Oakton

by B. Chen

  Chapter 6. Spiders!

  I stayed in bed for a while thinking about stuff but I knew I was about as prepared for whatever was about to happen as I could be. Problem was my family was really laid back about all the stuff going on, except for Mel. We don't talk much really.

  Why don't we talk much you ask? Because she's in sixth grade and I'm a senior in high school. That's why. We live on different planets.

  I switched on the radio to the AM talk station from Omaha to listen to the locals up-river talk about flooding.

  Flood warnings and evacuation information was all they were going on about. Council Bluffs, downtown Omaha, parts of Offutt Airbase and Plattsmouth were being evacuated now. The thing I was also listening for were reports of missing animals.

  Nebraska City and the entire Platt River basin were under flood warnings with evacuations expected to start overnight. Our county, Richardson, was under flood warnings until Thursday with evacuations anticipated, already ordered for Rulo. All the state parks near the rivers were closed or already under water.

  There were evacuation centers in towns and cities all along the river being established, some opening right this moment.

  I got up to use the bathroom then stopped back by my window. Beth's room was dark. I thought about using our old bat signal. We used two-color laser pointers to shine on the wall in each others rooms if we needed to talk. Mine was in the desk drawer, I knew right where it was. We used green for routine talk and red for emergencies.

  The laser was right where I remembered, in the front corner of my top desk drawer. I twisted the base to insert two new batteries then aimed it at her far bedroom wall, window to window.

  At first I placed a green dot on the wall of their house near her window, then slowly moved it across the wall and in her window. I hit it for maybe ten seconds then released the button. Her curtains were open but the room was dark.

  With the occasional flashes of lightning from the distant storms I could briefly see the entire scene outside.

  Back to my desk from the bottom drawer I got out my old 3rd-generation (3G) Russian made night vision scope to look again in the yards. That's when I saw it. There was something small and shiny on the peak of their roof straight above Beth's window. It reflected the light from the IR LEDs on my night scope, only man made stuff would do that, except maybe ice and eyeballs.

  It seemed to be sitting at the peak of their roof not moving. My scope isn't the greatest device but I thought the legs looked a bit like the one I saw her display on her dad's CAD software that ran the 3D printer. The distant lightning helped show its outlines even more.

  I decided to investigate further.

  Outside in our backyard I was able to move in the darkness but not attract any attention from my family and it seemed the 'thing' on their roof didn't respond to my movements either. But when I turned on the IR illuminator on the night scope the spider raised-up on its legs running along the peak of their roof towards the other side of their house. Then I heard the faint sound of rapid tapping on metal roof sheeting, then silence, except for the sound of the wind in the leafless dormant trees.

  Changing course in the yard I walked over the ditch on the footbridge to take a seat in the bus shed near the corner to listen for a while, sort of a surveillance mission, call it a brief neighborhood watch.

  The shed has a tiny window facing the south to watch for the approaching school bus (in Falls City Schools the students call them 'Bananas' since they're about the same color). The door faces north towards Beth's house. My grandfather built it, my dad sat in it during his school career, now it's my turn. But my time's almost done.

  I sat there for a time just listening to the wind, watching the distant lightning light-up the neighborhood giving me a quick look at the yards, trees, and the street. I started to hear a faint clicking noise like a tiny metallic horse running down the street, when the lightning flashed I caught a view of two of the mechanical spiders running down the street heading to the east, running side by side rather quickly, they seemed to be unaware of me in the shed. I saw tiny lenses on the front and a short thin wire stub antenna sticking up above the body.

  Leaning towards the door I could see faint light in Beth's bedroom window, so I switched on my scope into targeting mode and flashed a green spot on the ceiling of her room, which was about all you could see in her window from the bus shed. Then the light went off.

  Pretty soon the sound of the metallic spider legs on the unpaved street returned. With the help of lightning I saw one of the spiders return to the spot in front of the bus shed door, turn its body upwards. The reflection of the lightning on the optics of its tiny electronic eyes briefly showed someone or something was checking me out, so I waved at the spider. It responded by lowering its' body into a relaxed position but remained motionless, watching me. Or so it appeared.

