Gaia Dreams (Gaiaverse Book 1) (52 page)

The General sat there wondering what it would
take to put the 25th amendment into action. His friend, his
President, the most powerful leader in the world, was absolutely fucking nuts.

Pumping Station, Cape Fair

Nathan walked around the back of the squat,
concrete building. No windows broken, everything was sound. The water would
flow from here as long as there weren't any breaks in the pipes and as long as
the electricity kept going. He'd spent several hours on the phone calling
employees of the water company and finally found a supervisor to talk to, but
the man refused to stay in town, believing the dam was going to fail. Thank
God, Nathan thought fervently, the guy was willing to give me some crucial info
or else we'd be up the creek.

At least now he and Andy would be able to hold
their own. And if the earthquake didn't shake them up too much, then the water
would flow. He stopped abruptly as he heard a sound coming from a patch of
Hawthorn trees nearby. The whining, weak bark of a dog. Nathan ran to the
trees.

A large black Labrador dog looked up from the
ground as Nathan approached. Nathan slowed down and started talking softly to
the animal. "Hey there, it's all right, I'm not going to hurt you. You're hurt,
aren't you, big fella?" He got closer. "Oops, sorry, you're not a fella! My
bad. Okay now, will you let me get near you to see what's wrong?" He suddenly
remembered the sausage biscuit he'd wrapped up at breakfast and stuffed into
the pocket of his windbreaker. Pulling it out and unwrapping it, he moved
closer to the injured dog. "Here you go. Now, I bet you're hungry, aren't you?"
Setting it on the ground within reach of the dog, he watched as she lifted her
head to sniff at it and take a bite. Nathan got closer and finally kneeled down
and stroked the back of head. "There now, we can be friends. Let's see--hooh
boy! What the heck did you do to your leg, girl, huh? That looks bad."

He didn't try to touch the obviously infected
back leg, but instead backed away and pulled out his cell phone, yelping as he
backed right into the thorns on the branch of the tree. "Yow! I didn't even
know trees could have thorns!" He opened up the phone and dialed. John had
insisted that they all carry cell phones, especially if they had to go out
alone. Nathan called Clay and said, "Doc, I got a patient for you--and Doc, I
think her name is Ursula."

Mrs. Philpott's House

Perceval sat in the front of the house on the
chintz-covered window seat, staring out at the wet grass. No way was he going
out today until it was necessary. He felt like things were coming along with
the humans. They were getting organized and prepared for what was coming. Of
course, they couldn't think of everything, and Perceval realized even he would
probably find later he'd forgotten about a few things too. But on the whole,
they'd accomplished a great deal in a short period of time.

He'd spent time this morning with Mrs. Philpott,
Jessica and John while Sam's parents related the incident of 'mind pressing'
from yesterday. They were freaked out still, but handling it better today. He
thought Sam would be okay, not go off controlling people with her mind. And
Perceval wondered if it hadn't been easier for her to do that with Jessica than
it would be with anyone else. Sam felt very close emotionally to her mother,
and that was bound to have an impact on her abilities.

The house was quiet now as everyone was flitting
around on last-minute errands. Surprisingly enough, nobody else had moved in
here. The human penchant for companionship was at play in the living
arrangements that were being worked out. Clay and Abby were moving to the farm
along with Janine, where Clay would have easy access to the horses and other
animals there. And Mrs. Philpott thought living on the farm would be good for
Abby, not giving her much time to think or dwell on things with all the work
there. Of course, they'd all stay busy no matter where they lived, just keeping
enough technology going and producing food to survive. The Power People, as
they were already being called by everyone, the team of Sergeant Wachowski,
Tommy, and Lisanne, were moving into a quite large home on Table Rock Lake.
There was room for more people to be added to the team. And Andy appeared to be
thinking on that topic. The chemistry between Lisanne and Andy was palpable to
anyone around the two. Perceval gave him a week at most before Andy caved in
and joined the Power People. As soon as he saw that Nathan could deal with the
water situation, which appeared to be pretty well set, Nathan would get more
help from survivors who ended up here, Perceval thought. More people. But, he
thought, brightening up, they'd be people who wanted to be here. Who'd either
dreamed of the place or been drawn to it by their animals.

