Time Storm Shockwave (4 page)

“He knows the plan
—” she shrugged “—and he’s an adult.”

“What are you suggesting?” Mark
asked seriously.

“Wait a couple of hours
—” she took a deep breath “—if he’s not back, leave.”

Mark was about to protest, but he thought about it
, and the idea of a few days without Stewart’s constant complaints sounded like an excellent idea. There were plenty of small resorts for him to stay in, and Mark was certain that Stewart had plenty of money with him.

“Maybe you’re right
.”

She opened her mouth suddenly and then said,
“I’m sorry. I forgot—I need to go somewhere quickly before we leave. Don’t worry, I won’t be long.”

“W
hat? I thought you didn’t even know anyone here?”

She didn’t answer for a moment, and then a little awkwardly answered, “It’s personal.”

“Sure, alright, I didn’t mean to be nosy—”
probably a female thing
“—can you do me a favor while you are gone? I have to get the gear ready.”

“Yes, what is it
?”

Mark quickly scribbled a note for Stewart explaining his plans, “Will you give this to the guy at the harbor office? Stewart will no doubt go there when he sees the boat missing.”

“No problem.” She smiled sweetly and left.

When
she got to her destination, she inspected the area to make sure that she was not being watched, and then walked into a small building.

On her way back, she opened the note Mark had given her, and read it. She paused for only a moment
, before crushing the letter in her hand and throwing it into a trash can.

***

It took two days to reach their destination. By the time they had arrived, it was too late in the evening to begin diving. Mark had to admit, the days had been more pleasant without Stewart‘s objections.
Ashlyn was friendly and fun, as well as highly intelligent and beautiful.

Mark had an unusually high IQ
, which made it hard to find people who were interesting to talk with. She was clearly intelligent, and didn’t pretend to be helpless as many women did when they were with him. He hadn’t had the chance to get to know her well, mostly because of Stewart’s continued hostility. Mark was looking forward to finally having the opportunity.

The sun was just setting with perfect weather, so they ate dinner up on the flybridge. Several dolphins had been following the boat for a while and began jumping near their anchored vessel. They took pictures of them until they ran entirely out of light, then they watched the stars come out one by one.

The absolute darkness of the nearly moonless night made the stars look like diamonds in the sky. The boat was rocking gently from the small swells of the calm sea. The Milky Way was extremely bright, and they counted the shooting stars.

“Wow, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Ashlyn sounded like a child on Christmas morning.

“It’s a meteor shower.”

“It’s so incredibly beautiful,” Ashlyn
said, mesmerized by the scene.

“This isn’t actually a
very large shower. There’s going to be one in December that will be huge in comparison to this one, and if I remember right, the moon will only be a sliver. No light to get in the way.”

“I hope I can watch it with you,” her smile was infectious, and he found himself hoping that she would still be there too.

He had been avoiding relationships for the last few years, but that night he realized how enjoyable it was to be with someone, to be with her.

“Do you get along well with your parents?”
he asked.

Ashlyn didn’t
immediately answer, and then she spoke softly, “I never knew my parents. I was raised in a kind of group home. My grandfather took me with him for that one year that I told you about, and then he died.”

“You don’t have any other family?”

She shook her head; a pained expression masked her face.

He didn’t say anything more. A
lthough he had never been close to his parents, at least he had known them.

She changed the subject to him.
“How about you, do you have any family?” She stood up and walked over to the edge of the water.

He followed her quietly and then he said,
“I’m an only child, and my parents are both deceased.”

“Deceased
—” she looked up at him sadly “—that sounds so clinical. Were you close?”

He
turned to face her and didn’t speak for a moment before admitting, “I didn’t think so, but I guess I took what I had for granted. I always wished that my dad had spent more time with me.”

Mark
looked up at the stars. “My father always told me that he would take me deep-sea fishing someday, but we never got past ice-fishing; definitely not the same. I suppose that’s why I bought this boat. I’ve never actually considered that, but I think that I’m—” he shook his head “—I really don’t know.”

When he didn’t say anything more, she almost whispered, “I miss my grandfather. Being on this boat, with you
…it makes me feel …safe I guess. I suppose that sounds silly.”

“You think you sound silly, after what I just said? I’m glad I make you feel that way. I feel safe with you too.”
He stepped a little closer.

“No one has ever said that to me before
—” she met his eyes “—I’ll do my best not to let you down.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by that,” he conceded.

