Silo

by Jay J Falconer

  “Sodium chloride,” Nomad replied.

  “They’re also a product of other soluble minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, chlorides, nitrates, sulfates, bicarbonates and carbonates, which originate from the natural weathering of topsoil and rock. That’s where the salt in the oceans originates.”

  “Let me guess,” Krista said. “They didn’t test the soil for any of that?”

  “Nope. Not a lick. Asher over there let his team run amok and didn’t check the calculations thoroughly enough. That’s what he meant by unchecked confidence. Not only with respect to his confidence in his team, but also his team’s confidence in their own calculations. A two-sided mistake that had grave consequences.”

  “That’s what sparked The Event?” Summer asked.

  “Not exactly. Let me continue, please.”

  “Go on,” Destiny said, sitting more upright in her chair and leaning forward.

  “When they ran the first test, the pressures didn’t escalate evenly across all the relief tunnels and blowout occurred in three of the shafts.”

  “Blowout of what? Lava?” Summer asked.

  “No,” Nomad said, stepping forward. He raised his hand and pointed to his face. “Superheated steam.”

  “Oh my God. That’s what happened? You were there?”

  “Yes and no,” he said. “This wasn’t the only test site.”

  Everyone looked at Lipton, who had his eyes turned to Nomad with an eyebrow raised. When Lipton brought his attention back, he said, “Your brother is correct. The government, in their infinite wisdom, decided to take the flawed calculations from Asher’s team and try them in multiple locations around the globe.”

  “Why would they do that?” Summer asked.

  “Simple math, really. And I’m talking appropriations math. Why convince Congress to spend the money for only one team and one test site, when you can convince them to spend more? A lot more when they don’t know what anything actually costs. So you always double or triple your estimates. In this case, it was four times what they needed.”

  “Then bleed off some of it for other projects,” Krista said.

  “Now you’re tracking,” Lipton said. “There were only two actual test sites, one of which was here and the other was in Antarctica.”

  “Oh shit, that’s what happened in Antarctica,” Summer said. “They set them all off. Those dumbasses.”

  “A chain reaction started from a fundamental shift in the pressure ridge that connects that particular cluster of volcanoes together, resulting in a rapid-fire eruption and the near-extinction of the human race. All because the government was in a hurry and your man there, Asher, didn’t check his team’s fricking math.”

  CHAPTER 51

  “You knew about this the whole time?” Summer asked Lipton.

  “Actually, no. I had some suspicions along the way, but a theory didn’t start to form until our interactions with Blackstone on the radio. Then it grew once we had that painfully long group discussion with them at the rendezvous point. However, what actually brought it all together was when I saw Asher walk through the door. That’s when the data points fell into place and I knew the answers. All of them.”

  The room filled with silence until Lipton turned in his chair and peered at Nomad. “However, I have to admit that I didn’t foresee your involvement.”

  “Neither did I. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time, Doc.”

  “Antarctica?”

  “Roger that. Was on cover detail when the blowout happened. Somehow I made it out alive. The rest of my team didn’t.”

  “Couldn’t be helped, I’m sure.”

  “Actually, I knew something was off, but decided to follow orders instead of doing something about it. That’s on me.”

  “And you paid dearly for it, brother,” Summer said, her tone supportive.

  Lipton spun back to face the group with his hands laced together on the table and his lips silent.

  “That’s it?” Destiny asked. “Because none of that explains what’s going on now in our tunnels. Or what’s happening to Asher.”

  Lipton motioned at Asher. “I think it’s best if he takes it from here.”

  Destiny turned to her right. “Ash?”

  Asher held for a beat. “Are you sure you want to hear all this?”

  “Uh, yeah. Like a long time ago. I can’t believe you kept all this from me, whatever this is.”

  “There’s no going back once you do.”

  “I’m pretty sure we can handle it.”

  Asher shook his head. “I don’t know. It happened years before any of you were here. That’s why I didn’t tell you everything. It’s ancient history and it really doesn’t matter now. It won’t change a thing.”

  “Quit stalling,” Flipside said. “Out with it, and not the abridged version, either.”

  Asher put his lips together in a thin line as he stared at Lipton, the two of them locking eyes in some kind of Brainiac stare down.

  Summer figured if this were a cartoon, daggers would shoot out of their eyes and impale each other’s faces in spectacular fashion. “Well? Come on. Spill it.”

  “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Asher said before covering his mouth and breaking into a coughing fit. When he was done, he removed his hand and held it up, blood dripping from his palm. “As you can see, I’m sick. And it’s not going to get any better.”

  “And we both know why you’re sick,” Lipton said. “So go on, tell them. They have a right to know.”

  Asher nodded, pausing before he started again. “When we first began this project, there were hundreds of people here, working the tunneling equipment, taking measurements—you name it. Everything was going along without a hitch until Lipton showed up as part of some public oversight committee, sent in by a watchdog group who’d gotten wind of the massive expenditures underway. Apparently, they’d sued under the Freedom of Information Act and won, getting their hands on the project details and, of course, the money trail.”

  “Actually, I was in charge of the oversight committee.”

