The Blackout (5 page)

They both turned to walk back to the Hawker.  “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing works.  Damn thing won’t respond to anything.  It’s a giant six-million-dollar paperweight.” 

That’s odd,
Gary thought.  Ten minutes ago they had finished all their checks and were ready and waiting to go.  Nothing had indicated a problem then. 
What the hell is going on here?
 

Gary walked to the airplane to see for himself.  Even though Clint wasn’t the exaggerating type, Gary couldn’t believe the situation had changed so dramatically so quickly. Yet, the sound of the explosion still echoed in his mind. 

He climbed the Hawker’s steps and sat down in the right seat.  Everything was dark in the cockpit.  He tried to power on the engines and the control panel.  Nothing.  Even the tablet for their charts wouldn’t turn on.  The cabin lights, the entertainment system, all nothing. 

After flipping every switch multiple times with no response, Gary sat back in the right seat and sighed.  Clint was right.  It was a giant paperweight.

Clint grunted when they made eye contact with the same conclusion – something was seriously wrong here.

It’s not related to the explosion.  Our problem is isolated.  Unrelated to the power outage.  So was the explosion.  Must be a bizarre series of incidents, nothing more,
Gary tried to convince himself.  It didn’t add up, though.  It was too coincidental.  But why would a power outage cause a plane to crash? 
But…if their instruments all went dark like ours did while they were on short final in the fog… 
He shook his head to clear the ominous thoughts.  He still wasn’t totally convinced it was a plane crash. 
Was there a fuel station at the end of 9 Right?  Even so, wouldn’t that also require at least a fire truck?  Was the Sheriff’s Department doing a demonstration today?  That would need a fire truck too, but maybe not the sirens
…

He ran through the possibilities as they walked back to the lounge and went straight to the desk.  “Hey, we’re going to need someone from maintenance out here right away,” Clint said.

Gary looked at him, confused. 
Oh, right, our own problems.
He was having trouble focusing.

The woman behind the desk was frazzled, and the two pilots hanging around her FBO weren’t her top priority.  “I’m sorry, but the phones still aren’t working.  I can’t get someone out here right now.  Can you wait until we can get this figured out?”

Clint and Gary looked at each other skeptically.  “Not really.  We don’t have any way to get in touch with our passengers, and if they show up without a working airplane, they’re going to be pissed.”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” she said.  She was sympathetic, but she had bigger issues to deal with.

Gary looked at Clint.  “OK, I’m going over to maintenance.  You stay here in case the passengers get here.”

“That’s fine by me.” 

Gary turned back to the girl behind the desk.  “Lemme have the keys to the rental we just returned.  I’ll just be a second.”

“Sure,” she said and absently and handed them over.  Luckily, a representative hadn’t come to pick the car up yet.  But his luck ran out as he approached the base-model Chevy.  The remote keyless entry didn’t work, so he put the key in the lock to get in.  It opened the driver’s door, but not any of the others when he turned it again. 

When he tried to start the car, nothing happened.  It was absolute silence.  No sound from the starter, no response from the radio.  Nothing.  He turned everything off, the air conditioning, the radio, any interior lights that may have been on, and tried again.  Nothing.  Gary was getting annoyed.

He sat in the driver’s seat and thought for a minute.  He glanced at the car next to him, and thought something looked…off.  He couldn’t quite figure it out.  It wasn’t on, so nothing would be illuminated- except.  Except a light that should have been on, wasn’t.  Most cars had a blinking light on the dashboard, to let them know their basic security system worked.  It blinked all the time.  So either the security system wasn’t working in that car, or nothing was.  He leaned forward and looked at the light in his own car.  It was dark.  He got out and walked to the next car; its light was also out. 

Gary walked back into the building with a sense of foreboding.  He didn’t have a firm grasp on what was going on, but the more he discovered, the worse the situation seemed.  He couldn’t help but circle his thoughts back to the explosion. 
If the car won’t start, is it possible emergency vehicles couldn’t respond to whatever happened?
  It was a frightening thought. 
How could that be?  What on Earth would knock out everything? 
Something pulled at the edge of his mind, but he couldn’t quite put the pieces together.  There were just too many of them, and more being added all the time.