Her eyes drifted away for a moment, and then she looked down at her hands. “Life is just complicated. I’m not sure what I mean either.”

He
r statement clarified nothing, but he didn’t care. When she looked into his eyes, he leaned over and kissed her.

***

Stewart sat watching television in his room
—
I can’t believe they left without me
—he had only been trying to protect Mark, and look where it was getting him. Stewart didn’t even know where they had been planning to go, so guessing his return date was virtually impossible. He swore under his breath as he went to take a shower. Every day he liked Ashlyn less.

The television continued droning on in the background. A newscaster
named Bob was speaking to an official NASA scientist, Dr. Aristae, about the ever-increasing solar activity. He was warning the public about bad space weather.

“So, anyone planning a visit to Mars should maybe take the next flight or a
t least take a large umbrella,” the newscaster proclaimed.

The
scientist continued on, “We are now projecting a geomagnetic storm of a magnitude not seen since 1859. That storm destroyed much of the telegraph system of the time and melted or shorted out even some of the undersea cables.”

“
Then it’s certainly a good thing that we don’t use the telegraph anymore,” said Bob.

Dr. Aristae continued,
“We may face widespread power and communication outages within the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours.”

“Okay then—” the newscaster interjected “—better have those video cameras running. Apparently, the Aurora Borealis may be visible all the way to Cuba.

The news switched to the other commentator, “I’m with you, Bob. Next up, new evidence has linked the increase of cancer to the lack of breast-feeding. Don’t turn the channel; we will be back in a moment.” The station went to commercial.

***

Mark and Ashlyn
had been out for five days now, the dives yielding no measurable results whatsoever. However, there were strange things happening. The most amazing was the Aurora Borealis, which showed brilliantly in the evening sky.

It wouldn’t be an unusual sight
if they were in Alaska or in Siberia, maybe even in Canada, but they were in the Caribbean. What they were seeing was nigh on impossible. Mark was watching the ever-increasing geo-magnetic activity but hadn’t been able to watch the news, unable to maintain any decent reception with his satellite television.

Here they were, sitting peacefully on a boat in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. Their compass was working just
fine while the sky above was full of lights creating a beautiful dance. There were no swirling clouds full of light or bizarre, unexplainable events, just an incredibly brilliant lightshow, courtesy of the closest star’s solar flares.

Ashlyn leaned back against Mark as they contemplated the breathtaking sight. His arms had already been around her, but now he held her more tightly.

“Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?” she asked.

When he didn’t answer, she t
urned her head to look back up at him.

He
gazed deeply into her eyes and then smiled, “Never.”

A knowing
smile curved the side of her mouth as she turned again to the sky, with its mesmerizing, brilliantly undulating hues.

***

Deep within the Earth’s core, spinning pools of magma were appearing with more and more frequency, their contrary flow expelling enormous amounts of electromagnetic
power. Far out in the Atlantic Ocean an explosive stream of electromagnetic energy shot up through the deep water into the atmosphere. The area through which it had ascended began to spin, a greenish glow matching a shimmering, swirling mist above. Almost instantly, a bank of storm clouds formed, twisting like an inverted cyclone high into the night sky. Strange lights waved in and out of odd formations that would have caused some concern if anyone had been there to watch.

Chapter 4

Integrity can be neither lost nor concealed nor faked

nor quenched, nor artificially come by nor outlived, nor, I believe, in the

long
run, denied. — Eudora Welty

~

In the morning, not having found anything that they had been looking for, they made the decision to head back to Bimini Island to pick up Stewart. Because there were only two of them, they fit nicely at the helm of the flybridge.

It was seventy-five degrees, the sun was shining, and there was a slight breeze. It was October twenty-ninth, and soon it would be a little too chilly for doing much in the way of diving.

Ashlyn had her eyes closed with her head leaning back. Mark thought she was asleep until she asked, “Will you stop
diving when the weather isn’t so perfect next month?”

“
That all depends on whether I find anything interesting enough to make it worth it. Generally I stay out of cold water—” he shivered “—I grew up in Wisconsin.”

She raised her eyebrows.
“You’re a long way from home.”

“Have you ever been there?”
he asked.

“No,” she
stated as if it were an appalling thought.

He laughed softly, “Don’t like the cold either, huh?”

She met his eyes and shook her head vehemently.

“I can take you ice fishing if you ever change your mind,” he teased.

She cringed, and then she turned back to look at the pristine, more importantly, warm, water, “No thank you.”

“
Was it just pleasure diving in Hawaii?”

