On Distant Shores (Exiles Triology Book 1)

by Mark Harritt

  Mike climbed the debris and moved to Lieutenant Pang. She was at a phone on the wall, trying to call through to other floors.

  “What the hell just happened?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure,” she answered.

  “Are you able to talk to anybody?”

  “No, not yet, nobody is answering,” she replied. “I can’t even get a dial tone on this thing.”

  “What do the flashing red lights mean?”

  Lieutenant Pang hesitated for a moment, then answered, “Mike, if the red lights are flashing like that, that means that we’re being attacked.”

  Mike had a confused look on his face, “Attacked? You mean by terrorists?”

  She shook her head. “No, there is no way a terrorist could make it down to our level. I’m talking about a nuclear attack.”

  Mike felt his body go cold as he thought about this. “Oh God, Jo, are you okay?” he thought. His face must have mirrored his thoughts. He could see the concern in Lieutenant Pang’s face.

  “What do you mean, a nuclear attack?” he asked. Some of the civilians were gathering around. Mickey was moving through them to take care of cuts and abrasions.

  Dr. Nachman spoke up, “Mike, you have to remember, this entire area was created in response to the cold war. They closed these missile silos after Salt II. We took them over because it was expedient for us to use them. We could use them without fear of anybody finding out what we’re doing down here. We were especially anxious about some of the research we’re doing here, falling into the hands of other nations that don’t have our best interests at heart.Originally, they were going to be used as living quarters for the general in charge of the 341st Space Wing.”

  Mike Crandall broke into the conversation, “Who can tell us what is going on?”

  Lieutenant Pang looked at him. “Security is probably the only ones that can tell us what is going on here,” she explained.

  Mike mulled over everything. “We’re still alive, though. Doesn’t that mean that the nuclear strike didn’t happen?”

  Lieutenant Pang shrugged her shoulders. “I talked to security when the red lights started flashing, and they confirmed a nuclear strike was imminent, but then that weird thing happened, and I haven’t been able to get through to them since.

  “What weird thing?” Mike asked.

  Lieutenant Pang held her hands together then brought them apart and spread her fingers at the same time, “You know, the . . . Blink.” She was unsure of herself. She wasn’t sure if she imagined the incident, or if the incident was actually real.

  Mike felt relived. He thought that the unusual physical sensation hadn’t been part of the electrical shutdown of the suit. If it had just been electronics, he wouldn’t have vomited. He didn’t know if he was going crazy, or if others experienced the same sensation. Now he knew that others experienced the same thing, when reality stopped, and then started again.

  Mike nodded, putting his hand on her shoulder, “yeah, okay, I understand.”

  The relief was visible on Lieutenant Pang’s and Dr. Nachman’s faces, knowing that they weren’t the only ones that experienced that unsettling nothing.

  “I don’t have enough information to be able to answer whether or not the nuclear strike happened,” she replied.

  Mike heard a voice in his ear. It was Everett, “Mike, are all civilians are out of the way, I want to go ahead and right my mech.”

  “Wait one, I need to clear with Lieutenant Pang. When you start, be careful, the floor has about a five to ten degree tilt to it,” Mike explained.

  Mike turned to Lt. Pang. “Do you think it will be a problem?”

  She thought about it for a split second, “It shouldn’t be, the mech armor was designed to operate on uneven surfaces.”

  Mike turned and yelled at the crowd, “Everybody, move away from the mech armor, Everett is going to try and maneuver so that he can get out of the armor.” This announcement was followed by a number of people scramblingto move further away from the armor.

  He waited for everybody to clear, then he got back on his comms, “Everett, you’re a go for righting your armor, everybody is out of the way.”

  Everett started rocking the armor so that he could roll over. The mech armor was very maneuverable, but being on its back, Everett needed momentum to get to a new position. Mike watched in awe, as he usually did when the other members of his team were in the armor, practicing complex maneuvers. Over the weeks of practice, they were able to make very human movements in the armor. The neural interface went a long way to make the mech armor react like an extension of their bodies.

