Sedulity (Book One) Impact (20 page)

“The cat is out of the bag,” said the Captain when Kevin
walked back into the other dayroom to find the TV on mute. “One of my officers
showed the GNN news and the President’s address to the passengers and crew in
the theater. I don’t blame him and it’s only fair that everyone has access to
the facts. However, this adds a new human dynamic to the crisis aboard this
ship. People are even less predictable than the weather.”

Kevin had to agree and knew that even the weather was less
predictable most people wanted to believe. It only took him a moment to grasp
what the Captain was implying. “Are you worried about mutiny?”

“Worried? No,” Captain Krystos said with a sad smile. “But
this is the first time in all my years at sea that I have even considered the
possibility. You actually brought up the thought when you mentioned that most
of the passengers are from the USA and would prefer to return. You might
remember me suggesting the possibility that we could make it to the
Mediterranean Sea and my own homeland in Greece.  Then I thought about the
homelands of my crew. They are from dozens of countries across Europe, the
Americas and Asia, but especially Southeast Asia and the Philippines, which are
not that far away. Will they all want to go home, even if that home is no
longer there? What will they do when we decide on another destination?”

Kevin didn’t have an answer to those questions, but they
struck a chord. He certainly hoped to be able to go home, but had already seen
Los Angeles crippled by earthquakes and fully expected to see it swept away by
tsunamis in a few more hours. After this cruise ended he seriously doubted that
he would have a home or job to return to. Other passengers would be more
anxious to go home, especially the couples who had left children and
grandchildren behind while they escaped on an exotic vacation. But the crew? He
hadn’t given them much thought. Now he realized that they were the key to the
Sedulity
reaching any destination. Their job had been to cater to the needs of
pampered and paying guests. Current events were about to make that business
model obsolete. Kevin’s eyes widened as they met those of the Captain and
understood that he had realized the same thing.

Breaking eye contact with the Captain, Kevin noticed a new
member of the strategy group. A man of medium height and build with dark hair
and green eyes was observing Kevin from the couch. The Captain must have
noticed the two men eying each other because he said, “Mr. Summers, allow me to
introduce my Chief of Security, Mr. Elijah Cohn. Mr. Summers is the weatherman
I was telling you about, Elijah. He was the one who suggested testing the rain
for radioactivity.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Summers. You sure put a fright into
us, and I can’t say I enjoyed going out in a boiling downpour to get the
samples, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. The professor here was just
explaining that the levels of radiation we recorded in the rain are not especially
dangerous.”

“Yes, Kevin,” Farnsworth said. “His test results show ten or
twenty times normal background radiation, but that is still a long way from
harmful levels, at least in the short-term. I should expect the levels to fall
further once all of the ejecta is flushed out of the rain.”

“That’s good to know,” Kevin said, forcing a smile. His mind
was still fixed on the threat of mutiny and the Security Officer seemed like
someone to discuss it with. “It’s good to meet you too, Mr. Cohn. What are your
thoughts on the human dynamic that the Captain mentioned, if you don’t mind me
asking? I mean what should we do if some of the passengers or crew don’t agree
with the course the Captain decides on?”

Mr. Cohn looked askance at the Captain, received a nod, and
replied, “I can vouch for my security team and I know the Captain can count on
the loyalty of a majority of the crew, but the passengers are less predictable.
Most of them, along with most of the crew, will be looking to the Captain for
guidance and leadership. I’m sure they’ll find it too. Everyone is, or soon
will be, aware that only the Captain’s skill and good judgment have kept us
alive and afloat this far. I don’t foresee any challenge to his authority in
the near term.” He paused and exchanged glances with the Captain before
continuing.

“It’s the long-term that worries me. Once the extent of
global destruction becomes clear, everyone will adjust their priorities,
including their loyalties. Some people will be willing to do almost anything to
get home to friends and family. That will be true even, or especially, if they
fear that their homes have been destroyed. Obviously we will not set course for
ports that are no longer safe, or operational, so the people who still want to
go there will become problematic. Another concern is how to integrate the
passengers and crew, or do we simply put the passengers off at whatever port we
sail to? I can assure you that while the crew will probably remain loyal to the
ship and Captain, they will not be happy to cater to passengers once their pay
checks stop coming.”  

“Well said, Elijah,” the Captain agreed. “It is my duty to
protect and serve the passengers while ensuring the safety of the ship and her
crew. It will probably serve all those goals to set course for a port where the
passengers can disembark and arrange commercial flights home.”

“I wish it could be that simple,” Kevin replied. “Even if we
reach a surviving port near an international airport, I highly doubt there will
be any overseas flights departing in the foreseeable future. I’m predicting
massive weather events that will result in disruption of international travel
and trade. I’m afraid we are looking at the trigger for long-term climate
change too. It’s something that we should take into account before committing
to a destination.”

“What sort of climate change?” Mr. Cohn asked with keen
interest.

“It will get colder and in the beginning it will be wetter as
all of this vaporized seawater encircles the globe,” Kevin gestured at the rain
beating against the windows of the dayroom. “All this moisture will also
generate monster storms that must already be forming on both sides of the
equator. I’m afraid that when they spread out into the Northern and Southern
Hemispheres these storms will be big enough to disrupt any remaining
intercontinental air travel, as will all of the volcanic ash from the eruptions
being reported. If these conditions last as long as I think they could, then we
are looking at the beginning of the next Ice Age.”

Professor Farnsworth nodded sagely in sad agreement with
Kevin’s dire prediction and said, “I’m afraid he’s right. You will need to
factor that into your decision before setting a new course, Captain.”

“How do I factor that in?” asked the Captain. “I mean how
does it affect our options?”

