2021 (14 page)

The man dressed in plain clothes now pushed his way passed all the military men to stand
right at the front.

‘
Hello, General, my name’s Stuart Keys, I’m a professor at Oxford University in England’ he introduced himself politely.

‘That’s j
ust what we need, a God damn Brit!’ muttered the General quietly.

‘No, he’s an expert, a genius in fact’ smiled one of the American scientists as he shook the man’s hand. ‘He’s helped us solve many complex problems from missile guidance systems to
the latest space propulsion system at NASA’ he smiled.

‘Has he securit
y clearance to even be here? General O’Dowd inquired.

‘He’s level One!’ the head of the C
IA informed the General.

The General just huffed out his breath and smiled.

‘OK genius, Brit, what do you want to say?’
he asked.

‘I believe your electricity has somehow been neutralised so nothing electric will work i
n that area’ he suggested.

‘Yes
, but that doesn’t explain why people are going into the area and are not coming out again does it?’ suggested another scientist.

‘No
, that it doesn’t. That’s why we need to start thinking low-tech rather than hi-tech’ the Englishman now smiled.

‘Explain what you mea
n, man?’ suggested General Iram sitting just in front of him and turning around to look at him.

‘If my theory runs true, if we can travel through the air and not rely in a
ny way upon electricity we may be able to get into the area and back out again’ Stuart Keys smiled.

‘But that’s presuming you
don’t get stuck in there too?’ huffed General O’Dowd.

‘Well, if that’s true you won’t have to worry about me anymore will you
, General’ smiled the English Professor as many people at the meeting chuckled away quietly.

He
then continued.

‘I believe
there may have been a massive earth movement of some kind that has affected the area in a way we don’t yet understand. If this were true, it could well explain why people go in and never come out again’ he surmised.

‘They may have fa
llen, maybe into a large fissure in the Earth?’ suggested a scientist close by.

‘Exactly
’ nodded Professor Keys.

‘That could explain a lot’ pondered another sc
ientist as he scratched his chin in thought. ‘If the sudden opening up of a large crevice in the Earth’s surface has left dust in the air, people might just be unknowingly be stepping right through it to disaster.’

‘Like stepping off a cliff edge
, blindfold’ nodded another.

‘And b
y going for the low-tech solution as he says, through the air, we may be able to overcome this problem befalling all our investigators, and finally return with some new information instead’ suggested a rather attractive woman as everyone turned around to stare at her.

‘Sorry, I’m Jackie Mellows from Harvard University’ she explained.

The Englishman
, Stuart Keys immediately pointed at her.

‘Oh, I know
you
, excellent paper on the latest unmanned landing on Mars by the way’ he smiled.

‘If we can get back to the point’ uttered General O’Dowd raising his eyes to the ceiling.

‘Sorry’ the English professor apologised.

‘Could a large movement in the Earth’s crust in the California area
itself, not interfere with our electrical energy?’ pondered another scientist.

‘Then this may not be some clever cyber attack
on us from abroad after all?’ nodded another scientist.

‘Thank God for
that
!’ commented another ‘the last thing we want is to start World War Three, especially by mistake’ he uttered as everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

‘If I might interrupt
!’ huffed General O’Dowd ‘what exactly is this low tech solution then?’ he inquired.

Both professors
Keys and Professor Mellows went to speak simultaneously.

‘Ladies first!’ smiled Professor Keys.

‘Well I was thinking of something like a hot air balloon’ suggested Professor Mellows.

Just then though, a Capta
in from the American Air Force walked in and spoke to General O’Dowd.

‘Perhaps you should explain your findings to everyone here?’ suggested
the General, so the Air Force Captain explained;

‘One of our planes just entered the area to try and discover what is happening
inside there, and just before his engines and all his electrical systems cut out, he told us his flame had gone out first’ the Air Force Captain announced.

‘What the hell does
that
mean?’ asked General Iram now looking even more baffled.

‘He just said
, when he entered the air space over where the power cuts had taken place, the flames from his aircraft engines just ‘cut out’ and they wouldn’t re-ignite again’ explained the Air Force Captain.

‘Did he eject
safely?’ asked General Iram.

‘I’m afraid we don’t know
, we lost radio contact only seconds later’ the Air Force Captain admitted.

‘I’m afraid it
’s unlikely he did’ added the Englishman.

‘Wh
y?’ immediately asked General O’Dowd.

‘Well if his electrics failed and no flame would ignite
, then there is nothing left still working within the cockpit’ explained the English Professor quietly, realising the pilot would have fallen to his death as a result.

‘
But no flame, how do you explain
that
?’ questioned Professor Mellows.

‘I
can’t
!’ admitted the Englishman now shrugging his shoulders.

‘But if nothing ignites?’ pondered Professor Mellows.

‘Then the burner on the h
ot air balloon wouldn’t work over the area either’ Professor Keys added.

‘Do you two think you can
come up with something that would actually work, and get you in and out of there finally with some information?’ asked General O’Dowd.

‘Yes, we think so’ the two p
rofessors nodded.

‘Well get on
with it then!’ suggested the General as he went off to inform the President of what was happening.

With the room now full of purely scientists, engineers and technicians they
all began work on solving the problem.

‘What do
you think is really causing all this?’ asked another scientist.

‘I think the earthquake has opened up some kind of large fault line that is somehow affecting the magnetic poles and so
as a result all our electricity’ suggested Professor Mellows.

‘But why can’t people get out
?’ asked another man ‘do you really think it’s opened up a huge fissure in the earth?’

‘I reckon
if that is the case, which sounds quite probable’ answered Professor Keys ‘then there may also be a fault line that is easy to enter from this side, but nigh on impossible to climb out of that side’ he suggested.

