Chapter 34

Like sailors clinging to a raft on tempest-tossed seas, Sheila and I held tight to each other as an ocean of rainbows flooded the sky.

“Oh, my God! What is it?” she cried as glowing waves of light thundered silently across the firmament.

The heavens blazed with a kaleidoscope of color.

“I don’t know,” I said as I watched the glowing pastel streamers of brilliance slither along invisible magnetic lines of force like undulating serpents.

“I think we’re looking at the mother of all solar events. We need to do a damage assessment.”

Sheila broke away from me and twisted the key in the truck’s ignition. Dead. Not so much as a click. The circuitry was fried.

“Everyone, inside, pronto!” she commanded as she turned and raced across the meadow for the safety of the cabin. “I have no idea what this is doing to the background radiation, probably off the charts,” our leader screamed as we scrambled to seek sanctuary from the fire in the sky.

I’m not an expert on radiation, but the idea frightened the crap out of me. Not knowing the details, I allowed my paranoid imagination to fill in the blanks. What we don’t know can kill us. I ran like the hounds of Hell were on my tail.

“Keep going! Move! Everyone, take cover in the cavern,” Sheila said as she pushed us to the emergency stairway next to the kitchen elevator.

The interior of our home was shrouded in smokey shadow, illumined only by the sky glow pouring through the windows at the front of the Great Room. The air was thick with the stench of burned wiring and charred insulation.

As I turned the corner into the pantry, I nearly collided with Martha.

“Out of my way!” she yelled as she directed a cloud of CO2 and fire suppressant chemicals into the flickering flames emerging from beneath two of the kitchen’s refrigerated food storage lockers.

“Keep moving! The fire’s out,” Sheila commanded while pushing everyone toward the underworld’s entrance.

The reverse fire drill was a well-executed route as we dashed inside away from the fire in the sky. I fought against a rising tide of dread as I scrambled down the rattling cast-iron staircase. Having a nightmare dream is one thing. Waking up next to the monsters under my bed was another.

When Monty Python declared, ‘no one ready for the Spanish Inquisition,’ he wasn’t kidding. If we ain’t ready to cry havoc and nuke our neighbors, we sure as shit ain’t prepared for the technology-killing chaos raging in the heavens above; just another random event dished out by a disinterested universe. Nothing personal. Shit happens.

“Stay calm and carry the fuck along. Deal with it. Build a bridge and get over it,” I said aloud to myself as I took the stairs two at a time.

“Excellent advice,” Sheila’s voice echoed from above as an “Amen brother,” sounded from below.

Next time I talk to myself, I gotta remember to whisper.

The winding descent into the cave took forever as terror and adrenaline compressed focus and extended my perception of time. The second hand on my watch refused to advance as moments oozed into minutes which stretched into hours.

The clatter of scores of human feet pounding on the metal treads echoed like thunder from the musty-damp granite walls of our pitch-black corridor. Whatever had lit up the sky had eclipsed our electricity.

My terrified guess? We had a grandstand seat to an epic Carrington event of biblical proportions. I’ll leave it to the scholars to sort out the theology. I prayed we weren’t pawns in some demonic chess game. If you have any doubt Mother Nature plays a wicked game of chance, ask the citizens of Pompeii or the children of Krakatoa.

The palms of my hands were slick with sweat. My mouth was dusty dry, and my head spun with every twisting turn as I lept down the spiral stairway into the darkness. A thundering boom sounding like a cannon in a trash can illuminated the vertical tunnel with a bluish-white radiance. Someone underneath me had kicked open the rusty steel door to the cavern under our cabin.

The light was a welcome sign. Whatever had eaten the guts out of the electronics in the building above us hadn’t stopped for lunch in our underground grotto. As I emerged from the exit, I bent down with my hands on my knees and gasped for breath, short pants followed by deep inhales. Stinging trickles of sweat ran into my eyes as I fought to get my breathing under control.

“What’s going on?” Jennifer yelled from the second story doorway of the ranch-style control center.

“Solar storm!” the commander shouted before she turned to face me. “Sky, please see everyone is settled in and accounted for. Assemble the sisters by the lake.”

Sheila brushed the hair from her eyes and pointed to the cozy bench beside the mist-shrouded lagoon of hot water. The dark pond was fed by geothermal hot springs. It was the same place where we had talked so long ago.

Fear hits different folks in different ways. Two sisters were bent double as they vomited on the cave’s stone floor. Several women offered comfort as they gathered around their stricken comrades. The rest of the society milled about in stunned silence and tried to process the impossible.

“Listen up!” I called when the last of the women exited the door at the base of the staircase. Waving my arms like a windmill, I motioned for the ladies to gather around. “The chief is checking with Jennifer. I presume she’s getting an update and status report,” I told the news-hungry gathering. “Sheila has asked me to get everyone settled and do an attendance check. Is anyone not here? Martha, can you do the honors?”

The terror in the Captain of the Kitchen eyes abated as she focused on the task at hand. Busy people don’t have the luxury of panic. As Martha attended to the women, I assumed a seat on the stone bench and took a moment to gather my wits and clear my mind. I was terrified. Fear can be a useful servant, unlike his kissing cousin, Panic. Fear strengthens the scenes and sharpens the mind. Panic smothers reason, and we flee without purpose.

Trembling like an old man, I tapped a smoke out of my pack of cigarettes and flicked my Bic. It sparked to life on the second flick. I inhaled and held each breath for a moment before exhaling. As the pace of my breathing slowed, the knot of muscles in my jaw and neck gradually softened. Nicotine seduces every smoker, and we’ll continue to love her still even as she becomes our assassin.

“Now what?” I questioned myself.

Before I could answer, I was on my feet and trotting toward the control center. My body had decided while my mind dithered. Time to make the donuts and earn my keep. I took a drag and tossed the butt to the side of the path.

“Ahoy, the center,” I called out as I climbed the stairs to the second story balcony.

Sneaking up on comrades in combat is never a good idea. A benign surprise is an excellent way to get killed by friendly fire. Sheila waved without taking her eyes away and from the computer screen. I entered and stood behind them as they frantically clicked from one screen to the next as they checked system status reports.