by Pat Riot
Rob stood up. “Anyone have any power on anything on their console?” He waited a few seconds and heard a smattering of “No’s” and “Not here’s.” As his mind started putting everything together he went cold. The faxed alert. The NAWAS alert. And now nothing is working. Holy shit, it can’t be possible. I need to make sure before I do anything. “Okay, everyone stay put, grab your emergency flashlights from under the console and then try to power on your backup radios, I’m gonna go out back and see if the generator is even running.”
Even as he grabbed the emergency flashlight that was mounted under the console and turned to walk out Rob knew it was futile to check the generator. A couple years prior he was assigned to attend a training class that was based on terrorism but focused on a dispatch centers response to different types of attacks. One of the sections that the instructor briefly touched on was what was known as an EMP, or electromagnetic pulse. While Rob couldn’t recall all the details, he did remember the instructor explained that if a nuclear device was detonated somewhere in the atmosphere it created this EMP that wreaked havoc on all things electronic. The instructor also said that a very large solar flare produced by the sun, if it hit earth, would have the same results.
After the class Rob was intrigued and did some research online on his own time. He found that if something like that occurred, and if it was large enough, it would knock the affected area back into the stone-age. He also read that while the government was aware of the issue, they were doing almost nothing to protect against such an event. What really got Rob was that a large solar flare had occurred in 1859. It was referred to as the Carrington Event, after the English astronomer Richard Carrington who recorded it. When the Coronal Mass Ejection that was produced by the solar flare hit earth, it produced auroras that were seen as far south as the Caribbean in the northern hemisphere and as far north as Columbia in the southern hemisphere. It also produced a massive EMP that melted telegraph cable lines and caused some operator’s telegraph equipment to throw sparks. Since then there have been recorded CME’s that have knocked out power to large areas and as recently as 2012 a “Carrington-class” solar storm missed earth by a mere nine days. Due to mankind’s dependence on all things electric, including the internet, if a “Carrington-class” event occurred today and was to strike earth, it would literally be the end of the world as we know it. Some estimates put the loss of human life in the billions, maybe as much as ninety percent of the world’s population perishing, if it were to ever occur, due to the dependence of humankind on electricity and the difficulty with producing and replacing damaged components in the system.
All of this ran through his mind as Rob made his way from the building into the rear parking lot. As he stepped out of the building exit door into the rear parking lot he stopped in his tracks. What caused him to stop was something that that he had never personally witnessed but was on his bucket list. It was an aurora and it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. He paused for a good minute and stared in awe at the wondrous streaks of greens, purples, and oranges that made up lightshow.
He finally shook himself into action and jogged down the back side of the building then across the parking lot to the massive black and brown colored generator. He hit the button on the side that would normally activate a display that was supposed to show the current status of the generator (ready, not ready, fuel low, etc.) but nothing happened. It confirmed what he already knew: the almost brand-new generator was dead as well. As he walked back towards the building he realized there were no lights anywhere.
The dispatch center was built at the top of a hill and actually had good views of the city lights from the parking lots, but tonight everything except the sky was black. The surrounding neighborhoods were all relatively newer with large houses on large properties. All the houses were valued approaching one million dollars, with several being well north of that figure. All the houses were well taken care of with exquisite landscaping which included lighting systems in the yards that provided ambient lighting throughout the nights. Not being able to see any lights in the area was unsettling. “This is not good,” he muttered to himself as he took out his phone. “This is actually very, very bad,” he continued when his phone wouldn’t turn on. Rob knew the charge was about fifty percent, but the screen wouldn’t turn on. He long pressed the power button hoping beyond hope that it would power up, even though he already knew it wouldn’t. Sure enough, it was as dead as the generator. He became more and more concerned and his despair grew as he put the phone back into his pocket and thought about everything that was happening.
The power was out, not just for the dispatch center but the city, the backup UPS systems did not work, the alarm panel that had its own backup power source was out, and the generator was dead along with his cell phone. Rob could only come up with one conclusion: an EMP had occurred and rendered the power grid and all electronics completely useless. He was convinced. I need to get with Jason and come up with a plan, then get everyone moving. There is no point in staying here. The power is likely to be out for a very, very long time and things are going to go to hell. Depending on how wide spread this is, it could very well be every man for himself with complete anarchy before long. I have to get home to Monica and Jackson. He closed his eyes for a moment and breathed deeply. Once he felt a little better he took the worry and despair and turned it into determination and focused on his ultimate goal. I will get home to them, no matter who or what stands in my way.
Rob made his way to the back door of the facility. Without thinking he put his key card up to the card reader to unlock the door. He shook his head at himself when he realized it wasn’t going to work and tried to pull the door open. Locked. Of course, the power was out, it would have to be manually unlocked. Not thinking to use his building keys, he pounded on the door and a few seconds later it was opened by Jason who was also carrying an emergency flashlight.
“Hey man, generator out too?”