  Everett rocked, and soon he was on all fours, then stood up at a slight tilt to make the armor go vertical. The armor hesitated, then Everett seemed to make a decision. He walked the armor over to the wall that the floor now sloped down to. He maneuvered the armor so that the butt of the mech armor was braced against the wall, and then he went into the linebacker position the armor was stored in. It was amazing to see the huge mech armor walk like a normal human being. The armor crouched down, and soon the door popped open. Everett climbed out to join everybody on the floor.

  Mike turned to Lieutenant Pang, “Are all of your team accounted for?”

  They did a quick head count and the only person that wasn’t there was Jim Wright. Everybody searched among the detritus of pelican boxes, electronics and crates. It was hard moving up and down the room, now that everything was on an angle. They found Jim at the far end of the rubble. He was the victim of the rolling platform. It had toppled on top of him and knocked him out. Mickey brought his bag over and started administering aid. It was a head wound, so there was blood everywhere. Members of the engineering team looked queasy at the sight of blood, but Doctor Humphreys, a neurologist, waded in and helped Mickey to stabilize the victim.

  Tracy Sheffield, a mechanical engineer, started crying. Bob Leitz put his arm around Tracy and steered her away from the blood.Mike and his team were not affected by the sight of the blood. They had seen plenty of blood during operations. Mike spoke up, talking to comfort the civilians. “Don’t worry Mickey, will stabilize him. He’s an accomplished combat medic.”

  --------------------------------------

  Mike looked around. Equipment was scattered, broken. He looked over at the elevator and stairwell. He looked in the other direction, where the service elevator was. He walked across the large floor to the passenger elevator, and pressed a button. The doors wouldn’t open. He waited for a few minutes, and they still didn’t open. A crowd gathered as they watched him walk to the elevator. Mike turned around and saw the worry on their faces, “I guess that isn’t going to work for us then.”

  He walked to the stairwell, and opened the door. The stairs were in one piece, but settling in a new angle produced cracks in the concrete. The crowd, and his team, followed him. The stairs were at a crazy angle, but they could still be climbed. As Mike looked around the stairwell, he started talking to Rob. “Rob, I need you and Tom to check out the other floors and see what’s going on. Go up to security and see if you can talk to anybody up there, and find out what is happened.”

  Rob nodded his agreement, and moved into the stairwell, “I think Tom and I’ll be able to go up and evaluate the floors.”

  Mike nodded, “Get anything you need from the supplies. We’re going to have to move all the civilians up eventually, and this may be the only way to get out. Check and see if you can get into the elevator shaft. That may be easier to use to get supplies and people to where we want them. Right now, I’m going to start treating this as if we’re on our own for a while until help gets here.”

  Both men moved out of the stairwell and over to the pallet. Everett was laying out supplies for easier use. Rob and Tom started rummaging among the supplies for lights and other needed equipment. Mike looked around at the chaos. Some of the coke machines had fallen over and coke products dripped onto the floor. Mike hoped it wouldn’t have to come to it, but they might have to sca
venge among the machines for cokes and food. They would have to open them to see what was left.

  Lieutenant Pang moved the civilians to an area where there was less mess. Tracy had stopped crying, but her eyes were still very red. Somebody had given her a handkerchief, and it was crumpled up in her hand. They all looked expectantly at Mike. None of them had been in a situation like this before. Mike and his team had never been in a situation quite like this either, but they were used to dealing with extreme situations. Mike nodded at the crowd. A few nodded back.

  “Well, it’s not too bad right now. We have some food on the pallet. It’s isn’t anything fancy, just a few boxes of MREs. I sent Rob and Tom up the stairwell to see if we can move out of here and they’re also going to check on the other floors for people. I’m hoping we can get everybody moved up to the surface, or at least to the offices on the other levels that are more comfortable.” This made sense to the engineers and techs, and they nodded their agreement.

