Torn (44 page)

Every one chuckled.

Darius shook his head. It wasn’t even that funny.

“But
m
an’s long
-
term survival
through
a
millennium
of cold, well, we’ll survive, but
what
will we become? We have
the
technology to prepare
,
unlike our predecessors. But still that final blow will wipe out most of man’s population
.
People
build technology. W
e need to focus on
stopping
man’s extinction
. Can it be? Yes.
I believe we can stop the impending ice age.”

A flip of the slide
showed a
n underwater
volcano
.

“Already
we’ve
had numerous
eruptions
under
water. This will not
stop
.
It
is
estimated
that
,
by the end of the
reversal
, the underwater
volcanoes
will
have heate
d
the oceans enough to evaporate nearly 22%
of the water
into the
sky, which will come back down
. . .
dead of winter. Cold.”

Switch of the
PowerPoint slides
.

“Clouds will form. They will do
so;
I
estimate
ab
o
ut ten days
before they
join
. When they join, the earth wil
l be covered with one connected giant
c
lou
d
. The entire
earth
will
be covered with this cloud. I theorize, based on the body of waters, that there will be seven such major
storms
that will join. Seven eyes. Those areas hit by those will be areas hit the hardest. But make no mistake.
Everything north of Virginia will take hundreds and hundreds of years to defrost.
Below
Virginia
,
we’ll
see some balmy temperatures
of
about
sixty
degrees
. Below the equator
,
warmth. But those higher temps will only occur after six months. People
will
flock south. But it will be six months in below
-
freezing
temperatures. Food will run out, water.” Colin shrugged.

Colin paced,

“Back to the hardest hit areas. I predict snow
;
three feet an hour will fall until w
e’
ll get about two hundred feet.
Instead
of high speed winds like a
hurricane
, we will have ar
c
tic blasts that will freeze everything instantly. You have two choices. Move everyone south, or end it as it begins. As I stated there will be
seven
major storms that will begin to form.
That’s where the HAARP comes in. Located in Alaska,
this research
project,
though
not tested,
theoretically
is designed to shoot a gigawat
t
of energy into the
atmosphere
. I have spoken with
the HAAR
P people and
they believe that
my theory will work. I
propose
that when these seven storms begin to form, we use the HAARP as a beam to break up each cloud. W
e’ll still have a storm, but no
where near the intensity of the pending one.
Plus, the HA
AR
P will heat up the atmosphere enough to halt any global freezing.”

The
PowerPoint
ended.

Colin smiled. “Now, I’ll take any questions.”

Of course, he’d get questions, Darius figured
,
and he got them with enthusiasm.
Sinking back in his chair, Darius had to admit
that
Colin’s idea was a good one.

He also had to admit
that
,
aft
er hearing Colin, the committee
more than likely wouldn’t choose him.

In the midst of the
question
and answer session, Colin paused. He actually held up his hand to the committee and lifted his palm computer.

“Gentleman, we have a situation,” Colin said.
“My people have figured out how to determine if another flare like the one that hit Paris will hit again.”

Senator
Harrington
leaned forward. “We did too. It is
highly
unlikely, our experts say.”

“Well then let’s hope your experts
are
right. Because mine have just informed me that two are on their way. They’ll arrive at earth in approximately 6 hours.”

“Two?” The senator asked. “Where?”

“Eastern Asia,
mostly
isolated.”

“And the other?”

Colin sighed out. “Los Angeles.”

As with any other huge news event, the dual flares that careened into
E
arth, hours apart, was a
l
l there was on the news.

The events had just started taking commercial breaks.

The flare that hit Asia
caused
minimal
damage and loss of life.

But the one that hit Los Angeles
.
…

It took eight hours to arrive.

Freeways were jammed.

Experts advised thos
e who could not get out of down
to get as far below as they could.

Problem was
a lot of oxygen was removed from the air.

Hundreds of thousands died instantly. The
bright
side of it all
were hundreds of thousands were still below ground.

