Voyage (Powerless Nation #2) (5 page)

All eyes turned to the sky. It was a hazy blue with puffy white clouds on the horizon. Not the least bit threatening.

“It probably happened a long way away from us. Too far to notice unless you were looking in the exact right spot at the exact right moment. Miles above us, however, a nuclear bomb exploded and released a bunch of gamma rays. When the gamma rays hit the air molecules, they knocked loose a whole lot of electrons. Think of them as a flood of electrons getting pushed towards us by the blast.” 

Mr. Stoddard was on a roll now. He spoke quickly, motioning with his hands and running his fingers through his hair so it stood on end.

“This flood of electrons came hurtling toward the Earth’s magnetic field. There, the electrons turned into a fluctuating electrical current, which in turn induced a huge, moving magnetic field, coming straight at us.”

Several of the students crouched down, and Sena couldn’t blame them. She wanted to hide underneath something too.

“Do we need to worry about radioactive fallout?” 

Sena recognized the man who’d spoken as the one that had asked Lydia about casualties. A woman stood next to him and Sena noticed they were holding hands. The woman met Sena's eyes and gave her a small smile. 

Sena looked away quickly and saw that a lot of passengers were gathered around listening to Mr. Stoddard’s lecture. It was probably the most attentive class he’d ever had.

“I don’t think so,” answered Mr. Stoddard. “The blast was probably hundreds of miles away from us.”

“What about that field thing that’s coming towards us?” asked Paris. “When will it get here? Shouldn’t we get inside?” 

“It’s already come and gone,” said the teacher. “That field was what we call an Electro-Magnetic Pulse—an EMP. When it reached the surface of the Earth, it created huge electrical currents in anything that would conduct electricity. Let’s take an example - everyone get your phones out.” Students reached into pockets and pulled out an array of smartphones. 

“Do any of them work?” asked Mr. Stoddard.

“They’re all fried, man,” said a boy with shaggy hair and headphones still in his ears. It was habit, probably. There obviously wasn’t any music playing.

“That’s right. When the electrical pulse encountered your phones, it flooded them with so much current they were instantly fried, as Jake so eloquently shared.”

“Why did it catch the ship on fire though?” asked Ms. Friedel.

“I don’t know exactly. My guess is that the current overwhelmed the ship’s electrical infrastructure and traveled to the generator where it caused an explosion. Ship engines have always been susceptible to fire.”

“And that’s what happened to the plane?” asked Kade.

“That’s my guess,” said Mr. Stoddard. The corners of his mouth turned down and he looked troubled. “The EMP probably disabled their engines and they couldn’t get them started again.”

The woman Sena noticed earlier spoke up now. “Can something like this happen by accident or be explained by natural phenomena? I’ve heard solar flares can cause problems similar to this.”

“Solar flares might explain the power outage, though it’s not likely. The sun is so far away from us it takes days for the effects of solar storms to be felt on Earth. We would have known it was coming. Additionally, a solar storm doesn’t affect phones and small electronics, and it certainly wouldn’t knock an airplane out of the sky. No, I’m afraid this is something much more sinister.”

“What do you mean?” asked Sena.

“This was an act of war,” Mr. Stoddard stated firmly. “The United States is under attack.”

CHAPTER FIVE

A
MAN
IN
A
crew uniform approached Mr. Stoddard. “Excuse me, Sir? If you don’t mind coming with me, I think Captain Brady needs to hear this.”

Mr. Stoddard stepped down from the bench. “Will you be okay, Nancy?”

Ms. Friedel nodded. “I’ll manage.”

Though Lydia had said they weren’t evacuating, a lot of the people at the muster station stayed where they were, reluctant to leave.

Sena didn’t have anywhere else to go. Her cabin was too dark and smoky, the deck was crowded, and though it was well past lunchtime, there was no food. She wished she’d thought to bring some snacks for the trip, or at least some water, but with buffets available all day every day, food had been the last thing she thought she’d have to worry about.

Standing at the rail, she scanned the horizon for the lifeboat with the captain and crew. The floating wreckage of the plane caught her eye and she thought about where the plane might have been heading. A sudden realization caused her knees to weaken, and she clutched the rail of the ship for support. Her foster family had been in a plane on their way to California.

