Chapter 9: The Betrayal

Five months later.

Time: Saturday, December 12, 2048 3:10 PM

After two solid hours of work, Megan took a mini-break to stretch, putting her editing aside and walking around the plush office that was now both hers and Alvaro's. She was high in the mountains of Madeira, inside the energy research wing of the green-badge complex. As was usual for a Saturday afternoon, the research staff had left by 3 PM and now the wing seemed deserted, though Megan could still see occasional energy operations and security personnel through the window. And the grounds maintenance personnel had their hands full keeping the roads and the walkways plowed.

It was snowing heavily outside, a blizzard. Down at Funchal the storm would be pure rain, but up here at almost 1500 meters it was more than cold enough for snow. Megan gazed at the power of the storm. It brought back memories of a cross-country skiing trip she had as a young child in Canada, riding the trains with her parents and two brothers along the beautiful Pacific coast. There were a lot of fond memories. Her dear parents! The little news there was about the great U.S. earthquake had been getting worse by the day. The U.S. east coast websites spoke in generalities, and there was no network contact with the west coast at all.

Megan stared at the snowstorm in silence, her mind racing and trying to combat feeling of helplessness. So far away... There was almost nothing she could do. Almost...

She turned and stared at her computer station. Her job had evolved in the last few months. On Porto Santo, her work as Lead Veterinarian was needed and deeply appreciated. But here on urbanized Madeira her skills were less critical. There was still massive agriculture on Madeira of course, but it was highly automated. On the main island, Megan was a useful addition to an already competent system.

So during the even months her work had migrated to classified technical editing. With her top-level security clearance, her skills were in great demand at Madeira's energy labs, and she was sought after by a number of researchers. None of the papers left the green-badge area of course, but her skills in documenting the research were highly prized. A number of letters were written to the lab's governing body praising her contributions to the energy research work.

Megan walked across the office and looked out the southern windows. Everything was a lush green two hours ago, but now a thick blanket of white covered everything. Even with the snow, Megan decided she preferred the lush climate of Madeira to the drier and warmer Porto Santo. She scanned the southwestern sky, searching for a hint of the sun. Sunrise and sunset times were near 6 AM and 4 PM today, and she guess the sun might be due southwest about now. But the swirling whiteness of the storm hid all hints of the sun's position.

The office phone rang. Megan quickly walked over and answered it. "Megan here. Hello?"

"Hi dearest. It's Alvaro."

"Hi! I was hoping it was you!"

Alvaro replied, "Before I say anything else, I'm confirming this is a secure line. Level three protocols are in effect."

Megan took a moment to smile her husband's dedication to security. As the originator of the call, it was his responsibility to remind her of the level of restrictions in place. Alvaro was with the jet, Megan assumed either still at Vancouver or somewhere over Canada on his way home.

Level three protocols meant that the conversation was encrypted with Madeira's best quantum scramblers and certain classified information was permitted. It also signified that, since the line was being routed through international satellite connections, absolutely no hint of Madeira's dark energy abilities should be made.

"Are you still on the ground?" Megan looked at the clock. Her husband's flight was not due to depart Vancouver until 4 PM Madeira time, but she doubted he would have called her before takeoff.

"No, we lifted off close to three hours ago. If you click up an atlas, look at the northernmost point where Manitoba and Ontario meet at the Hudson Bay. We're just north of East Pen Island right now. The sky is clear and the views are quite beautiful. We flew into the sunrise about an hour ago."

Megan worked on her computer for a second. "I see the island. I'm happy you're having nice weather. Over here there's a big storm now. It's very impressive." She paused for a second. "When are you scheduled to land?" Megan had been careful not to mention the snow. That would identify her position to be in the high mountains, the location of the energy labs. That would be a minor violation of level three protocols.

"We're getting a nice boost from a tailwind. Sometime around 10 PM Madeira time I think. How are things with you? Any news on our child?" he added eagerly.

Megan grinned. "The baby and the baby's mother are fine. I had my checkup this morning. The child is right where it should be at sixty days post ovulation, meeting all the milestones. Embryonic development looks complete. Dr. Campas called our child a fetus for the first time this morning. Say goodbye to the word embryo. Dr. Campas is also guessing it might be a girl from the images, but for now it's still a guess. She put the odds at 70%"

Megan heard Alvaro give a long deep sigh over the phone. "Megan?"

"Yes?"

"You deserve to know. British Columbia has sealed its border with the U.S. The situation on the west coast is about as bad as it can get."

Megan's heart seemed to freeze for a moment. "Tell me?" she asked in a whisper.

"Urban warfare has broken out, from just south of Vancouver we think all the way down to Mexico. We were hearing the sound of mortars and artillery all last night. That's why we left early."

"My God Alvaro! Are you safe now?"

"Yes. I'm very glad the great-circle path home is taking us north. We'll be leaving the Americas over the north coast of Labrador. Yeah, we're safe."

"But the west coast! What happened?!"

"The Canadians were kind enough to share their seismic data with us. The slip on the San Andreas Fault appears to have been catastrophic, a major event even on geologic time scales. The build-up of shear stress was much greater than people had feared. The revised estimate near the epicenter is 9.7 to 9.8 on the Richter scale."

Alvaro heard Megan give a small whimper. It's been 142 years since the San Francisco earthquake of April 1906, and what Alvaro was describing was a geological event with a hundred times the ground motion and a thousand times the energy release.

"Megan..." He paused. "You still there?"

"Yes," she whispered. "I'm still here."

"The Canadian scientists think the quake caused some sort of rupture on the eastern edge of the Juan de Fuca Plate. It's not far off the coast of Vancouver Island. They've been experiencing some very strange tides for the last few days. And there are huge jets of stream venting from the ocean."

"What? I thought the earthquake was centered in southern California."

"Megan, the fault failed everywhere, massive shifts near San Francisco, and the Canadian seismologist said all the way down to the segment that failed nearly two hundred years ago near Los Angeles."

Megan gave a deep frown as she tried to remember her history lessons. She thought Alvaro was referring to the great Fort Tejon earthquake of 1857. Until a few days ago, that January 9th event at Richter 8.3 was considered to be the most violent California earthquake event in the past several hundred years. After a moment of silence, Megan asked, "And the war?"

"The entire U.S. western coastline is in chaos. It appears extremist sleeper cells were activated by the disaster. They're attacking the remaining transportation links still functioning. The Golden Gate Bridge was one of the few major structures left standing in the Bay area, a true miracle, and then yesterday it was brought down by a tremendous explosion on the north tower. The Canadians shared their sat images with us. You can see the cables lying in the water. It's a mess."

Alvaro sighed and continued. "The extremists are fighting pitched battles with the U.S. military right now, and from what the Canadians can sense, the extremists are winning at least half the battles. The U.S. is having a very hard time mobilizing with so much of their transportation system gone. And they can't use their firepower without killing the civilians."

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