Hank blinked in surprise when a low flying single engine plane zipped into view of the camera on the news helicopter in what appeared to be a near-mid-air-collision. The helicopter was retreating and climbing over the city, but the small plane continued across the bay and was swatted like a gnat on the face of the wave rolling over Coronado Island. Hank’s mouth fell open as large ships tied to the docks, or grounded in San Diego Bay, were lifted aloft and tossed like toothpicks to be carried miles inland by the rampaging torrent of destruction. He let out his own gasp when the skyscrapers of downtown San Diego were swallowed whole. The wall of water did not stop there. It washed away the airport, catching up to and consuming the last airliner screaming down the runway seconds too late. The water swept up and over Point Loma, obliterating the Navy submarine base and hillside homes before crashing into Sunset Cliffs. Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, Mission Bay, and the rest of the coastline disappeared within a few seconds. The waves swept away Old Town, Mission San Diego, and countless homes. The water rushed up into Balboa Park and overran the San Diego Zoo too, pouring down to fill Mission Valley and roar inland, engulfing the football stadium in a churning wall that was more mud and debris than water by that point. The destruction spread up the coast and pressed inland, through inhabited valleys and canyons, to spill across mesas covered with suburban sprawl.
Hank knew he had been witness to thousands of people dying, perhaps hundreds of thousands. It was enough to turn even his hardened stomach and he fought down bile climbing the back of his throat. Others in the theater had less control of themselves. Hank heard them retching. He looked away from the scenes unfolding on television long enough to glance at Romy and Fred. She was cowering in her seat, obviously horrified. Fred hid his face in his hands, refusing to look at the catastrophe unfolding and mumbling “No, no, no…” to himself. The ship’s officer, Lieutenant Reiner, stood stock still next to the stage and stared up at the screen. He gave no sign of his personal reaction to the destruction. Hank wasn’t sure if that was a sign of strength, or shock and numbness.
*****
Kevin wanted to close his eyes and turn away from the television, but found himself glued to the horrific events unfolding so close to his home across of the ocean. The destruction of San Diego was surreal. He and Amanda had taken little Emily to Sea World two months ago. Now that attraction and the city surrounding it had been wiped off the face of the Earth. He wondered briefly if any of the marine life in Sea World had survived the waves, then shook his head at the impossibility and inconsequential nature of the thought. What were the lives of a few fish and marine mammals compared to a million human inhabitants of San Diego? It’s strange how the human mind tries to distract itself from the worst tragedies by thinking up lesser aspects of them.
“God help them,” Professor Farnsworth said from the couch, and Kevin knew he was focused on the human tragedy they were witnessing, not the fish. The old man closed his eyes and mumbled a prayer.
“It’s unbelievable,” Captain Krystos muttered. “All those poor people…” His voice trailed-off into softly spoken Greek and he lowered his head in prayer.
Watching the two older men with him, Kevin wished that he had a better personal relationship with God. His scientific approach to everything had separated him from much of a spiritual life. He still went to church on special occasions and encouraged Amanda to take Emily to Sunday school, but begged off regular church attendance himself due to his busy schedule. Today he tried to pray for the lives of everyone in the path of destruction, but knew that they were doomed. Then, watching the old professor and seasoned sailor praying in the face of total annihilation, it dawned on Kevin that they were not praying for millions of lives to be spared. They were praying for millions of lost souls to be saved. The difference was all at once striking and profound. It would weigh on Kevin’s thoughts heavily in the coming hours of catastrophe, shaping his own silent payers accordingly.
*****
On television the horror continued to unfold as helicopters chased the waves up the coastline of San Diego County. La Jolla, Del Mar, Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Oceanside were all wiped away over the next few minutes. The GNN affiliated helicopter turned east before crossing into Camp Pendleton airspace and followed the debris choked water inland as far as San Marcos and parts of Escondido where the wall of mud swept across I-15, consuming the traffic jam of vehicles full of people who had tried to escape inland, only to be stymied by earthquake damage to bridges and overpasses. When the helicopter turned back south to survey the aftermath of the tsunami impact, GNN switched to a live feed from Fox Rusher in Los Angeles.