  A brief green flash on the bench just in front of my knees told me Beth flashed the bat signal back at me from her window. I waved and smiled at the spider but it remained motionless. I wasn't sure how to react, was it a toy, spy, or a weapon? I knew some of hers had a short spear on front but all that would do is inflict some pain but mostly fear if you knew it was there.

  Raising my night vision scope to my eye I decided to check it out with the green phosphor display of the IR scope.

  The spider had eight legs, I think it was actually a shiny looking metal, not sure really since the night scope isn't color. But I got glances of it from the lightning earlier, just never a really good look at one of 'em.

  Its legs resembled tiny barn roof trusses, looked like it could get broken easily. The legs had tiny actuating motors using the new linear polymer actuators they came out with in 2023 that uses electrically fired flexible plastic that contracts with a charge, acting just like a tiny muscle.

  Biggest problem with them was they built-up heat but at our current outdoor temps it should be no problem for her machines. Best part was there's no electric motor sound at all!

  The two body segments were nearly shaped like small bird eggs. You could see the two optical lenses on front. There was a long spear like thing mounted to the side of the body like a long sword that stuck out in front further than the legs could if they were extended, maybe it doubled as an antenna but the tip looked very sharp like a shot needle.

  These were supposed to be able to operate on their own but I had no idea if she could use them as spy cameras or not, so I played along. I smiled again and waved at the spider. It lifted a left front leg tapping the dirt road twice shifting its weight but remained motionless.

  Just as an experiment I raised the scope, hit the button to light up the green laser, moving the green dot to one of the lens spots on front of the body. When the green spot hit the lens the spider raised up and ran off making a faint clicking sound as it left towards the west.

  I leaned out the door looking towards Highway 73 but couldn't see or hear the spider drone any more. I'd had enough of my neighborhood watch so I went back inside, into my room. Laying on my back in bed I think I fell asleep around 2am listening to the sounds of the wind outside. At least the dripping noises from the melting snow was gone.

  -+-

  Sunday Morning.

  At 8am my mom woke me up with a loud knock on the door. Twenty minutes later I was eating cereal in the kitchen. At least today it wasn't like a funeral parlor with Mom and Mel mourning the disappearance of her dog. I actually didn't think they were that close since he wasn't allowed in the house anyway. Maybe they were. I had no idea how much time she spent with the dumb animal.

  Now if you want to see a really dumb animal you should see Beth's indoor dog, they named her ‘Daisy.’ She's a three year old Irish Wolfhound that does nothing all day except eat, sleep and watch TV. Daisy is huge, taller than Beth. The dog's nose could reach the ceiling fan pull chain if she wanted to. They had her trained to poop and pee in one area in their yard then come right back inside. She'd also fetch the newspaper in the driveway and ans
wer the front door when the Jehovah's came to town. She could press buttons to open and close both doors when she wanted. Luckily for the Meek's she preferred the sofa to the great outdoors. What a waste of fur.

  One time at school Beth told me how Daisy dealt with peddlers and religious people at the door. She'd look out the window then press the button opening just the inside door then stand there with her tail swaying, most of the time the peddlers would panic and run away.

  Sometimes people wouldn’t get intimidated by her size and get all, 'oh look at the beautiful doggy' so Daisy would press the other button to open the storm door and let them in to pet her. More than once her mom came home from the store to find Daisy entertaining strangers in the front room! Sometimes she'd come home to find dog biscuit crumbs on the floor and strange magazines or copies of the Watchtower on the sofa but Daisy was acting like nothing had happened. 'Visitors? What visitors?'

  Mom had the little monitor on the kitchen counter showing the weather station in Omaha. It showed the line of storms had died down then re-formed this morning. They were now about eighty miles south west of us and heading this way slowly. The channel scrolled evacuation centers all along the river out to ten miles. We were in the region served by the Falls City DHS facility in the old North Elementary School on 25th Street. I went there years ago.

  "What they sayin about them?” I asked her about the storms.

  "Might be in Omaha this afternoon, they’re moving slower than spring weather usually does.”

  "How much we gonna get?” I asked.

  "Maybe an inch or two. They got flooding in Colorado and Kansas, but so far they’re not as strong today as yesterday. Your father says we’re gonna flood either way.”

