Tsunami Wake: Post Apocalyptic Thriller (Calm Act Book 4)

by Ginger Booth

  “Any word on the maid of honor?”

  Cam laughed. “I cannot divulge those details. Operational security, you know.”

  “I understand,” Amiri said. “Well, perhaps we should move on to plans.”

  I rolled my eyes at him. That was the purpose of this special broadcast, after all. Amiri smiled back at me.

  “Actually, Amiri, first I wanted a word on taxes,” Cam said. “This may be news to some of you in New England. The Hudson Constitution says the national tax rate is 25 percent of agricultural production. And nothing else. That’s a fixed budget. We will not increase taxes to carry out our plans.

  “That’s at the national level,” Cam clarified. “Taxes may also rise to a maximum of 25 percent at the local level. And there is some room to grow there. I think most communities are well below the limit.”

  “That’s significantly lower than taxes were in much of New England,” Amiri pointed out. “And New England was also taxed on industrial production.”

  “Correct,” Cam agreed. “And the Raj provides quite a lot of value in return for those taxes. Law and order, protection, and safe communities are paramount. Food storage and distribution. Trade deals. Transportation. Power. Internet. Housing and land are free, by assignment. Citizens are granted custody of a property, in exchange for what they do with it.”

  “Now we may need to do more with less,” Amiri suggested.

  “Exactly,” Cam said. “The tsunami left us with a lot of broken infrastructure to repair. We need to update port facilities along the coastline. Railroads, sometimes highways, need to be moved or raised. Re-establishing marshes is important, and some freshwater reservoirs. In some areas, especially Narragansett and Jersey, we need new housing.

  “Our coastal boats, especially Coast Guard and fishing vessels, took a beating. Meanwhile down in Virginia, the naval shipyards were destroyed. And the Navy will not rebuild there. Hudson can offer them secure shore facilities. Which greater Virginia can no longer do.”

  Virginia had fallen into complete and violent anarchy.

  “Wow, that’s a lot to do,” Amiri said.

  “It is,” Cam agreed. “And right now, Hudson does not have the national budget to complete these tasks. Only to begin them. But begin them we must. So we’ve asked coastal counties to come forward with proposals. Bids, if you will. To complete these projects, with local labor and tax support. To build new industries for their own areas.”

  “Now, are we also provisioning the Navy, out of our taxes?” Amiri asked.

  “Great question! No. We’re not. Greater Ohio and Ken–Tenn and Carolina will provide food. Neither will we provide fuel. Penn will supply that. Although, we are in discussions to merge Penn into Hudson, too.”

  “Really!” Amiri said. He looked surprised. He wasn’t, but feigning surprise was an easy way to underscore key points. “So soon after New England?”

  “That’s the sticking point,” Cam agreed. “Penn and Hudson want to join. But the New England merger is too new. On the other hand, we are working together with Penn on re-homing the Navy. And some other things. We’ll get back to that. But I would expect, yeah, within the next year, Penn will join our happy Hudson family.” Cam shot one of his best high-octane smiles toward the camera.

  “Now what is the inspiration for that?” Amiri asked.

  “Several things,” Cam said. “I guess the main thing is that Air Force General Seth Taibbi, governor-general of Penn, was never selected to run a super-state. He ousted General Tolliver for leading Penn down, um, let’s say non-optimal paths.”

  “An evil road,” Amiri suggested. “Attacking the Apple.”

  “That was the last straw,” Cam agreed. “The way that was envisioned to work by the Calm Act, was that after Penn surrendered, the victor would take over and rule. But that war was won by Taibbi on the inside, Hudson to the north and east, and Ohio to the south and west. There was no single victor.

  “We were busy with the Apple. Ohio has problems to the north and west. So both nations supported Taibbi. But as an Air Force general, commanding the Army forces of Penn, Taibbi hasn’t felt comfortable. And seeing what just happened to Virginia, with a navy officer in charge of land, brought that home even more sharply. Penn had skeletons – literally, millions of skeletons – to clean up after Tolliver. And we helped Taibbi with that.

  “Let’s just say, we’ve grown close. Just like New England and Hudson grew close, and worked together.”

  Amiri observed, “Hudson would become the biggest super-state in the ex-USA.”

