Chapter 11: Dawn

Megan let out an explosive burst of joy as beautiful golden sunlight began streaming in through the eastern windows. It was as if somebody flipped a master switch on the great dome of outdoor light. Megan raced to the windows to see, laughing with uncontrollable delight at the sight and the release of her guilt. The sun was already about twenty degrees above the horizon and a little north of due east. "Oh look!" she cried to her husband. "Look how beautiful Alvaro! Come and see the good Earth!"

Alvaro came to her side and laughed with her, tears of gratitude and relief falling from their eyes. Then he returned to his console and began conversing with the research teams at Madeira. Megan paid scant attention. She heard him say, "I know. We're on schedule, 8 AM and 10 AM and noon..." Megan could no longer contain herself. She left the office and headed out of the building. She was soon outside the gates and wandering down the hillside. The power station was sited in the high hills, several hundred meters above sea level, and Megan had a fine prospect of the island. The wind seemed to be dying down rapidly.

Megan surveyed her homeland with a critical eye. She saw nothing to take the smile from her face. The wind had been robust but not destructive. And the plants seemed to have survived the inky black Saturday with no trouble at all. Megan wasn't too surprised. Friday had been a fine sunny day until the mid afternoon, the plants getting a good ten-hour drink of sunlight. And now it looked as if they'd get almost a full fine sunny day today. She laughed openly in her relief. The plants would be fine! With a song in her heart, Megan strolled down the hill, occasionally hugging her island neighbors that she met along the way.

It was shortly after 10 AM by the time she returned to the power center. The exercise had felt wonderful, but now she felt in need of a shower. She'd miss Alvaro's hands on her soapy body and how he loved to wash her, but she didn't think she could persuade him to come into the women's locker room with her. No matter. She walked into his office just in time to catch the tail end of yet another conference call.

"G2 now on line," Alvaro was saying. "I know we're a few minutes late, but it really was appropriate to run the diagnostics up to level four."

"Oh hell Alvaro," replied the voice on the speaker, "you and I both know we shouldn't be doing this at all today. Why isn't this obvious to everybody?"

Alvaro chuckled. "I agree Renato. And yet, the first two systems have come up flawlessly. Award Congress a few points for sheer dumb luck."

"I'll report then that G0 will be available by noon?"

"At noon or perhaps a bit later, not by noon. And remember the bandwidth on the cable Renato. Madeira is only going to get another 10 MW from G0."

"My God Alvaro! I don't think Congress realized that! I had half forgotten myself. So what will Porto Santo do with the surplus?"

"We'll be using our second high voltage line to Ilhen na Cahleta, topping off the hydrogen and fresh water storage tanks. Cable capacity was the reason we never put G0 back in operation, you know."

"Yes, I remember now. What should I do if Congress asks if it's feasible to overload the undersea cable?"

"Ask them in return if they are insane."

"Well... Seriously?"

"Renato, we are absolutely not going to overload the cable! Madeira will be getting 165 MW of baseline power from Porto Santo, up to 24 MW from their wind turbines, and then there's the hydroelectric capacity and the hydrogen fuel cells! A few years ago we used to run Madeira with a lot less, and it'll only be a few weeks before the top generators are online again. Madeira will be fine!"

There was a pause, and then Renato said, "I agree. I'll get back to you at noon. Enjoy the day!"

Alvaro ended the call as Megan sat by his side. She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. "Did I understand that conversation correctly? Are we really back in the dark energy business? So soon?"

Alvaro shrugged and nodded. "G1 and G2 are already online."

"So fast! Doesn't the government like the sunshine?"

"Yes, I know. I would have waited too. But there are some subtle points to this. What Princeton tried to do set up a truly monstrous resonance condition. It was fortunate that their bubble touched ours and shattered as soon as it did."

"Ah. And everything is working okay now?"

"Yes. We're pumping 155 MW straight to Madeira, the full capacity of G1 and G2."

"Nothing for Porto Santo?"