“Fox? Do you have a monitor there? Did you see what happened in San Diego?”
“Yes. I saw it. Absolutely horrible. I don’t have words to describe how terrible it was. And it’s headed our way. God help anyone who’s still close to the coast of Southern California.”
“What can you tell us about the evacuation in Los Angeles, Fox? Has there been any progress since your last report?”
“The streets below are still crowded with people trying to make their way inland. Most of them are on foot. But we’ve seen a lot of people on motorcycles and bicycles too. We also saw several bulldozers clearing earthquake debris and abandoned vehicles off roads and highways. Convoys of trucks and buses followed them inland. I hope they make it far enough, or high enough into the hills.
“Fires are raging out of control across the city, but helicopter water drops have kept most of them from spreading too far into the Hollywood hills. An endless stream of people continue climbing into these hills, as well as the Santa Monica Mountains west of Los Angeles. I hope that many of them can get high enough to reach safety, but after what we just saw happen in San Diego? Well, I never imagined it could be that bad.”
“You spoke of evacuations by helicopter earlier, Fox. How has that worked out?”
“Military, police, and some civilian helicopters are doing the best they can, picking people up from rooftops, though it’s impossible to save even a tiny fraction of the people who were trapped in the city. However, we’ve seen many more large airplanes arriving and departing in the past few hours, including large military transports. They’ve been landing to pick people up at LAX and Santa Monica airport, as well as Long Beach Airport and John Wayne Airport in Orange County. I’m sad to report that we were asked not to reveal those operations publicly. The military were afraid that the airports would be overrun by desperate mobs if the media broadcast that news.”
“That’s horrible! You agreed to a news blackout?”
“When they explained it to us, I had to agree with their logic. People close to those airports figured out what was happening on their own and showed up in larger numbers than the planes could handle anyway. Since those airports are all close to the coastline, it would have been much worse if more people had turned around and headed there, instead of trying to make their own way inland to higher ground. It’s far too late to matter now, of course. Anyone at those airports who hasn’t already boarded one of those planes is doomed. The tsunamis will arrive in a matter of minutes now.”
“Yes, Fox, we just received a report that the waves have hit the San Onofre nuclear power plant, south of San Clemente. Both reactors were shut down after the earthquake and experts believe the containment domes will survive the tsunami too. We’ll have to wait for confirmation of that. At the moment the tsunamis are striking Laguna Beach and approaching the coastal population centers of Orange County. We’re cutting now to a live view from our GNN helicopter flying above Newport Beach.”
*****
By this time Armando, unable to sleep after his conversation with Phong, had turned on the TV in his cabin. It was a small flat screen mounted on the wall above his bunk and had escaped damage by flooding. He watched the annihilation of Southern California with mounting shock and disbelief. He had heard about the destruction spreading across the Pacific, but had been too busy and later too injured to watch the news last night,
aside from hearing the warning that the Philippines were in peril. This was much different. Armando was stunned at the demise of the land of dreams, which was how he had always thought of America.
The live GNN broadcast from the helicopter showed waves crashing high into the air against the hills above Laguna Beach. The camera was aimed down the coastline and the picture zoomed out as the tsunami raced towards its vantage point. The tsunami rolled north with unstoppable force. Water along the beaches receded as the waves approached, revealing sand, rock formations, and stranded marine life, only to be swallowed seconds later by monstrous walls of whitewater.
The helicopter climbed to get higher than the unbelievable waves. The view panned as the pilot turned to distance his aircraft from the wall of water and follow it up the coast. It took mere seconds for Newport Harbor to be consumed, turning multi-million dollar yachts and waterfront homes into twigs that merged with trees, cars, and any movable object to form a churning mass that flowed inland, roaring through lagoons and canyons, rolling over small hills, to sweep across John Wayne Airport, wipe out Costa Mesa, and continue far past the 405 Freeway, deep into Irvine. The carnage was shocking, but it was only a snapshot of the destruction making its way up the California coastline.