Bret
intently
watched the news and the Moses Project that was beginning
,
w
here
authorities
were leading people out of the subways via the s
ewe
rs.

They couldn’t even go near the surface
;
fires still raged and the
temperature
was
unbearable.

Not like the heat
wave wasn’t enough.

Virginia
and Lin were tapped by the government to watch for more
flares
since they nailed it.

One thing was for sure. Not only did the flares change the face of LA and Asia, they changed the face of everything.

There was no doubt
now that
an extinction level event was to take place. The conference ended. The president declared martial law, and ho
a
rding laws went into effect
immediately.

There was a freeze on prices
,
and it was a crime to charge
more
.
D
etails of the national survivor lottery would be told as it grew closer to the time
,
if it was needed.
After
all,
they were going to try to stop the big event. What
they’d attempt to do
wasn’t
released
.

Bret was grateful they had finished
gathering
their supplies and stock. Winslow sent fifteen
men to the complex for security
and hired Bruce as head.

He
and Bobby
wo
uld head down there first thing
the next morning.

“
Bret
?” Bruce called for her attention with a snap of h
is
finger
s
.

Eyes trailing from the television, Bret summed up an apologetic look. “Sorry. They were giving a body count.”

Bruce
reached
out and shut off the television.

As if she were an addict and someone took away her drug, Bret immediately started worrying about what she was going to miss.

“I’m not gonna see you for a month,” Bruce said. “At
least
. When does Darius plan on making the trip?”

“They expect the under
water
volcanoes
to peak early
September
.”

“Storm?”

“Mid.” She shrugged. “But then it’ll be some time before the storm hits.”

“Do you think it will be an easy trip down south at that point?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Once people figure out an ice age is coming, that’s where they are gonna head.
Down south.”

“Ok. But they haven’t
released
that information.”

“Officially. The internet is
talking about
it.”

“Bruce, I really believe that most people are
gonna
think this plan will work. If they use
Darius
’ plan
. . . .
”

“To blow up the world.”

“Yeah.”

“
They
aren’t
gonna use Darius’ plan. There’s a lottery
, you know. The government is
. . .
”

Bret sighed out. “What are you worried about? We’ll be going down south.”

“At some point, the government is gonna stop the migration.”

Bret snickered. “Don’t be silly. Why would they do that?”

“Where are they gonna put 400 million people?
Because that’s the estimate Colin came up with that we would need to move south.”

“We have our own p
lace to go. Winslow has a plane.
…”

“What if air traffic is
suspended?
”

“Why are you
concerned?
”

“I think you should come down now,” Bruce said. “You and the kids. No one is heading south yet. It’s not only gonna get crazy now in this wor
ld, but the closer to the event
the worse things are
gonna
get. I’d feel much better if you guys just came down now.
”

‘You know we can’t. That would mean moving everything and losing
days
’ worth of work. At this point
in the monitoring it can’t be afforded.”

“Then let me take the kids.”

Bret stared seriously at Bruce. “You’re really concerned.”

Bruce replied with a match
ing
stare.

“As well
as he should be,” Colin said upon entering the house.

Darius walked in behind him.

“Did you hear the news?” Colin asked. “I think they just announced it.”

“Aw,” Bret
gasped out in a whine.
“
Something
happened. He shut my TV off.” Bret
reached
for the television.

Bruce stopped her. “Why don’t you tell us what’s going on
?
”

Colin held out his hand for them to have a seat on the couch.

When they
did,
he spoke.

Darius took a seat next to Bret, kissing her on the cheek. “You
okay
?”

Bret nodded.

“We were held to confidentiality at the conference until they released the news,” Colin said. “But, the news of th
e impending ice age is out, and,
as you know
, so is
the lottery information. They have also decided which
plan
they are going with. The scientific advisory board has picked the best defense against the impending ice age.”

Darius added. “Ice age. Not reversals.”