  “Certainly in population,” Cam agreed. “I’m not sure about land area. And Ohio is growing, too. But yes. Hudson is becoming a sizable nation.”

  “And we didn’t do it by waging war,” Amiri said. “Well, we did fight Penn, but we didn’t add them by force. I guess Hudson sent some soldiers into New England as well. But no shots were fired. I find that remarkable.”

  Cam smiled and nodded.

  “Any plans to continue, say, southward?” Amiri probed.

  “No comment,” Cam said to cut that off. “I am looking forward to Navy provisions flowing through Hudson, though. In net, we won’t add to that food supply, but we will swap out. For instance, wheat flour coming in from greater Ohio, can swap out with potatoes and fruit and cheese and vegetables from Hudson. Similarly for provisions coming from Penn and Ken–Tenn, and maybe Carolina. That provides both the Navy and Hudson with a more varied diet.”

  “I’m sure we’d all enjoy that!” Amiri said. “Any chance of getting some rice in from Ark–Lou–Sippi?”

  “I’m afraid our best shot at rice is to repair the merchant marine.”

  “Good segue,” Amiri encouraged.

  “Wasn’t it? Yeah, so we plan on major ship-building yards. Those take some serious coastal space,” Cam pointed out. “And excellent rail to bring in steel. That comes from Pittsburgh and Ohio, as well as recycled steel industries in Hudson. And our coastline is pretty built up. But in Jersey and Narragansett, that buildup got knocked down by the tsunami. Congratulations to the Jersey shore and Narragansett. Our new shipbuilding yards.”

  “Oh, wow,” Amiri said, sitting forward. “We’re announcing contracts!”

  “We are,” Cam confirmed. “Connecticut! And Hampshire! Notice, Amiri, that the ‘New’ part of Hampshire is now optional, like Jersey. As Governor Cullen put it, our Hampshire is old enough.”

  Amiri chuckled. “Duly noted.”

  “Connecticut and Hampshire will focus on renewing coastal infrastructure. Especially the railroads, docks, and ports. New London, Connecticut, was a ship-building port all along. Its harbor was a bit shallow for the Navy, and they stuck to submarines. Well, sea level rise made the harbor deeper. And the whole of Long Island Sound is sheltered anchorage. So the Narragansett shipbuilding yards will cooperate with Connecticut’s. And Connecticut will likely focus more on building smaller boats, like subs and Coast Guard replacements.

  “In the short run, the Navy is lending us small boats to supplement our Coast Guard. Probably including Navy crews.

  “Hampshire and Boston, in addition to repairing coastal infrastructure, will focus on supporting merchant and fishing boats.

  “Boston, Apple, and Philadelphia are our big ports. Philadelphia will focus on fueling. The Apple will be the R&R destination and provisioning center.”

  “Sailors everywhere,” Amiri said, looking a little worried.

  Cam grinned. “Emmett has plans for wonderful spiritual retreats in the Apple for sailors on leave. Such a devout dude. Yeah, that will be supplemented by new red light districts in Jerseyborough and Manhattan.” They both laughed. “With shore housing. I believe naval family housing will be in Staten Island and Queens.”

  “Two followups,” Amiri said. “You said Emmett is planning this.”

  “Yes, Emmett MacLaren is lead Resco of the Apple again. Plus the suburbs west of the Hudson. Ash Margolis started the Calm as Resco of the Poughkeepsie area. He now has th
e eastern half of Upstate, now called Adirondacks. Ash will also supervise northern New England. Full Colonel Margolis, that is.”

  “Hm, my followups are multiplying,” Amiri said. “My second one was about the naval families. They made it out of Virginia OK?”

  “Most of them are sheltering in the fleet, yes. After the tsunami waves died back, there were multiple Marine expeditions into Virginia to extract naval dependents and shore personnel. The Ark 7 hospital ship and a cruise ship brought tens of thousands to Long Island. We’re hosting them temporarily. The ones stuck on ships are pretty desperate for dry land. We’ve had Admiral Halsey’s wife and daughter over for supper a couple times. Their ship is at anchor in the Sound. They’re awfully seasick.”

