Food.
She was preaching to the kids that they were too thin and had to learn to eat other foods besides ramen noodles.
Bret didn’t want to be the one to break it to Grace that they had in storage 3200 packs of ramen noodles, if not more.
“Rob’s on the phone with the company now,” Virginia said. “Do we know why?”
“All I know is Colin ordered the rest of the warehouse emptied and the supplies will be en route to you by midnight.”
“Can we trust the drivers?”
“What do you mean?”
“Everything is going to shit; can we trust the drivers to get us our food and water, or at least the rest of it?”
“Absolutely,” Bret assured. “Bruce got the drivers, all fifteen of them. That should be the last of the trips.”
“Good. Good. Rob said it’ll take him forever to keep up with the stock that arrived.”
“At least we’re ahead of the game.”
“All that’s left is the personal effects.”
“Which we really don’t need if it came down to a rush move,” Bret said.
Virginia sighed out heavily. It carried over the phone. “I feel tense. I’m glad we decided to move everything here now instead of in September like originally planned.”
“It costs a lot to do so, but . . . I agree.”
“With this conference, and snakes, people are gonna panic. It’s only a matter of time before hoarding laws go into effect and bottled water will be ten bucks a bottle.”
“If we stick with the seventy or so people as planned, we’ll be good until the seedlings take hold.”
“Invites?” Virginia asked.
“Colin said not yet. They are ready to go. One mass email.”
“I guess we don’t want it to get out what we’re doing or . . .” she paused.
Over the phone Bret heard it, a series of beeps. “What’s that?”
“Shit. It’s my friend Lin sending me an emergency signal.”
“Lin? Why?”
“I think we have another flare.”
***
When the word gigaton was spoken by Darius, there was a gasp amongst the scientists, and even though the senator covered the microphone, it was very evident he didn’t understand. That simple word was more reaction than the complete silence following his mini-movie.
“What the heck is he talking about?” the senator asked.
A whisper in his ear, and the senator’s eyes widened.
He balked and Senator Harrington asked his advisor, “How much is that?
Immediately, papers shuffled as if every scientist in the world was trying to figure out the equation.
Darius leaned into the microphone, “That would be three trillion, nine-hundred sixty-nine million, nine hundred tons of TNT or about fourteen thousand 300 KT bombs. Which is about half the world’s arsenal.”
“You’re serious. Half the world’s arsenal? Do you realize how big of a hole that would cause?”
“They,” Darius corrected. “I want to set them off at opposite ends of the world. Now I realize that many of my colleagues would argue that such an explosion could ignite a fireball that would rip through the sky and burn out our atmosphere, but I don’t believe that to be the case. At most, the negative effects would be a nuclear winter for about 18 months brought on by debris in the atmosphere. We are experiencing a magnetic reversal; the devastation coming our way is nothing compared to that. The ice age to follow is nothing compared to that. We pick the lesser of the evils. Two years of cold with a little radiation.”
The senator mouthed the words “A little radiation.”
Darius continued. “Or a thousand years of frozen tundra. Which most of us wouldn’t or shouldn’t worry about, because we’d more than likely die before the ice hits.”
Senator Harrington cleared his throat. “We have all your research, figures, data, and information. Thank you, Professor Cobb.”
Darius turned to Colin, knowing Colin was next.
Colin raised his eyebrows and whispered to Darius as Darius gathered his things, “A little radiation.”
Darius shrugged then he and Mark stood.
“Professor Cobb,” Senator Harrington spoke up.
Darius paused. “Yes.”
“Although we are impressed with your research and presentation, in the future, to drive home a more effective case, you may want to try PowerPoint.”
Colin snickered.
Darius shot him a glance and then spoke. “Thank you, Senator. But I don’t think that’s a problem. Cave men have no need for PowerPoint.”
“What do you mean?”
“If we don’t do something, there is no technological future. Those who remain will revert to cavemen days. Drawings on the wall, sticks and stones, and uga-uga-uga-chug-a.”
The Senator choked out a cough. “Thank you.”
A nod and Darius turned to Colin who was staring. “You’re next. Good luck.”
“I can tell you, after the lack of PowerPoint and that uga-chugga comment,” Colin winked. “You set my stage.” He smirked. “Uga-chuga.”
Darius watched from his seat as he bit his nails, tiny bites so they lasted.
Colin had them. The attention of everyone in the room.
“High Frequency Active Aural Research Project,” Colin explained. “Or HAARP.” His PowerPoint display showed on the projection screen as he spoke. “Magnetic reversals are causing massive destruction. Can this be stopped? Although some of my colleagues believe it can be, I do not. The worst destruction will come from the final outcome. We as a people can bounce back from explosions, tidal waves, earthquakes, volcanoes and attacking Chihuahuas.…”
Every one chuckled.
Darius shook his head. It wasn’t even that funny.