Armando had spent several days ashore in California during port calls. He recognized landmarks in San Diego and he’d been heartbroken to see them destroyed a few minutes ago. He wasn’t familiar with Orange County, but could see that it must have been an affluent and heavily populated portion of the coast. It would only be a few more minutes until the tsunamis reached Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles, where the Sedulity had begun this fateful voyage two weeks ago. It wouldn’t be quite as bad as seeing his home and loved ones in the Philippines destroyed, but seeing a place he had visited so recently get obliterated was certain to drive the finality of the catastrophe home in its own way. Tears were already flowing freely over his singed eyelashes to soak into the bandages covering his blistered cheeks while the apocalypse unfolded.
*****
“As our helicopter follows the path of destruction up the coastline of Southern California, people around the world join us in grief and prayer. Although we have seen unprecedented destruction in other countries around the Pacific Rim since the asteroid strike yesterday, nothing yet has compared to this in the minds of many viewers. American cities populated by millions of people, many of whom were injured or immobilized by the massive earthquakes earlier today, are now being washed away by titanic waves. It’s hard to imagine anyone close to the coast surviving this disaster,” the GNN anchorman in Washington said.
“The waves are closing in on Long Beach and Los Angeles now, with little hope for anyone or anything standing in the danger zone. But I have received a little bit of good news to report from here in Washington. According to a White House press release, the president is alive and in stable condition after suffering what appears to be a minor stroke. He has been transported to Walter Reed Hospital. The Vice-President has been informed of the situation. He is reportedly in contact with all branches of government and the military, directing rescue and recovery efforts from an undisclosed secure location. There is speculation that he is airborne aboard the 747 we normally think of as Air Force One, although in this case it would be referred to as Air Force Two. It has been rumored that the vice president was flying to the West Coast to oversee rescue and recovery efforts in the wake of this catastrophic disaster. We’ll keep you updated as that situation develops.
“In the meantime, the world is focused on the cataclysm unfolding around the Pacific Rim. We continue now with our live coverage of the devastation in Southern California and once again warn our viewers that this is live and uncut footage that everyone will find extremely disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.”
*****
Hank choked on a swig of Jack when he heard that. Viewer discretion advised? You can say that again! Hank had no doubt that millions of viewers around the world were shitting their pants and being traumatized by what they saw unfold on television. Even Hank was feeling ill from seeing the wholesale destruction of entire cities, and realizing that millions of people had been unable to escape in time. He could only imagine the reaction of families sitting in front of the TV in their living rooms. Hank wasn’t sure if his own imagination could grasp the impact of these televised events on the viewing public.
Most of the kids outside of the danger zone would probably think they were watching a disaster movie, considering all the special effects employed by Hollywood these days. How was this any different from all the apocalyptic movies and video games that they consumed regularly? Yet how would they respond to the horrified reactions of their parents? Could children comprehend that they were actually watching millions of people get killed on live television? Could their parents? Hank found himself wondering if all the death and violence depicted in movies, on television, and in video games might have helped to prepare the population to absorb this apocalyptic destruction numbly. Then he thought of the looting, rioting, and violent assaults shown in Los Angeles. It was obvious that those in the path of destruction were anything but calm. They were running scared. Many of them had lost their minds and were in full panic mode. Hank didn’t blame them.
The live feed on GNN from a helicopter over Orange County was horrifyingly awesome. Wealthy beach communities were obliterated as the tsunamis charged inland without pause, and still the waves moved relentlessly north along the coastline. The helicopter was not fast enough to keep up with the breaking line of colossal waves and soon the perspective shifted from ahead of the tsunamis, to looking straight down at the monster, then panning to follow the wake of destruction moving inland. It showed incredible images of buses and other large vehicles, along with large sections of buildings, being tossed into the air or bobbing briefly in the churning torrent that followed the leading edge of the massive walls of water before being sucked under.