  “Seasick? Navy families?” Amiri grinned. “That must be embarrassing.”

  “Even the admiral could get seasick in this weather,” Cam countered. “Nonstop gale force winds make for rough seas.”

  “Oh, dear. That isn’t funny, is it. Are the ships safe at sea?”

  Cam shrugged. “Safe enough. Sailors are used to it. But the families, yeah, they’re desperate enough to disembark and camp in a tent if they have to. Emmett is expediting. And the navy’s specifications are relaxing somewhat, under pressure from the families.”

  “Emmett doesn’t have time to focus on his upcoming nuptials, does he.”

  Cam laughed. “He’ll show up at the altar on time. The other follow-up?”

  “Splitting Upstate?” Amiri prompted.

  “Upstate is huge,” Cam explained. “It was difficult for one lead Resco to supervise that large an area. Tony Nasser was on the road half the time. And what he needs to do now is double down on our power grid, not supervise Rescos.

  “You’ll notice that there have been no further power cuts, yes? But we have shut down all our old nuclear plants.”

  “All of them?” Amiri asked. “Already?”

  Cam nodded. “For now, we are relying on local renewable power, plus the power grid in from Canada and Penn. This is a stopgap. Tony Nasser’s new objective is a sort of Manhattan Project, a crash program to get fourth generation nuclear reactors up and running. The end goal is to supply power, completely carbon neutral, at about four times our current levels. So every household would have enough to power lights, computers, refrigerators, a couple fans when it’s hot. But mostly industry and agriculture would be fully powered, and necessary transportation and distribution.

  “We won’t get there overnight. But Tony’s leading a consortium. Hudson, Penn, Greater Ohio, Ken–Tenn, Carolina, Canada – we’re all committed to getting rid of the old water-cooled nuclear reactors and their risk of meltdown. And replacing that with safer reactors. These new reactors use the dangerous waste from the old nuclear facilities, and provide clean power.”

  “But that’s twenty or thirty years out, surely,” Amiri said.

  “No. You’re thinking nuclear fusion,” Cam replied. “That’s still waiting on a breakthrough. The fourth generation reactors, we’ve known how to do for fifty or seventy years. But the navy opted to develop water-cooled reactors instead. Because they were installed in ships. The commercial reactors we have now were based on those naval designs, instead of developing the safer designs for land.”

  “So why don’t we have these reactors already?”

  Cam sighed. “Because fossil fuels were artificially cheap. The main technical hurdle –”

  I directed a neck-slicing gesture to Cam and Amiri. We could record a special on the reactors some other day, and geek out to our heart’s delight. Today’s special needed to cover too much ground on national priorities.

  Cam took the hint. “Well, let’s not get bogged down in technical details. Tony hopes to have prototypes online within two years. And to reach our full power goals within five to ten years. For all members of the coalition, not just Hudson. The world, eventually.”

  Amiri had hand to mouth, and blinked. “That’s all? That’s all it would take? Our planet’s health. Billions of lives lost. And that’s all it would take to entirely stop using fossil fuels and dangerous nuclear? And still have all the power we need?”

  Cam nodded minutely. “It isn’t going to be easy. Tony has his work cut out for him. And a whole lot of other people besides. But yeah, essentially. What it required is the recognition that we must, and we can, and therefore we will. And we will.

  “And, by the way, Finger Lakes, western Upstate, this is your piece of the new national priorities. RIT in Rochester will spear-head the next-gen nuclear project. PIAGO Power, by the way.”

  “Put it away in good order?” Amiri asked.

  “Yup. Not only give ourselves the power we need to thrive, but as the fuel for that power, we clean up nuclear waste from the past. PIAGO.”

  “PIAGO,” Amiri repeated thoughtfully. “But that isn’t all we had for the inland districts.”

  “No,” Cam confirmed. “Good segue. We’re getting smooth at this, Amiri!”

  “Plenty of practice. And always a pleasure, Cam.”

  Cam nodded acknowledgment. “Inland. First, there are adjacent counties that will participate in the shoreline initiatives. For instance, Windham County in Connecticut, the southern half my old Resco district. Yay, Windham!” Cam gave Windham a little fist-bump. “Economically, they expect to participate in the New London shipyards. So they’re putting local tax-funded initiatives aside, and maxing out to help New London. Except for schools. Windham provides full elementary education. Go, Windham!”