“But man’s long-term survival through a millennium of cold, well, we’ll survive, but what will we become? We have the technology to prepare, unlike our predecessors. But still that final blow will wipe out most of man’s population. People build technology. We need to focus on stopping man’s extinction. Can it be? Yes. I believe we can stop the impending ice age.”
A flip of the slide showed an underwater volcano.
“Already we’ve had numerous eruptions underwater. This will not stop. It is estimated that, by the end of the reversal, the underwater volcanoes will have heated the oceans enough to evaporate nearly 22% of the water into the sky, which will come back down . . . dead of winter. Cold.”
Switch of the PowerPoint slides.
“Clouds will form. They will do so; I estimate about ten days before they join. When they join, the earth will be covered with one connected giant cloud. The entire earth will be covered with this cloud. I theorize, based on the body of waters, that there will be seven such major storms that will join. Seven eyes. Those areas hit by those will be areas hit the hardest. But make no mistake. Everything north of Virginia will take hundreds and hundreds of years to defrost. Below Virginia, we’ll see some balmy temperatures of about sixty degrees. Below the equator, warmth. But those higher temps will only occur after six months. People will flock south. But it will be six months in below-freezing temperatures. Food will run out, water.” Colin shrugged.
Colin paced,
“Back to the hardest hit areas. I predict snow; three feet an hour will fall until we’ll get about two hundred feet. Instead of high speed winds like a hurricane, we will have arctic blasts that will freeze everything instantly. You have two choices. Move everyone south, or end it as it begins. As I stated there will be seven major storms that will begin to form. That’s where the HAARP comes in. Located in Alaska, this research project, though not tested, theoretically is designed to shoot a gigawatt of energy into the atmosphere. I have spoken with the HAARP people and they believe that my theory will work. I propose that when these seven storms begin to form, we use the HAARP as a beam to break up each cloud. We’ll still have a storm, but nowhere near the intensity of the pending one. Plus, the HAAR
P will heat up the atmosphere enough to halt any global freezing.”
The PowerPoint ended.
Colin smiled. “Now, I’ll take any questions.”
Of course, he’d get questions, Darius figured, and he got them with enthusiasm. Sinking back in his chair, Darius had to admit that Colin’s idea was a good one.
He also had to admit that, after hearing Colin, the committee more than likely wouldn’t choose him.
In the midst of the question and answer session, Colin paused. He actually held up his hand to the committee and lifted his palm computer.
“Gentleman, we have a situation,” Colin said. “My people have figured out how to determine if another flare like the one that hit Paris will hit again.”
Senator Harrington leaned forward. “We did too. It is highly unlikely, our experts say.”
“Well then let’s hope your experts are right. Because mine have just informed me that two are on their way. They’ll arrive at earth in approximately 6 hours.”
“Two?” The senator asked. “Where?”
“Eastern Asia, mostly isolated.”
“And the other?”
Colin sighed out. “Los Angeles.”
30. News Out
August 6th
As with any other huge news event, the dual flares that careened into Earth, hours apart, was all there was on the news.
The events had just started taking commercial breaks.
The flare that hit Asia caused minimal damage and loss of life.
But the one that hit Los Angeles.…
It took eight hours to arrive.
Freeways were jammed.
Experts advised those who could not get out of down to get as far below as they could.
Problem was a lot of oxygen was removed from the air.
Hundreds of thousands died instantly. The bright side of it all were hundreds of thousands were still below ground.
Bret intently watched the news and the Moses Project that was beginning, where authorities were leading people out of the subways via the sewers.
They couldn’t even go near the surface; fires still raged and the temperature was unbearable.
Not like the heat wave wasn’t enough.
Virginia and Lin were tapped by the government to watch for more flares since they nailed it.
One thing was for sure. Not only did the flares change the face of LA and Asia, they changed the face of everything.
There was no doubt now that an extinction level event was to take place. The conference ended. The president declared martial law, and hoarding laws went into effect immediately.
There was a freeze on prices, and it was a crime to charge more. Details of the national survivor lottery would be told as it grew closer to the time, if it was needed. After all, they were going to try to stop the big event. What they’d attempt to do wasn’t released.
Bret was grateful they had finished gathering their supplies and stock. Winslow sent fifteen men to the complex for security and hired Bruce as head.
He and Bobby would head down there first thing the next morning.
“Bret?” Bruce called for her attention with a snap of his fingers.
Eyes trailing from the television, Bret summed up an apologetic look. “Sorry. They were giving a body count.”
Bruce reached out and shut off the television.
As if she were an addict and someone took away her drug, Bret immediately started worrying about what she was going to miss.
“I’m not gonna see you for a month,” Bruce said. “At least. When does Darius plan on making the trip?”
“They expect the underwater volcanoes to peak early September.”
“Storm?”
“Mid.” She shrugged. “But then it’ll be some time before the storm hits.”
“Do you think it will be an easy trip down south at that point?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Once people figure out an ice age is coming, that’s where they are gonna head. Down south.”
“Ok. But they haven’t released that information.”
“Officially. The internet is talking about it.”