  “Well, that’s not entirely true. You were in charge of the science team, not the entire group.”

  “There’s a difference?”

  “Technically, yes.”

  “It was all about the science, Asher. We both know that. Science that you decided to gloss over in the initial grant proposal and subsequent briefings.”

  “That’s your take on it.”

  “Yeah, the right take. Either way, we were sent here to check on you. Not the other site. Your site.”

  “Well, that’s all spin. You were sent here because the suits wanted to focus on this site since it wasn’t on some faraway continent.”

  “Low-hanging fruit, as they say,” Summer said.

  “Exactly,” Asher said. “Anyway, Lipton decides to take me aside and read me the riot act, going on about the math and the underlying assumptions regarding the pressures and whatnot.”

  “If by riot act you mean trying to stop you from obliterating the planet, then yes. A riot act.”

  “I disagreed completely, of course, but he decided to push it. And I mean push it to the suits in Washington, to the point where I had to make some tough decisions. Walk away or cave to the man’s wishes, because he had the ears of those controlling the future of this project.”

  “So you caved?” Destiny asked.

  “Didn’t have a choice. Otherwise, this project ended, and everyone lost their job. We were doing important work here, trying to stop a super-volcano from erupting, which it does every 650,000 thousand years. And we were overdue. Long overdue, so this project had to continue. It might have only been weeks or months before this thing blew.”

  Destiny nodded. “Okay, I get that.”

  “Me too,” Summer said.

  “But that’s when things really went off the rails. Had I stood my ground and said no—”

  “—then you would have been shut down immediately,” Lipton said
, interrupting.

  “All because you wanted to take over a project that you never envisioned or worked ten long years to get off the ground. This was my baby, Lipton, not yours.”

  “Actually, I was trying to keep the planet safe from your recklessness. Someone had to step in.”

  Asher coughed three more times, wheezing after he was done. “Ah, that’s such bullshit. You just wanted your name in the history books. That’s all this was. Admit it. You were on a glory hunt.”

  “Keep thinking that, Asher. I’m sure you’ll convince yourself eventually.”

  “Okay, but this still doesn’t—” Destiny said.

  “Hang on, I’m getting to it,” Asher said.

  Flipside looked at Destiny, then at Summer, and shook his head. “Oh my God, it’s like watching a couple of two-year-olds fighting over a toy.”

  Lipton made eye contact with everyone at the table, even Asher. “Look, mistakes were being made and I had no choice but to assume control.”

  “Says you.”

  “And of course, history has now proven that I was right.”

  “But not because of the science. What happened in Antarctica was something nobody could have seen coming.”

  “Except me.”

  “Oh, come on. Nobody knew that chain reaction was going to happen. Not even the all-great and powerful Ben Lipton.”

  “Soil salinity, Asher. Soil salinity. You still don’t get it, even after all these years. Only a mediocre scientist would have missed that. Wait, check that. A mediocre engineer, without a PhD.”

  Asher turned and peered at Destiny. “What really burns me is what happened next. Someone on Lipton’s oversight committee sold information about the project to China, who in turn gave it to North Korea. And not just some information, all the information, including site locations, costs, labor allocation, equipment specs, and last but not least, the science. All on Lipton’s watch.”

  Everyone at the table turned and stared at Lipton.

  He put his hands out, shrugging. “Hey, that wasn’t my fault. That was outside my purview.”

  “Again, says you,” Asher said.

  “I can’t be held responsible for one of my team members going rogue.”

  “You were either in charge or you weren’t. Which was it?” Asher asked.

  “You’re getting off track, Asher. Tell them the rest. Go on, I dare you. Tell them what happened after you kicked me out, literally.”

  CHAPTER 52

  Summer wasn’t sure where these two scientists were headed with their bickering, but she was starting not to care. She was more concerned about what she was sensing from across the room—her brother’s torment. It was almost palpable, wafting from where he stood like an invading plague.

  Every bone in her body wanted her to get up again and go wrap her arms around him, making sure he knew he wasn’t alone.

  Not because of his scars or the pain that came along with them, but because he had been abandoned.

  By his fellow troops.

  By his commanders.

  By the Universe.

  And by his family.

  Even if she didn’t know he was still alive, she had given up on him. So had Hope.

  It wasn’t fair what he'd gone through, but she vowed right then and there to somehow comfort him and help him rid himself of whatever was eating him up inside.

  “You can’t possibly know any of that,” Asher said to Lipton, bringing Summer’s focus back to the discussion.

  Lipton tossed up his hands. “Why, because I wasn’t here?”

  “Exactly,” Asher said, looking at Destiny, then Summer. “Can you believe the arrogance of this asshole?”

  “Tell me about it,” Summer said.

  “It never ends with him,” Krista added.

  Lipton apparently wasn’t going to let Asher’s comment stand unopposed. “Well, it doesn’t take an entire team of theoretical physicists to explain what’s going on here. Just look at you, Asher. It’s clear as day.”

  “What? What’s going on, Ash?” Destiny asked. “Please, just tell us. Nobody is going to think any less of you.”

