80, effectively blocking those direct routes.
Kemp told him that he would be leading a expedition over the new route to restore governmental control over the Inland Seal region. The taxes from the population would replenish the bunkers diminishing food stores, and Federal control would provide stability and prosperity to the region.
When Walter replied, “Like Reno?” He was given a severe dressing down, and threatened with spending the rest of his life in the brig if he did not fully carry out his lawful orders.
Walter apologized for his inappropriate choice of words, and resolved to stop this cabal of madmen, by doing what ever it took. The survey took several weeks, since all potential routes would require lots of repairs of washouts and landslides. It appeared that the path of least resistance was out on Highways 88, then 89, and finally joining Highway 50.
On all of the flights, they had been forbidden to have any contact with the survivors. Kemp and FEMA Director Morris wanted to make the initial contact, with the correct political overtones.
On the last survey flight over Highway 50, Walter made a decision to land at the community on Sutters Butte, where the AM radio transmitter was located. He found a group of several shipping containers pulled up on a beach that was on one side of a volcanic crater. The crater had broken out, leaving the beach and a channel to the Inland Sea. There was also a dock with a schooner tied up to it. A broken off radio tower was on the highest point overlooking the cove.
When they landed a man and a woman approached their craft. David and Rebecca had just returned from a trading trip with disturbing news. They were cautious, and David had a pistol holstered at his side.
The conversation was necessarily brief, with Walter describing the Reno incident, and Kemp's plan to restore Federa
l control of the region. He also related the plan to arrive over Highway 50. The disturbing news had been the arrival of a survivor of the Reno massacre. He had been on a hunting trip, and returned to see the murder of the surviving men. Walter cautioned David not to broadcast any of this information, because Kemp would not hesitate to use the attack helicopter if there was any resistance. He also related how his marines were disarmed and mostly restricted to quarters.
The discussions continued while everyone walked over to a shipping container, which contained an armory. They returned carrying enough guns and ammo to equip the Marine contingent.
After returning to base, the arms were stored in the support trailers, except for a few pistols that were smuggled into the quarters.
When the temporary road was completed bypassing the lake North of Carson, the Pacification Convoy was assembled. It included two flatbed tractor-trailers carrying the bulldozers, two dozen Humvees, four armored combat vehicles, and six Bradley Fighting Vehicles. The day it departed, with Director Kemp in the lead Bradley, Director Morris assembled his bodyguards and had the attack helicopter prepared with a full combat load. They departed at 4:00PM, and flew to Sutters Butte.
Coastal Event Memories Page 5