  Lieutenant Pang spoke up, “We have more MREs down in storage. We keep them down there in case of emergencies or security lockdowns.”

  Mike’s face lightened at this unexpected good news. He looked at the faces before him. They were in shock. He had seen it before, in combat, on soldiers’ and civilian faces, “Is there anybody that needs further medical attention?”

  A doctoral student in chemistry named Joe Oaks raised his hand, “I may have twisted my ankle moving back here.”

  Mike nodded, “Okay, I’ll have Mickey come over and check it out when he has a moment.” Mike knew that he needed to get them working, to take their minds off of the situation, “My team and I are going to need some help.”

  This startled a few of the civilians. Mike and his team was very self-sufficient. That he would ask for their help was not something that they had contemplated, “We need to straighten things up here. If you could clear the debris and move it towards the other wall, it will make it easier for us to work and layout equipment and supplies.”

  Josh spoke, the sneer implicit in his voice. He was part of the faction, including Jamison and Mitchem, who viewed Mike’s team with suspicion and antagonism, “Why? Why are we going to do that?” he asked, the ice in his voice apparent to everybody,“The military and civilian authorities will send a rescue team. They’ll be here to help us. We don’t need to do anything except wait.”

  Mike nodded at this, unwilling to make an enemy right now, or at least antagonize one further, “You might be right, Josh. However, you may not be right. Lieutenant Pang said that the red lights indicated a nuclear strike. Nobody has been able to find out if this is true or not, so we may be on our own.”

  Lieutenant Pang nodded, “I talked to Lieutenant Jondreau before everything happened. He confirmed it was not a drill, that an actual nuclear strike was imminent. He didn’t tell me from where the nuclear strike was, or how many were launched. But he did say it was definitely a nuclear strike.”

  Mike continued, “So, we have no idea when rescue crews may arrive. They may be busy helping out with civilian casualties on the surface.” The people in the crowd looked uneasy at this prospect. “We need to be self-sufficient until we’re rescued, or until we can get ourselves out of this underground room,” Mike finished.

  Dr. Humphreys chipped in with some information. “Mike, don’t forget about the service elevator. It leads directly up to the surface. We may be able to get out through that direction.”

  “True, but right now we have no electricity, and getting the door open to the service elevator may take some doing. Plus, there was that large, concrete dome on top that may have closed because of the nuclear strike. Right now, we need to concentrate on improving our living conditions, to make this more bearable for the time being. Part of that is securing supplies, and moving the debris out of the way.” Mike continued, “We have a box of wag bags, but we’ll run out of them if we’re down here for a while.”

  Some of the civilians looked confused. One guy, a young man named Jacob Williams, who was a machinist, raised his hand. Mike looked at him and smiled, “No need to raise your hand, just ask.”

  Jacob nodded, and asked, “What are wag bags.”

  Maria Roberts, an electrical technician, laughed and said, “I’m glad you asked, I didn’t know what it was either.” This confession brought smiles from others.

  Mike answered, “It is a plastic bag to defecate in. If the latrines are not working, we may have to use them.” Mike raised his hands in supplication, “Please, if the water doesn’t flush, don’t use the toilets. That could get very messy and smelly, not to mention, a way for disease to flourish. Come to us, and we’ll give you a wag bag, and instructions on how to use them.”

  “What if we have to recycle?” Lieutenant Pang asked.

  Some of the civilians had a look of horror on their faces at this idea.

  “You mean, drink our own pee?” Josh asked, an incredulous look on his face.

  Mike beamed a smile at the crowd before him, “You guys weren’t too concerned about that when you set up the recycle system in the mech armor for us.”

  Tracy blushed and some of the techs looked sheepish when he mentioned that, “Hopefully, with those soda machines, we can avoid that for a while. If not, then we’ll have to start using buckets to collect, and we have a filter that we can use to strain it.”

  Some of the civilians had very unhappy looks on their faces. He could see they were starting to understand that the situation was serious, especially if people we talking about drinking their own urine.

  Josh exploded, “There is no way that I’m going to drink urine.”

