Insolation

by Bradlyn Wilson

  Finally, she was able to crawl into bed and cuddle up beside Pax. She brought the grey scale blankets up to her nose and stared at the flat ceiling with its indented lights. The tears ran down her face and before she knew it she was sobbing uncontrollably.

  She was hysterical. Her whole body was shaking. She could barely breathe. Her breaths came in as short shallow gasps. Her tears soaked the pillow under her head as she cried looking above her.

  Pax pulled her close, wrapping his arms tightly around her. He turned her to face him, “Are you all right?” He was both concerned and loving. She blinked at him in the dark through her tears.

  “The world is going to end; there is nothing we can do about it.”

  “You will find something you can do,” Pax pulled Hadley into his chest and she continued to sob.

  “I— just— don’t— know— what— to— do—” she chocked.

  “Is there anything that would help you figure it out?” he whispered into her ear. The hairs on her neck stood up as he said it. He ran his hand softly across the back of her head.

  “I honestly don’t know Pax. I wish I had my memories.”

  “Me too,” Pax sighed loudly.

  They both lay in bed; though Hadley was exhausted she couldn’t seem to get her brain to shut off. She was overly anxious and even though she knew she was struggling with anxiety she couldn’t seem to change anything. The thought of the whole world being in her hands made her heart race and her palms sweaty. She tried to soothe herself and steady her breathing but it didn’t seem to be any use.

  “I have to go,” she whispered into Pax’s ear, he was already back asleep and just rolled over onto his side. She slowly got up out of the low bed and threw on his sweater, which he had carelessly thrown onto the hard floor.

  She pulled the soft fabric close around her and walked out in bare feet. Her muscles pulled her to the only place she had been able to think lately.

  The lab.

  The storm was coming; she knew it was. She could tell by the neon sky and the billowing clouds surrounding the city slowly. She stared out the window in the broken lab she kept using as a refuge and saw the darkening clouds, even against the midnight sky.

  Every day the sun seemed to get a bit dampened. Disappearing slowly. When it would return no one could predict. Hadley had spent days trying to find a solution to the storm and she had come to the conclusion nothing could be done. It had to run its course. They didn’t even really have an idea what was in store for the planet. It was all mindless predictions; the smallest factor could change everything.

  Her breath was causing condensation on the window and as she stood here she knew all Hemmer was thinking about was destroying the RFE’s and if he did there would be less resistance. He was trying to find all their locations. Hadley had already disclosed the location of the RFE’s in this city. They had worked so hard to disguise any exact locations. They were going to die and it was her fault. She felt sick about it, she wished in a dark piece of her soul she had never been driven to find out any answers.

  The door clicked behind her and she turned around to find Hemmer staring questionably at her. “Hi Hadley, I’m confused as to why you’re here.”

  “And where else should I be?”

  “I thought you would be helping Kane or the team. Trying to find a way to survive this. It’s a group effort Hadley.”

  Hadley rolled her eyes. “We can only run for so long. The world is going into the worst ice age in human history. Also we needed some sleep; I just wish my brain could shut off.” She sneered sarcastically and shrugged, turning back to the window.

  She hoped he would get the hint that she wanted to be left alone to wallow in her own self-pity. But he didn’t, instead he came and stood beside her looking out over the colourful sky.

  His wrinkled hands rested on the chilly window sill. He flexed his fingers and sighed. “You realize all I’ve ever wanted is peace right? To have the earth united.”

  “Sure.” Hadley didn’t look at him even though she could feel his eyes on the side of her head.

  “The RFE’s are like a cancer, a slow growing cancer. One that you can live with for a long time but it will eventually kill you, as all cancers do.” He whispered the last part.

  “If that’s what you believe” Why was he telling me this?

  “You have always acted the martyr. But really what is one life or a thousand or a hundred thousand for the sake of the planet and the human race?” His voice strained the last sentence.

  Hadley looked at him and crinkled her nose. She tucked her hands under her armpits defensively, “You aren’t god. You can’t play god. How can you decide who lives and who dies?”

  Hemmer sighed; he was tired of fighting. “It’s my responsibility to act in God’s best interest. He doesn’t want the planet destroyed. Those who believe in God know he put us here for a reason and it wasn’t to die out.”

  “So what do you plan to do? We have all failed at coming up with anything—” Hadley blurted out.

  “No. You told me what to do once upon a time.”

  “I— what?”

  “As of tomorrow we are shutting off all power to non-government buildings. The storm will freeze everyone else out. Natural selection. The weak get weaker and the strong get stronger. It saves our natural resources; it saves our lives.” He stated calmly. He had no problem sacrificing the lives of thousands for that of the few. The few he believed were more worthy of living.

  Before Hadley realized exactly what she was doing she slapped him. She hit him harder than she had ever hit anyone. Her whole hand stung so much she had to cradle it in the other. A small trickle of blood oozed from the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away with the back of his hand but it continued bleeding.

  “I am saving your life. And in the end I just need one thing from you, one little thing locked away in that miraculous brain of yours. If we could get rid of you, that would be great. Because every time, your conscience gets in the way of what has to be done.” He wiped his mouth on his hand again. Hadley was reeling so she slapped him again, using her other hand this time. He just laughed in her face, sickeningly happy. He kept laughing as he walked out of the room.