‘Something like a new
Grand Canyon has just opened up’ nodded another.

‘That sounds quite feasible’ agreed another
scientist.

‘But does the area affected coincide with the Andreas Fault line?’ pondered another
scientist.

‘I don’t know, perhaps someone could check that?’ suggested Professor Mellows as several scientists immediately sat down and began tapping into their laptop
, head and hand held computers.

‘Anyway, le
t’s just get all our heads around this problem of getting us in and out of there for the time being’ suggested Professor Stuart Keys as they all sat around and began brain storming their various ideas.

‘I reckon we should enter the area from the San Diego side’ suggested one scientist ‘it’s nearer the equator so will give you more hot air and so more lift.’

‘Possibly
?’ they all nodded.

‘No, I reckon we should enter from where the tremor itself
originally emanated from’ suggested Stuart Keys ‘then we can possibly view the very source of the problem.’

‘Why would flame not ignite though?’ another scientist puzzled.

‘Maybe a gas from the fissure has pushed out all the oxygen?’ suggested Professor Mellows.

‘Then everyone could be dead? That would explain why nobody ever comes out of there
, they all get gassed to death the moment they enter the area’ suggested another scientist.

‘God
, I hope not, millions of people live in that huge area’ commented an engineer ‘also’ he added ‘going in there could be a suicide mission, if that’s the case.’

‘Possibly true, but I don’t see as
we really have any other choice’ shrugged Professor Keys.

‘What if the air is poisonous in there?’ suggested another scientist.

‘Then you could have
some simple early warning devices fitted to the very front of the craft and take gas masks in with you of course’ smiled another scientist.

‘
Excellent idea on the gas masks, but quite how would we power the warning devices without any electricity?’ smiled Stuart Keys.

‘I’m on it!’ nodded the scientist as he wen
t off to sit somewhere quiet where he could work on a solution.

‘You could always take a canary
in with you’ smiled Professor Mellows.

‘No, I’m anti-blood sports and a vegeta
rian’ smiled Professor Keys.

‘A vegetarian, i
n the land of the hamburger?’ she pondered.

‘I’m afraid so’ smiled Professor Keys. ‘Anyway,
let’s concentrate on this craft’ he suggested.

‘Yes, quite’ agreed Professor Mellows ‘we need some sort of aircraft that we can operate manually that neither relies upon engines or heating air.’

‘I think I may be able to help there!’
announced a man just moving forwards.

‘And you are?’ asked Professor Mellows.

‘
I’m Professor Edwards from NASA I have a workshop in Eugene. It’s just outside the dead area fortunately, because I’ve just spoken to my wife, son and daughter there on the phone’ he explained. ‘We constructed a powerful airship there to carry out scientific tests and check for signs of global warming around the North Pole.’

‘
An airship? Indeed, that sounds ideal’ nodded Professor Keys.

‘Yes
, but how long would it take to reach the area?’ asked Professor Mellows whilst looking down at a small computer in the palm of her hand. ‘By my estimation, even if you’re on the very edge of Eugene, it could still be over 40 miles away?’ she queried.

‘Good point’ nodded Professor Keys.

‘
No, it’s surprisingly powerful’ smiled the NASA scientist ‘I overtook my friend in his car once doing around 40MPH.’

‘Really?’ queried Professor Mellows as she smiled and nodded her head. ‘Yes, but we might not have that power once we reach the power cut area’ she pointed out.

‘I’m already working on that’ interrupted Professor Keys ‘we could rig up a simple peddle option
based on the modern clockwork engine. So provided the thing steers OK and can maintain its altitude we’ll be fine’ he smiled.

‘Clockwork engine?’ laughed a couple of the scientists sitting nearby.

‘You laugh, but I haven’t had to pay for any of my elec
tricity in either my home or laboratory for years because of it’ Stuart Keys smiled.

‘Really?’ they now all queried suddenly looking interested.

‘Right, we’d better start by getting you folks to Eugene
then’ smiled a Top Gun Pilot ‘we can get you part of the way to the Aircraft Carrier Hercules and then by Harrier Jump J
et from there. I hope you folks have a good head for speed, Professors, because we’re gonna get you there mighty fast!’ he laughed.

‘Great stuff, let’s get going then’ nodded Professor Mellows.

‘Hang on! I thought we couldn’t fly anywhere?’ queried Professor Keys
. ‘Didn’t the President order all planes to be grounded?’

‘No, i
t’s just over the ‘dead zone’ now, as we are now calling it’ explained the pilot ‘everywhere else is just fine’ he explained.

‘Well at least that’s something’ nodded Professor Edwards.

‘Yes, I’ve just watched a television announcement and they say all passenger flights are back on again, well, provided they don’t fly anywhere near California that is’ nodded a scientist after ch
ecking on his eye phone.

‘Yes,
even
we
have to divert our flight to over Mexico to avoid it’ smiled the Top Gun Pilot.

Professor Keys, Mellows and Edwards then
spoke to the other scientists and engineers on their way out and they agreed to pool any ideas they all had.

Then
, just as the Top Gun Pilot led the way out Professor Keys smiled.

‘W
e invented them you know?’ he stated cheerfully.

‘Invented what?’ asked the
American Air Force Pilot.

‘Harrier Jump Jets’ he answered.

‘You haven’t
got any now though have you’ smiled the Pilot.

‘No, we sold them all to you lot
donkey’s years ago, you’ve got the last few left now’ replied Professor Keys looking rather sad.

The remaining scientists and experts
agreed to keep racking their brains for new ideas, whilst the three Professors all now flew off to Eugene.