“We’ll want to remain in the tropics, or subtropics, even
though we can expect fierce tropical storms,” Farnsworth suggested. “The
temperate zones may not remain so for long. However, a larger concern might be
the social conditions wherever we end up. Resources will be short almost
everywhere. Not many ports or nations will welcome thousands of extra mouths to
feed and I’m not sure how much of our personal wealth, stored digitally in bank
accounts thousands of miles away, will be available or useful either.”

“You don’t paint a pretty picture, do you?” Captain Krystos
said with a sigh. His thoughts were interrupted when Mr. Jennings, the Third
Officer, entered the dayroom with more news.

“Sorry to interrupt, Sir,” Jennings said in a way indicating
he wasn’t. “We were able to rig a shortwave antenna and made brief contact with
the Australian Navy. They gave me a satellite phone number and asked for our
Captain to call it as soon as possible.”

“Very well, Jennings,” Captain Krystos replied. “Make the
call and hand me the phone when you get through.” There was still strength of
command in his voice, but even a casual observer would detect the pressure and
fatigue he felt at that moment.

****

Amanda couldn’t sleep. She held Emily close until she was
sure her daughter was fast asleep and wished she could join her in slumber. She
couldn’t. Her world had literally been thrown upside down and back again that
night, with no end to the convulsions in sight.  After making certain that
Emily was sleeping soundly, Amanda reached for the television remote control
and turned on the news.

“…simply adds to the growing list of locations struck by
earthquakes today. Japanese television reports major damage in Tokyo and
surrounding areas. Rail service has been suspended and there is growing alarm
as it becomes clear that it will not be possible to evacuate everyone to higher
ground before the arrival of the tsunamis later today. Some residents say they
will evacuate up into high rise structures that have survived the earthquake,
hoping that they will also withstand the force of the monster waves. Experts
are withholding judgment on the wisdom of that decision, admitting only that it
might be better than being caught in a traffic jam.

“Closer to home, we have reestablished contact with Fox
Rusher at GNN headquarters in Los Angeles. Fox? We’re all glad that you made it
through that monster quake! What can you tell us about conditions there and your
experiences since we lost contact?”

“It was a truly terrifying experience. I thought the whole
building would collapse. It was quite traumatizing! We rode it out here in the
studio. I got under the anchor desk and I must say it reminded me of hiding
under a table in Baghdad when bombs started to fall during the first Gulf War.
But I can tell you that the current pandemonium out on the streets of Los
Angeles is worse than any war zone I ever covered. Our news helicopter was in
the air at the time and continues to transmit scenes of devastation across a
wide portion of Los Angeles and beyond. Southern California is a disaster zone
and, if what we are hearing about incoming tsunamis is accurate, this could be
a truly apocalyptic scenario, at least locally. Freeway overpasses have
collapsed. Buildings have fallen across roads and highways. It’s total gridlock
out there. Even the first responders are frozen in place. I have no idea how
millions of local residents will be able to evacuate to higher ground before the
waves arrive.”

“That is distressing news, Fox, especially for anyone listening
in Southern California. On the other hand, we understand that people still have
more than ten hours to evacuate before the tsunamis strike California. What
advice can you offer them?”

“From what we have seen so far, many of the roads and all of
the freeways are impassable. I would suggest using bicycles or simply walking
towards high ground, depending on where they are. There’s really no telling how
far inland these waves will go. Even if you live miles from the ocean, it would
be best to get to the highest ground possible in the next ten hours.”

“That’s good advice, Fox, but what are your plans for
evacuating the GNN studios?”

“I don’t think I should share too much about our personal
evacuation plans, but I can tell you that we’re already moving people out by helicopter.
We have set up a remote satellite link at the Griffith Observatory overlooking
the Los Angeles Basin and should be able to offer continuous news coverage from
there and our helicopter as this disaster unfolds.”

“I can’t say we are looking forward to that, Fox, but it is
certainly good to know that you have survived the earthquake and have an
evacuation plan in place. It’s also important to keep everyone informed about
even the worst news, so we all applaud your dedication to bringing us the news.

“Now we shift to more breaking news in the Pacific Northwest
where a series of earthquakes seem to have triggered volcanic activity in the
Cascade Mountains. Over the past hour scientists have recorded a minor eruption
on Mount Saint Helens and disturbing releases of high pressure gas on Mount
Reiner, not far from Seattle, Washington. Residents of that city are now caught
between two disaster warnings. They were first instructed to seek high ground
because of the tsunami warning. Now they are warned away from the mountains
near Mount Reiner due to the threat of volcanic activity. This looks like a
catch 22 situation. Local, state and federal authorities are scrambling to
redirect evacuation routes away from mountains that many residents saw as the
safest place to escape the incoming waves.”

Amanda couldn’t listen to any more of that. She clicked the
remote until another channel came in: The Discovery Channel. And what were they
showing? A program about an asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs millions of
years ago. It would have been an interesting source of trivia, if not for the
very real possibility that mankind was currently walking in the same footsteps.
Amanda watched a computer simulation showing the ancient asteroid unleashing
global devastation when it fell upon Central America and the Gulf of Mexico. Instead
of being interesting and instructional this program was suddenly prophetic and
terrifying. She watched in horrified fascination as the narrator described the
global effects of the ancient asteroid strike, from the blast wave to
earthquakes and tsunamis. She became even more fearful as the program explained
that the most deadly effect, the thing that really killed off the dinosaurs,
was the global ice age triggered by all the ash and water vapor thrown into the
atmosphere. Is that what lay in store for mankind? No wonder Kevin seemed worried
even after the ship survived the asteroid strike. Could it be possible that the
earthquakes and tsunamis sweeping around the Pacific Rim were only the
beginning of something far worse? Amanda turned off the television, but would
find no escape in sleep that night.