GNN coverage shifted to the view from another helicopter over Long Beach. The mountainous waves swept over Seal Beach and swallowed the Port of Long Beach breakwaters without chewing. Moments later the walls of water engulfed the city and swept across Terminal Island. The largest shipping port along the West Coast of North America was utterly destroyed in a matter of seconds. However, this televised scene would become one of the most famous in history for another reason, a seemingly miraculous event that unfolded in the midst of total disaster.
The churning mountain of whitewater had consumed and destroyed all of the ships and yachts remaining in port. All but one: the Queen Mary, a venerable old ocean liner converted to a floating hotel, had been permanently berthed inside of a breakwater at the mouth of the LA River with her bow pointed upstream. This was intended to be her final resting place, but the tsunami had something else in store for her.
The wave enveloped the one thousand foot ocean liner, eliciting gasps from hundreds of thousands among the millions of viewers. An icon had been destroyed, or had it? A moment later the Old Lady bobbed up near the front of the rampaging tsunami, already moving far up the Los Angeles River at high speed. While the wave wiped out the cities of Long Beach, San Pedro, and Wilmington, the RMS Queen Mary rode the tempest like a surfboard straight up the LA River. The helicopter cameraman must have been as captivated by the sight as the rest of the world, since he zoomed in and focused on the legendary ship as it cruised over communities that were being utterly destroyed by the waves. Riding the sweet spot of the massive tsunami, the Queen Mary zoomed up the 710 Freeway, traveling well over the posted speed limit, in the vanguard of a nine hundred foot high moving mountain of water. The majestic liner narrowly missed ramming the doomed Harbor UCLA hospital and barreled on across the 405 Freeway. It seemed miraculous that a derelict, engineless, and rudderless vessel of that size could ride a mountainous wave so perfectly, so majestically, even if her smokestacks had been torn away by the impact. It was a thing of beauty, unless one looked down at the base of the wave she rode and sa
w the homes, apartment buildings, businesses, even moving vehicles and tiny panicked people being swallowed by this unimaginable juggernaut.
“Holy shit!” Hank exclaimed, far from the only person to use that expression at that moment. Up on the bridge Kevin said, “Oh my God!” Captain Krystos said the same thing in Greek. Millions of viewers around the world made similar reference to their preferred deity in a wide variety of languages. Many others were far too shocked to say anything at all. This was a television moment that surpassed all others in terms of audience and impact. It had Pulitzer written all over it, if such a thing would exist after this cataclysm.
*****
“That’s amazing! Fox, are you seeing this? Is that a cruise ship riding the wave towards downtown Los Angeles?”
“Yes, I see it on the monitor here. I think that’s the old Queen Mary! We can also see the wave itself in the distance now, from our vantage point here at the Griffith Observatory. My Lord! It’s almost as high as this mountain! It looks like a fast moving fog bank, and it’s bearing down on the city. I can’t imagine how much death and destruction is taking place down there!”
“We’re going to a split screen now, Fox. The view on the left is from our helicopter, and on the right we have your live location shot from the observatory. Can you describe what you’re seeing, Fox?”
The television images spoke for themselves. The helicopter continued to follow the leading edge of the tsunami as it tore through the suburbs, towards the city, with the Queen Mary carried along atop it. The view from Mount Hollywood panned from south to west, showing other parts of the wave smashing into the coast further north.
“It’s incredible!” Fox Rusher exclaimed. “Totally incredible! The wave broke over the Palos Verdes Peninsula and I think it just wiped out LAX. Santa Monica and West LA have been hit hard. God help anyone down there! There goes GNN Headquarters in Westwood. It’s horrible! My God! This thing is gigantic! It might even reach the top of this mountain!”
Sedulity 2: Aftershock (Sedulity Saga) Page 13