“Bruce, I really believe that most people are gonna think this plan will work. If they use Darius’ plan . . . .”
“To blow up the world.”
“Yeah.”
“They aren’t gonna use Darius’ plan. There’s a lottery, you know. The government is . . .”
Bret sighed out. “What are you worried about? We’ll be going down south.”
“At some point, the government is gonna stop the migration.”
Bret snickered. “Don’t be silly. Why would they do that?”
“Where are they gonna put 400 million people? Because that’s the estimate Colin came up with that we would need to move south.”
“We have our own place to go. Winslow has a plane.…”
“What if air traffic is suspended?”
“Why are you concerned?”
“I think you should come down now,” Bruce said. “You and the kids. No one is heading south yet. It’s not only gonna get crazy now in this world, but the closer to the event the worse things are gonna get. I’d feel much better if you guys just came down now.”
‘You know we can’t. That would mean moving everything and losing days’ worth of work. At this point in the monitoring it can’t be afforded.”
“Then let me take the kids.”
Bret stared seriously at Bruce. “You’re really concerned.”
Bruce replied with a matching stare.
“As well as he should be,” Colin said upon entering the house.
Darius walked in behind him.
“Did you hear the news?” Colin asked. “I think they just announced it.”
“Aw,” Bret gasped out in a whine. “Something happened. He shut my TV off.” Bret reached for the television.
Bruce stopped her. “Why don’t you tell us what’s going on?”
Colin held out his hand for them to have a seat on the couch.
When they did, he spoke.
Darius took a seat next to Bret, kissing her on the cheek. “You okay?”
Bret nodded.
“We were held to confidentiality at the conference until they released the news,” Colin said. “But, the news of the impending ice age is out, and, as you know, so is the lottery information. They have also decided which plan they are going with. The scientific advisory board has picked the best defense against the impending ice age.”
Darius added. “Ice age. Not reversals.”
“Yes, Dare-Dare,” Colin said. “We are well aware they aren’t going with your plan.”
Bret spoke, “By the look on your face, they aren’t going with yours either?”
Colin shook his head. “No. Scheduled for September 9th. They are going to watch the rise in temperatures of the ocean. They estimate that’s a good time. And before the storm clouds form . . . they are going to use nuclear weapons to break off ice shelves, dumping the ice into the oceans in an attempt to cool the oceans and replenish the lost water.”
Bruce crinkled his face. “That’s a joke, right.”
“Nope.” Colin replied. “They think it’ll work.”
“But . . . you’ll get steam.”
With a smug smile, Colin gave a single nod. “And that, my friend, won’t stop the impending ice age; that will hurry it along. The sudden change in temperature will cause a drastic switch in currents and storms of gigantic proportions. Left naturally, we would have had time to plan. With this . . . the storms will form within hours and be full force in three days.
“The lottery is planned for September 3rd. The individuals selected to go will be detained immediately in a local facility. If the Tundra Plan, that’s what they are calling it, if it fails and as hypothetically I foresee, the storm clouds form, they will move the individuals to the GEP.”
“Detained immediately?” Bret asked. “How can they do that?”
&nbs
p; Colin handed Bret sheets of paper. “We were fortunate enough to get the lottery. It’s selective. One-third will be chosen by profession, one-third by age, one-third randomly. Scary part is, it doesn’t include families, it’s individuals and it’s mandatory.”
“Married couples too?” Bret questions.
“Being married is the only fortunate thing. If you are selected, and you are married, your spouse goes. The only exception to the mandatory rule is if you are selected and you have minor children. Since the children are not permitted or included, that is the only exception.”
Darius added. “But a child can be chosen and go without his parents.”
Colin correctly. “Only if the child is twelve years old or older. Younger children will not be drawn.”
Bruce held up his hand. “Hold on. They’re gonna separate families.”
“It’s for survival and assurance that the human race will go on,” Colin answered.
“But how can they mathematically calculate that?” Bruce asked. “They pick 900 thousand people on September 3rd. What if a large chunk is married?
“Oh, my friend,” Colin stated, “the lottery is done. We just only find out those selected on the 3rd. Trust me, they did their math. That is why they’ll be able to implement the immediate detaining of them. They’ll know who to get and where to get them from. And although we have to stay up north as long as possible, I think we have our leave date. The lottery and detaining will be all day. People are going to wait. I say we leave for Texas on the third, because after that, it’ll be a madhouse going south.”
“No,” Bruce turned sharp. “Bret, pack up now. Pack the kids up now. Let me take them with me before the insanity begins.”
“Why?” she asked.
“The lottery. The insanity.”
Bret waved out her hand. “What are the chances of being chosen? Slim. You go, get ready for us and the invitees. I’m sure many of them will come early.” She shifted down to the couch. “Darius, you’re being quiet. What do you think?”
After a shrug of his shoulders, Darius exhaled, and clapped his hands together once. “I think the plan to stop the ice age is stupid.”
Colin widened his eyes. “There you have it, an educated response.”
Torn Page 32
