On Distant Shores

by Mark Harritt

  Chapter Eight - Now

  Mike threw up. It wasn’t much vomit, but inside the helmet, it seemed like a lot. Mike never threw up. He didn’t get motion sickness, he wasn’t afraid of enclosed spaces, and he had a stomach made of iron. Now he had to breathe through his nose so that he didn’t suffocate. Mike’s visual input was blank, and he couldn’t see any ambient light. He felt the armor tip and fall. He cursed as he realized that he couldn’t control the fall. Panic hit as he realized the vomit was not draining out. He was afraid that he was going to suffocate. He pushed the panic down, knowing the emotion was more likely to kill him than the vomit. Evidently, the electrical power in the armor had shut down, and the foam that held him in place deflated as electrical current no longer flowed through it.

  He controlled his fear, and held his breath, hoping the vomit wouldn’t enter his nose. He waited a few seconds as the foam collapsed, and his body and arms were no longer held in place. He was able to move his hands and arms so that he could ease the helmet back from his face. He wiped the slick, foul vomit away from the helmet and his face with his hand. He took in a deep breath, then another, and repositioned the helmet back on his head. The smell was horrible. The audio in the armor wasn’t working, and he couldn’t hear anything around him. As the armor rocked in its new position, he hoped that everybody on the floor had the chance to get out of the way.

  The armor was sliding as it rocked against the floor. The floor around him trembled as he moved. He felt an impact, and his helmeted head smacked against the side of the armor, but the impact wasn’t significant enough to hurt him. He felt his mech armor slide to a stop as friction from the floor overcame his momentum. He was disoriented as the sensors and heads up display kicked back on, blurred by the remnants of the vomit. The foam in the armor start to re-inflate. He was going to have to talk to the engineering team and see if there was a better configuration for the helmet to handle projectile vomiting.

  From the view and the cacophony that he was hearing in the audio, he wasn’t the only person that had experienced the electrical failure. Emergency lights were flashing red. Battery backup emergency lights spread a dim white light through the large room. The overhead lights flashed back on, and the backup emergency lights turned off, flooding the large room with white light, though the red emergency lights were still flashing. Electricity had been restored.

  From this position, it was very hard for him to see what was going on. He could hear groans, and shouting as people started dealing with their new reality.

  “Radio check, radio check, can anybody read me, over?” Mike broadcasted. The team came back with, “Roger, Lima Charlie,” or with, “Roger, Mike, I have you five by five.”

  “SITREP, over,” Mike ordered. The entire team came on, in sequence from Everett, through Mickey, Rob, and Tom. They all reported that none of them had any injuries. He asked them if they had experienced the same system failure that he had, receiving affirmatives from the rest of the team.

  “Does anybody know what just happened, over?”

  The team all replied with a quick, “Negative,” on the radios.

  “Can everybody do an emergency exit from their armor, over?” he asked. Everybody on the team replied, “Affirmative,” except for Everett.

  “Chief, that’s a negative. I’m currently laying on my back. I cannot do an emergency exit from the armor. Over,” he replied.

  “Roger, Everett. Can you roll so that you can expose the armor’s back? Over.” Mike asked.

  “Chief, I’m concerned about moving around. From what I can see on the display, it’s chaotic over here. I hear people around me, but I can’t see them. I’m afraid that if I try to roll, I may crush somebody. Over,” Everett reported back.

  “Roger, Everett. Just stay put and we’ll do a quick recon to ensure that there’s no one around you. Out.”

  Mike gave the command for the rest of the team to do an emergency shutdown of the armor. As the power shut down, the foam started deflating again. Mike pulled the lever that disengaged the lock to the door on the armor. Quickly, Mike and the rest of the team exited the mech armor and stood among the displaced equipment which had shifted across the room, strewn haphazardly across the floor.

  The floor was now at a five to ten degree tilt. From what Mike could see, the entire room was still intact. People had fallen and tumbled to new positions across the floor of the play room. People were yelling and groaning, and a few weren’t moving. Dust from lights and rafters sifted slowly down to the ground, giving the room a smoky look.

  Mickey grabbed his medic bag from the armor and ran to members of the engineering team to take care of any injuries. The rest of the spec ops team moved among the debris to help with the engineers and techs, pulling those who were able to stand to their feet, and evaluating injuries. As the team found people that were moderately to seriously injured, they called for Mickey to come over and evaluate.

  Mike climbed the debris and walked 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’s happening 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 had thought that the unusual physical sensation hadn’t been part of the electrical shutdown of the suit, but he didn’t know for sure. 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 had experienced the same thing, when reality stopped, and then started again.

  Mike nodded, putting his hand on h
er 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 scrambling to 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’s 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 at the mech armor, 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. Mike and his team were not affected by the sight of the blood. They had seen plenty of carnage during operations. Mike spoke up, talking to comfort the civilians. “Don’t worry Mickey, will stabilize him. He’s an accomplished combat medic.”

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  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. The stress from the new angle had produced cracks in the concrete as it settled. 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 has 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 soft drinks dripped onto the floor. Mike hoped it wouldn’t have to come to it, but they might have to scavenge 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 f
rom 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 with the angle of this building tilted, the elevators probably aren’t going to work, 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’s 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 something like 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 trust 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.”

  Mike nodded, “Yeah, good idea. I’m more concerned with them accidently hurting us, than I’m about them hurting each other or themselves, though.”

  Mike grabbed a small pack that had a flashlight, his Sig .45 pistol with extra ammunition, and a bottle of water. It was his standard day bag when he moved around foreign countries, looking for the bad guys. When the team was extended at Area 19, Mike had talked to 1st Lieutenant Jondreau and Captain Dickerson, pointing out that the team had more weapons and munitions in the play room, and the pistols wouldn’t make any difference. He received permission to bring the weapons in when the team came to work. They weren’t able to wear them on t
heir belts, so they carried the pistols in their day bags. Personal electronics, like their e-readers, e-music players, and computers were still left in the rental cars.

  “I’m going to go check on Rob and Tom. Maybe they found something that will explain all of this.”

  He turned to Everett. “I’ll let you know if we find anything up there.”

  Everett nodded.

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