  “Not when you’re already at the bottom,” Lipton added, smiling as if he’d just won the lottery.

  Asher dropped his head and shook it, taking a few seconds before he brought his focus back up. “After the eruptions in Antarctica, they shut us down and split up my team before they recalled me to Washington. I raised hell about what happened, but they wouldn’t greenlight this project again, even with the proposed adjustments. They were too busy dealing with the international ramifications of the chain reaction and didn’t want to hear what I had to say.”

  “That’s when you came back on your own, didn’t you?” Destiny asked.

  “Yes. I was determined to prove my theories were correct.”

  “Despite what was happening elsewhere. Talk about arrogance,” Lipton said.

  “I take it that’s about when we showed up,” Flipside said.

  Asher nodded. “But then things started to change a few months ago.”

  Destiny nodded. “When the pressures rose, and you started to get sick.”

  “Oh yeah. Here it comes,” Lipton said. “Just wait, folks. This is going to be priceless.”

  Asher put his hand up and ran it through his hair. A glob of loose strands stuck to his fingers. He showed it to the group. “There’s only one reason for this to be happening.”

  “Radiation,” Lipton answered. “Exactly what I thought when you asked for a Geiger counter as part of the exchange.”

  “Not that any of us wouldn’t have come to that same conclusion,” Krista said.

  Lipton raised an eyebrow at her and said, “But what you don’t know is that I detected elevated levels of radiation in the atmosphere right after The Event, while I was down south.”

  “Probably hiding out somewhere like the coward you are,” Krista shot back.

  Lipton continued, apparently ignoring her dig. “It was only a trace, but it was there nonetheless.”

  “Wait, I don’t understand, Lipton,” Summer said. “Since when do volcanoes or calderas or whatever they’re called give off radiation?”

  “They don’t.”

  “It was the North Koreans, wasn’t it?” Flipside said, turning his focus to Asher. “That’s why you’re down there all the time.”

  “Wait, what does that mean?” Summer asked.

  Asher nodded, though he didn’t look happy about it. “He’s right. Remember when I said the stolen plans were sold to China and then ended up with their neighbors next door?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, apparently the North Koreans decided to take advantage of my absence.”

  “Shit. They planted a bomb, didn’t they?” Krista said.

  “Yes, nuclear, I’m afraid.”

  “There you go, folks. The real reason he’s sick,” Lipton said. “And none of that has anything to do with me, even though he wants you to believe I am the reason the world ended.”

  “Except for the fact that someone on your team was a traitor,” Summer said.

  “Well, there is that. But one fact has nothing to do with the other. What the North Koreans did could not have been anticipated. Nor did it cause The Event.”

  A new idea tore into Summer’s brain. “Hey, wait a minute. If you detected radiation ten years ago, then the North Koreans might have been responsible for all those volcanoes going off at once. That’s what started the chain reaction. A nuke down in one of those tunnels—”

  “—not Asher’s pressure calculations being off,” Destiny said.

  “Well, we can’t know any of that for sure,” Lipton said, his voice cracking a bit.

  “Holy shit. They were running a test, weren’t they?” Flipside asked. “But they didn’t know the chain reaction would start.”

  “And if it worked, they were going to detonate the nuke here, to take out the USA,” Krista said. “That was their plan all along.”

 
“It’s certainly possible. We’ll never actually know for sure,” Asher said, “but it seems logical.”

  “So what do we do now?” Summer asked.

  “I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get down there and disarm it.”

  “Assuming it’s set to go off,” Destiny said.

  Lipton started laughing, his eyes tearing up.

  “What’s so damn funny?” Krista asked.

  Lipton pushed the answer out through his rapid-fire laughs. “This is why you need to leave the physics to the experts. Especially nuclear physics.”

  Nobody answered.

  “If the device is leaking radiation, then the core has been compromised. And once that happens, it’s no longer viable.”

  Krista pinched her eyebrows and looked at Summer.

  Summer gave Krista a head shake and a shoulder shrug.

  Lipton continued, “This is why Asher should never have been in charge of anything. A compromised core means it was damaged and won’t detonate, not with the precision physics involved in the implosion process. If they’re off even the tiniest of a percent, the implosion won’t cause the core material to become supercritical and thus, no nuclear explosion. So even if they did arm the bomb on a ten-year timer, which is ludicrous by the way, all you need to do at this point is bury the device to stop the bomb and its radiation. Simple as that.”

  Again, nobody said a word in response.

  Lipton looked at Flipside. “I’m assuming you have dirt moving equipment or explosives available.”

  “Yes.”

  “Then just do it,” Lipton said, brushing his hands together as if he’d just finished a month-long project.

  “So we don’t need to disarm it first?” Summer asked.

  “Just bury it and walk away. It’s so simple that even a junior high school student could do it. End of story.”

  Krista looked at Summer again and raised an eyebrow.

  Summer nodded, realizing what Krista was asking with her expression and why.

  Krista picked up her handgun from the table and aimed it at Lipton.

  She pulled the trigger a millisecond later, sending a thunderclap across the room as the bullet tore into Lipton’s forehead.