  “Impressive,” Amiri conceded, with a smile.

  “Yeah, well, that’s pretty much all of the coastal districts accounted for. You can’t get very far inland and still be in Connecticut and Jersey and so forth. The main inland regions are Finger Lakes, Adirondacks, Berkshire, Vermont, and part of Hampshire.”

  Cam turned to the camera. “The cities in your districts will participate in the coastal rebuild, and PIAGO power, providing materials and equipment, clothes, and other industries. But your key role is in agriculture. Which still looks dicey for this year.

  “Hudson would like your areas – any agricultural areas – to focus on protected agriculture. This has an industrial aspect, too, with local manufacturing of greenhouse components and so forth. But mostly, we need your labor. Get more fields protected. You’ve noticed the wind. How could anyone miss it, right? We need windbreaks for open field agriculture. Smudge pots to protect orchards through late or early frosts. A whole lot more greenhouse agriculture. Backup irrigation systems if the rains fail. And systems for controlling runoff when the rains are excessive.

  “The food security of Hudson depends on you. We’re counting on you to feed our millions. This year continues to look highly challenging for agriculture. Hudson asks all agricultural communities to raise their tax rates to the maximum – 25 percent – immediately. And then decide how best to use that funding and local labor to weatherproof agriculture.”

  Amiri asked, “Are we talking about putting all of Hudson’s agriculture under glass?”

  “No,” Cam said. “Can’t be done. But there’s a lot that can be done, when you can’t afford losses. I’m not an agricultural expert. But we have those experts. They’re fanning out across Hudson now, to help Rescos and Cocos identify the best local opportunities for protecting crops.

  “For example, my district, Long Island. Surrounded by above-freezing ocean water. We’re comparatively frost-proof for Hudson. Our big risk is the winds, and hard rains. So we’re putting substantial acreage under glass – polycarbonate, really – and other strong field protection. We’ll capture rain run-off and hold it to water the fields. We’ll build wind-breaks and shelters for livestock. And we’ll still expand smudge pots in the orchards and vineyards.

  “Suburban farmers have the edge here,” Cam continued. “Much more intensive, high-labor, concentrated agriculture. Planning for this year, think it through. How to bring the frost-tender crops indoors. And plant less of those, so you can protect them. Grow
more of the hardier short-season crops. And make sure you have crop covers on hand. Suburban areas need to invest heavily in those pocket farms, make sure everyone can protect the smaller table crops.”

  “This is serious,” Amiri said. “What would happen to Hudson if, say, the apple crop failed?”

  “The apple crop is not going to fail,” Cam said. “Because we cannot let it fail. Likewise the potato crop. And livestock fodder. Corn and beans, and everything else.”

  “We must. And we can. Therefore we will,” Amiri echoed Cam’s earlier statement.

  “Just so,” Cam agreed. “And this kind of all-out national effort is why we have martial law. With complete order and control, we can. Without it, we could not.”

  And, I thought, this is why we still so desperately needed PR News to deliver good public morale and cooperation.

  Amiri said, “And then we could not afford the luxury of our millions of people, with enough to eat, able to watch our program on the Internet, and enjoy other fine things.”

  Cam smiled sadly. “We are fortunate, in Hudson. And under these plans, our nation will grow even more fortunate. Our lives are getting better all the time. I know, I say this stuff every time I speak with you, Amiri. But it’s true. We have a lot to be grateful for in Hudson.”

  “We do indeed,” Amiri said abstractedly. “Colonel, this seems almost as though the Raj is turning Hudson itself into an ark. The protected agriculture, the military ring. A vast ark.”

  Cam laughed. “Well, perhaps. But we invited everyone into our ark. Everyone in Hudson, anyway.”

  “Lieutenant Colonel Cam Cameron, lead Resco of Long Island,” Amiri said. “Thank you again, for sharing the inner workings of the Raj with us. I guess the next time I see you will be at the big wedding.”

  “You’re very welcome. I will see you at the wedding. We won’t be on camera, but maybe I’ll see you at the Army–UConn Huskies game, too, Amiri?”