  "I thought we’re too high?”

  "He doesn’t mean our yard, he means in the area, the low lands, he thinks the old river bed may fill up.”

  "That’d take a lot of water.”

  "Yep, and it won’t go down quickly either because of the reservoirs in the old creek bed."

  "Huh!"

  "Better ask your father if he needs any help, avoid trouble later."

  "Think I might just do that."

  "You're welcome."

  "Thanks Mom."

  I put my plate in the sink and went back to my room. I got two messages, one from Beth. I opened that first.

  ‘Got intel back from the swarm last night, saw someone in the shed, was that u?’ So I logged into Oakton Chat and had a short go-round with the neighbor. It was a public forum so either of our parents could see our chat later on if they wanted. I wasn't worried.

  'The swarm? What's that? Yes, it was me. Was I recog'd?'

  'Yes. The Swarm is two or more of them running and working together, radio-linked, fully autonomous. You registered as a friend but I'm not sure exactly why.'

  'Maybe because I'm irresistible?'

  'Oh brother!'

  ‘Maybe it's because they saw me in your barn when we were talking by the 3D printer. You ready for the storms today?'

  'Yep. Dad's got the monitor on WXO.com and Mom's baking storm cookies.'

  'My mom's crock potting a roast big enough to feed a small army. Speaking of army, how many's in the swarm now?'

  'That's kinda like top secret.'

  'More than ten?'

  'Maybe. Why?'

  'Curious s'all.'

  'How'd your Mom's fudge turn out?'

  'Funny Bethany!'

  'Couldn't resist.'

  'ttyl then.'

  'k, bye.'

  And just like that we dropped off network chat. I glanced out the window with a smile on my face. I'd rather be in her room right now instead of chatting across the net with her.

  Out in the barn I talked with Dad to see what he needed, of course routine chores were the orders. We don't have any animals or grass to cut since it's still winter, so I checked oil in the engines of our two ATVs and in both my parents cars and the farm truck. Dad does his Deere tractor service.

  Back in the house I emptied all our trash and recycling out to the big bins and finished the dishes from breakfast for Mom then went back to my room.

  -+-

  Around 10am I heard her truck rumbling down the street, looks like Bethany is back home from town. The sun was gone, our skies were totally cloudy now but the temps were still up. The dial thermometer on the barn said it was sixty degrees outside just now. At least the ground was starting to dry out a little and the streets were mostly dry too, the frost must be totally gone now from underground.

  I decided to run an intel mission so I got into my cammys and went to the barn with my hunting rifle and several mags in my side pockets. Nobody inside paid me any attention. Like a couple days ago I headed north for the cemetery on my ATV, riding slowly I was looking into the fields to the east where Beth and me saw those weird stumps coming up from the ground. The two we saw before were gone but new ones were coming up. They were all about two to three feet tall now and kinda pointy too.

  I kept going down to the lowest spot on this road, thinking to myself like I was traveling back in time riding right into the Missouri River and back up the other shore entering Nebraska.

  My mission carried me up the far side of the old river bed so I could survey the entire scene from that vantage point north of town. Off in the distance to the south-west the clouds looked heavy and gray. I could see the slope of the north side of the Oakton hilltop, which was mostly Brown's property. It was dotted with maybe ten of these weird stumps and a few places that looked like someone or somethinghad been digging in the dirt recently.

  I could see the Brown's place, the Meek's and their barn. I could almost see our home too but it was blocked by Beth's house and a few rows of dormant trees. I could hear a distant woof-ing, sounded like Daisy must be outside doing her business. She had a really distinctive deep bark for a girl dog I thought.

  Not much else seemed changed really from my last trip out here. I decided to keep going to check out the big river. I knew I had enough fuel so I went further north until this road ends at County Road 715, then head east until it ends where there's a trail down to the river. I wanted to see how high the river water was. There's a strip of land you can park on and fish from along the Missouri River. There's good shade from the maple and cottonwood trees. We go target shooting down here sometimes too.

  The trip isn't really that far, maybe three miles.