“Yeah, completely. All the lights in the city are out…” Rob trailed off as he realized Jason wasn’t paying attention to him and instead was staring at the sky. It took Rob a second to realize Jason was looking at the aurora. He gave Jason a few moments to admire the beauty before getting his attention again. “Anyways yeah, the generator is out, and the entire city is blacked out too.”
Jason blinked a couple times before he realized his mind had drifted off. “Sorry man, I’ve just never seen anything like it.”
“No worries, I had the same reaction when I first came out. Enjoy it while you can, we’ll probably never see anything like this again.”
“Hey, you remember that training class they sent us to a couple years ago, the terrorism one with that tall skinny instructor from DHS?” Jason asked, now fully focused on Rob and speaking quickly.
“Yeah.”
“This remind you of anything he said?”
“The EMP.”
“Exactly,” Jason agreed. “That’s gotta be it right? I mean what else could cause this? Our backup systems have backups and the only thing that worked right were most of the emergency lights.”
“Yeah man I know, we gotta decide what we are going to do. Let’s take a quick walk around the building while we chat.”
Jason followed Rob out into the parking lot and fell into step next to him. “What’s up?”
Rob began, “Well, as I see it, this can’t be anything else, or at least anything I’ve ever heard of. Power is out inside, generator is dead, its obvious power is out in the city, not to mention this aurora,” Rob pointed towards the south where they could normally see miles of suburban city lights then pointed towards the sky. “So, hear me out.” Jason just nodded. “With all of that, and remembering what that instructor said, I really think the shit has hit the fan then sprayed the entire room.”
“Yeah, I’m with you so far, keep going,” Jason said.
“Okay, everything that uses electricity is down, we have no way to fix it, we have no way to do our jo
b, and the way I see it nothing is going to be coming back to normal anytime soon. After we took that class I did some research online on my own and I found that if something like this happened it could take years for the power to be fixed. If that’s the case, things are only going to get worse before it gets better. And I think it’s going to get way, way worse. In that case I’m gonna be trying to get home. There isn’t any point of staying here hoping the power comes back on.”
“Yeah, but what if it does come back on?” Jason countered with concern in his voice. “What if you take off and a couple hours later it all starts working again?”
“I think I have to take that risk,” Rob said quietly. “Besides, you try your cell phone?”
Jason took it out of his pocket and touched the screen. “Nothing.”
At this point they were on the northeast side of the building, almost exact opposite of where they had started. “Look,” Rob said as he swept his hand along the horizon. “The blackout is everywhere. There are no lights anywhere. You have your car keys?”
Jason patted his pocket, “Yeah, right here.”
“Let’s go try your car.”
As they made their way back to the parking lot they both continued to admire the aurora, but this time Jason’s awe was covered in a blanket of worry and Rob’s awe was replaced with determination. Both could play devil’s advocate and make counter arguments as to why the power outage had nothing to do with an EMP or solar flare, but they both knew deep down there was no other explanation.
Once they arrived at the rear parking lot Jason walked up to his silver Honda Civic and tried to use the key fob to unlock the doors. Nothing. He used the key to unlock the driver door and when he opened it the interior light came on. He immediately looked at Rob with a puzzled look on his face, “Why would the light turn on, but the key fob not work?”
Rob shrugged, “I have no clue, try to start it.”
Jason did so. When he turned the key, there was no response. No slow crank of the engine, no clicking sound indicating it was trying to start, nothing. Jason turned on the headlights and they came on nice and bright. “See? I just don’t get why the lights would work but nothing else.”
“Me either, but let’s think about what we have. Power is out everywhere we can see. The aurora. The generator, that’s almost brand new and has never failed to kick on before by the way, is dead.” The generator was tested monthly and had always performed flawlessly. “Your car doesn’t start even though it’s only a few months old. Hell, you just put the real plates on it’s so new. Neither of our phones will even turn on even though they were both in perfect working condition thirty minutes ago. The backup systems never came on like they should have. Nothing. What else could it be?”
Jason stood outside his driver door for about a minute. Rob could see the wheels in Jason’s head spinning so he stayed quiet. “Yeah, you’re right. I keep trying to come up with some other reason why this could all be happening, but I just can’t.” Another quiet pause then, “Okay, I’m convinced. So, what do we do next?”
Before he could reply a loud explosion from the southeast caught their attention, followed by an orange glow just over the horizon. They both spun around but due to the terrain couldn’t see anything. “C’mon!” Rob yelled as he turned and ran for the building, Jason right on his heels.
They made it to the backdoor in record time and Rob started to pound on it when Jason interrupted him, “Hold up, move, I got my keys.”
“Ah! I’m an idiot, I didn’t even think to use mine,” Rob said with a disgusted shake of his head. Jason got the door open and they both ran into the building. When they made the turn into the hallways they almost ran into Rachel and three other dispatchers.