He approached Clint.  “The car isn’t working.  I’ll have to walk.  I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“K,” he said.  Clint’s dark expression mirrored Gary’s thoughts on the situation.

The maintenance hangar was a long way from the FBO where they routinely met their passengers.  The FBO was made to meet all of their creature comforts, while the maintenance hangar was set back and out of the way, so the wealthy clientele wouldn’t be exposed to the grime and noise.

It took what Gary assumed was around a half hour to walk the distance.  He couldn’t say for sure as his watch had quit.  The fog was lifting by that time, and he looked out across the ramp to find planes backed up in a scene of chaos such as he had never witnessed.  It was almost like they couldn’t communicate.  No one was moving, and he noticed their beacons weren’t on.  Four airliners were stacked in a row on the taxiway without beacons flashing. 
That’s really odd,
he thought.  He stood and watched the scene for a moment, thinking he would see its resolution, but after a few moments he had to move on. 

I have my own problems,
Gary reminded himself. 
But if that doesn’t clear up, how are we going to get out, even if our airplane does start up?
  He sighed. 
One thing at a time.
 

The hangar was dark, but there was a flurry of activity.  Apparently the power was out on that end of the airport too. 

Gary found the guy in charge without too much trouble.  He reached out and touched his arm, and the man turned to face him.  “Hey, I’ve got a big problem.”

He could tell by the uniform that Gary was a pilot, and just shook his head.  “Yeah, tell me about it.  Nothing works.  All of the avionics and everything in all these babies died at once.”  He gestured to the three jets parked in the hanger. 

Gary was baffled.  “Are you kidding me?” 

“Nope.  You’re going to have to get in line with your problems, kid.  Sorry.” 

“Well, when you have time, I’m at MCC’s FBO.  Just send someone over, would ya?”

He looked skeptically at Gary, and sighed.  “I’ll see what I can do.” 

Gary turned to leave, but then turned back.  “Do you happen to have a rotary phone?”

“No, we don’t.  And I kind of wish we did.  We can’t make any calls.” 

Gary nodded, thanked him, and left.  He walked back to MCC, hoping the situation would improve during his trudge across the airport.  He noticed people using the slides to get off stranded airplanes right in the middle of the runway.  They gathered in the grass, not knowing what to do.     

Then he noticed the smoke.  Thick, black smoke that could only mean death, and lots of it, was rising from the end of 9 Right.  Gary frowned and picked up his pace.

Unfortunately, when he got back to MCC, the situation hadn’t changed.  Clint was still the only one waiting in the lounge, but the women behind the desk seemed to be getting a little more panicky. 

When they saw Gary, relief shone in their eyes.  “Are they coming?  Do they have power down there?” 

“Actually, no they don’t.  And the scene out there is kind of a CF.  They’re abandoning the aircrafts – using the slides to get off and congregating in the grass.  No one is taking off, and they’re having a hell of a time clearing the taxiways.”  He paused.  “And there’s smoke coming from the end of 9 Right. Something major is going on here.  I just don’t know what.” 

Clint had crept up next to Gary while he was relaying information, and startled him a little.  “What can we do?” he asked.

They were both men of action, not ones to sit around and wait for someone else to solve their problems.  However, Gary had no answer.  He had no idea what to do.  He’d gained more pieces on the trek out to maintenance, but none of them seemed to fit together.  Walking to the scene of the explosion would only endanger them and wasn’t a good option.  There was nothing that could be done for them, whatever had happened.  All Gary and Clint could do was wait.

After a while, they both started to get hungry.  The power still wasn’t on, and they couldn’t leave or use the phone to order food.  They couldn’t even use the vending machines.  All that delicious junk food stared at Gary through the glass. 

“Do you have a key for this machine?” he asked the girl behind the desk.

“I’m not sure.  Let me check.”

“I’ll leave money if you can get it open.” 

She nodded and disappeared to a place where they apparently kept keys for the machines.  She reappeared a few moments later with a key ring in hand.  “Here we are.  You boys hungry?” 