He continued his review of the so-called Gaians.
Gaians. Did they honestly think the planet called herself that? He had been a
bit ticked off that nobody wanted his name of Group One. But then, they didn't
understand it, not yet. Someday, though, someday they'd get it.

Jessica, John and Sam would continue living at
their home with Max, Rachel and Black for now. Protection of Samantha was part
of the reason, Perceval knew, but it was also just plain easier to feed folks
and keep the basic necessities going when they all pitched in together, which
was why Harmony's cabins were filling up with Dr. Shapiro, Alex, and now,
Nathan. They'd each have their own cabin, but planned to cook meals together
and share the company of one another. Humans just did better together than
apart, a communal species.

Ah! Finally Nathan got that dog some help.
Perceval settled down more comfortably on the window seat cushion, curling up
in a circle. The incessant noise in his head had driven him crazy for the last
hour, but now the whining had stopped and Clay was treating the injured dog--Ursula.
She'd ignored everything Perceval had tried to get across to her, unwilling to
hear out a cat! Hmphf! And everyone had left here by the time he figured out
where it was coming from. A dog would be good for Nathan. And he'd be able to
communicate with her easily. He and Alex had profoundly open minds, and they'd
both had the dreams. Perceval sat in the dining room last night watching Alex
flicking her long braid idly in her hand, and he'd itched to just jump on it
and attack it. But he wasn't a kitten. That wouldn't be seemly. Now, though,
now everything was quiet, the rain was starting to splatter against the windows
again, and he was toasty warm and dry. Time for a nap.

St. Louis, Missouri 11 p.m.

Elliott Carlisle sat up in bed and looked
quickly around his bedroom. He was dozing off, but then he was wide awake. Why?
He got out of bed and walked to the sliding glass door windows of his bedroom
in the ten-story apartment building. And while he watched the flickering lights
across the city, a tremendous jolt threw him to floor. He bounced on the
continuously shaking floor before he rolled toward the glass doors and saw the
lights go out across the city. As he tried to sit up, he had a falling
sensation. Then the ceiling of his apartment, along with the apartment on the
eleventh floor, crashed down on him, and he had no more sensations at all.

Sounds of shattering glass and a dull roar
accompanied the sharp up and down motion of Sarah Moore's house in the suburbs.
As her crystal collection on their glass shelves fell on her head, she screamed
once, and then, as thoughts were fading, she said plaintively, "But they said
it would be a flood!" Then she didn't say anything as the walls caved in on top
of her.

Norm Bennett shuffled along the sidewalk in the
park, then found himself face down on pavement that slapped him in the face repeatedly
as he slammed up and down on the rolling earth. When he was thrown on his back,
he stared up in disbelief, seeing the Arch, the St. Louis landmark, the one
that was supposed to be impervious to earthquakes, come falling majestically to
the ground, crushing his body.

Bernie was having sex with Frances, his fiancé,
who had been the librarian in Cape Fair, when they were torn from each other's
arms as the violent shaking threw them out of bed. "It's the end of the world,
Bernie! The end of the--" screamed Frances, whose yell was abruptly cut off when
her chest was crushed by a falling armoire. Bernie whimpered in pain and had
time to pray for deliverance before the house pancaked down on top of him and
plunged into a gaping maw that twisted across the yard and underneath the
house.

Vicky Morrison's cat was not coming inside no
matter how much she yelled. As she wandered onto the lawn, she couldn't
understand why her homebody cat had run off. Her last coherent thought was
amazement at seeing a spouting burst of sand blow up next to her from within
the ground. Bursts of water and sand showered down on her before she was sucked
beneath her front yard when the spout closed up again.

Mercy LaFontaine stared in horror as the
building across from her blew up in fire, even as it collapsed. She'd been
standing in the street, which now looked like a rolling carpet of asphalt,
bumping up and down. While she lay panting on the broken glass and other
debris, she watched in disbelief as the entire block of buildings fell outward
into the street, one entombing her under layers of bricks.