“Whoa! Watch it guys! In a hurry much?” Rachel asked, sounding irritated.
Rob didn’t answer as he brushed by her and ran down the hallway. He reached the storage room at the end and used his master key to open it up while Jason used his flashlight to light up the door. Rob pushed open the door and went to the back corner of the 10 feet by 15 feet room where a ladder was built into the wall and went up into the ceiling, disappearing into the darkness. Rob started climbing and by the time he was half way up Jason was using his flashlight to light the way. Rob arrived at the top and turned a knob that unlatched the roof access hatch, used his arm and shoulder to shove it up and out of the way, then scrambled out onto the roof and made his way over to the southeast corner of the building, being careful not to trip on or run into any of the pipes, satellite dishes, antennas, and other equipment that crisscrossed the roof. He could see the fire before he reached the edge of the building. He heard several footsteps and with a quick glance over his shoulder realized Jason and the other dispatchers had followed him onto the roof.
“What is that?” Jason asked.
“I don’t know one hundred percent, but I’m pretty sure that’s a plane crash,” replied Rob.
“Plane crash?” Someone, Rob wasn’t sure who, asked with confusion in their voice.
“Yeah think about it. What’s over in that direction a few miles?” Rob asked the group.
Jason was the first to make the connection, “March.”
He was referring to March Air Reserve base. It was an active Air Force Reserve base and the dispatchers could regularly see military C-17 cargo planes fly in and out of the airfield.
“Exactly,” Rob said. “Not only does the military fly out of their regularly but I’m pretty sure DHL, that package carrier, flies out of their too.”
“Shouldn’t we do something?” someone else asked.
“Like what?” Rob responded. “Normally we would pick up the phone or get on the radio and send help. But nothing works, so we can’t do that. We could walk the few miles over there, but what would we do when we got there? We have nothing we can use to fight a fire like that and no real medical equipment other than the small first aid kits in the dispatch rooms. It sucks, but there is nothing we can do.” Everyone grew quiet, thrown into a somber mood as the gravity of the situation started to really sink in on everyone present.
Rob watched the glowing fire for a minute or so while he thought over what he should do next. The obvious answer was to get home, but that was the overall goal. What should he do right now in this moment? His mind made up he turned to the small handful of dispatchers. “Okay listen up everyone. Head back inside, watch your step and don’t fall down the ladder when you do, and gather everyone up. Emergency meeting in the rear parking lot, five minutes.” Everyone could hear the seriousness in his voice and no one questioned him or hesitated to move towards the roof hatch.
As they walked towards the hatch Jason asked him, “What do you have in mind?”
“You’ll see. I’m going tell everyone what we think is going on. The good thing is most of them have taken that same class at some point, so they should have at least a vague idea of we’re talking about. Then, I’m headed home.”
In silence they both walked back to the roof hatch, climbed down the ladder, and walked through the hallway and out the backdoor, which Rob propped open using a trashcan that was just outside. They walked over to the patio, where they stood in silence with their own thoughts while the shift of twenty-two dispatchers made their way out of the building and gathered in the patio area.
Once it appeared as if everyone was present, he did a quick head count to confirm, then stood on one of the patio chairs. “Okay everyone, quiet down. Who all took that terrorism class in the last two years, the one where they made dispatch a focus and taught us how to appropriately respond to different types of terror attacks?” About forty percent of the dispatchers raised their hands. “Good. Out of you that took the class, who remembers the part about the nuclear device or the solar flare wreaking havoc on the power grid and anything electronic?” Almost all the same hands went up again. “Okay. Well, I think that’s what we have here. I don’t remember all of the specifics, I don’t know the science behind it, but I’m almost one hundred
percent sure that’s the cause of all this power loss.”
“What are you getting at Rob?” The question came from the back of the crowd.
“Take a look around.” He waited a moment while everyone looked around. “Notice anything strange?”
“All the power is out, everywhere,” The same voice that asked the question.
“I already checked the generator, its dead. The UPS systems didn’t work. My cell phone is suddenly not working.” He noticed several people take their cell phones out and try to turn them on. Predictably none of them were successful. “Jason’s brand-new car won’t start. Jason tell them what we could see from the roof.”
Jason stepped forward and raised his voice, “While we were trying to get my car to start we heard a loud explosion and could see an orange glow from the southeast. We went up to the roof and could see a large fire over near March. Can’t be sure, but it looks like a plane crash to me.”
Rob took back over, “If anyone has their keys on them go right now and see if your car will start.” He expected exactly zero success as everyone present drove cars that were at the most five years old, the only exception being Rob himself who drove a fifteen-year-old diesel pick-up truck, but he still told them to do it. He wanted them to see for themselves, wanted to make it more real and immediate for each person. It turned out that six of the dispatchers had their car keys with them, but the entire group except for Jason and Rob went into the parking lot to check the cars. After a few minutes they all made their way back. As expected, there was no success.