“
Hawaii?—” She furrowed her brow momentarily “—oh …yeah.”

He eyed her
strangely. “You don’t remember where you grew up?”

An odd
expression crossed her face, “It’s complicated.”

He
waited for more—puzzled, but when she didn’t look at him, he dropped it.

“I can‘t get over the color of the water, it’s so …blue. That really doesn’t describe it. You know what I mean, right?” she asked him.

“
It’s that different from Hawaii?” He asked, surprised.

“Haven’t you been there?”

“No.” He shook his head
.

“Why in the world haven’t you? Y
ou own a yacht; you live on it for heaven’s sake—” she continued passionately “—I would have traveled across the entire world by now.”

“I guess I’ve been preoccupied with the Triangle since I got it. Besides
—” he shrugged “—what is so great about Hawaii?”

“Hey, if you don’t know, telling you wouldn’t make a difference
—” she rolled her eyes “—how long have you been here?”

“Five years
.”

She
stared out at the endless water before them. “You’ve been looking for this evidence for that long?”

“No,
I just hung out in the Bahamas for the first four years. I guess I was trying to find myself—” he paused “—I didn’t believe in any of the stories back then.”

Her interest piqued.
“What changed your mind?”

He cleared his throat.
“A friend of mine told me about an experience he had here, and I trust him. I had to find out why.”

She nodded her understanding.
“Okay …so you just decided to go out and solve one of the biggest mysteries in the world?” 

He was silent,
and then said, “Actually, at first, I think I was just hoping that the sea would just swallow me up somehow.”

He didn’t say anything more, and she turned to face him, “What do you mean?”

“I went through a bad divorce, and then my parents died. After that, I felt as if I had no purpose in life. I guess, I just thought, for a while anyway, I …” he left his sentence hanging.

She waited to see if he would continue.
When he didn’t, she changed the subject, “Do you have any kids?”

“I did,” he said
quietly.

For a while, t
hey sat in an awkward silence. Finally, she asked, “Do you think Stewart will still be angry?”

“I have no idea. I haven’t known him that long
, but we are friends. I’m really surprised by his behavior—” he looked away sadly “—I really don’t understand why he just walked off that way.”

“Maybe
—” she said hesitantly “—his reaction wasn’t that strange.”

“Why do say that?”
He stared out at the water without speaking.

“Well
—” she took a deep breath and averted her eyes “—we didn’t make it very easy for him, no warning or anything.”

When he finally spoke, his tone held strong regret, “I suppose you are right. I guess I thought his jealous act was a little funny, but I
would probably have been angry too. I am surprised that you always seem to be defending him though. I don’t think he has been very nice to you.”

“People have their reasons.
Please try not to be angry with him for that—” she said quietly “—I’m sure he was genuinely trying to protect you.”

He stared at her, confused. “Why would he ever think he needed to protect me from you?”

She broke the lock he had on her eyes, and turned to away.

When she didn’t answer, he prompted, “Ashlyn?”

“Don’t worry; I’m sure things will be fine after we get back.”

“I hope so—” he
clinched his jaw “—I truly …hope so.

***

On the second day of their return trip, when they were still about seventy-five miles from their destination, storm clouds began to gather.

“So much for the clear skies—” Ashlyn looked up “—do you think we’ll have bad weather?” It was almost dark.

“Maybe some rain but
…” he drifted off as he studied the sky. The clouds were oddly shaped and seemed to be swirling a bit. He glanced down at the instruments and then at Ashlyn. “We may get lucky after all,” he grinned at her.

“
What? I’m confused.”

“Look at the compass.
”

She focused on the spinn
ing needle, and then she understood.

“
Honestly—” she shook her head “—the rest of the world freaks out when their instruments stop working, and you are excited. I know this is what you are researching and all, but are you sure we are safe?”

“Well
…,” he shrugged, but didn’t finish.

“Oh great—” she punched him in the arm playfully “—you are supposed to lie to me if you don’t know.”

He cocked his head and thought about it for a minute. “There have been literally hundreds of reported missing boats and planes. Maybe we will disappear—” he made a ghostly sound “—Ooh ooh!”

“You are mocking me, sir,” she accused him.

“Me? I’m hurt—” he laughed “—you said that if I didn’t know that I should just lie to you.”

She rolled her eyes, “Ha ha—wrong kind of lie.
”

He dropped the anchor.
“I’ve been looking for a year and have found some anomalous electromagnetic readings in a few places, but this is the first time that I, myself, have actually had any kind of weird experience out here.”