"Oh, after noon today, we'll be the rich ones. We're commissioning G0 again, another 70 MW, 10 of which to go to Madeira and 60 MW for here. Just wait till noontime." He looked at Megan and smiled. "How's the outside?"

"Beautiful! I've got a little energy left. Come out with me!"

A short while later they were sitting down in a grassy courtyard near Alvaro's office, a flowerbed on one side and a shade tree on the other. "Okay to talk here?" asked Megan.

"It's still a green-badge area. I would think so." Alvaro looked around. The wind had died down to a moderate breeze and was blowing from the northwest, clean and rich with the smell of the ocean. "You're right. This is very beautiful. The sunlight looks so bright and clean."

Megan looked around and nodded. "Yes. I hadn't noticed before but it is a very clear day. And the air too! It smells so sweet!" Megan took a deep and enjoyable breath. "Wonderful... Husband, what's your schedule like? Does the government want you back at the main labs?"

"I hope to stay here with you on Porto Santo. The technicians know their work. I need time to theorize." He paused for a moment and then said quietly. "There are some critical measurements to make this evening with the moon. I'll be on a conference call with the Madeira Observatory staff this evening. I might not get home till very late."

Megan laughed. "Why am I not surprised? Tell me about it when you do get home?"

"Well... No."

"Oh right. Our bedroom is not a green-badge area. Does the government really think spies have bugged our house?"

"Oh Megan, don't be too sarcastic about it. Almost certainly not, but spies do exist. A huge percentage of the time, security standards are wasted effort, but they are still appropriate to maintain. Complete failure can occur from a single leak. These grounds are certified free of bugs. They are scanned often. Our house is not."

A sigh. "Okay. I see your point."

"You really wouldn't want our house to be a green-badge area, would you? All the security protocols, frequent sweeps for bugs..."

"No, no, I get the point."

Alvaro smiled and touched her tenderly. "Sweet Megan, I'm not trying to hide anything from you."

"You really trust me?" she whispered.

"Yes. I'm completely sincere about this too." Alvaro paused. "How about we have lunch here tomorrow and I'll give you a briefing?"

"Okay! That'll be great!" They chatted for a few minutes more, and then Megan rode off to her clinic while Alvaro returned to his office. It struck them both how wonderfully thrilling it was to get back to the simple cycle of a real day with the expectation of a night with real stars.

The next day...

Megan met her husband for lunch in the power center's cafeteria at noon. She was delighted to see a plentiful supply of both anglerfish and bluefin tuna being served, and talked the server into giving her some of each. With a generous portion of fresh spring vegetables, she sat down with a beaming smile at the table Alvaro had picked.

"Doesn't this look great?!"

"Yeah." They ate their meals with great enjoyment. Near the end, Alvaro gave a big grin. "Wow, this was good. I heard the fishermen hit a phenomenal school of fish yesterday, only ten kilometers north of Porto Santo, a real fluke."

"What's the latest word on the missing boats?"

Alvaro sighed and nodded. "Some good news. All the ones that were outside the harbor but still inside the bubble are safely back in port now. They rode out the storm okay. But two boats were outside Golem's radius, further south... There's still no sign of them." Alvaro ate the last bites of his fish in silence. "We were fortunate we didn't lose more."

"Well, with all the wars going on..." Megan paused. The reports from the Canary Islands over the last two months had been horrific. Pirates who were almost certainly supported by the West African Union had been attacking fishing boats. The boats would disappear and the only thing the searchers would find were the floating dead bodies of the crews. In addition to being killed, many of the bodies showed signed of mutilation. Madeira had not suffered the same misfortune. So far the isolation of the deep ocean had acted as a protective barrier.

Megan sighed. "Weren't the boats ordered to stay within sight of Madeira or Porto Santo? Do you think pirates got them?" She paused. "What would they have seen anyway, looking at Golem's bubble from the outside? It must have shown up on satellite images. The whole world must know about us now."

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