  It had been no more than five minutes since Hemmer had sauntered out. Hadley was still staring at the place where she had the last glimpse of him. He had won, or at least he had acted like he had won, won something she was still unsure of. She had been trapped in her own head for months. She had no idea what was true anymore. She had no idea what side to be on. What were either side fighting for?

  He’s going to kill them all. She panicked, working out options in her head. It seemed like seconds before she was in the Earth lab. Hadley pulled up file after file after file.

  Every time the files referenced RFE’s she was blocked out. The computer errored and shut down. She was now on her tenth computer.

  She slammed her hand on the current key board she was sitting at. She stared at the background of her desktop and watched the bubbles float back and forth. Then the computer screen blinked to life. She jumped back.

  Lines of code started to scribble across the screen. Then an answer box popped up. Above the box was the question: What is your last name? Puzzled she typed in Evans without thinking.

  YES! It blinked before the box reappeared with the question: Whose clothes did you borrow at the compound? Hadley typed in Maggie, getting more confused but started to get an idea of who she was talking to. Again it blinked YES! with a yellow happy face. The box appeared again this time with the question: Finally, who does Saul want dead? With a grin and a slight laugh, Hadley typed in the name. Kane.

  The screen immediately started typing code again. Hadley watched as the lines and lines of white text raced across a black background. She watched it though it made her eyes go fuzzy. Finally, it stopped with a message: Press enter. She clicked enter.

  A video box popped up. There sat Elijah. He waved with a friendly demeanor.

  �
��Hi,” she whispered into the mic. “Long time no talk.”

  “Oh hello, Hadley! I didn’t think this would actually work.”

  “How is it working?” she asked suspiciously.

  “We have been trying to hack in for months. We just needed an outlet in. Then we figured it was you going from computer to computer.”

  “And you apparently found one?” Her lack of computer skills gave her no insight into how they had gotten in.

  “Yes.” Elijah was ecstatic, “We—”

  He was cut off by Saul pushing into the frame. Elijah’s protests were loud in the back ground, his accent cutting through the air.

  “Hi,” Hadley said.

  “Hey,” he replied.

  They looked into each other’s eyes for a moment. Neither knew what to say to the other.

  “I don’t know how long we have until they find this connection!” Elijah whined louder somewhere in the background.

  “Fine, fine Elijah!” Saul waved a hand to the side.

  “Saul they are going to freeze you out!” Hadley blabbed. Verbal word vomit.

  “What?” He was confused.

  “The storm. It’s going to lead to a full ice age.”

  “We know— we have similar systems to you, and have been monitoring it slowly” Saul replied grimly.

  “They are shutting off power, everywhere that isn’t government run!” Hadley exclaimed.

  “We have back up supplies, we knew this might be coming—” Saul said grimly.

  “For how long?”

  “Hopefully long enough.” He exhaled and changed his tone, “Now for what we need from you.”

  “Ok?” Hadley was surprised.

  “Hemmer has a file. A file that would implicate him in everything that has happened. We need it, because if we survive long enough to adapt to the cold we need ammunition to take him down. Unfortunately, we know he saw you coming back that night. He will be after you and if we lose you this time I’m not sure he will let you live. You have to get the file and get to us. But be careful. And like you said the storm is coming. Soon you won’t have a way out of the complex. Soon you will be trapped until who knows when.”

  “How do I get the file?”

  “Meet me in the lab at sunset. You know the one. The one you’re always sitting in. I will give you a jump drive and you need to plug it into Hemmer’s computer.”

  The screen went blank. Hadley stared at it in awe. Her mind racing. She was sure he’d been watching her.

  Hadley turned off the computer and she spun around on her chair to wheel herself over to the earth simulator. She turned it on and watched the major cyclone grow and grow.

  She flipped on a holographic screen in front of the earth. She wanted to know what the stats were currently on the storm. She looked as the white letters appeared in thin air in front of her. Her mouth gaped open as she realized exactly what she was reading.

  Oceanic temperature had increased less than previously thought, and was sitting at a 9.8C increase since 2000. But the winds were stronger than anyone thought possible, max wind speed was 563kph. Hadley looked at the data, it had long been known that for each degree of temperature change in the oceans, the max wind speed of hurricanes and cyclones would increase by 5%. Hadley didn’t think winds of that magnitude were even physically possible, but as she was staring at the data, which told her there would only be destruction in its path. Nothing could survive the speed and severity of the storm that was coming straight for everyone she knew.

  She reached up and turned the globe. She put the tips of all her fingers in the middle of Canada. She opened her hand and the area got bigger. The zoomed in area of Canada was getting pelted with snow. She watched as the differentiated temperature fronts converged into another storm system and the temperatures started to drop.

  She zoomed out and zoomed in on Australia. An island a fraction of the size it once was. The west coast was completely wiped out. It seemed like the eastern cities had survived to a certain extent. They were experiencing a frigid draught.