“Yes, Dare-Dare,” Colin said. “We are well aware they aren’t going with your plan.”

Bret spoke, “By the look on your face, they aren’t going with yours either?”

Colin shook his head.
“No. Scheduled for September 9
th
. They are going to watch the rise in
temperatures
of the ocean. They estimate
that’s
a good time. And before the storm clouds
form
. . .
they are going to use
nuclear weapons to break off ice shelves, dumping the ice into the ocea
n
s in an attempt to cool the ocea
n
s and replenish the l
os
t water.”

Bruce crinkled his face. “That’s a joke, right.”

“Nope.” Colin replied. “They think it’ll work.”

“But
. . . y
ou’ll
get steam.”

With a
smug
smile, Colin gave a single nod. “And that
,
my friend
,
won’t stop the impending ice age
;
that will
hurry
it along. The sudden
change
in temperature will cause a drastic switch in currents
a
nd
s
torms of gigantic proportions. Left naturally, we would have
had time to plan. With this
. . .
the storms will form with
in hours a
nd be full force in three days.

“The lottery is planned for September 3
rd
. The individuals selected to go will be detained immediately in a local facility. If the Tundra Plan, that’s what they are
calling
it, if it fails and as
hypothetically
I foresee, the storm clouds form, they will move the individuals to the
G
E
P
.”

“
Detained
immediately?” Bret asked. “How can they do
that?
”

Colin handed Bret sheets
of
paper. “We were fortunate enough to get the lottery. It’s selective. One
-
third will be chosen by profession, one
-third by age, o
ne
-
third random
ly
.
Scary part is, it doesn’t include families, it
’s individuals and it’s
mandatory.”

“Married couples too?” Bret questions.

“Being married is the only fortunate thing. If you are
selected
, and you are married, your spouse goes. The only
exception
to the mandatory rule is if you are selected and you have minor children. Since the children are not permitted or included, that is the only
exception
.”

Darius added. “But a child can be chosen and go without his parents.”

Colin correctly. “Only if the child is twelve years
old
or older. Younger children will not be drawn.”

Bruce held up his hand. “Hold on. They’re
gonna
separate
families
.”

“It’s
for
survival and assurance that the human race will go on,” Colin
answered
.

“But how can they mathematically
calculate
that?” Bruce asked. “They pick 900 thousand people on September
3
rd
. What if a large chunk is
married?

“Oh, my friend,
” Colin
stated
,
“
t
he lottery is
done
. We just only find out th
ose
selected
on the
3
rd
.
Trust me, t
hey did their math.
That is why they’ll be able to implement the immediate detaining of them. They’ll know who to get and where to get them from. And although we have to stay up north as long as possible, I think we have our leave date. The lottery and detaining
will
be all day. Peo
ple are going to wait. I say we leave for Texas on the third, b
ecause after that, it’ll be a madhouse going south.
”

“No,” Bruce
turned
sharp. “Bret, pack up now. Pack the kids up now. Let me take them with me before the insanity begins.”

“Why?” she asked.

“The lottery. The insanity.”

Bret waved out her hand. “What are the chances of being
chosen?
Slim. You go, get ready for us and the
invitees
. I’m sure many of them will come early.”
She shifted down to the couch.
“Darius, you’re being quiet. What do
you
think?”

After a shrug of his shoulders, Darius exhaled, and clapped his hands together once. “I think the plan to stop the ice age is stupid.”

Colin widened his eyes.
“There you have it, an educated response.”

“I a
lso agree with Colin,” Darius continued. “It’s going to throw us into an ice age, and the storms it
creates
will
be far worse than what nature will create. I thin
k
people are gonna all hope to be picked for the lottery. That’s why they are picking at
nine
the morning until midnight. So people
will
hold on until the last moment. Then they’re gonna go nuts. Nuts. We’re fortunate to have a flight out of here. We should leave on the third in the middle of it all. But, Bret, I think you and the kids should go now.”