Could the effects of the EMP extend that far? She thought of the terror they would have experienced when the plane’s engines stopped in midair and the plane began to lose altitude. People would have been screaming and crying. Tears filled her eyes at the thought of Jamie and Tessa in that situation. They were so little. She hadn’t formed a close bond with her foster parents, though she loved their kids.

She also wondered what had happened to her real mom. Was she still in prison? She’d been due for parole. Had she made it out before the attack? Sena couldn’t help but think of the terror and danger of being in a place like that and suddenly having the power go off. 

Please let her be somewhere safe.

Tears dripped down her cheeks and off the end of her chin, insignificant drops of saltwater mingling with the vast ocean below.

She heard laughter behind her and wiped her eyes, then turned to look. Her roommates were flirting with a group of guys. Kade was there too. 

How could they joke around when the world was ending?

Kade laughed at someone’s joke and for a moment their eyes met. His face was smiling while his eyes were sad. Maybe people dealt with things in different ways. Sena turned back to look at the ocean. She stood there a long time, alone.

A sailor announced that dinner was being served on the Lido, so Sena and a group of students headed straight over, dismayed with what they found. The line for the food stretched all the way from the Grand Buffet, circled the pool area, and then curved back past the other side of the buffet and clear to the opposite end of the ship.

“I’m going to go see what the deal is,” said Kade. He was gone a while, and when he came back he shrugged. “It’s only sandwiches, I’m sure the line will move fast.”

That had been over two hours ago.

Charity and Paris had long since vanished, making excuses about the bathroom and telling Sena to get something for them in case they weren’t back in time.

Sena read her library book in line, glad she had her backpack and wouldn’t have to return to the room. Although she wasn’t sure where she was going to sleep, she had no desire to go back down into the smoky darkness below decks. 

By the time the students finally reached the serving area at the front of the line, all of the lunchmeat for the sandwiches was gone. Sena learned that previous passengers had piled their sandwiches with enough meat and cheese for five or six sandwiches, worried there wouldn’t be any more food. A young Filipino serving girl gestured to the students to take a sandwich roll and fill it with tomatoes and onions. 

After all Sena had been through, this was the final straw. She had
seen
how much food was on the ship, and the thought of eating an onion sandwich for dinner filled her with helpless anger. Why didn’t the chef send up more food? The refrigerators were bursting with it.

Several people were already yelling at the serving girl, who looked thoroughly miserable. Sena knew it wasn’t her fault, and suppressed the urge to join in. Instead, she took her roll and two more for Charity and Paris, along with a bottle of water, and then stormed away from the pool area and found an unclaimed bench with a view of the water. If anyone looked like they were about to sit next to her, she would shrivel them with one look. 

She ate her roll and then, feeling rebellious, ate the rolls she’d gotten for her bunkmates too. If they wanted to eat they could stand in line like everyone else.

Someone sat next to her on the bench and she was about to order them away when she saw it was Danny, the serving boy she’d met briefly the day before.

“I thought it was you,” he said with a tired smile. He looked exhausted. His soot covered face was streaked with perspiration and he reeked of smoke.

“What happened to you?” she cried, her anger gone as quickly as it had come.

“Wrong place, wrong time,” he said. “I’d taken lunch down to engineering when the power went out. Did you hear the explosion?”

Sena shook her head. “I was up on the bridge. I saw the captain try to contact you, but the call wouldn’t go through.”

“Yeah, we never got it. It was crazy down there. After the explosion everything went dark and people were screaming and running all over. A lot of the crew took off.” Danny’s eyebrows knit together and Sena had no doubt what he thought about that.

“Were you scared?”

“I didn’t have time to be. It was pitch black and the sprinklers didn’t kick in. I thought we were goners for sure. Chief Huang never lost his cool though. Do you know he’s got a back-up hand pump down there? It’s older than he is. He asked for it special when the ship used to have a big fish tank. He said it was to pump seawater in for the tank, but he told me he actually got it for emergencies. Smart guy. Between that and the fire extinguishers, we were able to get things under control.” He paused, and Sena heard the heaviness in his voice when he added, “Just not fast enough.”