“Yeah, I am.”  Gary looked over at Clint and he nodded.  “This might be the best we can do for now, Clint.”  Vending-machine food wouldn’t hold them over for long, but he didn’t think they’d have to live off it.  He was sure this would be resolved soon and they’d be out of there. 

Gary chose a bag of mini peanut butter cracker sandwiches.  He figured at least he’d get some protein that way.  He gave the girl a dollar and grabbed a cup of water from the cooler.  It was actually still pretty cold.  He estimated it’d been a few hours, but couldn’t be sure.  It seemed like a long time when they were just sitting.

He sat on the couch with his feet on the coffee table and dug into the crackers.  Gary started thinking about Molly.  He wondered what she was doing, and if the same thing was going on there.  It had to be an isolated incident.  He was sure if they went to the next town the power would be on, and they could get a hot meal.  Maybe they could even get some help.  No, they were probably already sending help. 

Molly would be worried if Gary didn’t get in touch.  She was expecting them to be on the ground in Orlando soon.  Gary frowned.  He didn’t know what to do about that.  He couldn’t text her.  He couldn’t call her.  He couldn’t email her.  He couldn’t get in touch with her in any way.  He started to panic a little.  The isolation was overwhelming.  His breathing quickened, and he began to sweat. 

Clint noticed.  “What’s wrong?”

“I just realized I can’t get in touch with Molly.  I’ve never been in this situation before.  I’ve always had some way to get in touch with her, and know she was OK.” 

“Hey, it’s fine.  Any minute now things’ll be back to normal.  No need to panic.”  He said it with such an even tone, Gary believed him. 

“Yeah, I’m sure you’re right.  Nothing to worry about, huh?”

He nodded his agreement, relaxed against the plush leather couch, and returned to daydreaming about Molly. 
Late afternoon, so she’ll probably be wrapping up her last class of the day.  How long will she stay at school today?  Will she have dinner with Cindy again?  What’s Dug up to?
  He smiled at the thought of Dug.   He was such a great dog – so happy and grateful.  Gary missed him then, and hoped he’d get to go home soon, especially after a day like today.  If nothing else, he’d be home in a few days, and then he’d be off for an entire week.  He couldn’t wait to be back with his family.

That got him wondering. 
If we do make it to Orlando eventually, will they give us the rest of the week off, due to the stress?
  He shook his head. 
Probably not.
  It was just confusing, not terribly traumatic.  Their little corner of the airport was fairly sheltered.  They were just waiting, which is probably what they would’ve been doing if the power was on.   There was no guarantee the passengers would have arrived yet, so they could very well be sitting here, power or not.

The day crept on, and Gary watched the people stream back into the main terminals.  For whatever reason, no one came their way.  They probably decided it was best for everyone out on the runways to stay together.  Gary wrinkled his nose, glad they were spared being treated like cattle by the authorities at PHL.

As the sun started to go down, worry stole back into Gary’s thoughts.  He turned to Clint.  “Whaddya think?” 

“I expect we should stay here.” 

“OK, but all night?  We can’t sleep here.”

“Why not?  Where do you plan to go, and how do you plan to get there?” 

It was a good question.  And he was right.  Why couldn’t they spend the night at MCC?  The girls didn’t know what to do.  They didn’t want to leave the FBO unmanned, but they had families, and didn’t live that far from the airport.  They wanted to walk home, and Gary couldn’t blame them.  If he had the chance to be with family tonight, he would’ve taken it. 

“OK, why don’t you girls go home, and Clint and I will lock up and sleep here tonight.  We’ve got food, water, couches and a bathroom.  Everything we need.  I’m sure the power will come back on by the morning.  We’ll give the keys to whoever shows up first.”

Everyone knew the crew that was supposed to relieve them wasn’t coming.  MCC was open twenty-four hours, but with this outage they couldn’t be expected to operate normally.  At any rate, if someone showed up and needed something, the boys would be there. 

“Perfect,” one of the girls said with relief in her eyes.  “Let me dig out the flashlights for you boys so it doesn’t get too dark in here.” 

“Thanks again for doing this,” another girl said as she handed Gary a giant silver flashlight.  He tried to switch it on, but didn’t have any luck.  He frowned at her. 

“Maybe the lantern will work?” she asked, hanging on to a small bit of hope.