  By the time I got to the end of the road I could already see the river and holy crap was it high. The entire strip of land we used to fish from was gone under what looked like ten feet of water. Only the tops of the trees were above water. The water was about twenty feet below where I was standing but it could easily get this high and when it did, Hell was gonna freeze over.

  I knew another trail that stayed on high ground that paralleled the river so I could follow it to where Dad said the old river bed sits that goes around Oakton. It took almost a half hour following the winding trail. Looked like not too many people have been here since hunting season last January. The ground was pretty wet still, but it's rocky so the mud wasn't as bad.

  I finally got there. The old riverbed today is called Winnebago Creek. It heads from the Missouri River west towards Oakton, it circles around our hill then goes back south-east towards Rulo where it's called Bean Creek. Wish I had a GPS with me so I could see exactly how high we are above the river. My device is at home but there's no signal out here anyway and GPS won't work unless you're connected to the maps server. What I need is a little handheld unit, I wonder if Dad has one I could borrow?

  I could see the river was already backing-up into Winnebago Creek. There's no homes anywhere near here so there's no levees. They don't care if it floods because it's too hilly and wooded to farm anyway. Looks like the river's almost a half mile up into the creek already, and climbing.

  Heading for home I drove on the county roads which got drier the further from the river I got. It took me twenty minutes to get back. I filled the gas tank fi
rst thing then hosed it down to get the mud off the fenders. Dad was inside watching re-runs of college football on ESPN.

  "Hey Dad, I went to the river to see how far the flood's made it up into Winnebago Creek."

  "How's it look son?"

  "The water's over a half mile in-land so far. I rode along 657 over by Aragos' Farm. The creek's full and running over the road by the S-curve already. While I was there watching I saw it rise half an inch in less than twenty minutes. I never seen it this bad before."

  ”Yep, and it's gonna get worse, the rain hasn't even started yet." He grabbed the remote to change the channel to the radar on channel 6.2. The line of storms looked only maybe forty miles away now, looks like it was moving faster too.

  "Where's Mel?"

  "She's outside on my quad looking for any signs of her dog I think."

  "Somebody's gotta tell her to stay away from the creeks."

  "You mother and I did before she left."

  "How long she been gone?"

  "Maybe a half hour now. You sound worried."

  "Dad, you should see the water crossing the street like I did. I think we might get stranded up here if the whole creek fills up like the 1910 flood. I wonder if that's possible?"

  "Of course it is. No matter how high you made a flood barrier, sooner or later mother nature's gonna top it. I think this is gonna be one for the record books."

  "Crap!" I turned for the stairs going back up to my room. The PC was on, so I messaged Ben and Beth to tell them about the water in the creek heading towards us. I'm sure I sounded alarmist but I never seen a flood like this before.

  I got no immediate reply so I switched to the news net from Omaha to watch updates on the flooding. I found one channel on VRnet.com with someone sandbagging in downtown Omaha.

  This guy was wearing his glasses, I could see what he saw, I could hear what he heard on my VR headset.

  I could watch as he filled sandbags at the back of a dump bed truck. The process is a lot faster and easier than the old days. We use conveyors and skid loaders so the days of shoveling sand into fiberglass bags and tossing heavy sandbags in lines of volunteers is long gone but you still need to be able to drag a bag of sand for about six inches or more. Even elderly guys volunteer now.

  VRnet was really popular for the past few years, it also lead to the demise of lots of many old media news networks and lots of news propaganda outlets (like Fox and CNN). What Youtube eventually did to end many TV networks, VRnet did to end lots of the news and social media nets. I read a census report that 81% of print daily newspapers were gone now. All we have locally is a free weekly ad-based one tossed onto our driveway.

  Most current events today are live, unedited, first person video (FPV), on-demand. This is how we watched, this is how we knew what was going on with the flood, this is how we stayed one step ahead... as long as you had signal.

  For many years in the cellular industry emphasis was placed on style, size, features, memory, and screen resolution. But after the bombings on the US east coast and the rise of VR after 2018, the quality of the radios and antennas in the device became the most important 'cause without signal you ain’t got nuthin. Before then we mostly forgot that our dev's were really just fancy walkie talkies.

  The sound of thunder was getting closer and louder than my VR headset which brought me back into reality. Time to pay close attention.