He examined
her; she was beginning to look ill.
I can’t believe that she isn’t excited about this
—sometimes he had trouble understanding people.

“We will be okay
,” he promised.

He pulled her close to him and she didn’t resist. Suddenly, there was an
odd, electric feeling in the air.

Mark
let go of her gently. “I’ve got to get some readings.”

He
ran down the stairs quickly and started flipping switches on recording devices. When he came back up, she was in the pilothouse.

“Are you alright,” he asked, just as all the power shut off.

It was fully dark now, partly from the lateness of the evening, and partly from the weird clouds. Neither one of them said anything; they just stood there.

She
followed him up the stairs to the flybridge. The stars were entirely obscured.

“Can we go back inside?”
she asked quietly.

“Are you scared?”
his voice was gentle.

“Sorry—” she nodded and buried her face against his chest “—I am a little, but …I’m kind of cold too.”

There was a slight chill in the air—it hadn’t been there before.

“Come on.
”

He
took her hand as they made their way down the darkened staircase; first to the pilothouse, then down to the aft deck, and then into the salon. He had a flashlight, but apparently, the batteries were dead. He fumbled in the darkness for another one, which he knew would be in the cabinet under the desk with the telephone.

“Here it is
—” his relief turned to confusion “—It’s dead too.”

“What could cause this?”
she asked, worried.

“
An EMP maybe—” he didn’t sound convinced “—I doubt that would explain the batteries though.”

“I’m not sure what tha
t is,” she said honestly.

It had become so dark that he
could not see her at all even though she was standing next to him. The blackness around them was becoming almost palpable.

“An EMP is an electromagnetic pulse
—” he explained “—it happens after nuclear blasts and other things like that.”

Alarmed, she asked, “
Do you think someone set off a nuclear bomb?”

He regretted his
example choice, and quickly replied, “No, that’s only one thing that can cause it. A sudden change in the magnetic field around the Earth, like from a solar flare, can cause things like this but—” he paused “—I don’t think that this is related to that. I know that the Aurora the other night was because of space weather, still …,” he trailed off.

Perplexed, she asked,
“Why don’t you think they are related.”

He was contemplative
for a while, and then he said, “People have been experiencing weird events here throughout recorded history. Solar flares couldn’t be that specific. The solar wind they create would hit a huge part of the Earth, not a specific spot in the ocean repeatedly.”

“What else do you think it could be?”

“There are some odd magnetic rock formations in the area, which I have measured, but if they were the cause then it seems like the weird experiences people had would always happen in consistent locations. There must be some kind of random flux in the magnetosphere.”

“You’re kind of losing me,”
she apologized.

“Sorry, I read a report a while back
on the NASA Web site about a tare opening up in the magnetic field around the Earth. They only picked it up because of an orbiting satellite, which was in the right place at the right time. I really can’t remember the details, except that it was something that they had previously believed to be impossible. There are many things about electromagnetism and gravity that we don’t understand.”

“I guess all that fancy equipment won’t be of any use in recording this.”

“Yeah, I just hope my stuff isn’t fried. If it is some kind of an EMP, it could ruin everything electrical. All the circuits on my ship are set up with specialized EMP protective devices, which should, in theory, automatically reboot after about thirty minutes, but we won’t know until we get power back.”

“What if
—” a worried expression crossed her face “—we don’t?”

“Don’t what?”
he asked, confused.

“Get power back,”
she asked, the fear in her voice more pronounced now.

“I’m sure we will be fine
—” he put his arm around her and guided her out to the aft deck “—just because we don’t understand what’s happening doesn’t mean it’s unnatural.” They sat down on the sofa, and he held her closely.

“I’m not sure how you can say that
—” she leaned her forehead against his neck “—this seems really unnatural to me.”

The darkness around them began to turn into a mist with a faint greenish glow, and even though the boat was anchored, it felt as if they were
slowly beginning to spin.

“People used to think the Earth was flat
—” he smiled “—things that appear to be unnatural are really only natural occurrences that we don’t understand yet.”

“I suppose that could be. Do you see that weird green fog or am I just
…?” She didn’t finish her statement because even while she was asking, it grew brighter.

“Let’s go up on the
flybridge”—he looked excited—“so we can see if it’s all around us.”

“
I think you’re crazy. I want to get out of here. Right now”—she shook her head—“I’m wishing this boat had sails instead of motors.”