  Mike made sure he had a neutral look on his face, “That is your prerogative. I’m hoping that it doesn’t come to that. Once we filter it, though, it is not urine anymore, but water.” The expression on Mike’s face indicated that he really didn’t care what Josh thought or did.

  Mike didn’t like the situation with Josh. Josh was never the most helpful person. He made snide remarks to the team as he was worked with them. He was a major ass kisser to Randall and Mitchem, which didn’t endear him to Mike either. Personally, Mike didn’t care if Josh died of dehydration. One less asshole in the world.

  Josh got up and walked away from the group, towards the wall that had the service elevator on it. He was muttering as he moved from the group.

  Lieutenant Pang yelled after him, “Josh.”

  Luis Garcia, one of the electrical engineers intervened with Lieutenant Pang. He held up his hands up in a conciliatory gesture and started to move off in Josh’s direction. John Smith got up and walked in that direction as well.

  Bob slapped his hands on his knees, “Well, I guess that means that we need to get cracking on the rest of it.” The rest of the crowd nodded and moved to tackle the debris in the room. Some of them started picking things up close to them moving in groups as they tackled the wreckage to see what was still serviceable.

  Lieutenant Pang moved towards Mike, “Mike, I don’t know what the hell happened, but I don’t think a nuclear strike would be able to make the entire complex tilt like this. Not without major damage occurring. I mean, that’s a major geological event for somethinglike that to occur. We’re at least a hundred feet underground at the first level of this complex. It couldn’t have been a direct strike on us. A direct strike would destroy our small installation.”

  Mike agreed with her, “Yeah, I know, something’s definitely not right with all this. Until we find out what it is, we need to make sure nobody panics.”

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  Mike walked back to the pallet. It was propped against the down angle wall, and Everett and Mickey had it shimmed with pelican cases to level it. The tech, Jim Wright, was in a sleeping bag on an air mattress, probably Mickey’s, to keep him comfortable. Jim’s eyes were open, and he was talking to Dr. Humphreys, who was testing him to make sure he didn’t have a concussion.

  Everett and Mickey walked up to him. “What did the brain tru
st have to say?” Everett asked.

  “Not much. They’re as confused as we are about everything.”

  Everett nodded, “I can imagine. I don’t know how this could have happened without us feeling anything at all. The entire floor shifted at least ten degrees. One minute everything was normal and then everything just changed. How the hell does that happen without a major disaster? This entire vault is surrounded by dirt and rock. It just doesn’t seem possible.”

  Mike shrugged his shoulders, “Honestly, your guess is as good as mine is. I have no damn idea how any of this could have happened.”

  Everett got quiet, then he spoke, looking concerned, “Mike, did you experience anything weird?”

  Mike looked at him, “You mean the part where everything just didn’t exist, and then it did again? Yeah, that happened to me as well.”

  The relief on Everett’s face was telling. “Thank God, I thought I was going crazy.”

  “No, you aren’t crazy. I think we all felt that.”

  Mickey spoke up. “Hey guys, I’m going to pull our cots out so that people can lay down if they need to.”

  “Good idea. Hey, Joe twisted his ankle during the . . .,” Mike stopped. He didn’t have any way to describe what happened.

  Mickey continued for him, “You mean the incident?”

  Mike chuckled, “Yeah, the incident. I guess that is a good way to describe what happened.”

  Mickey grabbed his medic bag, “No prob, I’ll go and check him out and make sure he’s okay.”

  Mike watched Mickey walk over to the techs. He got to Joe, knelt down, and started probing the ankle to see how bad it was.

  Everett spoke, “I have most of the equipment pulled into three piles, food and water, personal bags and supplies, and weapons and munitions.”

  Mike nodded, “Good idea. If anybody needs anything, give it to them, but make sure that nobody is hoarding.”

  Everett grunted as he lifted a pelican case, “Yeah, and I’ll keep the cool toys and munitions away from the kiddies so that they don’t hurt themselves.”