Sena tried to sound comforting. “You did everything you could.”

“The fire broke out into a couple of cabin areas. There were a few families on the one side that hadn’t gone topside in time. They didn’t make it.” He paused. “I swear we had someone looking out for us today though. The other area was evacuated and sealed off. Whoever had the presence of mind to close that door probably saved a few lives. Maybe more than a few.”

Sena worked hard to swallow around the lump in her throat.

“You can’t know that,” she finally said.

“Well I’ll tell you what I do know,” said Danny. “Half the crew is hiding below decks. Someone told them the captain took off with all the officers and they figure they’re going to lose their jobs when we get back to port anyway, so why deal with the angry Americans?” He shook his head. “Someone will probably be here by tomorrow to tug us back to Seattle. We’re only a day out; we can keep things running that long.”

“I don’t think anyone is coming.” Sena told him what she’d seen on the bridge, and then what the physics teacher had told them about EMPs. 

Danny whistled under his breath. “Guess I can forget about Alaska. If what you said is true, we’ll be lucky to make it back home at all.”

“Can’t they fix the engines?” asked Sena. “Enough to get us ashore?”

He shook his head. “From what I heard, if they try to restart them it might cause a spark and the whole thing could go up again. We’re stuck out here, and we’re going to get low on food real fast.”

“No way,” said Sena. “You should see how much food they’ve got down there.”

“It might seem like a lot, but think about it,” said Danny. “How many days to Alaska?”

“Six.”

“Do you think the chef stocked up with more food than we’d need?”

Sena remembered the efficiency of the food inventory system. “No.”

“So we have six days of food at most, right?”

“We could stretch it a little if we don’t eat as much. It’s not like we need buffets all day and all night.”
We could eat onion sandwiches
.

“If we had six days of pre-cooked food, that would be one thing, but most of the supplies require prep, and it’s so dark down there they can’t
see
the food, let alone cook it.”

Sena recalled how the bread was baked fresh every day and most of the meat was frozen. Even if they ate salad three times a day, who was going to wash three thousand dishes by hand after every meal? It wasn’t like the ship had a bunch of paper plates. Or water.

“Oh my gosh,” said Sena as a thought occurred to her. “Food isn’t the problem. It’s water.”

Danny tilted his head, “How so?”

“There’s not enough water onboard to get us to Alaska. There’s only about half as much as we need in back-up tanks, and for the rest, the ship has its own de-salinization plant. I learned about it on my tour of the ship this morning.” Morning felt like a lifetime ago. “It pretty much makes its own water as we go. I doubt the plant will work without power though.”

“Unless the Chief can rig something up, we can’t get water from the tanks either. There’s no pressure or pumps to bring it out.”

“This is crazy! How can they not be more prepared for something like this?” exclaimed Sena. “We can’t be the first ship to lose power away from land.”

“No, we’re the first ship to lose primary power, back-up power, radio, radar, satellite communications, and our captain all at the same time.”

The seriousness of their situation silenced both of them until Sena finally asked, “What do you think’s going to happen?”

“Maybe the Navy has ships that are still okay. All we need is a tug back to Seattle and we can get everyone home. It’s not that far.”

Despite Danny’s optimistic words, she could see the doubt in his eyes. He stood up.

“Hey, I’d better get going. You’ll never guess what they’ve got me doing tomorrow. Did you see the red bags they were giving out? Well, someone has to go around and pick them up.”

Sena wrinkled her nose. “Ew! They shouldn’t make you do that, you’re a hero!”

Danny gave a shrug, “I volunteered. I couldn’t pass up the chance to be able to say I’ve done doody duty.”

Sena groaned and shook her head as he walked away.

CHAPTER SIX

S
ENA
LOOKED
AROUND
,
SURPRISED
not to see more people. She was on one of the uppermost decks in an outdoor theater. The sun was sinking quickly, painting the sky a brilliant orange where the fiery water reached up to lap at the horizon. A chilly breeze blew across the deck and she shivered, despite her long-sleeved shirt and pants. Hopefully the captain would start soon.