  Hadley sighed and zoomed out. She brushed her hand through the cyclone and watched it reset itself to the terror that it actually was. The clouds ever growing.

  She was mesmerized by looking at the globe and before she knew it, it was almost noon. She checked the clock and realized she was going to be late for a meeting.

  She walked to the conference room quickly, trying to avoid running, for fear people would start judging her, and luckily walked in just as a buzzer rang noon. Everyone was still fluttering about talking, and she sighed in relief as she walked towards her seat.

  Vanya waved at Hadley as she walked in but immediately went back to talking to Jeremiah. Hadley tasted vomit in the back of her throat when she saw him.

  A table had been set up with lunch at the back table. Hadley grabbed a plate and started to mindlessly put food on it including a sandwich and some grapes. She popped one in her mouth and crunched down on it, tasting the genetically modified food.

  Hadley carefully put a carrot between her teeth and poured water in a glass. With her food in hand and her coinet open under her arm she went to a chair in the corner at the back. Completely opposite of the place she normally sat at meetings, which was front and center. She unlocked her tablet and started to eat her food. Subconsciously she noticed everyone sitting down and the quiet fell over the room.

  Hemmer got up and went to the podium. “Hi everyone. I’m sorry to have interrupted your work and your lunch, though we have provided you with some great food at the back. As you all know there is a storm coming. We have approximately three days. The storm has grown exponentially Kane has informed me. So this afternoon we have to set up a rescue plan for our prime areas and people around this continent. I have talked to both the Continental European district and the Asia Pacific districts of our organization. They are already working to rescue their outposts. I know everyone has been working hard on the survival plan.”

  A map of the continents of North and South America popped up behind him and he continued after a pause, “So let’s get started people.”

  He clicked a button and seven red dots showed up on the screen. Another ten showed up that were green.

  “Okay so the seven here,” he said motioning towards the northern ones that were highlighted in red on the map, “are the ones we need to make sure are going to have the supplies or be evacuated back here. The other ten are going to be fine.”

  Hadley rolled a grape between her two hands, ignoring the fact that Hemmer was planning to kill hundreds of thousands of people. It made her blood boil. She thought of all the other helpless people they were never going to save. But this was not the right time to stick her nose into it. She knew what Saul needed her to do and she couldn’t draw any more attention. She lost interest completely as they decided which locations would be evacuated and which would have supplies dropped.

  Jeremiah raised his hand, “I would like to volunteer to go to locations 1 through 4 and evacuate over the next three days with my team before the storm hits. It shouldn’t take more than twenty-four hours of flight time to go between them.”

  Hadley looked at the map and saw that we were going to the North Eastern Region, right into the oncoming eye of the storm. Of course Jeremiah felt the need to volunteer our team for the death trap.

  Hemmer smiled, “All right. Now we need supplies dropped.”

  Pax raised his hand. “I’ll lead a group to go to 5 through 8.” He had picked Central America.

  Jinni spoke up next, “I’ll lead my group to the rest.” Jinni was the only female leader and probably a better leader than both Jeremiah and Pax, but she got the easy locations in South America because Pax and Jeremiah had taken the ‘difficult’ ones.

  Even though every human was equal by 2100 in every possible way by the Earth Equality Act, some men had a sense of patriarchy passed down from the men in their families for generations.

  “All right! All three of you need to get your teams
together and strategize. You leave tomorrow morning at 0200 hours. It’s not ideal to leave at night but it will get us to most destinations by sunrise,” Hemmer said dismissively. That was all he had to say. An hour later and no one had questioned what was happening to everyone else living in those areas.

  Hadley sat in her chair watching everyone leave. Hemmer, Kane and the rest of the leaders had left through another entrance. Everyone else was chatting and picking groups as they left. Hadley noticed Pax glance at her as he slowly gathered his things.

  Soon they were the only two in the room. Pax stood still staring at her from the front of the room. She sat in her chair at the back. She got up and walked towards him. They never lost eye contact. Hadley was in the aisle and he put a chair between them. The smooth chair was like a steel wall. Though small it meant so much more.

  “Pax—” she whispered gently.

  “I love you.” He said it simply as he spun a pen between his fingers.

  “I love you too.” Hadley was confused internally.

  “We haven’t talked in days; you’ve been avoiding me.”

  “That’s not true.”

  Pax gave her a look, slightly moving the chair out of the way. Hadley took a step down getting closer to him. He just backed up, and raised his hands.

  “Had, we’ll talk after the missions,” he said decisively.

  Hadley just nodded; she knew he had made up his mind. Then he walked up the stairs and out the door.

  Hadley turned and watched him go, and then Jinni walked in. She leaned against the wall and looked at Hadley.

  “Always up to the same tricks Had.”

  “Excuse me?!” Hadley was startled.

  “Everyone cares about Pax; way more than we care about you. You’re always running off and making trouble.” Hadley just blinked at her and she continued, “We get it though, we always have, but he acts like a puppy around you. He’s so blindly in love with you, to his core.”

  “I know,” Hadley said defensively.

  Jinni nodded, a comforting look going across her face. “Just tell me one thing please,” she asked.