The riverboat captain of the Ann Marie looked
out on the skyline of St. Louis and wondered if he were dreaming. Building
after building crashed down, some falling into each other sideways, some just
sinking straight down in a flash. "This can't be happening!" he protested, only
to see the river draining away beneath his boat. Suddenly the Ann Marie was
sitting on the silt of the bottom of the river. As he held onto the railing for
dear life, he glanced out into the middle of the river and was awed for a
moment by the sight of a roiling current of water racing back toward the shore
until it washed him overboard.

The rushing waters slammed over the banks and
levees, snapping off cottonwood trees like a giant chainsaw. The muddy,
debris-filled water burst through the streets, sweeping away any survivors in
its path before receding just as quickly while the temblors continued. It was
11:03 p.m.

The Samuels' House

At the Samuels' house, Sam was waiting for it in
the den with Harry by her side. She'd gone to bed earlier at six for a nap,
knowing she'd be up when it happened. Her mom and dad had put pictures in
frames in the closet, off the walls. Everything loose on tables and bookshelves
was put in boxes. The house was as secure as they could make it. She heard her
father calling to her from kitchen, "Sam? Do you have any idea how soon after
11 it will happen?"

As she opened her mouth to answer, the house
shook. Biting her tongue as her mouth snapped shut, Sam ran to stand in the
doorway. Jessica was quickly by her side, an arm around her daughter. Sam
looked up and smiled at her. The house shook gently, a rolling type of motion,
but Sam didn't hear any breaking glass. Then it was over.

Mrs. Philpott's House

Mrs. Philpott sat in her rocker with a lit
candle before her on the coffee table. Perceval perched beside her on a chair.
She'd thought about staying with John and Jessica tonight, but wanted to be in
her own house to watch out for damage. They'd all taken precautions, going
through their various homes and packing away loose items, but Sam was the only
one who'd dreamed of the New Madrid quake. A few tidbits of information from
the little girl were all they had to go on.

Mrs. Philpott thought about what she knew of the
quake zone. It was caused by the Reelfoot Rift, which was actually a series of
faults known to run under New Madrid, Missouri. It was said to intersect five
states and cross the Mississippi in three places--at least. There was still so
much that wasn't known about it. It hadn't been studied as intensively as the
geology in California, which seemed absurd to Mrs. Philpott when she thought of
the huge area to be affected. The three large earthquakes that occurred in 1811
and into 1812 over a period of several months were now estimated to be larger
than 8.0 on the Richter scale. Which was big enough, she thought grimly. Big
enough to devastate St. Louis and Memphis and hundreds of other smaller towns
along the way. And aftershocks of a goodly strength had hit the area for more
than a year beyond the original quakes. Even though geologists knew it was
there, it wasn't as active as the faults in California, and as a result, there
were many, many buildings and homes that were not retrofitted for large
earthquakes like they had been in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Of course, she
mused, it didn't help L.A. very much to have been prepared. They weren't
prepared at all for the tremendous size of the temblors that hit out there. St.
Louis and Memphis...well, they were probably going to be toast, she figured. Then
the shaking began and she blew out the candle.

Harmony's Cabins-by-the-Lake

Dr. Shapiro, Alex, Nathan and Harmony gathered
in Harmony's cabin to wait for the rumbling to begin. Alex had brought potato
chips and onion dip in plastic bowls that wouldn't break in case they rolled
off the table and they all sat munching as they waited.

"Clay is keeping the dog with him during the
quake?" Dr. Shapiro asked Nathan.

"Yeah, we didn't want to move her again. She's
doing better now that she's medicated for pain, but her leg is still pretty
infected."

"So what's the earthquake going to do?" asked
Harmony, reaching for the bowl of chips.

"It's going to be a mess for hundreds of miles.
Buildings of brick and concrete will come down," Alex informed her. She'd done
some online research this afternoon before the power shutdown. Then she'd
packed up the library's computers in bubble-wrap and heavy duty boxes, away
from the bookshelves. She continued, "Gas lines will rupture, so there will be
lots of fires. Some reading I did today said that if the New Madrid ever cut
loose these days, in the way it did in the 1800s, it would be the worst natural
disaster in American history." She paused and then laughed unhappily. "Of
course, that guy wasn't writing during the past few months. L.A. and Las Vegas
and the hurricane hadn't happened. Who knows which event will be considered the
worst disaster before it's all over?"